It's been a while

Well it's been quite a while since I updated this blog. In the interim, I have spent a month at Ft Dix, NJ for the greatest training of my life. I did so much stuff to prepare for this deployment that I won't ever have to use, not even the day after never. It was only a little bit frustrating but oh well, it's over and I will never do it again. Fortunately, Jess got to come up to NJ and spend a week with me. We went to NYC with the fam and did quite a sizable amount of damage. We checked out ground zero, but weren't able to get the grand tour. It was still pretty incredible to think of how big them buildings were and how big of a change in our lives they have made. We checked out the statue of the bull on Wall St and laughed at the line of tourists taking pictures with it b/c there was one line taking pics with the front of the bull and another line taking pics with the ass of it. I know that I would have been in the line of ass pictures had I wanted a picture. That night we got to go see Sister Act on Broadway. It was great even though the songs in the play were all different from those in the movie. Afterwards, we strolled through Time Square on our way to dinner. Jess immediately flashbacked to the days of TRL and where the mobs of tweens once stood hoping to catch that fateful glimpse of Carson Daly. The next day we hit up 5th Ave and Barney's. We did find a purse for $18,000...yes the equivalent of a car but I promise you that if Carey Bradshaw had mentioned it one SATC, it would have been this year's big Christmas craze despite having the equivalent value 5 slightly used Gremlins. Se la vi! I did find a Lindt chocolate store and decided to try their 99% Cocoa chocolate. Despite taking a rather small nibble, it is still so bitter I could only manage to eat a few bites. However, the expression on Jess' face when she tried it was priceless. I would try to describe it but I lack the vernacular. Just trust me when I say it was priceless. That night we ate at Les Halles, one of Anthony Bourdain's old stomping grounds. It was delicious and very much a French eatery...more butter than Paula Deen ever dreamed of y'all! We exchanged gifts that night, with the big gift being a game of Taboo. Guys vs Girls quickly ensued and of course the MEN won! The next morning, Christmas Day, we went to a nice old church then to a delicious steakhouse before making the trek back to Ft Dix. A lovely thing about taking the NJ Transit train is that at NY Penn Station (a very busy hub), they don't announce which track the train will be arriving/departing from until all of 10 min before the 300 passengers try to blitz simultaneously. So you can imagine four tourists with luggage trying to keep pace. We faired rather well I believe. I had to say my goodbyes to my parents that night as they were headed further into Yankee land to visit family in Massachusetts. Jess and I relished our last day together on the 26th. She surprised me with some Tex-Mex for my last dinner in the Estatos Unidos...she spoils me, I'll admit it. The next day I had to tell her goodbye and that just sucked, plain and simple. That evening, I popped some Benadryl and boarded my first international flight only to wake up flying somewhere over Germany. After a brief layover in Leipzig, I boarded another flight and ended up here in Manas, Kyrgyzstan where I've been ever since. I head to Afghanistan shortly and will eventually end up at my final destination. In the meantime, I have tasted Russian beer and tried to pass the time. There isn't much to do at transit centers like this but they have amenities like a movie theater and decent internet. Jess and I have found a plethora of iPhone apps to help us stay connected. We can now send each other video messages, altered pics, and even call whenever I have a wifi connection. All in all, it ain't that bad and could definitely worse. Hopefully, where ever I end up has decent enough internet to allow us to continue using these toys. I'll try to update this blog when I get the chance. I shall leave y'all with a tidbit of info that is no secret but still fun to say...my wife is amazing!

honeymooners

So a bazillion years ago, we went on our honeymoon to the Florida Keys - Marathon Island, more specifically. Early early early (4 30am) Sunday after the wedding Trace and I loaded up the truck and drove 3 hours home to San Antonio in order to catch our 9 00 flight to Florida. We spent the majority of that day flying and driving which doesn't sound so bad, but we were exhausted. It was on the first day of the honeymoon that the reality of Trace's deployment really hit home. Planning a wedding is the most fabulous distraction ever. We spent the next couple of days lounging in our cottage, swimming, having several near death experiences (canoeing and scootering), eating and driving - we did a lot of driving.

We managed to snap just a few pics.

obligatory honeymoon drinks in souvenir glasses



75 and sunny every day!

somehow my makeup didn't make it into my suitcase. a week without having to wear makeup is definitely my kind of honeymoon.

We were much more diligent about documenting the honeymoon with the video camera that Trace bought for his deployment. I have watched all the videos at least 10 times since he left. The videos are taking forever to upload, so I will have to do some research on that.

ghetto much?

