Today being Sunday I feel super relaxed and happy to be taking things slow. It has been more than busy at the Kennedy house lately, and so this quietness is a welcome change of pace, especially with both of the boys sleeping at the moment. All the thoughts bouncing around in my head are beginning to settle down, and I am finally thinking that the summer state of mind has arrived. To top things off, I had an amazing Thai lunch with a friend after church, and have cheese soup in the crockpot for tonight- yummy things are ahead indeed, and to that note here is a quick recap of our week:
Last weekend Dereck competed in his first triathlon. Most people train years or months to get ready for something as grueling and taxing as swimming, running, and biking altogether in one race. But not Dereck, that's not his style. Dereck and his friend decided two weeks before the race to enter, and so last Saturday I found myself standing out in the freezing rain watching over 200 people in wetsuits start the tri. I somehow convinced my friend Scarlett to join in the cheering fun, and so we stood among the crowd of spectators for almost two hours while competitors swam half a mile, biked 15 miles, and then ran 5 kilometers- not a race for the weak-hearted. In my infinite wisdom of the NW I also made a poster for Dereck and some of my other friends that were competing, and did it with a combo of Sharpie and other random markers. Within the first ten minutes select parts not done in Sharpie were oozing down the posterboard, and I soon found myself with rainbow hands if I didn't pay attention. The whole race was impressive to watch, especially the transition areas where people would run slipping off their wetsuits and later pop off their bikes to get their running shoes on. The thing that most impressed me though were the racers who could slip out of their bike shoes, leave them in the bike clips, and run barefoot to the transition point- it added just the right polish of being someone who knows what their doing. The first finisher in the elite category came in at 1:04, and Dereck came in at 1:19, earning him a 3rd place medal for his age group. Beyond the complete lack of training, the other thing that made this all so impressive was that Dereck did that well while changing out of a swimsuit and into biking shorts, something most triathletes skip. I am incredibly proud of him, and can tell that he was excited about the finish from his huge smile and energy to talk. In fact, I don't know if I have ever seen him that social with complete strangers! After the victory of the morning, Dereck, Scarlett, and I went to Panera for a huge lunch of warm sandwhiches and soups. Then, to round out the day, Dereck and I picked up our new loveseat and moved it into the living room, making the space finally look complete. We are blessed to have even got the loveseat since we decided to not buy it at the same time as when we got the sofa, and four weeks ago when we went back to purchase, it was nowhere to be seen on the show floor. We quickly talked to an employee in panic that it was no longer for sale, and were fortunate to ask about it only a day after someone else had placed an order for the exact same piece. This meant that our order got added to the other one, and we would not be destined to eternally mismatched furniture. The Army does that enough in the frequent moves, so we have decided to have at least one house where everything is together, matching, and not broken or scratched beyond recognition. It's temporary, we know, but let us entertain the fantasy it will always be like this, if only for a bit.
Saturday night Dereck and I celebrated our six month anniversary at a local restaurant in Steilacoom called "Le Creme Brulee." Seeing each other dressed nicely was great enough, but when you add that amazing dinner, it became one of my favorite nights here at Lewis. The restaurant is owned and operated by two French men who spoke broken English and French even when I mentioned I only know German. This left us laughing a ton, both sides getting confused at different points, and a dinner I thought existed only in dreams. We started with creamy tomato soups, moved on to Beef Bouillon and Filet Mignon, and ended the evening with, what else? Creme Brulee. Typing that very word makes me think back and I have to work to keep from drooling on the keyboard. I would sell my puppy for more of the tasty custard and caramelized sugar, or maybe even Dereck.....it was that good. We also had a beautiful red wine paired with the meal that made everything all the more enjoyable and smooth- and this is coming from a proud drinker of white wines when given choice. All in all, between the great company and conversation, food, and atmosphere, I could not ask for a better anniversary. Perhaps I will stick around for more anniversaries, but only if they promise food this good!
