Ketchup!

Ok, I'm pretty sure it's been a week since I've last posted. Well, with good reason. Monkey is home on leave! Woohoo!!! I don't have a lot of time so I'll give you all a quick and dirty catch up in bullet points and pictures.

• For Father's day we went to Niagara Falls with my parents. (Not the real one; the local one). 

• Tomorrow we get our bedroom furniture!  I can't even tell you how excited I am about this. I have never had real bedroom furniture. I was sooooo tired of having just mattresses on a bedframe and no nightstands! 

• We'll be leaving soon for a mini road trip to California to see some of his family that I haven't met yet. Also very excited about this! 

• I learned how to make pan fried chicken and a creme sauce to put over pasta. Turns out I'm a pretty good cook. I still don't really like to cook, but I do like being all domestic for my Monkey. :)

A Boohoo and a Hooyah - Week 6

Good morning my fellow Tuesdayers. It's time to vent and cheer. That's right, it's time for A Boohoo and a Hooyah! It's a fun simple short format way to talk about something that's been going wrong and then follow it up with something positive that's been going right! Fill in your battle cry depending on your branch, or pick your favorite if you're civilian.

Now, the linkups have been dwindling in recent weeks. :( But, everyone who is still doing it always says how much they like it and wish others would join in too, so I'm going to keep doing it in hopes that more people will join up.

In order to help spread the word about this easy little link up please don't forget to:

1. Link up with the linky tool below so my followers can find you!
(Please enter your name or your blog name, rather than the title of your post)

2. Link back to this post in your post so your followers can find the link up and join in too! 

Thanks everyone! I love you all. :)

Ok, so now on with my Boohoo and Hooyah!

Boohoo: ...hmm... this is hard this week... I really don't have anything this week because...

Hooyah: Monkey ended up with an odd short weekend turning in to a really long weekend!!! And we used his extra time home to pick out and order bedroom furniture! We also spent last night practicing setting up our new tents in the living room of our tiny apartment. :) He's back to work this week, but when he gets back this weekend, he'll be on leave and I'll have him for almost three weeks! Yea!!!

Now it's your turn! Vent and brag. Go ahead! 

10 year reunion and other things

This was the busiest and most social weekend I think I've ever had.

First off, I got to spend it with Monkey which made it fantastic no matter what. And on top of that he came home for the weekend early and then found out that he gets to stay through today! Otherwise, I would have done this whole weekend by myself = much less fun.

So, let me give you the short list of our weekend:

- Hour and a half drive for a friends 21st birthday+hour and a half drive back+one quick nap at a rest stop at 4:30ish in the morning. It was very fun but we were determined to sleep in our own bed that "night".

- Monkey goes to little brothers parkor party. He had a blast and is still amusingly sore all over his body.

- I went for another two hour drive to a different friends graduation party for congrats and to see people I haven't seen in a very long time.

- Drove back home, picked up Monkey and went to my 10 year high school reunion.

I was on the fence about going to this for a very long time for various reasons. I gotta say, though, I am very glad I went. I wish I would have gotten there earlier so I could have seen more people. By the time I got there everyone was a few drinks into the night, so most of the greetings I got were very exuberant. :)

I received quite a few compliments. Kinda an ego boost I must say. I have changed quite a bit since high school. And, I actually received a few apologies from people for being mean to me when we were younger. I held no grudges. I know we were all kids. Not that I condone bullying in the least bit, or write it off as something that kids do. But, I recognize that these people have grown up and are not the same people they were when we were children.

Anyway, it was an interesting and fascinating experience to see how people have changed and how they've stayed the same. I do believe I am looking forward to our 20 year. At least, right now I am.

I have been extremely bad at taking pictures lately so I have none to share with you. There was one group of friends that I really wish I had taken pictures with, though. I was just so caught up in it all.

Did you/will you be going to your 10 year reunion?


Oh, yeah. And then on Sunday in lieu of a run we went furniture shopping and picked out a bedroom set! Yea! This will keep me satisfied for while in the grown-up house department. I just couldn't stand any longer only having a bed frame and no nightstand and not enough space for my clothes. We picked out an actual bed, with a headboard and footboard and everything; a couple nightstands, and a dresser. We wanted the wider one but it wouldn't fit in our teeny tiny bedroom so we had to do that tall skinny kind instead of the shorter wide kind. Oh well, it still gets the clothes off the floor! And we got a really good deal. It will be delivered next week (hopefully)! Incredibly excited. Becoming adults, one important purchase at a time.

I should be cleaning but...

