Christmas #2 - another success

We had a great Christmas. This is our second Christmas since we got married, and I think we are off to a great set of traditions.

We started the season by getting our Christmas tree at the same lot on El Camino.
The guys there are nice, and they had a big selection of trees to choose from.
We bought a new stand this year, which is exactly like our old one that we threw away, and just as difficult to screw together. The tree is on the side table in the living room, where we attempt to keep the lower branches and ornaments out of dog reach.

We decorated the tree with all of our ornaments, and we got some new ones this year from Scott's mom. We decided that the Outdoor Santa ornament is going to be the first one we hang each year. We even wrote it on the bottom of the ornament so that we don't forget. It's the ornament that we got from Scott's mom the year that we got engaged, appropriate me thinks. Then we decided that the last ornament to be hung should be the Xmas pickle. The piano again holds all the cards that we received, even the one from our realtor.

Scott wrote our annual letter, and we got most of our cards in the mail by Dec 15th. That is a great accomplishment. It was a challenge to take the picture this year, though. Bear was not cooperating, and when we finally got a decent picture, it came out blurry. So after about 20 tries, we got one that isn't great, but we are at least all looking at the camera.

We baked cookies this year, and although we baked in complete silence because we were both in bad moods, the cookies came out great. Last year we didn't bake any cookies, which explains why we have 3 full bags of sugar in the pantry just waiting to be used. We need to remember not to buy any more sugar for the next 2 years...

We had Xmas eve dinner with my folks, and the meal was excellent. We had ham, a new recipe for sweet potatoes, a modified version of our mashed "potatoes",and of course white rice... :-)

And what is becoming my favorite Z-tradition, we went snowboarding on Xmas day. This year we went to Mtn. High, which they advertise as the closet mountain to us. It was a good day, although we never made it off the green slopes. Scott is doing great and can carve his way down the hill now, but I can't seem to get comfortable on my toe edge. So I just C-turn all the way down using my back edge. Inefficient, but it gets me there. By the time the sun started to come down, it started to get cold and icy, so we called it quits and went for hot chocolate. Today, I can barely walk and my arms won't go past shoulder level, but it was a great time.

Merry Xmas, and here's to a wonderful New Year!

Doggie in a mousetrap

So, have you ever heard of those mousetraps that you put down, and they are just flat with lots of glue? The objective is to have the mouse run on it, get stuck, then you throw it out.

Well, we put one of these traps in between the counter and the fridge, since we though we saw a mouse in the house. Of course, Bear couldn't get his big toe in this spot to save his life. But Chewie on the other hand, not so bright.

Maybe it's because we give our dog's peanut butter and the glue is Peanut Butter scented.
Maybe it's because she is becoming a little monster and runs around the house like she owns it.
Maybe it's because she's little and just doesn't know better.

But yesterday I hear Scott yelling for my help, and when I come into the kitchen he is holding the mousetrap and Chewie's front paws are glued to it. He peels her off, and puts her down on the floor, and she gets stuck to the floor. It is hilarious. She pulls really hard, uunsticks one paw, then puts it down and gets stuck again.
So we had to wash her paws and ended up having to cut all the hair with glue off. I was looking at her this morning, and she still has lots of glue on her right paw. I guess it will eventually wear off.

Chewie, the purchase of the month

Well, we have added a new member to the Zelesnikar household. We picked up a little Brussels Griffon, and have decided to name her Chewie. She is a 5 lb. puppy, who is about 4 months old. Bear doesn't really know what to do with this new addition, but he is handling it very well so far.

