2nd Anniversary: Our Story

Today is our second anniversary! Woohoo! I'm feeling pretty mixed emotions. I'm obviously happy to be able to say we made it two years when so many these days don't even make it this far. I absolutely love my husband and I'm so thankful that God has blessed us with unfailing love and commitment to each other. The mixed part comes from that other guy in our marriage ruining our plans...AGAIN. Yes, I mean the Marine Corps. People say when you marry a military guy you're marrying the military. It's true. We had planned to use both weekends surrounding our anniversary. The first weekend to dress up and have some Halloween fun and the second to do something fun and out of the ordinary for our anniversary. I had told J that I didn't want to plan it. I wanted him to and I wanted to be totally surprised. But that other guy had other plans. This past weekend the powers that be sent my husband on a flight to Middle-of-nowhere, Nevada for the weekend. J had decided that to make up for being gone all weekend he would request Tuesday, today, our anniversary, off. Nope. He's flying FOUR flights this week. Seeing as typically he flies once a week or once every other week, that's A LOT. Oh and by the way, he's scheduled to fly Saturday as well. He NEVER works weekends....except for the one that we have special plans. To top it all off J came back from his weekend away sick and won't even be able to enjoy the delicious anniversary dinner I had planned. Needless to say, I'm beyond frustrated. It's times like this that I absolutely hate the Military life. We can't plan a vacation. We can't plan a romantic weekend for our anniversary. Asking for even one day off is a HUGE hassle. I can't even sign up to take the GRE because I don't know when we'll be moving again. *Grumble grumble* But anyway, on to the happier part of this day...

I'm not sure that I've ever shared our story before, so what better day to reminisce.

J and I met when we were 14. My cousin had met him one summer through a mutual friend and it was by pure random chance (ok, and maybe some Godly direction) that we met the following summer at a music festival that took place at a Six Flags in our area. He just happened to walk by and my cousin happened to see him and took my friends and me over to say hi. My cousin is older than me and had no intentions with J other than to try to hook me up with him, so of course I ended up with his AIM screen name.

This is the day we met! J's the one on the far left in the weird stance and I'm the  first girl on the left. Yeah, the one wishing she was a punk-rock skater chick.

He and I lived about three hours apart, and being so young neither of us were really supposed to be dating or talking on the phone to persons of the opposite sex. So for two years we chatted online. I went to a summer camp every year that was about 20 minutes from his house and he had several friends that worked there and attended there. So I did see him once over those years. It was clear that we both had feelings for each other, but it wasn't practical to say we were 'together'. Eventually J kind of started struggling with some personal things and began to pull away from me. Before too long he stopped talking to me completely. He was never online and never responded to my emails. I found out some time later that he had a girlfriend and obviously, being 16, I was heartbroken. But I soon resumed my normal life and made peace with it. I moved on. Every once in a while I'd wonder what he was up to these days, but I held no hard feelings or remnants of the huge crush I'd had on him.

When I was 17 I started dating this other guy. One of those guys you wish you didn't have to say you dated. One of those guys you wish you could erase from your memory. But I dated him for over a year. For what reason, I do not know.

So fast forward to August 2006. I was still dating the aforementioned ex, though I was about sick of him, just didn't have the heart to break up with him. I was 18, had just graduated from high school, and was once again at the same music festival I went to every summer, enjoying it with my best friends one last time. We had just arrived and made our way into the park and had just gotten in line for our very first ride when I noticed that the guy in front of me looked an awful lot like a certain blond haired guy I used to know. Obviously I whispered to my best friend, Kaity that I thought the guy standing directly in front of me was J. And obviously, as any teenage BFF would do she yelled out his name. He turned around and awkwardly stared at me, to which I replied "Do you know who I am?" and he uncomfortably answered "Yeah..." We chatted politely, because what else could you do when you're stuck in line for a ride next to a person you used to love, who now had a significant other, and hadn't talked to in two years? After that we saw each other a few times throughout the week, but never said much more than hello. I left thinking "Well, that was kind of cool to see him" and thankful for I guess some kind of closure and never really thought about him again. Other than to add him on MySpace of course, 'cause that's just what you did!

At the end of August I'd broken up with my horrible ex and was getting ready to start college. One day out of the blue J messaged me in AIM. I later found out that he had also broken up with his girlfriend and had noticed the ever so dramatic MySpace relationship status change to SINGLE on my page. He began apologizing for breaking my heart and I assured him I was absolutely not still hung up on that. We talked a lot and by the end of September had started driving a lot to see each other and by October we were 'official'.

Two months after we started dating.

Three long years later...

 

And a year after that...

And two years after that...

We've been together a total of six years. They definitely haven't been easy, we've had our share of bumps in the road and I know there will be more to come. But I thank God he has blessed me with someone who loves me so unconditionally, who supports my hopes and dreams, and who's as stubborn and determined as I am to make this work! Love you J!

Photo Recap

As I said in my previous post, my best friend Jess came to visit over the last week. She just left yesterday afternoon and, while I miss her like crazy already, I'm so exhausted from all of our shenanigans! It had been nearly a year since I'd seen her and much longer than that since we really were able to hang out and spend quality time together. She sacrificed a lot to come out here and visit me and I'm so thankful to have such a great friend. So without further to do, here's a photo recap of my week!

Jess and I have a tradition that every time we see each other we  make t-shirts for each other. I made tie dyes with California Dreamin' on the front and our notorious nicknames on the back. Jess is Tuna and I'm Dizzle. I must say I made some pretty kick-ass t-shirts! We also spent several hours of the week doing our nails. Jess did my super amazing toes!

