First came love.....

Back in 1999, I had a roommate who had just met the man of her dreams and decided to move out to be closer to him (we were in WV - man was in SC), so she had her cousin, Travis, come and help her move her stuff.  Travis was in the Air Force and stationed at Shaw AFB in SC, which is also where the new guy was living.  The day that Travis showed up at my door to help his cousin move, I was not looking my hottest.  In fact, I was down right scary.  To say that I had a bad upper respiratory infection was sugar coating it to be sure.  It was a Saturday, so I was home from work, laying in bed with my favorite flannel nightgown on, and long john pants (hey....I was cold).  I had also dipped my entire self (ok well really just my chest and throat) with Vick's Vapor Rub.  I think you could smell me at least a mile away.  Oh - did I mention the sexy bed head that I had too!!!

Well that was our first meeting.....needless to say....I left an impression.  As for me though, I was so doped up on NyQuil and was not in the least interested in anyone or anything, that I barely saw him nor cared that a sexy guy was in my place.  I just went back to bed and spent the next few days just trying to breathe.

Fast forward a year and 1 month.  My parents have both passed away, the Army has sent my brother to Germany, and my old roommate had broken up with the guy in SC and moved back in with me.  It was Thanksgiving, and she invited me to go to her maw maw's house for Thanksgiving dinner....she said, "There will be a ton of people there, like a family reunion, and we are huggers, so you'll be family instantly."  I thought sure why not.  When I got there I saw this amazing guy, over by the rolls, and he looked good enough to eat.  I asked her who it was and she said, "Oh that's just my cousin Travis.  Don't you remember Amy?  You met him when he came to move my stuff out."  At that moment, I wanted to hide.  He must have thought I was a crazy woman when he met me, but oh my, he was so handsome.

We became instant friends.  We hung out here and there, and spoke on the phone off and on.  He was always gone.....Bosnia, Croatia, Korea, Japan......the list goes on and on.  Plus, he always seemed to have a girlfriend.  When he came home from Korea in 2002 though, he was unattached, and all of a sudden interested in being more than friends.  Finally!

So....First Came Love:

Then on May 29, 2004...Came Marriage

Then over three years later, several fertility drugs/treatments, and fertility surgery for me....Came the Baby Carriage.....oh - and did I mention the 38 hrs of labor and the emergency C-section.  Whew!  That was fun!  I got to try both!!!

But my little man was completely worth it.  On June 26, 2007 our little bundle of joy was born.  He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and was 20 inches long.

So I met him in 1999, and feel instantly in love.  It took him a few years to realize how amazingly wonderful I was, but in the end, it all turned out perfect.  I got the man of my dreams, and the baby that I had prayed for so long to come.

Connor, is turning 4 in just a few hours, and I can't believe where the time has gone.  He is such an amazing little guy with such a sweet heart,  He tells me all the time that I am his princess and that he will always protect me.  He is all smiles in the morning and hugs and kisses all day long.  He loves to pick flowers for me all the time....we are still working on the "Wait - that's not our flowers to pick" but then again, he is just turning 4.  All he knows is that mommy loves flowers.  :) 

He is my pride and joy!!!! 

Here he is at 1 yr...

2 yrs....

3 yrs....

and now....I need to take a picture of him at 4 yrs old.  Until then....here is two pics that I love of my two guys....

Happy Birthday Connor boy....mommy and daddy love you so much!

Indoor Girl

I am an indoor girl.

Maybe there was a time in my life where I was an outdoor girl, but then again, when we were little, most of us were outdoor kids.  At this point in my life though, when it is a bazillion degrees outside, and I melt and stick to my clothes just walking out on my porch, I prefer to say that I am an indoor girl.

My husband is an outside guy.

He spends most days trying to convince me that if I come outside more, that it won't matter that it is a bazillion degrees outside, because I will get used to it.  I don't know if this is really true, or if he just thinks its cooler since he is used to the 140 degree weather in Iraq from all the time he has spent there.  Me though, I like the air conditioning!!!  It is my friend.

Most of the time, he will give up and go on outside to tinker on all his projects, mow the grass, and run.  He will come back in sweating buckets, but he feels fine.  Then some days, he guilts me in to going out with him.  Today, I lasted maybe 5 min, before I felt as if my hair was about to slide off of my scalp.  Luckily, I was still close to the door and was able to move back inside, before a trip to the wig store was needed.

