august 25, 2014

I ended my last post talking about my job interview so I will begin with it in this one. I still do not know if I have the job or not because they are interviewing more candidates. Obviously, that left a lot of room for insecurity for me. So all day Thursday I was telling myself (not always in my head) things that I am really good at to help my self esteem not suffer. At the end of the day, I am aware that I am good at a lot of things, turning off the oven after I use it, however IS NOT ONE OF THESE THINGS!!!! I will keep you posted when I hear from them, hopefully the middle of this week.

After my interview on Thursday, Justin took me to a battalion picnic. The only thing I walked away with from that was that of the few wives that came with their husbands, they either had a dog or a baby. I will let you draw your own conclusions on that…..

Friday night, I learned something pretty important. All boys care about is that there is food (it doesn’t even have to be good) and an Xbox. We had some people over to celebrate Ezekiel and Dulu’s birthday. I of course, made sure everything looked so cute. The mini cheesecakes I made were perfectly spaced, the iced coffee being served in cute mason jars with coordinating colored straws, the sweet tea was in a cute Mason jar dispenser, etc. Boys don’t care about cute. I totally get it now. Thank you Mom and Amy for appreciating my “party” all the way in Tennessee, because this is what was actually happening:

Boys……

I had a first on Saturday. I went to my first rugby game. Our friend Jake plays and this was the State Tournament. Justin had to go and help somebody move so I went by myself (look how brave I am getting!). I’ll be honest; I don’t think I quite understand rugby. It is this weird mix of football/cheerleading/beating the mess out of each other all while wearing shorts that are just a few (a lot) inches too short. Jake did great, I think, it was really hard picking out the one boy I know in a pile of boys. Luckily his sweet girlfriend was there so he really didn’t care if I thought he did good or not. During the 2 games I watched, I witnessed a finger snapping in half, a shoulder getting torn, and a sprained ankle. They won and became the State Champions, so who cares about the broken bones, right?  I did get to witness up close and personal one guy on the team splinting the guy’s broken finger with a flattened Monster Energy drink can. Of course I helped get a bag of ice, took a picture, and then almost fainted when I saw it, in that order luckily.

This guy ran some flags during the game all while keeping this dog in his pocket. I couldn’t pass up this picture!

After the rugby game, I met back up with Justin and I took him on a ROMANTIC date!!!  We started off walking hand in hand through Bass Pro Shop and ended the night gazing into each other’s eyes over a delicious McDonalds meal. I am a romantic fool, I tell ya.

 Big moments this week:

I finished the first season of Arrow. This is a show on CW and the third season starts Oct. 8. I am trying to catch up before then. It is so good!!

Should I be embarrassed that my biggest moment is finishing a TV show season??? Well, I’m not.

MY MOM IS COMING TOMORROW!!!!! MY MOM IS COMING TOMORROW!!!!!!! I seriously can’t wait! So hopefully my next post will be full of pictures of my mom in Alaska and that I can announce that I am employed! Or maybe I will meet Sarah Palin and then the pictures and the announcement will have to wait!!  

Always,

Anna

august 20,2014

I have not posted in over a week.  This is not because I have forgotten or even just been too busy, I have felt as though I have had nothing to write about. I haven’t exactly been living the life like you see on “Alaska: the Last Frontier” or any number of those Alaska reality shows on TV these days. Justin has been working unpredictable hours, leaving me home all day with nothing much to do. He asks me almost everyday when I am going to update my blog in which I always respond with, “I haven’t done anything people care to hear about.” Well, I have had a change of heart. So what if I am not on the boats with the Deadliest Catch crew, or hiking up ridiculous mountains, or seeing wild animals in my backyard? Those things will come (well maybe not hanging out with the Deadliest Catch crew), but for now I am doing things that make my heart really happy, nonetheless. I get to cook dinner for my husband every night, I get to do laundry, I get to do everyday things in MY HOME. Some of you may think that last statement was sarcastic, but it was not. Justin and I spent our whole dating relationship and engagement in different states. So I am not taking for granted getting to eat dinner with him, play dominoes, and even brush our teeth together (it always looked cute in Hallmark movies). Being married is an adventure in itself, and I am loving it!

