Wingers!

Obviously I haven't posted in awhile, but I've been inclined to start blogging again if only to try and document this crazy little journey we call life. It was fun going back through previous blog posts, and I decided that I would like to be able to do that in the future.  No idea how often I will post,  or if i will ever post again,  but we had an adventure today that was worth documenting.

So this year for Christmas we tried to go to Tennessee to visit James's family, but after long discussions and a hard look at our budget, it was clear that a trip just wasn't in the cards for us.  We could, however, afford to fly them to us!  This would cut out the hotel, rental car, and much of the food costs.  Also, Brittany and Brandon had never been on an airplane and we were happy to fly them out. :)  James's Mom isn't comfortable flying and chose to stay in Tennessee, but we were thrilled to have the twins and their friend Tasha out anyway.

We picked them up from the airport early this afternoon and then headed to Tacoma to pick up food at one of my favorite places; Wingers!  They only have one here in Washington, and while I didn't appreciate the place much in Utah, I'm a big fan of them here.  I was happy to show up to eat, but when we pulled in the parking lot was dangerously empty.  It was relatively early though, so that could explain the lack of patrons.

We hopped out of the car and headed into the building which was open.  In the lobby there a single man wearing a coat.  He gave us a huge smile.

"Hi!  I'm John."  He shook my hand.

I blinked.

"Uhh,  I'm Kara... Nice to meet you."

The rest of the party shuffled in behind us and John stood politely to the side, rubbing his hands together.

"Seems just as cold in here as it is outside!"  He said jovially, giving another big grin as i looked for someone to seat us.

The place was silent.  I stood there completely confused, staring at the desk that should have someone behind it with a stack of Wingers menus spread in an arch across the top.  I glanced around the restaurant, but noticed no waiters.. in fact, no people at all.  Several moments had gone by with all of us standing awkwardly, and John politely standing to the side, watching us with that big smile, though admittedly it was beginning to fade.  Suddenly something seemed to click and he laughed.

"Wait... are you guys here to eat?"

I looked at him hard and said.

"Well... yeah.."

He laughed then, a genuine laugh.

"The restaurant has been closed for over a year!"

"What?"  Though this didn't really surprise me... it wasn't totally making sense as we were there standing in the restaurant and it looked like it had been in operation not moments before we walked in.

John thought this whole thing was hilarious.

"I'm a Real Estate Agent!"  he explained between chortles.  "I'm supposed to be meeting a group here right now to show the place,  I just figured you were them!"

I started laughing too.

"Well, that would explain the lack of staff!"

He politely escorted us out and we all laughed around at the coincidence that he just happened to be there at the exact time we wanted to eat, leading to the perfect storm.  I can also say that I was particularly embarrassed that I didn't notice the place was closed, though in my defense, it looked pretty open to me!

Frisby - pardon me - DISC Golf

This weekend one of my best friends from high school brought his wife over to have a date night with James and I!

Let me preface by explaining that several weeks ago, while mom and dad were here, we all managed to stumble on a Frisby Golf course located just a few minutes (literally like, 2 minutes) from our house! That day we all had a great time following the course and getting lost between Tee's trying to stay out of the avid Frolfers ( thanks Meghan) way.

We were able to tag along with a group - who demonstrated the art of Frolfing - only to find out that they didn't use frisbies at all!

"Oh yeah, you use these disc's" our host explained, showing off his slightly flatter than average Frisby. "They are only $15 or so at Big Five."

15 bucks? For a frisby? I think not! No no, I will be a Frolfer, I thought to myself, pocketing this information for later. Afterall, how much of a difference can a 'disc' really make?

This weekend, with Mike and Meghan in tow, James and I decided to try out our new found hobby, using $1 frisbies from Wallmart. Oblivious to the etiquette we tromped right into the course and got started, lining up at Tee one and looking for the little chain basket ahead. I went first, Aiming and launching my purply frisby into the air... only to see it plummet about 10 feet in front of me.

Huh. Was I always this bad at frisby?

Mike, Meghan and James, lined up and didn't have much more success. Behind us, an avid group of Disc Golfers (Dolfers) were waiting for us to move on to the next tee. A bit embarrassed, I picked up my frisby and launched it again. With the same result. Impatient, the group behind us, stood at the starting point and watched. Eventually we got our frisbies into the basket and rushed to Tee Two. At our back a disc wizzed through the air and landed just a scant few feet from the hole.

