Random Thoughts...

I have a ton of random thoughts running through my mind, so I thought I'd vent/blog a little a see if anything goes anywhere!

1)I kinda suck at this whole blogging thing. I mean I've never been much of a writer so I'm not sure what gave me the bright idea to start this blog, but I've been terrible at keeping it up to date! I had good intentions in the beginning, I wanted to keep everyone up to date on Charlie. I think I may have lost motivation along the way b/c I wasn't getting much feed back and I wasn't sure if anyone was even reading it. 

2)Sunburns hurt... working out while you have a sunburn hurts worse! And then having to change clothes and wear fitted clothes all day is just miserable. This weekend was Cal Poly's Open House, formerly known in my college days as Poly Royal Weekend. Its for prospects and alumni to come to campus and see all it is that Cal Poly has to offer. Its a pretty fun weekend full of tractor pulls and rodeos and deep fried anything you could imagine. This weekend was exceptionally beautiful out and so I decided to soak up the sun, a little too much apparently. The only thing burned is my shoulders, and I'm convinced that besides the top of your thighs, and burns you only get in a tanning bed, shoulder burns are near the top of the list when it comes to pain. Oh well, no pain no tan!

3)My brother should join a tractor pull team. I have never been to the pulls before. I have lots of friends from college that are apart of Cal Poly's team, and I've always meant to go to the pulls, but I was generally too wrapped up in rodeo stuff to make it over to the tractor pulls. But let me tell ya these tractors are awesome! They have airplane motors, or helicopter motors, or any other creation. Cal Poly's tractors, along with many others from california are built by Cal Poly students and a pretty awesome BRAE professor form Cal Poly. My brother loves loves loves to work on his truck and I think building giant tractor engines and then seeing how far they can pull a giant sled down a track... right up his ally!

 

Cal Poly's Mustang Fever!                                                                                                                    Dodge pullin against a Chevy, Dodge wins!                                                                

4)My nephew is addicted to bubbles and its the cutest thing I've ever seen. His favorite Aunt got him a bubble gun for Easter not knowing of his love for bubbles, and it was definitely a hit! The only bad part, Easter Sunday was cold and rainy and yucky outside and Mr. Landon wanted his bubbles!!! So outside it was... I hope my kids are as cute as he is! 

Bubbles!!!!!!!

5)Who the heck changes their last name to a number?!?! I'll tell you, Chad OchoCinco... I'm watching dancing with the stars, and this guy is something else. I have not watched the show this season so I was fully prepared to dislike him, but actually he's kinda funny! 

6)I miss Charlie like crazy. Well that's actually number 1 on my mind, always, but I figured no one really wanted to read another blog where I talk about how much I miss Charlie. I'm so proud of that guy. He's such an amazing person. I think I'm supposed to be the supportive one, holding down the fort in the states so he can focus on what he's gotta do over there. But really, he's been my rock, he's been the one keeping me sane, and supporting me through life's twists and turns. We've found this amazing way to be there for each other through all the highs and lows even though we are half a world away. I'm the luckiest girl in the whole wide world! 

"Semper Fi" The driver just got back from Afghanistan! This one has two helicopter engines on it! 

So I definitely was not kidding with the random thoughts, they are swimming around all over my head. And I'm not so sure that blogging helped much, but now the thoughts can swim around blog-land! Enjoy! 

Check this out!!

So I got to talk to Charlie tonight!!! Its been a while, well I talked to him on tuesday, but it was a sad conversation (his grandmother passed away last weekend, more on that later). But today I got to talk to him for almost an hour!!! He made quick mention that he though he may have been on CNN recently. Turns out CNN did a story about Ashley, one of his Marines. Its a great little story, and its posted right here.... I found Charlie (and Robbie) can you!?





Pretty awesome huh?!?

Been a while...

