The Newlywed Adventures

MIA

2010-08-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry for how long it has been... 7 weeks ago I gave birth to the most gorgeous baby ever, and have been otherwise engaged!

7/7/2010 Amory Jane Vargo 8lb. 3 oz 22.5" 3:05 am. She has been keeping me busy ever since...

Crazy Week

2010-02-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

So last Sunday (superbowl Sun) after going to two parties and falling asleep watching the game (I only watch for commercials anyhow) I went home to sleep. At around 1:00 AM I was feeling my heart slow down and my jaw was hurting really bad- feeling totally strange I took a trip to the Army ER. I got an echo gram after they thought they heard a murmer but assured me that all was well. They sent me home with a few items for my cold and that was all.

Since then I've talked to my aunt who had the same thing during pregnancy and ended up having 3 of her valves leaking which she discovered while pregnant- so needless to say I'm going to be talking to my doctor about this on Thursday. I am pretty worried about it, but mostly just because I keep passing out in public.

Also, the OB ER doctor is going to talk to my doctor about upping my due date since my ultrasound is measuring over a week early- we'll see if she does. If so my new due date will be 6.25.2010, so we'll see! Below is my 19 OR 20 week picture, depending on who you ask. :)

In other, much more exciting news I got approved for the house that I want this week. We get to work out the lease details on Wednesday, but a picture of it is below. I am a little worried about paying more than we are paying for our apartment but it will be nice to have the extra room (especially with a new family member) and a back yard to let Zooey out in! I know she would like to just run all the time- and this will allow her to, I haven't been a great mom to her lately since I've been so sick and tired!

So you can see in this picture what my apartments look like... but thats not what I'm having you look at. This picture was taken of Zooey outside at about 11 AM... you can see a few flakes of snow falling (yes, in GA/AL!)

3 hours later check it out! I was rather skeptical when they were crying for snow the night before (even cancelled schools)- I wish it had been this easy up North to get a snow day... overall it was probably less than an inch and it all melted the next day, but it was still cool (cold).

Today was Valentines day- I got a lot of great presents from Zak throughout the week... gorgeous flowers delivered, a very personal and sweet card he had made, a gerber (yes the pocket knife like thing, I actually wanted one), the movie Love, Actually and the new Super Mario Bros. for the Wii!! We don't usually do much for Valentines and have never been able to be together for one (snowed in twice, he was in AIT training for another and this one he's in Iraq) so this was extra sweet. Its sad but his being so nice makes it even harder to be away from him... *sigh* I'm doing well though. Its nice to have a baby to distract me and keep me happy and focused!

Things are more real every day with Amory- she's kicking me now and I'm getting big enough people are touching my belly and know I am pregnant in public =). It is increasingly hard to sleep through the night since I am never comfortable and constantly wake up... but I'm working on it. Overall, despite all my medical mishaps I'm really loving it.

Bed!!

4 Months Pregnant

2010-01-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

This week is the 16th week of my pregnancy and the four month mark has been hit! The bump is definitely there and I have heard that I will start feeling her (yes her!) kicking soon. I am so excited. We had a 3D appointment last week to determine sex and it was probably one of the neatest experiences I have ever encountered.

We found out that we were having a girl, which we will be naming Amory Jane Vargo- a name we've had picked for a while... at least the first name. We got a DVD of the ultrasound and I was able to send that to Zak, so now I am just waiting for him to get it so he can be as blown away as I was- though, being a man, he may not care as much. =) He has been amazing for this whole thing; keeping up with the weekly update emails, asking me how I'm doing, and just being amazingly supportive (he bought Baby Einstein dvds online and shipped them home to me already)- I'm very lucky to have the husband that I do.

She still looks a lot like an alien at 15 weeks.

I have spent many days this week hanging out with the girls at meetups, going to lunches, etc.. keeping busy. Overall I have been having a pretty good time, and look forward to the weeks to come- now that I'm only getting sick once a week its nice to get out of the house and enjoy myself. Not to mention Georgia in January has fabulous 60+ degree weather!

Thanks for reading!

Sweet Home Alabama

2010-01-07T06:58:00.000-08:00

Driving here from Ohio I was dreaming of warm weather... spring like weather, I was wrong. While not as cold (snowing) as Ohio my dearest Alabama/Georgia is still a good 25 degrees at the coldest... brrrrrr.

The drive back was mostly uneventful. I had a good friend help me drive and we flew her out two days later back to the land of snow. While it is nice to be home, I got used to being around people/family all the time and the adjustment to being alone again was a little tough (not to mention I am pregnant and emotional). Here I am, back home, and sick as a dog- not from a cold, just still pregnancy sick.

I really thought that when you hit the second trimester this getting sick thing would miraculously dissappear- I have read that in most online sites as well as in books, I am a little dissapointed that wasn't the rule for me. We will see though, according to my doctor I am one day ahead of what I thought so today I am 14 weeks and 2 days, instead of 14 and 1. I hope it dissapears by 15!

On a better note I finally got to meet my doctor yesterday and had my first real appointment. Since we didn't know exactly how far along I was we got to do a "mini" ultrasound and I got to see the baby!! It was pretty much one of the best experiences I've had- he/she had hiccups and was bouncing around... you could see the little heart beating, it was just incredible. My next appointment is in 2 weeks and a day and I can't wait! This baby thing really gives me something to look forward to while Zak is gone, I am really loving it. :)

Mele Kelikimaka

2009-12-25T11:14:00.000-08:00

Aloha, and as the hawaiians say "Mele Kelikimaka" or Merry Christmas... there is a cute Christmas jingle that goes along with this that I get stuck in my head every time I hear these words.

So far it has been a great visit in Hawaii, though I haven't had a chance to do as much as I would normally like to do visiting a place like this (go see volcanoes, scuba/snorkel, surf, etc). We spent the first week relaxing during the day while Jane worked, and in the evening we went around and saw some sights. One of these evenings we sat at Jane's old home on the beach and watched the sun go down- that night I saw whales in the wild for the first time... jumping and breaching... it was absolutely amazing. It is so beautiful here, but it certainly doesn't feel like winter!

This past weekend we went to a beautiful resort hotel about 40 minutes away up the coast. We got an amazing deal for being "Kama Ina" (sp?) which means "of the island" or that my aunt lives here. That first night was my 21st birthday, and although because of my pregnancy I couldn't celebrate in the way a normal 21 year old would I ordered the drinks for the others and enjoyed dinner. That night we saw hula dancers and later on went to the Cirque Du Soleil Polenisian show, it was quite good. The next day we went to a "sing along messiah" of Christmas songs- I wasn't feeling wonderful, but it was a unique experience.

Jane and I went swimming in the ocean a few times... its amazing that the water here is like bathwater- lukewarm. The second time we went to go swimming on a totally different coast we waded in and it was colder and the water looked murkey, we decided to walk further down the beach- Boy am I glad we didn't go in! Although there were a bunch of people out windsurfing and Stand Paddling Jane and I saw a shark... I thought it was washing up and dead since it was right up where we were walking through the surf but in about 5 minutes it had dissapeared and we assumed swam away. It was probably 4 feet long and I really wanted to touch it. =P

We also went and saw the "big waves" in the area they call Jaws. They weren't as large as I was expecting, only about 15-20 feet all, but today (Christmas) they are supposed to be over 40 feet in height! We may go drive down later and see them, it was amazing to watch- and I saw a wild Sea Turtle!!

Overall this trip has been amazing and its crazy how many people my Great Aunt knows- we met someone new every place we went, including the Mayor and her girlfriend! Obama and his family are on the island today, but I don't think we'll be running into them.

Aloha everyone! I'll be returning to "mainland" soon. =)

Big News!

2009-12-05T06:49:00.001-08:00

Hey All,

Sorry about how long it took me to write another blog- SO much has happened. So as you all know Zak deployed to Iraq... and that was around the time of my last blog (its hard to be inspired when you are sad). It actually hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I have defintiely kept busy in the following weeks- I became and Assitant Organizer of an Army Wives meetup group, have spent HOURS working for http://www.tradingphrases.com/ with the holidays coming up, and found out.... I'm pregnant.

Yes, two weeks after Zak left (about my 4 weeks) I took the test and found out I was indeed pregnant. Now, I have always been the type of person that has dreamed of the marriage and children- but this came as a complete suprise. I was a little upset with the timing since Zak had just deployed and would be gone for a year and miss everything- but I got over my fears and am now very excited and very sick!

I will start posting about my pregnancy more often to give you guys all updates... right now I am 9 weeks pregnant and can barely keep food down. I bought my first pair of maternity pants this week and am getting used to the whole there is a leech inside of me feeling.

Everyone always wants to know what my husband, Zak thinks about it all- to sum it up he is excited and talking about what sports they will play and baby names... his reaction was very similar to mine in the beginning, however. =) He is bummed that he is missing the whole process, but just got permission to be here for the birth (7/7/10 according to the doctor) so he is happy for that. I am keeping him as updated as possible... believe me, he knows every time I get sick. Ha!

Other than that things with the business are really picking up- due to the holidays everyone wants designs NOW so I am juggling bathroom runs, eating 10 meals a day (so I don't get sick, though most of the time I do anyhow), and over 100 emails a day from TradingPhrases customers with questions or custom quote designs. Its kept me busy!

