An update from Winter Wonderland.

Yep, it's Feburary 22nd and we are still living in a winter wonderland. We got several inches of snow the other day, after almost a week of weather that was pushing 55*F we suddenly dropped down to freezing and a wall of snow rolled in. We again are expecting more snow, and way below freezing temps, tomorrow high/low will be 17/-1 F. Yeah, not looking forward to that. But I will persevere.

I started working last week, that has been nothing short of BANANAS, I havn't worked seriously since September of 2007 (not counting the short stint I did in retail for the crazy woman while in Okinawa). I am working in retail again, I know I said I would never do it again, but I think retail and I fit, I like people, I like being active, I like feeling like I am doing something, but I would rather stay away from retail management. I am still in school working towards my degree and would rather be able to make that my first priority for now. I already am stressing about work, I am constantly worried I am going to be late, or forget to show up at all, or screw up, or a million other things I can do wrong, but I just tell myself, it's just retail, I am just part time, it's not the end of the world, and I am likely not going to forget/screw up anyway. The store I work at is a really neat little chain that sells/rents/trades= movies/music/books/video games. I like it and I think it'll be a good thing to keep me busy for now while I am just doing school part time.

Other than that, Paul has been working quite a bit, which is expected of Recruiting Duty. It's stressful for us. He works roughly 8 am to 8 pm M-F and about 6 hours on Saturday. Usually once a week he is out of the house at 6 am and still not home until 8pm. It's tough not seeing him when I know he is close.

Well that's my update, now I need to eat dinner and go to bed because I have a job now!

Day Twenty Seven

Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member

Just one! sorry I cannot pick just one family member.

we'll start with Paul pants, my loving husband of almost 5 years. This picture was taken 3 years ago at the Nago, Okinawa, JP cherry blossom festival. We went that year with Joselyn the first friend I made in Oki.

Next up is Sister Smelly Pants, Andrea, of Tales from a Hopeless Romantic. This pic is from the Hard Reef, in Okinawa, last winter. Andrea visited me there while Paul was deployed.

And last but not least, my favorite Dad & Mom. This was taken at Hedo point in Okinawa, JP last October when they visited me while Paul was training in San Diego.

gosh I change my hair a lot!

Day 26

Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you

My little family means more to me than anything. I love them so much.

Wee bit of me Wednesday

{one} what is your favorite breakfast food?Hashbrowns. I also love sausage egg and cheese breakfast burritos from los betos.
{two} how many pairs of shoes do you currently own?millions, okay maybe only hundreds. well, really probally only like 50 if you count flipflops
{three} city or country?Country, close to the city.
{four} what is your favorite part of your job?I just started today, so far I'd say the fact that I even have a job is pretty awesome.
{five} what is your favorite junk food to snack on?Bread and cheese.
{six} have you ever been mentioned in the newspaper?Not that I know of, except maybe in the police blotter... ;D
{seven} do you use post-it notes?Addicted to sticky notes. I would forget everything, like taking out the trash thursday morning, with out them.
{eight} do you have freckles?just a few really light ones, and some on my knees.
{nine} is it okay for men to wear pink?no. not if it's the only color, like a shirt with pink and yellow and grey, that would be okay.
{ten} when was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?I leave love notes for paul all the time, so like last week.

Fun with beauty

Today I've had fun with beauty products.

I dyed my hair, It's sort of messed up but I got the stuff to fix it, it'll hopefully be close to this same color but I need to do it right so my hair doesn't reject it. See what happened was I bleached my hair out last year, it was white. Then I did hot pink. Then it started to wash out and I moved back to the states. Then I decided I needed to get a job so I needed a real hair color, blonde with washout pink doesn't work well when you want to work somewhere besides hot topic. So I tried a box dye, within one wash it was greenish red. Then I bleached it again (with box bleach) and tried to dye again. And I ended up greenish. So I wen't to Sally Beauty Supply and got a box stripper and stripped my hair and tried to color again. no go. I don't even remember how many times I tried to fix it before I asked for help. I needed a filler and pro color, that finally did the trick. And today I did a box color attempt to make it redish, well the box color started washing out the part that had been colored over blond and I have a distinct line where I can see the dark and the washed out blond. I just hope it stays a few days, because I don't have time to fix it until tomorrow or thursday.

