a quick hellooo!

Hey friends!

sorry it's been so long since I've posted... got so busy with the new job :) training/working for the past week I seem to have forgotten how to get my blogging in. plus nothing too eventful has been going on here!

We have been dogsitting/house sitting this weekend for our friends and have enjoyed having some doggies around! 1 Brutus and 1 Cody.

I currently have a pot of turkey chili simmering and am about to make some corn bread with it. yumm yumm.. I'll post the recipe tomorrow w/ pics!

But the most exciting/important thing going on right now is the FSU vs Notre Dame basketball game!

GOOOO NOLESSS!!! annnd fun fact... Bernard James, #5, served in the Air Force for 6 years before attending college! He is 26 now! yayyyy Air Force and FSU :)

ok gotta go watch this game.. we are currently beating ND, fyi!

xxo

What I'm LOVING wednesday!!!!!

This Wednesday I am loving my trip to Carmel-by-the-sea with my friend michelle!

we had a delicious lunch at Carmel Belle... I had a chicken and brie sandwich. yumm yum! If you are ever in this area definitely go to Carmel, lots and lots of great shops and restaurants.

then we got pedicures at the T & L nail spa .. I got "you're such a Kabuki queen" I basically choose my nail polish color based on the name. and OPI has the best names. hands down. one of my dream jobs is to be the nail polish namer at OPI. don't worry, I already looked in to it and I'm pretty sure that "Suzi" is the official namer of color. have you noticed there are lots and lots of col ***********I interrupt this unimportant tirade about nail polish to inform you that this girl just got hired as a Beauty Advisor for Lancome********************** and that is what I am really loving wednesday! 

but yeah... Suzi appears a lot in the polish names (i.e. Suzi skis the Pyrenees & Suzi says feng shui) 

You're Such a Kabuki Queen

 I'm loving Lancome for hiring me!!!

 

I'm loving that we are about to go on a date since it has been so long. and to celebrate, too! 

SUSHI and sakeee! mmmm! 

I love all my bloggy friends/readers!

ok sushi is a callin'

xxo g

link up with Jamie for WILW

Happy March!

just a few things...

we ordered new bikes yesterday! I'm so excited... we live biking distance from everything here! and there is a bike trail that goes all the way through Monterey and Pacific Grove.  After lots of research we found these Kona Africa bikes. If you buy 2, they donate one to rural Africa to help people get around and transport things more easily, you can read more here. So, if you are in the market for new bikes, definitely check these out!

Mine is in white:

"rear rack that's strong enough to carry your sister"

and E's is in black:

"and a basket in front for her flowers"

I love the basket! for all my groceries, flowers and one day, a puppy!

I have my second interview today at 1:30! I'm excited and really hope to get the job! next time I blog I realllly hope it's good news I will be sharing!

until then, happy tuesday!

xxo g

more on the yob front

after searching this town high and low for real girl jobs.. aka something that actually has anything to do with my BA in English.. I just started to apply all over the place. I need a job. so bad. I feel too guilty to ever shop, get my nails done, etc. etc. (even though E doesn't mind too much - I do!) And aside from the frivolous things I would love to treat my hub to a nice dinner, help with rent, utilities and other random expenses.  

*side note to self - all this job hunting made me realize I should probably get my Masters. that will have to wait though b/c we will only be here another year..

So, in the meantime, I hope to land something to help this family unit of 2 out!

I applied for a Beauty Advisor position at Macy's annnnnd guess what? I got an interview! yay. It's tomorrow morning and I'm kinda freakin out. I don't have pro experience with makeup unless you count doing eye's for my friends before going out. I do love makeup. I just don't know what to expect tomorrow! 

anyone out there ever work for Macy's or a makeup counter? what was the experience like?

wish me luck and say a prayer for me in the a.m. eeeek 

time for some extra beautiful beauty rest!

xxo g

** oh - and the jobs that I applied to about a month ago? well yeah, so did approx 300 other people and they still haven't made a decision. gonna take that as a loss!

