Happy Anniversary to Me

Today is my two year anniversary.

It is definitely bitter-sweet.  Of course I'm thrilled that we have survived two years of marriage (especially since 19 of those months were spent apart).  However, it's bitter because not only is my husband still deployed, but I haven't been able to talk to him today.

The good news is, this weekend marks 2% until DH begins his journey home from Afghanistan :).  That is tremendously exciting news in the world of deployments.  It is *almost* finally over!

In other news, I've decided to go to The Melting Pot for my 21st birthday on August 6th!  I've never been to The Melting Pot or any fondue restaurant so I'm super excited.  I think it will be a fun, unique way to spend my birthday.

I also got my Japanese Straightening Perm!  I mentioned awhile back that I was planning on getting one and I finally did it.  I am VERY happy with the results.  Never in my life have I been able to hop out of the shower, brush my hair, and go.  If I did, I ended up with a wavy, frizzy, poofy mess.

Yesterday (after not being able to wash my hair for 72 hours - gross!) I washed my hair, hopped out of the shower, brushed my hair, and went.  And you know what?  It came out great!  It wasn't frizzy, poofy, or the least bit wavy.  Below is a picture of what it looked like after it dried.  It's a miracle!

Although today itself isn't such a great day, great days are just around the corner!  Hold on tight, this deployment rollercoaster is almost over!

I'm Alive!

I thought about posting a new blog post about a week ago, but I was not in the best frame of mind at the time.  I was under the impression that I would die before this deployment ended.  We are definitely in the home stretch now, but the days were dragging for awhile there.

I am happy to announce that everything is back on track now.  I have booked our flight and hotel for Vegas!!! Wooooo!  We will be staying at The Signature at MGM Grand in a one bedroom suite! I cannot wait, I'm so excited =D.  And it was very inexpensive (due to a promotion that reduced our room rate by 20%).  Sooo glad I put forth the effort to save a bunch of money during this deployment so we could have a nice block leave vacation.

Let's see.. What else?

Jack has worms =(.  I took him to the vet yesterday to get his annual shots and found out he has whipworms.  Not a good thing.  But not to worry, he has meds and heartworm prevention which will prevent him from getting worms after he's finished his medicine.

I have a lot to do before DH comes home.  I need to tan (yes I actually have to put forth effort to make this happen), find a nice top for homecoming, buy heels to go with my birthday dress and my cocktail dress for DH and I's fancy dinner in Vegas, workout (somehow I'll manage this despite my ruptured disc), and get my hair done.

Which reminds me… I booked my Japanese Straightening for July 16 with the owner of Lee's Salon, and I'm having my hair highlighted/ lowlighted at the same salon on July 30.  Super excited!

Oh and I have started a new series.  As I have mentioned before, I am a HUGE fan of Karen Marie Moning's Fever Series and of Karen Marie Moning herself.  I have even joined her message board to find other KMM fans such as myself.

Through their recommendations, I have found Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniel Series.  It is such a great series.  From every review I've read, the first book Magic Bites, was the slowest of all of the books throughout the series.  It has been unanimous among readers that the series continues to get better and better with each book.

Since I read Magic Bites and enjoyed it, I'm excited to read the rest of the books.  It is similar to KMM's Fever Series in that it is Urban Fantasy and the dynamic between the Hero and Heroine is amazing!  I cannot wait to see how their relationship (which is more of a tolerate/hate relationship at the moment) progresses.

I'm very happy to find another series/author that really knows how to bring realism to a fictional relationship, and create characters that readers can fall in love with.  That is what made KMM's Fever Series phenomenal.

Hello April!

One more month down in this awful deployment.  For some reason, March decided to take its sweet time moving along.  However, I am happy to announce that I am still alive and chugging along.

A lot happened in DH's world as well as mine and March just wasn't that great of a month, but it's in the past so let's move on shall we?

School is going well.  This is officially the last month of school!  W00t!!

Physical therapy is going ok.  It's not offering me the relief I thought it would.  It's looking like surgery is becoming more and more a possibility.  The good news is, physical therapy has taught me spine-safe exercises and postures that I can use for the rest of my life.

The rest of this deployment (which continues to shrink as we speak) is carefully marked with things to help speed the remaining time along.

April:  My friends' homecoming for their husbands.  This is exciting for them, but I'll definitely be attending the homecoming ceremony to offer emotional support and just enjoy being in a room full of love.  This is also the last month of school.  Less than 3 assignments per class left!

May:  I'll be going to Texas with my friends on their block leave.  This should be exciting since I'm going with one of my best friends and I've never been to Texas.  I may have mentioned this before, but I plan on moving their when DH ETSs so it would be nice to see the area I plan on moving to =P.

