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Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Home Alone
Welp. I'm back in Tejas. Alone. (Wah! I'm a crybaby!) My Sam is leaving for his Army adventures in the Middle East today.
Rewind to Saturday night...we went downtown to the FANTASMIC Blackhorse Brewery in downtown Clarksville with some friends.
(If you know me, you know I love food and the fact that I will name this little brewery in this tiny town as my fave of all time says A LOT...they have VANILLA BEER. Holy Crap, man.) I wasn't really feeling the night but I tried hard for Sam. It was hard to have an excellent time when Sam leaving was in the back of my mind.
We left the next morning to head to Nashville. We wanted to have lunch at the Opryland Hotel and ended up watching the Redskins game. Sam is a die hard Skins fan and their game was on so we watched and ate lunch at a cafe. (I was so mad at them for making him excited they would win and then making stupid mistakes and losing!) Afterwards we walked around the beautiful hotel.
Then we headed to the airport. I made him pinky swear me that once we said goodbye at security meither of us would turn around. (I hate saying goodbye!) Of course, both of us did look back...very cinema of us haha :-) I'm proud though - there could have been a potentially ugly cry combined with sobbing and collapsing in the fetal position on the airport floor - but we both did really well.
Lastly, thank you, Sweet Baby Jesus, for Meggan. Meggan is one of my best friends in the entire world. My bashert. The maid of honor in my wedding. Her boyfriend, David, is Sam's roommate (how they met was totally not a setup, and truly a cute story) so she was in town to say goodbye as he leaves for Iraq too.
It just happened that our planes left at exactly the same time so we found each other, cried like blubbering idiots and then ate our feelings (fries from Wendys) before hugging goodbye. I'm so glad we could be there together!
SIDE NOTE: I'm glad that (at least for the past week) I've kind of found my stride in this blogging thing. I tried too hard to blog like everyone else (pictures of food and witty posts about random things) when that's not what I wanted from this experience at all. I just want to write down day to day things, put up pictures for Sam, and just generally have a nice (modern?) way to journal my new life as Mrs. D :-)
Rewind to Saturday night...we went downtown to the FANTASMIC Blackhorse Brewery in downtown Clarksville with some friends.
(If you know me, you know I love food and the fact that I will name this little brewery in this tiny town as my fave of all time says A LOT...they have VANILLA BEER. Holy Crap, man.) I wasn't really feeling the night but I tried hard for Sam. It was hard to have an excellent time when Sam leaving was in the back of my mind.
We left the next morning to head to Nashville. We wanted to have lunch at the Opryland Hotel and ended up watching the Redskins game. Sam is a die hard Skins fan and their game was on so we watched and ate lunch at a cafe. (I was so mad at them for making him excited they would win and then making stupid mistakes and losing!) Afterwards we walked around the beautiful hotel.
Then we headed to the airport. I made him pinky swear me that once we said goodbye at security meither of us would turn around. (I hate saying goodbye!) Of course, both of us did look back...very cinema of us haha :-) I'm proud though - there could have been a potentially ugly cry combined with sobbing and collapsing in the fetal position on the airport floor - but we both did really well.
Lastly, thank you, Sweet Baby Jesus, for Meggan. Meggan is one of my best friends in the entire world. My bashert. The maid of honor in my wedding. Her boyfriend, David, is Sam's roommate (how they met was totally not a setup, and truly a cute story) so she was in town to say goodbye as he leaves for Iraq too.
It just happened that our planes left at exactly the same time so we found each other, cried like blubbering idiots and then ate our feelings (fries from Wendys) before hugging goodbye. I'm so glad we could be there together!
SIDE NOTE: I'm glad that (at least for the past week) I've kind of found my stride in this blogging thing. I tried too hard to blog like everyone else (pictures of food and witty posts about random things) when that's not what I wanted from this experience at all. I just want to write down day to day things, put up pictures for Sam, and just generally have a nice (modern?) way to journal my new life as Mrs. D :-)
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Christmas Extravaganza! (Take Two)
Our early Christmas celebration was awesome, I'm not gonna lie.
We drove down to Nashvegas in our running gear, checked into our hotel and then ran/walked about a mile to the start of the Rudolph Red Nose 5K. The race happened to be the start of the parade and was out and back along the parade route. It was pretty awesome to run downtown to Christmas music, with all the lights and the crowds cheering.
