Weekend Madness

My parents are coming this weekend!! Thus, weekend madness! The last time my parents came to visit me (in Honolulu), they stayed for over a week, had Andy and I out way past our bedtimes every night with good food and drinks and overall had me about ready to break down from sheer exhaustion by the time they left! (in a good way..) My parents know how to party ;)

Needless to say, I'm super excited to see them (it's been 6 months since the last time... which is depressingly long...) but I must admit I am glad they will be here 5 days to last visit's 10 lol. When my parents are on vacation, they are ON VACATION no matter if you are or not!

It's kind of weird though. Whereas in Hawaii we got to take them to all the hotspots and knew where to go for a good time, we just moved here so I have no clue what to do with them. My dad however, has been to Phoenix more times than I can count and will probably end up showing us, the people who live here, where to go lol.

The one thing we do know to do is take them to see Wicked on Friday night!!!! I am super excited! It will be the 2nd time for me seeing this production live and if all goes well, I may cry again... it was that awesome lol. That was the first time Andy ever came with me to see a musical... I am thankful he was not frightened away...

So to sum up, I am so excited for this weekend and can't believe it's only Tuesday! I will definitely update next week on the festivities! We may even take a day trip up to Sedona :) Hope you all have as good a weekend as I will :) :)

Phoenix!

Wow, I haven't updated in like 3 months... but it's been a LONG and CRAZY three months! First off, most of you (all 5 who read this... if you still do lol) know a lot, but for those who don't, here's the lowdown.

We moved to Phoenix May 1st! It was sad to leave Hawaii behind. Bittersweet actually. Sad to leave our new friends and the beautiful beaches, but incredibly exciting to be moving to a new place, AWAY from the Army! Hooray for no more active duty! So far, Phoenix has been pretty incredible I must say. Our new apartment is bigger, the rent is cheaper, the complex is nicer and it's so close to amazing restaurants and shopping and entertainment!

We have been having fun actually coordinating our apt this time! Last time we had no space for any furniture but a bed and couch/tv/tv stand kind of set up, but this time we have bookcases and a wine bar and an actual... wait for it... KITCHEN TABLE!!! I honestly think that's my favorite thing right now is being able to eat at a real table instead of on the couch hunched over the coffee table every night... seems like not such a big deal bc eating on the couch is fun... just not every night because you HAVE to!

Fiance and I went out and got drapes for our bedroom to match our bedding and even coordinated them with our new shower curtain too, so as soon as we get those hung up this weekend, we'll really be styling! Who knew being so domestic could be so fun?

Speaking of Fiance, he got an amazing job here that he absolutely LOVES and has taken to like a fish in water. I am so happy for him that he found something he's really good at and enjoys going to every day. I know it's only been a month, but I have such high hopes for him in this position :)

As for me, it's been great being back on the mainland! I have started singing again (THANK GOODNESS) and have found a great teacher at ASU. I have my 2nd lesson this evening and I am so excited. It feels good to get back to something so important. It's sad I didn't have an outlet for 2 years, but I am so happy I have it back now.

As for the wedding, we're looking at churches when fiance comes home for the weekend when I'm in Cincy in August, so hopefully we'll start planning then. I'm in no rush though, there's plenty of things that are keeping my attention right now! But, more on that to come in August I'm sure ;) Hope all of you are doing well, readers, and I hope to be writing more as things settle down here in the valley! Adios for now!

long needed update

Wow! It's been super long since I updated!! Not too much has been going on around here to update on I guess. We did get to go to the Jimmy Buffett concert at the Waikiki Shell last weekend which was pretty awesome. I swear I had a contact high going on though from all the "cigarettes" present that night. I didn't actually see any, but man could I smell them. Every time the wind blew I felt light headed! The concert was pretty good, although I wish he wouldn't have played quite so many new songs. When you go to a concert, you want to hear things you can sing along to, right?!

I'm pretty excited for this weekend though. We're going to see the All American Rejects at the Pipeline Cafe. Woo! I just love them. Their music is amazing, so I am very pumped to hear them play as well.

I know many people have been wondering (although I don't think many actually read my blog) as to where Fiance and I are headed when we move. Still no word on that. The poor guy though has basically been working 3 jobs the past few weeks though trying to impress the two companies who are recruiting him while still having his Army duties. I just can't wait until he has an offer and all this is behind us. The stress is mounting people. I wish there was something I could do to help him, but it's really up to him now. Of course I give him pep talks and iron his nice clothes and give him back massages when he gets home, but that's about all I can do. So please God, give us an answer soon! Thanks!