We started the morning at the store in Escondido, and they had a Brussels that was already sold. They said that they have a wish list that I could put my name on, and one of the girls suggested that they call the other store in Carlsbad to see if they had any Brussels. They did, put her on hold for us, and we went to go take a look.
When we got there, they brought out a little black and tan Brussels, who was very tiny. We played with her for about a half hour, and were trying to decide if we wanted to take her home. We weren't in love with her, but I was seriously considering it. When we asked for more information and the price, they took us by surprise and said that there was another Brussels in the back who was recovering from kennel cough. They brought her out, and Scott's attitude perked right up. I knew then that this was the little puppy that we had been waiting for. She also has a little shaved part of her leg, where they have her an IV when she had pneumonia. I don't know what it is - maybe we are just suckers for little dogs that have been sick.

Anyways - we decided to take her home, and now Bear has a little sister. I have the feeling that she is going to terrorize him once she gets used to the house. She was pretty calm and sedate all weekend, but is now starting to perk up and want to play a little more. She seems to like biting Bear's tail and then running away.

I was really looking for a boy dog - but I am so happy that we got her. It is so much fun to be able to buy pink items and dress her up. I got her a little pink carry case (that looks like an Uggs bag, with fake shearling), and I got her a little sweater. She is so cute!! As much as I hate to admit that I have a little purse dog, I am really enjoying this...

My first 5k - woohoo!

Yes, I actually put on a pair of shorts and sneakers and went running.
This summer I got the brilliant idea of running in the Oceanside Turkey Trot 5K. It was Thanksgiving morning, and the slogan was "Move your feet before you eat". I thought it was a great idea, it would give me a goal to work towards and would maybe make me loose some weight.

So of course, I didn't train as much as I wanted to. I went running maybe once a week since Scott got home. But as much as I didn't want to run this anymore when the big day came, we went out there and did it. I did walk a little bit each mile, but got through the 3.1 miles in 39 minutes. That's a record for me!

Scott got me the cutest little running shorts, and I want to continue running. It would be nice to do another 5K (with the goal being not to walk at all), then do a 10K, then maaaaaybe work my way up to a marathon. I heard the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Diego is awesome. We'll see - baby steps...

James Blunt night

Last night we went to see James Blunt in concert. It was a really good show, and it was not as mellow as I expected. Most of his songs are on the mellow and slow side, but he threw some fast paced songs in there, and he is a highly entertaining performer. And the best part of the show is when he wipped out "Where is my mind" by the pixies, with a set background behind the band of a blazing fire. This definitely makes me think of James Blunt in a new way - not only do I think of him as a person who must constantly be high (with a last name like Blunt, it was destined), but he also has great taste in music and he must have a little bit of an alternative rock side.

I though for sure we were going to be the youngest people in the audience - I had images of what a Celine Dion concert audience is like, and pictured us right in the middle of it. But we were not the youngest or the oldest in the crowd, which was conforting. We got general admission tickets, which worked out fine. We were pretty close to the front (it was not a packed house by any means), and there was an opening between the heads so that I could see almost the entire stage. The only drawbacks were:
- Someone near us had very bad BO
- Someone farted, and everyone around us looked like they were going to pass out
- Scott had a screaming teenage girl standing behind him. He fondly refers to her as "yeti".

All in all - a good night, a very easy commute and we had Chick-Fil-a for dinner in the car on our way there! Yum.

Scott is home - an overdue post

Well, this post is way overdue.
The only person who reads this is Scott - and he knows that he is home, so I don't know why I keep bothering...

Recap of the past couple of months:
Sept - Tricia got married, it was a beautiful wedding. Go figure, on the same weekend, Scott got home. We were both massively disappointed with the timing for a couple of weeks, but in hindsight it all worked out fine. I left for DC on Thu afternoon. Scott got into CA on Fri afternoon and my dad picked him up from the base. Scott then spent the weekend at home (without Bear), and then came to pick me up at the airport on Sunday. Our reunion was much more emotional than I thought it would be. He brought me flowers, and all sort of emotions that have been pent up for months came flooding out when we saw each other. It was great.

Oct - Scott and I finally went on a honeymoon trip. We went to Venice, Rome, Athens (for just one day) and Santorini. It was an amazing trip, and we saw way too many things to list here. I am posting one of my fav pics from the trip.