{The course - right down the main strip of downtown!}
Of course I made a Walmart and Target trip to buy us festive "costumes." Sam had a pointy elf hat (complete with elf ears.) I had some knee-high Santa socks (with faux fur, of course) and some obnoxious present bows attached to my hat.
The race was fun - lots of families, kids, strollers, and dogs. I was very distracted through most of it...I kept wondering why Samuel said he'd run with me but was running about 10 yards ahead of me the whole time. Finally, I managed to gasp out his name and get him to come back to me so I could make a snarky remark about his running - he said he was "pacing" me. His pacing ended up being awesome (and I thanked him for it later) because I beat both my fake goal (the one I say out loud) and my real goal (the one that I secretly attain to) and ran the 5k in 30:47! Wooooot!
{Evidence of some of the cute outfits}
The end of the race was also the end of the parade so we started walking and were able to see the whole thing. We'd walk and stop whenever we wanted to see a particular band or the Shriners or a float. Sam called it "TiVo-ing" the parade and we've decided this is our new way to experience them.
{Sam (really small on the right) TiVo-ing the parade}
We had so much that we lost track of time and totally missed our reservation at the Opryland - we had a big fancy dinner and carriage ride through the lights planned. But neither of us cared, we went for cocktails and steak at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and just enjoyed each other. If anyone is ever in Nashvegas for the first weekend in December - I 100% recommend the experience we had - as a family or with friends - it was a really good holiday experience and I'm so glad I got to have it with Sam before he leaves.
{Our race bags had Rudolph noses in them}
We drove down to Nashvegas in our running gear, checked into our hotel and then ran/walked about a mile to the start of the Rudolph Red Nose 5K. The race happened to be the start of the parade and was out and back along the parade route. It was pretty awesome to run downtown to Christmas music, with all the lights and the crowds cheering.
{The course - right down the main strip of downtown!}
Of course I made a Walmart and Target trip to buy us festive "costumes." Sam had a pointy elf hat (complete with elf ears.) I had some knee-high Santa socks (with faux fur, of course) and some obnoxious present bows attached to my hat.
The race was fun - lots of families, kids, strollers, and dogs. I was very distracted through most of it...I kept wondering why Samuel said he'd run with me but was running about 10 yards ahead of me the whole time. Finally, I managed to gasp out his name and get him to come back to me so I could make a snarky remark about his running - he said he was "pacing" me. His pacing ended up being awesome (and I thanked him for it later) because I beat both my fake goal (the one I say out loud) and my real goal (the one that I secretly attain to) and ran the 5k in 30:47! Wooooot!
{Evidence of some of the cute outfits}
The end of the race was also the end of the parade so we started walking and were able to see the whole thing. We'd walk and stop whenever we wanted to see a particular band or the Shriners or a float. Sam called it "TiVo-ing" the parade and we've decided this is our new way to experience them.
{Sam (really small on the right) TiVo-ing the parade}
We had so much that we lost track of time and totally missed our reservation at the Opryland - we had a big fancy dinner and carriage ride through the lights planned. But neither of us cared, we went for cocktails and steak at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and just enjoyed each other. If anyone is ever in Nashvegas for the first weekend in December - I 100% recommend the experience we had - as a family or with friends - it was a really good holiday experience and I'm so glad I got to have it with Sam before he leaves.
{Our race bags had Rudolph noses in them}
Friday, December 4, 2009
Christmas Extravaganza! (Take One.)
Merry Christmas! Today is The D Family Christmas Extravaganza!
I head for Texas on Monday and Sam leaves Baghdad 'Burbs on Monday so we decided to celebrate tonight. I'm really excited but just a teeeny bit nervous because the SRP (Soldier Readiness Processing) gave him about 29380238 shots and 2 flu mists yesterday...I don't want him to "get sick." If he does, so be it, I'll nurse him with pizza and ginger ale but I'm crossing my fingers because, in honor of our new family tradition, I signed us up for the Rudolph Red Nose 5K in Nashville tonight! I'm so excited that I even purchased us "outfits!" Woot!
I've been a little frustrated the past couple days because I've actually had time (been sitting in Sam's house for all the cleaners/painters/fixer-upper-men to come) and desire (let's face it, I'm lazy) to blog but I can't figure out Sam's new iMac! Hence, the lack of pics...oh well.
Can't wait for tonight!