This week has definitely been an emotional week (what weeks aren’t for me I know I know). I have experienced:

Saddness: a few homesickness meltdowns (poor Justin)

Boredom: I literally think I might die of boredom some days, which results in Target runs (poor Justin)

Anger: Justin and I “tried” to go running together (I am not a runner nor do I really care to be and Justin may or may not have tested that. Poor Justin)

……here come the good emotions……

EXCITEMENT: MY MOTHER IS COMING TO SEE ME IN 6 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the good emotions totally outweigh the bad. I am so excited for my mom to come up here obviously because I miss her, but also because that means my household goods are being delivered. No more air mattress and no more dinners on the floor on a picnic blanket. YAY! I have been planning out where I want my furniture, where I want to hang pictures, and most importantly where all my crafting things will go. I know one day in the future I will look back on this time and have wonderful memories on living in a house with just an air mattress and an Xbox, but I will also probably have great memories living in a house with all my stuff as well.

 As you have read, living on a military base has taught me many things. Things are very different here, even the way they read time. If you see me standing at the store doors, I promise you I am subtracting 12 trying to figure out what time they open/close. JUST PUT AM/PM FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! I also now know, if you are driving on base at 5 pm and people stop driving and get out of their cars, don’t be alarmed, its out of respect for the National Anthem that plays every day, loudly. I did stop my car, however I did not get out, I didn’t know I was supposed to, but now I know! There is something really really cool about base that I just discovered….Disneyworld is here. Ok ok ok, not really, but in my heart it kind of is. You see, there is this shortcut to my house (well it’s not really a short cut, especially if you are going to Burger King. Speaking of Burger King they brought back the Chicken Fries!! I got an email, I am not sure how I get emails from Burger King, but I am glad I do because BK Chicken Fries are the song in my heart. But I digress. Back to Disneyworld). On this “shortcut” this is what you will see:

IT LOOKS JUST LIKE EPCOT! I have no idea what the heck they are, but frankly I do not care. Every time Justin and I are driving I beg for him to go by DisneyWorld. And Bless his Heart, he does it every time!  Ladies, if you find a guy that will drive you by a fictional theme park that only exists in your heart and imagination, marry him! It really is the little things in life….

Here are some big moments from the week:

Justin got promoted twice this month. I promised I wouldn’t gush about him and about how awesome his is and how proud I am, but HE IS AWESOME AND I AM SO PROUD!

We celebrated our friend Ezekiel’s 27^th birthday yesterday. This is a two-part big moment. Obviously, yay Ezekiel its your birthday, BUT we went out to eat sushi to celebrate. I have not eaten sushi since the whole E Coli incident of 2013. I did it and I am alive to write about it.  Just look at the absurd amount of sushi on that table.

My grandmother celebrated her birthday.

Are you ready for this???Are you sitting down???

I SAW A MAMA MOOSE AND A BABY MOOSE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD

Now, all I have left to do here is find Sarah Palin!!

Last bit of big news, I have a job interview tomorrow. I will keep y’all up to date on that, unless I get rejected, in which case I might do something drastic and eat a whole gallon of Butterfinger ice-cream.  I am only kidding.  

Always,

Anna

august 10, 2014

There are a lot of different kind of moments in life. Happy moments, sad moments, moments you'd rather forget, and moments that make you say, "we will laugh about this later, right?" Sleeping on an air mattress for a month was SUPPOSED to be my laugh about this later moment. That was the case until this happened:

For all you wondering, duct tape does not repair holes in air mattress. We are on our 2nd air mattress and I'm not laughing yet.


On to happier subjects, like blueberries.  Yesterday, A few of us headed up to a ski lodge called Alyeska for the day. Not to ski, thank goodness there is no snow yet, but to pick blueberries.  There was a blueberry festival going on with live music (love), craft booths (love), food (love), and picking blueberries. Before I even tell you about the blueberries, let me just tell you now, I ate a reindeer hot dog

I was actually enjoying it until my loving cousin Nicholas actually sent me a picture of a Bell's burger (seriously my favorite) he was eating.  Thanks Nick!

