Another day in Alaska!

I just got back from a week in the Big D!  I loved being surrounded by the wonderful things in life. Pottery Barn. J Crew. Chik Fil A. DSW. Family, friends and Real Sangria.

 Have you had this stuff? It's pretty awesome for being straight out of the bottle. Add a little fruit. Perfect for a girls night! 

Even though Alaska has only been "home" for one month, home is truly where the heart is. I missed this place! I do not miss sweating in Dallas, walking to and from the car. I did not miss traffic. It was nice to be back in the office... But only for a week! The more I think about it, the more awesome working from home is. No alarm. No commute. No business casual. My type of casual is Nike shorts and one of The Pilot's shirts.

The Pilot is on vacation with his other wife, Kiowa. They took a quick trip to the mountains. Me, jealous? Absolutely. I haven't seen that handsome fella in two weeks!  This is the longest we've been apart since the day we said "I do" -- I'd like to consider this practice for what's comin'!

I got to pick Riley up from her slumber party when I got back...  (slumber party = boarding) She did well and I would like to directly attribute that to her daily YAPPY HOURS.  Frozen yogurt with dog treats. She's been a big snuggler and I will take every minute of it!  In other news, I got my first official winter coat fit for the Arctic. Hello, Winter White.

Dear My-New-Best-Friend: Please do not get dirty in the slush that is to come. I look forward to wearing you for the 6 months that is winter.

Over.Due.

AND I'M BACK (for you, Courtney)!

After 5,023 miles on the Honda, 14 hotel rooms, 2 nights in a tent, uncountable cups of non-fat Chai tea lattes and bathroom breaks and a herd of wild buffalo... We've made it to Alaska! Home, Sweet Home.

Road trip of a lifetime? Check. The Pilot and I were able to see such amazing things! 10 states, 3 Canadian Providences. We camped in the Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone, saw Old Faithful, beautiful lakes and mountains, ate fresh cherries. And, this is the the best part: CANADA SELLS MINI-CADBURY EGGS YEAR ROUND. Why didn't I buy a year supply? Eggcellent question. I should have.

We are trying to cherish the last bit of summer we have left. The weather here has been beautiful! Not too hot, not too cold. We have a short transition until snow fall Predicted before Halloween. Excuse me, what? Moving on. We've met good people and we are hoping to find a church ASAP (we've researched our options).

As of now, we're sharing a car and living in a "temporary" house. We are hoping to get a house on post before winter hits! We have a two bedroom, one bath apartment in downtown Fairbanks. It's in such charming area with wonderful restaurants and shops, not to mention next to a river! Minor downfall. Upstairs neighbors, very loud. No oven, I can't bake. This place has a lot of character and potential. I could see it on HGTV one day... But we're still living in the "before" -- card table with two lawn chairs. Bonus: the lawn chairs have cup holders. Air mattress.

I'm thankful that The Pilot and I are both optimistic about being in a new place, doing new things, meeting new people! There have been lots of changes, but we still have eachother. I am slowly learning that is what marriage is all about. Many more Arctic posts to come!

So little time, so much to do!

Sweet Jesus! So little time, so much to do. First things first, I can't stand when people brag about how busy they may be. I just think, "Oh, am I supposed to be jealous you're running around like a wild child?" No. That could be a whole different post in and of itself... Why do people have a need to make themselves seem busy? I don't understand it. With that being said--


Disclaimer: I am not complaining about how busy I am. Nor am I trying to make myself seem cool. I am simply sharing my story...


Moving is rough. I moved a lot as a child, but there was nothing to take care of except for ensuring I had my Game Boy and CD player in the back seat. Anyway, as an adult, doing all the planning... Sweet Jesus, again! The movers should be here to ship us out on the 28th! How can I not be a micro manager? No one likes a micro manager.


The Pilot and I had the opportunity to go have dinner with a couple from our church = they. are. awesome. We've sat by this couple for 8 months now, got to talkin' and we clicked immediately. This couple is exactly how The Pilot and I will be in 20 years. Sure, they have kids our age... But these two are incredible! You can see how much they love each other and Jesus. I am crushed that we're leaving in a week and a half. I want a mentor couple so bad, bah. We may be back in LA (lower 'bama) in a few years and I hope with my whole heart this couple will be around. It's encouraging to see a couple who has survived the moves, deployments, children, army life, etc.


Ok, on to the updates. This week we're getting our car's ready for the drive (mine to Dallas, The Pilot's to AK). Not to mention looking for a car... Tracking down my passport so I can get into Canada! Getting the Monster a physical to cross the border. The in-law's are coming to town (major cleaning is in order). The Pilot gets his wings on Thursday! We move to the last frontier in 9 days. Nine. Holy cow...

Life Update (in Numbers)

The Pilot's grad date got bumped up TWO weeks. We're moving early :)

We are # SEVENTY-ONE on the housing wait-list. Our future home could look a little something like this in TEN to TWELVE months.

Today is our EIGHT month anniversary.

The whole "move process" with the Army has moved on-line. It's a mess. The website tells you to go to the office, the office tells you to go to the website. It's a zoo. There is a HUGE to-do list before you move (I love lists -- The Army has not created a to-do list for the process, so I have created one for us -- but, why is there no list? Everyone has to follow this process... I'll stop before I cannot control myself) After several terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad visits, The Pilot complained.