Taken

Fiance and I have a very awesome and unique movie going policy, in my opinion. We take turns picking the movie so we both know we'll like at least 50% of the movies we see together. That is not so unique. Many couples do this, or at least try to. But, where our awesome-ness comes in is at the ticket office. Whoever picks the movie has to pay for it. That way, the other person can't complain about it saying they wasted their money on a "chick flick" (sorry, money is NEVER wasted on a chick flick! ;) ).

That's the reason that this weekend I'll likely be forced to see Friday the 13th... as if the first 25 installments weren't enough... ( I don't actually know how many there were, only that it was more than 10... enough already!!) But, I can't complain because Andy did go see Twilight with me (and didn't even complain that I got starry-eyed over Edward Cullen).

Every once in a while though, there comes that movie that BOTH of us want to see so there comes the dilemma of "who gives up a movie pick to choose one that they know they other person would pick next time anyway".

That happened this weekend. I DID want to see He's Just Not That Into You, but something inside me told me that one would be more fun to see with girlfriends (Any thoughts? Would guys like this movie? Or should I just wait till I can go with the gal pals?) Anyway, the other movie I wanted to see was Taken. It hasn't been played up that much in the media, but DAMN is that a good movie! I was on the edge of my seat practically the entire movie.

Liam Neeson is a badass.

I know, Liam Neeson? But yes, he is a total badass. If you like thrillers (not horror!) but intense, suspense dramatic thrillers, this movie is for you. It was amazing. And terrifying. I loved it. So, I lost my movie pick and now Fiance gets to drag me to a gory horror film, but when it gets too bad, I'll just think back on my pick and know that it was all worth it.

the waiting game

Fiance comes home tomorrow! I haven't seen him in a week! 2 years ago I would have been telling myself to shut up, a week is nothing, but there you have it, it's only been a week and I really miss him, obviously! But, he's been away securing our future so to speak. He's had a series of interviews this week following the conference last month, so hopefully soon we'll have it nailed down where we're going and what he's going to be doing!

It's exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time! Right now, the most LIKELY places we are going to end up in are either Michigan or Arizona. Both places have their advantages and disadvantages, but really it's going to come down to the job, not the location! There's still a slim chance for boston and another for sacremento, but I'm most likely MI or AZ bound!

This weeked was pretty awesome though, even though fiance was gone. My parents friends, the Weidners, were in town and we had a lot of fun! I got to drive them around town all day Saturday and do some of the touristy things I hadn't gotten to do in a while which is always fun :). We went to Pearl Harbor, Pali Lookout and the Marine base at K-Bay where we got a private little tour from the head honcho, Col. Rice as well! (Apparently they knew his brother or something so he met us and gave us a tour! It was pretty awesome. )

Did you know the island they filmed the opening scene to Gilligan's island was here? No? Neither did I! But I learned that this weekend! How cool. Shopping at the International Marketplace rounded out the day (where I bought a fabulous new dress and hair clippies) followed by dinner at Gordon Biersch. Yum yum!

However, Sunday was the best. Mr. W. is an NFL ref and was officiating the Pro Bowl, so they got me an extra ticket and I got to go! The seats were amazing, and I got to be outside and in the shade all day! The game was really good too! The AFC lost, but Eli Manning won, so it all worked out in the end ;) Go Eli!

Anyway, that's all that's new here. Just waiting for tomorrow when Andy gets home! That reminds me... I better clean the apartment tonight... when he's not around, there's just no motivation to make the apt look nice hahaha. Until next time!

a vacation that's not a vacation!

Well, the last week has been super stressful, but in an amazing way! Austin was so educational. And I don't mean the city haha. I spent almost 6 days there and never left the hotel. I did not get to have a good Texas steak, nor did I spend ANY time on the famed 6th street (famed because the 1 person I know from there told me it was awesome..). I spent 6 days working harder than ALL my finals weeks in college COMBINED. And it wasn't even for me!

Fiance had NINE interviews in the span of 36 hours. WOWEE. So the first two days we were there we studied like I have never crammed before. Plus, we had about 12-15 hours of seminars to go to. I now know more about medical sales than I ever thought possible, or ever wanted to know.

However, I ALSO know more about interviewing than I ever cared to know, and I must say, how the hell did I ever get a job?! In my interviews out of college I did and said everything they told us not to. No wonder it took me 6 months to find a job. But, hey, now I have those skills if and when I need them again, so yay that's a plus.

The question of the move has not been answered thus far. Out of those 9 companies, 5 want to follow up with him, and the openings range from LA to Boston... from Phoenix to Detroit, from Charleston to Houston. So yeah... I still have no idea where we'll end up. Although, fiance does have 2 follow ups already scheduled for next week, so perhaps within the next 2 or 3 we'll know!