It seems I have blogging spurts, I blog and blog and then I hit a dry spell. This has been one of those dry spells. Work is crazy, I've been working over time and weekends, I feel like all I have done lately is work! And whoever said bankers have the best hours clearly hasn't worked in the banking industry lately! I have new loan requests up to my ears, but I haven't even been able to look at them the last 2 months because of the mountain of reporting that is due on Monday! And then just when I get a break from reporting, and a few short weeks to work on new and renewed loans, then comes quarter end and a whole new mountain of reporting to tackle. Bummer!! The banking industry is not exactly fun right now, but I am learning a whole heck of a lot!

But lets be real, my writing muse has nothing to do with the fact that my job as a credit analyst has transformed into reports specialist. I think I'll attribute it to the sunny day on the beautiful central coast! And that I got to chat with Charlie today!

Beautiful days happen often here, but its been pretty dreary lately, cloudy, cold, bundle in a sweatshirt and jeans, no need for pedicures b/c wearing flip flops is not an option, kind of dreary. But today the sun shined so bright you could feel its warmth penetrating deep into your skin, and the winds held off almost all day. It was so perfect out that I wanted to spend all day outside! It persuaded me to get a pedicure and wear flip flops, and a t-shirt and jeans around down town. I shopped, and pampered myself a bit, and enjoyed the warm winter day!

And then to end such a beautiful day I got a phone call from Charlie! He's back at leatherneck for a little bit. He hasn't been there for over a month so he had lots and letters and packages waiting for him when he got there! We got pretty lucky this last month, he had internet where he was stationed at so we got to e-mail daily! It was pretty awesome. It so crazy to me how much stronger, how much closer we have become this deployment. Charlie and I talk about EVERYTHING. The little things, the big things, the things that scare us, the things that hold us back, the things that excite us, and the things we are looking forward to, absolutely everything. Neither one of us hold anything back, and I love that.

We are officially on the downhill side of this deployment!! 3 1/2 months down, 3 1/2 to go! There is so much change that will happen in the next three months, so much to look forward to, so much to be excited about!

Photographic Update!

Charlie and I have been Skyping a lot the last two days! Its been so nice to actually get to see him while we chat! I know I've gone on and on about how much I love skype, so I'll spare you the details! But, in short, Charlie is doing great! He's still with the Brits and keeping busy. In our chat the other night he sent over lots of pictures, so here they are!

That's Robbie on the left and Tigo, Tim's dog on the right. Just relaxin after a long walk! 

One of the little kids Charlie saw. He says kids will fight, really throw punches, over a piece of candy! 

Afghanistan has turkeys too!! 

This was just after a Shura, a meeting between the military and the locals. 

They pay the locals good money for the use of their compounds. They use them for sleeping and storing their gear while they're in a village. 

Cute lil puppy running around Afghanistan! 

And last but not least, Charlie after 2 weeks in the field, apparently running with the Brits has its advantages... shaving, what's that?! 

Charlie has lots of stories of his time with the Brits. He's having a great time with them, but a terrible time trying to understand them! The Brits are not to bad to understand, but there is a Scottish guy and he's impossible! I heard him the other night when we were on skype and it seriously sounded like he was speaking in a completely different language! Charlie's tried to pass along to me the different words they use for things... Scoff = chow/food   ready= loaded (guns)  pissed= drunk  and there were a bunch more that just aren't coming to me right now! Maybe I'll do a post on the Brits later! 

Marines, and Brits, and Helicopters, Oh My!

So, what do Marines, Brits and Helicopters have in common you ask.... Charlie of course!! I got to talk to Charlie for about 40 minutes last night! I was so tired I almost didn't answer my phone didn't recognize the 10 digit 805 area code phone number calling me. I though to myself "self, its 11:00pm, i'm not in college anymore so I doing get drunk friends calling for rides, whoever this is probably has the wrong number and is drunk and just wouldn't understand, self, don't answer" but, my half asleep self answered anyways! And thank goodness I did b/c it was Charlie calling!! after a little confusion with the "hello?" "Hi" "Who's this?" convo, I finally realized it was him and I woke right up!