June:  My Texas trip will last until the end of May and then June will be only a week away.  I'll be going to my mom's house and my dad will be visiting sometime this month.  I haven't seen him in 4 years so that is very exciting!  I'll also be getting my hair done, nails done, etc for DH's homecoming =D!!

July:  The last month of deployment!!  Need I say more?

When I list the months like that, it doesn't seem so bad.  If April hurries along, I'll be happy.  In fact, if April, May, and June hurry along, I'll be even happier.

Hello 2011, Goodbye 2010

So I found out from two different sources that DH will be coming home a month early.  It was actually in writing that the date had moved up.  Yayyy!!!!  This is fantastic news.  I really hope it's true.

Sooo this means DOM has moved up from 41% to 45%.  In 2 weeks I'll be at 50%. Weeee!!!

I also received news that a bunch of guys are going to NY and Vegas with us for block leave.  The more the merrier!  I have a feeling this year is going to be great!

Bring it on 2011!!!

And the Planning Continues

So I love to plan.  I love to research what I'm planning, I love organizing my plans, and I love thinking about my plans.  I love to plan.  So my newest research project has consisted of DH and I's post-deployment block leave vacation.  We know that we want to go to NJ to see his family and friends, but we weren't sure what we wanted to do for the other week (we're taking 2 weeks off).

And here is where I come in!  We were supposed to go to Vegas with our friends, but since they are going to have a baby by then (Yay!) they can't go =( .  So I had considered taking a cruise instead.  DH and I took a pre-deployment cruise which was pretty fun.  My only real complaint was that there wasn't too much to do during the day and the ports didn't have real beaches (we went to South America) which is what I was looking forward to.  So for this cruise I knew that I wanted it to be a little shorter so that we didn't get bored, and that I wanted to go to either Alaska or the Caribbean.  Unfortunately, the cruises available in our expected block leave timeline were not very appealing.  They were either too long, went to places we didn't want to go to, or the ship did not have the luxuries I wanted for our vacation. Soooo… That's why we're going to Vegas lol.

After researching various hotels, restaurants, casinos, promotions, etc I have decided that this is our best option.  After using different promotion codes and combining our flight with our hotel reservation, the price will be right about the same as a cruise would have been.  This price includes our hotel, food, shows, gambling (which I am providing a large portion of our budget for =P ), and flight.  If you're curious as to how much I am anticipating this to cost, the answer is roughly $2,500.  I don't know if that's a good price or not, but like I said, a large portion of that is for gambling anyway.

I am really excited about this trip.  DH and I love to play poker and roulette (roulette is more my game, poker is more his) so this will be really fun for us.  I am also looking forward to having a nice hotel room for our relaxation time.  Our room on the cruise was veryyy small and I hadn't realized how much a room can really affect the overall mood.  The shower wasn't very big (if you catch my drift *ahem*), and we didn't have a lot of space to move or anything so I am really looking forward to living in luxury for a few days.  We'll also be able to choose which shows we see, choose where we eat, and walk around the strip if we want to.

Side Note: Those of you who love cruises or are looking forward to going on a cruise, please don't think that cruises aren't fun or that I don't enjoy them.  They definitely are and you get A LOT for your money.  It's just that for what DH and I want for our vacation, Vegas suits us a little better.


Yes I know I am getting way ahead of myself here, but like I said, I love to plan.  This gives me something to look forward to and keep my mind occupied for awhile while I wait for DH to return.  I think I'm going to use this trip as not only a "Welcome Home" trip, but also as a birthday present for DH and I.  Block leave will be shortly after my 21st birthday and DH's 22nd birthday is only 2 weeks after mine.  He didn't get a 21st birthday since he spent his in Afghanistan so this will be a joint 21st birthday celebration for us.

I am super excited for Summer.  I'm turning 21, DH is coming home, we're going to NJ to visit his family and friends, and we're going to Vegas!! W00t!

But first, I have to get through the rest of 2010 and Winter =P

2011 Here I Come!

I don't know what happened, but I woke up in such a good mood today.  I'm feeling super optimistic about everything and I can't wait for next year.  There are so many things to look forward to..

1.  January - Beginning of new semester of college and DOM is at 50%
2.  February - Valentine's Day, and day 200 of this deployment (3 days after V Day).
3.  March - Spring break and possibly my friend's homecoming for her hubby.
4.  April - End of first year of college.
5.  May - Beginning of Summer and DOM is at 75% !!!
6.  June, July, August - Summer <3 and the end of this deployment!!!

So as you can see, I have clearly marked off the majority of next year.  Ok maybe I just marked off the months leading to the end of this deployment, but those are the only months I need to worry about lol.  Yes my friends, I do believe next year is going to fly by.  I can't believe I'll be at 50% in almost one month!  One more semester to go and it'll all be downhill from there <3