This past week was rough, but it felt really good that he wanted me to be as involved in the process as possible. And it felt really good that he relied on me so much last week, and that I was actually able to keep him organized and motivated! It feels good to be part of a team :)

tomorrow is only a day away

Tomorrow we leave for TX! I am getting so nervous. And I'm not even nervous for me! It's cool being nervous for someone else. You know you care about them so much that their feelings mean more to you than yours.

But at the same time, being nervous for someone else sucks because there is no way you can control the outcome. I wish I could do all those interviews for him because then I would be protecting him from any discomfort or unpleasantness. Although, I know he's much better at interviews than I am and I don't have to worry, so it's good that he's doing this himself haha. I get all tongue-tied and sound rather inarticulate at times.

I'm also nervous because we will find out what positions/locations/companies he is interviewing for... locations being the most important one there. Now that we're engaged, location is a huge factor. It's part of the reason we haven't really started planning our wedding.

It is almost impossible to plan such a huge event in your life when you don't even know where you'll be! If we're going to be close to home, we can set any date we want. If we're going to be far away (although anywhere in the US is closer than where we are now... except maybe alaska... ugh!) then we have to be more selective in the date choosing process.

But either way, it will be a weight lifted... no, more like a veil lifted... once we find out. There will finally be a definite future. Something we can plan for. Like home hunting, job searching, activity planning! It's an exciting time in our lives and I can't wait until we know for sure! We just have to get through the next 7 days (and then the next 3 weeks of follow up interviews) and hopefully we'll have a future home-base! I'll definitely keep you posted :)

getting closer

So, one week from Thursday, finace and I leave for Austin. We'll be there for about a week, although we probably will only see the airport, the hotel, and maybe one nice restaurant. Why? Fiance has several (8-10) job interviews at this conference we are going to, and my role in the week is to keep him focused, organized and prepared for each interview he goes on. I have been told by the recruiters he's working with that I'll probably be busier than he is while we're there.

I'm actually really excited by this. It makes our whole future together more "our decision" than just "his decision that I follow" which is how it has been for the last 4 years. And don't get me wrong, I don't resent that or anything because let's face it, in the Army, his decision wasn't really his decision either. It was Uncle Sam's, and we both had to follow it blindly.

But now, I know I'm finally going to have some input. I can tell him which opportunities I think are the best for us, and I also get a say in our location! I mean I know the decision is ultimately up to him, but now that we're getting married, I KNOW that what I think and feel about these jobs really truly matters to him. And I've always known that, but it's nice to be certain and to have that sense of stability, especially in these unstable times for us!

Our last night there though, after all the interviews are done and we can both let out a huge breath, we're going to go have a nice dinner and a drink or two. Anyone know of a good restaurant in Austin? Particularly good steak? I hear Texas is famous for that ;) We'll need a good meal after the stressful, but exciting week we're going to have, especially since the next 3 weeks of waiting are going to be just as stressful, and exciting!

Yay for taking steps in a new direction :)

2009 is devine :)

Wow, so it's been a long time since I've posted! I noticed that when I was in Ohio, I was so busy running around trying to be everywhere at once, that I just did not have time to sit down and blog! There was so much that happened too!

The most important thing that happened, which I'm sure most or all of you (my whole 3 readers haha) know is that BF finally proposed!!! I suppose now I will have to call him Fiance in this blog :) I could just call him by his name, but I like having a little bit of anonymity (is that how you spell that?) for any people who don't know me that come across this blog. No offense to you unknown readers, but if you really want to know, just ask ;)

But yes, it FINALLY HAPPENED!!!! I'm so excited I could burst!! I don't think I've had as many phone calls in my life than I've gotten over the past two days of well wishers and congratulators, and I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart for being so genuinely happy for me. Because I have been dreaming about this for oh so long and it's finally happened! :)

Fiance and I were talking last night (well, I was talking and he was laughing at me a little) about certain details and I was saying that I was trying to find pictures of this one church I absolutely LOVE and he was laughing at me like "We've been engaged two days and you're already picking out churches?" And I told him "Well, I've been thinking about this a LOT longer than the past 2 days!" He just couldn't believe how different guys and girls are. Like, he couldn't believe that I'd been thinking about where/when/what it would look like for approximately the last 3 years. I may have scared him a bit by this revelation, but he's stuck with me now ;)

Actually I think he thought it was kind of cute, so that's good. Anyway, I'll post again later about the proposal and how it all went down in case you don't already know and keep you all posted about any wedding plans we make! Although I doubt it will be for a while, but I'll still keep you all posted!

I'm getting married :)