For the Holidays I have come up to Ohio (where I'm kinda from... sorta) to be with family for a few weeks before tooling off to Hawaii (more family, but awesome location!!) and coming back after Christmas. I will be back home in Georgia probably the first week of January.

Bathroom run! Cya!

Not Creative Enough For A Witty Title

2009-10-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

So my title basically describes my mood tonight.. I'm not sad or upset or really happy- I'm just sort of blah tonight. I haven't heard from Zak in a few days... which I expected, but its dragging me down a bit. I'm just blah.

I was sick ALL week- I never ever ever go to the doctor when I'm sick... I always just get better eventually and kick it all under the rug... I went to the doctor on Thursday. I was that sick... I had a pretty bad flu- it very well coudl've been the swine flu, apparently they treat for it the same way as any flu and gave me medicine. I felt better the next day so I didn't take it... I'm still coughing and such, but not throwing up with a fever and all that. I think I may have scared my Grandma when I told her there was a small possibility of having the swine- I got a call later that day. :P

It was an insanely busy week(end) other than that. I did so much stuff this week with my army wives meetup group! We did a *sexy* photo shoot for our deployed husbands (totally out of character for me, but I think it went well!!), we had our Halloween Party Planning meeting where we worked on stuff for several hours, carved pumpkins, watched scary movies, went to dinner... etc. It was easy to forget I was alone this weekend- because I wasn't. That was really really wonderful.

I have several things I have to do this week as well- so I may be absentee for a while (though I really shouldn't say that because its not like I post religiously anyhow)... so don't miss me too much!

Oh! And I got a haircut... it was about an inch more than I wanted and I hate it, but everyone else seems to like it... and its just hair. :) This is it before.. when it was cute and manageable.

I Just Wanna Be... I Just Wanna Be Successful

2009-10-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

This song is SO stuck in my head right now. So the big news and the reason I haven't blogged in ages is that Zak left. Yes, he is gone. I am dealing- and its probably better that you do NOT ask me about it... it just reminds me to think about it in the few minutes a day when I don't. I will tell you that it is hard- a lot harder than I had anticipated, but I am dealing.

I am hoping in this time to make some radical changes in my life, as I believe I mentioned. I started my diet/workout regimen this morning and hope I have the will to continue. I know starting it right before the holidays is an AWFUL idea, but I hope to keep up with very few fall throughs. I totally still intend on stuffing myself this Thanksgiving... but will try to avoid Halloween candy.

Today I was fairly productive, which was nice. I got the oil changed in my car, tired rotated and filled, bought blocks for my upcoming vinyl party through http://www.tradingphrases.com, which should be fun.... I'll update with details in a future blog, did lunch at Panera and went to Target. I also worked out this morning, and did a work out video this evening. :)

Oh, and if you tried calling me recently my phone was bust- for some reason it randomly decided to stop charging and eventually the battery died (the day Zak left, great timing much?) when I took it to AT&T they told me to send it to apple, and they would activate my old, ghetto, one in the meantime... but their system was down so I had to wait an extra day. 3 days without a phone, I felt like I was in the dark ages... especially with Zak being gone.

Alright, enough for tonight, back to my Saturday Night Live! :)

Goals

2009-09-28T19:58:00.001-07:00

I can't sleep.

Zak had a four day weekend this week and it has been so nice the only problem now is that it is hard getting back into the swing of things. Where it is very easy for him to resume his 9:00 curfew and 4:30 wake up it is not easy for me. I don't think I went to bed before 2 the last four days, and sleeping in has been SO nice- he is currently happily snoozing while I got up out of bed (what is the point if I am just laying there?) to write this.

The animals seem just as inclined as I am to stay awake, I just took Zoey on a night time stroll and the cats are happily snuggled against me here on the couch. I guess this is a taste of what is to come in the following year- me and the pets.

I forgot to include a picture of Zoey in the last post- here she is with her wonky haircut. =P

I have decided that I am going to set a lot of goals for myself while Zak is gone. I really debated putting them on here knowing my tendency to fall through on things- and I didn't want my lovely readers to think any less of me... however, maybe you all knowing my goals and me writing about them will help me make it happen! So here they are, my goals:

As I figure it I have 12-15 months to do the following:

$$ Money $$
1. Pay down Zak's student loans to less than $5k, they are currently at around 9.
2. Pay down my student loans as much as possible... they will come second to Zak's right now.
3. Pay down the car as much as possible, or keep up the "paying more per month" thing that we have going on currently (car payment= $290/mo. we pay= $350).
4. Put money in savings- I want at least $1k as emergency.
5. Put money into some sort of stock/mutual fund/ etc. to start earning some back (ask dad for help on this!)

**Personal**
1. Lose 25+ lbs. This is the biggest goal I am setting for myself, the one I really want to accomplish. I continuously say I will lose weight but usually fall through- I want to look totally different when Zak comes home. :)
2. Learn a healthy lifestyle/recipes- this goes along with the other, but I would like to implement it when he is home and know how to eat and what to eat.
3. Keep the house and car tidy (notice I did not say clean), I am a packrat and a sloppy one sometimes at that... I would like to realize my habits (throwing clothes on the floor) and boot them!
4. Blog at least once a week! Yeahhh this is for you guys.. and also for me, I think while Zak is gone this will be a good outlet.
5. Take the dog out for a jog every other day (maybe it will increase as I become halfway decent at jogging/running). She deserves it, and I could use the extra help.

~~Random~~
1. Make sure I get the car all the checkups/updates that it needs: transmission system, tires, brakes, etc. We need to keep this car a long time, it needs to last.
2. Find a house- by the time Zak gets home I would love to have a house picked out.. apartment living just isn't for me- I want a yard, a garden, and the ability to PAINT and personalize. :)
3. Learn to sew/quilt. Yes, craft-goddess I am not, but I love the quilt my grandmother made me and I would love to lean the craft. I doubt I will master it, but just having the ability- hey, to even be able to sew buttons back on would be saweet.
4. Take a trip home to Boise.. this goes without needing a description.
5. Get a checkup at the doctor. Notice- bottom of the list? I hate doctor visits, hate hate hate... I know I will need one sometime in the year, so I am adding it so that I do not forget. Yes, its a goal.

Zak deploys soon, then its READY SET GO!

Drumroll

2009-09-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

So I realize that I have been a massive slacker when it comes to keeping up with my blogs- at least weekly like I said I would... and I'm sorry. Of course I have been busy.. which I say every time. The truth is, I could probably take 20 minutes a day and write a blog any day of the week, I just choose to do other things :)

Lets begin the update:
Zak got his orders, according to them he leaves in October- but these could change any moment. We went to a deployment briefing the other night, they will spend over a year there... likely staying until January of 2011, I seriously, highly, totally, doubt that they will deploy him for less than a year. Saying that- I would love to be pleasantly surprised. I suppose my pessimism may help me out in this one- you can't be dissapointed when expecting the worst right?
Actually, I'm not expecting the worst.. that would be him not returning at all, something I am desperately trying to push to the furthest crevices of my mind.

After the briefing here is how our conversation went (stupid Zak)..
Me: "Wow, they said that only 5% of the guys deploying to Iraq would see any sort of action at all, the rest just stay on the FOB."
Zak: Yeah, I'm with CSD- that 5% is my unit.
Me: "Oh... so you are the 5% out there fighting?"
Zak: Yeah basically. But hey, the death toll is way down in Iraq, its something like 1 out of every 200 guys or something.
Me: "your unit is only about 30 guys... wouldn't that be like 1/200th of 3rd ID who is going to Iraq"
Zak: yeah, I guess you are right
Me: "So you are saying you guys have a pretty high chance of dying??"
Zak: Well, only getting blown up.

Greaaattttt. Thanks for easing my mind Mr. Vargo.

Next news!
We got a puppy!! We have this awful habit of going to Petsmart every weekend (Sat and Sun between 12-3) while they have all the animals on display. Every weekend I fall in love with an animal or another and beg Zak to take it home.. every week he vehimently denies me and I see reason. The weekend before last Zak failed me- there was this adorable husky there looking so forlorn that I couldn't resist running up to her kennel and shoving my hands through the squares to give her some much-deserved-lovin'. While I'm down here crooning Zak decides he likes the dog too and asks me "want her?" Uhhh YES. I am hopelessly in love with the Husky breed (think back to Henry) and this poor dog looks SO distraught.

With Zak's permission I get her info: they found her wandering a week ago, skinny as hell, her fur matted down to the skin, scared of her own shadow... they shaved her (rediculously), gave her the shots she needed and took care of her on a foster farm for a week until bringing her here. Now, when I say this dog was forlorn, she was sitting in the Kennel as far back as she could get, and even while I was petting her she didn't move. I got them to let me take her on a walk and she wouldnt' leave the kennel, when we carried her outside she wouldn't move a centimeter from me. I couldn't let this dog go to just anyone... she was mine.

We took her home, she was very unlike our last husky in that she was very calm. They said she was 2 years old but it is COMPLETELY obvious that she is no more than 6 months old- they are f-ing idiots. The first day she was really skiddish, the won't go on linoleum, concrete, near doorways, etc. and she just laid in her dog bed. The foster thought she had been abused, I agree.. poor thing.

So far we have gotten her over he fears of doorways, concrete (most), and linoleum... she is totally hyper now, running all over everything. :P I'm really happy.