I painted my nails with the most awesome nail polish. Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure, It's great. I am really hard on my nails and they are usually chipped within 12 hours. With this color the first time I did it last friday my nails still looked good yesterday, until I started building my treadmill. Then they looked scary. So I re-did them today.

I also got some pretty eye shadow and brushes. Now I have pretty eyes.
And here we go. I look weird here, I don't think this looks like me.

Day Twenty Five

Day 25 - A picture of your day

This is actually yesterday, I spent most of yesterday putting together my new treadmill. I managed to break part of a metal bar. But it was one of the three bars that holds on the display. and it's not totally broken. I was still pissed.

But today has been pretty boring, I dyed my hair, and I screwed it up, but tomorrow I'll fix it, It needs a day to rest. It has been through so much over the last 5 months, platinum blond to hot pink then three failed attempts of adding color and I finally had it right, for like a month. Then I went and effed it up again.

Day Twenty Four

Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change

Distance

• From here to Paul's mom- 2,170 miles
• From here to My parents- 1251 miles
• From here to Paul's dad- 363 miles
• From here to our friends back east- 2500 miles
• From here to our friends in Okinawa- 8639 miles

I really wish we didn't live so far from everyone we know. We havn't made any friends here yet. However I do have a blind friend date this weekend with a relative of a friend back home who just moved here.

I just wish we were only a few hours from everyone. Sometimes a little part of me wishes that we all lived in one place, and had our friends, and we were all stayed together. But I wouldn't trade the experiences we have had for anything.

Fill in the blank Friday!

[from Lauren @ the little things we do]

1. The TV show/website that I watch/read that I would be embarrassed to tell anyone about is: Well I don't really hide it on facebook that I am in love with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills! I also am a farmville player....

2. An item of clothing that is worn and torn but that I love far to much to throw away is: I just got rid of tons of clothes so I really don't have anything that falls into this category.

3. My grocery store impulse buy is: bread and cheese, I love a nice warm sourdough baguette and brie.

4. Something I do at work to pass time that I wouldn't want my co-workers to know about is: I don't work yet so I don't know, But I start next week!

5. One thing in my life that I could give up, but never will is: The internet. Never will I leave you, sweet, sweet, internet addiction, but I could, I swear I could.

6. A little indulgence that I have is: Again, bread and cheese.

7. The junk drawer/area in my house is: full of wine corks and bottle openers, batteries and misc paper. My table that my laptop is on could also be mistaken for a junk drawer explosion.

Day Twenty Three

Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book

A long long time ago, in a far away land, before I started school, I used to read a lot. I read all of the Harry Potter books in less than a week, I loved fantasy, magic, dragons. I loved to read. Then we moved to Okinawa, and I started college full time. In the last 3 years I think I have finished 6-7 books, where I used to read at least 1-2 a month. I am much more selective on what I read now, because I don't have time to not like it. I don't want to waste my time reading something for pleasure that I am not going to enjoy. So I present you my favorite book:

Chelsea Handler gets an honorable mention for laugh out loud funny.

But Harry Potter will always be my favorite series.

Now Back to my regularly scheduled reading. At least this on isn't as monotonous and most of the other history text books I've had to read. I am just seriously lacking motivation this week.

Must be a slow day at the office.

Mommy has been pestering me to update my blog so here goes.

Monday we got bunches and bunches of snow, out where we live in the valley much of it blew into drifts up on the house and garage.

So yesterday I decided I should take the initiative and shovel the snow. Paul is working so much by the time that he gets around to shoveling it'll all be packed ice, and too dangerous to walk on. The poor dogs were getting caught in the drift at the bottom of the steps, it was about 12in deep there, so about up to the second step.
As you can see I got a little carried away with the snow and made me a snow critter.. Yes I made a snow Hello Kitty! I love her. I had a dream someone smashed her while we were sleeping and I woke up and checked on her.

That is all you are going to get right now. I still need to think of my favorite book but right now the only book I can think about is my History text book, which I should be reading.

Really Cool iPhone App

{sleepy baby dog}

I love this app that I found thanks to Shea over at Lovin' Every Minute of It. It's called Instagram, and you use it to make old fashioned pictures. It's really easy just take a picture and choose a filter and upload. It creates really neat pictures, I love it.