Our amazing wedding photographer told us that she wanted to rush some prints to us before Trace left for New Jersey so that he could take some actual photos with him. He left before they arrived, but when the prints showed up at my front door, I instantly teared up. She sent 3 different images in a couple different sizes. Here is a ghetto sneak peek of one of them.



I took this picture of the picture with my phone and emailed it to Trace....and then mailed him the actual photos.

could it beeee more official?

After 2 ceremonies, 2 honeymoons and a bunch of explanations, we are officially Mr. & Mrs. Teas for the whole world to know. We could not have asked for a more perfect, more special time with our families and friends. I'm working on several blog posts to cover the weekend's activities, mostly for myself - because I don't want to forget anything!

After 5 days in Florida, I sent Trace packing. On Saturday, Trace and I reluctantly made our way to the airport. We packed Sully in the car so he could soak up as much of Trace's scent as possible.

Trace had to pick up his weaponry at the airport. So, the other airport patrons and I watched in semi horror as four uniformed people opened gigantic gun cases and inspected the contents. I was ill at ease and I knew what was going on, I can only imagine what the other people were thinking. We spent about 30 minutes in the USO waiting area where they force fed us kolaches and candy. Eventually we had to part ways and I watched Trace through security and stood on tip-toes until I couldn't see him anymore. I'm sure I looked psychotic as I stood there, but that was only the beginning. I handed the pay for parking lady a teary snot covered debit card and pressed ahead. Since we were half way to the dog park, I took Sully to participate in his favorite past-times - sniffing and peeing -- and my spirits were immediately lifted.

Later in the afternoon, I packed up the dog to head to Waco. We didn't have any real plans, but Dad casually mentioned that he had box seats to that nights Baylor football game. I peer pressured Austin into coming along so the three of us set out to what would be the most exciting football game I have ever been to. After 4 nail biting quarters my Bears beat OU for the first time in history. Emotions were already running high that day and I may have shed a few tears. Trace would have totally made fun of me. The next day my Uncle Tim and his boys came up to Waco and we all went to the Baylor girls basketball game - not as nail biting, but still a win for good ol' BU.

Sully and I came home to San Antonio today and started the grand task of fitting all our new goodies into our already stuffed full apartment. I think it will be a work in progress for a quite some time. Right now, I'm spoiled in the fact that Trace is readily accessible. We are able to text all day and Skype at night. I try to not think about what it will be like when he actually leaves the US. The wedding was the best distraction EVER. Now, the fact that Trace is leaving leaving is never far from my thoughts.

another 15 minutes

In nursing school, I stumbled across a waste-time website. I eventually got my brothers involved and clued Trace in on the wonders that it Reddit.com. It is basically a catch all for anything nonimportant that is on the internet - stupid pictures, funny videos, people asking outlandish questions and expecting equally outlandish answers. It became a part of life during boring lectures and continues to be a source of entertainment when I find myself suffering from shift work disorder ;)

Recently, one of the "hive-mind" asked if anyone had ever been on Extreme Makeover Home Edition. When I saw the request, I immediately text messaged trace and below is a link to what transpired. I find Trace and his writing especially endearing...

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Trace is answering as "Imthekitty"


Also, only another 9 days until wedding day!!!

aaannnnd nothing makes deployment more real than having a meeting to sign your Last Will and Testament.... :(

Mike & Molly isn't funny

We've been slacking a little bit on updating this blog...so sue us! Things have been different than usual 'round here lately. I had a TDY (air force speak for a temporary training exercise) in Baltimore for 3 weeks for trauma training. During that time, Jess worked her (cute) butt off. It sucked in all honesty. That town is nothing but an overgrown ghetto. I'm sure there are nice parts of town, but they are few and really far between. No wonder they send nurses there for trauma training (e.g. gunshots, stabbings). Definitely came to the conclusion that it's really gonna suck come 19 Nov!!! Sully sure got spoiled rotten during my absence though. How can you resist his cute little face though? He got to sleep on the couch and even on the bed! My first night back, we got in bed to go to sleep and he comes up and gives me a look like "where am I supposed to lay down?". When I'm here, there's plenty of room for him on his own bed or on the floor as far as I'm concerned.

It's even been so long that we haven't even gotten to tell y'all the good news...Jess got into grad school. As if there was ever any doubt that she would, we got official word saying they'd be honored to have her as a student/future alumni. She'll begin her domination in January. This will hopefully keep her mind occupied in my absence. She still tries to act like she didn't think she'd get in, but it's a sham.