The work week picked up as normal after a relaxing Sunday, and after I kicked Dereck out the door for work, I would like to say I got down to my own. Instead I went to a spin class, ran laundry, got allergy shots, and connected with friends. I like to balance the play and work citing my mental health as defense. I wouldn't fit my clothes without exercise, couldn't wear them if they were all dirty, and couldn't work if I had an allergic reaction to something. So really, if you look at it that way, I was preparing myself for work the whole day! Tuesday the sun came out of a two week hiding routine, and it was glorious. I mean the glorious type of day where you want nothing more than to spend every single second outside, and the twenty degree rise in temp. didn't hurt either. After going to personal training in the morning, I spent the afternoon with my friend Jackie drinking smoothies and walking around the lake before heading to cross country and track practice with the little kids. The sun still felt good enough in the afternoon to lay on the astro turf of the track and praise God for the remission of the NW weather, for however long He chose. Then I got home and made a chicken casserole for dinner, and while I thought it was pretty tasty, it got to Dereck in all the wrong ways, and even today he is recovering somewhat from what looks to be food poisoning. Ahhhhh, it only took me six months to do him in!
I am proud to say that, past the procrastination and food poisoning at the beginning of the week, things got progressively better. Wednesday night I attended an AUSA (Assoc. of the US Army) meeting for work and got to meet some big movers and shakers in the local Army community. The meeting turned out to be much more enjoyable than I guessed, and when the good company was paired with strong public speakers I felt motivated to help the cause and support the Army, which is a good thing considering I am married into it. The best part? The age gap from myself to the next person was a good 10-15 years, so I was something of a novelty, and that all the more helped in my marketing for work. Call it a ploy if you will. Friday I spent the majority of the day moving around town with my boss, and that meant I learned about a ton of new places to visit. Locals are the best when trying to get a tap on places to go beyond the normal scope of Army life. For example, I learned about a local micro-brewery in Puyallup that used to be the power station for area trains, and it apparently has some of the best beers and burgers in town- I am pumped to try it out! Saturday morning Dereck and I woke up late- a first in the last month, and headed to the Original Pancake House. I love pancakes, and had a major craving. We spent our time there laughing, talking, and drinking coffee to get ready for the day. I then split off to a Beth Moore bible study with friends, and Dereck tackled our yard- no small feat given the number of pine cones alone that needed raking. The monster trees of the NW are awesome until they drop pinecones everywhere and continually put sticky sap on your dog. The day rounded out with dinner and a puppy walk before crashing on the couch to watch a little TV before bedtime, which leads us to today, with me back from church, Dereck back from work (he had to go in this morning), and Ritter beginning to chew on one of Dereck's socks. I should probably stop and get the sock from him, but sometimes you just need to let things slide, and I am feeling a slide coming on!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Millersylvania Bound
I am currently sitting at that beautiful point in the week where we are on the cusp of entering the weekend, and cars are slowly starting to fill our street as people finish up their work week. This is then made even better because of the fact that I got to talk today with Erin and Katie (two of my Madison girls) and catch up on life. And to that end, all I have to say is that we are all going a million miles an hour in different and very interesting directions. Between marriages and grad schools we are beginning to spread across the country, and now I have to start convincing people to fly all the way out to Seattle for a visit. So, if you are looking to rack up some major frequent flier miles, start heading this way, especially all you East-coasters- there is a lot of country in-between! I am also pumped at the simple fact that I am typing in peace thanks to Ritter playing outside in the yard. Dereck has been digging in one area to lay bricks down, and Ritter is having a field day playing in the soft dirt and looking for roots and other various items to eat. He will probably need a bath in the end, but the few moments of quiet solitude at the moment are well worth it. Maybe I'll wait until Dereck gets home and then stick him with the bathing....hmmm.....
After the last blog, Dereck and I went to an FRG meeting (Family Readiness Group) for a fundraiser. FRGs are the Army's answer to deployments, and they provide a one-stop shop for any answers, training, and support a family might need before, during, and after a deployment. Every FRG runs differently depending on the unit, and some like to raise funds for events that support families, like movie nights, pizza nights, etc. We are in a fundraising-type FRG, and so last week Dereck and I headed to a pie-your-leader bonanza. At first I thought people were simply paying to pie their boss like you would at a typical carnival, but being the Army, this had a twist. Pies were up for bid, and then those pies were worth specific prizes, like a day off of PT (physical training) or a week of using your boss's parking spot. This made the whole pie auction twenty times more fun as people went crazy trying to win pies for certain bosses or prizes. Most every leader got pied, and when Dereck had somehow escaped the whole night without a bit of damage, he got attacked by two friends who covered him in pie parts that had already been smeared on them. The best part about the pies? These were no simple pies of whip cream and cherries. These pies had beans, horseradish, sardines, chili peppers, and several other ingredients that made them smell like hot garbage melting in the summer sun. Needless to say, Dereck got pretty well covered, and we had to ride home with the windows down while he sat on a garbage bag. Even now I can almost smell the stench that permeated the whole room by the end of the FRG meeting. What a way to make money! What a stinky mess of clothing to wash!
