Was This Your Dream?

Today I was sitting at Starbucks, hogging a table trying to study medical terminology while downing a double shot PSL when the girl next to me asked what the Marine Corps Sticker on my laptop was for. Now I'm not an overly Marine wear wife, but in place of the standard Dell circle, I stuck a small EGA. I told her my husband is a Marine and went back to studying.

A couple minutes later, she asks "Was this your dream as a kid?" Now she has to be close in age to me and really who dreams about being a military spouse. As a little girl I wanted to be a ballerina, a princess, a mommy, a teacher and a nurse but never was military spouse an idea. When I asked her what she meant, she said well on TV it seems like so much fun. The uniforms, free housing and big paychecks. Uh that does sound fun but its so far from real life.

I love my husband and I'm a proud Marine spouse, but this wasn't my dream life. We've moved two times in less than a year and to opposite sides of the country. I've settled into my new area just to have his orders re-issued and our lives turned upside down again. It's hard to finish my degree when we aren't in a place for very long. There aren't big paychecks like people think so we budget while I finish school. And the uniforms? As nice as they look, they are expensive as heck and so rarely worn. But in the off chance you need a certain uniform and it doesn't fit, its you who pays for it.

But as I was talking to her I saw that with the bad things like budgets, expensive uniforms that we have to pay for, early morning PT, long hours, and moving a lot, there's a great upside. Without the military we never would have lived right outside DC and had the chance to see so much there. Our last unit did a few spouses trips that were amazing and truly once in a lifetime things. Now we are living in San Diego, the military is helping pay for my school and while life isn't what we dreamed at 18 it is pretty amazing.

Tour De Fat

A few weeks ago NewBelgium brewing company had a touring beer festival visit downtown San Diego. After walking 3 blocks to the park it was hosted in we had an amazing time. There was good trucks, special brews we cant find in stores and tons of activities. So many people were wearing costumes or riding bikes so we got ideas for next year. 

I love living in a city where there's so much going on. We can always find something to do or just get out and explore on weekends. 

Blessed

Today Ty is off work for Columbus Day which means a Monday where the alarm does not go off at 5 am. There is nothing better than 3 days of lazy mornings with him. This morning Ty left to go out with a bunch of guys from his shop while I stay home to do schoolwork. After he left I was thinking about how much has changed in the last 1.5 years we've been married.

When we got married, he was still in his MOS school and duty stations seemed like a far away dream. I was working 40-50 hours a week while he was gone. Then he suddenly got his first station Quantico, a we truly started married life. We visited DC a lot and saw so many sights. 

His new orders for California were a dream come true earlier this year. We moved in August and have loved it here since then. I'm now enrolled fulltime in school. We have explored a lot and love being able to take Lexi so many places. The only downfall is our parents are on the east coast. 

Even though things haven't been the easiest with moving or trying to get into school with moving I'm so blessed. I have an amazing husband who supports me in anything. He has a great job in the USMC and that has allowed us to live in a couple fantastic cities in our short marriage. So many people knock military life but while his hours are long, there are always upsides. 

Getting Settled

Over the last couple weeks we have really settled into San Deigo. Our living situation with the roommate has been going ok but all that changed last night when his wife arrived. While she's nice she has zero common sense and is very immature. Less than 24 hours in she's sprayed so much body spray my apartment smells like cotton candy now and she's convinced the government is closed forever. This will take some getting used too. 

If you need me I will be outside in the fresh air while my apartment airs out. 

10 Months and 2 PCS's later

For some military members, you go to school, get your orders and stay at that base for your career. For my husband, he did school, more school at a different base then was given his first set of orders. We moved to Virginia last September and really liked the area. Then February rolled around and my T was issued new orders... For San Diego. I told my husband when he enlisted and when we were married that I would follow him anywhere the Marines took him. I never imagined we would move 2 times in less than a year. Thankfully we are now in my home state, although both our parents are on the eat coast. 

After being settled in Virginia with my job and getting accepted into a college I'm back to square one of finding where I got in. Luckily I learned a few things last move and this time I don't feel like such an outsider. Of course the weather and beaches help any gloomy mood I may have had.

Life is Not Like Army Wives

Before we moved to base and on base housing I figured things would be similar to how Army Wives portrays it. After we moved into our house and settled, I can say with certainty that its not as happy as you would think.