*Ali
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Thanksgiving in Review
Sam came last Wednesday evening for Thanksgiving. We had dinner with friends at Chama de Gaucho on the Riverwalk. This was my first experience ever at a Brazilian steakhouse and I gotta tell you - it was Ah-maz-ing (and freakin expensive but we were celebrating Ash's birthday and we don't have kids so whatev)! You walk in and hit up this fabu salad bar/side bar and are also given this coaster that has a red side and a green side. When you turn up the coaster to the green side - Gauchos (the waiters) come from the woodworks with this huge slabs of delicious meats. It was so good I can't believe I don't have pictures to remember it.
Thanksgiving morning Sam and I decided to start a new Thanksgiving tradition where I get us insanely lost in the city I've been living in now for over three years, arrive late and run a mile to the start line, grab a "free" race number and then run a Turkey Trot. Actually, the tradition is just the Turkey Trot.
As I said - before I got us really lost in the SA ghetto and then we had to run to the start line. The race was held by the San Antonio Road Runners. I think they were overwhelmed by the THOUSANDS of people that showed up to run...the lady at the sign up table was being overrun and was just handing out the race numbers. (I signed us up last year and paid but we didn't go so I comforted my guilty feelings about a free race with that thought.) The four mile race was held in McAllister Park and I definitely recommend it to anyone. The park is awesome and the crowd was really laid back - everyone had strollers, dogs, kids, gramma - and just kind of took their time and chilled on the trails.
Sam was being sweet and wanted to stick around with me but I knew he wanted to see how fast he could go so I called him to me, picked out a guy in an Army Ranger shirt, and instructed him to find the guy and beat him. (He's goal oriented.) Of course, he took off and finished in enough time to get water and then run back to finish the race with me. I actually did pretty awesome (for me) and was really proud. I found two girls that seemed to have a steady pace and then just trailed them. It was nice because the two of them cut a nice path so I didn't have to zig zag around Gramma and the strollers. I didn't have my Garmin so I was just going with how I felt but was really happy when I finished in a little less than 40 minutes - less than 10 minute miles! Woot!
{my fierce competitor face}
We came home after the race and made Mexican food:-) It was delish. I've never been a turkey fan - it just seems like dirty chicken to me - and Sam has never been too keen on it either so I made his favorite. We had white chicken enchiladas, rice, beans, and all the normal fixins. Overall, it was an amazing day - just relaxing and acting like normal married people that live together, eat together, and celebrate together. So nice:-)
{mmm, delish...white chicken enchilada, homemade Mexican rice, refried black beans, and ensalada:-)}
Do you have any family traditions?
Thanksgiving morning Sam and I decided to start a new Thanksgiving tradition where I get us insanely lost in the city I've been living in now for over three years, arrive late and run a mile to the start line, grab a "free" race number and then run a Turkey Trot. Actually, the tradition is just the Turkey Trot.
As I said - before I got us really lost in the SA ghetto and then we had to run to the start line. The race was held by the San Antonio Road Runners. I think they were overwhelmed by the THOUSANDS of people that showed up to run...the lady at the sign up table was being overrun and was just handing out the race numbers. (I signed us up last year and paid but we didn't go so I comforted my guilty feelings about a free race with that thought.) The four mile race was held in McAllister Park and I definitely recommend it to anyone. The park is awesome and the crowd was really laid back - everyone had strollers, dogs, kids, gramma - and just kind of took their time and chilled on the trails.
Sam was being sweet and wanted to stick around with me but I knew he wanted to see how fast he could go so I called him to me, picked out a guy in an Army Ranger shirt, and instructed him to find the guy and beat him. (He's goal oriented.) Of course, he took off and finished in enough time to get water and then run back to finish the race with me. I actually did pretty awesome (for me) and was really proud. I found two girls that seemed to have a steady pace and then just trailed them. It was nice because the two of them cut a nice path so I didn't have to zig zag around Gramma and the strollers. I didn't have my Garmin so I was just going with how I felt but was really happy when I finished in a little less than 40 minutes - less than 10 minute miles! Woot!
{my fierce competitor face}
We came home after the race and made Mexican food:-) It was delish. I've never been a turkey fan - it just seems like dirty chicken to me - and Sam has never been too keen on it either so I made his favorite. We had white chicken enchiladas, rice, beans, and all the normal fixins. Overall, it was an amazing day - just relaxing and acting like normal married people that live together, eat together, and celebrate together. So nice:-)
{mmm, delish...white chicken enchilada, homemade Mexican rice, refried black beans, and ensalada:-)}
Do you have any family traditions?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The Rest of my Thanksgiving List...