Anywho, things are getting finalized for the wedding. It's gonna be the bomb-diggity (yes I just said that)! We'll see y'all there! Thanks to the amazing shower a few weeks ago, we've been trying out our new toys. The Keurig coffee maker could very well turn us/me into coffee drinkers, hopefully not to the point where we don't function properly without our morning joe, but at least regular consumers of fair-trade completely organic coffee of course (note the sarcasm). Jess put the new crock pot to AMAZING use tonight. She whipped up the most amazing pot roast that completely restored my faith in homemade pot roast. I say restored my faith in it b/c growing up, every time we went to Nana's house she always had a pot roast in the oven when we arrived so, naturally, I assumed she made it herself. This went on for 24 years, literally! It wasn't until I moved to El Paso for nursing school that I learned she had been buying them from a meat market down the street and just warming them in the oven for us all those years. Imagine my devastation when I learned of such a monstrosity. Duped by my own Nana; oh the humanity. Thank you Jess for giving me the ability to believe again...thank you!

Are you sure you're sure?

Couldn't help but ask when you get this face in response to mailing out invitations.

I guess he doesn't really have a choice considering he is doing all that with a ring on his finger. The invitations are in the mail, the bridal shower is complete, the final meeting with the venue, the caterer and the photographer is in the books...now all we can do is cross our fingers. I originally hoped that we wouldn't be freezing at our outdoor wedding in November, now I'm hoping we aren't still looking at 100 degree temps.

Thankfully, we aren't stressing too much about the final details. Trace left on Sunday for a month's worth of trauma training, but we spent the week before playing!

We spent a weekend in Dallas for Amanda's Wedding/ Roomie Reunion.




Nothing like a Middle/High School Reunion in Waco at a bridal shower to make your heart happy! Yay for awkward wedding showers not being too awkward. Trace was such a trooper and even answered all the shower game questions correctly!

Trace left for Baltimore 3 days ago, so Sully and I are surviving on our own. It is not like Sully is suffering... every night that I'm at work, my mom brings the poor dog a chicken sandwich! I think we will survive!

While Trace is gone my big obstacle is going to be explaining to all the grumpy old nurses at my job that I (with barely 2 years of nursing experience) am going to be quitting my job to start grad school in January.

At some time on I-35 this week, Trace and I reminisced about the events of the year...

January - Jess turns 26 (old)
February- Trace proposes! SURPRISE
March - Everyone quits their jobs/ Trace starts Air Force Career
April- We all move to San Antonio
May- Jess starts new job
June- Trace turns 27 (oldER)
August - Trace gets deployment orders
September - We get married!!!
October- Jess gets accepted to grad school/ Trace starts pre-deployment training
November- WEDDING!!
December - Trace goes to Afghanistan by 12/31/2011

It makes my head spin just to think about! There is no way that 2012 can top this!!!

13 days out...

Almost 2 weeks have passed since our big "I Dos." Two weeks ago, we were heading to the River Walk with Trace's family and now here we are just a couple of old married folks. Wedding number one was absolutely perfect. Even though I lost the marriage license and Trace forgot the bread for communion, things were perfect. I have never felt more blessed in my life - to be surrounded by our families, making that huge of a commitment - the feeling is indescribable. We are so thankful that everyone was able to be so flexible and helpful. We needed all the help we could get! I surprisingly held myself together, my mouth was doing a weird twitching thing, but overall the tears were at a minimum. Good thing.. because the new waterproof mascara that I bought was very disappointing!!

Skip to the honeymoon and the perfectness continued! The bed and breakfast was impeccable. I guess Labor Day weekend is a convenient time to get married because the other couples at the B&B were all celebrating their anniversaries. I'll be honest, we went all out to celebrate. First meal as a married couple... Digiorno and Doritos. It was perfect! The next day, we made it out to the beach. Trace was not exaggerating when he said it was windy. I think we both ate a ton of sand. Trace was a tad nervous about losing his ring. He kept his left hand in a perfect fist whenever we were in the water. Humorous and endearing - like always!

Eventually we made it to the Randy Rogers Concert. We both got frisked for the first time at the entry to the concert - I guess Corpus Christi is a haven for guns/pepper spray/ drugs in concerts. The place was packed, but T and I found a perfect place on the grass and I loudly sang along to EVERY song. Like T said, a Randy Rogers concert was our first "date." Here on our honeymoon, he confessed that "I had no intention of dancing with you" that night. And wouldn't you know, that is exactly what we did! We spent that night and this night dancing the night away. Perfect!