From there, our week fell back into its normal routine, with Dereck going to work and me coaching track and cross country on Thursday after getting a Fitness Assessment in the morning. A few weeks back, I met a trainer named Rich who works at one of the gyms on post, and I asked him about how I could start doing his workouts. He informed me that I needed to first get a fitness assessment that shows the Army I am not going to die of a heart-attack while working out. So, I had the pleasure of riding a bike hooked up to a computer- result: good, taking a test for flexibility- result: bad, and answering some questions about my lifestyle- result: need to eat more veggies. Then, after receiving my clean bill of health, I headed over to the gym, met with Rich, and then got scheduled into one of his workout groups, and I was pumped to say the least. Friday, I worked in the kennel office all day and had the pleasure of making a new brochure with updated info. Working on Publisher on Windows is no easy task when I have become accustomed to using my Mac and its Leopard OS, but I pushed through and had a new product in a matter of hours. I also met some interesting people while at the front counter, and I got to know the staff better, so I call that a win-win. At the end of the day Ritter and I headed home for some relaxation before Dereck got there, and then we kicked off the weekend in grand style by going out for dinner.
While at dinner we talked about what we wanted to do over the weekend, and all I knew was that I needed to get away from the house. It wasn't so much that I was getting cabin-fever, as I needed a change of pace. So, we brainstormed day trips that were feasible with Ritter in the mix- darn those responsibilities- and this pretty much then boiled down to a couple of options that included camping. Camping in the NW can be a tricky thing given the propensity to rain and cold temperatures, but we hit the jackpot on weather last weekend, and decided to brave the elements. Saturday morning Dereck ran a road race in Tacoma with his Army unit, and I went on a fantastic bike ride before we got together and began packing for the camping trip. Soon enough we had all the equipment we figured might be needed over the weekend, loaded the truck, and hit the road. We are lucky enough to have several state parks near us that take pets, so the trip to the campsite took a whole 45min, and we were setting up in no time. Our campground was called "Millersylvania," like Pennsylvania, but with Miller. Dereck and I both decided this was a Dracula-esque sounding campground and therefore decided the campground has to be haunted. Millersylvania is way too creepy sounding to not have some type of horror stories! Alas, we saw no ghosts, werewolves, or scary creatures to support our theory, but I still remain a believer. Before we went camping I had this grand idea that Ritter would be a good puppy and sit and watch us while we worked, but that was just a short-lived dream. In reality, Ritter wanted to run around like a maniac and sniff everything that was and wasn't moving, so Dereck ended up setting up our entire campsite himself while I held Ritter on his leash and he terrorized the park. After setting up camp, we went on a short hike and then ran to the grocery store for key camping foods, like hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, soda, and the ever popular s'more makings. Once we got back we met our camping neighbors that were interesting, to say the least. They looked nice enough, but our suspicions were confirmed true when they stayed up the entire night drinking and yelling curse words at one another. Luckily, we had a great dinner and time around the campfire (props to Dereck and his mad fire-making skills here) before the craziness stirred up, and we fell asleep in no time with Ritter next to us on his little blue blanket. In the nighttime though I woke up to Ritter in-between us and snuggled beneath the covers. He must have gotten lonely and cold on his little blanket and decided that we looked much more cozy at some point and then made himself at home. In the morning we had a delicious meal of pancakes before setting out to hike one more time, and made it home around 3 or 4pm. Between the madness Ritter liked chewing on firewood and barking at little kids, so all in all I call the trip a success, especially considering how late we planned it all. I think every Kennedy was satisfied on the way home.