We did some super fun and some not-so-fun things. We spent a day at the beach and got a nice sunburn. We then decided to go get some refreshing smoothies. It just so happened that they had a lot of super health nut type things and naturally we decided to try a shot of wheat grass. To say the least, it was disgusting! It tasted like, you guessed it, grass. Straight from the ground grass.

Needless to say, neither of us will be doing that again anytime soon! After that we decided to find some fun things to attempt from Pinterest. As you can see, our taffy was an epic fail.

We were super pumped because a few weeks ago there was a deal on Groupon for a kayaking cave tour. Wednesday we got to go. We were pretty bummed since we weren't able to actually go in any caves due to water conditions. We did get to paddle right along side some seals and sea lions and we saw where Dr. Seuss lived! 

And what would a visit to Cali be without a night out. We consumed a few too many Jager bombs, but we finished off the night with an epic drunken night swim in the ocean. Overall, I'd say the                     horrendous hangovers the next day were well worth it!

We stuffed our faces daily while she was here. These are just a few samples of all the amazing food we sampled around the San Diego area. We found the best breakfast place and I've pretty much decided to walk there every morning...although I think my waistline wouldn't be too happy about it. We also found a Mexican restaurant that blew our minds. Well done Senior Grubby's, for the best carne asada tacos ever.

 

Saturday we decided to go down to San Diego for the day. We went to Balboa Park and explored. They have several different museums and cool things to see. We went to the train museum, which is the world's largest operating model train museum. Initially, I was opposed to the idea, but I was out numbered and it turned out to be pretty cool! I don't have any pictures, unfortunately, but it was really neat. There was also a variety of street performers and activist groups in the park which were...interesting. Overall, it was a really cool place to go hang out for the day!

One thing on Jess's vacation bucket list was to eat at a place that had been on the show Diners, Drive-ins, 

and Dives. We found a place called Hodad's and after watching the episode they were featured on, knew we had to go there. It's a little beach burger joint with the best burgers! Not only do they have Guy Fieri stamp of approval, but they were also ranked in the top five burger joints in the country by CNN. For those wondering, a 'hodad' is someone who hangs around at the beach with a super nice board and gear, but doesn't surf. AKA: poser! We got lucky enough to land a seat in their old VW bus turned booth!

We spent a lot of time just hanging out, talking, and reconnecting. It's nice to think that distance doesn't have any effect on a friendship, but the truth is it's very difficult to maintain the closeness you have with someone when you lived just around the corner from them from the other side of the country. Hanging out at the beach was an excellent setting to just enjoy spending much needed time together! Our last night together we went to the beach and had a camp fire, which was probably my favorite thing we did. The beach at night is so incredibly peaceful. We woke up early the next morning and went to a local bagel shop, got our bagels and coffee and made one last trip to the beach to eat breakfast. It was an absolutely incredible week!

Like, totally my BFF!

I've been totally absent lately. I wish I could say it's because I've been overwhelmingly busy, but it's quite the opposite. My life has been totally underwhelming. Buuut that is about to change on Sunday because my BFF from home is coming out to So Cal to visit! Being married to a Marine means that I have to leave my friends behind much more than most people and since moving to Cali I haven't met any new friends. It's been pretty lonely and I've been severely deprived of girl time. So basically, I'm so pumped she's coming. I can't even stand it.

I've known Jess since kindergarten! We were friends on and off through elementary, middle, and high school. We never had any big fall outs or anything like that. We were just better friends some years than others.

Jess and me in first grade on Cowboy/girl day! I'm on the far left and she's on the far right.

Senior year of high school we hung out a lot and when graduation came we just happened to be going to the same two-year college. We saw each other once in awhile at college and our last year took a Spanish class together. We talked a lot about the impending graduation and what to do after. It just happened to work out that we both decided to transfer to the same school. We decided to be roommates and avoid the whole awkward moving in with a stranger thing. I can't imagine any better outcome because over that year of living together, and the following year of living a few blocks from each other our friendship grew into something really great. 

Jess and me, our first semester of real college!

We both went through some really difficult things during those two years and through everything we just grew closer. We are so very different in so many ways, but she brings out more fun in me than anyone else. Her friendship has taught me that just because someone has different ideals and beliefs, doesn't mean you can't be super great friends. Most of my life if someone in my life had different beliefs than me or did things that I didn't agree with I tried to change them, and in not-so loving ways. I would push and push and push until I completely pushed them out of my life. I lost a lot of friendships that I cherished that way. But with Jess it's different. I've learned, through my many mistakes, to just love her and let her be her, and thank God I did. She's my best friend and I can't imagine life without her!

Traipsing around the trails at the bluffs.

Halloween 2009, Apple and Strawberry

Dancing like fools at the I.B.

At my wedding!

Fill in the Blank Friday

I'm way over due for a real blog post, but there's one on the way! For now, it's a link up with Lauren at the little things we do for...

1.  The last thing I ate was  a caramel apple lollipop! I found them at Target tonight and hadn't seen them since I was a kid. Obviously I had to buy a bag .

2.  The last time I went to the beach was  weeks ago. WAY too long ago considering I live a block away from the Pacific Ocean and all...I did go running down the road next to the beach yesterday though. Does that count?

3.  My last vacation was last weekend! J had Friday off from work so we packed up the car and went camping in the mountains for the weekend. There truly is nothing more calming than getting away from everything and just being in nature.

4. The last place I drove was    home from base. J is standing 24 hour duty so I brought him some oh-so-healthy Chick-fil-a so we could eat dinner together.

5. The last song I listened to was  Mumford and Sons, not sure which song. 

6. The last thing I watched on TV was   old Gossip Girl episodes. This show is really awful, but it's good background noise.

7.  The last time I said "I love you" was three hours or so ago when I left J at work.