Honeymoon - September 2011

1st "Date" - April 2009

It's Legal!

What's brown and sticky?...a stick. Who's now married?...we are!!! Due to my upcoming deployment (I leave Nov 20), we had to bump up the date of our nuptials to Sept 3 so we could get Jess processed into the system before I leave. There's stuff like insurance, legal matters, and things like that which take time to do; more time than we would have had if we wouldn't had hurried up and done the deed. Both families were there and my dad refereed the ceremony. It took place at an old mansion that has been converted into a restaurant called The Lodge at Castle Hills. We had a private room and the two of us stood in front of the old fireplace with my dad behind us. Jess looked absolutely gorgeous (like always) in a beautiful white dress with a skinny silver belt. After we exchanged rings and vows and a big 'ol smooch, we had communion which was presided over by Jess' dad.
Jess' ring is an exquisite white gold ring with channel set diamonds. After the ceremony, we dined in a private room and were able to avoid any awkward silences. That's good considering our families hadn't really met before the day. Kayman made Jess' boquet, the center pieces at the dining table, and red velvet cupcakes for us to feed each other. During the dessert exchange, Jess decided she wanted more than just a bite of my cupcake and tried to remove my middle finger with her incisors. Kayman also played photographer for us after the dinner. Here are some of the pics she took. If you want to see more, here's the link to shutterfly: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZuGTVk3aM2L_Q


After the shindig, we scampered off to Corpus Christi. We stayed in a b-e-a-utiful b&b called Ocean House. Our room had a king sized bed complete with a plethora of pillows, all delivered from Heaven. Saying it was comfortable is like saying Sully is only stinky (he really smells like a butt). There was a nice surprise when we walked in the suite. The Smiths (my aunt, uncle and cousins) had a gift basket of chocolate covered strawberries and champagne (Jess called it cham-pimple) waiting for usIt was sooooo nice. We hit up Padre Island (the north one) one day and the beach was actually pretty nice. The wind was another story. It was blowing so hard that we watched some poor soul try to set up a tent for 45 minutes, only to give up in the end. It also blew the fine top layer of sand so deep in our ears that it took a good 3 days to get it all out. Randy Rogers Band and Pat Green put on a show that first night too so we decided to hit up Brewster Street Icehouse, a famous Texas watering hole, beforehand then went to the show. Ironically, a Randy Rogers concert was where we went on our first date back in our old El Paso days so this brought us full circle. We hit up the public beach in Corpus on our second day before having to head back to SA.

Now even though we swapped vows, rings, and spit, we're still having a big to-do on Nov 12. We're still having a bit of a ceremony, photographer, music, food/beer, and a great time so we hope everybody still comes and celebrates with us. We hope everybody understands the reason for this, but if you don't that's just too bad!

Tic Toc, Clarice!

If you can name the movie that quote (the title of this entry) came from, you get a high five and my respect. On a much less/more important note, life in San Antonio continues in such a way that most would be envious of. Jess is still HOT...VERY HOT!!! Oh and so is the weather. We were one degree, just one stinkin' degree off of setting a new record high the other day. This is the first time I've ever not wanted to go outside to do something b/c it's so toasty. Sully, of course, starts panting after about 30 seconds of walking. It's so hot that Sully's rudder was even hanging low today (if you don't know what a dog's rudder is, then start at neutering and you'll figure it out pretty quick). As you marinate on that thought, I'll continue with more pressing matters.

I received my tasking letter for deployment. In the AF, a tasking letter is the paperwork that says you're going to be deployed and where you're going and when to be there. My type of tasking is known as a JET tasking. It basically means I'll be attached to an Army unit and sent to a FOB (forward operating base) somewhere. Lucky for me, there's extra trainings that go along with a JET tasking, like M16 (instead of just M9) training, and some others. I have to report to AFG on 31 Dec, so happy birthday Dad! I'm slated to be there for 6 months too so I'll miss Jess' birthday too :(

On an freakin' sweet note, Jess was moved into the second round of applications for grad school!!! Not that it's a surprise at all, but she's trying to play that whole "I didn't think I'd get to move on/I'm totally surprised" card and she sucks at it. Nobody puts magna cum laude in the corner, nobody! And we might have found a house to move into. It's stinking big and has a fenced yard for the Sully Bear. There are still a few details to work out but it's promising. Wanna hear a joke, what's brown and sticky?...a stick!

