Through Rose Colored Glasses

Army-Navy Game 2011

2011-12-10T21:14:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year again -- our big Army Navy game! Our neighborhood has a get together every year at our community pool club house with a good mix of Army and Navy fans to cheer on our Midshipman and Cadets. This year I wanted to do something fun and try out my new "toy....."

I got my Babycakes Cake Pop maker! Combine with a Dr. Oetker organic cake mix and you get a real super treat.

~ This is what came in my kit ~

The cake mix called for 3 eggs, however I've nearly cut the use of all eggs in our household since the Summer ~ what I prefer to use in my baking is EnerG Egg Replacer (you can find this at any Whole Foods Market or health food store).

It's a powder made of tapioca/arrowroot that you mix with water and it does the same thing in your cakes as eggs do. It binds. But with no cholesterol or harmful side effects (and animal friendly as well).

Easy peasy! 4 minues per batch and I got these beauties!

I dipped them into a small amount of melted white chocolate (I know, I know....healthy? Listen, I can't take EVERYTHING away from my Sweetheart). He likes his cake, he just likes it healthier :o)

Blue & Gold sprinkles I found at Michaels. Perfect!

Then my Navy man had a little fun and lined all of our Navy cake pops up on a piece of styrophome...

One by one. Until he created....

An "N" for Navy!

He was very proud of himself. And rightfully so.

Because Navy WON for the 10th year in a row!!27-21. GO NAVY! That is all.

Fwd: November Board Meeting Minutes, Please Review

2011-11-29T12:14:00.001-05:00

Sent from Brenda's iPhone

Live, Laugh, Love

Begin forwarded message:

From: Matt and Katy Koch <katymatt@hotmail.com>
Date: November 29, 2011 11:26:09 AM EST
To: Susan Widmayer <susanwidmayer@yahoo.com>, <mitz@jd5.so-net.ne.jp>, Ann Boody <acbb8@yahoo.com>, Asako Maeda <asako@wonglaw.com>, <yui_haru_mom@nifty.com>, Bobbie Leahey <bleahey@mindspring.com>, <gonavy84@verizon.net>, Charlene Huggins <cthuggins@gmail.com>, Judy Arden <d.arden@yahoo.com>, <yjkato@verizon.net>, <nyjunko@aol.com>, <fuzinav@aol.com>, <mchargsrus@cox.net>, <lindawells2@gmail.com>, Mary Woods <woods56@cox.net>, Masumi Tochisako <masumisan@aol.com>, <pamspups@verizon.net>, <ytyamaguchi@msn.com>, Walle Hargreaves <hargrea4hw@verizon.net>, Yuko Ohnishi <yohnishi@verizon.net>, <ekresearch@gmail.com>
Subject: RE: November Board Meeting Minutes, Please Review

Dear Board Members,

I have attached the November Board Meeting Minutes and have also printed them in this email. Please review and let me know if you have any corrections or additions.

Thanks, and see you on Thursday.

Katy
-------------------------------------------

                                           WTWC Board Meeting Minutes

                                                        November 3, 2011

The meeting was called to order by President Susan Widmayer at 10:52 a.m. at TPC Avenel in Potomac, MD.

PRESENT: President, Susan Widmayer; 1^STVP, Walle Hargreaves; 2^ND VP, Asako Maeda; Treasurer, Bobbie Leahey; Corresponding Secretary, Mary Woods; Recording Secretary, Katy Koch; Assistant Secretary, Teruyo Yamaguchi; Membership, Kathleen Cassidy & Junko Nakayama; Programs, Linda Wells & Yuko Ohnishi; Hospitality, Pam Darwin, Ann Boody, & Akie Ishida; Nominations, Kris McHarg & Masumi Tochisako; Data Base, Sayaka Fudo & her replacement, Eri Kimura; Nakayoshi, Judy Arden & Ayano Murase; Immediate Past President, Charlene Huggins.

ABSENT: Assistant Treasurer, Junko Kato; Hospitality, Brenda Jorgensen.

Regarding changes to the October Minutes, Susan asked for the following sentence to be deleted from the Programs section: "Linda and Yuko will try to book the Westwood Country Club in Vienna, VA, for May." A motion was then made to accept the Minutes as amended; it was seconded and passed.

PRESIDENT: Susan's report was submitted by email. She added that our new honorary board member, Yuko Ishikawa, would like to attend a board meeting sometime in the future. Susan also expressed appreciation to Judy and Ayano for a beautiful job on the Nakayoshi, to Walle for her work in recognizing the 30-year club members at the October luncheon, and to Kathleen and Junko for their detailed Membership reports.

1^st VICE PRESIDENT: Walle's report was submitted by email.

2^nd VICE PRESIDENT: Asako's report was submitted by email.

TREASURER: Bobbie's report was submitted by email. The board thanked her for her excellent work on the budget.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY: Everyone welcomed Mary back! She reported that she has written welcome notes to last month's five new Japanese members.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY: Teruyo had nothing to report this month.

MEMBERSHIP: Reports submitted by email.

PROGRAMS: Yuko thanked Asako for hosting WTWC at Congressional Country Club in October. The December and February luncheons will be discussed under "Old Business". Linda is checking into the Marco Polo restaurant as a venue for the May meeting.

HOSPITALITY: Reports submitted by email. The Otomodachi Luncheons will be discussed under "Old Business".

NOMINATIONS: Kris reported that Sachi Hamamoto and Marge Hernandez have joined her committee and will meet with her at the end of November. Beginning in January, they'll talk to current board members about who would like to serve on the 2012-2013 board.     Masumi reported that Noriko Nishitani will be on her committee; she still needs one more person.

DATA BASE: Sayaka's report was submitted by email. She will return to Japan in mid-November to prepare for her baby's birth. She introduced her replacement, Eri Kimura, who joined the club last year. Eri is a second-generation member, since her mother was also in WTWC. The board members thanked Sayaka for all her hard work and dedication to WTWC, and welcomed Eri as the newly appointed Data Base chair.

NAKAYOSHI: Judy's and Ayano's reports were submitted by email. Ayano mentioned that FedEx does a better job of printing the Nakayoshi than UPS, but it's also more expensive than UPS. It was agreed that the quick, beautiful job FedEx does is worth the extra money.

PAST PRESIDENT: Charlene had nothing to report. She will update the phone tree for the next board meeting. On this topic, Walle suggested printing WTWC's event cancellation policy in the December – January Nakayoshi, to remind members that it's up to the meeting venue to determine whether to cancel in case of bad weather.

OLD BUSINESS

1. Printing and Distribution of Directories: Sayaka reported that the new directories were given out at the October luncheon and then mailed to those who didn't attend (except for Mary Grealy, Evelyn Gorham, and Fumiko Brees, who haven't paid their dues). Extra copies were given to the Membership chairs for new members. The board discussed whether to continue mailing the Nakayoshi to the aforementioned women. Walle suggested that Fumiko's copy could be emailed to her daughter. Kris felt that we should keep mailing a copy to Evelyn, who is a past WTWC president. In Mary's case, there has been no response to letters from Susan and Kathleen, so the board agreed to stop sending her the Nakayoshi.

2.   Format for December and February Programs: Linda reported that the December luncheon will be held at Bethesda Country Club, with the WTWC Chorus performing Christmas music. Regarding whether to include the "Toys for Tots" program this year, she will get details and contact information from Charlene and notify Judy before the Nov. 15^th Nakayoshi deadline. The RSVP deadline for the December luncheon will be Dec. 1^ST. The February luncheon will be held at TPC and will feature an antiques dealer appraising items brought in by members.

3. Otomodachi Luncheon Planning: Pam reported that she has 12 hostesses, and that 63 American members and 48 Japanese members have signed up to attend. Ann will send out the invitations to each hostess. Susan will thank all hostesses in the Dec.-Jan. Nakayoshi, and Ann will write each of them a note.

4. Board Meeting Schedule: Susan still needs volunteers to host in January and April.

5. New Revised Budget: Bobbie reported that the revised budget is on track.

6. Recognition Ceremony for 30-year members at October Luncheon: Everyone agreed how nice it was to honor the 30-year members with roses and certificates. Judy took a lovely picture of the group – she will send a copy to each honoree.

NEW BUSINESS

1. New Member Applications: A motion was made to accept proposed American member Vicky Moss; it was seconded and passed. A motion was then made to accept proposed Japanese members Mutsuko Fukui and Yae Kojima; it was seconded and passed.

2. Change of Status for Linda Ely: A motion was made to accept Linda's requested change from active to supporting member. (She is unable to participate in club activities while she is busy settling her father's estate.) The motion was seconded and passed.



3. Board Meeting & Potluck in December: Walle said there is no need to sign up for a specific potluck dish – bring whatever you wish. She is also planning an advent decoration activity.

4. Photos in the Nakayoshi: Walle mentioned that there have been some wonderful photos in the Nakayoshi recently and wondered if the number could be increased. Judy said that she could use more if people will email them to her.

5. Gift from the Board at the December Luncheon: Judy asked if the board could offer members a complimentary drink at the holiday luncheon. Some discussion followed. Charlene said that this was very much appreciated by members last year and helped to make the day festive. A motion was made to use reserve board funds to offer a glass of wine or a sparkling non-alcoholic beverage to members at the start of the luncheon. The cost cannot exceed $750. The motion was seconded and passed.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:03 p.m., followed by a luncheon and baby shower in honor of Sayaka. Our next meeting will be held on Thurs., Dec. 1^ST, at Walle's home in Reston, VA.

Respectfully submitted by Katy Koch, Recording Secretary

Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 08:13:02 -0800
From: susanwidmayer@yahoo.com
Subject: WTWC December Board Meeting and Holiday Pot Luck
To: mitz@jd5.so-net.ne.jp; acbb8@yahoo.com; asako@wonglaw.com; yui_haru_mom@nifty.com; bleahey@mindspring.com; gonavy84@verizon.net; cthuggins@gmail.com; d.arden@yahoo.com; yjkato@verizon.net; nyjunko@aol.com; fuzinav@aol.com; katymatt@hotmail.com; mchargsrus@cox.net; lindawells2@gmail.com; woods56@cox.net; masumisan@aol.com; pamspups@verizon.net; susanwidmayer@yahoo.com; ytyamaguchi@msn.com; hargrea4hw@verizon.net; yohnishi@verizon.net; ekresearch@gmail.com

Dear Board Members,

Wishing you all a very enjoyable Thanksgiving, doing exactly what you love to do best, whether it is cooking for loved ones, gathering around the table of family and friends, taking a walk through the woods, or just enjoying the 4 day vacation. Enjoy and be thankful.

I want to remind you of our December 1 Board meeting at Walle Hargreaves' home at 10:30. The meeting will be followed by a pot luck lunch (bring what you wish to share), and then a surprise project involving traditional German decorations. I guarantee you will be delighted!

Please RSVP to Walle for the lunch and project so that she can plan.

See you next week,
Susan

Susan Widmayer
10528 Mereworth Lane
Oakton, VA 22124
tel: 703-255-0406

You know you've been married a long time when your husband gives you this ensemble as a gift:

2011-06-25T14:18:00.000-04:00

Sent from Brenda's BlackBerry

Look at my new statuettes!

2011-04-02T17:19:00.002-04:00

I just had to show off what came in a little box for me earlier this week.....

Look at these two little wooden statuettes that my father in law made for me! It may not show well in the photograph, but they stand up and can be displayed on a shelf or in a cabinet. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THEM!

The left one is my son Josh at his recent (March 4) Army boot camp/AIT graduation at Ft. Benning, GA and the other is my precious, precious Minnie Mouse; my little female long haired chihuahua whom we lost last September due to heart failure at age 12 1/2. (((breaking my heart)))

To say that I was surprised by the box is very true. To say that I was brought to tears by these adorable little figurines is also very true. Do I wish I had taken a better picture of them instead of with my cell phone on top of all of my clutter with my uber funky brown blanket in the background? - Well, uhhh...YES!! But I couldn't wait to show you all and waiting for me to get organized enough to get some real images on my blog may have taken awhile.

My world misses Minnie & Josh every single day. Thanks, Jack, for making these for me. I will treasure them forever and ever. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

And quit making me cry xoxo

PVT Josh Davis, Graduation ~ The 3rd generations

2011-03-10T16:59:00.004-05:00

Yay, He did it!

I am so proud to share with everyone that Josh graduated boot camp & advanced infantry training on March 4th!!! We got to spend several wonderful days with him at Ft. Benning, GA. The 198th Infantry Brigade put on a very impressive ceremony at the National Infantry Museum and I enjoyed the speech from Batallion Commander LTC Hastings, quite memorable.

At Josh's repeated requests, Johnny dug his uniform out of retirement to wear ONE LAST time for the ceremony. He was thankful (and proud) that it still fit after 4 years! He did say not to make him laugh or he'd have a problem, haha!

3 generations of military in our family: Left to Right: Allen/Dad (Air Force), Josh (Army), Johnny/Step Dad (Navy, Ret.), Jerry/Grandpa (Army, Ret.)

I have plenty of pictures to share in the coming weeks of the ceremonies and of Uchee Creek Campgrounds ... (I took 472 pics & Johnny took 83....umm...and that doesn't count the rest of my familys' cameras AND cell phone pics). I sure have my work cut out for me in creating a memory scrap book for Josh from when he raised his right hand to graduation day. But I can handle it :o)

Can you believe that out of hundreds of photos there is not ONE image of just me and my soldier? And not ONE of Johnny, me & Josh; a family photo. In all of the excitement it didn't occur to me....I am stunned. Oh well. What's a Mama to do now?

Thanks so much for your support everyone!

Wooden Spoon Trick

2011-03-10T13:56:00.001-05:00

I've always wished that I could pull practical jokes on people. I'm not a funny person, I don't think. I inevidabley ruin the punch lines of every joke I try to repeat.

I wish I had the ability to have a dead pan poker face when I'm trying to trick someone, but instead, my big, dumb, cheesy grin gives me up within seconds every single time.....so I can appreciate this video. It made me laugh so hard, and I can't even understand a single word the guys are saying!! It's probably due to the fact that I have a nearly 20 year old son and this is something he and his friends would do! When Josh sees this I can bet you $100 he will pull this on one of his buddies....

Happy Valentine's Day! xoxo

2011-02-14T09:53:00.003-05:00

This year Johnny & I celebrated Valentine's Day early on Saturday night with a group of about 30 friends. My girlfriend Pam's son is in culinary school and we were treated to "Italian Night with Chef Brendan" (I will be blogging those pics shortly).

SOoooo....I actually forgot that TODAY was Valentine's Day (Doh!) until I came down to the kitchen this morning.

My sweet Johnny left me a beautiful, romantic card on the kitchen counter before he left for work. He left me TWO cards, actually, but the second one is not G rated for my blog viewers, haha. (It's very funny! But for my eyes only *wink*)

That's what I love about Johnny. No matter what we're doing or where we going, I know we will laugh. We've laughed our way through 13 1/2 years so far.....

We truly are the best of friends.

Johnny likes to say that we could go to the city dump and still find a way to enjoy ourselves. I say, that's fine, as long as he packs me some sweet tea before we head out.

I can't imagine going through my life without my Johnny. I mean, who would I watch CSI reruns with and who would I give the run down of what today's Dr. Phill & Oprah show was all about every night? Who would squeeze Johnny's toothpaste tube all crazy & crooked and who would be his back seat driver? I mean....oooh...scary thoughts.

♥ I heart him ♥

There was also another little surprise on my kitchen counter. The man knows me ♥ Oh, how I wish this were smell-a-vision... I hope you all have a wonderfully loving Valentine's Day and that your heart flames are burning strong.

Air Force 2 Tour, Andrews Air Force Base

2011-02-09T18:12:00.004-05:00

How lucky are WE??