After getting home, we have just been getting into a daily routine. Scott started his new position, and things are starting to calm down with work. Bear is an absolute spaz now that Scott is home. Maybe he thinks that his playmate is home - but you can see a differene in his behavior when he is alone with me during the day, and he does a 180 when Scott comes home.

Overall - things are good (minus these allergies that I can't seem to get rid of).
We have some concerts planned for the winter, and Scott's parents are coming to visit in a couple of weeks. The rest of the year should go by quickly, and I can't believe it's almost the holidays.

I am such a geek

Guess what Kara and I are doing on Sunday?
I know you will all think I should be in highschool, but we are so excited about this! I'm sure all of you other children of the 80's secretly wish you could trade placed with me.

We are going to LA for the day, and we have tickets for a taping of RockStar Supernova. How fun is that? We have to be there at 3pm, so we are going to drive up a little early, get some lunch somewhere, and then go to the MAC store to have our makeup done "Rocker" fashion. We also have to go the store and buy some rocker clothes.

So we will see:
Dave Navaro - who is awesome
Tommy Lee - I adored Motley Crue
Jason Newsted - we all know Metallica rocked
Gilby Clark - Kara and I were both like - who? We looked it up and he played in Gn'R for a bit apparently, and was also in Slash's band afterwards
JD Forune - the winner of last season, who I am guessing is coming to make a guest appearance and hopefully perform. I guess there is no chance of INXS being there, they would have hyped that up.

So I will definitely fill you in on how the day pans out, and where we stood and such. I'm not that excited about being on TV, I'm much more excited to be going to see some live music performed, even if it is these relative nobody's. I am really missing the live music, going to see band play scene. In SoCal, who would have thought that I would have problems finding places like this around us?

Rock on...

Long overdue for an update

I know I have not been good at keeping this up. I think it's because I email Scott regularly, and he is very up to date on what is going on our lives. But it sounded like he missed the blog, so I will try to do better.

Right now - work totally sucks. I am so busy I want to cry. Another PM is going on vacation for a month, and I have "the wonderful opportunity" to take over all of her projects. So my workload has doubled. AND there is a client who is driving me crazy and making all or our lives at SoftMed hell. They are going live this week, but I don't see them going away anytime soon. And I think it is completely manipulative for client to call managers and Directors when they feel they are not getting their way, or to just complain. It is the equivalent of being whiney and a tattle tale - and no one ever liked those kids. I guess this is what they grow into. To top it all off, the PM who is going on vacation is coming back in August and switching to part-time hours. So I'm sure she won't be getting all her projects back...

In June, I celebrated my birthday, and Bryan came to visit. It was wonderful. And we had many great nights out and many great meals.
On the downside of the birthday weekend:
I broke my new sunglasses, expensive sunglasses
I got into a fender bender in the Mini, and the old hag who hit me is denying responsability and lying through her old rotting teeth
We have to cover 50% of the damages to both cars
The car is going to be in the shop for 4 weeks. I will not remember how to drive a manual by the time I get it back...

We got our new granite countertops put in, and the sliding shelves. How quickly the excitement of home improvement wears off. I promised to keep the counters clean and clutter free since they are so pretty now, but the piles of mail are back again. My weekend project: to vacuum and clean the counters off. Organize, organize, organize.

I have decided to sign up to run a 5K on Thanksgiving. I bought a sports watch with a stopwatch and everything. I found this 8 week beginner training program on the internet, and am starting on it this week.

OOH, and one of the best presents that I got for my B'day: the Magic Bullet. For all of you other infomercial geeks out there, this thing is awesome. I now have a reason to look forward to making the stupid protein shakes that I should be drinking. It's such a fun gizmo, and Scott: watch out, cuz Margarita are served when you get home!

BTW - I love my husband, bald head and all. I got to see him on a Video conference last week, and it just made me miss him so much. He's so cute! Can't wait to rub your bald little head, honey. 2 more months to go...