I never came back to finish my 27 Days of Thankfulness list! Things have been crazy getting ready for Sam to leave for Iraq...He was in Virginia for three days, California for two days, Texas for four days and now we are both in Tennessee!
It's a little crazy because Sam owns a house here that he wanted to sell before he left but with the market as bad as it is, he decided to rent it while he's gone. It should be noted that every once and a while we both make the attempt to say "our" house but it never sticks for me. I have never lived there nor decorated nor really had much to do with it. So besides lending a listening (sometimes frustrating) ear to my husband on house issues and decisions - I basically don't have much to do with it! Anyway, he's been gathering up all his stuff, packing, giving stuff to Goodwill, and hiring various fix-it/clean-it people over the past few weeks. Now it's getting down to the wire because the renters will be here on Sunday! Ah!
Today I took Sam into work and then made him very proud as I navigated myself from Ft. Campbell to downtown Clarksville for some oatmeal and to hit up my favorite scrub shop (Scrubs and More = AWESOME!) and then back to the gym on post. I jogged about 3.2 miles on the treadmill (really slow, took me about 36 minutes) before Samuel crashed my gym party and we went to Sonic for lunch:-)
I'm on Sam's new Mac computer so I'm afraid to try to load up pictures today. But here is the rest of my Thankful List that I owe you:
12. I'm thankful for getting to come to Tennessee to experience some cold weather and wear my cute winter pea-coat
13. I'm thankful that wear I normally live isn't this cold (there was frost on our car this morning!) and I can wear shorts even in December.
14. I'm VERY thankful for Carmax that is going to buy my old car (Bonnie the Jeep Liberty) even though I have not one single record of maintanence.
15. I'm very thankful Sam wasn't mad when he found out that I didn't know you were supposed to keep maintanence records for cars...
16. I'm thankful for my sweet and beautiful nieces. Not only are they gorgeous but they are smart and hilarious...what kind of three year old tells their teacher, "No thanks, I don't want to clean up, I think I'll just have time out." High-larious.
17. I'm thankful for the Air Force. Even though they make me mad sometimes (out of four Christmases/Thanksgivings - I've only had ONE OF EACH with my family. AND they barely let me see Sam before he leaves for a year.) They also afforded me the opportunity to go to Iraq which was the best nursing/learning/growing experience I could have asked for. They also gave me a sweet deal on going back to school with the GI Bill too. Oh and also they pay the bills:-)
18. I'm thankful for my sweet Amber Judith (I can't remember if I mentioned her before but she's so important she deserves mentioning again!) She has been with me since the summer of 2003 and has been with me through everything. Through the Great Breakup (and subsequent breakdown) of 2004, through nursing school, through moving home for a summer and then moving to Texas! Her sweet face and wagging behind has made me smile even on my worst days. Yes, I'm very thankful for her!
19. I'm VERY thankful for Alamo Crossfit. Even though I don't have the money or time to dedicate myself 5-6 days a week like I did before my wedding, Crossfit taught me the awesome benefits of intense, short, weighty workouts. They helped me get rid of my flabby chicken breast arms for my wedding photos too!
20. I'm thankful for my mom. There are no words to explain how strong she must be and how inspiring she is to have been through all she has and to still smile.
21. I'm thankful for my brother and sister. I love family dinners with them (and my sister and brother in law) because we always have so many funny stories and great discussions.
22. I'm so thankful for text messaging. Enough said. I just love it.
23. I'm thankful for iPODs and iTunes and singing at the top of my lungs every day on the way to and from work. I love music.
24. I'm thankful that people still make movies like The Blindside that are entertaining but have such a great message.
25. I'm thankful for pajama pants. I could count on my fingers the number of times I HAVEN'T come home and immediately changed into my comfy pants. I just can't sit around in jeans or real clothes like other people do!
26. I'm so thankful for my girlfriends. I am so lucky to have found amazing friends on every leg of my journey - my high school girlfriends, my William and Mary girlfriends, the girls I met at James Madison and nursing school, and my girlfriends in Texas. I actually do say thanks for my friends on a regular basis. I am so lucky to have found them!
27. When I finally find the right words to say - I'll finally write a post about my Sam. I feel it's so cliche to say he is my "best friend" or "the love of my life" because he is so, so much more. I am thankful for him every second of every day.
That's the list! Whew! I don't know if I even have the patience to proof read it :-) Wish I had pictures...maybe tomorrow!
*Ali
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