The rest of the weekend went smoothly as we watched World Cup soccer and played with Ritter before kicking up this week. Monday Dereck got swamped with work, so I ended up going to small group alone, but still had a fantastic time with our new church family, and I have to admit that it feels mighty nice to be planted finally. For the first time I am beginning to feel like we really live and are settled (till the Army says go) in Washington. Tuesday I had my first workout with my new trainer Rich, and I am still a little sore even today from all the ways he kicked my butt. I went in thinking it would be hard, but also giving myself more credit for being in shape than I deserved, and that quickly turned out to be a bad idea. I had a great time, and left there feeling very well worked out. Rich really made me work on lateral (side to side) movements, something I am super weak in as a runner, and that's where I learned how much I have to work on. I am excited to see what types of torture he has in store for me this next week, and am sure that I will have more tales of pain to tell in future blogs. Tuesday I also got to help my neighbor whose husband is deployed, as she pulled her back and was stranded on her couch. I was more than happy to get her to the doctor and Walgreens after seeing how much pain she was in, and since then I have had the opportunity to feed her my horrible cooking and to buy her groceries. All I can think is, "how could I not help?" She is living alone and far away from family, and that is one prime example of why the Army helps you make such powerful friends. When you have no one you know and love anywhere near, it is all the more important to build family wherever possible. We even have a woman in our bible study small group who lost her husband six months ago in Afghanistan, and when I see the family that she has created around herself here it makes me feel all the better for when Dereck heads out. It gives more hope and comfort that my Army family will watch out for me.
After the last blog, Dereck and I went to an FRG meeting (Family Readiness Group) for a fundraiser. FRGs are the Army's answer to deployments, and they provide a one-stop shop for any answers, training, and support a family might need before, during, and after a deployment. Every FRG runs differently depending on the unit, and some like to raise funds for events that support families, like movie nights, pizza nights, etc. We are in a fundraising-type FRG, and so last week Dereck and I headed to a pie-your-leader bonanza. At first I thought people were simply paying to pie their boss like you would at a typical carnival, but being the Army, this had a twist. Pies were up for bid, and then those pies were worth specific prizes, like a day off of PT (physical training) or a week of using your boss's parking spot. This made the whole pie auction twenty times more fun as people went crazy trying to win pies for certain bosses or prizes. Most every leader got pied, and when Dereck had somehow escaped the whole night without a bit of damage, he got attacked by two friends who covered him in pie parts that had already been smeared on them. The best part about the pies? These were no simple pies of whip cream and cherries. These pies had beans, horseradish, sardines, chili peppers, and several other ingredients that made them smell like hot garbage melting in the summer sun. Needless to say, Dereck got pretty well covered, and we had to ride home with the windows down while he sat on a garbage bag. Even now I can almost smell the stench that permeated the whole room by the end of the FRG meeting. What a way to make money! What a stinky mess of clothing to wash!
From there, our week fell back into its normal routine, with Dereck going to work and me coaching track and cross country on Thursday after getting a Fitness Assessment in the morning. A few weeks back, I met a trainer named Rich who works at one of the gyms on post, and I asked him about how I could start doing his workouts. He informed me that I needed to first get a fitness assessment that shows the Army I am not going to die of a heart-attack while working out. So, I had the pleasure of riding a bike hooked up to a computer- result: good, taking a test for flexibility- result: bad, and answering some questions about my lifestyle- result: need to eat more veggies. Then, after receiving my clean bill of health, I headed over to the gym, met with Rich, and then got scheduled into one of his workout groups, and I was pumped to say the least. Friday, I worked in the kennel office all day and had the pleasure of making a new brochure with updated info. Working on Publisher on Windows is no easy task when I have become accustomed to using my Mac and its Leopard OS, but I pushed through and had a new product in a matter of hours. I also met some interesting people while at the front counter, and I got to know the staff better, so I call that a win-win. At the end of the day Ritter and I headed home for some relaxation before Dereck got there, and then we kicked off the weekend in grand style by going out for dinner.