Addicted and pathetic

Ok - so I am picking up some bad habits now that my husband is not home.
Drugs, Sex, alcohol, rock and roll - just kidding.

I am addicted to those stupid PC games that you can download from the internet. For the past couple of months, I've been downloading the free trials or web versions of these games. You know what they are: BeJeweled, Collapse, Mah-jong. Don't even pretend that you don't know what I am talking about.

So these trial versions allow you to play for an hour, and then they expire and you have to move on to another game or buy the full version. The games were not entertaining enough to pay $20 for them - so I didn't mind when they expired, I just moved onto the next game. These kept me entertained when work was slow.

Well, these games have gotten much better. And I have gotten much more pathetic.
I have now found a game that I cannot resist, and have actually downloaded the full version of the game. But - I fell for the marketing ploy. If you sign up to buy at least 6 games, they are only $8 each, rather than $20.

I bought my first full length game 2 days ago - Wonderland Secret World. It has 4 characters and you need to navigate them through levels and find all the friends and save them from the aliens who have kidnapped the town. It is very similar to Mario Brothers (I know, retro, huh?)

I have had this game for 3 days, and I am on level 33, and I was up until 3am last night playing this stupid game. I just couldn't stop, and couldn't will myself to go to bed. I have a bruise on my hand from leaning too long on the keyboard and desk. I need to go buy one of those gel keyboard wrist pads now - I am turning into a geek. I always knew there was potential for this - but I now understand why I cannot live alone anymore.

This weekend - I will return to the land of the normal. My friend Kim is coming to visit, and we have a b-ball outing planned. Wonderland - until next week.... level 34 awaits.

Happy 1st Anniversary!

Well, we made it through our first year. Actually, this year has seemed to fly by pretty quickly. And I am more in love with my husband than the day that I married him. This is a rough 1st anniversary since we are not together, but we have done so much in one year, and there are so many more things to look forward to in the years to come.

One year ago, we kissed under a rainbow and promised to be the most important thing in each other's lives.
We then packed up both of our apartments, closed on my condo, and loaded up the pickup truck with some clothes, food, and Bear.
Then we had a great trip cross-country, managing to take in the sights of Lake Erie, the Painted Desert, the Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, and the Flagstaff ER.
We stopped and saw Carrie and Chris in Colorado, and had our first house guests in CA when Bobby and Tracy stopped by.
We moved into our very first house.
We went to Billy and Amy's wedding in LA, and have caught up with them and Eric a couple of times.
We met my dad's side of the family, who live in LA, and Scott had a cake made in his honor to welcome him to the family. Sadly, we all met again at Aunt Katie's service.
Scott was able to meet my grandfather, and we had a lovely service when he passed away, out at sea.
We got to go snowboarding on Christmas Day in California.
We spent a weekend on Coronado Island (or is it a peninsula?)
Scott's sister, Theresa came to visit as they made their way to New York.
We went to New York for New Years, and celebrated Mark's wedding in DC. What a great visit, and a time to reunite with old friends.
We had countless great dinners out, and went to see the Lion King in San Diego.
We drove up to Santa Monica to see the Barenaked Ladies, and had a sighting of Kelly Kapowski.

All in all, it has been a great year full of exciting, happy, lonely and sad memories. The year has been complete, and full of love. I love you honey.

Bear's first shoe

I was going to write how nice Bear has been lately, and how well behaved. I thought that maybe he had finally grown up since he turned 2 years old. Last night, I even took him to my parent's house, and he did great.

Until - Bear got his first shoe.
I was rather impressed at the fact that our dog has not gotten into any shoes. No destroyed tennis shoes (ok, the flip flop doesn't count), no pee or poop surprises in the shoe, nothing. He has gotten wallets, credit cards, glasses - but no shoes. The one complaint of all dog owners in the world - my dog destroys shoes - and Bear has managed to stay away from shoes for 2 years. Or rather, we have managed to keep him away from shoes for 2 years. Until today...