In terms of the upcoming nuptuals, we have the invitations, groomsmen shirt's are purchased, even some wedding gifts have started arriving. If anyone knows who Sheri Wood is, please let us know b/c we got a flatware set from her and her family and neither one of us can figure out who she is. Weird! The date is quickly arriving so start pulling out your boots for scootin' b/c it's gonna be a great time. Alright, back the L&O: SVU marathon on USA (they should do these more often).

I Love (white) Gold (as said in a freaky deeky Dutch accent)

The details are droppin like flies. Today encompassed quite an adventure that started out as completely useless, but turned out to be highly productive. We embarked on a quest to experience the famous icehouse "Hills and Dale's" here in SA. Little did we, in particular me, know that H&D's is a true icehouse in the sense they don't serve food. We walked into the establishment and immediately noticed the 145 beers to choose from. Normally this would make me giddy as a school girl, but a man's gotta eat too and my primative instincts for digestion were too great to ignore. Unfortunately this visit was not meant to be so we were back on the hunt for something delicious. Who better to quell this craving than McAllisters?!?!? A cranberry turkey club with sweet tea is all I needed while the misses indulged in some sort of chicken panini. The wonderful combo of liquid gold and edible delectibles were all we needed to look at our remaining to-do list and say, "Bring it on!"

The next battle to be fought came in the form of pants. Anyone who has known me extensively knows the relationship between pants and me can be described as tumultuous at best. I have a ghetto booty and thunder thighs, while they served me wonderfully throughout my football career, their extreme size is not quite demanded as they once were. This makes buying pants that fit correctly a pain in the ass (pun intended). However, with McAllister's pumping through our veins, we made pants-buying scream for mercy in only two stores! Bow down chinos!!! Add to that we found a belt and several great prospects of shirts, the score became T/J-1, wedding to-do's 0. But wait...there's more!!!!

We trekked to the first jewelry store we could find via google maps on my phone and "Viola" we found a winner. Allow me to backtrack before I proceed. When it came to finding my beautiful bride to be a wedding band, I envisioned visiting no less than two stores before resorting to internet research, and then returning to three more stores before finding "the one". Back in reality, we walked into the first jewelry store my phone found for us and only tried on three styles before she tried on a beautiful ring and her face immediately lit up like a lightning bug's ass. All that was left to do was size it correctly and we've got ourselves a winner. It will be ready soon!

Should we stop there while we're on top?...I don't think so scooter!!! We ambushed the mall like wild banshees on the warpath hellbent on taking no prisoners. If you were on the to-do list, you were screwed. The only advice we could offer came from Ludacris when he said to "Move...get out the way!" This mission was two-fold: groomsmen's shirts and her shoes. Reconnaisance or assassination of either would be acceptable. Skip some details and two shirts laid victim to our actions as well as valuable information on shoes gained! Muahaha we are that good.

All of this done in one day?...tis true. And it's only Friday (it's Friday, gotta get down...stop singing that stupid song) so at this pace we will accomplish world domination by the 'morrow! Oh yes, the time has come, join us or be added to the list of victims muahahahaha!!!

sunburnt

I had to google "sunburnt" and it is, in fact, a real word..and I am, in fact, real sunburnt. Last weekend we met up with my cousin, his gf and my oldest younger brother on the Guadalupe river for a tubing adventure. Some spots in the river were shallow enough that we had to pick up our tubes and walk, but that didn't stop us from having a blast and a half. It was the perfect day and just as we could see our exit on the river, it started to downpour. I haven't seen rain since we moved to San Antonio - it was beautiful! Despite the 5 minutes of rain, T and I both got super pink, and only on our fronts. To add to the burntness, we spent yesterday at Six Flags Fiesta Texas to finish off T's birthday celebration.

Tube tops are my new bff - I don't want to look like a zebra for all eternity in our wedding pics.

This next week is full of lots of work...and class. Both T and I are now on the night shift. As if it weren't hard enough to sleep at day time, this week we will both be switching back and forth between night shift and day shift. Sully will be confused and I will be a zombie.

We are sending out our save-the-dates this week, which really means things are getting official. Where did time go? We are down to 3 months and some days...I guess we better get to work on more of the details of things. I'm so bad at this planning!!

Below are some pics of some random stuff since my last update -- the summer is going by too quickly!