Our Army wives club was treated to a very special tour last week at Andrews Air Force Base that is not available to the general public because one of our members' husband is the pilot of...... can you guess??? ............

Air Force Two! This is the Vice President's (& Secretary of State's) plane. To say it was impressive in person is an understatement.

Photos via Kris Needham

Our tour started off at the 89th Airlift Wing where AF2 pilot, Lt. Col. Needham set up a film for us to watch on the history of the squadron and the fleet of planes. I was surprised to know there are several Air Force Two's in different sizes...sorry, but I was not aware! J

After the film our pilot answered questions from our group then gave us a shopping opportunity. AF2 t-shirts for sale!! There I am with the girls (bottom right) waiting to go out to the plane (it was so cold!!).

All of the ladies were in a long line to get their photo made in front of this seal on the plane. So....monkey see, monkey do!

"Ummm....hello? Can someone please take Mr. Biden some coffee?" Tap, tap, tap...is this thing on?

Sorry, Mr. VP, Sir, no more coffee today. All my girlfriends cleaned you out. Guess I'm fired on my first day on the job.

Group photo with AF2 pilots on the left.

Will you look at these 3 cuties? My friends Pam, Debbie & Lori, slightly frozen, but always beautiful.

Photos via Kris Needham

Top left: The AF2 flight attendant (I'm so sorry I didn't get her name!). She's been working for the VP for 5 years. Top Right: One of the kind crew members who answered the hundreds of questions hurled his way. He was so patient!

Afterwards we all went over to the Officer's Club and had a delicious lunch, complete with ice cream bar & cake for dessert. Yum.

What a fun tour this was! We felt very honored that the 89th Airlift Squadron took the time to secure a plane for us to tour and to show us around.

Have a great week everyone!

What They Do

2011-02-01T11:59:00.007-05:00

Happy February everyone! It's the month of L♥♥♥♥♥♥ve. This month I signed up for a FREE month long mini course called:

by Kelly Willette @ http://www.willettedesigns.com/

Here's what her email stated: "Participants will receive daily email prompts/photo assignments with some tutorial/instruction built into the daily email lesson. It is that easy. I email you every morning, and you follow the assignment/prompt if you would like. I will create a public flickr gallery where you can share if you so choose."

I'll do it! I thought, this will be fun, get my creative juices flowing and help me take that Project 365 image of the day also. Anyone want to join me? Go HERE to sign up for The Joy of Love and begin getting your email assignments.

Today's assignment: "WHAT THEY DO" They, being the ones you love....

Here's the adorable, handsome man that I love. The one who makes me laugh every day and reminds me that I cannot change what I didn't control to begin with....so relax. He's my "chill pill." He's good for my nerves, but wonderful for my heart.

What does he do? He loves to telecommute from home. In his pajamas! Thank goodness there's no Skype involved.

He'll spend 1/2 the day holed up on the couch concentrating on all of the world's problems....

......Or at least the ones in his office, in his fuzzy blue Naval Academy robe.

Eating his snacks, drinking his iced tea....one teleconference after another, he plugs away. Comfy & snuggly.

Making his millions....... HAHAHAHaaaaaaaaaaaa........ sorry, I just wanted to see how it felt typing that. It was nice, actually. I don't regret it. OK. Do over. Achem...

Making an honest living for our family and keeping a warm roof over our heads. Thank you, Johnny. I love an appreciate you so much. You work so hard and you look adorable doing it J

And what do Chihuahuas do???

Just a lot of this. Until supper time, when they go into full on attack mode until Johnny submits and gives them their chicken dinners. Then they go right back to doing a lot of this again. But they love and appreciate Daddy, too. Very much.

Of course, this has to be tagged as my Project 365 image.
I love this man. And I look forward to "finding the love" with him for the rest of my life ♥

My post would not be complete if I didn't remember what my boy does. I'm so proud of him xoxo

And what I do....is I love ALL of them with all of my heart.

Project 365: Jan 23 ~ Jan30

2011-01-30T18:24:00.003-05:00

I can't believe another week has come and gone! I'm sitting here doing tons of laundry (how do two people wear so many clothes?!?) & waiting for my Sunday call from Josh. I'm so excited! He said last week (we got our first call 3 weeks after he left for advanced boot camp) that his drill sergeants were going to allow him a call home every Sunday from now on. I sure hope he calls soon! The day passes very, very slowly when I'm staring at the clock every 10 minutes.....

I have an exciting week ahead. Book Club is going to be at an Indian Restaurant so that we can get the "feel" for the book being set in India. I can't wait. I have a tea with the Army wives and a field trip to Andrews Air Force Base to tour Air Force 2, the Vice President's Plane. How cool is that? I'm going to have a fun time with my camera this week!

Meanwhile, I'm plugging away with my Project 365 ~

{My charm bracelet} Overjoyed today! After 3 weeks, we finally got a phone call from our son who's in boot camp. He sounded well ~ happy & healthy and seems to be enjoying himself, his environment & his training. We are so proud of him. It was wonderful to hear his voice xoxoxo. I used my new crackle texture on this image.

In my next life, can I please be the food photographer for Wegman's Menu Magazine, Dear Lord? In the meantime, I'll keep practicing. Amen.

Today I was looking for "repeating patterns" for my P365 theme and though this wasn't exactly what I had in mind I was stopped dead in my tracks at Wegman's grocery store by these adorable little faces begging all passers by "pleeeeease take me home." They made me smile so I took them home. All of them. In a photograph, at least ;o)

This is our day on the East Coast. Add cold to this and you have the whole picture. It just turned from rain, to sleet to snow all in the period of 1/2 hour so I'm betting tomorrow's P365 image will have some white stuff in it! :o)

I thought I'd have a gorgeous snow photo for my P365 today, but instead it's just a big, slushy mess outside. We got several inches, but now it's all melting.

As I was standing on my deck I noticed that the ice on our peach tree is finally melting....and that the tree is budding ??? I repeat ??? It's confused. So am I.

I caught my sweet little Peanut day dreaming today. She was adorable wrapped up in her warm blanket, staring out through the large bay window watching the snow fall. She seemed hypnotized by the pretty white stuff falling softly to the ground. Too cute ♥

Today's P365 theme: RED. I thought it would be so hard to challenge myself with a red theme just two days after a big snow storm....and then I stepped outside and saw the holly bush covered in snow in my driveway, ha! I forgot about that. But lucky for me, had it not been for this bush, you'd be looking at a photo of a stop sign right now.

My silly Chihuahua Peanut. My husband is holding her for me so that I can cut her nails. She's trying to pull her little paws as close to her body as she can to keep them away from me. Poor thing, they are so long, but we put it off as long as possible since she acts like we are torturing her to death when we trim them. I'm surprised the neighbors haven't called the cops on us with all the screetching & carrying on she does. Lordy....all that drama coming out of a 5 pound dog. We always feel like we need a drink when it's all over with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My project 365 is the one thing that gets my mind off of feeling anxiety about Josh being gone. Every day gets easier and every day that I get a letter from him makes me realize that he's settling into his new life and is doing very well. I'm extremely proud of him.

If you have any Project 365 ideas let me know!! Leave me a message in the comments section below or on Facebook. Give me a shout out ~ A color! A word! A mood! A theme! An item......I'll see if I can accept the challenge....Rated PG please....achem....Kat. Haha. I know you!

My boy still hasn't called, but Johnny's tummy is a grumbling and my laundry is calling me so I'll bid you all adieu and get on with my evening. Hugs & kisses!!

FINALLY! Helga's Maiden Voyage

2011-01-27T14:54:00.002-05:00

This is the only pic I have of Johnny & Helga’s “First Date” and it’s so sweet, even though it was dark and it’s taken on my cell phone. It’s a historical moment!

It was cute because dinner was coming out of the oven and there is nothing in the world Johnny is motivated by more than supper and boxed wine, yet he kept looking outside and saying "WOW…..I don’t want the snow to build up too much, maybe I should get Helga fired up." And about a minute later, looking out the kitchen blinds, he says, "Hmmm.... seems there’s a break in the snow and it’s getting darker and darker (it was already pitch black, how can it get darker?) so maybe I should….."

I said, "FINE! I’ll put the oven on warm. GO! Get out of here!" I hadn’t completely finished my sentence, turned around from the oven and he was already gone. Poof.

He went up and down our teensy driveway for awhile and then I noticed that he disappeared. He had a blast going around to the neighbors’ and clearing sidewalks, etc. He came back in soaking wet, his face all red and sweaty, a big, cheesy grin on his face and gave me the “thumbs up.”

I have been listening to Johnny pray and whine for snow since July so I’m pleased to announce that he finally got his wish. And I don’t have to hear it anymore! We’re BOTH happy J

(P.S. And 1.5 hrs later, we finally ate supper)

A look back on my week through photographs

2011-01-22T22:03:00.004-05:00

It’s been a busy week and I’ve hardly had time to check in. I have been diligent in writing to Josh daily and making sure he always gets something during “mail call” that I’ve given up my blog time. I’m literally all talked out after I write him letters.

Josh is all settled back into his routine and learning how to shoot his weapon and rucking 6 miles with all of his gear on. He’s working hard and counting down the days to graduation. We all are!! I can’t wait!!

Thought I’d share my Project 365 pics from this week with you….(starting with today and working backwards) in case you’re not bored enough, ha! My main goal is to simply capture "a moment" a "mood" or "feeling" or the "highlight" of my day; something that stands out to me.

And I'm NOT afraid to use my cell phone because life happens and you take a capture when it happens with whatever means you have.

Three of the following images were on my cell phones. Can you guess which ones they are?

Project 365 ~ Photo captions in brackets:

{It's a frosty, windy & grey 22* outside, yet I stepped inside the grocery store, took of my gloves and was immediately greeted by the most magnificent yellow roses I'd ever seen. They warmed my heart ♥ even if the rest of me was still frozen}

Aren't they pretty? I loved them so much I used the image to make a new header for my blog! Do you like it? J

{Lunch: I love my husband. I really, really do. But sometimes he makes something so, ummmm.... "creative" for lunch that literally makes me gag. Today he mixed a ton of mustard into a can of tuna, spread it on a slice of bread then heaped on a pile of macaroni & cheese. The smell was enough to make me hold my breath. I snapped the pic then ran. Just wanted you to know my husband a tad.....sorry if I grossed you out.}

Happy Birthday Army WIves Club of Washington D.C.! We celebrated by having a luncheon and playing Bingo at the O'Club. No...I didn't win, but I sure had fun trying J

I posted this image earlier this week: {They didn't get to call home. I waited 3 days, phone in hand. UGH. I'm really missing my son today. I just want to hear his voice. Maybe next weekend.....shot this on my shiny black stove top. Natural light from the kitchen window.}

{Today, I awoke and my entire world had been dipped in shellac.}

{Visited Quantico Marine Base today OOH-RAH!}

{Chicken dinner.....you'd better......Fear the Chihuahua! Peanut was a bit confused as I was laying on my stomach with my lens resting on one side of the dish. I was all I could do to keep her from licking my lens. She's such a dainty eater J}

The next two I forgot to add the date. DOH! ~

{Jan. 15 ~ Haven't spoken to my son at bootcamp in 2 weeks, but got a surprise text message from him tonight. Something so simple as being able to say "Goodnight" gave me joy & completely made my day. xoxo I hope he gets to call home tomorrow.....}

{Jan 14 ~ For inspiration for today's P365 image I asked my husband to "pick a color, ANY color" and he yelled GREEN! The hunt was on (inside the house bc I'm a weather weanie). This is my favorite little metal box; a gift from my friend. I love dragonfly's....and it meets my husband's criteria J }

Did you figure it out? Ok, fine. I'll tell ya: The roses, the bingo photo and the statue at Quantico ~ yup, those were on my blackberry. J Crazy, huh? I encourage you to capture your life, your way. YOU are the only judge. You are the only person you need to please. Have fun and make memories!

I'll cya next week. Have a great, relaxing Sunday ZZZzzzzzzzzz............nap, anyone? Yes, please.

A Not so Rosey Day ~

2011-01-19T14:39:00.001-05:00

I haven't gotten to speak with Josh since he got back to his base. I'm so bummed. I just need to hear his voice. Even for 5 minutes.

I'm not whining. I'm just saying. That's all.

Today's Project 365 image....I can't help it. I'm missing him so much today.

I took the photo for Josh, actually. Ironically, to put in my daily letter to cheer him up and to remind him to remain strong and centered during his training.

I don't get it. The other platoons got to phone home on Saturday.

I don't get down often at all. Hardly ever, actually.

But the FINALITY of my son moving out - NO - moving AWAY - is sorta hard.

Really sorta hard.

I'm not whining. Just saying....

I promised that I'd document my days/feelings/LIFE in my blog. Sorry :o(

I think I'll print out the picture and EAT IT! Take my own advice, haha! It will probably taste like chicken.

Brenda, you have to get used to this. Your "Mom job" is over. You got the "20 year pin!"

Can I just take a moment to acknowledge my awesome tan? My only evidence that I didn't always look like a Costco sized container of cottage cheese since moving to the East Coast. The FREEZING East Coast.

You have to admit, he was the cutest kid!! Wasn't he? That round button nose, oh my, I love this kid!

Tomorrow's a new, exciting, beginning. A fresh start with a new attitude. I promise. I get to go play BINGO with the Army wives! Did I say Army. Oh Maaaaann!!......ughh.

Thanks for listening.

The End.

BRRRrrrrrr!!!

2011-01-18T12:46:00.003-05:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I hate being cold more than anything. I'd rather fly around the world than be cold (I hate flying). I realize "hate" is a strong word and I don't use it often, but in this case....it applies. Sorry. But it does.

This is our grill cover.

{{I maaaay have mentioned moving to San Diego once or twice (or 6x) as I peeked outside this morning}}

We had an ice storm over night and there are literally ice crystals laying on the surface of everything in my world right now.

My cold, cold world.

Add to that 1/2 inch of ice.

Every branch, every old leaf, every stick and dormant blade of grass is encased in ice.

It's magical and haunting.

Breathtaking & surreal.

It's as if the Earth has been dipped in shellac.

Isn't this amazing? Are you cold yet?

Today's Project 365 photo. Pretty much sums up my day.

As, achem...."big boned" as I am ....my body chills so quickly, my spine actually starts to ache. But, admittedly, my little 10 minute field trip to my court yard was stunning and exhilarating. I was speechless (and that doesn't happen often, trust me). The only sound outside was the sound of my camera shutter firing and it seemed to echo down the street.

Johnny spent 1 1/2 hours mid morning chipping ice off the front steps and (his) windshield. He actually went to work!!even though all our schools are closed today. Do you think that qualifies him as a workaholic? Just asking. He'd have been faster going in on ice skates.

Me, on the other hand, will spend the day doing laundry and having a PJ Day. Coffee pot is on and I'm staying put!

I'll be pretending I live in San Diego.........

Been SO busy!

2011-01-14T13:41:00.001-05:00

I am all talked out. Seriously, I have tons ~ and I do mean TONS ~ of images on my camera still stuck in there from Christmas! And I will get them blogged......some day....

The issue is that I'm writing Josh every day, trying hard to get him letters for "mail call," and I'm all talked out by the end of it. Can you believe it? MEEEE??? Talked out, ha! I know, that's hilarious. But, for once in my life, it's happened.

Silence is golden, right? I'm trying to convince myself of that. Once boot camp is over I will pour my lil 'ol chatter box self back into these spaces again. Don't worry about me. I'm here! I'm well! I'm counting down the days to graduation!

I'm enjoying my Project 365 ~ the link is on the side of my blog in the Project 365 button---->

I just had to share two of my P365 images of my girls with you before I dart off on errands. Peanut & Piper make me smile and laugh out loud every day and bring me so much joy. Dogs do that so effortlessly, don't they? You dog people will understand..........