I though Bear was being really good, being quiet, and even letting me get some work done on the computer. When I finally take a break and go to see my surely sleeping dog in the hallway - I find him on our bed, surrounded by the pieces and the strap and buckle of my only pair of work shoes (notice, no strap nor buckle in this picture). And he looks at me, as if to say "hi - look what I found, this is really nice. Why haven't I ever seen a leather shoe before?" I'm guessing he also learned how to open doors today, because the bedroom door is always, always closed.

Man - we had such a good track record.

Big Love or Big Trouble

I have started watching the new Showtime series called Big Love. It's about a polygamist family with one husband and 3 wives. They live in a suburban neighborhood, and have 3 houses next door to each other. They have taken down the fences in the back of the house, so all share one huge back yard. The wives make a monthly schedule and have their own "nights" with the husband, and he spends each night in a different house depending on who's night it is.

I wouldn't call this a good show, but it has sucked me in for some reason. It is rather interesting to see how each person in this relationship feels about the life they are living - from the husband, to each of the wives, even to the older children who are old enough to know what kind of family they live in.

I think most people have the notion that polygamy is a sick way to take advantage of younger girls. They have been viewed as sick perverts, and the show definitely is playing on that idea with some of the characters. But the main family is not like that, and they are trying to show that they are normal people with human emotions and problems. The husband is trying to keep his business afloat and his family happy and secure. The wives are trying to raise their family and keep their separate identities and personalities within this relationship.

But this show has made me think that Polygamy is just more trouble than it's worth. We all know how women can get jealous, catty and emotional. Sometimes women can also be downright irrational - I think I've only gotten like this once or twice :-)
I call this my "Ness". It's my moodiness, my bitchiness, my stupidness, my laziness, etc. And to think this poor guy has 3 Nesses to put up with, and you can see how it is running him ragged. One is contantly spending money and running up credit card debt, one is complaining that she needs a new car, one has more loyaty to her father than to her husband, and one is just trying to keep everyone from hating each other. I know I can give Scott a run for his money sometimes, can you imagine if there were 3 of me? All complaining about different things? I don't know - maybe that's why you never hear about women having more than one husband. They are just way too smart to get themselves into the kind of trouble and headache that being married to more than one man holds.

Ryan -vs- The Bear

Last week, I had the pleasure of babysitting Ryan, a 6 month old little angel. I noticed that evening, that I was very relaxed and had a nice quiet evening. Man, taking care of Ryan is so much easier than taking care of Bear. I know that this won't last, and once Ryan starts to crawl and walk he will most likely give Lori a run for her money - but right now, he is such a pleasure to watch.

If you put Ryan down in one spot, 30 seconds later he is still in that spot. If you put Bear in one spot and tell him to stay, 30 seconds later he is nowhere to be found, and most likely has one of your belongings in his mouth.

When Ryan starts to cry, he either needs a diaper change or needs to be fed. Then he stops crying. When Bear barks at you, he maybe wants to go out or maybe wants to play - but most of the time he will continue to bark at you for no reason at all, for about a half hour until he gets tired.

If I leave a cell phone, sunglasses, remote control, keys on the table - Ryan doesn't care that they are there and will leave them alone for the most part. Bear can grab these items, not matter how far back on the counter or high you put them, and will take them out in the backyard and destroy them.

Ryan doesn't jump on the couch. Bear jumps on the couch, and even pushes you over if he thinks you are taking up too much of his space.

When you put Ryan to bed, he only takes a couple of minutes to fall asleep. When you put Bear to bed, you can hear him ripping up his bedding and his new thing is to pull the carpet up and away from the wall.

When Ryan has an accident, he has a diaper on and you just go change it. When Bear has an accident - which he was doing a lot when Scott left home, you have to clean up the carpet and eventually steam clean the thing.