After almost six months in our house I still don't know my neighbors. I have met our Family Readiness Officer (FRO) only once and she's our second one in the time we've moved. I was really expecting more of the spouses community you see on tv. I have met a few women from our unit. Most of the ones I've met get on my nerves. Two asked me when we are going to have a baby. I said not during this enlistment. We want to enjoy young married life and being able to travel. Another said if I'm a nanny then I obviously have baby fever and just need to get it over with. It's almost like being in high school again with the cliques and drama.

I've learned that here you are truly looked at as dependent on your spouse. Some of these women have never even paid a bill without the hubby doing it for them. I feel like my marriage is more of a partnership I love my hubby but I know if he deploys or goes on a trip I can stand on my own feet and not breakdown. People have told me young married military don't understand what it's like to be an adult because the military will take care of them like parents. For us it doesn't hold true but for so many of the young couples I met I can see why people have told me this. It makes me thankful that we lived together in the civilian world first. I feel like we have grown up more because of it.

Weekend in Washington DC

DC is famous for the cherry trees that blossom in early spring. When we moved here 5 months ago and went to some of the museums for the first time we notice many books devoted to these trees. Last weekend kicked off the Cherry Blossom Festival. Although we didn't go to the museums for the presentations on the trees, we did walk around the national mall and White House looking at how spring has kind of arrived. Some of the trees were in bloom but it was nothin like all the pictures show. We did have fun just walking around DC in the semi warm weather.

After leaving the national mall we decided to hit the Navy Yard to look around. Both of us love the show NCIS so why not look around their base. Thanks to our decals and ids we got through the gate and found out there's really not much there. It's mostly a lot of brick buildings. Huh. Also we did not find the NCIS building. :(

Our last stop was 8th and I and marine barracks. It's the "home" of the Marine Corps in the way that it has the commandants house and the band and silent drill team. You can't enter the premises but there's tons of cute shops all over right there. We found a dog bakery and a cute little cupcake bakery. It was a pretty successful day in my opinion.

Ch Ch Changes

Last week while I was getting ready for work I got a text from the hubs saying "I think I just got new orders". My heart dropped because we have only been in Virginia since September and I love it here. About half an hour later he called me and I asked if I was ready to go home to California. Because we have orders for San Diego this summer. I cried because I thought we were guaranteed 2 years at a duty station. I have friends when he's on trips, a job I love and I'm enrolled to start back to college. Not to mention I love our big townhouse on base! But it's the Marine Corps and this happens. So now I am researching housing, looking at schools, jobs and areas around our new home. Trying to prepare now for the deployment we will face soon as we are leaving our non-deployable unit for one that does deploy. At least I grew up an hour north of base so I know the area a little. And one of my best friends from high school is stationed at our new home with her husband.

I'm trying to be excited about this new adventure. But I'm so loving where we are now it's difficult. I know once we are out there I will be ecstatic. But until then I will be soaking up all the DC area has to offer. And when we get there I can always drown my sorrows in In-N-Out, Del Taco, Carl's Junior and real Mexican food. Yummy!!!

Monday Musings.

This weekend was pretty uneventful. Friday I got off work and came home to a house full of Marines. It's always interesting when the single guys are here, raiding my fridge and pantry. I think the Corps should give married couples extra money to feed their single Marine "children". I've noticed most married couples have one or two. :-) After our boys left we did date night and got dinner.

Saturday we woke up with every intention of going to DC to see the cherry blossoms in bloom. But when we woke up it was raining, not really good for walking around outside. So instead we cleaned and hit up Chick Fil A for lunch. The blossoms will still be in bloom next week so hopefully the weather is better.

Sunday was all about laundry, the hubs weekly haircut and a Costco trip. It rained again yesterday and I kept thinking where's spring? Well this morning I woke up to 2 inches of snow. So I'm calling BS on the groundhog. We've now had enough snow to plow two times in March. I'm thinking we got 6 weeks more writer. At least we seem to up in Northern Virginia.

Spring seems like a mythical creature on days like today.

Lets Try This Again...

I may be the worst blog author. I read blogs on a daily basis yet I can't seem to remember to write my own. Whoopsie.

Since I last wrote we; moved to Quantico Virginia, then moved a second time into our house on base about a month after moving the first time, survived Hurricane Sandy with only downed trees, lots of rain and a day without power, attended our first Marine Corps Birthday ball which was a blast!, hosted thanksgiving with my dad, his girlfriend and my little brother, had our first Christmas with our Corps family, I started a job as a nanny to two girls, got a flat tire in my new car and had to replace both front tires, and survived two visits from the hubs parents. That's a lot going on over the last several months.