I guess I wasn't expecting his calls, I wait for them, but I never expect them and I never try to anticipate when they might come, b/c then I get disappointed when I think he's going to call one night and it doesn't work out. Turns out he'd been back for a couple days but comm was down, "river city," so last night was the first chance he had to call.

He's doing well, he sounded really upbeat and happy. He sounded most excited about the helicopter mission, and the fact that he was apart of the largest British helicopter operation in British history! And add to that, not a shot was fired! Yay!

Probably not the same kind he was in... but who knows! 

Charlie mentioned that they went into a lot of villages and pissed off a lot of farmers. It safer to walk through the farm fields to get from place to place than to walk down the roads, so the farmers get pretty upset. One farmer got so upset that these guys were walking through his farm that he took the guys down the road and showed them where he thought the IEDs were! But the point of going into the villages was not to piss people off, but gather information. It was mixed emotions on whether they were wanted in the villages or not, but he said he felt like they did a lot of good, and got some good information, and the majority of the people there welcomed them. So all in all it sounded like this past week was pretty exciting for him. I was just happy to hear that everyone that went out with him made it back safe and sound! Even this monster...

That's Char's MWD Robbie, isn't he sweet looking! 

On the Wagon... Again...

The workout wagon that is! When I first started this workout program I was so consistent! I worked out every day! The program even had off days, Tuesdays and Sundays, so I enjoyed those and kicked my butt the other days! That lasted all of about 4 weeks!

And then I started working out when I felt like it, when I wanted to, which averaged about 4 days a week during good weeks, and 2 on the off weeks, and sometimes I'd blow it off all together. I got unmotivated, I simply didn't care. I knew I was seeing improvements, knew the workouts were helping me achieve my goals, but even that wasn't motivation enough. Probably due to the fuzzy, head in the clouds, fogginess I've been feeling lately.

But after yesterday's blog, I decided its about darn time I pull my head out of the clouds and get on with it already. Start feeling again, start caring about things, start having a little fun, and get into a happy routine! So today at work I didn't let the drama or the attitudes get to me, I just worked away on my loans, and sent them off to be signed off by anyone that has a more powerful signature than mine! And then after work today, I got home, changed, and worked out! I was pouring sweat after about 3 minutes! It felt so good, I even did the added 20 minute ab workout after!

And now I can barely move, my whole body is sore and it feels so good! After a nice long shower, and facial, I now have the rest of my evening to eat dinner, read, write, wait. Yes, wait, always waiting.... waiting for my next call from Charlie!!

Foggy

Its foggy here tonight and it reminds me of the mood I have been in lately. I'm feeling a little lost, a little dark, can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, my head is in the clouds. I'm a pro at compartmentalizing my life, but recently I've realized it has dulled me a bit.

Work gets tucked away promptly at 5 pm and doesn't get opened up again until 8:30 am. I had to learn that when I worked at the vet clinic, when cases would get so emotional, so involved, so stressful, that I was no fun to be around after a long day of work. My job now is not emotional at all, just stressful. So, when 5 pm rolls around I lock up my desk, shut down my computer, tuck the stress away, and head on home to enjoy the evening before the cycle starts back up again.

Another nifty compartment of mine is my family. I love my family, I love spending time with them, love watching my nephew grow up, but I miss them. I feel like I miss out on a lot, my sister and her husband and little boy live 5 minutes from my parents, and my older brother lives close too, and for a long while my younger brother lived there too. When I first moved to SLO I was really homesick, so I packed up all those family feelings into a little box and I pull them out when I'm home and get to enjoy being with my family.

most recent family pic Christmas 2008

My brother gets his own compartment. He's by far one of my best friends, someone I always get along with, a person I can tell anything to, someone who is there 24 hours a day no matter what. Except for the fact he can't be there 24 hours a day, for the last year I wasn't even able to call him b/c he was in Korea. It took some extra effort on both of our parts to keep that friendship strong, and we both did all we could. When I left Elk Grove this weekend I started to get a little emotional, but just as soon as it hit, I packed up the tears and said enough is enough. My brother is currently driving to Georgia where he will be based for the next couple years. I've never been to Georgia, pretty excited to visit soon, maybe Charlie will get to go with me!