When you go outside with Ryan, he sits in his carrier and enjoys his surroundings. When you go outside with Bear, you end up with muddy paw prints on your shirt and many holes in the backyard.

This list can go on and on - but overall, I think Ryan is the clear Low Maintenance Winner. Or could it be that we just ended up with Satan's spawn as a dog.

Strange thoughts

I find myself counting the strangest things, now that Scott is gone. I go through my daily life and routine, and wonder how many of these things Scott's going to miss.

For example:
- how many bottles of hand soap will I go through before Scott gets home?
- how many tubes of toothpaste will I have to buy before Scott gets home?
- I wonder how many bags of dog food will Bear go through before Scott gets home?
- how many bottles of cascade will I buy before Scott gets home?

I have been doing this for the past couple of weeks, but only realized it today when I was washing my hands in the bathroom and the bottle of soap is getting low. And I don't think these things about the smaller items that I buy often. I don't think "How many cartons of milk will I buy" - it's more those things that last a while and that we don't replace all the time.

Since we've moved into this house, I think we have gone through 2 bottle of soap in our bathroom, and maybe 3 or 4 in the kitchen. I wonder how many items will I,just me (one person), go through in the next 6 months? I'm strange, I know.

I am heading to the post office to mail my first package to Scott. I hope I don't have any hassles about the way I packed it, and I hope I did everything right. I ordered a bunch of flat rate boxes from the post office, and they delivered them to my house. I think I have enough boxes to last us 10 years.

Hon - I thought of somthing for your B'day present - so be on the look out for my package and I hope you like it! I miss you sweetie.

What do you do?

I am currently reading Jimmy Carter's book "Our Endangered Values". This is a book that Scott bought and started before leaving, and now I have gotten quite a bit through it. He makes a lot of good points, that I agree with, but he doesn't seem to be offerring any solutions to the issues that he points out. It doesn't seem productive to me, but it is making me think about my beliefs and opinions. Maybe his solutions are yet to come in this book.

So what do you do when your husband is doing something right now that you morally disagree with? And I have had this opinion for a long time now, but reading a chapter in this book has put my thoughts on paper and backed it up with facts.

Part of me thinks - well, he doesn't have a choice but to be doing this. But really, he does. It was his choice to joing the military. And it was the American people who made the choice to put this president in office, and re-elect him. And it was my choice to marry Scott, and become a part of all this.

So what do you do?
- I guess right now we don't have a choice that Scott is deployed, but he does have a choice when he comes home. So I deal with the days and nights right now, and just hope that the time flies by quickly. I would be very interested to take a poll of the younger people in the military and see if they know and understand the history of the US, the treaties that were made by previous presidents, and see if they really understand what they are all a part of and what it could potentially do to this country. I bet they don't have a clue.
- We all have a choice to educate ourselves on current events and public policy. I admit I am not very up on it, but reading this book has sparked my curiosity and I will continue to read about it and form my own opinions.
- We all have a choice to vote for the people who are in office, and vote for the people that will represent you and your beliefs
- And I guess we all have a choice of what country we live in and what we support. This may be a little drastic, but I do have concerns about the future and American sentiment throughout the world. Maybe buying that vineyard in Canada isn't too drastic of a thought, if we can just get the Canadians to stop hating us.

As soon as I actually make up my mind...

OK - On Saturday, I ended up hanging out at the pet shop for about an hour, SAD - I KNOW! But there was this really cute little Chia Rat in there, who was literally the size of my hand. They said she was the runt of the litter, and that they don't expect her to get over 8 lbs. I just watched her, and tried to play with her (she was more interested in looking at the other dogs and barked a little when a spazzy one came up to her). She was so cute - yet seemed so delicate. So I went home that night debating whether or not I should grab Bear, take him to the store that night before they closed, and be done with dog hunt.

