Waiting for Easter

Okay, I know I've talked about my obsession with Dr. Pepper here before, and I'm going to come right out and say it:

I gave up Dr. Pepper for Lent.

I cannot wait until Easter Sunday rolls around so that I can drink a delicious, ice-cold Dr. Pepper!

Anyone else anxiously looking forward to Easter to partake in their forbidden Lenten promises?

Stop Stressing Me Out!

I'm just gonna say it.

I can't do Twitter right now because all the people tweeting about the possible government shut down and military not getting paid is stressing me out.

I'm realistic, I understand that there is a good chance that things will not go the way I want. At the same time, I would like to remain in my little bubble as long as possible not focus on something that I can't change right now. I'm being super stingy with our money this pay period and hoping for the best (i.e. at least 1/2 a check) next payday. We have a little bit saved up and only a few bills that NEED to be paid in the next few weeks. We'll be fine and I'd rather not talk about it anymore.

Anyone else with me?

The Day I Met a Squirrel

A few of you have shown interest in hearing the story about the squirrel on my wedding day. Well, here goes!

First, a little background information about me, just so you know where I'm coming from. I've always been afraid of birds and when I was in college one of my roommates said something to me that has stayed with me.

The town where my alma mater is located is a beautiful college town and there are a lot of tree-lined streets. When I was an upper-classman I lived in an old house about a mile or so from campus with a bunch of friends. When the weather was nice (and when the weather was bad) we would walk home from class. There were several routes home and my favorite was one that took me through a quiet neighborhood with lots of giant oak and maple trees. There were always lots of squirrels running through the branches and sometimes they'd jump from branch to branch.

One time when discussing the squirrels, my friend Mary commented that she was always nervous that they were going to jump out of the trees and onto her head as she was walking home.

Seriously? After that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the image of a flying squirrel jumping out of the trees and latching onto my face.

Fast forward a few years. D and I are getting married on a beautiful spring day on his college campus. There are clouds in the sky and we're hoping to get as many pictures taken as we can before the rain starts. We're posing for some pictures on a bench, just outside the door to the church.

All of a sudden, we notice a little squirrel standing a few feet away.

Luckily the little guy head in the direction of the photographer.

I'm feeling pretty relieved that I've escaped the attack of the killer squirrel!

That is, until.....

Oh, there's no way! And yes, that is me, throwing my brand new husband into the proverbial line of fire (hey, its every man for himself, here)!

This is the evil little guy...

Pretty proud of himself.

I should add here, that the photographer (who obviously was unaware of my intense fear of squirrels) thought this was the funniest, most awesome thing that had ever happened at someone's wedding. I quickly explained to him in the most polite and bride-like way that under no circumstances were we to encourage the squirrel and any more photos of me with the squirrel would result in him being fired (and tortured).

And that, my friends, is the story of the squirrel who crashed my wedding!

Tail Wagging Tuesday with Abbydog!

I have recently seen a few of my bloggy friends participating in this blog hop, and since I rarely post about our first child, our beagle, Abbydog, I thought it might be fun to start participating! Anyway, this week we're supposed to choose our most favorite photo of our pet. Now, the amount of doggy photography happening in our house has decreased drastically over the past year or so, you know, since AJ was born. Choosing my favorite photo of Abbydog isn't easy, but there are only a few of her that I absolutely love! So, here you have it!

Make sure to head over and link up with C Mae at Live What You Love if you want to participate!


This picture is from Halloween 2008. Abbydog had only been in our lives since April of 2008 and this was the first chance I had to really dress her up!

Now that I'm looking through all my Abbydog pictures, I realize that I almost never talk about her on my blog and I need to do a post with a lot of pictures of her so everyone can see her craziness!

Oh, by the way, the reason we call her Abbydog is because when we adopted her she came with the name Abby, which just happens to be my sister's name as well. Oh, and my college roommates name, too. Ha! It's just easier to refer to her as Abbydog.

100 Facts About Me: Part 4

Ladies and gentlemen, we have officially reached the last installment of the #100factsaboutme meme! Don't all cheer at once!