Sully helping to celebrate T's birthday!

Date night - T stumbled across a Bush's Chicken in SA. He knows Waco-grown fast food is the way to my heart.

Eli Young Concert - I accidentally smacked that other guy in the face shortly after this picture. My singing got a little out of control -- shocking!?!

The Wonk

Well it's been a while since this thing has been updated, but we've been so worried about raising the debt ceiling that we just haven't had time. We're so hopeful that a deal can be done soon! Back in reality, we've been doing what we do best...........annoying Sully. He's amused by it so it's all gravy. We've got ourselves a music man for the reception and a wonderful artist to work her cake magic for everyone's delight. The most important part of the whole thing has also been booked...the honeymoon! We're going to cruise from Galveston (a favorite place of ours from our Houston days) to Cozumel and Costa Maya and back. It's gonna be soooooo much fun and she's gonna be sooooooo hot!!! I've even started jumping through the hoops at work to be allowed to embark on such an adventure (don't you dare think something like asking time off to go "overseas" for a honeymoon is as simple as submitting a request with the military, that would just be silly). Just as important is booking where we're staying the night of the wedding, but ya'll don't need to know where that is exactly. Need I say more? ;)

Jess is addressing the "save-the-dates" as we speak/I type. I still pride myself in writing like a six year old that only I can read so I addressed my parent's and Nana's STD's (hahaha) but that's it. We're going to Six Flags Fiesta Texas tomorrow to release our inner child. It's gonna be some awesome!!! We plan on arriving shortly after they open so we don't have to wait in line that long and by the time it gets real hot we will have rode all of the dry rides and can start on the water rides. Be jealous!

Want useless knowledge? Well I'm full of it as most of ya'll know. But did you know that the Cookie Monster was originally named "Sid" before he tried his first cookie and became instantly addicted? Until next time, chew on that!

Da Boo

Well things continue to fall in place. Caterer...check. Photographer...booked! DJ...looks like that one's done. There's still plenty to do but it's amazing how much less daunting the task looks when the big mamajamas are taken care of. Jess has her dress picked out and bought, but now has to find the proper footwear before she can get it altered. She's gonna look so hot when it's all finished ;) Now we've just to iron out the "minor details"...hahaha (get it?). We've still got to book the honeymoon and order a few things, but it shouldn't be that bad. Flowers are the only big thing still on the list, but no worries, they are under control.

On another note, the new season of True Blood has started!!! If you're not excited then you have no soul. And apparently there's a new season of that Teen Mom show with the original cast that Jess is uber excited about!!! The most exciting part of all this is that we finally got cable. Jess got it for me for my birthday so we can watch quality programming such as what was mentioned earlier. Well I'd write more, but we're watching True Blood and have priorities. Adios!

dog days of summer

Sweet summertime has arrived and we are sweating it out in SA. Lucky for us, my apt complex has a beautiful pool that we have be able to take advantage of. We have to sneak Sully in, so he doesn't get to swim as much. Otherwise, he leads a real rough life.


Truthfully, I think he suffers the most in the heat. That black fur coat can't last more than 5 minutes in the sun.

Trace and I are loving San Antonio so far. We have visited all the dog parks and way too many restaurants. After seeing these around town, we finally decided to test one out. The waiter told us it was a "Dos-a-Rita." He acted like we were morons for not knowing.




Wedding plans are coming right along. We have most of the important things in the books. It's the odds and ends that I don't know what to do about. I'm ready for it to be here... but then that means we are closer and closer to Trace's deployment window (beginning of December). So, for now, I am not counting down the days.

Reservations for Two

Well the ball is rolling and things are being checked off the to-do list left and right. We're setting up the photo taker and food giver. I'm assembling my ensemble piece by piece, but at least we know what we want it to look like. I'm swapping the Converse idea for my boots! Jess has an appointment for Monday to look at dresses in New Braunfels. Jess is dying to do a sand ceremony at the wedding, but I'm not completely sold yet. I guess ya'll will have to wait and see if we go with it or not. We're tossing around ideas to incorporate Sully in the ceremony but he can't pour sand because he doesn't have opposable thumbs. He's sacked out on his bed right now because he got to play at a puppy day care place all morning. We found a new place to take him that lets him and all the other dogs just run around the place and come inside and out as they please, which is how it should be if you think about it. Ok well that's pretty much all. Shalom!

P.S. Two kegs or three? ~150 people

Panking!