I got home, and then thought - I really need to think about this. I will think and sleep on it, and on Monday I will take Bear in to the store and have them meet. All weekend, about every half hour, I changed my mind.
- I really want this dog, and it seems to be "THE" dog that I am looking for
- I really don't want Scott to miss the puppy stage (not the poop, but the cuteness), and I want him to feel like he was a part of this
- Bear really needs a friend because I just don't really make good friend material these days
- What if Bear eats it?
- I've looked at every add for months, and have not found another dog with this personality and size, and it may not present itself again soon
- I don't want Scott to come home and have to meet our new dog. It doesn't seem fair
AND THEN AGAIN - What if Bear eats it?

So today, I finally decide - OK, I'm getting it. If Bear and "daisy" get along, I will bring it home and it won't be bad. I finished work up early, and even decided to shower before 5pm. I then called the store, and they said she was sold on Sunday.
Of course - that is how my life works. Always.

As much as I like to say I am done looking - you know I will not stop. I'm addicted to the Pets section in the classifieds. SAD - I KNOW.

And they are off

Today was hard, but not as hard as yesterday. Watching Scott pack and knowing that this was his last day here was really tough for me, and I found myself moping around and tearing up a lot. As much as I wanted to be in a good mood, it was hard to be in a good mood knowing that the countdown was coming to an end. We ate such fatty and horrible things all weekend - but my consolation was that this was our last In N'Out burger together, our last pizza together, our last Hawaiian plate lunch together - before he left!

This morning we got up bright and early, and I drove Scott to base where they loaded buses to take them to Riverside to fly out. They are going through Maine, then Ireland, then into Iraq. It was kind of nice seeing all the families and the dogs out there, and sad to see some of them with no one there to see them off. I held up ok, I think. I figure: Scott takes such good care of me and doesn't let me get into stupid situations, that I know he's going to take care of everyone and himself out there. I just hope the time goes by quickly and they return with the same enthusiasm that some of them had as they boarded the bus. There were a few that were not deploying for some reason or another, and I was surprised to see how emotional they were to say goodbye to their team and not be there with them. It's not all relief when you find out you can't go - I guess. I wonder if they feel like me - saying goodbye to someone that you see day in and out and the mystery of what life has in store for you without them.

We had a good weekend though - We started it off by going to Roy's Restaurant (Hawaiian Fusion) in La Jolla. The meal was amazing, probably the best meal I have had since we moved here. We are going to have to keep this place in mind and try it out on special occassions. On Saturday, Scott did some repair work and cleaned out the garage. I can finally park my car in the garage - woohoo! We BBQ'd our last steak - no way am I grilling on my own, I'm sure I would set the dog on fire. On Sunday, we took the dog for a bath at Petco, saw an adorable Chia Rat (Chihuahua/Rat Terrier) which may become a part of this family in the next couple of weeks, and went out to dinner with my folks. Monday night was spend with Scott on the phone with his entire family and friends, call after call after call....

I forgot to mention that we saw Eric, Billy and Amy on Thursday night in Laguna Beach. It was nice to see them, and they wished Scott a safe and quick deployment. I think these are the friends that Scott is going to have for the rest of his life, no matter what county, state, or planet we all end up living in. It's nice to see him feel so at home with them. People you can just be goofy with.

Here are a couple of pics - one Scott took of me as he was packing with his 50 lbs. of gear, and one that was taken right before he got on the bus this morning.

Honey - I'm going to miss you like crazy - I love you.

What a week..

This week seems to be lasting forever, although many things have happened. It's a strange feeling.

We had a pretty chill weekend. We started out by getting together at our friend's house for a goodbye party to Virgil, who deploys to Iraq next week. But it really felt like a goodbye party for Kara, who left the following day for Spain. She is over there for a 4 month study program, and I am so jealous. On Sunday, we went to see my grandfather in the nursing home, and he didn't look good at all. We all knew he was in the last leg of his life, but it was a shock to me when my mom called and said that Grandpa passed away on Monday morning. All I could think of was - I am so glad that I got to see him the day before. And I hope he knew that we were there with him that day, if only to say goodbye.

