As if I didn't have enough things to worry about, now I have to fear abduction and sale into prostitution by Albanian thugs the next time I'm having a jolly holiday with girlfriends in Paris.
Hiding under the bed with a cell phone used to be my fail-proof plan to avoid the kidnappers, but clearly, I'll need to rethink that one.
Thank you Liam Neeson and the producers of Taken... thankyouverymuch.
Just sending out an e-vite to my pity party. This time last Saturday, NavyGuy and I were dancing the night away at our wedding reception, having the time of our lives.
Oh what a difference a week makes.
Obviously, because the Navy aims to rule his (and my) life, we couldn't take a honeymoon after the wedding. And as punishment for his absurd request to have two days off for his wedding, his squadron has had him pulling 12 hour days all week long, capped off with a watch duty this weekend. So, our first week as newlyweds has featured the following gems:
- Arriving home to find a trashed house courtesy of our idiot roommates.
- Barely getting to see my new husband at all.
- Having stomach issues all week, probably as payback for actually getting through wedding weekend without any major intestinal drama.
- Finding dead moths, and one live spider, in our bathtub.
- Going the entire week without my engagement ring or wedding band because the twits who fixing the rings are taking their sweet time getting it finished.
- Spending two hours putting together a storage cabinet, only to discover that I nailed the back panel on inside out, so when you open the cabinet doors, you get a beautiful view of tacky grey cardboard.
- Discovering that NavyGuy was awoken at midnight last night for a duty call, and then was treated to an impromptu RockBand concert by our roommates and their drunk compadres at 1am. (God bless it, I slept through all the drama, or there would have been a drum set and guitar thrown through the livingroom window.)
And to top it all off, there's something wonky with my right pinky toe. It doesn't quite feel broken, but something is wrong with it.
Here's hoping Week 2 of married life is slightly more enjoyable!!!
Standing By: The Making of an American Military Family in a Time of War
Alison Buckholtz
c2009; 286 pages.
I found this book in a local bookstore right before I left to go back to Wisconsin for the wedding. It caught my eye because the author is the wife of a Navy aviator, living here in Anacortes! Her husband, Scott, is a CO (commanding officer) of a Prowler EA-6B jet squadron at the Whidbey base where NavyGuy does all of his training. Quite the small world, and I became really excited to read her story of her life here in Anacortes, with two young children, while her husband was deployed. Having a few other things to do during the month of May though, I didn't start reading it until the flight home this week.
And let's just say, that aside from unpacking and sleeping, I pretty much have done nothing else but read this book since we've arrived home. I think it was fitting that my first book as a Navy wife, was one written by a Navy wife that could literally be living down the street for me (no, I haven't Googled her or stalked her... yet). The book was fantastic, and I'd highly recommend it to other Navy wives. Even more so, I'd encourage people who know someone connected to the military to read it, as it gives a new perspective on what it means to be a military wife. As Buckholtz illustrates, there is no one "cookie-cutter" mold of a Navy wife.
Instead of giving an overview of her story, or doing a typical book review, I've simply decided to cull the quotations, paragraphs, or ideas Buckholtz wrote that struck a chord with me. Many of my friends and family struggle to understand how or why I've chosen to take this path - the rewarding and excruciating role of a Navy wife - and many of these sentiments will hopefully provide a bit of insight... (Where I felt so inclined, I've included comments afterwards in blue.)
But if it had been up to me - the person I used to be, that is - Scott never would have volunteered for military service.
We both recalled an admonition from a senior officer at a precommand tour training: "What you're about to go through can make you stronger if you have a good marriage, and if you don't... well, it just might break you." [As a newlywed of five days, this sent a chill through my spine, despite my confidence in our relationship.]
Since I married into the military, every soldier and sailor is my husband.
The Prowler community is small enough that aviators and their families are posted together many times during their careers. I finally understood why Scott never liked to say goodbye to his friends... "I'd spend all my time having goodbye lunches and goodbye dinners and promising to keep in touch, which would just be a lie," he explained once. "No one keeps in touch, but you always see each other again. You know you will, and you just pick up where you left off. It's great. You never get a chance to get tired of each other."... Staying connected to people from every phase of my life is important to me because it helps me feel like I accomplished something meaningful during those periods. So Scott's theory on friendship didn't resonante with any of the truths I held near and dear.
