2011 beginnings

OK so my 2011 didn't start out as well as I anticipated, but I think it turned out to be the best situation. That Thursday the 30th I came back from the gym feeling terrible. I thought I was just out of shape, but it turns out I was getting really sick. I had a 102 fever and it kept creeping up towards 103. It didn't quite get there but I was so bad by Friday night that my parents, God bless them, came to get me. I spent the new year countdown asleep. Luckily, Drew's sister was already watching Lexi so she kept her for the two days and I picked her up Saturday night. I don't know if it was the flu or just a bug, but I have never felt that hot before! It was awful. Of course, my fever broke in time to go to work. And, the bug turned into a chest cold that took about a week and a half to clear. So, a just short of three weeks into the new year I am finally myself again. And, just in time too... mom and I have jumped back on the wedding planning. We went to a bridal show the last two weekends and yesterday had our first dress appointment at one of the local boutiques. It was very exciting. We didn't purchase anything, but we have a couple of favorites which we will compare to the others when we visit some other stores. So, lots going on here, but all very exciting.

A New Year

I was doing so well at updating this blog and then Drew made it safe to Iraq and the holidays started creeping up, which led to a lack of updating. Now, it's nearly two weeks into the new year and I haven't written a thing! Time to change that.

Since the last time I wrote... I attended a wedding, celebrated Christmas, got sick, slept through the new year, bonded a lot with Lexi, helped Drew travel around town :) and got back into the swing of planning my wedding. So, my lack of updating is not due to a lack of things to write about. More or less because of too much going on and the idea of sitting down to type just seems grueling. But, here I am again, ready to share some news and pictures. I'll begin with the wedding, Emily's wedding.

After the rehearsal dinner

She and Jon were married December 18th in Wabash, IN. Me with the other MOH. With Emily!

Theta Emily SmithI definitely didn't prepare myself for going to the wedding stag. I've been to family weddings by myself, but never a friends wedding. It was definitely strange at first and hard to really get into the reception. After about a half hour or hour I started to settle in and enjoy dancing with all of the guests. It was great to spend time with Emily, her family and catch up with another Theta who made the trip. Once I started dancing, it was hard to stop.

Christmas was relaxing this year. I had to work a late morning, early afternoon shift on Christmas Eve, but was able to make it to church and dinner with the family. Christmas day my family and I met and had breakfast together then opened gifts. I will update you on all of the things I tease in my opening paragraph in the next day or two -- promise!

Send a Greeting to the Military

XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING COOL

If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Thank you to everyone who has and continues to support Drew and others serving in our military!

Christmas Spirit

You could say I hit the jackpot yesterday while I was Target, but in the spirit of Christmas (and my morals) I chose to be a good samaritan. I was near the back of the store and just finished grabbing a couple of things - heading to check out. That's when I spotted it. A glowing wad of money on the ground! As I walked closer to pick it up, I thought to myself, "Are those two zeros?!?" Sure enough, lying on the ground with no one extremely close by was two, yes TWO 100 dollar bills!! I was on the phone with Drew's sister at the time, so I quickly picked up the money and "ran" into the closest isle, whispering to her what I found. At one point I think I did ask, "What should I do!!" But, I knew I needed to turn it in. If it were me, I would be furious if I lost that amount of money. And, it is the season of giving, not receiving. Plus, as Jill reminded me, good karma will come back around (and Target has cameras!). So, I did turn it in and while I can bet that that Target manager will eventually pocket the money, he did have me write my information and said in 30 days if no one claims it they usually call the person who found the money.

We'll see...

UPDATE on DREW:
I recieved and email early this morning from a Lieutenant that Drew made it to Iraq safely. I'm not sure when I will hear from him, but at least I know he is safe where he needs to be and can finally settle in, and unpack his bags (some of which he hasn't seen in a month or two!).

Safe Landing

I got a call from Drew about a half hour ago. He made it to Kuwait safe. He expects to be there less than a week before heading to his next destination. He sounded good, but said he was exhausted and joked about how weird it was not having any sense of time or day. At this point, he's 8 hours ahead of us. We didn't get to chat too long because he has stuff to do and was looking forward to resting, and I am currently at work.

He thinks he should get his address soon, so when that happens I will let everyone know. He's also working on figuring out the Internet at the base he's stationed at right now. It's hard not knowing when that will be because, while I (and anyone else as well) can e-mail him, I have no idea if he'll read it, and thus, no way of contacting him. That's definitely something I am not use to.

OK, that's it for now. Back to work!!

Safe Travels

I'm asking everyone to keep Drew in their prayers. He's been traveling since about 6am yesterday and will be traveling for another 10 to 12 hours today. He's jumped from plane to plane and made it safely out of the country. But, the trip isn't over yet. He still has that long flight ahead and another couple of days to get acclimated to the climate (and briefed) before he reaches Iraq.
Unfortunately, along the way, he's started to come down with a cold or something. He wasn't feeling too hot yesterday so hopefully the Benadryl kicks in and he's feeling good as new again.

I will keep you posted on his deployment and let you know when he reaches theatre. Sorry for the lack of details, I just don't want to risk his safety until he is where he needs to be.

So Much to be Thankful for

I don't even know where to begin.
Although I spent most of the day catching up on sleep, Thanksgiving was a nice, relaxing day at my parents house. I don't know what my mom did to the turkey, but it was delicious. I took mine to go and it made for a delicious meal at work. Other than eating, we took a family picture that will be used in this year's Christmas card.

The following day was one I was anticipating for months. Drew came home for his 4 day pass! I picked him up late that night at the airport and he was home until Tuesday afternoon. It was so nice to see his face and hear his voice in person. The days were spent catching up with family and playing with Lexi. (Starting a fire with his cousin/mini me Thomas.)All I asked for was to go ice skating and he didn't let me down (he never does!). Although, it wasn't quite as romantic as I anticipated... but it was a great time, just the two of us. But, boy, did it those couple of days go by quickly. Dropping him off at the airport was one of the hardest things I've had to do. I didn't realize how hard it would be to say goodbye. But, at the same time I would do it all over again if it meant being able to see his smiling face.

Lexi was fun to watch interact with Drew. She was SO excited to see him when he first walked into the door. And, throughout most of the weekend, while she did spend some time at Drew's sister's house, she was very well behaved.All 103lbs of her!Come Tuesday... she definitely knew something was up and was NOT happy about it. She's never destroyed anything in the house before, but when I returned a couple of hours later, she had made her feelings show. She shred a kitchen hand towel to pieces - so much so that there were strings stuck in between her toe nails. All I could do was laugh. I couldn't be mad at her. It was only a hand towel and I just knew she was upset.

Now, I just hope the next 9-10 months go by as fast as the last four days...