I do not look forward to this months electric bill....and it is times like this that I miss living in housing (since they pay the  bill) but it is all worth it for my nice cool air conditioning.  After all....I am an indoor girl. 

Joy of Finding a Job

As you all know, we just recently PCSd (for the civilian world - that we means we moved from one duty station to another); thus, I am once again unemployed.  Living life married to a military man has afforded me the opportunity to work in various fields in various locations over the last seven years.  I have enjoyed all the places that I have been, and all the people that I have met.  However, with that said, it is always hard to start over again.

I am in the process of writing my thesis paper and will have it finished within the next 2 weeks.  This means that I will actually have my Master's degree in hand very soon.  I thought this would open a lot of doors for me, but unfortunately, I am lacking a lot of the experience that many employers are wanting. 

I did complete 150 hours of an internship that helped me to gain a lot of HR experience to go with my education.  I am hoping that this addition to my resume will greatly increase my chances. 

With all this said, there are still times when everything seems hopeless.  Which of course, this usually happens after I reconcile our checkbook. 

There are many people who understand that it is difficult to quit your job and move to a new location.  Therefore, many states offer unemployment for military spouses.  Unfortunately, Hawaii nor Virginia are states that do that.  Oh well. 

In the meantime, I have been extremely lucky with the fact that I had an HR manager with 19 years experience, and a doctorate in HR, look over my resume and help me make the appropriate changes.  I am hoping that it will just be a matter of time now before I start getting calls for interviews for the million plus jobs that I have applied for.  Until then, I am trying to avoid Wal-Mart at all costs.  There are way to many cute summer things out there that we DO NOT need.   

Updates!!!!

I am so sorry that I haven't updated anyone in awhile, but things have been hectic to say the least.  First off, we have moved from beautiful sun shiny Hawaii to Virginia.  We flew to LA and then drove across the country over 3,000 miles to get here.  We took about 9 days to make the trip, stopped at some really awesome places along the way, and even got to see a few friends here and there.

Touristy wise, I think Travis favorite stop was the Coors Brewing Company.  It was FREE, always a plus in our book, and then to top that all off, they gave you FREE BEER at the end.  That to Travis was priceless.  LOL!  Coors is his favorite beer, and to see how it was made tugged at his heart strings to say the least.  Then at the end, when they gave him 3 free tickets for any 3 beers of his choice, he was speechless.  Then the love in his eyes glistened at me when I gave him my free 3 tickets too.  (I have never liked beer!!!)  After all those years of saying I should just have a beer with him, he finally realized that there was an advantage to having a wife who didn't like beer.  LOL!

Travis was also mesmerized by the gift shop at the brewery.  He bought himself a double set (8 I think) of Coors glasses.  If the beer is cold in the glass, the Rockies are blue (just like the bottle).  Needless to say, to a good ole WV boy, that was amazing and a must have. 

My touristy highlight was going to the Wizard of Oz museum.  It is a little hole in the wall kind of place, but I thought it was really cool.  I have always loved the Wizard of Oz, and this place had every form of memorabilia possible.  I honestly didn't realize that the Wizard of Oz was actually a series of books written over several decades by 3 different authors.  They were small stories, and the movie came from the 3rd book, I think.  I could be wrong.  Wouldn't be the first time in my life, but we are keeping that a secret from my husband. 

There was something that happened at the museum that was really funny.  This museum literally had all memorabilia associated with the Wizard of Oz, including spin offs and spoofs made from the film.  Posters, dolls, etc..were everywhere.  As we turned the corner into Emerald City, I saw a poster for a "Naughty" version of the Wizard of Oz.  Pasties were placed in the right spots, and things were covered, but the Mommy in me came out like a lion.  LOL!.  In my younger days, I would have thought the poster was funny, but now in my Mommy days, I spun Connor in a different direction and expressed my outrage as to why a family place would display such horrible things.  Travis of course just laughed at me, which of course infuriated me even more, until I realized that I had jumped on a soap box that no one listening to or even cared to hear about.  Connor, was looking at the Flying Monkeys and didn't even see the poster.  Oh well. 

The gift shop there was really nice too, and I was able to buy some scrapbook paper in a Wizard of Oz theme and a wooden sign that hangs on the wall with witch shoes on it saying, "If the shoe fits, where it."  I have it hanging in my home office now.  I like to refer to it at times when I feel a little "witchy."

I am still sorting through the hundreds of pictures that I took and the scrapbook ideas are constantly popping into my head.  Stay tuned for more updates.....