I understood then that I couldn't do what I admire and respect most about the Navy wives I know: I couldn't pretend I didn't mind that my husband was rarely around or that my kids weren't suffering. [I will probably suck at this too. Hence why we're still debating whether to wait until he's done with his Navy career to start adding to our family.]
The Navy intruded on our most personal decisions at every turn.
The complexity of being a military wife - following a spouse who rarely stays put, and parenting alone - sometimes forces the choice to stay home... Before I married into the military, I would have viewed these unemployed spouses far less sympathetically, as women who required someone else to take care of them. Little did I realize that military wives know better than most how to take care of themselves, their families, and anyone in need.
I draw the line at compulsory cheerfulness, though. "In a letter to your fiance or husband be careful not to unburden your soul or to write needlessly of unhappiness or misfortune," urge the authors of The Navy Wife; What She Ought to Know About the Customs of the Service and the Management of a Navy Household (1942). Many of my friends still practice this epistolary evasion so that their deployed husbands won't worry about the homefront... But I asked Scott before he left for each detachment and deployment how much he wanted to hear of our domestic dramas. "Tell me everything," he said each time. "I want to come home and pick up where we left off. Besides, if it would make you feel better to write to me about it, then I want you to feel better. It's the least I can do." [I feel this way, but I'm not sure where NavyGuy stands.]
It was my life because he was my life. [I haven't decided on this statement yet. Should he constitute "my life"? I don't know yet if that's the way I view a marriage...]
Yea!!! I uploaded a photo to the WeddingBee gallery, where readers can share their wedding photos, and they picked mine as a Gallery Photo of the Day!!!!
Check it out here - I'm so excited! And even better, it's a photo showing off my super fly bridesmaids :)
I'm still working on unpacking and organizing life around here. Marines #1 and 2 trashed the place while we were gone, so along with unpacking, doing laundry, and sorting wedding gifts, I got to clean the kitchen and livingroom. The boys also used push pins to secure blankets as makeshift window treatments in the livingroom, and moved a scary piece of exercise equipment (which seems to resemble some sort of back stretcher?), into the office, blocking the doorway and access to my craft table. They'll be dealt with appropriately tomorrow...
In the mean time, our fabulous photographer Dave posted a few photos from the wedding on his facebook page. Here are a couple of my favorites so far!
NavyWife!
We're back from the wedding - it was unbelievable. I never imagined it would be as wonderful as it was... there'll be full updates (and tons of photos) as soon as I finish unpacking and get life back in order around here!
Back to our regularly scheduled programming soon!
Love,
Mrs. NavyGuy
This will be the last post pre-wedding. The last single girl post :) At the moment, I'm frantically trying to pack a bazillion things into two suitcases, finish thank you notes to people, and deal with the fact that there's a 60% chance of thunderstorms on wedding day (yes, I know I should put on my big girl pants and get over it cuz I'm marrying the love of my life that day, rain or shine, but dammit, I want pretty outside photos and no worries about getting wet - or struck by lightning).
Off to Madison to pick up NavyGuy!!!! We're spending the day running errands and finishing up the last minute wedding details, and I'm psyched to see him - I've almost forgotten what my groom looks like! Hopefully he won't be too tired from his red-eye flight...
Before I came back to Wisconsin at the end of April, I made several cards that I knew I would need throughout the month of May. One cousin needed a congrats card for his performance in a play, another cousin needed a First Communion card, and moms would need Mother's Day cards. Because I made them early, I had to wait to post the photos, and of course with all the wedding madness, it slipped my mind. Well, during one of the eighteen times I woke up last night with a random thought (make sure you have safety pins to attach the bridesmaids' sashes to their dresses, where did you put that piece of paper with the name of so-and-so's guest, don't forget to bring a zip up shirt to wear while you're getting your hair done on Saturday!), I remembered the cards, and figured some of you may appreciate a small break from the constant wedding posts...
Here's the one for the budding actor. Cousin K was in his school's performance of "School House Rock," so I thought the sentiment was fitting ;) The letters are foam stickers from the Target dollar spot, and I made the stars using a basic shapes Cricut cartridge. I really like the black background, cuz it makes the neon-y colors pop!
