Happy Christmas!

This is probably going to be my last post until 2008 as Spc D (soon to be Cpl D) and I are headed to New Mexico today for Christmas and then to California for New Years. We have had a rough couple of days this past week, and have gotten to know the emergency staff pretty well at Madigan Army Medical Center. On Thursday night I ended up with the worst migraine of my life, so we went to the hospital, and out of concern for infection or an abrasion on my brain, they did a spinal tap. Well one of the side effects of a spinal tap is a spinal headache, on Saturday morning we went back to the hospital with one of those. I am feeling much better now. I only have a slight, manageable, headache and I no longer feel like (or look) like walking death. The best part is that we are still going to make our trip to New Mexico. Yippee!!

I may write more when we get to California, but most likely the next update on our newlywed adventures will recommence after January 4, 2008 when we are scheduled to be back in Lakewood.

Long week...

Wow, it has been a full week since I blogged last. Sorry for the silence. I started my new job this week and it has been go go go since I hit the door. My day starts at 4:45am when Spc D wakes me up with his obnoxious cell phone ring. I hop in the shower and he gets ready for PT, then he makes a sandwich for both our lunches. After I drop him off on post, I head up to Bonney Lake, about a 30 min drive from Fort Lewis. I work until about 3pm then I head back to post to pick up Spc D. We have had some pretty long days this past week, but they have been pretty good ones too.

Last night we headed over to the bowling alley on post, where I managed to bowl a 155, with a bum finger and all. I pinched a nerve on my first frame of the night.

This weekend we are going to play it pretty easy. We are going to head up to Renton to go to the Fry's in the hopes of buying a Nintendo Wii, we'll see if we actually find one. Spc D is starting WLC (Warrior Leader Course) in January so we are also going to go buy all of his supplies this weekend.

We hope everyone is doing well, and we miss our families so much and can't wait to see everyone in the next couple of weeks.

Bye Mom, Bye Dad

Well, my parents have come and gone, it feels like they were only here for a second. Even though their flight was delayed well over two hours (thank you United, the most unscheduled airline in the skies), we still managed to cram a whole lot of into two very short days. We started with a great dinner at Johnny's Dock, right on the Puget Sound in Tacoma. We were all tired so we called it a night right after dinner.



Saturday morning my parents came over to see our apartment, and they said they really liked it, especially mom. They like us though, were not overly impressed with our neighbors. We spent the morning in Seattle at Pike's Place Market, and had fun strolling around. We were hoping to see them throwing the fish, but little did we know that you have to pay them money to see them throw, so we decided that little part of the adventure was just not worth it. Saturday afternoon we showed my parents Fort Lewis, and we ended the day with an amazing dinner at the Sea Grill in Tacoma with a colleague of my father's.


Sunday we had another early breakfast at our apartment, where it began to snow (two weekends in a row!) and then headed back into Tacoma to see the Glass Museum. Spc D really loved watching them blow and shape the glass in the hot room.

After we left my parents at the airport (yes there were a few tears), Spc D and I headed back home to Lakewood. Tomorrow I start my new job, so we figured we would have a relaxing evening at home. We cooked a wonderful dinner together, Pork Tenderloin with Bulgar Wheat from my Every Day Beef, Pork and Lamb recipe book, and are now doing laundry and getting things ready for work tomorrow. Later we have great plans to roast marshmallows on the wonderful fire that Spc D got going.

Guess who's coming for dinner?

My PARENTS!!! I am so excited to see them, it feels like it has been years, when it really hasn't even been two months. This is the longest in my entire life that I have gone without seeing my parents, and considering how close I am with them, that is a really long time.

We are going to have so much fun, I have a great weekend planned for them. Today when they get here we are going to go on post, mainly because my mom has never seen a military post before, but also because we plan to do a little x-mas shopping at the PX while we are there. Then tonight we are going to have dinner in Tacoma at a restaurant called Johnny's Dock. I am pretty excited as the restaurant comes highly recommended.

Tomorrow we are going to get up early (much to the chagrin of Spc D), and head into Seattle. We are going to visit the Space Needle, and hopefully mom's fear of heights won't kick in, then we are going to head to Pike's Place for lunch, followed up with a visit to the REI flagship store in Seattle for my dad. For dinner we are going to head back into Tacoma for dinner at the Sea Grill, also highly recommended.

On Sunday, they are leaving on a 4pm flight, so I was thinking it might be fun to actually get a look at Tacoma and visit the Glass Museum there. It looks pretty awesome with live glass blowing, which has always fascinated me, every day. I can't wait to see them, and in the meantime, I better get myself in gear, I need to vacuum (again) and mop my floors before they get here. I want everything to be perfect for their visit!

Something to Celebrate!

I got a job! Woohoo!!! I start on Monday, and I will be the marketing department for a small international software company. Sorry no names allowed... I am really excited as this is an amazing opportunity for professional growth and development for me, especially considering the company is planning on training me in the technology behind the software as well as paying for me to take some graphic design classes. This is huge for me, and for Spc D too.

This opportunity is going to allow us to start saving and it will also allow us to do a few more things than we thought would be possible in the coming years. So we are really excited about it. Last night Spc D took me out to celebrate at our favorite Mexican restaurant up here, Azteca. Even Spc D likes it, and seeing as he is from New Mexico, I think that speaks rather highly for the restaurant.

I am going to enjoy my last 5 days of not working by knitting, reading my latest Clive Custler novel, cooking some delicious meals for my hubby and hanging out with my parents this weekend when they come up for their visit.

First Snow, First Fire

When we moved up to Lakewood we asked everyone what the weather was like up here. We were told that it snows a couple of times a year and gets unbearably hot for a couple of weeks in the summer. Seeing as we are at sea level, I really wasn't sure when we would see snow...well it snowed this weekend. In fact for a couple of hours there, it was snowing bloody well hard! Spc D was surprised that it snowed long enough and got cold enough that the snow stuck, I was just in awe the entire time, having grown up in the Bay Area I have only seen snow maybe a dozen times in my life. To be perfectly honest, I never imagined myself living in a place where it was expected to snow...ever, but here I am.



The first snow brought with it our first fire. Let me tell you, we have tried to make a fire on three other occasions, but this time, like the snow, it stuck! Our apartment is warm and cozy right now, and we have my wonderful husbands made fire making skills to thank for that.

We had a lot of fun this weekend. We did the vast majority of our Christmas shopping, and what we didn't finish, we know what we are getting for those people. We also went bowling last night, we bowled a total of 8 games and with the exception of one we scored over 100 each time, we are going to aim for 150 next time. I have a feeling the bowling is going to become a regular thing for us. I have to say though, I have never seen so many guys in a bowling alley trip oer their tongues all at the same time, as I did last night. The Atlanta Falcons Cheerleaders showed up to bowl a few games and sign autographs, even Spc D forgot for a few moments who he was with and ogled over them. All in all we had a great weekend, and are really looking forward to next weekend when my parents come up for the weekend.