My Peanut actually "smiles!" Yes, she does. I see it. You see it too, I know you do.

I'm not crazy. Sometimes you can even see her little teeth and it cracks me up.

My sweet Piper, on the other hand, doesn't smile at all. Ever. She has the cutest pouty face ever. She always looks like someone just stole her chewey. Awww...

And I love her button nose xoxo

Now, if the weather doesn't clear up soon, my Project 365 pics are going to be of every part of my dogs and they are going to run away from home!! They see me creeping up to them with my camera and I can almost here them saying, "UGH, sheesh...here 'she' comes again....quick, look like you're sleeping maybe she'll go away."

I haven't taken today's image and they are looking darling laying side by side on their hot pad..........

Have a wonderful weekend everyone :o)

Ode to the "Remote Start"

2011-01-08T11:22:00.002-05:00

Dear God, save me. What the heck is that white stuff....What is its purpose and why are you doing this to me??? And why must I see my breath outside when I speak, it's not natural. Why are there UGGS on my feet and not flip flops? I think I've gone to Hell and by the way: Hell hath frozen over.

Just a teensy bit self absorbed today, I'll admit.

3/4 inches. That's plenty for me. I'm so over winter. And it's only January 8th. OMG...Johnny's outside clearing the drive and steps. He doesn't mind. Besides, if I'm out there with him he has to hear me grumble and mention the always perfect weather in San Diego about 482 times so it's not worth it (we lived there when we were newlyweds for 18 perfect, glorious months).

Every winter, ALL winter, I complain. Happily, though. Usually he gets smacked with a big snowball upside the head then I go in and make hot cocoa. I love him. He loves me. It's the way we roll. I hate being cold. I mean....He hates to cook. So I cook! What's wrong with this picture?!?

That's why the best thing that's ever happened to me since we moved here 9 years ago is the intallation of REMOTE STARTS in both of our cars. That's what we got each other for Christmas this year (Translation: He went out of town for a week and I took both cars into the Toyota dealer and had remote starts installed and then wrapped the receipts up under the tree for him to open Dec. 25) and screamed Merry Christmas Honey! Excited? :o/

I blame Josh. He knew about it so that makes him my accomplice. Does a good Mom blame her only child in matters of remote starts? He's not even here to defend himself....YES. She. Does. He could've stopped me. He has muscles. Really big muscles! But he didn't so we're in this together. Arms linked, undivided & broke.

So now there is NO grumbling before we head out on errands because we use our key fob and go CLICK from our kitchen window and the car starts VA-ROOM!! and in 10-15 minutes when we leave the car is toasty warm. Nirvana!

Secret to a happy marriage. Remote Start!

Happy wife. Happy life. That's Johnny's motto! I love him. He loves me. That's the way we roll. Only now we roll around pre-heated!

Love,
Toasty, warm, happy wife in Virginia

2011-01-07T16:54:00.005-05:00

Happy Friday!

Day 7, Project 365 ~ Gloomy, dark, dreary day today. Headache....I rarely ever get them. Ouch. Staying in all day. Loved the lines in the window & the dragonfly makes me yearn for Spring. Guess I've got a long winter ahead!

Know what made me feel better and even smile a little, despite my headache? The next 3 pictures...

Johnny took these pics of me and GI Josh right before we took our soldier to the bus station.

Oooobviously, getting goodbye kisses from his Mama are something he really looks forward to. Duh.

And making a manly rough & tough Rambo face makes getting "said kisses from Mama" more macho.
What a cutie pie :o) {{{proud Mama}}}

I think I have to put that last one in a frame....and on my iPad. And on my iTouch. And on my blackberry....and in my Facebook album. And on a billboard staple gun'd to my garage door and I'll give everyone a magnet......And.....what?!? I said I was proud!

Get used to it.

Or I'll just make a scrapbook page.

Poor kid. This is what happens when you're an only child.

2011-01-06T18:20:00.004-05:00

I met my girlfriends at Panera Bread today for lunch to launch my new "Movie Club." I've been wanting to start this club for 3 years now and for the most part me and my girlfriends have been going to shows about once a month anyway, but I wanted to make a concerted effort to PLAN a movie day. I just needed to get out of this house and out of my own head. So it was a good excuse and a good day to start. The beginning of the year....the beginning of a new social club.

Why not?

This counter is always so pretty. It reminds me of the bakery windows in Germany. And the smells.....oh, I wish this pic could be a scratch and sniff ;o) You'd fall over.

We had a yummy lunch together then walked across to the movie theater to see The Kings Speech. The movie is the story of King George VI (Queen Elizabeth's Father) who had a life long speech impediment that he had to overcome after he became King of England so that he could address the country. Great movie! I didn't think I'd like it as much as I did ~ 2 thumbs up! 5 stars! Go see this movie.

Yay for our first Movie Club! I'm excited to plan the next one in a month, hee-hee.

Other than that.......writing my letter to Josh. I'll write him every day while he's in training. Again. Oh.. Don't get me started. Plastering a smile on my face....I'm trying. Movies help. My girlfriends help. And my hubby...he's just so sweet, loving, caring & gives good hugs. He gets it. Our nest is empty and he feels it too.

Tons of laundry helps. Cooking helps. I'm making pasta carbonara tonight ~ CARBS help! So much for my new years diet plan.

2011-01-05T22:19:00.000-05:00

Today was good. I closed down the pity party and got on with LIFE!! YEAH!

Which, for me, meant going grocery shopping, doing 3 loads of laundry, cooking dinner and doing dishes, but, whatever.....

Day 5 of Project 365: Poor little sad unlit half undecorated Christmas tree...sooo pitiful!

Tomorrow I finish the kill. RAWR!

Wow! This "getting on with life" stuff is F-U-N! Woo-hoo.

Give me my Josh back.

Now.

Empty Nest, take 2

2011-01-04T21:25:00.005-05:00

Late last night we took G.I. Josh to the Greyhound bus station so that he could get back to his duty station.

He was ready and he was not ready at the same time. A mixed bag of emotions after being home for 18 days.

I'm never ready. I miss him so much I feel as if my heart is cracked open.

I got used to him being here again. His messy bedroom. His messy bathroom.

His dirty dishes in the sink from his late nights when I get up the next morning.

His laugh. His bald head. His relationship with Peanut (she loves him madly!)

His "I'm all grown up now" attitude while he ate Captain Crunch cereal and watched The Cartoon Network :o)

I'll be back on track tomorrow, I'm sure of it, but today I just can't help myself. I'm deeply sad. I'm missing my boy so much. The goodbye last night was brutal. So much harder than the first time and I felt miserable letting him go. Why is that? I don't get it. I thought it was supposed to get easier.

So today was my pity party. One attendee, 2 chihuahuas, one couch, the TV, a box of chocolates & my sweet tea. True story. Tomorrow is a new day; time to get on with things and skip and dance through my life again. I feel lucky that I have my husband & son, lots of friends, family & health (and puppies!) and that life is good. Tomorrow. Not today. Tomorrow.

I'll be back on track tomorrow.

Thanks for listening.

2011-01-02T16:06:00.002-05:00

Happy Sunday! Hope your day is going well; mine started out by sleeping late. Very late. Very, very late. I can only say that I shouldn't have to sleep for the next 2 days that's how late I slept.

Aaaaannnnd...so late that I jumped out of bed screaming OHMYGODI'MSOLATEJOHNNYWHYDIDYOULETMESLEEPSOLONG?! and bolted into the shower. I had a lunch to attend!

My girlfriend Pam invited some of her friends over to her home for a New Years luncheon. It was so nice just sitting around chatting, drinking mimosas and spending time with each other. What a way to start the new year :o)

The food was delicious! Pam out did herself and made 2 home made soups: a clam chower (that everyone raved over ~ but, I'm not big into sea food so I didn't have any) and a butternut squash soup that made my eyes roll to the back of my head it was so scrumptious. To accompany the soups Pam served a crunchy salad with candied almonds in it and fresh rolls. For dessert.....a fresh carrot cake. Oh. My. God.

That cake looked & smelled yummy, but again, I passed on it. If I don't stop passing I'm going to have to go buy a whole new wardrobe. Mainly pants! Soon. Yes, Sir. And I don't mean maybe.

January is going to be my "NO" month.....except for sweet tea. I'll never abandon my sweet tea. That's always a big YES because, as you know, sweet tea completes me. It's a life long love affair.

Tomorrow's my last day with Josh. BOOOOOOO!!!! It's hard to think about even though he's ready and in a way, Johnny & I are ready too. We can't wait to hear all about his experiences and training and we're looking forward to visiting him too at some point. It's just hard.....

So now on to taking down the Christmas tree. I'm so over it. I'm ready to clean up the clutter and get my house back to normal. Wish me luck!
HAPPY SUNDAY!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T12:54:00.002-05:00

I am so behind on my blogging, it's not even funny. I had the most amazing fun yesterday. It was our 13th Family Anniversary on New Years Eve! John, Josh & I have always celebrated the day as when we became a ♥ family ♥.

The 3 of us we went out with 2 other couples to one of our favorite restaurants (where there was a 5 hour wait for a table by the way however, yours truly called ahead and we got a table in 10 minutes tops!

After a wonderful 2 hour dinner, we released Josh into the wild, wild world of 20-something's taking on D.C.'s nightlife, complete with fireworks on the National Mall at midnight while Johnny and I wiggled into our favorite comfy pj's and hit the couch faster than you could pop a champagne bottle! Unfortunately, the bubbly didn't agree with me after a few sips (ok, so basically it was totally gross, I picked wrong...) so down the drain it went and I enjoyed my iced sweet tea and watched TV until the ball dropped.

BEDTIME for party animals!

That ^ was my first photo upload for the new Flickr group that I joined called Project 365: The 2011 Edition. The concept is pretty self explanatory ~ upload a pic a day for an entire year; the image pretty much summing up your day, or a thought, or an experience or just a simple scene....camera phone, point and shoot, big snazzy camera...whatever. Doesn't matter. It's YOUR project so it's totally up to you. I figured, I take many pics a day anyway so why not. Last year I only had 11 days where I didn't snap at least one pic on my cell phone so this should be easy....the HARD part will be remembering to upload/post daily onto the Flickr group! Wish me luck. Want to join me? There is a maximum membership of 2,011 (clever!) and so far we have 426 so c'mon! Go for it! We can keep each other inspired: HERE is the link. Please? {{{Begging}}}

What a year 2010 was....one of the most eventful and "growth" years I've ever had. I loved it. Seriously, so much happened I'm glad I had this blog to sort it all out in my head. The most change came from Josh and I'm so pleased that everything worked out for him. He was my #1 focus and concern for the entire year. Sadly, he leaves in 2 days, back to his duty station & new home. But it's time to let him go ~ we raised a very independent child (at times, TOO independent, ugh!) and he's going to be fine. I'm confident of that. I will still miss him tons though :o(

^ I love this man ^

Even though he likes to creep into the bedroom and scared the poo out of me! But he's usually bringing me coffee so I forgive him. Plus, I think he's cute so it's hard to be too scary.

So for New Year's day I made my boys a french toast casserole using my Panetonne bread. It's a "prepare night before" casserole and all you do it pop it in the oven for 30 mins and Voila!

A little bit of Mrs. Butterworth (my personal fav) and you've got a great start to a new year!

Our Christmas Day turkey ~ Johnny smoked it on the grill and it was super yummy. (Yes, I'm addicted to my iPod Touch apps; the 1970's and 1920's vintage camera settings are some of my fav's) Josh doesn't get it. He says, "Why would you want to go backwards in technology?!?" I donno know Joshie, I just love it. Deal with it :o)~

♥ These two men...they are all I need. They make me happy ♥

♥ Wait....NO.....And my sweet, precious puppies ~ They make my heart sing ♥

♥ And....My friends & Family, I adore you! ♥

♥ (And sweet tea...sweet tea completes me) ♥

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I have a feeling 2011 is going to be the best yet! xoxo

♥ Encourage one another ♥

Oh Christmas Tree & my new iPod Touch 4!!!

2010-12-29T14:26:00.006-05:00

I'm loving having my Josh home! I've been so busy I can't even tell ya! I've baked so many ginger cookies I won't even bother to tell ya....we've cooked and eaten so many yummies, I can't tall ya...and I've gained....never mind. I WON'T tell ya! Let's just say this...I'm definitely restarting my gym membership & Zumba classes after Josh leaves on the 3rd before Waddle becomes my first, middle and last name.
Mrs. Waddle Waddle Waddle.

Well, I was digging in some old boxes and I found an old 8mm film from looooong ago of our Christmas tree highlighting all of my cherished & treasured handmade ornaments that Josh made me long ago and thought I'd share it with you.....it's to sweet! The creaking is my wood floors, ha!

Cool, huh? I really only took that video about 15 minutes ago and loaded it directly to YouTube from my new iPod Touch 4 - which my sweetheart got for me and for Josh for Christmas. Yay! Great gift, Johnny! The app is called Nexvio 8mm and it's only $1.99. It allows you take old vintage video's like the one above, or create a 1920's or 1970's style video. It also has different color films; black & white, sepia, sakura/pinkish, burned film, etc. Very fun.

Josh & I have been having so much fun with our iPod Touch's. Mainly, Johnny got them for us because of the new feature "Facetime" that's already installed and he wanted us to stay more connected when Josh went back to his barracks soon. It's live face to face chat and I can't wait to use it when he's away...It's like Skype, but on our tiny hand held iPod.

LOVE xoxo IT

Josh really likes the fact that I "practice" and video call him when I'm in the living room and he's in the kitchen. Or when I'm in the basement and he's in his bedroom. Or when I'm in the kitchen and he's....you get the picture. And NO ~ he hasn't blocked me yet. YET, being the operative word.

My second favorite part; I get to have Facetime with my sister. I "phoned" her right afer I got my new Ipod and scared her half to death, we both screamed out loud, ha! I caught her leaving for work and she was in the most darling little Santa hat. She's so stinkin' cute! It was great "seeing" her while we talked.

"Blooop! Blooop! Can you hear me now?"

It's fun rendering pics in the PhotoStudio app! (only 99 cents)

The camera "flips" around so that you can either film/take pics in front of you or take a fabulous self portrait like the one above.
Yikes. Wear makeup much?

No one is off limits when I have a new gadget in my hands! Caught ya swiggin down the spiked egg nog, Mister! Give me some.(Insert ad for Christian Brothers Brandy Egg Nog here. Oh my...it's simply the best)
My cute little stalker... Piper was very interested in my new toy.

Very, very interested.
Peanut....not so much.

See? I flipped it around for another self portrait. Josh, thrilled as usual.

But he knows I won't leave until I get a smile. So he gave in :o)

Did I tell you that you can get all of the apps ~ the same that you'd get on the iPhone 4. I play checkers (and it beats me every time), and all kinds of games. It's very addicting. I can't praise it enough. In case you're wondering, I would get an iPhone, however where we live AT&T is not quite optimum so I will stick with Verizon until such time as they unlock the phones or let other servers support it. Ahhhh...so the iPod Touch is my next best thing.

I'm going to love this new little camera/toy/ipod/facetime/app/game playing toy. Thanks Johnny xoxo

Well, I just wanted to check in. I haven't even downloaded all of my pics from my camera I've been so busy.....but in the good I-don't-want-this-to-end kind of way. I'm plugging through Josh's list of things he wanted me to cook and tomorrow we'll go to a movie together and then we'll go to one of the restaurants on his list. The time is flying by! I'll check in again sooooooon!!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T09:50:00.015-05:00

Merry★* 。 • ˚ ˚ •。★Christmas★ 。* 。*FROM MY HOUSE TO YOURS!!
° 。 ° ˚* _Π_____*。*˚★ 。* 。*。 • ˚ ˚ •。★
˚ ˛ •˛•*/______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛★ 。* 。*★ 。* 。*
˚ ˛ •˛• ｜田田｜門｜ ˚

And Happy New Year to all of my Blogger friends ~

Have a blessed & joyous 2011!