New update 3:
we had a party at our house last weekend, it was a lot of fun and Zak got to meet some more of my friends. We bought way too much food and had to have another cookout last night (wed.) to get rid of the rest of it. Everyone had a lot of fun, and one guy even jumped out of the car with his wife to come back to the party (lol).

Nothing else really that exciting has gone on, so I'll leave it at that. Adieu.

Just Quickly

2009-09-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Because I am a slacker and have been SO SUPER-DUPER busy lately... quick update:

Zak's aforementioned friend... wrecks car, comes to house bloody (2), angry drunk... he pooped all over our guest room (and by all over... walls, floor, table, bed, door, bathroom, counter, cabinets............) and we spent two days cleaning. I am still disgusted but apparently its clean enough that no one can tell (except the massive stain!)- I can tell.

Planning a Halloween party with my meetup group...

Having a get together/vinyl party on the 19th, preparing for that.

Got back from our second trip to Ohio- not sure I blogged about that yet?

Working lots of hours and getting stuff done. I added a TON of new designs to our Halloween category on the site- okay, so I completely made the Halloween catergory... you should order some and make me fell good!! http://www.tradingphrases.com/category_47/Halloween.htm

Will update later with more in-depth blogs. Too busy now, maybe after Zak is gone? But then what will I talk about...? Haha.

Blog Blog Blog

2009-08-19T18:35:00.000-07:00

Life has been so chaotic lately... oodles of work (of course) and the harsh reality that Zak is leaving is closing in faster and faster.

Last night he had to pack his bags.... thats when it hit, damn, this is really happening... 12, no, 15 months likely he is going to be gone- thats going to be insanely hard. Increasingly, I have noticed, I am becoming an introvert, so maybe it won't be as hard as I think. I used to hate time alone, hate being by myself... couldn't go anywhere (especially stores) alone; now I am good with all of that, its still not as fun, but I can do it. If you had asked me 3 years ago if I could be in a long distance relationship I would've said Hell No! I am assuming I can handle it now, not that I won't need people around- visiting of course! *hint, hint*

We are *crosses fingers* coming home this weekend... that would be lovely. I am looking forward to it.

I found a baby kitty in the McDonalds (by my house) parking lot... the thing was SO skinny- you could see every bone and there were patches of hair missing, it couldn't be more than 3 months old- my heart broke looking at it. My assistant and I gave it a can of wet food, and it ate it... we are trying to figure out how to get to it without scaring it (and if it has bugs or some disease not infecting my kitties or her doggies with it), I cannot stand to see animals suffer. For now we are simply going where it is daily and giving it food. I hope it can fatten up a bit. Poor thing.

I made zucchini bread yesterday- but added too much baking soda, so now it tastes like that; bummer! I can't wait to try again, I love zucchini bread! :)

Night all,
loves loves loves

I've Been Away

2009-08-10T15:42:00.001-07:00

I have been rather busy lately (though, aren't I always?) And haven't had too much time to blog as of late, I'm sorry. I'll do a quick recap of events that have happened since Ohio...

Zak's Army friend that had the drunken accident with his car got locked out of his house and broke his window trying to get in... then walked to my house, bloody, because he had a massive FAIL (yeah, this guy is awesome lol). He's a good guy- really funny, but he gets into all these silly pickles when he drinks...

Cleaned my house! I know thats not something most of you would blog about... but being as busy as I am, it was really nice to get the place cleaned- toilets scrubbed, floors vaccuumed, etc. Unfortunately I also realized when doing this that my wonderful ex-roomates also destroyed my carpet shampooer and it no longer works. *sigh*.

We got a washer & dryer... and a nice set at that! They are SO cute and red, and they SING to us when the load is done... this cute little buzzing jingle, its quite adorable, I think I am in love. <3 never fear, Zak got his very own toy as well- and we paid down his student loans a bit.

I am attempting to get registered for school, and it isn't cooperating with me *double sigh* hopefully that all works out.

Vinyl has been INTENSE lately, lots of orders, thankfully I think we have a system worked out where it will be better- and now I have a helper!! A wonderful girl that I met on meetup, Katie, comes over daily to help me with vinyl- I can't even explain how amazing it is to have a helper. :):) *grins* it sure makes my life a lot easier.

Other than that- nothing really going on.... just spending a lot of much needed R&R time with my darling husband. :)

Thanks for checking in! Pictures... soon- I know I always promise, but they are coming... they are.

Back in the Land of Humidity and Big Bugs

2009-07-29T22:07:00.000-07:00

So I made it home- I narrowly escaped my lease in Ohio... well, almost- but lets not dwell on that- the knots in my neck and back from that event are slowly dissapearing and I am hoping the whole event just fades away soon.

The drive wasn't awful, the cats are getting better with travel and I didn't really start getting sleepy until I picked up one of Zak's friends who was quite chatty and wanted to play some bad, slow music... like gospel music, which- I don't care if others listen to, its just not my thing when I've been driving 11 hours and my music is already playing in the car... to blast yours OVER mine when its not music I even enjoy... when I am doing you a big favor by driving you the last two hours home, I postponed my trip just for you. *sigh* Lets not dwell on the bad.

I came home and since then the weather has been.. decent, not wonderful, but not insatiably hot like I assumed it would be. I am enjoying being home... being here alone has been nice, some time to myself, catching up on things that need to be done (like me watching shows on my laptop) and just relaxing- I need the break.

I am dreading tomorrow... tomorrow I have to go back to work. It shouldn't be a bad day, judging by the amount of orders today- but still, its work. I totally funked up my sleep schedule with the drive (arriving home at 4, killing spiders that creeped their way into my place while I was gone until 5 before finally falling into a complete exhaustion sleep)... now I can't sleep before 4, and I wake up at 10- thats still 6 hours though, so I'm good.

I had a girl come learn the ropes of the business today- I have high hopes. :)

Sorry for the sporatic blogs, I promise to start doing better... for now my days are consumed with work, errands, and waiting for my darling husband to find out what day he can come home.

Maybe I'll get to sleep early tonight, I'm hoping... though its already 1:20.

Ohio is Nearing an End

2009-07-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

This will be my last weekend in Ohio for a while- I plan on leaving either Thursday or Friday (probably Friday) to head home before the darling husband of mine returns home. Before switching his unit (I will explain later) he knew he would be coming home on the 26th, and now he isn't so sure so I will head home probably the 24th and try to beat him- chances are he won't be home until the 29th or so.

Okay, so his unit change... I'm not sure I covered this yet or not- but it is certainly a bloggable topic! Zak, since coming to Benning, has been in 3rd ID, unit 1/15 Headquarters Medic unit; well, in the first week of NTC (his training for Iraq in the Moavi desert in Californai for a month) he was chosen to be one of 3 personal medics for a head-hauncho in the Army! I guess Zak is going to be the personal medic for the Brigade Sergent Commander- bascially the guy who oversees all of the units in Iraq and goes inbetween them making sure everything is running smoothly- mucho importante dude.

When Zak told me about this he was excited and sad- 1. he wouldn't be with his unit anymore, who he has really grown to know and love (army guys at our house every weekend) and would be with all new people, many who are a lot more experienced. 2. he was hand picked for this, so its quite an honor! His sergents made it seem like a wonderful career move, and a lot more exciting than sitting around in a civilian hospital (which was his original assignment). 3. This is a LOT more dangerous! This guy basically has a big target drawn on his forehead and Zak has to ride around with him travelling quite a bit- which is the most common way people die out there, IED's (bombs on/in things on the road, completely hidden).

So I am freaked out a bit- okay, a lot.. but I have faith in him, and I know he will be amazing. He was told he is essentially "a human life-vest" for this guy, so if someone shoots not only will Zak need to heal everyone (being the medic) but he will also need to dive in front of this man and literally protect him with his life- Yay, so loving the Army right now... not.