While at dinner we talked about what we wanted to do over the weekend, and all I knew was that I needed to get away from the house. It wasn't so much that I was getting cabin-fever, as I needed a change of pace. So, we brainstormed day trips that were feasible with Ritter in the mix- darn those responsibilities- and this pretty much then boiled down to a couple of options that included camping. Camping in the NW can be a tricky thing given the propensity to rain and cold temperatures, but we hit the jackpot on weather last weekend, and decided to brave the elements. Saturday morning Dereck ran a road race in Tacoma with his Army unit, and I went on a fantastic bike ride before we got together and began packing for the camping trip. Soon enough we had all the equipment we figured might be needed over the weekend, loaded the truck, and hit the road. We are lucky enough to have several state parks near us that take pets, so the trip to the campsite took a whole 45min, and we were setting up in no time. Our campground was called "Millersylvania," like Pennsylvania, but with Miller. Dereck and I both decided this was a Dracula-esque sounding campground and therefore decided the campground has to be haunted. Millersylvania is way too creepy sounding to not have some type of horror stories! Alas, we saw no ghosts, werewolves, or scary creatures to support our theory, but I still remain a believer. Before we went camping I had this grand idea that Ritter would be a good puppy and sit and watch us while we worked, but that was just a short-lived dream. In reality, Ritter wanted to run around like a maniac and sniff everything that was and wasn't moving, so Dereck ended up setting up our entire campsite himself while I held Ritter on his leash and he terrorized the park. After setting up camp, we went on a short hike and then ran to the grocery store for key camping foods, like hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, soda, and the ever popular s'more makings. Once we got back we met our camping neighbors that were interesting, to say the least. They looked nice enough, but our suspicions were confirmed true when they stayed up the entire night drinking and yelling curse words at one another. Luckily, we had a great dinner and time around the campfire (props to Dereck and his mad fire-making skills here) before the craziness stirred up, and we fell asleep in no time with Ritter next to us on his little blue blanket. In the nighttime though I woke up to Ritter in-between us and snuggled beneath the covers. He must have gotten lonely and cold on his little blanket and decided that we looked much more cozy at some point and then made himself at home. In the morning we had a delicious meal of pancakes before setting out to hike one more time, and made it home around 3 or 4pm. Between the madness Ritter liked chewing on firewood and barking at little kids, so all in all I call the trip a success, especially considering how late we planned it all. I think every Kennedy was satisfied on the way home.
The rest of the weekend went smoothly as we watched World Cup soccer and played with Ritter before kicking up this week. Monday Dereck got swamped with work, so I ended up going to small group alone, but still had a fantastic time with our new church family, and I have to admit that it feels mighty nice to be planted finally. For the first time I am beginning to feel like we really live and are settled (till the Army says go) in Washington. Tuesday I had my first workout with my new trainer Rich, and I am still a little sore even today from all the ways he kicked my butt. I went in thinking it would be hard, but also giving myself more credit for being in shape than I deserved, and that quickly turned out to be a bad idea. I had a great time, and left there feeling very well worked out. Rich really made me work on lateral (side to side) movements, something I am super weak in as a runner, and that's where I learned how much I have to work on. I am excited to see what types of torture he has in store for me this next week, and am sure that I will have more tales of pain to tell in future blogs. Tuesday I also got to help my neighbor whose husband is deployed, as she pulled her back and was stranded on her couch. I was more than happy to get her to the doctor and Walgreens after seeing how much pain she was in, and since then I have had the opportunity to feed her my horrible cooking and to buy her groceries. All I can think is, "how could I not help?" She is living alone and far away from family, and that is one prime example of why the Army helps you make such powerful friends. When you have no one you know and love anywhere near, it is all the more important to build family wherever possible. We even have a woman in our bible study small group who lost her husband six months ago in Afghanistan, and when I see the family that she has created around herself here it makes me feel all the better for when Dereck heads out. It gives more hope and comfort that my Army family will watch out for me.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Marley and Me
It is gloriously sunny outside and I could not be happier about it. I don't think that weather has ever been such a source of excitement or anger in my life as it is at this very time. Whenever I talk to people from home, I have something to say about it. Whenever I visit people here we end up inevitably talking about it. I should be a pro by the time I hit the appropriate age to be doing so, but until then I feel justified in my endless fascination given that it is June and I am still wearing sweats and jackets to track practice, and my sweaters are beginning to have worn holes on the elbows- I either need to rock the old-man elbow padded tweed jacket or buy more "winter" wear. But to counterbalance the never-ending rain and dreary 50s the Pacific Northwest likes to hover around, today is sunny and supposedly going to hit 70. I remain skeptical, but we shall see, and the sun at the moment is too promising. This then begs the question, "Why the heck am I inside when it is warm and sunny for once outside?" and that can be attributed to simple curiosity. Dereck normally comes home around 7:45am from his morning workout (PT) and gets ready to go back to work for the day, but it is 9:15am at the moment, and his cell phone and ACUs tell me he was planning on coming back at some point. So, between curiosity, and more curiosity I am waiting to see what the heck is going on.
