So... obviously my whole, "lets be a good blogger thing" didn't happen. Not at all. But I don't want to be that person that only posts about how she never posts. Soo here I am, with an update. I am going to cover this in points.
- First things first, ALL THE WAY BACK TO HALLOWEEN... I was a sailor in honor. Haley was Ursula. It was a nice water theme that we didn't even do on purpose. We had a party at Braydon's, and I indeed partied well.
- Colten was underway for most of October and half of November so it was pretty nice to have him get back. What was even better was taking off to San Diego for Thanksgiving with his 2 best friends. It was our second Thanksgiving as a couple, but first actually together so it was a lot of fun. I love that city. Seriously. I had the hardest time leaving, not just cause he wasn't coming with me, but because it is an incredible place. Can't wait to move there later this year! The drive home however; was not so great. We got stuck in one of the HUGE snow storms in southern Utah and it took us 7 hours to get from St. George to Santiquin. It was horrible. I am never driving back from Cali again. All and all it was an amazing getaway, and SOO nice to see the sailor. Best part was spending Thanksgiving night at the 'Hopping Pig' a new gastro pub downtown that had half price drinks in honor of its opening. Because it was such a bargain, and we are bargain shoppers, we spent our whole night there. Dustin (Coltens friend, and my lifesaver when it came to driving in that mess of a snow storm!) started a drunken, yet sincere, talk about what we are grateful for on the holiday meant for thankfulness. It was awesome to sit there in such an incredible place and listen to these three hard-ass guys discuss things like this. I am very lucky to have my sailor and especially lucky that he has such good friends that look out for me the way they do. I made the sailor go Black Friday shopping with me, and after much force, got him to buy some jeans that actually fit, and shirts withs collars. Small steps, yes... but it was a big victory none the less. I was very lucky to get to go down there and had an amazing time, I did miss out on Mama Kaye's cookin' but she made that up to us a couple weeks later. A very happy Thanksgiving indeed.
- I won a $300 gift card to Home Depot for a work drawing thing. Can we say YEAH to a mirror and a rug and some tools for the sailor... "YEAH!"
- The sailor was here for the first 2 weeks of December. An early Christmas present if you will. It was actually kind of nice when we were leaving Cali knowing that he would be flying in like 2 days later. This time was soo much busier than the last time he was here. It was full of family and work Christmas parties, family dinners, catching up with soooo many family and friends, engagement pictures and some wedding planning, and then trying to find time to just hang out and be a normal 'close distance' couple for a second. But really it was pretty amazing. We spent a night in Park City and had so much fun. The sailor was a real trooper sitting through 3 attempts at engagement pictures. This was probably the last time he would be here before he comes home for the wedding so it was our only shot at getting some good pictures. We did get some keepers thankfully, its nice to have that out of the way. We really did have an awesome time, but his trips home are NEVER long enough! Can't wait for the day when I don't have to drive him to the airport and say good bye for a long amount of time. I am, officially, the biggest ball baby on earth. I now wear that title with pride.
- Christmas came and went. Thankfully. Its not that I don't like Christmas... I love it. Its just funny. This was our second Christmas together and yet again, we weren't spending it together. The weird part about it all was that I felt as if something that made my Christmas 'normal' was missing. It was really weird to say the least. So I am happy its over. I had a very good Christmas though, Mama Kaye spoiled me with a Kindle, an amazing Karma necklace that I REALLY wanted, and a home made cookbook that is KILLER! I will post some pictures of it later. It is sooo cool that it deserves its own post.
- Been reading a bunch. Trying to finish up all the hard copy books I have so I can finally get to my awesome Kindle. Currently finishing Kiss It Good Bye, a book about the 1960 World Series between the New York Yankees and my Pittsburgh Pirates. Not going to lie, not typically what I would read, but I have found some enjoyment none the less. On deck for my reading pleasure are the following: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Where Men Win Glory by one of my very favorites Jon Krakauer, One Day by David Nicholls, Alice's Adventure in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (its high time I read this classic) and finally The Huger Games by Suzanne Collins (I figure I should see what all the hype is about). I am so excited about my Kindle, the real bookworm nerd has came out of me with this one.
- I'm going to be an aunt to yet another baby boy. Can't complain because my brother and sister do make the cutest damn boys you've ever seen... but I can't lie I would kill for a baby girl. I am kind of lucky, through marriage I am getting 8 new nieces and nephews that I already love and adore. They are seriously such cute kids. With all these nieces and nephews it really only furthers me and the sailors stance on no kids. Why? Were surrounded by plenty of little shits ha ha.
- The sailor and I SET A DATE! YEAH! Our engagement will be a whopping 15 months long, (one month shy of the national average) and we will be getting married on 11/11/11. Catchy I know, ha ha. If the sailor didn't love the date as much as he did I probably wouldn't have given in to it, but he really was excited. I can't wait! At this point I have less than 10 months left and I am starting to feel a little pressure. I could possibly be packing up and moving to the sunny So Cal as soon as September so I would ideally have all the wedding plans done by then. That's really less than like 8 months! I know plenty of people have planned their weddings in like 6 weeks, but I am just not that organized. So to all of you I warn, be advised, crazy Maddie is almost here! Ha ha.
- Started school again, last semester for a while. I will finish my associates at the end of April and be done with school for probably 2 years while I'm following the sailor around the west coast. I am excited to get this behind me. I have technically been going to college for almost 6 years (if you include high school concurrent enrollment courses) so it will be really nice to end it and do something different for a while.
- I DID IT!!! A whole year without candy!! I have to admit, I am really proud of myself because I never thought I could possibly do it! This year I have opted to give up soda and so far I am 13 days strong with not much struggle. I am kind of hoping that this is one that I don't pick back up January 1, 2012 like I did with candy. However, I do have to admit, candy just isn't the same as it use to be. Its kind of nice because I learned a valuable lesson in 2010, I can live without it.
- And finally, I leave for Cali in 9 days to go see the sailor one last time before he goes on deployment for 8 months. (Hence why I haven't done much wedding planning, waiting for him to leave so it can be a nice distraction from my loneliness). I am so excited to go see him, especially to get 5 straight days with just him, that is next to impossible to come by. I think it will be a really great couple of days for us, but also pretty bitter sweet. Knowing the looming good-bye is just a few days away might be more than I can handle. I know we can survive this deployment, and what is waiting on the other end is so exciting, but we both know its going to be a rough set of months. I seriously cannot wait for September. The idea of being a "normal couple" that gets to see each other everyday, doesn't have to spend hours on the phone each night because we can actually speak in person, and gets to share all those hugs and kisses and physical stuff that we miss out on by being 691 miles apart. Needless to say, I can't wait!
Well, I can't say my life is all the exciting, but I am happy to have had as many bullet points as I did. Makes me feel somewhat accomplished. I can only hope that the next few months fly by and that I take a lot of the free time that I will have and direct it to this here blog. Wish me luck with my soon to be heartache and my battle against soda pop and wedding stress. 2011 was every possibility to be the very best ever!