*sigh* this is completley not what I meant to talk about in this blog haha.

~~~ Back to Ohio ~~~
Things are rather un-eventful here. We went down to IKEA in Cincinnati the other day, which was a nice little trip, and got some stuff for the business- we later came home and re-did the whole layout of the main floor of my parents house... we essentially turned it from house to business- the livingroom hosts our "weeding" table, desk, computer, excess vinyl, etc. The dining room hosts the cutter, taping table, more vinyl, postage table/station, and tubes. *sigh* So much for containing everything!

I don't know if I have mentioned that we went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter or not- if so this will be a *very* short recap.. it was amazing!! :):) I love Harry Potter, and they did a great job on this movie- yes, they left things out... but you have to given the size of the books and the time that the movie needs to fit within. The theatre did a great job of hiring actors to walk around (we saw Snape [unfortunately no mad eye moody like last year] Luna Lovegood, Madame Pomfrey, etc.etc.etc.) and it was very cool! They had stamps they gave you, prizes thrown out, a tea leaf reading... etc. I was impressed, they went above and beyond last years- which was hard to do!

Lets see, what else have we done thats new and exciting? Well, I got a new computer- I know I've mentioned that... but we dropped it off at the apple store and they transferred all my files from this beastie onto it, so that helped- I also went to a BBQ at my friend Katie's house where I got a little snockered (I know this is a word, back me up! Zak things I am making up things...) and got to play with a Husky-- I miss mine SOOOO bad and playing with this one really made me want one... so now, if one just so happens to fall in my lap I will not refuse it (aka keep your eyes and ears open because I am on the hunt, anyone know of a rescue in GA?)!

The weather here has been fantastic- the hottest day was around 85, and it has been nice, cool, and somedays rainy... I am not looking forward to going back to the Georgia area, I have seen a few days of weather there and am not envious. I am happy that Zak will have two weeks off here soon and I will be able to come back to Ohio and enjoy some time here with him- it really seems to be about 200% more fun that way! :)

Thats all for tonight lovies!

Ohio Happenings

2009-07-13T18:03:00.000-07:00

So not a lot is going on up here in the Grand-'Ol state of Ohio... at least not for me. Weekend recap? Sure!

Friday I took my friend Eric Boso to an interview... actually, we were supposed to go to an interview, but it was cancelled- so we went to lunch instead. We went to Cosi where I used to work and I got all sorts of juicy gossip that I have been missing out on! Woohoo! Well, he ate there, I went next door to Jimmy Johns because I just don't think I can ever put Cosi in my mouth again... that restaurant for two years, I think anyone would be sick of it...

Afterwards we went downtown and had Jenni's Ice Cream- for those of you who have never tried the splendiforous chain (or is it? It may only be in Columbus, they have 3 stores here) they are an ice cream shop that specializes in off-the-wall icecream, flavors such as: salty caramel, sweet corn & rasperry, cayanne chocolate and my ALL TIME favorite wildberry lavendar (mmmmm!!!) I enjoyed my ice cream mightily while Mr. Boso flirted with "Rae" the ice-cream shop diva.

Left there-dropped off Eric-Joined dad, mom, and co-workers for drinks at the British Pub... I had sweet tea. Let me just tell you how BORING people who work with computers are when they all get together and discuss work. Wowza- good thing I have my trusty iphone with me at all times to distract me from such pitterpotter as "servers" and insane acronyms that I can't follow (and I thought the Army was bad!).

We later went to the taste of worthington- which I believe I may have already blogged about, YAY for jumping out of chronological order! ~~~ Next day: Saturday. Pretty much worked all day (nothing new here) and then went to my good friend Katie's new house in the P.M. for some dinner provided by her wonderful father [insert tall, grizzly man Mr. E] with home-made donuts DELISH! I was there until almost midnight hanging out with Katie and her NOW FIANCE Mike... yes, they got engaged... picture me jumping up and down in joy- I didn't actually do this, but mentally, its happened.

~~~Sunday: Pretty low key- lots of work (maybe I should just omit work from now on, since its pretty much assumed now) and a little relaxing. The parents and I went to go and tour some model homes (we are sneaky... we "tour" the homes with a camera so we can get blank wall pictures for our designs- its genious! and fun... :)) we also did some wine tasting and relaxing, it was a good day, overall.

Today is Monday and it has pretty much been all of the 'assumed' stuff from the previous paragraph. I took Mr. Boso to his actual interview today and hung out for an hour in the car waiting for him to be through, once again: thank god for trusty iphone! :) I had a massive amount of custom orders//emails today so I have been sitting on my rump all day with a computer on my lap- about time I put it to some good use for a blog, yes? I thought so too... so here you are, graced with my words. Ha.

Tomorrow night is the midnight showing of Harry Potter, so I highly doubt I will be blogging, I may even dress up! I got a decent group of 9 people going- so it should be a good time (okay, so 5 of them are my family... they totally count!). Who else will be there? Raise of hands?

I'm Sorry

2009-07-10T18:43:00.001-07:00

My posts have been lacking lately and I would like to tell you all that it is because I am so busy- that would be lying... and what would be the point in blogging if you are going to lie? I have been busy, but probably not too busy to blog *sheepish grin* I set aside the time for a movie, a bit of Sims 3, and a novel... so I am not TOO busy for blogging, I simply prioritized other things before it.

On the other hand, working has plateued a bit, its not quite so busy.. but at the same time I am up here using my mom's equipment and her backwards way of doing things (so wrong!), I am not a good one with change and have found it difficult to work in the space the way that she has it set up... I am oh too comfy in my set-up at home. :)

Being in Ohio is nice, the weather is certainly better than it is in GA- and I am soaking up the 70 degrees of bliss... hardly any humidity!

An update from my last blog- Sara is alright, she spend two nights in Trauma at the hospital and is in a neck brace for 3 weeks, but has regained feeling and is moving around. I haven't seen her since then, but we fully intend on a meetup!

Tonight we enjoyed "A Taste Of Worthington" which is a great thing this community does every year where the local food vendors in our part of Columbus (worthington, the suburb of the city) get together and sell sample size pieces of their menu items all in one place with live music and festivities- its a great way to experience new cuisine and find restaurants that may interest you! This was my first year going where I didn't have to actually work in it, and I must say... I enjoyed it SO much more :P

Overall there isn't too much going on up here, I mostly work all day. In my downtime, however, it is really wonderful to catch up with my parents and brothers- just sitting and chatting with a glass of wine (or juice!) is really quite nice. Its so easy to fall back into the swing of things with your family, the conversations, the teasing, the picking-on.. it really shouldn't be this easy, it makes it that much harder to be away (most of the time). I love having my family around, and can't wait until the day that Zak and I have our own family right up here in Ohio (probably, TBD) with our extended families near by.... holidays and mayham galore! Oh goody! =P

O-H!! (I-O)

2009-07-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

Officially, I am in the land of the Buckeyes once agian... the drive was not nearly as bad as I had feared- I had the kitties constant meowing to keep me awake and alert during the drive. :P I managed to cut an entire hour off of my drive (yeah!) and got here in a record 9.5 hours... the only disasters to speak of were the annoying cats, smelly litter box, cat puke in my car (sigh) and the gas pump that didn't stop and overflowed all over my car as well as me (yay, headache!). It does feel good to be home, however.

I spent the first night going out to the cheesecake factory with my mom and Nick (brother, 16) and followed that with a party at a friend's house. I was in no mood to 'party' and just watched all of the reckless-underaged people that I know doing stupid things =P. It wasn't much longer after this that I had enough and went home to snooze the night away.

The following day my dear mum and I went shopping- I needed some things to keep me going with the business and I'm sure she was happy for the little trip outside. We started with OfficeMax, moving to BestBuy and then to EASTON! Woohoo! I forgot how much I truly miss a good mall- the mall down where we live now is just... lacking, it is mostly geared towards 'gangsters' in my mind and just sort of seems like a shady place to be- Easton is quite the opposite, and very enjoyable as far as places to hang out go... mom and I did lunch at Abuelos (my favorite mexican place, in Ohio that is... nothing tops Cafe O'le in Idaho!!), and two large margaritas later mom was set to go to the apple store. :P

Now I feel bad that she spent what she did, but when you think about it... everything was for the business- definitely things that we need. Regardless of the small change that it cost- I got a niiiiccceeee mac (24 inch display, perfect for designing and running several things at once) Yay!! We lugged the big box to the car in time for it to start raining and us needing to hasten our butts to go and pick up 'the shit' from the skatepark before he got drenched. :)

Making our way home we were entertained by the jolly 16-year-old skater crowd and enthused by their russian accents, views on the world, and general enjoyment of life (most of the time)... it was a fun little journey. After doing a little work Nick and I headed down to the BBQ that some friends of mine were having down by campus. It really was just a few friends (mark, sara, jake, garrett) and some hamburgers... later, when it started to get dark (and fireworks started to go off, this was the Fourth of July mind you) some geniouses decided to lay down plastic tarps and make a slip-n-slide with soap and the garden hose...

This would probably not be a bad idea had there been less alcohol. So my friend Sara (following the lead of Steve) decides to go on the slip-n-slide on her feet- running. She falls backward and hits her head... hard. When I see her curl up in a fetal position and start crying her husband and I run to her- she stops crying and won't respond to us... we rush her to the hospital (I leave poor Nick at the party not knowing anyone). After waking up, throwing up, passing out again, and once again waking up to her left foot and leg "tingling and unable to move" we finally get her into the hospital where they rush her through processing with a neck brace. A few more tests and an MRI later I have to go- my mom comes to pick me up so that she can take me to my car (and my poor, angry little brother... hey, I told him to come with me- he would rather stay at the party!)

Since this is turning into a long-novel-like blog I will leave it at this and follow up later with updates. :) I hope everyone had a great fourth!!

Slacker

2009-07-02T15:16:00.001-07:00

This week has been trying-
in my effort to get back into the groove of things after my trip to Oregon I am falling behind on a lot of my little stuff! Work has pretty much been insane.. I wake up early and work late... just on production! When I am done with that I take a little break and begin to tackle emails, usually, while Zak is at work this isn't a problem- but he had some short days this week since he is leaving for a month and so I had to juggle doing all my work and trying to spend as much time as possible with him while he was home- not easy.

I managed to get most of my work done by 1 on a few days, but still had some to come home to after Zak and I hung out a bit. We went to dinner at Chilis one night (yummm ribs) and the flirty waitress openly was hitting on Zak while I was sitting there- it really didn't bother me as much as Zak seems to think it did, I just thought it was pretty hilarious. I mean, who does that? The following night we did dinner/breakfast at Ihop with Zak's friend Rudy.. I love me some pancakes!