And he actually drove in as I finished writing the last sentence, which leads me to wonder what else might come true if I type it...... I would like to be a millionaire, go skiing in Colorado all the time, win the next Pulitzer prize, and create world peace. No response yet, but I remain hopeful.
Since getting back from Becca's wedding Dereck and I have been working on finding a rhythm to married life that works best for us. It normally gets compounded by ever-changing schedules and weeks, but I think that we are finding a rough pattern that fits our lifestyle. A good deal of our time together especially evolves around our crazy puppy Ritter. He demands way more time attention and energy than I ever could have guessed. I am beginning to wonder if I could become rich off a puppy blog, "Marley and Me" style. We are now at a point where he sleeps through the night and I can leave him at home for more than 3 hours without feeling guilty. Just last night however Dereck left him in the backyard while we went to bible study and we came home to him sitting at the kitchen door waiting for us- sans collar and outside the fence. He looked very pleased about his escape abilities and even now we aren't quite sure how he escaped, but we have a suspicion that it involved wiggling under the fence on a sloped portion of the yard. The fun part about Ritter is how much he loves to be around people and the never ending energy. I have taken him on 2 hour walks and still seen him run around the house like its a racetrack. And, he can walk off leash and actually not run away, something this prior Beagle owner never knew could happen. He is actually much better behaved off leash, and so I try to find times in my schedule when there are not as many people outside so that he can roam with freedom and eat all the grass and tree bark he pleases. I do have to give him credit though for landing me my new job with the Pet Brigade, as hinted in the last post.
Two weeks into the job I am much better prepared to tell you, my favorite reader, all about what I do, or don't do when being unproductive and blogging instead of working. I am officially the Public Relations Manager for the kennel on post and another one in Graham that is also owned by the same man. I have really enjoyed working with him and the kennel manager so far, and feel like I am going to gain so much experience here that I can use in the future. I have been able so far to work on two major publicity events with booths, evaluate internet/mobile marketing and where we want to go with that, and I am learning how to work with government bureaucracy as a contracted business, and anyone who knows how government/Army stuff works can imagine just how complicated that can get. The thing I like most so far has been the respect and authority entrusted to me. I feel like I am being treated as a professional with ideas and valuable input rather than a recent college grad, and that trust goes so far in motivating me. My favorite part of the new job? Talking to people about our services. Last week I set-up and ran a booth for 8 hours and had the best time honing my pitch to get people's interest and then talking with them all about pets- one of the easiest selling points in the market. Everyone loves their pets, they love talking about them, and they love taking the best care of them possible, to include boarding and grooming. So, while the women sitting next to me selling financial investments had much fewer takers, I found myself at a table constantly busy with interested consumers. Maybe it's the aspect of being a salesperson without feeling super slimy, or the chance to talk to new people, or showing myself that I can integrate quickly into a new job. Whatever it is, I am thanking God for the opportunity, and the flexibility that working part-time allows me to do things like PWOC bible study and workouts.
In addition to being a working woman and taking Ritter on walks to tire him out, I am in the throws of getting allergy shots again and have currently finished my last rounds of physical therapy that have been ongoing since I got here. The hope is that all my frequent visits to Madigan hospital mean less allergies and a better knee. At this point I could have some serious points on a punch card program, although in actuality the senior retirees who like to sit in the lobby and block all the walkways everyday could beat me hands down. They are one devoted crowd!
On the Army side of life, I have been busy with battalion events, such as our monthly coffee that we had last week. We decided to play Bunco since it came up at the previous coffee that some women didn't know how to play, and in the Army that is "unAmerican." So, wine glasses were pulled out, tables set up, and the dice got to rolling. At first I was doing awesome and winning every round until Jodie got a Bunco on her first roll, and from there it was up and down for me. The best part about Bunco though is that there are tons of winners in the game- most wins, most losses, most ties, most buncos, most mini-Buncos, so the odds are normally good even for someone not having a lucky night. In honor of my mother who seems to win at everything, I am proud to say that I won for "most wins" and earned a Starbucks giftcard that I forgot about until yesterday when I was digging through my purse and found it. If that isn't pure joy then what is? The coffee then rolled into a four day weekend for Dereck, and I could not have been more happy about it. We didn't do any traveling or finish any massive projects, but we did manage to spend tons of time catching up and sleeping, something he has been behind on with training. And, we got to spend time with my friend Scarlett and build a flower box/bed for her garden. I say "we" like I contributed to the planning or the sawing or the nailing, but I like to think I was there for moral support and general entertainment. The boxes actually turned out nicely and I am now contemplating maybe having one for us also, but then I look at Ritter as he finds any and everything inside and outside the house to chew on and realize what a bad idea that could be. He is literally tugging and chewing on my robe as I type this and try to remember where he left his kong bone for a substitute.