Pinch me......

2010-12-18T18:26:00.008-05:00

Seriously.

If someone would've told me one year ago that THIS would be the sight next to my front door, I would've told them to put down the vodka and find a good shrink!

Pinch me.

I walked in from going grocery shopping today and was a bit overwhelmed at the sight of his boots, his hat and his dog tags. He's in the Army. He's not playing Army. He's IN the Army.

Pinch me.

It was a long, 18 hour Greyhound journey from Georgia, but he can handle it. He's Army Strong ♥

Sorry for putting a ♥ after "Army Strong"....it's a Mom thing....

And sorry for blinding you with my cell phone flash, Josh....that's also a Mom thing....

We're both running on about 3-4 hours of sleep and have had a busy day together, but I couldn't be happier.

♥

That warrented another heart.

My boy just ate an entire batch of chocolate chip cookies and I baked him his favorite egg nog cake.

Johnny is in Illinois ~ his daughter Liz graduated college today ~ YAY LIZ!! ~ he'll be home tomorrow.

What a great day for our kiddo's. They're taking on the world.

Life is good.

♥

We're going to order some pizza and I'm going to spend the evening listening to his boot camp tales. I feel like I can fully exhale again. It's a good feeling.

I hope all of my friends who's boys came home yesterday or who are coming home today & tomorrow have a wonderful reunion.

{{{HUGS}}}

♥

Tonight's gonna be a GOOD night!

2010-12-17T08:53:00.001-05:00

This is my theme song today!!

CAUSE I GOT A FEELIN'.....

THAT TONIGHT'S GONNA BE A GOOD, GOOD NIGHT! A feelin'....

♥ Because my Soldier is coming home ♥

This was his "wish list" for his homecoming treats in a recent letter.

The only thing missing is a big jar of Nutella. I'll get that on my way to the Greyhound station....

He also included a list of his favorite meals he'd like me to cook.

I got your back, Kid.

It's going to be a VERY Merry (and fattening) Christmas in our home ♥

Happy Birthday Gram & congratulations Liz!

2010-12-13T21:36:00.003-05:00

We have some exciting updates in our family to share!

First of all, our Gram, who we all love and adore, celebrated another mile stone in her life recently.

Gram turned 95! And look at the beautiful cupcakes that my talented mother in law made :o)

I was blessed when I married into my husband's family and Gram adopted me as her own grand daughter. I was never close to my maternal or paternal grandparents and Gram has made up for that 100%.

For the first 10 years of my marriage I recieved at least one hand written letter a week from Gram filled with stories, recipes, well wishes and tons of love.

The second bit of great news concerns Johnny's daughter.....

Liz graduates college this Friday! YAY! WAY TO GO LIZ!

4 1/2 years of hard work & studying, pfew! She'll have her BS in English, minor in Marketing and now the fun starts. Job hunting, interviews and getting herself established to go out and conquer the world!

Sadly, I won't be at her graduation but Johnny will be flying in for the big event. Josh happens to be arriving here at home on his Greyhound bus on the same day Liz graduates so I'll be here as his welcome committee.

I'm sending you all the best of wishes across the miles, Liz! Dad will take pictures so smile and say cheeeeeeze! I can't wait to hear about your big day and your celebration dinner. I'll be with you all in spirit xoxo

CONGRATULATIONS!

Mt. Vernon Coffee Group Christmas party

2010-12-13T12:57:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to the Mt. Vernon Coffee Group who invited me to their annual Christmas party on Friday.

THANK YOU LADIES!

These Navy wives have been meeting since the mid 1960's and have been a huge support structure for one another. I felt honored to be among them and their combined multitude of wisdom.

They followed their husbands around the globe, lived in countless homes, apartments & Navy base housing, supported their love's Navy career, raised dozens of children among them, yet always made time once a month to get together for food, support, gab & coffee since their husbands retired and settled in the Capital area.

Now, 30 years later, many, if not most of them, are now widows. Before lunch we made a very large circle in the kitchen and held hands for grace. Several ladies spoke of how much the group meant to them, several thanked them for the well wishes and cards the group sent while they had surgery or their husbands were laid to rest. One lady said that the group's love and support carried her through the toughest years after husband passed away.

I looked around the room and felt humbled. I have my Navy wives coffee group also and I'm invited to many of the other coffee group functions and for a second I thought how lucky am I? We will all grow older and have challenges, but I have my friends. I had a 30 year flash forward of my own life and I pray that, God willing, when I go through my tough times I will have my friends' love and support and I will, likewise, be a source of strength for them.

After a dear prayer led by the new group leader (Tina) said, "Next month we're meeting at Peggy's. She's down & out and if she can't party we're taking the party to HER!" Too cute.

Peggy was their group leader for 10 years. She just turned 90 and is recooperating from knee surgery. Peggy also has 3 "suiters" that come visit her. She likes to say that the love of her life was her husband and no one will every replace him. But, she will cry out of one eye and *wink* out of the other. Oh, Peggy, Peggy, Peggy :o)

Then, all of sudden, the group bursted out in song. Really! They did! We're all holding hands in a big circle there in the kitchen and they're sining "We Wish You A Merry Christmas!" at the top of their lungs. I have to admit, I was taken by surprise and sorta stood there like a dummy for a few seconds. I don't think I've done anything like that since my grade school Christmas pageants.

Then I thought what the heck...if Tina can stand there in reindeer antlers then I can sing. So I broke out my singing voice that I usually only set loose when I'm driving or screetching in the shower and went for it! I don't sing well, but they didn't seem to care one bit.

I'm lucky that I get to spend THIS week with my girlfriends! ~ Tuesday I'll be with my Army wives friends at a luncheon, Wednesday my Navy wives coffee group is having our ornament exchange, Thursday I'll go to the White House tour with my friends followed by a Japanese-American military wives club luncheon and Friday I get to go on a Ft. Belvoir home tour with my friends and then......JOSH COMES HOME!!! That night will be uber special. Saturday night is a party at my girlfriends house......this will be a busy, but fun and loving week where I'm surrounded by the people I love and cherish in my life.

I'll enjoy every second of it. Then next week I'll have time to clean my house and then drop face down in bed. Ha.

Thank you to the Mt. Vernon wives for inviting me and showing me what's really important in life. I love my Military Family xoxoxoxo.

Narayanan Krishnan

2010-12-13T10:44:00.004-05:00

My friend Tiffany posted this video on Facebook today. I just had to share!

2 minutes, 44 seconds. For me this is the meaning of being human.

This man is an angel in my eyes.

Josh leaves for boot camp!

2010-12-12T11:52:00.009-05:00

Ft. Benning's Facebook status this morning: "Just a few more days until Christmas Exodus, who's excited out there? Get those decorations up and the refridgerator full, your Soldiers will be home soon soon!"

Can I just say, I haven't been this excited for a Christmas in a looooong time. I'm counting down the seconds til my boy steps off that Greyhound bus - thanks for putting up with me friends! I'm just so {{{excited}}} my insides are buzzing.

Well, Josh has almost made it through the first half of his 14 week training. Another half to go. I'm not sure if it will be easier or harder to put him back on that bus headed back to Ft. Benning compared to the fist time.

I'm ready to share that experience with you all now........up until today it was something I held close to my heart and couldn't really write about just yet.

I'll never forget that day, as long as I live. The drive up to Ft. Meade (where Josh shipped to boot camp) seemed to take forever! It was really only an hour, but still.

Aaah, the MEPS building ~ Josh had been up here several times for over-nighter's for both the Marine Corps and the Army for his in-processing. (Long story, but it's all in the blog if you want to go back to the beginning, ha!)

There's my boy on the left in, naturally, his Gold's gym t-shirt. After shuffling everyone around a bunch to make sure all of the parents could squeeze in to get the best shot of our kid, we got to be present to the most important part of our children's military careers.

Their swearing in ceremony.

(VIDEO)

There are no words to describe how proud we were of him at this very moment so I won't even try. I will let the video speak for itself.

Afterward the kids stood "at ease" and received instruction from the Army Captain that just swore them in. He gave them good advice and I couldn't help but notice that my son was actually taking it all to heart.

Next....more important issues needed to be dealt with.....CHOW! The kids were given a 6 inch sub, some chips and a soda which Josh had swallowed in about 3.5 mouthfulls then proceeded to raid John's wallet for vending machine money. The young lady next to him with pink sleeves was going into the Air Force. We got to know her family a little bit while we watched the kids eat.

♥ My two favorite men ♥

Then MY favorite part ~ ha! ~ all of us parental units got to torture our spawn one last time with a photo op. Everyone handed off their cameras and we got to go up to the podium where they had just done their swearing in and mess around a bit.

Josh, thrilled to death, to recieve kisses from his Mama.

♥ My two favorite men ♥ having a good heart to heart

Then we had an hour of "fun family time" while waiting for Josh's Captain to call them back for a boot camp (travel) briefing.

But we made good use of our time :o)

And I was in no hurry.

The hour flew, the briefing came and went....

And suddenly we were told to line up; the kids would be shipping soon. We got our posters out of the car and put our screaming voices on....my heart was in my throat.

(VIDEO)
After nearly a year of talking about & waiting for this moment, it was over in a flash.

I LOVE YOU! I'll miss you!

And with that the kids were on the bus getting ready to head for the airport to start their 14-wk training at Ft. Benning.

"Our boy's in the Army now!"

Yes. I. Did. Hey, the other Mom's were doing it....and he doesn't look like he's going to kill me so I'm good-to-go! Bye Joooooooosh!!!!

I'll write to you every day!!

And with that....POOF. He was gone.

I just stood there in front of the building.

Numb. Proud. Crying. Numb. Proud. Stunned. Shocked. Proud. Crying.

Then I felt Johnny's arms around me. And he whispered, "Let's go get a Mojito at Mike's."

Gosh, I love that man. He knows just want to say to me when I'm down.

And off we went to Mikes. It was the best Mojito ever.

♥ We toasted our boy's bright new future ♥

Writing my son every day....

2010-12-11T10:41:00.050-05:00

This is the site at my front door every day. My "outgoing" mail basket. It's been hanging there empty for years now because we do all of our bills online and I was recently wondering why I still had it on my front door......Until Josh left for boot camp.

Now it's the Josh Basket. I write my boy a letter every single day and stick it in a light blue envelope with snowmen on it. Why? Because they were the ones on sale so I bought 100 of them! That's why. Aaaannnnddd....so when he gets mail he'll know "Oh, there's another one from Mama."

The corners of the envelope and label are colored RED (for his specific platoon, making it easier for the mail sorters) and so that, in Josh's words "I get my mail faster!!" and off they go. Every day. I'm sure I've bored the snot out of him by now. I put everything and anything I can find in it. Facebook funnies, internet articles, entertainment happenings, Ft. Benning news (from their site) pictures, pictures and more pictures, jokes....the poor kid.

In a recent letter from Josh he wrote, "I stayed up 2 hours past lights out so that I could read all of my mail." Let me tell you something, one day to them is like 4-5 days to us and "mail call" is the most exciting part of their day, I've since learned. Chow & mail, those two become their existence.

All I know is that my OUT box is always full. And that's all that's important; that my son knows that each and every day that I'm thinking of him. That's why it's been hard for me to update my blog and I'm sorry about that, but when I come home all I want to do is make sure that my basket has something in it that Johnny can drop in mailbox every morning on his way to work that will be headed to Ft. Benning.

Josh is out there, lately in the bitter, icy cold, training hard, working tirelessly, getting up early, going to bed late, having good days and having bad days. But at the end of his long days I'm hoping & praying that there is a light blue snowman envelope with painted red corners sitting on his bunk that says LOUD AND CLEAR (even if it's filled with a bunch of junk and boring stories!) that he is loved and cherished and thought of every day. And that the place he occupies in my heart will never waiver.

At the end of MY day that is the only thing that matters to me.

SIX days until he steps off that Greyhound bus and I'm counting down the seconds!!! I'm sure I'll have tons to share on the blog when he gets home. I can't wait to show you a recent pic - he said he's lost 19 pounds. I'm going to fatten him up the 2 weeks that I have him. Maybe I'll pop the tires of the bus taking him back to Ft. Benning after the new year, ha. Juuuuuuuuuust kidding.

Sort of.

Sorry, Blog, for taking a back seat to my son! But that's how I roll :o)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2010-12-10T22:55:00.006-05:00

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I'm getting so excited to see my son. He comes home 1 week from today!! Josh won't let us decorate our tree until he comes home so the least we can do is put a fresh wreath on our front door.

I'm counting down the days. The hours. The minutes. The seconds.

Nomades Charm Bracelets!

2010-12-08T13:11:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I went to my monthly NOSC board meeting (Naval Officers Spouses Club). I serve/volunteer on the board as the Coffee/Social Groups Chair and as the Facebook lady. That's the official term ~ Facebook Lady....
After our meeting my two girl friends Pam & Lynn pulled me aside (Lynn made Josh's farewell cake for his party, remember HERE? And HERE is the post about only the cake).
Anyway, they said, "Brenda we have a little something for you!" and handed me a pretty black box.

I was completely taken by surprise!

Very patriotic ♥

I saw the little drawstring pouch and my heart started to beat really fast.

And there it was. My "starter bracelet"with a set of Army dog tags on it for my Josh.
They got it for me to remember my boy every day.

On the other side of the dog tags.....they had his name engraved. (I cut out his last name for his privacy, but you still get the point)

Can I just say that at this point, right outside of the board room ~ I went into the UGLY CRY.
I really did. The whole body shaking, crying, makeup & snot everywhere ugly cry.
Which made Lynn & Pam go into the ugly cry too and now they're mad at me because we had to go to lunch all swollen and poofy.
I was also speechless. Pam said, "Let's mark this date in the history books." Everyone knows I don't have many moments in life....ever....where I'm at a loss for words. It was how I was born. I can't help it.
Nomades Jewelry - website: HERE - is a company that supports our troops and they also know that women who love their soldiers/military men and who love jewelry WILL buy their bracelets, ha! Smart company.
I happen to be a woman who loves my military men (one Navy & one freshly Army) and I loooooove jewelry! Johnny said, "Oh man they saw you coming!" CHA-ching!
What you do is "create your story" depending on what your spouse/child does and the bases you/they aer assigned to.
Other charms on my wish list include those pictured above ~ the "Support our troops" ribbon, Japan & San Diego (the mission), Infantry for my Josh, and I just like the tank for no reason other than it's adorable!
I just ordered the Infantry and the Ft. Benning charm (green parachute) to add....and someday. SOME DAY.....I'll get to add one of these cute grandchild (engraveable on the back). I can't wait to be a grandma! Let's get him through basic training first. A girlfriend would help too. Oh, and a wedding!

Here are all of the services. And the house is engraveable for your first duty station's address. Look at the "spacers." I love the ones that have rhinestones on them. They keep the charms in place so they don't all fall to one end of the bracelet.

And in the end you have "your story." Is this not the best gift ever? I was stunned. I saw Josh's little dog tags and was overwhelmed. My girlfriends are awesome. What a way to brighten my life.