Unfortunately my Mr. Vargo left last night for a month- we were supposed to drop them off on post at 1, that got moved to 2- so we get there at 1:45 (speeding because we accidently fell asleep, I made it to post in RECORD time! :P), they check in... I clean the car, listen to music, reply to emails... they come back at 3 to the car because I have to drive them to another place on post with all their bags (FULLLL car, believe me... each man with 3 gigantic army bags and me! Whew, poor car- thats all I have to say)- so we drive to the place to drop off their bags, which is a 'mini-mall' or in 'civilian' terms- a gas-station, and there are a trillion people there in their cars doing the same thing.

They had a whole parking lot blocked off, so people were doubling up, parking behind others, parking and unloading in the places you are supposed to drive... getting angry, etc. It was Army Chaos at its finest. So the boys took their bags, dropped them off (all the while I am double parked, moving to different spots, getting moved, etc.) and hopped back in the car to go back to the original spot- jeez, they really couldn't have planned this any better? So the 1:00 drop off turns into a 4:00 drop off, at least before I leave. The guys didn't even leave base until the following afternoon at 1:00- poor sleep deprived soldiers!

I came home, did some work, watched a netflix movie (The Waitress, it was pretty cute) and fell asleep around 6:30-9:00 when I had to wake up again and get all the orders I could out... because today was an insanely busy day.

It is now 6:30 and I am officially stopping working- I don't have everything done, but I refuse to do any more today. I am tired and have SO much to do before I leave town- I'm still not sure if I should leave tomorrow or Tuesday... If I leave tomorrow I can have the Fourth of July at home with family/friends, my dad is out of town so my mom is probably lonely and I could keep her company... etc. On the other hand everyone will be out driving to places for the fourth tomorrow so traffic will be insane and a friend of mine (Becca) is available Monday to hang out (and I need friends! :P) I'm not sure. Chances are I will leave tomorrow, but that will take a lot of work tonight, and I'm not sure I am up for it...

Maybe I'll let the kitties decide- they HATE road trips probably more than I do... and 10 hours in the car with them is enough to drive anyone crazy. :P

Weekend Recap

2009-06-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

The weekend flew by, and now as I am catching up with work and clients I sit back and wonder what happened to it- I guess I can do a recap of events since I came home Thursday evening...
Zak picked me up from the airport an hour late because he fell asleep at home and didn't leave the house on time, I was a little mad, but at the same time... they are working them really hard in this heat, and I would be worse than sleeping- I would be dead. :P
On the way home we picked up his Army buddies (yes we didn't even go home first 0_o) and they came over for a night of videogames, movies, and pool time... I came home to a disaster- Zak was too "tired and busy" to pick up after himself all week *commence argument* oh well, I fully FULLY intend to get right on cleaning up everything... once I relax a bit.
The whole weekend his buddies were here- one of them spend all 3 days at our house, and the other just stayed the night once. *sigh*. We also saw Transformers 2!!! It was almost as good as the first, and of course I was left wanting more. :)
Finally after the dust settled and the boys were gone... the weekend was over and Zak and I went to sleep, yes, my life these days= ZERO time alone with my husband. Ohhh well though, he works hard enough to enjoy the time that he does have- and he was definitely tired of his guests this weekend, you could tell. :P
Tonight I have plans to make steak and potatoes :) mmm I am excited for it.. until then I am going to finish catching up on work and then maybe play the SIMS3! a bit before cleaning... *sigh*

Mock Battles

2009-06-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

So here I am, my trip to Astoria is winding down as my Great Aunts have knocked out the majority of the paperwork and I have helped Grandma with the little that I can do. Tomorrow evening my aunt and I will depart for Portland where we fly out the following day. I must say, it is really odd to be in this house without him- there are reminders everywhere of his presence and you can tell everyone misses him a great deal... not the him that was here in the last weeks before the end, but the old him that was active, fun, and the guy with the purest heart of anyone I've ever known.

As I sit here writing this there is a mock battle going on in the river, there are two pirate-looking sailboats with false cannons, powder, and booms chasing one another around in a show... on a seemingly casual Tuesday evening- for no real reason. It is great to watch, another reason on my list of why I would LOVE to someday after my kids are grown- to live here. Yes, please.

Yesterday my Great Aunt Jane and I went out to the jetty- for those of you who do not know what a jetty is, it is a BIG and very long wall of MASSIVE piled up rocks where the ocean meets the incredible Columbia River... (if you remember Free Willie, it is the rock pile that he jumps over.. the actual same exact one) I believe its purpose is to keep the waves from crashing through the river here and making living along it a possibility, as well as the barges that come up here the ability to navigate and steer and rest here before heading to Portland without fighting waves (there is still the tide, however). Anyhow... we went out there last night a little before the sun started to go down, and we walked a sandy path through the grasses to where the beach was- it was the most amazing thing that I have seen in years! There were hundreds, no, thousands of Pelicans! It must have been their season for something in the water in just this spot, or their migrating, or mating or something because I have never seen so many birds in my life... especially a grouping of Pelicans- it was absolutely breathtaking! I have taken some pictures of it that I will have to share when I have a chord to plug my phone in with. Wowza.

I had a very stressful morning- there were orders messed up, packages that were never delivered, printers that wanted to trick me, cards to write, and never enough time in the day. I am glad now, that it is over, and I can sit here with my glass of (very strong) wine and type this blog. Astoria and the surrounding area is the most beautiful place that I have ever seen- I am saddened by the circumstances that brought me here, but always happy to come... just close your eyes (after reading this) and imagine what I will describe to you, the things that I can see from the window here:

to my right is a massive hill covered in different shades of green trees, all pine trees of course, with a cropped grassy hilltop with a light-house looking column sitting atop it with the view of everything. Below that are brightly colored houses all the way down to the quaint downtown with historic buildings and victorian homes.... further on is the massive Columbia River that stretches left and right as far as you can see- across the river is the Washington Coast, also covered in trees... on a foggy day you cannot see this far, it is several miles away. There are mountains to the right where the river dissapears into, barges, four of them anchored... larger than the very largest buildings here- massive ships for cargo, many from Japan and other far off lands. To the left you see the Astoria bridge- almost like a small scale San Fransisco bridge with only one tall point, and green. On low tide you can see what almost look like islands in the river, but are really sand that has built up there over time, I always have the distinct desire to walk in them, though I am sure I would sink to my eyeballs. Further on the river meets another and another bridge connects you to more Oregon, the Jetty is here and further on the beaches of the Ocean.

The home itself is stuck in a time warp- each bathroom and several bedrooms have 70's era wallpaper... and not the stuff that came back in style, the garish bright orange and brown patters and collage of flowers, the teeny little flowers that were meticulously lined up, a smattering of a collision of circles- and not to mention the bedroom with the bright orange shag carpetting... oh yes. The livingroom itself has a couch from something like hte 1920's in it, delicate, intricate oriental rugs blanketing the entire room, antique tables, lamps, and of course a majestic fireplace and a killer set of windows that announce the brilliant view I just described. *sigh* it truly is wonderful.

I am going to miss it here, as always... but I really intend to make another trip out here in the not too distant future to help grandma out some more with whatever errands she can cook up in my absence- by then I will probably need another breath of this fabulous place. :)

"Sleepless In Oregon"

2009-06-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

Note: the title I was told to use by a Mr. Michael. :P

So this week I am still in Oregon, helping out where I can and doing my best to untangle the email crisis that the business is going through at the same time. My schedule of events of today is as follows:
a.) finished editing my excel spreadsheet of who to send thank you's to from the service.
b.) made printed sheets for Grandma to write her thank you's in (cards)... this took me a LONG time, it was a massive pain.
c.) Wrote out the addresses on all the envelopes, stamped and applied the address stickers as well.
d.) helped grandma clean out her linen closet- unfortunatley she kept more than she tossed, regardless we came out with two gigantic bags for goodwill and yet another for her church's "rummage sale."
e.) Took these things to their destinations and went grocery shopping
f.) spent the rest of the evening replying to my poor clients that haven't heard from me in ages and mocking up some designs- also a massive pain since all the messages had to be forwarded to my private address and I have to copy, paste, design, reply to those people from there. *sigh*

Now I am taking a break to write this blog while my Great-Aunts and Grandmother are going over some very nasty sounding legal documents involving "probates, stocks, mortgages, etc." that just hearing them makes me want to run from the room screaming... :: Note to Zak: Never EVER die, I don't want to go through this myself! ::

Oh, I didn't mention that I was able to make it to my bank today and 'sortof' get my credit card problem solved (they never mailed me ones with my new name), they could only change two of my cards and re-send them... I have to do the third through the phone or something... guaranteed to be a good time, I'm sure.

on a better note, I LOVE Starburst Jellybeans... they are so delish, and unfortunately grandma put the dish with 2 bags of them right next to me, my will to resist is just not strong enough! Drat. :P

So This Is It

2009-06-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

So this is it, the end of the road.

Here I am, sitting in the always beautiful (and always rainy) Astoria Oregon in my Grandparent's home that almost never changes. The large ordeal is over and now we are all doing our best to cope- some better than others. I was rather sad to see my parents leave today for Ohio... as much as they are the epitome of naggy/annoying parents- I do really enjoy their company (most of the time) and it is great catching up with them. Now, I am staying with my Great-Grandmother and my Aunt Jane tying up the loose ends and doing what I can to make things a little easier for them/her.

The to-do list is quite lengthy and today I spent several hours mocking up a spreadsheet with names/addresses for thank you cards (more than a hundred) and we went to the stationary store. Other than that we are (Jane is) dealing with insurance and social security... all those disgustingly worded documents that make my brain ache... yes, it is good to have a lawyer in the family.