I want to remember everything we are doing here at our first duty station. Mostly cooking a lot and doing brew tours. Two weeks ago we went to a brewery in Dc called Port City which was a lot of fun. Except they give you way to much beer in a sample and have no food. Not the best idea when I'm such a light weight. I was more than slightly buzzed when we left but thankfully they had a food truck outside and T drove. Hopefully the weather is nice enough this weekend that we can see the cherry blossoms blooming. It's supposed to rain but I'm hoping it holds off since hubs has to work next weekend.

Lets hope this time I can stick with it. I downloaded blogger to my phone. That should help!

Happy Friday!

Moving Twice in a Month

Not only did we get our orders to move to Virginia sometime soon, I agreed to help my grandma move from Wyoming to Georgia. I'm leaving at 5 am on Tuesday to fly out there to help finish packing. We should hopefully be on the road Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. If this trip goes the same way my road trip home from school, also in Wyoming, did last year it should take about 3 days of driving 10 hours each. Then once we are home we are putting the majority of her stuff in storage an moving her into the guest room and I get to pack up my stuff to move a couple of weeks later. Hopefully our move will be smoother after this test run. At least I will be a pro at driving long distances.

In other news I got the biggest laugh when I came home from running errands today. I live in a HOA that's very tight on everything. Yet someone was able to change our sign from "Have a great first week of school" to " Whores Eat 1st" . I laughed so hard when I saw the sign. An hour later it was still there so I did what anyone would do.... Took a pic and posted to Facebook. :) apparently we have starving whores in our neighborhood. This economy is hitting EVERYONE hard!

Orders Are In!!

After a very long four weeks of waiting to find out where home will be we found out yesterday. Marine Corps Base Quantico Virginia. I'm beyond happy that we got a great base near so many things to do. T is already excited about his unit, which is also non-deployable because DC uses them for a lot of stuff. So he will deploy on missions for short amounts of time but not 9-12 months to afghanistan.

Now the fun really starts. I've already started looking at housing which is super expensive. And trying to find a job. All the gifts from my bridal shower are already boxed again to make things easier. My bedroom is mostly what's left but it should be easy enough to pack. Once I get boxes. I should probably start on that.

Happy Wednesday.

We have furniture!

One of the bad things about getting married young is we don't have anything for a house. We still lived with our parents until T went into the Marines and I am still at my moms while he's finishing school. So the last few months I've been trying to find furniture within our budget for when we move out on our own. I'm so happy to say we finally have everything. Well everything except an idea of where on earth we will be living. T still had not received his final orders. Fingers crossed we get them soon so we can start apartment hunting. After all he graduates in 2 weeks!

Getting Back On Track

I've been a horrible blogger. I have managed to read and comment on blogs but can't seem to write my own. Except at 3 am..... In my head. That's when all my good ideas come but I have no desire to grab my phone or laptop to type then. I originally wanted to have my blog as my own journal. Now we are less than a month away from getting Ts final duty station orders. I really want to document this time. Soon we will be moving in together. I cannot wait! We haven't lived together in 2 years and I'm do happy!!!!!!! By the time our move happens we will have been married 4 months so it's about time!

Other than orders for the Marine Corps we bought a Mazda 3. I love it! Great gas mileage and it's so much fun to drive. We are also keeping my gas guzzling SUV for the time being since its paid off. Plus I happen to love my baby. We are the proud owners of two cars and no car payments thanks to very generous parents.

And since we eloped I missed out on the usual pre-wedding activities, but my amazing new siblings are throwing me a big bridal shower next weekend. I'm excited and it makes me feel so welcome that they wanted to throw me a shower. My husband is the youngest of 5 kids and I've been very close with two of his sisters for a few years. I guess that's a good thing about being together for almost 4 years. I'm very close with his family. ;)

Have a great week!