My parents and I had made reservations to go whale watching on Tuesday, and we decided to still go. It was nice, and I would have been happy just getting out of the house and getting on a boat for a couple of hours. But we did see some whales, which was cool. These are the CA Grey Whales, and they are on their annual migration to Baja. We followed 2 whales for about an hour as they kept moving South.

I wanted to also attach an article that Scott sent to me. I know it sounds like something I would tear out of my Newsweek and force him to read, but he was the one who brought this home one day. I thought it was interesting and it's a good piece to spark conversation - I will allow ours to remain in our kitchen, only for Bear and the Cookie Monk to know what was said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein24jan24,0,3682678.column?coll=la-util-op-ed

Happy New Year!

Wow - I have been keeping this blog for a whole year now. This year, I think I am going to use this more as a place to write to Scott, and keep him updated with the things that I am doing and thinking. I am going to write the things that pop into my mind, and the emotions that I am feeling - even if I know that Scott won't want to hear/read them. I would hope that he would feel comfortable telling me things that I know he wants to protect me from, and tell me things that I don't even want to hear - but I think I need to in order to keep myself sane while he is gone and keep things in perspective. Otherwise, I will become even more bitter than I currently am - and honey, I know you know the extent of my bitterness and I am really trying to keep those feelings at bay. I love you and as pissed off as I am at this situation, my love for you will not change.

Scott flew back to CA today (we were in DC this past weekend, more details to come in the next paragraphs), and for some reason it made me very sad to say goodbye to him. It's almost like every day that comes to an end is just one day closer to the time that he leaves. I'm going to have to work hard to not get down, and make the best of this next month. We might as well get this hurdle over, and move on with the rest of our lives which will hopefully not include any more time apart.

We had a great Christmas and New Years. We started the festivities on 12/23 with dinner at Aqua Al 2 (Thanks Kelli and Chris - the meal was amazing!) After dinner we went to the San Diego Civic Center to see The Lion King. What a great show, and it's neat how they stuck to the dialogue that was in the movie. The costumes were the best part - and seeing them all parade into the stadium onto the stage was wonderful. We spent Christmas Eves with my parents, with a whole lot of good food and quality time together. We then went Snowboarding at Big Bear on Christmas Day. Kinda strange to be out in snow (man made, of course) when it's warm enough to be out there in a T-shirt. We came home with lots of bruises.

On 12/30 we flew to upstate NY to spend a few days with Scott's family. There were 21 people in the house for 3 whole days - cozy, but fun. I can't believe how fast the kids are growing, and Megan is absolutely adorable. We took Jordan snowboarding, and she was getting the hang of it by the end of the day. Scott got really good, too - I guess it's just going to be me on the bunny slope next time. I need to work on my toe side - it intimidates me so much. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone in NY, knowing that the next time they see Scott will most likely be this time next year. Of course there were tears, and Theresa also had to say goodbye to Mike as he heads to training until March in AL. We drove him to Bingamton on our way out of town - so it felt like we were stealing him from his family. We then went to DC for my cousin Mark's wedding - which was an entire weekend affair. The rehearsal dinner was on Fri, the wedding on Sat (which was beautiful and interesting, as it was a Jewish ceremony), and then brunch on Sun. I had not idea that Erica's dad was an NPR show host, of "All things considered". I am not an NPR junkie, but I am now very intruiged to listen to his show. He was very captivating to talk to, and thoroughly enjoyed talking to him. Of course, Scott was the popular guy at the wedding. Everyone wanted to talk to him about his work, his upcoming deployment, and of course tried to get him to talk about his opinions. You're captivating hon, face it!

This year, I am not going to make any resolutions. I have some good intentions, which I am not going to commit to writing, and will do my best to follow through with them. I think we have a lot of challenges this year to get through, without the added pressure of resolutions. But I am confident that at the end of this year, Scott and I will be a stonger couple, and hopefully better people individually as well. Happy 2006!