More than ever I am homesick, I miss my husband. We haven't been able to talk much lately- him working long hours and being on a 3 hour difference in time than I am... made more awful by the fact that he will be leaving for a month in just a few days and I don't have all that much time left with him. Of course, being the weekend he is hanging out with his buddies and going to the mall, swimming in the pool, and generally enjoying himself- I wish things here were much the same.

The business this week is undergoing some massive changes and my computer isn't quite synched right to them... so I am having some trouble working (I also took a three day hiatus and just resumed work today) and I am getting flustered. While my parents were here we chatted frequently about the business and have come to the conclusion that we simply have to hire an employee- and soon. The big question is if I can find someone in GA to help me out, or if they will hire someone up in OH (IO!). I am hoping that I can find someone to hire, that would make things a lot easier on me... and it would be great to have a friend around during the day (hence a child-less army wife would be PERFECT) who could work and hang out with me at the same time.

The big debate going through my mind currently is to either stay in GA while Zak is gone in Iraq or to go home to Ohio- there are certainly BIG benefits and negatives to each and I am just completely split... I had thought I was going to stay before I thought more about it, and now I just don't know. If I make some more friends perhaps it won't be so bad... but I am not good at being alone, and I just don't think I can do it myself. Oh, the joys of being an Army wife.

So Zak and I have started out with our new beginning 4/4/09 and my dear Grandfather met his end 6/13/09 it really is a pity how these things work out sometimes.

I promise some pictures soon- whenever I plug my phone in again, finally. :)

Lack of Inspiration

2009-06-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

I haven't been writing this week- it has been a combination of not having much time, being sick, and unfortunate news... you see, in the past when I have written blogs I would gravitate on all the bad things- write about the bad often, forgetting the good. This blog was made with the intention of change, I want to focus on the good in my life and not the uphevals that drag everyone down. However, being that this is a life event I really should write a bit about it.. Yesterday at 9:35 a.m. my great grandfather Robert Lovell, who I was rather close to passed away.

My great grandfather was the best kind of man that there was, and he will be missed dearly by all. I don't want to write too much on the topic because it makes me really sad :(I am pretty torn up about it, but at the same time it has been coming for a while- the only picture I have of him was from my last trip while he was in the hospital and pretty sick, I hope to maybe get some more from the family while I'm up there.

I will be going to Oregon for the funeral Wednesday, I will stay there for a week to help out and do what I can- we'll see if I need to go back later after everyone leaves to keep Grandma company and pre-occupied.

Zak has CQ tonight- for those of you that don't know what that means... he spends 24 hours "watching out" at the base. I dropped him off this morning at 9 and he won't be home until tomorrow morning at 9. I get so lonely in this house by myself :( I guess I really should get used to it, and prepare myself to be really alone for a long time while Zak is gone.

My youngest brother Chris is going to Europe tomorrow, I hope he will remember more of his trip than I did mine :P He is far too young to enjoy it in quite the way that I did, however. :P I know he will have fun, and I can't wait to hear the stories and see the pictures.

I had some really fun times this week... Katelyn and her husband Drew came over one night for the boys to play some games, and K and I talked for a while. :) The next day we went and saw the Hangover with them again, and following that went to B-Dubs to meet Lopez and Pena. It was an okay time, but I wasn't feeling too good still and we seemed to sit there forever, haha. I drove home some of the drunkies and came home and crashed. I woke up this morning feeling a little better and went dress shopping- you'd be amazed that places don't have a better selection of black dresses... I will go out more tomorrow maybe and find one.

I bought the Sims 3 today, and Zak took it to CQ with him, I cannot wait to play it :)

Thats enough for now.

Robert Lovell

2009-06-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

My Great Grandfather passed away today.
--..--

I am making arrangements to go out.

I can't really talk about it yet, that is all.

Life in a Bubble

2009-06-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

I used to think of myself as a highly informed, intellegent, ideolistic, had-my-head-on-straight-person... I am thinking that less and less lately. I still believe myself to be intellegent (though perhaps less than before) and to have my head-on-straight (usually), but highly informed has fallen very far off the list, ideolistic; nope, etc. I mean, when I was in high school I had opinions about everything- I was in debate/competitive speech.. I constantly watched the news and fought for what I believed was right- I debated, I was an activist, I supported causes and signed petitions... its been years since I did any of that!

It has been MONTHS since I watched the news, months since I read an article... the last news I heard at all was on the political campaign- that I didn't participate in! What is my problem? I don't really know, I got very wrapped up in my own little world, I really have no excuse. A news article was brought to my attention today by a fellow blogger about media bias- immediately the injustice and anger caught my attention- there was a problem here... there always has been. I don't know which is better; watching/reading the news that is picked apart and only broadcasted in certain ways/approved by certain people/with only certain stories getting the spotlight; or not paying attention to any of it and living life with a nice focus- not on the "news" but on your life and that of those around you. I just don't know.

The last time I watched the news it was much less about information and more about "how to prevent your child from having sex" "sexting" "are your parents getting the care they need in their homes" etc. I don't really care about any of that!! What I want from the news is exactly that.. news- I don't care if your children are sexting, if they are... deal with it, I want to know things that affect me personally; but you see.. thats the problem, they can't cater news to each individual person. Thank god for the internet, right? I certainly intend to start catching up on my juicy bits on some online news pages.. but until then, I was happy in my bubble. I heard about Swine Flu, and I didn't watch the news daily and get paranoid because I was totally focused on who was dying from it... I heard the big stories, and maybe thats all that matters. I am unsure.

Now for the more personal part of my blog: today was a bad day. I am sick- like, sleep until 1:00 p.m. sick... which I NEVER do. The rest of the day I lay around doing practically nothing, just wishing Zak was home to take care of me (I'm such a baby)- only to find out that he is working until after 9 tonight... goody. I would go somewhere but 1. I am sick and would infect innocent people :( 2. I don't have a car today.. Zak has it. I get SO stir crazy! Ugh.

To make things even more awful (because I am a one lady pity party tonight) I got an email today that was quite dour... I'll just post it because its hard to sum up:
Hello everyone, I've been struggling all evening on whether to write to you all or not. Dad, Grandpa, Brother Bob is getting very near the end. I know, I've sent this message before, but I really mean it this time. Mom is holding up very well, I think. I spent a few hours at their house this afternoon and came away knowing that Dad is just about to go. He is in bed and hospice is caring for him (and Mom) very well, keeping him as comfortable as possible. Mom is talking about a private graveside burial with a reception a week or so later at the church, to allow time for travel plans, etc. I'm not sure that is the best idea, what do you all want to do? I doubt he'll last the week, but of course, he's proved me wrong a few times before. He's not in any pain and is in a world of his own, happily making car deals and talking to old customers on the phone (no joke). I'll try to keep you posted. Love, Martha

This is in reference to my very dear Great Grandfather that I just spent last semester helping to care for. I'm not even really sure of anything right now, should I go up and help now or wait until its too late to help, and go there to support Grandma? Will either even help? Can I afford it (no). I'm not sure that I am in a place right now that I could handle his death... he is very very dear to me and *sigh* I've known this was coming.. I just don't like it.

I'm going to get off now, perhaps straighten up a bit before Zak gets home (I make an awful mess when I'm sick... lots of tissues everywhere, chocolate and blankets haha). Loves!

Weekend Wakeup

2009-06-08T03:26:00.001-07:00

Alright, so this weekend was a little intense- at least for me. Generally Zak and I are not people that "party" or drink... this weekend was different. Friday night Zak's buddies came over and hung out, and the following day I made them all breakfast (pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns and sausage...mmmmm) and we went to petsmart. Of course I fell in love with a puppy- Pistol Pete!! I was really really really close to taking him home (I even had my husband's permission!), but decided against it for the time being... I still just want a husky again. Anyhow, after the pet store we all went and saw The Hangover- which was REALLY good, and quite hilarious... I'm sure we'll be seeing it again (like Star Trek Zak has made us see 3 times... holy moley). I recommend it to anyone, you will laugh the whole time.

After seeing the movie we sauntered about for a while before deciding to go home, make some margaritas and go swimming- our dear friend decided to put an entire bottle of tequila into our one pitcher of margarita mix and one margarita was apparently my limit- at two I was falling out of the pool chairs and giving myself "tattoos" from the zebra gum wrappers- I guess I'm just that b.a. (dad will be happy to know they were temporary, seeing as he hates my current not-so-temporary tattoos). We left the pool to come home and change... while the boys played rock band I caught up on some email replies for work. Oh! Which reminds me... the last post I said I fixed my cutter, not 1/2 hour after that it gave up on me for good, so I am currently not doing the vinyl portion, just doing designs/replying to questions.. lame!

After we/I was all sobered up and cleaned up we decided to meet another guy at the bowling alley and play a few games (you go at 10, pay $20 and bowl until midnight cosmic style!), so now there are 4 army guys and myself- woohoo! At the bowling alley the remaining sober people had 3 pitchers of beer and got a little woozy themselves... needless to say it was a really fun couple of games- lots of gangster dancing, lolz. When we left I can honestly say that I think only Zak and myself were completely sober (though, both of us did drink a beer) and one guy was just buzzed, so I don't know why we let one of the drunk guys start driving- and the buzzed guy... duh. About a minute after the drunk guy was driving we made him pull over and I got in the drivers seat to listen how he was going to beat some guy up the whole way to the BAR (why the bar? don't ask me...).

