School is a tad overwhelming

Man I am really no good at this. 

I have been forever absent again. 

School has taken precedence over blogging, and personal life, and social life, and everything. 

Last week was especially tough. I had a midterm paper to write and I was suffering from some sickness/stress/anxiety/women issues. But I got it done, and turned it in and got an 87%

I am a little over booked this semester. But now that that paper is over I can refocus, until my final paper in 4 weeks.
My classes are weird. It's hard to explain.
I go to 2 schools, one does regular 16 week semesters. The other does 4 sets of 8 week condensed terms per semester.

So I have 2 classes at the community college here, well one regular 3 credit class and one 1 credit class. (both online)

And then I have 3 classes at the university online. In the first second and fourth terms. So my next class will not start until my first class ends. Thank god, because I have a huge ass paper due at the end of this class (History of Japan to 1800) and I don't think I could handle starting another class before this one is over. 

Oh and I found out a class I took for fun, ended up filling a needed requirement, not just an elective! More time for activities! WooT! 

But things are going well.
Evey is doing great. She is getting bigger and bigger every day. She is talking up a storm. She is bossy, and determined. She is super smart too. She can count to 15 (most of the time) and she is working on her ABC's. 

We just had a wonderful visit from Paul's mom. We did so many fun things, beach trips, a trip to the Zoo, shopping. We had a blast. 

So really besides school, not much is going on here. 

I am thinking of doing another Vlog soon. The next Golden Vlog is up in a couple of days, So I need to film that. Plus I was thinking of doing a hair dye one.
I need to color my hair again, so why not film it? 

So that's all, I should be studying, but instead I am helping my sister with a paper, and writing here. 

I suppose I should go to bed, or study. 

So Sayonara! 

Oh and Aiko Says Hello! 

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2014 Marine Corps Ball

We recently attended the Marine Corps Birthday ball.

This year it was in Las Vegas.

before the ball

This was kind of cool because 10 years ago I accompanied Paul to our first Ball together in Primm Valley, just outside Las Vegas. It's crazy to think we have been together for 10 years.

I can't find that picture from that ball, but here is one from 2007, we were in Massachusetts. it's the oldest one I can find. 

But we had a great time in Vegas. Didn't take many pictures. My mom flew up and stayed with us so we had a sitter, which was super awesome of her (thanks again mommy). One nice thing, our reservation got messed up, we were supposed to have two adjoining rooms, and there were none available when we got there, so we got upgraded for free to a suite and a room adjoining! that was very nice. 

our suite

the vodka was flowing

I got my own fake eyelashes on! 

This last one is kind of funny. I have tried numerous times to get my fancy schmancy MAC eyelashes on, and never been able to. I was watching a YouTube video and the girl had cut hers in half. I was weary about cutting those expensive-ass eyelashes just to put them on, but I figured what the hell. And I was able to put them on! 

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"Turn at the Rotary"

I was blog stalking Domesticated Combat Boots, and she is currently in Boston. It made me reminisce of when we lived in Western Massachusetts, in fact we lived there when I started this little blog. Paul was stationed at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, working with a reserve unit, as basically a guy who trains the Reserve Marines. We had lots of wild and crazy stories there, and lots of really good friends were made. But one funny memory that sticks out, was when we very first entered New England. 

sunset at cape cod 

It was beautiful a sunny day, and we were totally lost. This was before smart phones, and google maps. I had a list of directions printed out, and my trusty Rand McNally map in my lap as Paul drove. It was me and him, the Jeep and the U-Haul. Trucking along interstate 95. We were in New York City, and desperate to get to Massachusetts. Traffic was probably horrible and we were desperate for a short cut. The "Merritt Parkway" would get us off Interstate 95 and maybe even be a little faster! So we took our exit and ventured off our "Mapquested" path.

