Deployment Positive Monday- Week 11

This past weekend was I think the first weekend of this entire deployment that I wan't traveling somewhere or didn't have anyone come down to visit me. I'll be honest, I tried really hard to make sure a weekend like that didn't happen while Andrew was gone, but gosh darn it, was it nice! I got so much accomplished, our entire apartment has been cleaned and organized and honestly, it felt pretty good to just have nothing to do for an entire day.

I'm not saying I would want every weekend to be like that, but it was so nice to just focus on me for a little while. While Andrew is gone, it is so easy to look forward to what is to come and get caught up in future plans, but this weekend I just got to live in the moment. The biggest bummer of the weekend was that I seem to have hurt my back during a workout... I feel like such an old lady, I can barely stand without moaning and groaning. The worst part of the whole thing is that all I can think about is going to  visit Mickey Mouse next week and not being able to ride on Space Mountain.

I guess it's crazy that just as I'm saying how great it is to enjoy life as-is and in the moment, I'm simultaneously looking forward to my biggest trip of the summer: DISNEY WORLD! I told Andrew this is officially a tradition that I go down to Disney while he is deployed, since his mom and I went for a visit last time he was gone. My friend and I are driving down this Saturday and only staying for a couple of days, but we are both really looking forward to the little get-away. I don't think anything (other than running into my husband's arms in a crowded airport after a long separation) could make me happier than spending a couple of days on the most magical place on earth!

Deployment Positive Monday- Week 10

Wow... Double digits for weeks already. As hard as it is to believe that we have reached this little benchmark, sometimes I look back at X-day and think "really?! Has it only been two months?!" Deployments totally mess with me that way, I guess. It's been so nice to have been keeping busy, but sheesh, this seems like the longest summer ever, er... Um I guess since the last time Andrew was deployed, and if we're really being picky, the summer before that wasn't exactly a walk in the park either. 

Lately our days (or nights, depending on which one of us you are talking to) have been spent planning for the glorious month we get to spend together between Andrews homecoming and SFAS. And let me tell you- if you thought I packed a lot of fun into this summer, wait til you see what we have got planned for that little snippet of time. We're still relatively unsure about when that will be (plus I can't tell you anyways because of OPSEC... Do we all remember OPSEC?) but it's just been exciting to look forward to it! 

This past week I was lucky enough to have an extended period of time off of work, so I went up to visit family in Pennsylvania! It was a great trip! As many people know, I'll take any excuse possible to visit loved ones! This trip was brought to you by the Dirty Girl Mud Run that I did on Saturday with Andrews sister and cousins! It was a blast! We ran 5k though all sorts of muddy obstacles and I couldn't stop smiling throughout the entire course. My army husband would have been so proud of me (loudly) encouraging ladies on other teams to get their bottoms down during the low crawl exercises... Mainly because that just meant they would get muddier, and wasn't that the whole point! 

At the end of the day, this was a fun thing to do for a great cause. They raise money to support breast cancer research and we even finished right behind a team with a breast cancer survivor who ran the race! Definitely a feel-good moment to watch her as she crossed the finish line with her 20+ teammates all cheering her name. 

Deployment Positive Monday- Week 9

Well for a girl who just spent her first wedding anniversary with her husband fighting a war halfway around the world, I must say, I am in an excellent mood! I had absolutely, hands-down the best weekend possible, given the circumstances. 

Andrew and I have known that we would spend our first anniversary apart since we set the date for our wedding, so there was never really a part of me that spent my time dreaming about a super romantic weekend reminiscing in the awesomeness of our wedding and our marriage (does anyone actually do that?) but that didn't make it any easier to spend such a big milestone without him. What did make it a whole lot easier (and fun) was the fact that my college roommate/maid of honor/best friend came down to spend the weekend with me here in Louisville. I still can't believe how lucky I am that she flew all the way down here just to make sure I wasn't lonely this weekend. That is truly the definition of an amazing friend.

I won't bore you with all of the details of the weekend, but in short: I got my breakfast comp'd at Wild Eggs because she told the waitress the situation, we went downtown for dinner and saw 7483728 bachelorette parties and the Louisville Slugger Factory, drank bottles and bottles of wine and stayed up way too late chatting and laughing, drove 35 minutes to the coolest dunkin donuts, got our nails done, laid out at the pool, made an epic wedding video, facetimed my amazing husband TWICE, and went to Buffalo Wild Wings for my anniversary dinner for junk food, beers, bug buck hunter and watched (preseason) football. Basically everything was perfect. 

I think my favorite part of the weekend was looking back through the hours of video footage that she had captured from our wedding. Watching it made it feel like it was just yesterday, and I love all the little candid moments she caught that the professionals simply couldn't. If you have ten minutes to spare, I highly recommend watching the following link, Amy did an amazing job and really somehow managed to show the essence of our relationship... Just goofy, head over heels love 

http://youtu.be/KwCqd1eAzNU