Cousin SL had her First Communion, and looked like a doll in her little white eyelet dress. She even managed to down a chocolate covered donut after church without getting a bit of it on her dress! (I'm not sure her mom was thrilled that MOH and I got her the doughnut, but what are older cousins for if not to get you into trouble...) The butterfly is Martha Stewart punch, and the orange cross is just a free-hand drawing I did. It turned out simple and clean.
I LOOOOOOVE this blue-ish paper. It's from a SEI company pack that I found on sale at Michaels. Again, butterflies from Martha, and a (cheater) sentiment printed on the computer. The colors and font seemed kind of retro to me (like 1950s ish maybe?), but it seemed to work, and seemed to please the moms. The design layout came from Clean and Simple blog.
Sorry - one wedding related item: weather for Saturday - partly cloudy, and 73 degrees! We're slowly but surely creeping upwards temp wise! (I'm choosing to ignore the weather.gov report that indicates a slightly higher chance of rain Saturday night.) (Yes, I'm checking two weather sites, and soliciting forecast information from every person I know, or see at a store, or run into on the street.)
Weather Update
check the weather.
1. Finish shopping for ring bearers and flower girl. Check. This one was easy-peasy.2. Locate super hot heels for rehearsal dinner, that are not only comfortable, but make my calves look thinner than my thighs. Eh, sort of. Found some nice blush colored heels at Kohls, which fit my criteria of comfortable and cheap. They're more along the lines of sophisticated rather than hot, but such is life.3. Locate appropriate bachelorette party outfit. Score! We're doing a girls' dinner and then a sleepover party at my MOH's house, so I just needed a schnazzy top to go with jeans and cute shoes. Macy's came through with a gauzy, floaty sleeveless top (I can't for the life of me find a photo online) - on sale!4. Stock up on tape runner refills which (of course) are mysteriously out at the Wal-Mart in town. Check. Five more refills ready to finish up all of the last wedding DIY projects.5. Return the three pairs of shoes that Mom isn't going to wear at the wedding. Check. 6. Round up the remaining gifts for the groomsmen. Um, 1 for 5? No worries though, because the remaining four can be purchased in town.7. Stop in at Barnes and Noble for one specific item, and leave without having convinced myself that any other items are necessary. Fail. I left with the specific item, plus a scrapbooking magazine. The justification was that I needed something to read while I ate my wonderful lunch of...8. Decide between a sandwich at Atlanta Bread, or a burrito from Pancheros for lunch. Sandwich. Deeeeeelish.9. Buy what seems like the four thousandth roll of ribbon involved in this wedding. Three more rolls of pink ribbon for the programs, plus brown paper, a bone folder to make nice creases, and a few more guest book stickers on sale at Archiver's.10. Visit with HistoryGirlie, Kitty, and my old peeps at the high school!!!! Heck yeah! HistoryGirlie made me a fabulous dinner of her famous fettuchini and garlic bread, then we helped Kitty drive around the yard in her new Cozy Coupe, and ended the night with some gossip and Grey's.I could keep going, but the to-do list for today is just as long if not longer, and sadly, involves significantly fewer fun shopping tasks. Have a great weekend all!I'll update on my progress tonight...
1. Finish shopping for ring bearers and flower girl.
You expect problems during the wedding planning process. Of course, things are going to come up, people are going to argue, and the day won't go completely according to plan. However, when I used to imagine planning my wedding, I never envisioned any of the following...
- getting grief, not from either mom, but from NavyGuy, over the seating chart.
- having to worry about whether my matron of honor will go into labor during our vows.
- being told one month before that there would be a runway show going on adjacent to our ceremony and that large trade show booths would be set up in view of all of our ceremony photographs, forcing us to relocate the ceremony to a new space in the building.
- that a flu virus would threaten guest attendance for an event in May
- seeing my grandfather, who is walking me down the aisle, gleefully show off his missing front tooth, which popped out less than two weeks beforehand, after he bit into a particularly tough dessert bar
- announcing to NavyGuy at the T-minus 10 day mark, "Is this DAMN THING OVER YET?!?!?"
Argh.