Boot camp/ MP Graduation January 2009

The biggest compartment I have, the one with the most emotions, and life, and memories packed into it is the one for Charlie. I was writing him yesterday and I realized just how numb I am to emotions right now. I don't let myself cry, I don't let myself think about the scary stuff, I don't worry, simply put, I'm not feeling anything this deployment. The one thing I do feel, the thing I allow myself to feel is his love. I try not to think about how much I miss him b/c it hurts, it physically hurts to miss him as much as I do. But his love is something I can feel every day, something that always makes me smile, something that can help me see through the fog. There are lots of happy memories in the Charlie file, and lots of happy stuff to come, but right now, getting through this deployment means there's a secondary Charlie compartment that houses all the scary emotional stuff, and that's just going to stay locked up till Charlie gets home.

Being goofy on the Toy Story ride at CA Adventure

I realize after writing and thinking about it, I'm fortunate to be able to compartmentalize, but that ability leaves me numb. When I really think about it, I see that those compartments are simply full of emotions that I don't want to deal with, feelings I don't want to accept, things I'd rather just not think about. Putting things away in little baskets helps keep me together, keeps my life all nice and tidy, but can they stay locked up forever?

Yippie!!!

 My phone rang while I was at lunch, I heard the shiny blackberry vibrating across the table and I ignored it at first, just another spam e-mail, and then I heard that little piano start playing the entertainer.... Phone Call! And then I got ubber unexcited assuming it was Walgreens telling me I had another prescription ready, going on 3 just this week.... but I glanced down, and the bright blue screen simply had five numbers scrolled across it... 80208... I couldn't believe it, I didn't believe it. I answered the phone a little hesitant, and a little excited... "Hello??!?"

It was Charlie!!! He sounded soooo happy! Happy to be back on base, happy to have showered, to sleep in a real bed, he even sounded a little happy to talk to me! He's been out with the Brits for the last month doing all kinds of stuff to keep himself busy. He was shocked that it was February already, bummed he missed the super bowl (he didn't even know who played), and so excited that a whole month had passed since he last left base.

It was so nice to hear him so happy. This last month has been a bit rough for me, but manageable, I just missed him a lot. And hearing him today, how happy he was that he'd been so busy and he was getting to work made it all worth it. I hope we get to talk a couple more times before he goes out again, I definitely have not gotten my fill of hearing his stories and catching up with him. It was 2 am his time when he called so I'm sure some sleep in a real bed will do him some good.

Thanks for all of the support this last month, I couldn't have been so strong and calm without the support of my friends and family! THANK YOU!

Too Long...

It has been over 3 weeks now since I last heard from Charlie. I miss him like crazy. I try not to complain too much about him being gone, or missing him. I mean, I'm dating a Marine, I knew what I was getting myself into, and going through deployments is in the job description. I'm ok with the deployment, I'm ok with the distance and I'm even ok with not hearing from him for days on end. But that doesn't mean I don't miss him.

I try not to worry when I don't hear from him for a few days. The longest we've gone without talking, prior to this spell was only a few days. I always knew a phone call was coming soon, within a couple days, but now I'm lost! I have no idea when the next call will come, I hope it's soon, but I just don't know. Charlie always asks me not to worry about him when I don't hear from him for days on end "no news is good news," and I'm actually pretty good about the not worrying part. Why sit around stressing myself out over something I have absolutely NO control over

Most people I talk to about Charlie say "I don't know how you do it?!?" or "I would worry myself crazy!" or " I could never do that." I know that I can get through this, mostly because it's not an "I" thing, it a "we" thing, and I know for a fact Charlie and I can get through just about anything if we do it together. I may not get to hear from him as often as I would like, but I carry him with me every day, and he's in my thoughts every day. There isn't a decision I make during my day that doesn't involve his input, even if he isn't there to give it.