in the name of love

Well this week has sure been dragging along. but it is friday! so yay! but i'm still waiting to hear back from numerous jobs and it is rather discouraging that it is mid February and I wanted to have a job by the end of Jan.  Soo yesterday I spent lots of the day tweaking my resume and searching for other jobs. in the midst of all that my day got... weird.
I couldn't remember where my original resume was saved, my comp or E's comp and since I was on his I searched for my first and last name b/c those are the first two words on my resume.  WELL... one of the first documents that popped up was titled "To My Wife" and I thought awww, it's a valentines love note, right?
then I noticed the date, May 2010 (when he was in Afghanistan) and the first two lines went something like, "to my beautiful wife, if you are reading this, then I can no longer be with you" I immediately felt sick and x'ed out. I can't believe I am reading this, I don't ever want to read this, look at this, know that this exists.  don't get me wrong it, is touching and thoughtful but more than that, it is morbid and sad. I felt sad that he wrote this while in the desert, already a depressing place.  I felt sad that many wives have read letters like this and not by accident but because they had lost their loved one.  I don't mean to be a downer but this was on my mind all day yesterday. I'm so grateful for all the men and women who serve and their families whose support is vital.
When he got home I told him that I had accidentally stumbled upon the letter and he just hugged me and said it was something he wanted to do, just in case. I can't imagine what that would be like, to write a letter like that..
So, to lighten the mood & with love in the air this holiday weekend (+ monday) I'm going to share some photos of my favorite scar head E who is the absolute love of my lifetime, my bff, my everything. he is the best. ever. and I love love loveee him with my whole heart!
sappy enough? lo siento!
this is us last year at his ALS graduation

there he is.. top right! In afghan last year.

i love his goofiness! all the time.

 I did this to him and he still married me! oooops! after one (or two...) too many I made a high jump for a piggy back that he didn't know was coming annnnd a concrete staircase to his face. omg. I still can't believe that happened! 12 stitches =/ and THREE whole days later, this is what he looked like.

he loves his mama! (& so do I)

random trip to PCB last year. we didn't have bathing suits with us sooo obviously we went shopping.. nice choice in tank top, no? they were buy one get one- just in case something were to happen to this one, god forbid.

 Tan and sad to leave our Honeymoon. (why am I smiling so hard that every tooth in my head is visible?)

love you most, honey!

happy early valentines to you all. any weekend plans?
xxo G

Happy Feb 2!

happy for the country that the groundhog saw his shadow... wait... or didn't? whichever one means a shorter winter.... so. yeah! short winter!
my girl, hello kitty.

In other news we (E and I) have committed to dogsitting three dogs this wknd! Timber, Delilah and Cody... we are house sitting, too. So saturday you can find me basking in the sun on the deck of our friends house overlooking the valley :) yay, it's supposed to get to the mid 70's! finally, my tan stands a chance!

In even more other fun news, E gets a week long class break in June.... annnnnd... we are going to Vegas! We went last november and stayed at the MGM grand which was really great but the pool was closed for season. well not in June my friends! I'm already new bathing suit browsing.  

last time in Vegas... clearly can't take a real girl picture. this was literally the normal-ist of them all... but I can't wait to wear my sequin skirt again. only in vegas, loves it.

I'm diggin this baither A LOT but i also want to find a super sequiny one, too!

In Job news I called and emailed the company that I applied through to really just ease my mind and they said that i did the whole application process correctly and I am being considered for the position but with so many applicants it will be some time before I know/they know... i just wish I knew how much time?! 

In more unrelated and random news. Michelle on the Bachelor, time and time again, proves she is a total wacko. I mean, I love her severe middle part and impeccably groomed eyebrows 

but did you see how she took Brad in the room and wouldn't let him speak? then she grabbed his face all aggressively when he did?? so bizarre.  And I can't even wrap my head around the whole black eye thing. you don't know how it happened??? really? what in the haillll is going on upstairs? 

Tonight I'm making spaghetti and we are going to watch Groundhog Day! new tradition! yay

so long for now,

xxo g

another day, another dollar

that I don't have because I'm still waiting to hear about the jobs. I swear I'm gonna give myself an ulcer waiting to see what happens! I just want to get an interview, one foot in the door.

but anyways. do y'all Yelp? It's my new obsession and I won't go anywhere without yelping it first. seriously never leads you astray! E says I'm a slave to reviews. it is true. 

ok random

(one of) the greatest things about being a military wife, for me at least, is getting to experience and live new places every so often.  Just weighing life options with E is one of my new fave subjects.  It is kind of thrilling not knowing where in the world you will be in one, two, three years.  It is also kind of crazy when you don't know where your next plot of land will be until a month or so before you have to be there!  I have been thinking a lot lately how this time last year I was an FSU student, trying to graduate and plan our wedding, E was just home from Afghanistan and getting ready to go back. I had not a clue that in one year I would be living in california. not a clue. It wasn't until E was back in the desert - probably a month before our wedding (julyish)- that he got orders for cali. Now, I am a rookie at this whole thing but I can assure you moving your whole life-as-you-know-it across the country, in a dang Penske truck with barely any notification is. strange. exciting. bizarre. fun. I honestly don't know what it is in a word. 