Last week kicked back into the normal after the fantastic long weekend, and I got back to work at Pet Brigade and life, to include the crazy kids at cross country and track and field practice. I love the difference between the two practices. I tell cross country kids that we need to do 400s and they are excited. I tell the track kids the same and they look at me like I am the most insane person on the infield. It is easy to see how much patience they are teaching me while we spend time in the cold rain together. But for all the infuriating things they do and say, those kids are also some of the most hilarious people I know, which either means I need to get out more, or they are blessing me in return. I now know all the cool bands, tv shows, and toys for the 8-11 year old crowd, and they like to ask me when I am having kids since adults obviously have kids. Over the weekend Dereck had staff duty from 9am Saturday- 9pm Sunday, so Ritter and I took the time for a super long walk on a new trail during the day and I biked with a friend, making me tired enough for a long "veg" session on the couch Saturday night watching girly tv shows Dereck would never like on TLC. Sunday was a catch-up day of sleep for Dereck, and yesterday I hit spin class, ran laundry, went on errands with Dereck during lunch, got allergy shots, took Ritter for a walk, and made Sausage Pin Wheels for our bible study at my neighbor's house (the same one during which Ritter escaped captivity).
And now I have learned my lesson on putting off blogging for such a long period of time. There is a rush to include so many things, while other good things are forgotten, and it leads to a bigger picture, less detailed story, and I like details- they make the picture more rich. Must be more disciplined! For starters, I should be getting ready to go to the pool for a swim workout, and instead am typing to my heart's content. Hopefully Dereck will understand my need for expression while he waits in the pool....
And he actually drove in as I finished writing the last sentence, which leads me to wonder what else might come true if I type it...... I would like to be a millionaire, go skiing in Colorado all the time, win the next Pulitzer prize, and create world peace. No response yet, but I remain hopeful.
Since getting back from Becca's wedding Dereck and I have been working on finding a rhythm to married life that works best for us. It normally gets compounded by ever-changing schedules and weeks, but I think that we are finding a rough pattern that fits our lifestyle. A good deal of our time together especially evolves around our crazy puppy Ritter. He demands way more time attention and energy than I ever could have guessed. I am beginning to wonder if I could become rich off a puppy blog, "Marley and Me" style. We are now at a point where he sleeps through the night and I can leave him at home for more than 3 hours without feeling guilty. Just last night however Dereck left him in the backyard while we went to bible study and we came home to him sitting at the kitchen door waiting for us- sans collar and outside the fence. He looked very pleased about his escape abilities and even now we aren't quite sure how he escaped, but we have a suspicion that it involved wiggling under the fence on a sloped portion of the yard. The fun part about Ritter is how much he loves to be around people and the never ending energy. I have taken him on 2 hour walks and still seen him run around the house like its a racetrack. And, he can walk off leash and actually not run away, something this prior Beagle owner never knew could happen. He is actually much better behaved off leash, and so I try to find times in my schedule when there are not as many people outside so that he can roam with freedom and eat all the grass and tree bark he pleases. I do have to give him credit though for landing me my new job with the Pet Brigade, as hinted in the last post.