Yes, Johnny said to order the USN anchor and to go ahead and make HIM a set of engraved dog tags (along with San Diego, Japan the Pentagon charm for Washington D.C. ~ our duty stations together as a married couple). Oh my, I just found out that they are launching a Naval Academy charm...... ;o)
Then it's up to Josh to fill up the rest of it ~ I already have Ft. Benning & Infantry on order! :o)
My bracelet is going to be beautiful and full of love and support for the most important 2 men in my life. I'll be able to look at it every day and think of them.
♥ Thanks to my amazing girlfriends who I love, cherish and adore ♥
P.S. **I know you can purchase online, however why not support another military spouse/independent Nomades consultant?**
My personal consultant is Christy Dewitt and you can contact her at cdewitt66@yahoo.com

2010-12-08T09:49:00.000-05:00

My friend Pam sent this video to me today, knowing how much I love and adore our furry friends!

Too cute! Happy Holidays!

2010-12-06T16:30:00.002-05:00

I was doing just fine. Perfect really. For an entire month!

I've been minding my thoughts, making sure they're positive, doing my daily chores, volunteering, having lunch with my girlfriends, chatting with my sister every day, playing with the puplets, loving my hubby, cooking, enjoying life and have been writing a letter and sending it to Ft. Benning every day.....

And then it happend. Out of the blue.

I sat down to send my Christmas cards today and I saw his name.

Joshua.

My boy.

Guess it had to come eventually. The deep sadness. The heart ache.

Guess it's because it's the last year I'll sign his name on our Christmas card.

John, Brenda & Joshua.

I"ve done that for 13 years. I love it. Next year he'll write his own cards. I hope.

It's also the last time my Minnie Mouse gets a mention in my annual Christmas letter. I can't believe she's been gone for 2 1/2 months already.

I miss my silly little girl.

And I miss my boy today.

A lot.

I was doing just fine.

2010-12-06T07:57:00.002-05:00

I got this today from my "Brave Girls Club" via and email ~ it was so sweet I had to share:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear brave brave girl,

Never forget that since the very beginning of time, and forever more, there has never been and never will be another person with your exact personality, your talents, your relationships and your influence on the people around YOU.

Your life is so important -- the world is a better place because you are here. There are so many important things that will never be done unless YOU do them. YOU CAN DO IT!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes we just need to hear that, you know? It's a simple reminder that it is IMPOSSIBLE to compare yourself to others. No matter what. We are all unique and special, individually crafted by hand. There never was, and there never will be anyone like ME again. Can I get an Amen!?

I needed to get that in my in box....Thank you Brave Girls Club. Check them out HERE, you won't be disappointed. Join their club and we can do this journey together.

Happy Hanukkah!

2010-12-05T21:03:00.000-05:00

Happy HanukkahTo all of our dear Jewish friends! "Put on your yalmulka, here comes Hanukkah

Its so much fun-akkah to celebrate Hanukkah,

Hanukkah is the festival of lights,

Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights...."

(Quick - name that song!) Oh man, gotta love Adam Sandler, right?

We're not Jewish, but one of Johnny's Naval Academy classmates and his wife, who just returned to our area from a tour in San Diego, are Jewish and they invited us over to their home to be part of their family's festivities on Saturday night to celebrate Hanukkah.

Felicia is the most amazing cook. She's over there shredding about a thousand potatoes and onions to make home made latkes. They were served with apple sauce and sour cream. I wish I could do a scratch-n-sniff blog because you'd just fall over the aroma was so awesome. She mixes in some sweet potato, yum!

The house was so festive!

I don't know if I was supposed to or not, but I kept walking around eating up those cute little coins that were all over the place...I couldn't help myself. They were Bavarian chocolate! Sorry.

Blurry...but you can see that Felicia really knows how to set up a party. This was just the hors d'oevres section.

Sweets. Come to Mama.

Yes, she did all this herself. No ordering out.

Johnny hit the coffee bar. There was tea and hot cocoa too ;o)

Stuffed cabbage leaves (meatloaf filling), beef brisket...

Garlic green beans and my favorite NOODLE KUGEL!

Can I just say that I've had Felicia's noodle kugel before and loved it so much that last year at Hanukkah (even though we're not even Jewish!) I made my own Kugel to celebrate and can I also just say....It Sucked. Big Time. Oh. Yes. It. Did. Johnny & Josh wouldn't even eat it and that's saying a lot. I mean, Johnny used to live on a Navy ship and can eat anything but wouldn't eat my kugel. My son loves Military MRE's and wouldn't touch my kugel. That's telling you how horrible it was. Boo-hoo.

So I was so {{{happy}}} to get Felicia's Kugel last night. The End.

Of course, who could forget? The best soup of all?....

Matzah ball soup! Mazel tov!

Blurry again, sorry. I had to have my Fstop so low just to get enough light in my camera. Oh well.

If that plate looks like it belongs to a piggy then it's Johnny's....however if it looks like it belongs to someone who is truly enjoying being at a Hanukkah party and wants to partake fully in the experience with no reserve and just enjoy life (Le Chaim!) then it's mine. You decide.

The joyful guardian of the menorah.

This is me and my new friend Kim. We are both part of the Army wives club - I'm a Navy wife and she's an Air Force wife, haha. Go figure.

After dinner the kids came over and lit the candles (day 5) and sang the traditional songs and said prayers in Hebrew. It was so beautiful. We felt honored to be included in their special night.

Hungry Gentile 1 and Hungry Gentile 2.

Hey, we can throw down that Matzah ball soup & red wine just like the next guy so we fit in just fine.

It was a fun evening, Felicia really out did herself. And I'm so glad they're back in town so I have another Navy wife buddy to hang with!

Happy Hanukkah!
Le Cheim! To life!

Lunch Bunch at Normandie Farm

2010-11-30T19:22:00.004-05:00

Today I went with my Navy wives friends to our monthly "Lunch Bunch" outing. As implied, every month on the last Tuesday of the month, our group leader Betty picks a restaurant in VA, MD or D.C. that she may have either read about in the newspaper, gotten a recommendation from someone, looked good in the Zagat ratings or a place that may have just opened up and she makes reservations for us. There's usually between 10-15 ladies and they're a lot of fun. Navy wives always are, aren't they? *wink*

This month we went to Normandie Farm in Potomac Maryland (an hour drive - thank you Debbie for driving!). The restaurant has such an interesting history. This is straight from their website: The land where Normandie Farm Restaurant is located was originally the "Myers Farm." A country club was under construction on the site in the late 1920's but work was halted due to economic conditions of the time and the bank foreclosed on the project. In the spring of 1931, Marjory Hendricks, returning from cooking school in Normandy, France, passed by the property one afternoon and noticed a sign reading "For sale by mortgage holders." Within 45 minutes she had negotiated the purchase of what is known to this day as Normandie Farm Restaurant.

I took this pic just as they opened at 11:30 and they seated us (see our group at that round table?) right away. After noon, the place really filled up.

If I had thought to take a picture of the walls when we first walked in, they were lined with photographs from 1931 and throughout history and to be honest, the only thing that has changed is that they've updated the tables/furniture over the years, but they have left the original Pensylvania Dutch decor and feel of the restaurant in tact. It's so friendly and warm!

And very upscale. I don't know what I expected. Well....Yes, I did. The place is called "Farm" so naturally I expected to order chicken dumpling soup and a huge slice of apple pie, yum! No! We were given a wine list & a beautiful menu which included filet tips with mushrooms and sundried tomatoes (that's what I ate), stuffed cod with crab imperial, shrimp with roasted beets, escargot, chicken waldorf salad....and other delicious choices, including eggs benadict. Go figure. I was really taken aback. In a good way. They even serve an elegant afternoon tea! I have some ideas brewing...

Normadie Farm's claim to fame is their "popovers." We each got one (those golden brown, crispy delacacies on our bread plates). Mine looked like a pig head and Nani's looked like a duck. Sorry. It's the way my mind works. Anyway, they were served with butter and fresh blackberry jam. The popovers were a huge hit at our table.

The whole place was decorated for Christmas and felt wonderfully festive.

"NOSC Lunch Bunch" I took the photo so I'm not in it and that's okay by me! Normandie Farm is definitely a place I will return to with Johnny while they are decorated for the Holidays.

Shelly just emailed this pic to all of us taken at the table. You'd think I could've taken off my scarf and stayed awhile. Although it IS a great way to hid a double chin. Wish I could get away with this look in July.

My diet starts tomorrow ;o) Or the next day....

Thanksgiving Day

2010-11-26T15:02:00.005-05:00

Happy (day after) Thanksgiving!

We got a surprise phone call from Josh around 2pm, what a treat! We got to chat for a long time and hear all of his funny Army stories. I'll have to do a blog post about that soon, he has us in stitches. He's doing well and (GUESS WHAT?!?) he told us that he earned his leave for Christmas! Wa-hoo! My boy will be home on the evening of the 17th. I'm so excited. I nearly fell over when he asked me to wait to put the tree and decorations up, that he wanted to help. What did the Drill Sergeant do to him? Whatever it is...keep it up DS. I'm liking it.

Our Thanksgiving couldn't have gotten any better after our phone call, that made our day. I sure hope everyone had as delightful of a time as Johnny & I did. We received a dinner invitation from my "East Coast Mom" (Mama Kay) I've talked about her so many times, her poor ears never stop ringing. Her son & daughter in law & our next door neighbors and their mother in law would also be there. I volunteered to make green bean casserole and my special sweet potato casserole. Everyone pitched in.

Oh my goodness, how could I forget our special 4-legged guest KAYLA. She's Kay's "grand dog" as she likes to call her, ha. She's a rescue husky mix and is gorgeous and a complete sweetheart. She stayed very close to the table, praying we'd all drop something on the floor. (She did get a little turkey of her own, we're not haters).

Kay set a beautiful table, complete with crystal, Thanksgiving china (with hand painted turkeys on it) and antique 12-apostle silver coffee spoons. Each of us had a different one. Don't ask me which apostle I had, I missed that lesson in Catechism, but I loved him.

Kay created a warm and inviting setting for all of us.

Richard, Kay's husband, smoked a turkey on the grill. I can honestly say, I have never had a better turkey in all of my life. He soaked hickory & mesquite chips and put those at the bottom of his grill and the result was simply amazing. Kay made home made cranberry sauce w/mint. Oh my.

"You Know Who" was in heeeeeeaven! He and food are besties. He wouldn't stop grinning. He'll never eat my food again. Until tonight.

It was a wonderful, cozy, candle lit dinner with close friends. I missed Josh very much and thought of him all through dinner, but this experience was so special that I'm glad we were with Mama Kay & Richard for our first Thanksgiving as "Empty Nesters." In fact, our whole table was The Empty Nesters Club. Ha!

Ooooohhhh.....desserts.......Kay's daugher in law made the pie from her bridal cook book (we went to their wedding a year ago in Gettysburg, PA). It had whiskey in it, yum! Johnny & I brought a fabulous bottle of dessert wine to have with our pumpkin pie. Everyone drank some and it was gone in a snap. I will definitely be getting more for Christmas dinner and I will share it with you all. It tastes like pumpkin pie and was the perfect complement with our treats. And how adorable are those cookies? They came from the local Swiss Bakery.

10 things about THIS PLATE:

1. I felt it needed its own frame because of its awesomeness.
2. I will not confirm whose plate this is. She will remain anonymous. Oh. Or he!

3. Don't judge me.

4. It's the reason this anonymous person's middle section resembles the inside of a jelly donut.

5. Let's face it, it's the reason this anonymous person's back side resembles the outside of a jelly donut.

6. It was heaven.

7. She almost licked the plate.

8. Oops. Or he, I'm not tellin'.

9. It's the reason why she/he is having a bowl of vegetarian lentil soup for supper out of guilt. With no bread. And no seconds!

10. Because she/he is doing it all over again on Christmas Day! (With Josh! And she/he is counting down the days......hours.......minutes........)

2010-11-24T23:49:00.000-05:00

~ Closed for Thanksgiving ~

Hope your belly is as full as mine is ;o)

2010-11-24T12:41:00.008-05:00

I heard back from my photograpy instructor and she gave me a thumbs up for "rocking my first week!" Woo-Hoo!

The only thing I got "docked" for was the tiny clip of my girls' ears....

See it? (whoopsie!)

Bummer. Oh well. Let me give you some of the back story on this photo. I was simply thrilled that I got both of my girls (a) in the same frame (b) both looking at me - saying the word "do you wanna treat?" did it, by the way...go figure. (c) they are both on the same focal plane (d) which means thank God they are both in focus, and (e) their tongues were not UP Johnny's nose.

Here are the out takes of "Photography assignment gone bad."

Aaahhh, life with Chihuahuas & the most patient man on the planet. I wouldn't give it up for anything!

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!

Johnny & I will be having a delicious turkey dinner with my East Coast Mom, Dad, neighbors & friends being ever so thankful for our health, well being and for our boy's safety. I'm overwhelmed with grattitude for my little family, as well as extended family in Texas, Illinois & San Diego, our dear friends locally and all over the globe and for the pure joy you bring to our lives. Love you guys mucho gusto. XOXO

See you Monday :o)

Party, party, Par-tay!

2010-11-23T10:14:00.008-05:00

I can't believe I'm so behind in my blog!! Part of me was avoiding any pics of my Josh leaving until I could do it without, well....for about 2 weeks any time I came across the images I boo-hoo'd and tears on a computer don't mix. But I'm ready! No crying allowed! I'm totally over it.

My boy's been gone 3 weeks as of today, we've been getting letters from him and some calls, even our first photo of him in uniform! We're so happy for him. And I'm ready to blog! Woo-hoo.

***Can you believe all I had with me was my blackberry to snap pictures on? I was simply too wound up to think straight. Forgive the dark pics please!***

On October 30, we had a small farewell party for Josh at our neighborhood community (pool) center.

It was easier to have it here since there was plenty of parking and some of Josh's friends (ok, many of Josh's friends, including himself) partake in the tobacco products. See see those benches? That's the smoking section. They spent a lot of time outside.

(Insert a prayer from Mom -here- that not being able to smoke at at boot camp means that Josh quits for good. Fingers crossed X I worry about my boys health).

Luckily the party was the day before Halloween so I was able to get this uber scary door decoration. Oooohhhhh!!! A reaper, you ask? Oh yes. A GRIM REAPER. Josh loves reapers & we have had our reaper "issues." Plenty of them to be honest; one being on his arm and was what kept him from getting a waiver into the Marine Corps....see a pic HERE. I won't mention what's on his rib cage.....nope. I just had to buy the door hanging & Josh loved it.

I loved the camouflage table cloths!

I found Army confetti, little trucks & tanks, whistles, Army men, granades and all sorts of party favors for the tables.

I thought they made cute center pieces!

Gold & black ballooons (Army colors!) and USA table covers. On the walls were some great Army decals that I found at a party store.

(That we cut out way past midnight the night before I have to add) And I have to add that because we are not "after midnight" kind of people. We're old and moldy and like (no, LOVE) our sleep. But anything for our boy.

I found these banners, Army canteens and a blow up machine gun. It was an Army party afterall.

This was my favorite part....this is the BOYS POSTER WALL.

My brother in law & sister made this poster, isn't it awesome? (The inside scoop behind this poster ---> heard here on the blog for the very first time, folks: is that my brother in law was incredibly, lets say...protective of this "said board" and was the master mind and creator of the entire design.....but DID, however, allow my sister to sign it. With gloves on. She was extremely honored).

It's a gorgeous poster & Josh loved it! We found little Army parachute men (from the Toy Story movie collection at Toys R Us, lol) since Josh is going to Airborne school after basic training (then off to Ranger school).

He's a glutton for punishment.

This is the GIRLS POSTER WALL (was I drunk when I glued feathers to my poster?)

Would you look at what my 6 year old niece Madison made for Josh? It's adorable!

This is the two of them "acting gangsta" at a pizza parlor back in March. My sister wasn't allowed to touch this poster either. Poor girl.

Yeah....Josh & Rodge showed up for about 10 minutes to bring the stereo and to "help decorate" and this is what they accomplished. Then {{{POOF}}} they were gone.