When I get frustrated at work I can hear him telling me "stick up for yourself, you don't deserve to be treated like that," when I want to crap out on my workout for the night I can hear him pushing me to keep going "only one more mile" or "10 more push ups, you can do it." He's my moral compass, my subconscious voice helping me through my days. Its his love, and our companionship, that lets me know, even when I don't hear from him, that everything is going to be ok.  

Lil Buddy!

My little brother comes home tomorrow and I'm bouncing off the walls!! He's my lil' buddy, my best friend, and an all around pretty cool kid! I suppose I should clarify a bit, he's 20, he's twice my size, the lucky shit got blue eyes and blonde hair, but he is, and always will be my lil buddy.

For the last year he's been in Korea.... pretty lame huh? Blame the Army! In August 2008 Tom joined the Army and was unlucky enough to have his first duty station be in Korea! Bummer!

But, he's done his year, and he is currently sitting in the airport in Korea ready to board his plane back to the US! I've never heard someone so excited to come back to the US, I know I sure didn't want to come home from Australia, but I guess there is a bit of a difference between Korea and Australia. I'm sure Charlie will be pretty darn excited to be coming back to the US in 5 months too! YEP just 5 more months!!

Another Anniversary!

Today is my 1 year anniversary with Heritage Oaks Bank! YAY me! The pic above is of my awesome branch staff on Halloween/ my birthday party! We did a Cops and Jail Birds (managers = cops, staff = jail birds) theme. In case you might be wondering how I fit in, I was Mr. Jingles the mouse from the green mile (hence the extra petty coats for mouse "fluff"under that grey dress!).

Liz visited to say Happy B-day, her branch did 80's theme!

This isn't my first anniversary with a company, but it kind of feels that way. I worked at EG Vet for 2 years, Coast Vet for 4, Ogden and Fricks for 1.5, half of which was full time. Even though I worked full time at the law firm for 6 months after graduating from college, I knew that wasn't a "career" for me, so I suppose this is my first "real" job, real "career," or at least I'm on my way to building a career, being a commercial credit analyst isn't exactly a career, but a good start!

One of my clients at the bank brings her dog in every day when she makes her deposits and I made a comment to her that I worked in vet clinics for 6 years, 2 years in high school and 4 years through out college. The next day she came in and asked me.... how do you go from vet clinics to banking?!?

Truth... I'm a math nerd! I love the math, the analysis, the ratios, and the interpretation. The more complex the better! I'm talkin' 1 Corporation owned by 16 other companies with the owners of those companies having sole proprietorships! Thats 33 tax returns, income statements, and balance sheets... minimum! I like a good challenge. I hope that my job keeps bringing me a challenge, and that if I start to get bored I find ways to drum up new business and keep myself challenged!

Quite the year!

Today is mine and Charlie's 1 year anniversary! But instead of going on and on about how much I love him and how awesome we are I'm going to give you our last year in pictures!

 Charlie's 1st trip to SLO, and 1st wine tasting trip!    

Charlie's Birthday dinner cruise and weekend in San Diego!

We took my nephew to Sac County Fair!

     

Charlie's Sgt Course Graduation!

Nights out in Temecula                                     

Charlie's Company BBQ!                    

Cupcake fights at Landon's 1st B-day!

Fishing in WY!                

Road trip! Yellowstone!

Playin Softball w/my dad!

My B-day weekend... Disneyland!

Marine Corp Ball!

Charlie's Family visits Cali!

Our most recent picture, D-day....

It has been an amazing year, and I'm so thankful to have someone so amazing in my life. I'm truly blessed and I thank my lucky stars each day. I'm looking forward to many many more years.... and a lot less distance! Between training missions, hunting trips, pre-deployment training, deployments, and living 250 miles apart, I'm definitely looking forward to a lot less distance!