We go to downtown Cbus and get in a bar- I don't recommend it on Saturday nights, the parking is AWFUL!! I am pretty certain that their goal that night was to get me drunk (because I was oh so funny and the guy that met us at the lanes didn't get to see it... great, right?) and it happened pretty quickly. I think after the first shot or two and 3 mixed drinks I was pretty gone- the rest of the drinks just kept me there. There was some dancing, a lot of laughing at the old guy playing his invisible flute with the band, and some pretty good times. Time to leave: now this is where it gets interesting... sorta.

Zak and I get dropped off at home (I slept most of the way) and the two that drop us off leave to go home as well... they live JUST ACROSS THE STREET!! Apparently when they got to their apartment they decided to switch drivers, so now the guy who owns the car and was driving really well is in the passenger seat- the insanely drunk underage buddy is in the driver seat... lets just say I woke up in the morning to some rapping on my door and a bandaged and bloody buddy on my step. Whoa, what happened!?

Apparently drunky drunkerson underage army guy somehow got into a columbus neighborhood and wrapped his best friend's (who was in the passenger seat sleeping) car around a pole- yes, we know how to party we do. He was arrested, the passenger was taken to the hospital with a sprained wrist, minor abrasions on his face (he went through the windshield) and some bruised ribs... he came to our house to "warn us" that our name may have been mentione to the sgts (we are also underage and could've gotten in trouble). Well crap! So we spend the morning cleaning him up, talking to sgts, taking him to Ihop for breakfast, and trying to figure out a way to post bail for our buddy ($750!). We come home from breakfast and crash... one is asleep on the floor, I sleep on the couch, I think Zak was actually awake the whole time, however.

After talking to the sgts some more and working some things out- the two that were in the car are going to be "fried" today... likely losing rank and getting in a lot of trouble, the underage one that was driving will likely be "kicked out of the army." Damn. I guess this should teach everyone a lesson, driving under the influence (if you didn't already know this) is a very stupid thing to do, haha. We now get to drive the broken one to work and back every day since he is without a car, the other one... well I'll tell you later what they decide to do to him, for now its a bunch of nervous waiting. :(

What a weekend.

Weeds

2009-06-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to donate blood today- and if you read my previous post you would know that I was psyched to do it again! My husband is an Army Medic and they were taking blood donations on Sand Hill today between 6-6... he said he would let me know when to come, so I waited and finally texted him around 11 asking when the heck I should come- no reply.. so I started driving (I am VERY impatient). Half way there he texts and says not to come yet... okay, I turn around and come home.

Since then I have repeatedly asked him if I should go.. and the answer is "no," wtf? Apparently "these people are making me mad.. you would have to wait FOREVER if you came." Grr. I don't mind waiting, thats what books are for dummy! Whatever, I will perhaps contact The Red Cross to find out if they have a donation center around here anywhere, I am in their system and have my own card and everything, so it shouldn't be too hard to get some information, you would think.. Oh well, by not giving blood I was able to be productive! Because that is always fun... not.

Last night I was SUPER duper bored- Zak was gone all day, and when he came home he immediately went to bed... and slept all night. Sooo with nothing to do but work, I started cutting some designs- then, in the midst of cutting my cutter started wonking out on me! Needless to say kicking it did not fix anything- it probably made things worse. I worked with it a bit, finally giving up I moved on to labeling color samples that I've been procrastinating (becuase it is awful and tedious)- once that was done it was around 11:30 and I still wasn't tired. Grr... I got online and surfed a bit, tinkered with some designs, and finally went to bed around 1:00- still not sleepy.

Zak says he woke up at 1:30- not so sure I believe that ;) Regardless, after dropping him off today I came home- defeated about not being able to work, and mourning the loss of a paycheck until I could get my cutter fixed. Thinking on this (perhaps a bit too long) my resolve was strengthened and I grabbed my tools! *who doesn't love a woman with tools?* I never actually used any... but they made me feel powerful ;) I took out the blade, unscrewed things, himmed hawed, threw up my hands, and finally fixed the damn thing. Yesssssss! It was 9:45 before I was finished, and now I had a lot of orders to do- I spend the next 7 hours straight working.. until I realized that I hadn't eaten anything, gone to the bathroom, or talked to Zak to figure out why the heck I couldn't give blood. (still unresolved). *sigh*

However, I did finish watching the fourth season of Weeds today after finishing my work, taking out the trash, doing the dishes and anything else that I could do to keep myself busy ;) I really love Weeds- at this point its completely unrealistic, but its just too good to pass up. As I watched the main character (for those of you who haven't seen Weeds, the mom is the main character- her husband dies and now she sells marajuana for a living to support her family) constantly gulp down iced coffees I really started to crave them- BIG time... now for those of you who don't know me- I used to really love coffee back in high school, afterwards I worked in a coffee shop and now love the aroma, but can't stand coffee itself- so craving coffee was weird for me. I settled with an iced tea in a clear plastic cup with a straw from Arby's- looks the same and tastes so much better :)

Now, I am going to Starbucks on Monday (I know, Starbucks- I feel like I'm cheating on my little coffeeshop roots, sorry Urban Coffee- I will always love you!) I may get the iced coffee and settle this once and for all... OR I could get my recent love (I don't know if the bux will do it right though) of a Soy Steamer with 2/3 the amount of Irish Cream flavor (sugar free if they have it)- that was my drink of choice when I was on the Oregon Coast. :) I remember fondly drinking it, while it was steaming and I strolled down the chilly riverwalk in the drizzle that is always hovering above Astoria.

One day I took this picture along the riverwalk on one of the docks. You can't see it in this shot, but directly below me are some very noisy sea lions... very noisy indeed.

The weather here in the past few days has been reminding me of Oregon. Now, a lot of people around here are complaining about the rain- not me, I am as happy as a clam! I would much rather it was raining (because I am used to that!) than hot and humid like the weather I am dreading this summer... if it rained all summer I would be happy happy!! Some people think I'm weird, but its okay.

On a good note: Tomorrow is Saturday which means a couple of things-

1. between 12-3 petsmart has animals from the shelter come in and you can go see all sorts of puppies, kittens (and the grown up versions of each), walk them, pet them, play with them, drool over them... ;) I drag Zak every Saturday and leave nearly in tears- I'm sure he is tired of it by now, but I can just go without him! I am going to take pics with my phone of my favorites tomorrow so you can see them too!

2. Zak will likely have his friends over, I am prepared this time... the past couple weeks they come over, swim, and play rockband until midnight- this time I bought water guns, balloons, etc to entertain them in the pool longer than usual so I get some alone time- then when they come home... I don't know what I'll do yet, maybe see a movie, the Hangover looks really good and it just came out.

3. Zak gets the whole day off and my mom is taking over doing the work on Saturdays so that my little brother can earn some money working for her for his trip to Europe in a few weeks. :P Basically this means that Zak and I get the whole weekend to ourselves- the cycle goes as follows... we will go to Target, Petsmart, the outdoor shopping center, sams club, the movie stop, game stop, peach tree mall, best buy, (repeat)- I would say we generally hit all of those each weekend, or maybe like... all but one. lol.

This is the fat cat- when we first got him, obviously not fat as he is in my steering wheel... now he is this glutonous being of splendor relaxing in his kitty castle- yes, he knows that he owns me... he uses this knowledge quite to his advantage.

This is enough for now... perhaps I will take a book and go see what Zak is doing still there (apparently there are still people getting their blood drawn and it closed over an hour ago, hmm...). Night!

Donor

2009-06-04T14:46:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I get to donate blood again, and I'm excited! I haven't been able to do it in over a year- I used to be a frequent donor, but not since I've become more anemic. I am really hoping that I pass tomorrow and am able to donate, I really think everyone should- do their part and everything. I mean, eventually you may need blood too- and you will need to rely on other donors, why not do your part while you can.

The way I think about it I guess is that everyone should try to donate a little something to help out the less fortunate, and since I don't have the financial means to donate funds I think the least that I can do is donate blood since it regenerates itself anyhow. :) Eventually I hope to help give more to charity, really do my part you know?

I think while Zak is gone if I have some time I will start volunteering at a humane society around here (if I find one). My passion is animals and I love volunteering my time... and everyone knows that those places could always use a little extra help. While he is gone I am going to have a lot of time on my hand I think, I will be really lonely since I am such a people loving person... I need that outlet. When Zak left for basic and AIT I had my three jobs to keep me occupied, friends around, family... and everything else. I am worried for when he leaves for a year- I'm not sure how easy it will be.

I intend to start school again, I just don't know if I want to find a place to do it on campus here, or if I want to continue my education at The Ohio State online. This is something I've given quite a bit of thought to... currently I am rather burnt out on the whole school thing, I know I need to go back, and I don't want to waste the time I have in it- but I am so tired of it all. It might be good for me to get out of the house some more, though... I don't know, I have a lot more thinking to do on the topic.

Zak has been asleep since 4:45 this evening, poor guy had to work out in the rain all day. :( I love that my job is always indoors and squishy. :P I am thinking I might need to hire an employee soon... but the thing is, I would have to pick someone that I like, someone that I can work with daily, someone I can rely on... and I don't really know anyone yet. We'll see how it goes, if I hire someone we can kick up the ads and get more done, which would be great for the buisness!