My honey was putting together wine glasses (we went through all 40 of them!) and getting all of the beer, wine and drinks chilled.

Soon our guests started to arrive.

Theres Mama Kay (My East Coast Mom) in the white blouse along with some of our friends & neighbors.

And Johnny telling his mesmerising sea stories ;o)

My beautiful friends Tammy & Patty that I met ions ago in Japan who drove (Patty) over and hour & (Tammy) over 3 hours to come to the party, and I appreciate it so very much. It meant the world to me xoxo I could do a whole blog on these two and what their friendship means to me. Hey...now there's an idea....

In all of my craziness & fury I didn't take any pics of the food we had catered. Oh my God was it delicious! We used Red, Hot & Blue and everyone ate like there was no tomorrow. It's the best BBQ around, recipes straight from Memphis. If you've never been --> Go, ya'll. Go now!

In more of my craziness & fury I forgot to take pics of all of Josh's friends. Of course, like I said earlier, most of them were outside smoking every 20 minutes and had I gone out there I would've suffocated to death, making this blog post impossible. So I'm happy I stayed inside.

(((Just imagine all of the pics of Josh's friends HERE))) (Sorry, Josh!)

Found one! Only one.....

Wait, here's another...my boy is having some more food.

I posted this before but I love it. He's so happy! About to dig into the gorgeous cake that my caterer friend Lynn made.

It deserves a second look. I posted a full blog about it HERE.

The hired help. Serve that cake, Boy!

Here's another one! Sorta.

HAHA! Josh & Brandon doing whatever it is they are doing. Josh looks like a drill sergeant to me. Did I mention that he & Rodge shaved his head the day before? Well, they did. The things boys do when they're bored...

This is one of my fav's and probably the only pic I took of Josh and a few of his friends. Rodge is 2nd from the left, I adopted him when the boys were in the 8th grade (Not literally, but he's been my boy for a long time, it's hard to know anymore.)

I printed this 4x6 photo (that's Josh's recruiter, bottom left) and put it in a letter to Josh. I'm thinking it may cheer him up to remember he has friends at home supporting & rooting for him.

At the party everyone signed a photo mat for Josh. I'm going to put his first official Army photo in uniform (Private Josh!) in it and have it framed for him. The party was fun -- our friends went home early'ish and the kids got to dance and eat more and have a good time visiting. We kicked them all out at 1am and Johnny and I were there til 2am cleaning up. Did I mention that we are not "after midnight kinda folks?" It was completely worth it, though. Anything for our boy :o) Josh stayed at Rodge's house that night and all was well. The next day Josh "recovered" and more friends stopped by to raid the refrigerator of all the left over BBQ and cake. Happy kids!

On November 1st my boy (my only child, sniff) got his things together and waited unpatiently for Sgt. Nurse, his Army recruiter to come pick him up for his overnight stay at Ft. Meade. He would be shipping the next day. As I watched him wiggle and nervously check the clock every 3.5 seconds and looking out the window, I couldn't help but think that he looked much like his first day of kindergarten sitting there with his brand new backpack waiting for the bus. He didn't have much hair back then either. SNIFF. DRIP.

Sgt. Nurse arrived and I begain screaming "THEY'RE TAKING MY BABY!!!!!" and called 9-1-1. No, I didn't. I quietly took pictures, smiled a lot, stood brave, waved like a goober and told Sgt. Nurse to take care of my boy.

I quickly hugged Josh and told him we'd see him in the morning at Ft. Meade to see him off. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

......And off they went.

I watched as Josh literally left home. For good. I know he'll visit a lot, God willing. But that was it. Short and bittersweet.

{{{{POOF}}}}

So maybe I'm not "over it" completely and I'm not sure I ever really will be. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be, though? When you have a child you love them their whole lives then you set them free....but, they remain embedded in your heart forever and occupy a permanent space that no other can fill. Ever. And so I'll always miss him. That's my prerogative.

I'm so happy for Josh, and I mean that sincerely. All I want for him is to find a place in this crazy world where he belongs. A place where he can be successful and make a difference, be independent, be an honorable man, find a beautiful & loving partner to share his life with, be at peace and have pure joy in his life. That's not asking for too much, is it?

Oh!! And I want grandchildren. Lots and lots of grandchildren!

But let's get him through boot camp first, okay?

I lied. I need a tissue.

(Videos of his swearing in and departure from Ft. Meade coming soon - I can only take so much for one day)

Miss Sophia's Christmas card shoot - sneak peek

2010-11-22T13:19:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of photographing the little princess Sophia for her family's Christmas card. What an amazing learning experience that was and I'll forever be grateful to her parents for letting me have some time behind the lens to capture their pretty girl.

Here is a sneek peak of some of the images:
Is she just not the cutest little thing you've ever seen?! Sophia was having so much fun picking little red berries so they became part of the theme.

Her silver dress just sparkled.

I had so many issues with lighting, let me tell you. Sun flares galore from behind that tree (but it kind of adds a dreamy effect, don't you think?) and shadows from the sun through the trees on their faces was a fight in an of itself...I could go on and on. I learned SO much that day. Mainly, I am not fast enough for a 2 year old. I wasn't prepared to set my shutter speed as if I were photographing a NASCAR event. Lesson learned.

In the end I think we got some cute pictures and we ordered the 5x7 Christmas card, yay! I might have permission to post that after Christmas, but not yet...we don't want family to see it just yet.

By the way, don't you just love these beautiful blog frames? They were designed by Annie Manning from Paint the Moon Photography. She's a delight and very helpful if you have problems ---> (I have been her problem on more than a few occasions, ha, but she emails me right away and provides great customer service. Check out her website, blog and gorgeous (photoshop & elements) textures and actions HERE.

Thank you for the experience Lori & Al! With a cutie patootie like Sophia, every picture is adorable.

Rock Your Camera 101, week 1 photo assignment

2010-11-21T18:47:00.006-05:00

Warning: Boring photograhy class blog. This may put most of you to sleep. Proceed with caffeine.

So last week I was THRILLED to have finally gotten into a 5-wk. online photography class (in my forum Clickin Moms) called Rock Your Camera 101 that I've been unsuccessful at getting into for the past 7 months!

I saw a Facebook announcement that there were a few spots left and nearly chipped my teeth getting to my wallet to sign up and pay. After I was registered I happy-danced around the house like a fool celebrating......then I realized......wow, you dumb arse....it's the holidays. No wonder there were spots left. Everyone else will be immersed in cornucopias, turkeys, wreaths and jingle bells these next few weeks and YOU will be turning in assignments. (dummy, dummy, dummy, dummy!!)

{{{smacking myself in the forehead}}} Duh.

Then I stood up straight and tall, wiped away the sweat from my brow, put on my rose colored glasses and declared loudly to myself, "Well, that's okay! I'll just take pics of cornucopias, turkeys, wreaths and jingle bells and make them my photography assignments. WOO-HOO! You go girl!"

My goal is to practice in my manual camera settings as much as I can, nail my white balance, ISO settings, shutter speeds and fstops & learn to capture children....in focus (which, I've recently learned the hard way is the exact same as shooting a NASCAR race. A little kid = race car. Same thing. Enough said).

So I'm starting with RYC 101. Then I pray that I get into 201. (Probably next Thanksgiving)

Our first assignment is simply dealing with lighting. Our cameras had to be set in "auto white balance" because that's next week's assignment. All images are straight out of the camera (SOOC), absolutely NO editing allowed, no cropping either. Everything as taken in manual mode.

We had to turn in 4 images: Outside, Window light, Inside low light & Image of choice. It was fun! I had several "Ah-ha!" moments learning how to meter my light and then make everything balance to "0" and then click away!

Outside - Garden statue ISO 640 SS 1/500 fstop 2.5

Window light (I took this literally) - My girls ISO 500 SS 1/160 fstop 2.5

Inside low light - My dragonfly collection ISO 3200 SS 1/125 fstop 2.5

Photo of choice - GO NAVY! Ornament in the gift shop Temptations that I volunteer in. I worked on Friday and yes, I bought it :o) I'm trying to work on my indoor, low light images and nail the focus.

ISO 250 SS 1/100 fstop 1.8 (that's why the lighting works, I opened up to 1.8)

I couldn't help myself! While supper was baking I had to go in and do some post processing on my Christmas ornament. It needed a bit of lightening & sharpening and that brought out the soft pink hues. I love it!

Before/After

I'm really getting into the holiday spirit. See? This photo class is going to be great.

I hear next week is going to be a doooozie. Mainly composition & white balance, but we'll have two weeks to finish. Wish me luck!

"The Cake"

2010-11-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

I was wading through all of the images from Josh's farewll party and decided that the cake needed a post all it's own. It was SO CUTE!

This is my girlfriend Lynn. She owns a catering company called "A Bit More Sweets & Specialties" (go to the link to "like" her facebook page). Lynn generously squeezed out some time between all of her farmers markets and jobs to make Josh's cake. Lynn also did my 40th birthday high tea in my home...oh man, I have to dig out those pics and show you what this lady is capable of. You'll love it.

All I told her was "make some kind of Army cake" and she ran with it. She created the camouflage fondant pattern herself!

ARMY STRONG!The cake was well protected. Just try and steal a piece! C'mon, I dare ya.

Complete with a little Army Ranger and his get uber cool jeep. (Josh has a slot for Ranger training).

My bald boy was ready to dig in. Anyone know how to remove a balloon string from his cute face?

It was almost too cute to cut into.

But of course, he got over it. You can't keep a boy from his cake.
This? ...... I'm not really sure what's going here with Josh and Brandon, ha! But I can say, without a doubt, that everyone loved it.

Lynn sliced fresh bananas into the center.

And then she made a delicious banana cream filling. The mix of the chocolate, vanilla, bananas.....oh. Heart be still. It's making my mouth water right now just typing about it. It was truly remarkable.

The next day, this is all that was left of the wreckage we made of it. By evening, after Josh's friends had popped in twice to storm the refrigerator of left over BBQ, there was hardly any left at all! (And I kept the little Army Ranger in my memory box. Too cute!)

Sorry! No electricity!

2010-11-17T14:47:00.001-05:00

I wanted to post Josh's farewell party today, but we are having a bad wind storm and the electricity keeps popping off and on. Now its been of for about 45 minutes....I'm happy I have my blackberry.

I give up, lol! I don't want to start my uploads then lose everything at the last minute so I'm going to wait until tomorrow.

The good news is...if there's no electricity, there's no working stove. No working stove...no cooking!! Yay!! Sorry. Was that too much excitement? Hey, I'm no dummy. If Dominion Power wants to give me a night off, I'll take it!

Hope everyone is having a good day :o)
Sent from Brenda's BlackBerry

Josh's farewll party ~ Pt. 1

2010-11-16T11:35:00.002-05:00

Oh my gosh, today marks 2 weeks that Josh has been off to boot camp!!

I'll admit, the first week was tough. But now I'm getting used to it and I'm able to look at his farewell photos & videos without bursting into tears and screaming, "They've taken my baby!!!!!" like some deranged freak who just escaped from her straight jacket. What? I'm not a drama queen.

I have to state for the record to the entire world (meaning....the now 9 people who read my blog) that I am married to the MOST patient man on the planet. Honestly, I am.

Johnny simply wiped the spurting blood off that shot out of his ears from my shrieking, kept listening to me, giving me hugs and supporting me during the panic, whining, utter dispair, thrashing and pure hysteria.

And that was just in the parking lot waving goodbye to Josh on the bus. Hmmm....come to think of it, I haven't seen Johnny since. But he IS patient.

So in the days leading up to the farewell party I was on Johnny constantly to make his farewell poster. We bought poster boards at Michaels like proud parents sending their child off to boot camp so that we could do our rightful duty and embarrass the hell out of our boy one last time. {{high five}}

I, of course, being the ultra crafty, talented, artsy chick that I am (NOT) bought everything in sight to help me put together my masterpiece. I'm telling you, this project brought sweat to my brow since I can't even make a stick figure look good. I have NO artistic gene in my body. Thank God for Michaels. And my 40% coupons....

The one thing that I DO have are photos. Uuhhh...approximately 8,999,085,000 of them just on my hard drive from 2010 alone. Plus, I stole a bunch of pics straight off of Josh's facebook page so that I could do a "memory lane" kinda theme. I used my handy-dandy little 4x6 printer and got to work.

Those are poofy pom-pom bows in their hair. See? Me = Artistic. Shut up.

I love this pic of Josh from Halloween last year.

So proud!

Hee-hee. He's bald now.

I found all of these little Army stickers and jazzed up the pics :o)

I made a little Army Josh!

♥ My hero ♥

Beef cake, haha For several painstaking hours I printed, cut, glued, hit the vodka, taped, sweated, stickered, glittered, trembled, pom-pomed on my little poster that could. Then I prayed that everything would still be on the posterboard in the morning.

In the meantime, 90 minutes before bedtime Johnny hopped on his computer and got to work. I'm all: "What?!? Where is your poster board? Where are your scissors? Glue? Tired, swollen eyes? Sweaty arm pits? Raw hands?!?!? Bags under your eyes?!?!?!?!?!?!"
Johnny: Yeah, uuuhhh, right, honey....I'll just do my magic on the laptop, print it out real fast on the plotter in the morning, tape it to the poster board then head over to the club house to decorate. Me: Whaaaaaa???? Me again: HUH? What do you mean "the plotter?" What's a plotter and ....what? We were supposed to sit here all night and make posters together, you know...have a fun, romantic, bonding, couples craft night! :o) Johnny: I don't do crafts.
He made little Joshie's too.....only he did it in 30 seconds, not 23 minutes.

Like we can't tell that's fake. Sheeeesh.

Well.....OK, that one is kinda cool.

That one too. Dang it! Note to self: Take a Powerpoint class. Another note to self: Before boot camp graduation.

Look at the 3D stickers he added at the end, too cute! Yes, I'm a Johnny fan. I can't stay ticked very long.

Now it's ready for "The Plotter" Ooooohhhhhh-Aaaahhhhhhhh....

Great job honey! I'll reschedule our craft night for another time. It'll be F-U-N! So Johnny's poster looked amazing in the end; so professional, clean, awesome & very "Military."

Mine looked like the craft store threw up on it. But that's okay, it came from my big, proud Mommy heart ♥

And while Johnny was out printing his poster on "The Plotter" (Ooooohhhhhh-Aaaahhhhhhhh) I was out buying everything I could get my hands on that had an Army/Military or American Hero theme. Decorating is going to be a blast! And Johnny is going to help me! And "The Plotter" (Ooooohhhhhh-Aaaahhhhhhhh) won't be able to help him this time! {{{Evil laugh}}} ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~ I'll post the party tomorrow (wait until you see my sister and brother in law's & Madison's poster-too adorable!) ~ ~ Thanks for stopping by ~

2010-11-15T09:24:00.001-05:00

Dear Mr. Drill Sergeant, Sir,

My son has been gone for 2 weeks and I just got to the bottom of the dirty, smelly pile of clothes he so generously left behind as well as found the bathroom floor again after removing 83 raunchy towels from the floor. And I only gagged twice.

Do me a favor....

Never mind {{big grin}}... I think you will.

~In appreciation, Mom

Welcome to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain

2010-11-12T23:34:00.002-05:00

Today the Army Wives group that I joined (I love them!) went on a field trip to the Bahrain Embassy in downtown D.C. Yesterday was Veteran's Day so many of our hubbies were off today as well, and a few of them joined us on the tour. What a treat!

And of course they found each other like magnets, realized they had each served in the U.S. Navy (and why were their Navy wives in the Army wives club anyway?) Who cares? It allowed them to tag along today and that's all that's important. They stood around and "talked ship" for ahile.