Allow me to start by saying Congrats Mr. Rogers and Rochelle! Talk about a one-upper, poppin the question in Italy. For us we're slowly making headway on our plans. We did tour five wineries in the ATX/Dripping Springs area yesterday with some peeps from my work. I think we (mostly I) inadvertently scouted places to someday live. We feasted at Salt Lick and I can now die a happy man. The proper words to describe such a wonderful place are hard to find. We stumbled across a well named wine from one of the tastings that we might incorporate into the wedding, but a lady never asks and a gentleman never tells which wine it is exactly. We possibly decided on an invitation too, but again I ain't squealin. If we like you then you're sure to get one and you can see what it looks like then!

Jess is getting settled in her new trabajo. In due time she'll get to work in the trauma rooms and I'm sure shortly thereafter she'll be running the trauma rooms. She's so smart (and HOT!). Unfortunately, she gets to sit through a bunch of orientation meetings and classes this whole week. Talk about a blast and a half. I've completed most of my orientation meetings at Wilford so I won't get to have that kinda fun again until I go to BAMC and who knows when that will be. The situation at BAMC was described to me as a pissing contest where the world's water supply won't meet the demand. Oh well, I'll just keep on doing my orientation and learning how they do things here. In terms of things from my perspective, I love my job so they can keep pissing all they want. Well it's off to dinner...she wants pizza and who am I to say no!

Boom shocka locka!

She's gonna cry!...not Jess but some girl on TV who just lost minute to win it. We are still getting plans knocked out left and right. And by knocked out I mean narrowing them down to three or four possibilities for each decision. We did decide on colors..."Overjoy (goldish yellow) and Cityscape (gray)" according to the color wheel from Sherwin Williams. I actually did stop into a paint store and originally had the intention of snagging every shade of yellow from the little samples with three shades each on them, but the sales lady came up to me and offered to let me take the sample pack of every color they have so we had more than enough choices to look through and that's what we decided on. To give ya'll a hint without giving anything away about some of the decor, keep in mind that fire is yellow! We skidaddled up to the Wack last weekend and got great ideas on decor and scoped out potential places for the rehearsal dinner. Like I said, we're knocking out decisions left and right so I'll leave you with a riddle: You have two coins that equal fifteen cents and one of them is NOT a nickel, how do you do it?

officially official

The wedding date and location have finally been set -- November 12 in good ol' Waco. We visited the Earle-Harrison House (www.earleharrison.com) while we were in Waco over Easter. We got to spy on a reception in progress and I was pretty much sold on the spot. Yah, it is going to be outside. We know outside is always a wild card, but it is a risk we are willing to take. Now I guess we can start to figure out everything else...I don't even know where to start... let the excitement begin!!

In Waco - T nailed the creepster vibe we were going for. My creepster look needs work.

Updation

Well we're officially San Antonians, if that's what you call us/them? We're still getting acquainted with the new town, but so far we love what we've experienced. Jess' uncle dubbed us "09'ers", which Jess knew what meant right off the bat, 48 hours later I figured it out. The zip code for Alamo Heights, where we both live, is 78209...so put two and two together, we're a couple of 09'ers! We've hit up a bunch of the local flavors in an attempt to expand our tastes and so far we've been delighted in the local flavor. We've walked to dinner a few nights b/c the area is has plenty of options that allow us to walk off our evening's cuisine. There are plenty of good burger joints and of course good tex-mex to fill our guacamole fixes. Being nurses and given my maturity level, I still chuckle to myself when I call guac, "guaiac". If you don't know what that means, look it up and you too will find yourself chuckling. This weekend we went to Screwston for Andrea's baby shower. It felt a little outta place being back in the 713, but good nonetheless. We would have been remiss to not eat at Goode Co. Taqueria on a Sunday mornin' so we obliged ourselves and what a delight it was. Their huevos con tocino are still the bomb diggity and they still have a balloon artist to entertain me...and the kids. You're gosh dang darn right I stalked her from across the saloon and raised my hand like a first grader to get her attention. When she came to our table, two little punks walked up and played the "I'm a cute little 6 year old" card to try to get her to make their balloon figures first, but I batted my eyes and Hector flexed his muscles so she tended to us first. I asked for an alien from Toy Story (one of the 3-eyed creatures). A table full of 5 people ranging from 25-35 years of age sat in amazement for the next 6.5 minutes as this artist created a truly exquisite masterpiece that closely resembles my requested alien. In the midst of this, it dawned on me...I'm a 26 year old officer in the Air Force, wearing a Transformers t-shirt, and requesting a balloon figure from a child's movie...my life is awesome!!! Who says you have to be a robot in the military and can't have a beautiful fiance? To say I'm blessed would be a drastic understatement. But for now I've gotta run b/c there's an Anamaniacs marathon I need to partake in!