Changes

I never realized how much my wedding started to feel like a weight and major stress. Between hurting my shoulder at work and doing treatments then Tyler's upcoming graduation from marine air wing school I felt our wedding was rushed and wouldn't be what I planned. Then I realized how little I even cared...... I wanted my marriage and the wedding didn't matter. So we eloped. We went to the courthouse and were married by the court. It was nothing like the wedding I was planning and yet it was completely perfect. I walked out married to my best friend. Now since I married military I had a lot of paperwork to fill out and turn in right away. Then I got to enjoy my weekend with my hubby. We are still planning a ceremony where I can wear my gorgeous dress but this ceremony will be much more low key than before. I'm thinking only family and a few friends at my moms house. But it no longer causes me anxiety to think about. Instead I get to focus on our move to his next station in June most likely. I'm so excited to start our life together.

We Got Married!

So I've once again disappeared from the blogging world. This time it's because I got married. Sadly it was a two attempt thing. The first time my mom was with us as well as his parents and we weren't able to get our marriage license. The second time he called me Monday telling me to be in Florida Friday as we could get our license then. My mom wasn't able to go so we eloped to the courthouse on Friday. It was not the day I had planned but it was perfect. I got to then spend the rest of the weekend with my new hubby. Sunday sucked when I had to turn in him into base. But we are so close to him graduating and really being together.

I'm excited to see what our future holds!!!!

One Month Gone?

How is it already February? I swear last week was New Years. That probably doesn't mean much though. I was listening to Nsync on my way to work yesterday and found it hard to believe I am already old enough to have a full time job and be planning a wedding. Wasnt I just having slumber parties and staying up all night singing awesome boy band songs all night? Oh that was 10 years ago..... Dang those were the good days.

This week is full of work and work. But my monday was great. I got a text from a strange number that said " T wants you to know he loves you and cant wait to see you in your dress". Made my day a million times better. Only a few more days until sunday when he should have liberty again so we can talk.

Also I'm thinking about being all grown up and getting a newer car. Of course that comes with a car payment. My current car is paid for and I love it but she has 200,000 miles on her now and is a small SUV. My dream car a few years ago but not with a 30 mile each way in Atlanta traffic commute, I need a car that doesn't have a severe drinking problem.

Time to research cars that are a little more thrifty on gas-ohol.

Happy Wednesday!

Oops Bad Kari

So when I blogged last T was graduating from Basic. I had every intention of blogging again after he returned to base but I got sick and sidetracked and just lazy. Now that January is already over let's do a little recap shall we?

My year started off with my best friend graduating from basic and coming home for 10 amazing days. We spent a lot of it just relaxing at home since we were both sick and I wouldn't change that. Right now he is in North Carolina for MCT then goes to Pensacola for MOS. Look at me using fancy acronyms :) . I'm so incredibly proud of T and everything he is doing. And he looks damn good in a uniform.

After he left my parents announced they are getting divorced. I still live at home for right now so that has been an adjustment.

And on Sunday my mom, my moms best friend and my two sisters in law wet dress shopping. Not only did we go looking I found my dream dress. It's so perfect I keep texting pics of it to everyone. It's a good thing we plan on getting married this summer in Vegas. I cannot keep this dress hidden from Tyler for very long.

Did ya catch that little remark? Vegas! We decided to invite our families to Vegas for our wedding. Something fun and not crazy over the top. I will still have my dress and him in dress blues and tons of pictures. It will be amazing and I cannot wait.

And because I couldn't resist and he doesn't read my blog.

One more week!

In exactly one week I will be driving up to south Carolina for Tyler's graduation. I am so excited and can't believe it's finally here. It seems like forever since he left.

I celebrated Christmas with my family. It was sad to me because it didn't feel right with him gone. Now I get to celebrate with his family on Saturday. Really not looking forward to that. What's the point in pushing back Christmas to 5 days before he comes home? Why not just celebrate with him?

I'm also busy with work to prepare for the time off. So blogging has been on the back burner. And I got a couple really nasty and funny emails/comments about my adoption post. I will be addressing those later this week. They deserve their own post.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Ugh December Really?

I cannot believe that its only 19 days until Christmas. Time is flying by. Only 5 more weeks until I get my babe back. I simply cannot wait.

Work has been crazy. Some days I love my job and other days I want to stay home in bed with my blankets over my head. Lately I'm in a funk where I hate things. I mostly just want T home and the holidays seem weird and lonely without him. I feel like I shouldn't be celebrating when he can't. And being around his family without him is awkward. Some of them make me feel like I still belong there since we have been together for so long and we are getting married. Others like to refer to me as the "latest girlfriend". I sure hope that I'm the latest. We have been together since right after high school and before half of them were married.

Stay tuned later this week I have big news.

Happy Tuesday Y'all