Somewhere around Greenwich, Ct we saw a sign on our little, beautiful, scenic highway that said something along the lines of no towing, or no trailers. This would explain people waving at us and giving us the finger, yelling from their cars, they were not welcoming us, We were not supposed to be there with our little U-haul. So we got off, unsure of where we were, and hoped for the best. We could not find our way back to the Interstate, and after, who knows how long (seriously, that was 10 years ago, I am surprised I remember this much) we stopped and asked for directions. 

somewhere in our neighborhood in Chicopee

I remember it was a mechanic, some older guy, gave us directions. "Go blah blah blah, to the rotary, and blah blah blah" 

So we drove off, and starting going over his directions, and looked at each other and said "So, What's a Rotary?" We pulled over again, and started making phone calls, I think we called everyone we could think of and no one knew. Again this was before smart phones, so we didn't have google at our fingertips. Finally I called my grandmother, thinking she has to know. Her best guess was an old pay phone, like a rotary phone. So we drove on, looking for an old pay phone. We never found one, but we did eventually find the Interstate. We arrived in Chicopee late that night and I think it was several days later when we saw a sign that said Rotary with a big arrow, this is how we learned that a rotary is a traffic circle, and not an ancient pay phone. 

PCS Adventure Log Part 1

It's been about 2 months since we started our adventure out of Montana. On April 8th the movers came and packed us out. That was a big day for little Evey, Her first move (from Helena to Butte) she was only about 3 months old, so there was a lot more going on, that she was aware of.
To keep her out of the way we played outside, it was warming up, but as you can see there was still plenty of snow on the ground. 

On April 9th we drove out of Montana and headed South, our first night we spent in Salt Lake City, and then drove on. That second day we stopped at Bryce Canyon. Fun Fact: I'm distantly related to Ebeneezer Bryce, the dude that place is named after. 

Evey was a teeny little monster at Bryce Canyon, so we didn't stay long. She wanted to run up to the edge of the canyon, and mommy wouldn't let her. 

We stayed that night in Page, Az. At not the nicest motel, but that's what you get when you wait until 5pm to book a room in a small town. We got up bright and early the next day, and continued on to Tucson. We made our fun stop that day at Meteor Crater. I have been there once, but I was very young. Paul had never been there. It sounded really cool, but it's really just a big hole in the ground that you pay $15 to look at. At least Paul was free since he is Active Duty, and Evey was free since she is teeny tiny. 

That night we made it to Tucson, after getting caught in Phoenix and Tucson rush hour, and me almost ending up in tears. I don't handle traffic well and after driving all day I was tired and frazzled and Evey was screaming at the top of her little lungs by the time we hit Tucson. No matter how many times I said "we are almost there, We are so close" she would just cry. 

But we made it, and we spent a lovely weekend at my parents, relaxing and avoiding being in the car.  We enjoyed fun in the sun, and considerably warmer temperatures. 

From Tucson we went on to Albuquerque, where we stopped at Aunt Andrea's house and dropped off our monsters. The pets were going to stay with her while we continued our adventure East. Andrea has a Boston of her own, so when we added our two into the mix things got a little crazy at her house. She sure is brave to take on three dogs for us. I know her house was bananas for nearly three weeks. 

Next we continued on East, not many pictures of the drive, it was boring, We did stop a couple times, once in the middle of Oklahoma to let Evey burn off some steam because we decided to push all the way to Arkansas that first night. The second day of our adventure East was equally boring, and that night I had horrible food poisoning or something and was sick all night and most of the next day, BTW being sick and having to check out of a hotel and get into a car is the worst. But I was able to pull it together when Evey got sick too. Needless to say, that day was horrible, but we made it to Grannys in Northern Virginia, and we got a little food in our tummies and slept like angels. I also slept most of the next day, because I was still feeling pretty dead.
We had a wonderfull time at Granny's. Evey got to meet her Aunt Maggie, and her two Uncles, Pat & Ben, she got to spend some wonderful quality time with everyone. She loved spending time with Granny. We had a wonderful Easter and loved picking the flowers in Granny's back yard.

Sadly the time came for us to head back west so we could make our way to our new home in California. 

Check back in a couple days for PCS Adventure Log Part 2! 

Still Moving!

I have been updating regularly on instagram - AlanaMarie26 check me out! 

I am still in the process of moving, we have done our cross country family visits, gotten our address at Camp Pendleton and we are back at my moms house for the weekend. We will be setting up at our home next week and if any of you are still here, I should be back to regular posting the week after. I have lots of posts in mind, traveling with a toddler, fun at the zoo, car friendly snacks for tots. So make sure you check back soon!