P.S. I love ending sentences with prepositions

Regresso!

IIIIII'mmmmmm BAAAAACCCCCKKKKK!!!!! We just got back to Houston and we've picked up Sully and already hit up Freebirds...it was delicious! Alabama certainly doesn't have mexican food (the one weekend we ate it) like Texas does, but they do have good BBQ. Thursday was one of the greatest days I've ever had. I was originally planning on surprising Jess at the airport, but couldn't contain myself and told her I'd meet her there. Getting to see her and give her the biggest hug ever was indescribable, so it will stay between us and you can just imagine some dramatic scene from a movie and multiply it by a hundred to start to get an idea of what it was like. We had the dining out Thursday night which means she got to look absolutely beautiful and I wore a monkey suit to a fancy shmancy dinner at the O club (officer's club). It was full of tradition and some laughs and was a good time. Friday was the graduation ceremony. We melted in our service blues while families and friends packed into the big red bed (the main lecture hall). Then we went and did the parade (march around a field), took the oath (again), threw our hats in the air, and said our goodbyes. Fast forward to Saturday and we finally made it home. It feels good being back. Sully did the happy dance when he saw us and took the liberty of peeing all over the floor in the process...that's my boy! Now that we're back, it's finally time to do what has been put off far too long...WEDDING PLANS!!! There are many to be made so adios!

Updation

Well I finally have a chance to update this thing so here it is. This is what a typical day looks like for me here at COT: 0420 wake up, PT (running, push ups, sit ups, etc.) from 0500-0615, Breakfast from 0700-0800 but we get about 8 minutes to actually eat, class from 0800-1200, lunch, class from 1300-1800, dinner, studying until about 2300 then sleep. We repeat this process monday through friday which means we're putting in about 16-18 hours a day. Weekends are pretty much the same schedule but instead of class we just study. It's actually pretty cool. We march between classes and meals and act like true military professionals in training, but when we're back in the dorms we go back to "normal" people our age. Everyone here, all 152 people, are considered the group. There are three squadrons in the group, and 3-4 flights per squadron. I'm in Echo flight and we have a really good group of people. There are lots of details I could fill you in on but I have neither the time or energy to type them. To give you an idea of how tired I am, we had a blood drive today and I was asked three times if I was ok after I donated. When I told the person asking "yeah, I'm fine. Why?", they responded with "because you look like crap!". No I didn't pass out, but I did wanna take a nap, which didn't happen either.

In terms of the really fun stuff (the wedding), we haven't made any official plans yet. We're still enjoying the freedom of being able to say we should do anything that comes to our minds, regardless of how feasible it actually is. I imagine the real plans will start being put in to place not long after I'm back, but for now it's all just fun and games. I better wrap this up b/c I'm using somebody's phone as a hot spot for internet access. Who knows when I'll be able to update this thingamabopper again so adios for now!

El Beginning de COT

Well here we go! This is my first real blog so I don't really know what to do on one of these things so I'll just wing it. I just got everything packed up to leave tomorrow and had Jess check to make sure I had all the documents and that all the t's were crossed and i's were dotted. I have two bags plus a carry on which is a serious blow to my manhood. Regardless of having to have all these uniforms, shoes, etc. I still feel like having more than one bag is a violation of man law. Oh well. And American Airlines better not charge me for checking my bags...or else (I'll just pay and it give them the fist of shame)!!! My flight is bright and early so we'll be waking up around 430 in the AM...get excited. It's going to be an emotional morning and day tomorrow seeing as emotions are already being felt by all three of us (Sully included). Sully is relishing his new found priveleges of being allowed on the couch and occassionally on the bed.

In terms of the more important event coming up (wuv and mawwiage), we've been tossing around ideas of when to conduct said mawwiage. We took the ring in to be resized today. It will be ready by Thursday, but hopefully/possibly Wednesday. We're having a date tonight that includes hitting up Barnes & Noballs to look at wedding books and literature. Although it's still a ways away, I'm already getting excited!!

Well I don't know what else to put on this blog. I'll update it when I came while I'm gone, but otherwise it'll be up to Jess.