FREEZING!!!

It's beyond cold in my house right now. I'm talkin like 52 degrees on the thermostat! BRRRR! I'm currently curled up on my couch with my marine corp blanket, my zebra blanket and my imitation snuggie and I'm shivering! I'm about to go huddle up in my room and turn my floor heater on full blast at 80 degrees.

Now it would be logical to turn the the heater on in my living room while I sit here and blog, but we don't think it works, or we don't know how to work it. I'm convinced our landlord cut the wires to it so we wouldn't use any more electricity than this green house produces!

Green is pretty awesome, but those darn solar panels on the roof are drivin me crazy right now! Apparently this is the first year girls have lived in the guest house... enter hair dryers, and baking, and extra lights to put on makeup, and the need for heaters, and a real electricity bill! OOPS! Needless to say we aren't breaking even, and our landlord posted a memo to us to limit our electricity usage through the end of the billing year in February.

Lucky for us the sun came out a bit today, and its supposed to be sunny this weekend! The Central Coast has averaged about 2 inches of rain a day this week. Its been a crazy stormy week here, winds at 50 miles an hour, heavy rain, flooding, tornadoes, the Santa Maria River actually ran for a few hours, and the waves reached 20 ft!

But the sun came out today! I took this picture on my drive to work. It was quite the scene, low lying rain clouds dumping buckets on the mesa, and the sun peering out above the storm cloud. It was clear but ominous as I was driving, then I passed through the little black cloud and across the Santa Maria River Bridge and it started coming down, giant raindrops filled my windshield and the wipers went at full blast, for all of 10 seconds. Then it was clear, the roads were dry, and the sun was shining.

This pattern continued all day, and while it is clear now, the suns gone down and it is FREEZING cold, and I'm bundled up on my couch, and I can't turn my heater on b/c it runs on electricity and I wouldn't be surprised if my landlord is over there monitoring every kWh running through this place! Time to grab another blanket! Or head to friends place with a heater! Guess it would be a bit of an oxymoron for a green house to have a fire place, but I could go for a good fire right now!!

Sleep Talking

I have talked in my sleep for as long as I can remember. Well actually, I don't remember, I never remember, but I've been told for a long long time that I talk in my sleep. It is generally unrecognizable and simply gibberish. One time, in high school, my best friend Brie, and Courtney and I were in Tahoe and all passed out in a giant bed in the downstairs room. Brie was in the middle of Courtney and I and apparently Courtney and I were talking back and forth about a bear pooping in the woods, behind a tree.... it seems we'd seen too many Charmin commercials??!! I'm pretty sure that is one of the few conversations I have had in my sleep that was understandable, or Brie was being exceptionally clever and just told us a story b/c we both talk in our sleep!

Charlie has only heard me talk in my sleep a couple times, which I find pretty amazing seeing as my parents used to tell me that they would hear me talking all the time when I lived at home. Maybe I sleep better now days?

Well in the spirit of people who talk in their sleep, I stumbled across this blog a couple weeks ago and it is amazing. This woman documents the things her husband says in his sleep, and the best part.... they're from England! It just makes it that much more funny! Check it out.... http://sleeptalkinman.blogspot.com/ it is always good for a laugh no matter what kind of day you might be having!!

Military Humor

Apparenty Mac's are cooler than PC's and only I could see the pictures that were posted here?!? Well lets try this again.... Mom sent this e-mail to me today and I got a good laugh out of some of these, hope you get one too! 

 I could see Charlie curling up like this!!

                         Maybe I should send out kiddie pool in my next care package?

And one from Charlie.... Gunny sleeping... SHHHH...

Hope you got a laugh too!!

Snail Mail....

Charlie and I have been working hard at writing each other more regularly. We both LOVE the idea of getting letters, and it's not that writing them is hard.... it's the waiting for the letters to come in the mail!! It takes forever for mail to get across the globe! Or maybe 2 weeks just feels like forever?