We had literally flown back from Honeymoon Hawaii (approx 14 hours), had a nap, had a farewell dinner with friends, slept for ohh- about, four hours, packed the Penske and headed west from North Florida at about 11pm on a Wednesday night. We drove through the night until the 90 degree angle bucket seats and clanging noises (oh lord - my new china! crushed under E's motorcycle back there!?) could no longer keep us awake. did i mention all the terrible gas station coffee? strong (thankfully) but terrible none the less. we got a hotel just in time for the continental breakfast. yessssss. my favorite meal! and slept until 5pm.  sweet, sweet hotel bed. it was so good to my soul! we then drove another zillion hours through the night, through Texas and half the time on a two lane road.  In west Texas there was a storm, it was incredible. I have never seen such a storm. Panoramic horizontal lightning that confused my already confused mind. is it day time? no. no way. all the way until Amarillo at 4am. I begggggged E to stop. get a hotel. for heavens sake we need a hotel. an overpriced one on route 66? yes, please anything. the first civilization in miles and miles! and so we slept a glorious, overpriced, but soo worth every single penny, sleep. Got up at noon (much later than we wanted to) but oh how great it was.  We were, once again, heading west.  after E had 10 hours at the wheel we got subway, coffee and switched.  I drove and drove. determined to rid us of this god awful Penske truck. I drove for hours through New Mexico and Arizona until California! yessss! we are almost home! except no home was here (yet). plus add about 6 more hours until we reached monterey.  It took us 24 hours from Amarillo to Monterey. we were hell-bent, coffee crazed, sleep deprived newlyweds desperate for our lives to be out of this moving truck. we made it. got a hotel that we slept in so beautifully all day.  

well this post certainly got away from me. I could go on and on about driving that big, scary truck with car in tow through traffic (god help those on the road)! the dozens of subway sandwiches, and even more gas station coffee's. try to park a moving truck with trailer at a Starbucks. one can dream, right?  I will leave you, my sweet reader (thank you for sticking this lonnnnng one out) with some pics of our move. 

but first a map. I love maps! and hope this gives you a better idea of our drive...

began in Tallahassee, Fl - slept in Shreveport, La - thru Dallas and slept in Amarillo, Tx  - New Mexico thru Arizona to Cali where we FINALLY arrived in Monterey! wooohooo!

last night in town - with Em and Kc. miss them!!

drivingggg

go pennnskee!

Dallas sunsetting

me driving = scary for you and me

chasing the sun!

alas! our final hotel!

favorite penske pal!

lost straightener in the move = improvise aka ironing board your hair!

waitin' wishin'

so I recently mentioned my real girl job search... It seemed impossible (at least for some time) to find a job that roughly had the same hours as E.-- i.e. no weekends or holidays. I like to travel on weekends and with so many places to see here I want to have my weekends open.  I quickly realized that in this economy I should take what I can get.  And honestly I can't be too picky because 1) I am bored and 2) we definitely could use another income.
So last week I went over to the Army community center for some guidance where they have tons of resources for us military spouses.  I left with tons of pamphlets, somewhat of a revised resume and feeling a tad overwhelmed.
I sat down at our desk when I got home and started browsing all the pamphlets. which eventually led me to a website where I found not one but THREE jobs at the Defense Language Institute (E's school/base!) one is at the student learning center as a study skills instructor, one is as an English instructor and one as a secretary. all around the same pay/same hours.
Tomorrow is (i think) the day I will find out about the first two. I'm so anxious. I hope one of these works out!
ughhhh. I'm gonna try to get some sleep. or keep looking at betseyville bags online.....

i want thisssss!
night night. hopefully i will be back with good news. cross your fingers, say a prayer!
xxo g