So after my shower I didn't bother to straighten my hair though it's usually  necessary to make it look "good". There is, however, sometimes an in between spot where my hair is kind of damp, before it starts to dry and get frizzy that I quite like. Today my hair was having one of those times so I took some of those cheesy self portraits in hopes of catching something cute to give to Monkey to add to his "pictures of Ducky" album he keeps with him on his phone. I found one that I thought was pretty and decided to have some fun in photoshop, because I rarely get to do that for myself.  So, here are the results of that. I think it's adorable. The hubs will probably like it, anyway.

Runnin' Ducky

Ran for the about the third time by myself this year. Man, am I out of shape. Very sad really. I thought i must have done at least three miles. I came home and mapped it, it was just over two. And I had to stop and walk part of it because I felt sick. Guess I've got some work to do before warrior dash in September! Would love to get back up to the 5 to 7 miles I was doing last summer. Though that killed my flexibility. I'll have to work on that too. Needless to say, I've got a lot to work on this summer.

Well, I'm off to the shower. I'm kinda sweaty and itchy. Turns out I do have allergies this year after all.

Wordless Wednesday - How I spend my weekends

First Aerial Yoga "Flying" lesson.

Ba Gua Seminar

Ba Gua Seminar

Capoeira Class - (I'm in the lower left corner)
Working up to aerial cartwheels. Still on the one-handed variety.

A Boohoo and a Hooyah - Week 5

Happy Tuesday Bloggers. Time to sum up your highs and lows into one quick, fun, short format blog post.

Simply tell us about something that's not been going right, and then follow it up with something positive. Pick your battle cry depending on your branch, or give a good 'ol "Booyah" if you're civilian!

I love reading these! Link up and link back. Spread the word; the more link ups, the more fun it is! 

Boohoo: I woke up this morning with the sore throat and ear ache thing that's been going around. I haven't been sick in soooo long. I think all the stress of the last few weeks has finally caught up to me. 

Hooyah:Went out with friends last night. It's always nice to break routine and get out of the apartment. I DEVOURED some totally bad for me, though utterly tasty, chicken strips and french fries from Stanfords. Yumm! Beats the third meal of Turkey chilli I was about to go home at eat. 

Ok, now I want to hear from you! How are things going for you right now?

I'm back in not-so-black! (a monkey post)

So, where to begin... Yes, I made second class. Now ET2 (that's E-5 pay-grade). Not bad for being just shy of my 2.5 year mark. I got to look at my profile sheet and I scored better than 93% of the people who took the test. Three of the four people in my division up for the advancement made it.

The thing that angered me about this however, is that the one guy who did not make it; is the one whom I feel most deserved to make it. I think I was runner up for being deserving of the promotion; but the guy that I think deserved it most did not make it. He missed it by .66 of a point. He had an admirals letter (worth 2 points) that did not get counted so they are routing the paperwork to see if they can get it for him and I hope they do. He deserves it. More than I do, I think.

This underway was a lot of fun. I managed to steel A-Gang's two most prized possessions - their screw (a propeller-like engraving that sits in the deck of their space - the symbol of their rate), and their Mary Jane. Mary Jane is a name plate that sits on top of the diesel motor. Submarines have a tradition of naming their diesel engine. Ours is "Mary Jane", the Nebraska's is "Big Red".

Anyways, I (with some help from my division in the planning, and concealment phases) stole both these items. Both heists were beautiful - went down without any hitches and both were seized in under ten seconds.

This is particularly awesome because A-Gangers are a particularly proud breed. The general consensus is that "nobody messes with A-Gang". If you know me - you know that I have zero tolerance for the thug mentality or anything resembling it. So I had to teach A-Gang a lesson.

The deal is that you return any items you stole from another division on Half-way night. Its another little submarine tradition - you don't take anything functional, nothing that belongs to another person - just things that belong to a division that serve no mission oriented purpose. Both of the things i took were merely decoration. Come half-way night, my division had devised a plan for returning these items to A-Gang. First, we donated the screw (part of it) to the Recreation Committee to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Whoever bought it knows that they have to give it back to A-Gang but they want to do it to settle the score. A-Gang started throwing a huge FIT about this because they didn't know who had their stuff. Anyways - it sold for 60 bucks.

To return the Mary Jane sign - we had also stolen the chain from the Missile Techs door. One of our guys used the chain, to hold the Mary Jane sign like a giant medallion. He walked around the boat like that until someone realized what was up and he got clobbered by about 6 angry A-Gangers. All in good fun. We have to keep ourselves occupied.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Presently; I am limping around due to having overworked my calves. I bought some Vibrams. They are a shoe that is more like a glove for your foot. They are made for running because contrary to the popular design for shoes - humans were not meant to land on their heels while walking or running. I took these things out for a spin. Generally speaking, even when I am out of shape I am capable of running 3-4 miles with no real problems, and at a decent enough speed. Well, not with these bad boys on... They totally change the way you run, MUCH less shock on your knees and back. But your calves have to work WAY harder than ever before. I made it about a mile in these before i decided i had to stop. My calves are now SHOT. I have been limping for the past two days waiting for them to heal up.