Charlie wrote me a letter on December 11, it was postmarked the 16th, and I got it in the mail on the 31st. It was the first letter I've gotten from him and it was soo special to read. Just the effort and thought put into handwritten letters is heartwarming. It could be a serious letter, a funny letter, an account of his day, or a vision for the future, it doesn't really matter, it really is just the thought that counts.

I've tried writing a lot more regularly. I sent out two letters this week, and a couple last week too. I also put a letter in the last care package I sent to Charlie. Care packages are the way to go let me tell ya! Parcel post gets to Afghanistan in a week... yep 1 week!!! To date, Charlie has gotten one letter from me, and 4 care packages. So far I have gotten one letter, but I know there are more to come! I check the mail every day, gives me something to look forward to when I get home from work. I told Charlie that eventually, if we keep up writing, the letters will come more regularly, and then we'll be motivated to keep it up!

I'm looking forward to compiling our letters in some form or another once he gets back. I want to have a keepsake to read over down the road when we think back on this deployment and how much it helped us to grow!!

Special K!

This has been a rough week, like unusually rough! I'm not quite sure what is going on, but its been crazy, everything turned upside down and inside out and as much as I've tried, I can seem to figure out what triggered it!! So since I can't figure out why it's gone downhill, I'm going to work at going back uphill!

I have apologized to those I have been short with these last couple days. I have worked on ignoring a co-worker with an ego the size of Texas and an attitude to match that makes my workdays painful. I thoroughly enjoyed my "off day" in my workout program today. I did drop the ball on dinner tonight though, I had planned on a nice yummy fillet mignon, but I just looked at the clock and I'm not about to eat steak this late, so Special K diet it is! Luckily I love my Special K Blueberry cereal, so I'm totally ok with putting off the filet till tomorrow!

That makes one good thing that will happen tomorrow, and I hope that there are lots more to come!

2010 Building a Future!

2010, and yes, that is Twenty Ten, not Two Thousand Ten (way too wordy) is going to be a great year! As with any year its going to have its challenges, like 6 more months of this deployment, working in the banking industry isn't exactly butterflies and rainbows, and I have a lot of time and effort I want to put into physically improving myself (working out and eating better). But I predict the joys of 2010 will far outweigh the challenges! Charlie comes home this year! My brother come back to the states in 29 days! Maybe a change in career path by the end of the year? A change in living venues, goodbye SLO, hello San Diego County? Who knows!  But its going to be an adventure! 


I'm very excited for my brother to be coming home this month! If you don't know, he joined the army a year and a half ago and has served the last year in Korea. Not exactly his first choice in duty stations, but the year has flown by, and maybe he'll go someplace fun like Italy after his time in Georgia. I predict his time in Georgia will involve a deployment, 18 months for the army.... bummer! 


Not only does my brother come home this year, Charlie does too! Well not for another six months, but I'm already excited! I'm anxious to get by best friend back! Charlie and I chatted for a while today on Skype. Its so nice to see his face, have a real conversation with him. We were both laying in bed while on Skype, and it was almost as if he were lying there next to me while we chatted. Technology is amazing, and I'm so thankful for it as it has made this deployment so much easier for us!  


It seems I have a theme for each new year, or at least I have for the last few years. 2008 was the end of an era, I graduated college, my schooling was over for the time being. I plan on going back to school to get my masters and teaching credential after getting some real world experience, but 2008 was the end of an era. I wrung in 2009 with "new year, new beginnings." there were so many things I wanted to let go of from my past, and in 2009 I accomplished just that. And there were so many new beginnings. I started my job with the bank that I love, I started dating Charlie, I learned how to embrace all of the wonderful things in my life. For 2010 I look forward to building a future! Charlie and I have an amazing future ahead of us, and we work every day to make it what it is! I know every step I take in 2010 will be a step towards our future, and its so excited for me to think of it as OUR future! I predict 2010 will be a great year!