Back to blueberries! To get up the mountain to pick them, you had two options:
1. Ride the ski lift (I mean, DUH)
2. Walk up the mountain

I obviously make my way to to the ski lift, when it became aware to me that half of the army men (AIRBORNE INFANTRY) that I am with are scared of heights.  Are you kidding me!? You jump out of planes! Yes, my husband is one of these I'm referring to!  So, walking up the mountain it is.   Here I am going to insert a side note about exercising:

(I really should be exercising more anyways, At least going on walks outside while I can. I know this. The only thing is, my tennis shoes were packed with all my other things being shipped. It would be silly to go out and buy new tennis shoes. So I should just wait to exercise when my shoes get here.  Don't you agree? Yay, I'm so glad y'all do!)
Ok so glad we had that talk.  Back to walking up a mountain.

In my head, I had pictured an organized orchard of blueberries.  The blueberry workers would be standing there telling us where to go and where to pick.  I mean, i don't know what a blueberry tree/bush/vine looks like after all.  That's not how it was at all.  It's free for all just go out in the woods and pick blueberries, bears and all.   We were LITERALLY walking thru streams, climbing over fallen trees, getting really dirty.  Luckily there are no snakes here, but there are bears soooooo......... It was so awesome though and such a cool experience.  I cannot wait to make blueberry muffins!!!

Some of the boys couldnt hang with the expert blueberry picker. This was the ride home

I had another kind of moment this week, unlike the " you'll laugh about this later moment". It was one I knew would come, and I dreaded it.  I knew there would be events and things that I wish I could be at at home. It just so happened, Saturday was one of those days.  My best bud, Noah's 7th birthday party. I hated hated hated not being there and of course there were a few tears shed (poor Justin).  Thank goodness for FaceTime though!  He had a great party and even lost his first tooth on his birthday!! Look at this adorable, toothy smile:

Now I'm back for an exhilarating episode of "what did Anna learn this week" (you have to read that like a game show host for it to work, ok! So cooperate with me and read it again if you have to)


1. I learned this week that I may be updating my blog in the future from Road Rage Management Rehab. They expect you to drive 10-15 MPH on some roads here.  My car idles faster than that. I thought driving 40 on Poplar was bad, so all you Memphians, just be grateful, ok!  It makes me mad even typing about this issue.  Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right!?!


2. I've learned that people here that you pass in a store, or gas station, or anywhere really don't smile and nod politely like they do in the South. People told me this and I just chose not to believe it. There are no passing "how are you's?"  And definitely no eye contact.  I've taken it on as a personal goal to get five strangers to smile/nod/speak to me.  As of this moment that I am typing, I have gotten a grand total of 1.  He was a homeless man in the target parking lot that I passed walking to my car. He smiled, spoke, and made eye contact with me. I gave him 5 dollars. I don't care what he does with it, all I know is he was the nicest stranger I've come across this far.

3. I have also learned that Justin might be a little bit sensitive. Every night we play dominoes or farkle. Literally every single night!  We are one crazy wild couple and I love it.  But Justin seems to say every night either " Anna you are such a sore loser" or "Anna you are such a sore winner". Bless his heart.  Let's all pray for his skin to get thicker!!

Big moments this week:

We were married for a month on August 5th! We celebrated with cupcakes!

In ending this blog, y'all should know, I recorded 14 hallmark movies this weekend.