I highly recommend these shoes - but take it easy at first. They are such a great workout.

Anyhoozle. I arrived to find that the two computers I had left off for the two months I was away were broken and the two computers I had left on were perfectly fine. Lesson learned (something I have generally stood by) don't turn computers off! I have never been a believer in shutting them down and restarting them all the time anyways - it's actually harder on their hardware to go off and on all the time - they last longer if they just stay on. I have fixed one of them, I have not done any troubleshooting on the other.


I suppose that's about all I have for now. I would like to say one last thing though. I have the most amazing, wonderful wife I could ever ask for. She has been very supportive of me (always) this underway and it means the world to me. She is everything I could ever hope for, but better because she is the person she is.

So here's to you, Ducky. Thank you for all you have done, I appreciate everything you are, and all that you do. It really is quite amazing! Love you!

Signing off,
Monkey

Making the most of a short summer

So, this list was my facebook status last night and I feel like expanding on it. I didn't have hubs last summer so it was pretty uneventful and really, mostly wasted. But I get him this year and I plan to cram as much summer in as possible. We're nearly fully booked for his leave period and every weekend around it until the second week in August! We plan on being as active as possible, making memories, and spending as much of it together as possible.

Things I am looking forward to on my three weeks of summer with hubs:

1. Dinner for two
Last time he was home I tried my hand at a little bit of cooking and baking. I want to get back into that once I have someone else to eat it. As much as I like a good turkey sandwhich... cooked food will be nice for a change. ;)

2. Road Trip!
We are locking down the details to go visit his family in California who he hasn't seen in a long time and who I haven't even met yet. (That tends to happen when you basically elope.) We had such a good time on our PCS road trip, I can't wait for this one. We make a really good team and I love planning and going on adventures with him. :)

3. Actually enjoying a sunny day
You may remember my big ol' sad face post a while back about the sunshine making me sad when he's away because I can't enjoy it with him. Ok, well I've mostly gotten over that. But, I am super duper excited to actually get outside with Monkey on the sunny days to come! Hiking, biking and running, aye!

4. Workout buddy
We started this kickboxing thing together, but then when he went underway it obviously became a solo activity. I'm really excited to work out with him again. I'm also excited to get him started in Capoeira! I know he's going to love it and I can't wait to have someone to practice with.

5. The most jam packed three weeks of summer ever
Yeah, like I said up top; we are pretty fully booked this summer and it's going to be awesome! I'm going to work really hard to make sure we don't get lazy and stay in bed all day. We have a really bad habit of doing that cause we're such cuddle bugs. But, that is why most everything is prescheduled! So we don't have to decide what to do, we'll just go do it!

Well, that's what I'm super freakin' excited about this summer!! 

 What are you excited about this summer?

 

Don't forget to link up your Boohoo and Hooyah for week 4! (Open all week)
We only have a few links this week. I feel sad. Join in and make my day! Pretty please!?

Oh yeah...

I forgot to tell you. I went back on Tuesday and had him add bangs! Loving them! I feel sassy and chic. :D

I'm going to take this opportunity to give a shout out to my new favorite stylists. I know I have a few readers in their area. Next time you need a salon, seriously go check out Hollywood 2U.
Website: http://www.goh2u.com/
Phone: (888)-4-h2uh2u

Absolutely, the best haircut experience I've had. It's a husband and wife team. Super friendly and really listened to me. I got exactly what I wanted and he was really great when I came back in to commit to the bangs! The salon is also really nice and I loved the product they used. Very cool place, very cool people. You will not be disappointed!

Thursday 5

Fascinating

Pleasant

Sweet

Sensational

Heartwarming

I recently had a Fascinating character from my past pop back up out of the blue. Haven't quite decided how I'm going to handle it. We didn't exactly part ways on good terms.

I had a pleasant few days with my Monkey, even though my Monkey to bored ratio was very low.

I may seem sweet and innocent at most times, but I am apparently quite the trouble maker.

Still nomming on the sensational bbq leftovers from Sunday night. They were for the hubs, but he didn't have time to eat all of it before we had to check out of the hotel so I took them home to continue the enjoyment.

Finally coming home to my poor lonely kitty was heartwarming. She really missed her mama.

Don't forget to link up for this week's "A Boohoo & A Hooyah... or Hooah, or Oorah". It's new and it's fun!