I like my first post the best, it has pictures and everything- I think when I have some spare change I am going to buy a camera and start my photo documentation to go along with my bloggin. :) Hopefully sooner rather than later.

In Moderation

2009-06-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

Zak and I moved here almost two months ago, since then we have slowly be adjusting to life here- sometimes it is easier than others. I could certianly get used to the flash floods- in the middle of the hot afternoon. :)

Zak had a week and a half off not too long ago, it was really nice. Jan and Michael came for a vist and we got to go to Atlanta and see what there was to do there- The Aquarium (largest in the world apparently!), we got to meet Jan's son and his family, and we spent some time in Columbus. After they left we had a day to get our marbles together before we had another visitor- Marika. With her we went back to Atlanta and did the Aquarium again, but this time we toured the Titanic part that we didn't go in before- it was really, really, neat, if you get a chance you should go. They have many of the original artifacts from the wreckage and you get to read some of the passengers stories... what a tragedy. While there we also saw the Coke center and tasted "Coke" from around the world.

Too soon all of our visitors were gone and it was just Zak and I once again- but it wasn't long before Zak had to go back to work. Now let me just give you a little insight into what Zak does for a living:
Zak is an Army medic, he wakes up at 4:30 every morning to be at work by 6, we have a good 20-30 minute commute to where he works daily. He has PT (physical training) every morning until 8, once through with that he spends his day doing an assortment of various activities that the Army shemes up- anything from cleaning tents to moving boxes... but mostly just wasting time in the sun. Zak gets off most evenings between 5-6 and comes home to me!

Although my job is a lot less physical activity I like to believe it is a lot more stressful, especially of late. I think really, that I am just burnt out on it. Regardless, when he gets home I try to put work on the backburner and spend time with him. I do not always have dinner on the table waiting and a sparkling house- these are things that I would like to work toward once I can figure out how to juggle the buisness and home life without overlapping (hard to do when you work from home! :P).

I know this blog seems rather scatterbrained, but I am simply going to be jumping from topic to topic without real mapping. I finally met some Army wives my age last Friday! There is a group on meetup.com that I learned about and joined- essentially you join a group, find out about events that are happening, and decide to attend or not in order to meet people. 5 of us went to lunch at The Olive Garden and I must say, I really enjoyed myself! The food was good, and the company was better- we stayed there for a few hours just getting to know eachother, and I really hope we do it again. When Zak deploys in October it will be really nice to not only have friends around, but to have friends that are in the same boat that I am and know what I am going through.

This week Zak has had his (single or divorced) Army buddies come over to the house a few days- they swim in the pool for all of 1/2 an hour and then play videogames (namely Rockband) for several more hours before going home around midnight. He really has made some good friends, all of them seem like genuinely good people!

I guess what I am trying to say (very unsucessfully) is that I am settling down here- I am learning my way around, coping with our work/schedules, making friends, and just simply learning to appreciate the southern life. :) Off to do some work!

-Sam

This is it.. I've joined the world of blogging.

2009-06-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

Now for the first post I really should backtrack so everyone gets a feel for who I am/we are. I am Samantha/Sami/Sam/Pookie/Hey you.. only Daughter of Morgan and Jeff Battisti, older sister of two brats; Nick and Chris Battisti. *If the brats are actually reading this (which I doubt), I mean brats endearingly*

Chris the one that is to the far left- I cannot believe he is taller than me... in too high heels! Dad- obviously happy, is to his immediate right. Me, right in the middle where I belong ;) Zak behind me. Mom to our right, and the "dressed up" Nick on the farthest right. This is my family. I will have to get a picture with Zak's family soon... some of the logistics of that don't work out as well as I would like.

It all started around July of '06 when the Battisti's made the grand trek from Boise, Idaho where we lived the past oh... 15 or so years to Columbus, OH for Dad's new job at Nationwide. This move had a lot of different reactions in our family... I started to type them all and realized that this was a blog, and not a novel. :) After moving in the middle of summer I found myself without friends- being in my high school prime I was a social butterfly and only having my family to interact with was driving me NUTS- I reached out via myspace and met Christine!

We did coffee one afternoon and became good friends *poof!* or something along those lines... after a few times of hanging out she brought along her best friend, and my now husband, Zak!

We almost immediately started dating... and of course hanging out with Christine and "the table" all the time. Too soon our senior year was over and we were graduates of Thomas Worthington High School. Christine got married less than a month later and moved to SC to live with her husband Jon (who was in the Navy and stationed there) :( Zak and I went on as usual, spending many a moon with John and his family where the boys would play video games and I would sleep (which I got a lot of crap for, but you try working 2 jobs and being a full time student at The Ohio State!). Zak started school at DeVry almost immediately after graduation and was burnt out by January- he quit.

He practically grew up with John and his family, Alex, John Sr., John Jr. and Nic- and the parents were Army- Zak was inspired. After talking things out a great deal with Alex Zak decided to enlist and talked to the recruiter Sgt. Thurman.... I was a little less than happy (lots of tears), but agreed that it was his life and if this was the direction he was going- I would be right there with him.

We bought a puppy in the midst of this (after already aquiring two cats within the two years I skimmed over/through in this blog)- Henry.

Could you have resisted that face? Really... well I am not as strong as you, I caved. Henry was mine... er... ours. This dog was simply the biggest menace of any dog I've ever met, however, he was also the cutest. We invested all of our spare time in Henry- and he was truly spoiled; no other dog that I know of got to go to the dog park every other day (sometimes daily) or was given as many toys as Henry. I definitely loved him like a child.

Now... my parents liked Henry, but he wasn't a child to them, so this puppy their daughter brought home after several distinct "NO!'s" (I didn't hear any... I swear!) that pooped on their carpet had to go. I decided I would go too- Zak and I already spent nearly every night together anyhow, and my friend Kat wanted to move up from Ohio so we made the plunge- townhouse of our own dumdumdum...

We got a place (not even 5 minutes from my parent's house) and roomates (kat and jordan) and moved all of our stuff. Zak had a little problem with his mother the night before and things were on shaky ground... but ultimately things were really great! He left for basic two or so weeks later... once again, many tears.

Things did not stop in place, however, and work and school continued as usual- perhaps a bit more stressful being in my own place, paying rent, not always satisfied with roomates (but who is), and having a puppy to care for, but life went on! I was on my feet and things were good- the race to the mailbox day to day to see if I had letters was the reason I lived! It was during this time that I met Sara and Mark and a few other friends that I now consider close.

Zak graduates from Basic training at Fort Benning GA and we drive down to see him. November 11, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. Henry is hit by a hit and run driver in front of my parents house right in front of me- this was Earth shatteringly the very worst moment of my entire life. We load him in my car and drive frantically (I was frantic with him bleeding in my lap) to MedVet but don't quite make it... Henry dies. I can't even tell you how hard this is for me, words really can't describe it- I still wake up from the nightmares of me reliving that night.... *sigh* its still very hard. He was 10 months old.

A week later I total my car. A week after that we go to the hospital with my dad who has hurt his back... it was a very bad month for me. Soon enough, however, Zak comes home for Christmas from his AIT training in San Antonio TX. He loves the Army so far and is really thinking he has made a wonderful decision. :) We have a very happy Christmas.

We get to meet up with his family and my family during the break, this is the first time I have really gotten to know his relatives and it was awesome... his (now our) relatives are wonderful- hilarious! We have a really great time.. too soon he has to go back, and I go to Oregon to help out with my Great Grandparents (mother's side). Grandpa is in a very bad state, and I help out the most that I can (though, I am sure I could've done more)... I spend 3 months there and take online classes before coming back home. Oregon is beautiful and I really miss it, I hope to make it out there again soon- I got to meet a lot of relatives that I hadn't gotten to know before.

The view from my Great-Grandparents' livingroom is always breathtaking, I hope to make it out there again while there is still time with everyone.

While I was there Zak and I kept up our relationship with almost nightly conversations- it was through one of these that we decied to get married. Plans were in motion. We would only have a month from the time he graduated AIT and the time that he needed to be at his next post in Benning (back to where he did Basic in Columbus, GA). We had a lofty 'to do' list with very little time since neither of us was home- in a whirlwind of unfortunate events we both made it home safely (though neither of us in the way we would've preffered) and were once again in Ohio ready to tackle what came at us. First- we bought our brand new car... '09 honda civic, 4 dr., automatic, atomic blue (yessss!!) This was a first priority since my car had been totaled back in November and Zak's was sold by his mother when he was in Basic. Next we took care of getting the papers/registraion/getting an apartment/working for mom's buisness (my now fulltime job http://www.tradingphrases.com/) etc. out of the way, getting married (small affair in my parents living room.. the family shot above was from that day), new licence/soc. card/etc. Packing up everything, and finally... moving.

We made it here to Phenix City Alabama on April 18th and have lived here since. Columbus, Georgia is a short hop, skip, and a swim over the river... perhaps 5 minutes into downtown- 20 minutes to Zak's work... Fort Benning (by far the largest base I have ever seen!! Small city, perhaps?). From there we have unpacked, settled, worked, and gotten accustomed to life in the South.

Now that we are all caught up... I hope to continuously blog and keep things updated- I am, however, a rather busy person (most of the time), so poke me if you notice that this needs a refresher. :)