Two weeks into the job I am much better prepared to tell you, my favorite reader, all about what I do, or don't do when being unproductive and blogging instead of working. I am officially the Public Relations Manager for the kennel on post and another one in Graham that is also owned by the same man. I have really enjoyed working with him and the kennel manager so far, and feel like I am going to gain so much experience here that I can use in the future. I have been able so far to work on two major publicity events with booths, evaluate internet/mobile marketing and where we want to go with that, and I am learning how to work with government bureaucracy as a contracted business, and anyone who knows how government/Army stuff works can imagine just how complicated that can get. The thing I like most so far has been the respect and authority entrusted to me. I feel like I am being treated as a professional with ideas and valuable input rather than a recent college grad, and that trust goes so far in motivating me. My favorite part of the new job? Talking to people about our services. Last week I set-up and ran a booth for 8 hours and had the best time honing my pitch to get people's interest and then talking with them all about pets- one of the easiest selling points in the market. Everyone loves their pets, they love talking about them, and they love taking the best care of them possible, to include boarding and grooming. So, while the women sitting next to me selling financial investments had much fewer takers, I found myself at a table constantly busy with interested consumers. Maybe it's the aspect of being a salesperson without feeling super slimy, or the chance to talk to new people, or showing myself that I can integrate quickly into a new job. Whatever it is, I am thanking God for the opportunity, and the flexibility that working part-time allows me to do things like PWOC bible study and workouts.
In addition to being a working woman and taking Ritter on walks to tire him out, I am in the throws of getting allergy shots again and have currently finished my last rounds of physical therapy that have been ongoing since I got here. The hope is that all my frequent visits to Madigan hospital mean less allergies and a better knee. At this point I could have some serious points on a punch card program, although in actuality the senior retirees who like to sit in the lobby and block all the walkways everyday could beat me hands down. They are one devoted crowd!
On the Army side of life, I have been busy with battalion events, such as our monthly coffee that we had last week. We decided to play Bunco since it came up at the previous coffee that some women didn't know how to play, and in the Army that is "unAmerican." So, wine glasses were pulled out, tables set up, and the dice got to rolling. At first I was doing awesome and winning every round until Jodie got a Bunco on her first roll, and from there it was up and down for me. The best part about Bunco though is that there are tons of winners in the game- most wins, most losses, most ties, most buncos, most mini-Buncos, so the odds are normally good even for someone not having a lucky night. In honor of my mother who seems to win at everything, I am proud to say that I won for "most wins" and earned a Starbucks giftcard that I forgot about until yesterday when I was digging through my purse and found it. If that isn't pure joy then what is? The coffee then rolled into a four day weekend for Dereck, and I could not have been more happy about it. We didn't do any traveling or finish any massive projects, but we did manage to spend tons of time catching up and sleeping, something he has been behind on with training. And, we got to spend time with my friend Scarlett and build a flower box/bed for her garden. I say "we" like I contributed to the planning or the sawing or the nailing, but I like to think I was there for moral support and general entertainment. The boxes actually turned out nicely and I am now contemplating maybe having one for us also, but then I look at Ritter as he finds any and everything inside and outside the house to chew on and realize what a bad idea that could be. He is literally tugging and chewing on my robe as I type this and try to remember where he left his kong bone for a substitute.
Last week kicked back into the normal after the fantastic long weekend, and I got back to work at Pet Brigade and life, to include the crazy kids at cross country and track and field practice. I love the difference between the two practices. I tell cross country kids that we need to do 400s and they are excited. I tell the track kids the same and they look at me like I am the most insane person on the infield. It is easy to see how much patience they are teaching me while we spend time in the cold rain together. But for all the infuriating things they do and say, those kids are also some of the most hilarious people I know, which either means I need to get out more, or they are blessing me in return. I now know all the cool bands, tv shows, and toys for the 8-11 year old crowd, and they like to ask me when I am having kids since adults obviously have kids. Over the weekend Dereck had staff duty from 9am Saturday- 9pm Sunday, so Ritter and I took the time for a super long walk on a new trail during the day and I biked with a friend, making me tired enough for a long "veg" session on the couch Saturday night watching girly tv shows Dereck would never like on TLC. Sunday was a catch-up day of sleep for Dereck, and yesterday I hit spin class, ran laundry, went on errands with Dereck during lunch, got allergy shots, took Ritter for a walk, and made Sausage Pin Wheels for our bible study at my neighbor's house (the same one during which Ritter escaped captivity).
And now I have learned my lesson on putting off blogging for such a long period of time. There is a rush to include so many things, while other good things are forgotten, and it leads to a bigger picture, less detailed story, and I like details- they make the picture more rich. Must be more disciplined! For starters, I should be getting ready to go to the pool for a swim workout, and instead am typing to my heart's content. Hopefully Dereck will understand my need for expression while he waits in the pool....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