76. I think I'm Southern at heart.
77. I love Dr. Pepper, but if its not available Mt. Dew is my second choice. (ahem, Panera, get Dr. P!)
78. I like sushi, but I'm still a little skeptical of it.
79. I was a party girl in college.
80. I am physically repulsed by the feel of velvet and corduroy.
81. In 8th grade a friend and I created "trucker names" for ourselves so we could use the CB radio in her mom's car.
82. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
83. All 4 of my grand-parents are still alive.
84. I think I'd enjoy being a librarian, and I hope to be one, someday.
85. I hate sand.
86. I want another kid some day and I'm already convinced that it will be a girl.
87. I like when my friends inspire me to be a better person.
88. I got lots of speeding tickets when I was in high school and D's grandpa (a lawyer) went to court with me to get me out of them.
89. I know how to drive a stick shift.
90. I'm not really what you might call an "outdoorsy" person. At all.
91. I have champagne tastes with a beer budget.
92. I love Taco Bell, Arby's and Sonic. Thankfully every duty station we've been to has had all three of them.
93. If I could afford to exclusively shop at Whole Foods, I would.
94. I enjoy vacuuming and mowing the lawn.
95. Hydrangeas and tulips are my favorite flowers.
96. If I can't buy it at Walgreens, then the chances are, I probably don't need it.
97. I am constantly amazed at how fast AJ is growing up and I kind of wish time would slow down.
98. I officially am not the same political party as D, but I'm inching closer and closer to his side all the time.
99. I consider chips and salsa to be health-food.
100. I am glad I am done with this list.

Our Trip to Savannah

I'm not sure if I mentioned it here, but AJ and I recently took a short trip down to Savannah to visit some of my family. My uncle is a weightlifter and he was competing in the US Masters Weightlifting Championships there so we drove down for a few days of visiting with him, my aunt, my cousin and my grandparents.

We arrived Thursday afternoon and enjoyed a quick walk on the beach in between rain showers. Thursday night we went out to dinner on Tybee Island at a seafood joint. It was delicious and the perfect end to the day! AJ and I headed to our hotel after dinner and she was so tired that she barely even fought bedtime!

Doing some crazy walking!

Checking something out with Great-Aunt Bev.

Picking up a shell.

Hanging out.

AJ on the beach.

My grandpa at dinner. He ordered two shrimp cocktails as his dinner and thought it was hilarious!

Friday we met a fellow blogger for lunch and then headed back out to my aunt and uncle's place to hang out before the weightlifting meet. On the way out to their place, we drove through Old Town Savannah and stopped at a park on the side of the road for some play time and pictures. While we were at their condo AJ fell asleep and I ended up having to wake her up to make it to the meet on time! Ha!

A beautiful house in Old Town.

Some of the buildings still had St. Patty's Day decorations up!

Playing with the car keys!

We got to the meet and of course, they were running late, so I could have let her sleep longer, but such is life. We had plenty of time before my uncle's age group started so AJ and I walked around and around the venue, meeting every single person there. Its a good thing she is so cute, I'm sure that if she wasn't people wouldn't have been so happy to see her!

My uncle started lifting and he won his division, that means he is qualified for the World's competition, which is being held in Crete this year! Pretty exciting! We didn't stay for the whole thing because AJ was getting very tired towards the end of the first round, so we took off, but I was glad to get to see a little of it, at least.

One of the squares that are all over Old Town.

Saturday before we headed home we drove through Old Town one more time, I was hoping to get a picture of Paula Deen's restaurant, Lady and Sons. I had a hard time finding it and once we drove past it I was happy with just seeing what it looked like! Ha!

City Hall.

All in all, we had a really fun time and I'm glad we went! AJ got to spend time with her great-grandparents and great-aunt and -uncle. The good news is that its not too far from where we live, so I'm hoping that we'll be able to make the drive down on a 4-day sometime and D can come with us! Maybe we'll even eat at Paula's restaurant! ;)

A Day Late, And (Not) a Dollar Short!

Okay, I wasn't planning to participate in the MilSpouse Friday Fill-In this week, mostly because I'm late, but I'm not as late a I thought I was. I was out of town for part of the week and traveling mid-week has thrown me for a loop! I didn't even realize that today is Saturday! If you want to join in the fun, link up over at Wife of a Sailor!

1. What romance movie scene reminds you of your s/o or spouse and the LOVE you share? submitted by Simply Sunshine and Daisy’s
This is a really, really hard question to answer! I couldn't think of anything, so I asked D and he gave me a sarcastic answer and then told me that he was sure that my readers wouldn't want his answer, but mine. So, dear readers, I direct you to fact # 52 on my #100factsaboutme list.

2. If you were allowed to deploy with your husband to a war zone would you and why? submitted by I & J
Hell no. I'm not cut out for that sh!t.

3. Have you ever done anything (intentionally, or unintentionally) to embarrass your spouse/significant other in front of his military cohorts? submitted by Marrying the Navy
Not that I know of.

4. What is your most irrational fear? submitted by Eights on the Move
Bridges. I'm so scared of crossing them, especially when we're driving over them. My fears were all confirmed when that bridge in Minneapolis collapsed a few years ago. Oh, I'm also very scared of birds (all sorts) and squirrels. Remind me to blog about the squirrel at my wedding sometime.

5. If you could only live in one kind of climate for the rest of your life, what would it be and why? submitted by Many Waters
Hometown, USA in the summer. For 3 months out of the year, its the greatest place on Earth!