{little piggies}

{monster morning play time}

{watching it snow}

Fill in the blank Friday!

{from Lauren}

1. If I could only read one magazine publication for the rest of eternity, I don't read many magazines, Fitness & Self. So I could live without them, but I'd choose Self. I don't know why, I just like it.

2. If I were to run my own magazine it would be about Girly stuff, dresses, and fitness, nail polish and kittens. lol.

3. I buy my magazines (at the grocery check stand or via subscription) I have subscriptions to a few.

4. I prefer my magazines (in print or online) In print. I like to read them in bed, or lying on the couch, in the car, in waiting rooms.

5. The number of magazines I buy each month is probably besides the ones i get in the mail it's about 1 a month. And it's usually a cooking recipe one, like Better Homes and Gardens

6. My favorite magazine genre is (lifestyle, gossip, home, etc...) Home & fitness. I also have a weakness for gossip, but I get most of that online.

7. The magazines I read regularly are BH&G, Fitness, Self, Cosmo, People, NatGeo.

Day Twenty Two

Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at

Oh, I am a terrible housekeeper. My house is rarely clean. I will pick up in the morning and by the afternoon between the dogs emptying their toys everywhere and me being incapable of cleaning up after myself, the house gets wrecked. I had breakfast 2 hours ago and my bowl is still on the table in front of me. I had a cherry dr. pepper yesterday and the empty can is still on the table as well. The sweater I was wearing yesterday is still on the floor too. I have a big issue with putting (and leaving) things on the floor. My house isn't unsanitary, I do the dishes, my bathroom is fairly clean, except for laundry on the floor. My house is just messy. I have improved over the years, I used to be much worse, way way way worse. Growing up my bedroom looked like a war zone. I remember at one point I had so much stuff piled on my floor it was legitimately dangerous, several inches and in places up to a foot deep of just stuff. I have the hoarder gene and sometimes it really comes out. I have majillions of nicknacks. But like I said, I am getting better, since we arrived in MT I think I have single handedly kept the Goodwill donation center in business. At least once a week for about a month I have unloaded a trunk load of stuff there (mostly clothes).

F.O. February!

F.O. It's a knitter/crocheter term for finished object. Currently I have 2 scarves, one pair of socks (the first of the pair) and one blanket, on needles. that I know of. I herby declare February and FO Feburary! Spread the word! My goal this month is to not cast on any more projects and to finish the ones I have started! I already finished one, the cowl I started for Paul while he was in Afghanistan, I am terrible at finishing things, so finishing these few should be a huge task for me, especially when you throw school and my new job (more on that tomorrow) in the mix.

Here is my first FO for the month: Paul's Dark Side Cowl (ravelry link)

Day Twenty One

Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget

About 5 in the morning, I think it was October, nine or ten years ago, I was driving home from a party. Very near my apartment I stopped at the connivence store on the corner to get some breakfast. I had to do all the laundry I neglected the night before. An ambulance or fire-truck, something with sirens, zoomed by, the cashier said something like,"wow that's the 5th one."

Somehow I knew, my stomach sank, I left my items on the counter and raced to my car, I rounded the entrance to my apartment complex and was greeted by about a dozen cops, I was stopped. "You cannot go any further." I knew, I just knew. I raced past them on foot and told them I had to see if it was my apartment, one police man trying to stop me asked me my apartment number and when I told him he just stopped, he let me go. I rounded one more corner and was greeted my several fire-trucks and some of my neighbors. It was my apartment.

I'll never forget that feeling, the sinking feeling that I had just lost everything. And I had. Miraculously my cat had survived, he had climbed inside a upholstered chair they heard him crying and got him out, he was okay. everything else was a total loss. if it wasn't burned it was so smoke damaged that it was beyond repair. I called my mom, I remember I didn't cry, I was in shock. I stood in front of my apartment being comforted by neighbors and policemen.

The fire was electrical, it started in the bedroom, they said it burned so fast and so hot that had I been in there I may not have survived. The bedroom was empty, full of ashes. you couldn't tell where the bed, dresser, bookcases had been, everything was just ashes. All of my clothing and shoes were gone, All I had was what I was wearing.

This was one of the worst days of my life.