Somehow everyone in the Transpo office knew. Doesn't help that The Pilot's name is on his handsome uni. So, knowing we complained... The employees were either really nice or really rude. One sweet lady did not know what to do, and asked her co-worker what time the Alaska office would be open (FOUR hour time difference). Her co-worker responded "I know who's asking, and I am not helping." Really? Is this Mean Girls? It gets better...

The Pilot and I are pretty positive this pleasant person goes to our church. I think it will go something like this Sunday morning... "Oh, Hi! You work in the Transpo office, don't you?" She'll respond with a yes. "We thought we recognized you. We are The McDonald's, and we're moving to Alaska. Small world seeing you here." I hope that a fiery conviction falls upon her and we'll let the Big Man take it from there.

I may have gained FIVE pounds from this wonderful dip:

• 2 Packs of Cream Cheese, softened (Use reduced fat if you only want to gain THREE pounds)
• 1 cup Swiss Cheese, grated
• 1 cup mayo (again, you can use light)
• 1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled (turkey bacon could work, but let's be honest... there is no good substitute for the real thing)
• 1 bunch of green onions

Mix ALL ingredients together in oven safe bowl. Cover with foil. Bake for 45 mins at 375*

Decisions, Decisions... This may be a long one.

I continue to struggle about what to do with my job. I worked up the courage and tried to give my notice to my boss, and he said something along the lines of let's see where this goes... I am thinking, what?? I just tried to quit. Again, what?? My mom mentioned that maybe God wants me to stay where I am if that is the way the situation played out. Geeze, I need to pray more.

I was able to talk with another Army wife (who happens to be a Baylor Pi Phi -- doesn't get any better than that) who is in the exact same boat! Who would've thought? My friend is working from home at Ft. Hood but when her husband deploys in Sept, her office wants her to move back to NYC. Talking with her helped to put a few things in perspective. So, this is me venting...

Pros:

• The company I work for is so accommodating. It's a huge organization that has the resources to support long distance and the long term experience will look great on a resume.
• I could move home and save money while The Pilot is doing raising hell over there. Not to mention that I could still have a solid income too. $$
• I'd be close to my family!
• I would not have to kiss my flip-flops and Nike shorts goodbye :)
• It's safe. I tend to pick the safe options.

Cons:

• If I worked from home in AK, Lord knows it would take a miracle to get me out of the house in the winter. If I got a new job, I could get out of the house and meet people.
• If I moved back home, I would have to pack up and move our house into storage (The Pilot deserves a home that's put together) and get me and Monster back to TX.
• In HR, our busy time is open enrollment where I basically travel for Oct/Nov. I mentioned that since The Pilot would getting ready to leave for Iraq, I wouldn't travel... I don't think that is fair to my co-workers.
• What if The Pilot gets to come home early (for the good or the bad). I would feel awful if we (Riley and myself) did not have a place for him to come home to.
• If I stay in AK, I'll be close to other wives going through the same thing (FRG). Closer to the info about the unit.
• It's risky! I am not a risky person.

Just to name a few... So many other thoughts running through my head.

*Army vocab

FRG: Family Readiness Group

Brookie.

What's a Brookie? Wouldn't you like to know...

One thing you'll learn about me is that I love combos. Specifically, I love combos as they relate to food. Peanuts and M&Ms (peanut M&Ms just don't do it). Sour Patch Kids and popcorn. The list goes on. But a Brookie? A brownie and a cookie? Seriously? Yes.

I found this wonderful little blog, Bakerella. Which lead me to this wonderful recipe, and fell in love. These are too easy to make and have simple ingredients. I can't explain it, but they lasted about a week and seemed to only get better! The Pilot even liked them... Try 'em. You won't be disappointed.

Bama Jam & AK brief

BAMA JAM IS HERE!

This is one of the huge (and by huge, I mean only) event to look forward to! It is a 3-day red neck music festival in a peanut field. Lucky for me, girls are in town for it! So glad, because The Pilot is on nights (meaning he goes to work at night). For the next three days, I will be watching Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown Band, Miranda Lambert, Train, Hank Williams Jr, DIERKS (I got the clear from The Pilot that it is ok to make out with a rock star), Jake Owen, Robert Earl Keen, Stoney Larue, and the list goes on... Trying to love sun as long as possible. Vacation day? Check.

In other news, we got to go to a briefing to learn more about Alaska. I mean, where to start... It is a fact that The Pilot will see bears while he is flying. You might get a fox or a moose in your front yard, so check outside before you let your kids or dog out. Hey neighbor.

They started off by talking about how AK is the biggest state blah.blah.blah... But most of it is not live-able because of the climate? That's encouraging. Winter can last from Sept to April. Snow could fall as early as July. They also went over all kinds of stuff you can catch in the cold, I've never heard of half of it besides frost bite.

Trying my best to focus on the fact that God won't give us anything we can't handle. It will absolutely be an adventure and I know we will be making incredible newly-wed memories out there... I am thankful I have the man of my dreams beside me as we start this new journey (and I mean journey... we're driving from AL to AK and seeing all the good stuff in between).