The programs are officially kicking my ass.*
I've been trying to decide on a design for weeks. I like none of the ones that are possible with my now limited time constraints, supplies, and budget. I don't even like any of the ones that would break my budget or require crafting from now until twenty minutes before I head down the aisle.
Having not admitted defeat yet, I refuse to quit and either a) throw together a haphazard piece o' crap that will forever haunt my wedding memories**, or b) forgo programs all together***.
Thus, tomorrow, between a haircut and a trip to Madison for several wedding errands and a dress fitting, I need to come up with a master program plan that
a) solves the font-sizing-readability conundrum
b) involves a booklet
c) does not involve a booklet needing 45 pages
d) does not involve a booklet wherein I fold a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 white paper in half and scrawl our names and the date across the front in a fit of bridal fury
And so I charge ahead!
*meaning, my anal-retentive, type A, OCD, perfectionist self will not settle for something that's "fine" but instead keeps redoing and retyping in varying fonts, layouts, sizes, etc convinced there is a magic design that will satisfy me.
** becoming more of a possibility as the clock ticks down to wedding day.
***something I will threaten to do at least eight more times before the damn things are finally done.
Wedding Madness!!!! I don't know how much time I'm going to have to show off the wedding details before the big day (we're down to less than two weeks - AGHHHH), but I promise anything that doesn't get posted before May 23rd, will simply be fodder for more extensive (and better written) posts after the shindig is over.
I wanted the table numbers to still compliment our color scheme and the general classy-ness of the tables, so I started with dark brown tents.
The photos were cropped to 5"x3.5". I printed the actual table numeral on cream paper, and opted to make all of the layouts the same, regardless of whether the photo was horizontal or vertical. The cream paper was trimmed to 5.5" square, and the photo was layered on top.
And here's toddler NavyGuy!One of the main reasons for my visit to TWP's home was to re-do their office/guest room. Their daughter Macy is almost a year and a half. Discussions and negotiations for a second little one have begun, so it's getting to be time for Macy to upgrade to her toddler room. Both TWP and her husband are definitely not ready to have Macy vacate her nursery and move into her "big girl room" quite yet, but TWP wanted my help in the decorating. So we figured we'd get it done while I'm home, and maybe they'll be willing to let Macy grow up and move into her new room sometime before kindergarten ;)
Sadly, I have no before shots. Imagine a basic room with office stuff, and plain green walls. Now, check out the after shots...
Tell me you would not DIE if that was your room as a two year old?!?!?! Seriously! It looks like it came out of a magazine, and I would have killed for that bed netting and princess decal on my wall. The toddler bed and netting are from IKEA. I love how the bed matches all the trim in the room (and the bulk of the other furniture). The princess and star decals on the walls are from a company called Hip in a Hurry - TWP found the vinyl decals on clearance at Michaels and snatched them up. They stick to the wall very well, but are also easily removed. All we did was peel the paper off of them, and smack them onto the wall, smoothing out any bubbles - shockingly quick and easy, yet they make a huge impact.
The bed netting is attached to the ceiling, and has convenient ties so you can secure it to the bed (thus preventing your child from a) pulling it down, and more importantly, b) suffocating).
This is the view opposite the bed. TWP has two of those bookcase/toy storage units, so another one will be moved into the room once the remaining office furniture moves to its new home. The curtains were a garage sale find for only $2! I love how they look sort of Renaissance-princess-castley, to compliment the theme. They're just another nice pop of color and whimsy for the space. We put in a good deal of time arranging the furniture and decorating, but it was totally worth it. I know Macy is going to have so many happy memories of playing in that room. What did your dream bedroom look like or have as a kid?
Sister's dog is celebrating her second birthday today (oh yes, they celebrate big time), and after Sister's big blog shout-out in April, Brother-in-Law wanted to make sure Lucy got the same attention.
And tonight's birthday dinner is a burrito bowl with rice and chicken... yum! Enjoy your day Lucy!
Read more...
Whew! I got back to Fondy this afternoon, after spending three days in St. Paul with TWP. We had a two page list of things to accomplish... and we actually got everything done! A few highlights:
Time for a super fast action-packed weekend update! I'm off to Minnesota today to hang out with TWP for a couple days - we're going to redo the flower girl's bedroom, and sneak in some shopping and wedding crafting as well... lots to do and the days are flying by too quickly!
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