Johnny's been to Bahrain, in the Middle East, but I didn't know much about the country and I found it fascinating. I love to learn about how other people live.

They have a long and colorful history based on being a trading hub in the Persian Gulf. I also found out that they are known for their pearls. In fact, Bahrain is called "The Pearl of the Gulf." Mr. Cartier himself used to go to Bahrain and hand pick his pearls for his jewelry.

Question: Johnny's been to Bahrain.....and I do not have any Bahrainian pearls.....what's up with that?!?

So while Johnny was reliving his Navy career with his new found friends, I went around and snapped some shots of the Embassy. They were setting up a traditional lunch for us in this room.

This is where we would hear the Ambassador speak later on.

My man was looking for me. We wanted to sit down but the couches seemed to missing something........

LEGS! The couches were so low to the ground, as in ON the ground. I was afraid if I sat down I'd never get up again. I'd still be there right now asking someone to please bring me my night gown and a hot cocoa. And my Chihuahuas. And my iPad. And the clicker.

I'm high maintenance.

I actually asked an embassy cultural assistant to show us how to sit. I sounds crazy, but we didn't know what to do with our legs. When I attempted to sit down (Pam has the pic on her camera and I hope to God that image never surfaces because I made a complete fool of myself getting down on those couches) my hip locked up so badly I was writhing in pain.

After our sitting lesson Pam & Lois showed me how proper ladies sit. Good job Girls! No, I will not be joining you. Thanks, though. My hip will never be the same.

Then the nice gentleman explained this traditional game to us that was unlike anything I was familiar with. Everything was so interesting!

The food was beginning to smell heavenly. That is the King of Bahrain on the wall, by the way. Their country is a constitutional monarchy run on the English model, except that the King of Bahrain is actually THE ruler of his country.

The embassy was so generous to us.

They told us last week, after our tour was set up, that they'd like to treat us to lunch.

It was a big surprise! They served warm pita bread with fresh hummus, Baba ghanoush, stuffed grape leaves and salad.

This was some sort of chicken rice dish that had raisins and cashews on top. It was amazing!

Have you ever had Falafel? It's a patty made with chickpeas or fava beans, served with a yogurt sauce. Yum!

There was also curried vegetables and samosas (little potato & pea filled fried pastry pockets). I spy a Johnny coming down the line......

There's my Johnny!

And let me tell you, give him food and he's happy. I caught him in the middle of a bite. Oops.

This is a blurry pic of my food that was very close on my lap. But you get the picture. We tasted everything, I've always been shy like that. I know, I eat like a bird.

And then we enjoyed coffee and a creme caramel ~ much like a flan. Heart. Be. Still.

King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa has reigned since 1999.

This is my only picture of the Ambassador Houda Nonoo speaking to us. I was trying not to stand and/or be disruptive, and I didn't have a zoom lens.

Johnny stood behind the man taking our group picture and took this for me. The Ambassador is in the front row, middle. I'm in the back row, left. Where's Waldo?

Then I handed my camera over to Pam and asked her to take a picture of me and Johnny outside of the Embassy on our way out and this is what she took:

I particularly like my boots in this picture, don't you?

Let's try again, Miss Pam, only this time look in the view finder.

There ya go! Pfew!

What a fun field trip! Afterwards Johnny & I jumped into our brand new Mercedes....what? We didn't tell you? It was an early Christmas present! And it came with Diplomat plates.

Or not.

Maybe we just walked the 4 blocks back to the station and took the Metro home.

You decide.

2010-11-11T17:11:00.004-05:00

~ Happy Veteran's Day ~

To the sweet veteran sitting in his US Naval Academy bathrobe on the couch, looking adorable with his scrufffy face and coffee mug ~ I love you.

To my boy marching around Ft. Benning somewhere ~ I love with all of my heart and I miss you terribly....and....I thank you, Son.

~ Johnny's last day in uniform ~

To ALL of you in uniform, God bless you. We are the land of the free because of the brave.

Sorry

2010-11-10T13:56:00.003-05:00

I have tried a hundred times to blog Josh's farewell party and seeing him off for boot camp, but every time I start I miss him so much I can't continue.

Yesterday marked one week since he shipped. I've been lucky to have received 2 phone calls and 2 letters and even one cell phone picture. I am about ready to blog everything, but I'll keep it simple or I'll lose it.

Thanks for your patience! I'm trying. I really am ;o)

Day 3 of boot camp

2010-11-05T14:46:00.005-04:00

I just finished my first letter to Josh. I don't have an address yet, but when I do I'll have several envelopes to put in the out box right away. Also, I'll pass it on to you too, if you want to write to a young man serving his country, I know he'd appreciate getting letters during the old fashioned "mail call."

My boy's only been gone for 3 days and I'm ready to have him come back home. I know..."But Brenda, he has to go out & make his way, become a man, realize his dreams, earn his living, train, be successful & independent....you raised him to be that way..." I hear that every day from my girlfriends.

Cowboy Josh training for boot camp at 2 years old!

Listen, trust me, there is no one on this planet more proud of him than I am, I will bet my LIFE on it, but it's harder than I thought it would be. I'm not whining, I'm just feeling. I know this is part of the process of letting him go.

I just want him to come home for 5 minutes, OK, maybe 20 minutes, have a cup of coffee with me, tell me all about boot camp (all 3 days of it) and then I can take him back to the airport. What? Is that too much to ask? I will tell you one thing for certain. As God is my witness, I will move mountains to be able to see my son. No one will come between us when I get a chance for a visit so step back people! Mama bear is growling!

RAAAAAWWWRRRRR!!

Where in the world did all of the years go?

Rest assured, I will have to be on life support for me to not be able to spend time with my child -------> when he, and some day his wife invites me to visit. Until the day I die, I promise you that. I just had to put that out there in the universe as my daily affirmation. Thanks for listening :o)

I'm missing Josh today, that's all. I'll be fine later, I'm sure of it. Josh & I have been used to having our little chats every day or just short text messages passed back and forth. I've become accustomed to the close contact we've had for years...even if we just texted "Goodnight ~ I love you" there wasn't a day we didn't have some kind of connection. Not to mention the days we were trying to choke each other to death, ha! I pick up my phone 50x a day and want to shoot off a "HI Son! What's going on??" It's so unnatural, the silence is deafening.

I get so emotional when I look at this photo. Josh was waiting for his recruiter to pick him up to take him up to Ft. Meade to ship to boot camp (we met him up there the next morning). He was so anxious and must've looked out the window 500x looking for the van. I had flashbacks of his first day of Kindergarten. I know....I'm a big dork. But I couldn't help it. The days dragged, but the years flew.

Finally, Josh's awesome recuiter, Sgt. Nurse arrived to take him to Ft. Meade. Sgt. you'd better take care of my boy or I'll hunt you down. I can do some damage. Maybe not with my right arm, but the left one is super strong! You should be very, very scaaaaared.

"Bye Josh! Be good. Be safe! I looooove you!" HOOO-AH!!
♥ I'm really missing the goof ball today, can you tell? ♥

I got my phone call!!

2010-11-03T20:51:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was such a wonderful, exciting day and I can't wait to share everything with you - tomorrow. I downloaded most of the pics so I'll post very soon, I promise.

I've been so worried all day because after Josh got on his bus to head to the airport the Army Captain assured all of us parents that we would be getting our one phone call as soon as our recruit (I love the sound of that) was safely ensconced at their bases with Mother Army.

I had both of my phones by my bed all night and the lap on until about 3am. No call came. All day.....no call. I came up with a thousand horrible scenarios, because that's what I do, most of them ending with CSI coming to my front door. Johnny's eyes rolled a lot tonight.

But guess what????!!!?!?!

I just got my phone call!

Josh sounded so good and no, I didn't cry (until we hung up). They gave him a 3 minute call and Johnny and I both got to listen to him tell us about his first day at boot camp.

First of all, they didn't even get to the base until nearly 1:30am (he'd been up since 4am), they had to do a briefing, some inprocessing and turn in everything they arrived with, including the clothes on their backs. They were issued uniforms already as well as PT gear, which he was wearing today.

He said that they got to sleep 1 1/2 hours on the hard floor and then they had to get up and have breakfast. Then came a medical physical; he got 8 shots and had a ton of blood drawn. He laughed when I asked him if they were feeding him. They do NOT go hungry at boot camp so I feel good about that.

He said the first week is orientation and inprocessing stuff. He starts boot camp after the 1st week. He will have a dental cleaning and eye exam tomorrow as well as some classes. They have to learn how to make a bed to Army regulations, he has to learn how to wear his uniform correctly, etc., all before his boot camp indoctrination ceremony.

Aaaaahhhh, now I can rest easy. I will finally sleep tonight, even if my boy can't. He was happy I could hear it in his voice, though several times he mentioned how ehausted he was. He told me he'd write letters and I told him I'd be anxiously checking the mailbox every day and of course we both told him how proud we were of him and that we missed him so much already and that we've thought of him ALL day!

Tomorrow I'll be able to post some pics of his party and of him shipping. Just wait til you see the grin on his face! What a little cutie. He's in the Army now! Hoooah!

Hillwood Museum Tour

2010-11-01T15:43:00.002-04:00

On Oct.28 my Navy Wives Club went on a field trip to NW Washington, DC to tour Hillwood Museum & Gardens.

Founded by American collector and heiress to the Post cereal empire Marjorie Merriweather Post, Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens is one of the premier art collector's museums in the United States.

The timing was absolutely perfect; Autumn in Northern VA is my favorite time of year.

The entire estate was bursting with mums and gorgeous foliage.

The estate employees had a pumpkin carving competition.

Marjorie Merriweather Post was a perfectionist, as evident in all of her garden designs. She hired a curator to design in the interior of her home because she knew from day 1 that it would be a museum some day.

Unfortunately I couldn't take any images past this door. They actually took my camera and gave me a check tag number. DOH!

Even snapping this image of Miss Pam making her grand entrance into the visitor center lobby I was told to put my camera away. Geeeeze.

We were shell shocked after seeing 1.5 hours of a docent led tour of all of the incredible collections Marjorie had assembled inside her mansion. The textiles, the furniture, the jewels, the dishes/porcelain, Fabergé eggs, religious icons, books....there was NO end to what this woman collected. It was simply astonishing.

We had to clear our heads with a long walk through the gardens. This little fountain....

.....carried its water along this channel and to this beautiful fountain. The windows upstairs (with the bay window) were Marjorie's bedroom. She looked out onto a pristine garden every day and knew that one day she wanted to be buried in her rose garden.

Here is her final resting place with a beautiful headstone that is art in and of itself.

My favorite part of the entire estate grounds is the Japanese garden.

There's Janelle, Debbie and Mama Kay (at the very top).

The sound of the waterfall was completely serene.

And the Fall colors were simply breath taking.

I wish these images captured sound also. You'd fall in love.

Miss Debbie striking a pose :o)

Mama Kay, my East Coast Mommy, always looking so pretty.

The weather happened to be about 75* - a total fluke for this time of year. We got lucky! Here are a few more garden shots:

And then I stumbled onto the dearest part of the garden. The pet cemetary. But not in a scary way at all. No Stephen King gore here!

There must've been 15-17 little headstones, each for a beloved family dog.

I was completely moved; touched in a way I didn't expect. So sweet and tastefully done.

There was a little house on the grounds, called the Dacha, where there was a photography exhibit going on with images of Marjorie's step daughter's memories of living in Russia for 2 years. Her dad, Marjorie's 2nd husband, was an ambassador and that is where many of the collections came from.

After touring we worked up an appetite and luckily there is a little cafe on the grounds.

My girlfriend Pam & I went over to get a table reserved for the rest of the gals so we could eat. Lunch was delicious! (I do have a picture of it, but I don't want to risk being called a total loser so I'll spare you. This time.....)

Would you look at these cute gals? And do you see what I mean about Fall popping all over the place and perfect weather?!? It was a fun day with the ladies, like always.

I can't wait until next month when we get to go do Thanksgiving dessert tasting! We all make a treat, bring it along with the recipe and set ourselves up for a 3-day sugar high, woo-hoo! I'm so ready!

2010-10-31T14:45:00.003-04:00

Last night was Josh's farewell party. It's so surreal; the night was fabulous and flew by so quickly. Everyone had fun and no one wanted to go home. We kicked them out at 1am so we could clean up the club house (which Johnny and I completed at 2am!)

My boy had a great time and he and his friends thanked us several times for putting it all together. Johnny gave a nice toast and to our surprise and delight, so did Josh's best friend Rodge. I could cry just thinking about it.

By the way....the darling poster in the background was made by my niece Madison all by herself! Too cute! (Josh loved it, Sweetheart, great job!)

He's bald. He's exhausted. He's anxious. But he's ready to go.

He leaves tomorrow.

I'll post more pics from the party this week, I just wanted to check in with everyone and let you know things went very, VERY well. My friend Tammy drove up from Norfolk (3 hrs) and my other friend Patty came from Maryland with her husband (1 hour), my friend Lynn made Josh the most awesome and delicious Army cake!! As well as my local friends, my East Coast Mom, our neighbors, J's friends.....it was a perfect night and it all meant the world to our family.

I promise to share more very soon. I have to get through Josh leaving first so next time you hear from me Johnny and I will be official EMPTY NESTERS. Huh? I still can't believe the date is here. GAHH!

Did I say this all feels surreal?

I have to go take a nap. My inner party animal is catching up to my outer old lady, haha. My body isn't snapping back as fast as it used to. How pitiful.

Thanks everyone for your well wishes.

NO Internet. Boooo!

2010-10-29T11:49:00.002-04:00

During one of the busiest weeks of my life (or in the past month), our internet router decides to fall over, put its belly up in the air, and go dark. No more pretty flashing red lights above my living room hutch telling me that I can log on and see what the rest of the word is doing.

Its been a lonely existence for the past 24 hours. I feel disconnected.....haha. Punny. *Snort* it's affecting my mind!

Farewell party plans are complete; I'm leaving shortly to go pick up the pool club house key and then we can decorate! Food is ordered. Beer & wine purchased. Cake designed and dropping off little green Army men later this afternoon. My sister mailed me her 2 (darling!!) poster boards that her family decorated. Johnny & I will decorate ours tonight...It's ON, baby! It's ON!

Josh leaves on Monday to start his in-processing at Ft. Meade. We get to go up Tuesday morning for pictures, hugs, tears, kicks in the rear, pinches and to wave bye-bye to the bus that will take the boy that I've devoted my entire adult life to away to Army boot camp.

We're all ready now. Its been a long year and we're prepared. Johnny & I are already getting giddy about all of the duty stations we'll get to go visit him at. (Please go to Italy, Josh!) (Or Germany) (Or France) (Or Japan!!) (Hawaii????)

Or best yet! Ft. Belvoir, Virginia!! YES!!!! We'll be neighbors :o)

Next week I'll have plenty of pics to share so when you can't fall asleep you can look at my blog entries and you'll be out in 2 1/2 minutes flat.

I'm here to serve.

See you soon!

Magic Blog It Boards from MCP Actions

2010-10-27T11:23:00.001-04:00

I was having a little bit of fun with my cruise pictures (as evident by the slide show I created). I headed over to visit Jodi at MCP Actions for a little more help. Jodi has the coolest "Blog It Boards."

These are our images from Port Canaveral, Florida, one of our port calls. Josh decided we'd go on an airboat ride to go look for 'gators. Big surprise. (We even got to eat some 'gator!) And do you know what? It tastes like chicken!

No. Not really. It was chewy and tough. I didn't care for it much :o(
Any-hooo ~ Jodi's Blog It Boards build themselves automatically in Photoshop. I run CS5 and it was super easy.

I downloaded the FREE (try me) Blog It Board; you can find it HERE. Jodi gives you one template to practice on so that's why all of mine are the same.