Always,

Anna

august 5, 2014

I have officially been living in Alaska for a week. I have caught boatloads of halibut, killed a few elk, and went dog sledding twice. HA! Only kidding. I remember to turn off the oven after I cook dinner and I feel as though I have been extremely productive. I normally wont go a week without posting, not because I think y’all are just hanging on every word, but because I barely remember what I ate for breakfast, much less all the details of my week. One thing I vividly remember happened last Wednesday…excuse the rambling that is about to take place:

I visited a church on a Wednesday night all by myself. That doesn’t sound too dramatic or really even worth writing about, but oh trust me it was. This might sound crazy but I have never visited a church alone. I have been a member of two churches in my entire life and both I attended with my family. Justin had to work on Wednesday night, so it just seemed natural for me to go to church. My, oh my, I have a WHOLE new respect for visitors. I look up times for a Wednesday night prayer service and plug the address in my GPS. I have been in church my entire life, I am in church multiple times a week, I know church. I pull into the parking lot and all of that did not matter. I am about to take you inside my brain at that moment (scary, I know) (also you have to read it as fast as a movie sounds when you are fast forwarding)

“ Wow this church is bigger that I thought. Where do I go? OMG Let me check the website again just in case I got the time wrong. Ok yea good I am 15 minutes early, not too early, not too late. But seriously, where do I go!? Ok Anna, calm down, you’ve circled the building 3 times, just park and walk in. You can do this. Ok, apparently this is the wrong door considering its locked…..don’t panic don’t panic be cool be cool. Ok you finally found the right door. Find the restroom ASAP, if you find the restroom you can avoid awkwardly standing there alone. Ok Anna, you just took two layers of skin off washing your hands for 5 minutes, go out there. Ok Ok Ok surely someone will talk to me…………………okkkkkk I’ll find a seat. What if I take someone’s seat? Ah who cares? 6 rows from the front, close but not too close. Seriously, I showered people, you can sit around me…… ok good its starting. Breathe breathe breathe.”

Y’all. This was terrifying. Next time you are in church, maybe walk in a different door to the sanctuary, maybe switch up your seats, maybe just pay attention to the poor pathetic girl talking to herself because nobody else is! Don’t get in a routine of getting right to your seat, people out there need somebody to go out of their way to make them feel comfortable. In that moment, I didn’t care if it was a 11 year old girl or a 98 year old man, I needed somebody. This was such an eye –opener for me.  Visiting a new church is intimidating, I can’t imagine going into a church for the first time ever. Break out of your routine and love on people.

Ok rant over.  By the way though, I loved the church! Justin and I both went on Sunday and we are praying about whether this is the Church God wants us to plant our lives.

The rest of the week has been crazy. From Justin’s unpredictable work schedule to the daunting to-do list of things that just keeps growing, I have learned so much. I thought I would end this post with a few things I have learned living on a military base. I can already see Justin’s head shaking with shame.

1.    

This is on a post in the parking lot of the Commissary. Obviously this was a moose crossing sign.  I was so excited thinking that I could be nonchalantly walking to the car with a moose. Since my one goal while I’m here in Alaska is to see a wild moose, I figured I would come to this parking lot everyday. (Ok ok I have two goals, I also want to meet Sarah Palin.) Then my dreams were shattered…..ok that was too dramatic, but still I was upset.  This next picture was on one post over:

Obviously whales will not be frequenting the Commissary parking lot. It was then I realized, these were pictures posted to help people remember where they park. I park in Moose every time!  I still believe!

2. There is this sign on the side of the road that says, “ STOP here if red”. I learned this week that if they say “ STOP on red”, THEY MEAN STOP ON RED OR A HUMONGOUS AIRPLANE WILL LAND IN WHAT SEEMS LIKE INCHES AWAY FROM YOUR CAR! Since then, I noticed a small sign before the “Stop here if red” sign that says “ Low Flying Aircraft”. I mean….. I’m not the smartest traffic law person, but I’m thinking that sign should be a little more prominent.

3. I learned this week how much I took for granted that my mother always kept Orange Juice (my favorite) in the refrigerator. That stuff is expensive.  Thanks mom!!

I am sure I have a lot more to learn.

This week held a few more big moments.

-My 24^th birthday

Justin took me to Cattle Company for my birthday dinner

-My LITTLE sisters first day of senior year

We moved into our first house together

I got my first Military ID- Justin says I can’t post a picture of this moment because it its “illegal”

Being married is the most fun thing ever! Thank you so much for following our journey. Until next time.

Always,

Anna