I got the hang of it pretty quickly. I'm trying to decide which of THESE Blog It Board sets I might add to my photoshop actions.

The possibilities are endless. When you buy a set you'll have different sizes and configurations to choose from.

A "prompt" pops up and says "now pick your picture for the top, now pick your picture for the right".....etc. If I can do it, anyone can.

The only problem I had (seen in this blog it board, bottom middle pic) is that if I stretched the pic out to fit the square, either Johnny or myself would have been cut from the image. That's why there is white above and below (and I couldn't fill it in with, say, black, to make it look better). But they are still fun, easy to use and great for blogs!

Go over and download the FREE photoshop Blog It Board at MCP Actions & give it a try. I just wanted to share her freebie with you all ~ when I find something fun I have to pass it along!

Josh turned 20.....well, OK, back in May.

2010-10-26T14:28:00.006-04:00

My baby turned 20 in May. Is it still okay to call him my baby?

Wait a minute, you know what? Yes, it is. He's my only child and let me tell you something, even though he was only 6 pounds, 15 ounces, pushing him out of my body gives me LIFE LONG rights to call him my baby. Raising him through his terrible two's that lasted to his teen years gives me the right to call him my baby. Then raising him through his teen years gives me rights throughout eternity and beyond. Josh will always be my baby. You wanna make something of it? You wanna piece of me?

See what blogging does? It gives me clarity. And a spine.

Anyway....the day before his birthday I begged and pleaded Josh to give me 20 minutes so that I could take his 20-year portraits - something, anything to capture him at this moment in time.

My first mistake.

With eyes rolling, grunts and a few "Hurry Up Mom's" he gave me about 8 minutes flat and even (not really by choice) wore a nice-ish shirt ~ by that I mean, nothing stained with last night's supper, nothing torn or with cut off sleeves, or anything printed with the words US ARMY or GOLD'S GYM on the front.

I wasn't very smart and used the back courtyard that was very shady.

The shadows were a nightmare.

But I knew I'd be pushing it if I asked him to relocate to the front yard or, God forbid, across the street, where the lighting was fabulous but where people would see us (scream!!). It's a rule: photographs ARE light. Period. First and foremost, lighting has to be great. And it wasn't. My second (amature) mistake.
But he's my handsome boy and I love the way they came out anyway. Besides, they're for my kitchen wall so who cares?

On our way inside Josh grabbed his favorite girl, Peanut, and looked so cute I snapped this pic. Again, the shadows and lighting were horrible.

I did my best with the tools & actions I have and fixed it somewhat. I'm more pleased with Peanut's face than I am with Josh's.

At least it's better than it was, even though it's blown out in some areas now. My third mistake.

The point is that I practice constantly so in a year I hope I can take that same image and really fix it.

I'm a work in progress.

A picture is still worth a thousand words.

You see a smiling 20 year old, I see Josh impatiently groaning, "Are we done here? Can I scoot now? HUUUUUURRRYYY UP MOM!! Take the picture already!"

And behind the camera I'm screaming, "Just sit still and smile, dag-GONE-it! (Or was it Dad-GUM-it?) I'm still learning all of these stupid buttons! Oh my God you are so antsy, what are you? Like FOUR years old or something?!? Stop being so ruuuuuude!"

Mother/Son LOVE. All in one shot. Can't you see it?

2010-10-25T22:02:00.002-04:00

The link got fixed! I know, I know, you've seen the pics 183 times already, booooring.....Anyways, I liked the music so I had to repost it. The nice man at TripWow.com emailed me 2x today working out the bugs in the HTML code and I really appreciated how much assistance he gave me ~ especially since this slide show was FREE to make, by the way! Head on over and make your own. It's fun :o)

Turn on your speakers....

Cruisin' to The Bahamas, Mon! Slideshow: John, Brenda & Josh’s trip from Baltimore, Maryland, United States to 3 cities Nassau, Freeport and Port Canaveral was created by TripAdvisor. See another United States slideshow. Create your own stunning free slideshow from your travel photos.

2010-10-25T17:36:00.000-04:00

Give me one minute to whine. I need just one second and this blog is my place to put my feelings and achy brakey heartfelt junk, right? Ok, here it goes:

OH MY GOD JOSH LEAVES ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!

Holy cow. Where has the time gone? Please. Someone stop the clock. In a way, this has been the longest freaking year EVER. But now it's flying by.

Last night, I'll admit it, I was sort of testing Josh, much to my husbands dismay. We went out to dinner and I looked at Josh and said, "So, you're really gonna do it?"

Cut to: In my head I imagined my boy saying, "No, Mom. I can't go. I'm your only child and I know how much you love me and are so proud of me so I just can't do it. I don't want you to be all alone. I want to go back to school and move to Fairfax or Burke and be close by. Some day I'll marry and have your grand babies and we'll do Sunday family dinners and you can play with the kids and my doberman and we'll go on our summer cruises together." Cue: The hugs & the tears and the angels singing....

SCREEEEEEEETTTCCCHHHHH.........

Smack. Back to reality. And reality really sucks.

Because he didn't even hesitate one second and replied, "I'm soooooo ready!! Let's do this! I'm getting really pumped up!"

Gulp.

"So...you're positive?"

"Yup."

"You're sure? Like, 100 percent?"

"Uh-huh."

"Really?" *sniffle*

"Yuppers."

"Fine. Go then. See if I care."

"You care."

"I know. But what-ev's."

"I'll miss you, though."

"You'd better."

And so it goes. My boy is leaving in one week. My one minute is up. I'm done whining. Time to walk the girls now. With tissue. Thanks for listening.

Nassau, Capital of the Grand Bahamas

2010-10-25T10:07:00.004-04:00

Last night I put together a slide show with all of our off ship adventure pictures in it (here's the link to that if you want to give it a shot: http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/tripwow/ta-00ad-9a6e-5f06?lb ) but some of you said it didn't work or it took too long to load. Bummer. Some of the slides went too fast too, but I loved the music! Made me get up and boogie! Yup, it did. Scary, huh?

So I decided to just plop some of the pics up anyway. (I was trying to avoid posting 64 pics and boring everyone to TEARS!

Today I'll just post our day in Nassau, Bahamas. I'll do Port Canaveral and a few more random ship pics (including our professional session) in another post. There are only so many tears.

Our ship pulled directly up to that pier, side by side with the gorgeous Norwegian Kay.

Johnny & I tried our legs on land for the first time in 3 days (felt strange!) & Josh went off with a friend he met on board, armed with plenty of cab money.

He's 20, what do you expect? For him to hang out with the old parents for the day? (Yes, that's what I wanted. I'm just posturing so that I won't look like I haven't cut the apron strings yet. Just go with it).

By the way, for the record ~ I have been smacked REAL hard with a reality this year: when you raise a child to be independent, what you end up with is an independent child. Wow. Funny how that works. Yikes.

Guess that's why one week from today he'll be headed to Ft. Meade to begin his life's new adventures! (And I'll be trying to hold him down to tie him back onto my apron!!) He's stronger though, I'm sure he'll win.

BACK TO THE BAHAMAS!

Johnny and I decided to lick our rejected parental wounds by spending the day in Atlantis ~ an all-inclusive resort that is out of this world beautiful. We were healed in about 3 1/2 minutes.

Here's a postcard I snapped to show the layout. Our ship was docked in the channel that runs behind the hotel; it was a 10 minute, at most, cab ride.

Time shares galore. I don't even want to know who much they cost, but total heaven if you're blessed enough to be able to live here for awhile.

They can even accomodate you if you own your own yacht. Parking is free.

The views will cost ya though.

Or you can stay in the Atlantis Hotel. The lobby was gorgeous! I have a complete series of photographs of just the archetecture and decor, but, like I said, you only have so many tears, so I'll spare you. This time.

The entire first floor is an aquarium. That's right. I said AQUARIUM. See it? It is, afterall, the lost city of Atlantis.

All of the staff wore colorful, fun uniforms. Felt like we were in The Bahamas, Mon!

And there was shopping in the beautiful hotel, too. I just took a "random" shot of something stunning. Totally random. YUP. (Hello Santa? Are you there? Tap, tap, tap...is this thing on?)

Meet the King & Queen of Atlantis. Let us show you around our land.

You can learn to scuba dive with our professional & super friendly staff.

Wander the grounds at your leisure.

And that arch? That is The Bridge Suite. You can rent it but it is booked solid for the next year. Full balconies, front and back, with spectacular views.

Perfectly decorated and will satisfy every need you will have. A FULL staff always at your service and has it's own private entrance. Let us drop you into the lap of luxury.

All for only $25,000 per night, with a 7 night minimum. And did I mention that we are fully booked for the next year?

My Mr. Perfect is happy because we have a lovely, teensy, weensy little cabin (with balcony!!) waiting for us at the ship. And that's fine by me :o)

Everywhere we went, there were walls of aquariums. It was stunning. I regret not sitting down for lunch and just observing, but we were too busy wanting to see the whole resort before we had to get back to the ship. Didn't want to miss our boat! That would be a bad thing.

The tunnels were awesome.

We were jokingly "looking for Nemo."

And we were delighted when we found him! Back with his Papa.

This tank was filled with blue & gold fish. And you know what that means....

Uh-Oh, here it comes....

GO NAVY! WOO-HOO!

My Johnny was beginning to behave strangely and showing ungodly amounts of affection in public.

And making gooooogley eyes at strange women. Love. It can never be. Poor things.

We went out to the beaches to get some fresh air and to mend Johnny's heart. I admired the scenery and beautiful turquoise waters.

Johnny admired the....other sites. He thought the beaches were lovely, too.

He got to "people watch" for ahwile. That's why he's so happy!

In the end, he remained with his bride in those smokin' hot bermuda shorts and she fell head over heels with him in his Dilbert t-shirt and Navy ball cap. So, as the story goes, the King & Queen....

Recommited their love and devotion in the sands of the Bahamas for ever more.

Always

And they reigned their Kingdom of Atlantis happily ever after.

Until 5pm.

Then they had to dash back to the ship before it sailed away without them leaving them homeless and with their son screaming, "Woo-hoo! I have the whole room & your credit cards to myself!" at the top of his lungs, waving from the balcony.

That thought made then dart faster ~ To reign their dinner table on the cruise ship and watched this sunset out of the window over the land that they loved for 6 hours and can't wait to go back to some day.

A little look around the Carnival Pride

2010-10-16T10:27:00.004-04:00

  We love cruising! We're addicted! We're hooked! We're saving $$ for the next one! And the next one!.....

Our room was down there on the right somewhere. On November 7 the ship goes into dry dock (in Nassau, Bahamas) for 2 weeks where they will replace all of the carpeting, paint, and refurbish the entire Carnival Pride to the tune of 25 million dollars.

This was our home-sweet-home for a week at sea.

It was "cozy" but we had plenty of room as our luggage all went under the bed and there were 3 full size closets with shelves plus 3 small dressers (believe it or not) so we unpacked and did just fine! This is the last time Josh shared a room with us. Next time, you're on your own, buddy!

This is the view from our bed and boy did we ever love it. We had the door open during the mornings for breakfast and enjoyed hearing the ocean.

Two levels below us were the life capsules. Don't think we didn't know which one was ours because that's the first thing you do before you pull out of port ~ a ship wide drill. We all mustered on our assigned decks next to the life boats. Everyone! Every waiter, cabin attendant, ships dancer, cruise director, cook, doctor, bar tender...even the Captain! That made me feel safe knowing everyone had a "job" to do if there were an emergency. Good job crew! Time for a Mai-Thai.

Speaking of crew....this is Maung (sporting Josh's Oakley's). He was our most excellent cabin attendant from Burma, and we loved him!

He had to deal with this every day and didn't jump ship so I figured he's seen worse. Poor guy. We did tip him well...

We'd come to our room at night after our stage show or dancing and find these cute, cuddly creatures laying on our beds, each holding 3 chocolates. So cute!

Did I say we tipped him well? Maunge was a trooper and made our cruise a very happy one.

Johnny on our deck as we were pulling back into Baltimore Harbor. We spent lots of time out on our deck eating, drinking our coffee, watching as the ship pulled in and out of ports...We don't think we can ever go without a deck again. Johnny felt like he was on watch on the USS Hewitt again! He loved it!

♥ Our favorite thing to do was watch the sunsets together ♥

The main atrium bar. Sorry the pics are horrible. My little point and shoot is great outdoors, but indoors?...Not so much.

Those are the elevators that go up 11 decks.

Looking down into the atrium again.

Now looking up (are you sea sick yet? Good!). See up there at the top? Those are acrylic ~ completely clear ~ stairs that go up to the 12th deck, a specialty restaurant called "David's." It's an upscale steakhouse that we had reservations to for a celebration dinner for Josh on our last night at sea. I was completely obsessed with those stairs! Scary stairs....

During the day with all of the lights on they weren't too scary....

But at night.....oooohhhh, another story. See? It looked as if you were floating 12 stories above the atrium (waaaay down there below us) and it was a wicked feeling.

Yup. Obsessed.

The Disco! Josh and I boogied down here one night. Well....I boogied one night, Josh boogied with all of the young people on the ship EVERY night. That boy crawled in bed between 2-3:30am every morning. The club didn't open until 10:30pm so that weeded out most of the old folks, ha. He made some fun friends to hang out with on the trip. We ended up eating dinner every night with the parents of one of the boys; nice people everywhere!

This is a real crappy picture of a real handsome man. It's in the theater, but none of my pics came out and they didn't allow any images to be taken during the shows for security reasons. Oh well. Isn't he adorable? The shows were great, by the way. Very broadway inspired. We went to one comedy night also, but for the most part, Josh is the night owl in our family so we let him roll with it and we'd crash by 11:30, ha!

One of the buffet style eateries on board ~ The Mermaid Grill. You did not go hungry. Ever. There were 4 buffets, the main dining room (where we had dinner every night), David's steakhouse, a 24 hour pizza parlor, midnight snack bar....

Which is why they have a gym on board. Do you see me on that treadmill? I didn't think so.

Do you see me running on that track? I didn't think so.

Do you see me playing putt-putt? I didn't think so....and I'm still ticked about that. I had a "date" to play with Josh, but the kid never showed up which is why all I have is this dumb picture. Geeze. He's a cruise ship with all of those young people, tons of hot girls, 4 pools, 3 hot tubs, a gym, buffets, drink-of-the-day specials, a casino, lounging decks and comedy shows going on and he didn't want to play putt-putt on the old people's deck with his mother?!? I just don't get it....

Oh! And I forgot~the slide!

That's ok. I'll just hang with my handsome hubby over there and go sit some place quiet and read and drink my drinkie. Do you see he packed his ipad and keyboard? He was a very happy man.

There's the hot tub that I plopped my butt into for 2 hours. I was a prune when I met Johnny for happy hour, ha! He didn't mind so much, he was drinking his margarita and loving ships life.
Johnny misses being at sea sometimes, but he said he didn't miss the responsibility & stress which is why we're hooked on cruising! He gets the best of both worlds. We're already looking for our next cruise.

This is a glimpse of David's steak house ~ all set up for the cooking demonstration that I took from the master chef on board.

He did a demonstration of Beef Stroganoff while his sous chefs showed us how to garnish properly.

We learned how to carve watermelons. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Seriously. If you think for one minute this is going to pop up on my Thanksgiving table you've got another thing coming. Just be happy with your sprig of parsley, ok?

Packing our suitcases, getting ready to debark. What a sad, sad day. We weren't ready to go.
I had such a wonderful time with my family, it went by way too quickly. I knew as soon as the cruise was over it was going to be crunch time before Josh ships off to boot camp.

Now I'm in a constant state of holding my breath and begging time to slow down.