"He almost just got a chain in one." James mumbled under his breath, looking a bit frantic. I think we were all feeling the pressure. we picked up our pace - hardly even pausing for others to throw as we crept forward 10-20 feet at a time, all the while the Dolfers waiting behind us. We finished Two, and went to Three... definitely rushed now - jogging to our frisbies and trying every possible technique to improve. James and Mike got pretty good... the girls were definitely slacking - but we were getting better! The group behind us - went back to tee one... trying to kill time. By Tee Four, the professional Disk Golfers were waiting on us... again, having managed to complete the first two Tee's before we finished Three, and we broke into a full out Frisby Golf Assault - adding rules like a mandatory 10 steps forward between every throw, and not caring who threw when so long as we were all hurrying. Needless to say, the front nine couldn't go by fast enough before we tucked our tails and took the walk of shame back to the car. In spite of the pressure - I think we all had a blast. Though I don't think I'll be returning with a frisby any time soon.

Maybe $15 isn't so bad afterall...

My excessive use of...

Dear Blog Readership,

Okay, so... as you all may have noticed in my last 4 posts I tend to use the whole ... thing a lot. Maybe it's just my love for hang endings or the idea that I am leaving the rest open for people to discover by opening my blog! I don't know. Either way, I'm apologizing for my repetitive grammar. I'm hereby going to try and change my ways.

Sincerely,
Kara

Crazy little thing called love...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

As of today, James and I have officially been married for TWO years. A huge milestone - I know. For the first time we actually get to spend our anniversary together. I consider myself lucky. Although he missed our first anniversary by a scant 4 days, there is just something special about truly being able to celebrate the day in all it's glory. So many Military wives get so few anniversaries or any holidays. I think James and I have lucked out that we got this year together and I intend to take full advantage. Last year I remember thinking: 'The important thing is that we've made it a year! It's okay that he isn't here right now - because the next time I see him, we will have been married for OVER a year, and isn't that even better?' Well... to be honest... No, it's not better. It was pretty lame having to spend my first anniversary alone.

Oh well! We are totally into the 'holiday' spirit now. I had already decided to get him an anniversary present that I know he will love. In true girl fashion I heavily hinted that he should go get me something too. James isn't much of a 'let's surprise each other' guy - but he made a HUGE effort this time and actually went out and got me something that he insists I will love. He's even worried that he set too high of a standard for himself... so the next 50 years are going to be a lot harder haha. I'm excited and completely clueless as to what he got me, though unable to resist he hinted that i have to wear it out to dinner tomorrow.... so we'll see. :)

As for James, well.. if you can all keep a secret I'll tell you his surprise gift. See James loves a game called Mass Effect. Easily one of his favorite video games. Well - I HATE it. As a whole I enjoy games, but man this one can get boring. Anyway, the much anticipated sequel to Mass Effect comes out when? Today. Our anniversary. He insisted that we had to go get it today and I put my foot down. "Absolutely not! This is our ANNIVERSARY. I will NOT share it with a game." My poor unsuspecting husband is on Duty tonight - so I went out to the Midnight release party (this is love) and bought him the game. *sigh* probably dooming myself to hours of watching him play the second most boring game (nothing could be worse than the original) in the world. But at least I can snuggle up to him while he plays. To throw him off I also got Transformers 2 and I put the game in a Mr and Mrs. Smith DVD case so that he will actually have to pull out the 'movie' to see the game. I'll let you know how long it takes him to figure it out. :)

As for now I will leave you all with two very important things about my wonderful husband in honor of our two year anniversary:

1. I have never met a man so willing to give up everything he holds dear because someone needs him. I'm humbled every day to be able to know someone so special, and I will continually strive to be the sort of woman he can be proud of.

2. These past two years of marriage have been the best two years of my entire life. I truly found someone I could consider a soul mate. He understands me so well and knows exactly what to do to keep me happy - I only hope I do the same for him!

I love you James!

Moonlit Stroll...

Tonight I made James come with me to one of my jobs. The client booked their walk relatively late at night. Washington, as a whole, isn't very well lit so I used my girly weaknesses to appeal to my husbands protective nature. He agreed, grudgingly.

I realized tonight that dogs are definitely going to be a part of our future. Not now, because I don't think either of us wants to deal with the responsibility, but sometime. There was just something so peaceful, walking along through the darkness holding my husbands hand with the dogs walking quietly by our sides.

Of course not everyone can be blessed with dogs as wonderful as Kona and Sullivan but for now I'll just enjoy the time I get to spend with two of my favorite 'clients'. James agrees. He fell in love with them just as I did over a year ago.

I also decided that I am definitely more at peace in Nature. I couldn't live in a big city. Washington is perfect for me with it's huge pine trees and clean air. It's so beautiful. We were walking down a road that is very densely populated with driveways every few yards yet James and I felt as if we were the only two people in the world on that little walk, and I couldn't be happier.


Here is a picture of Kona and Sullivan. :) and a view from the house where they live.

Maybe an overreaction...

Today while I was taking a dog to the dog park, James called from the boat. He's on Duty today, so I answered while driving to explain that I couldn't talk, and that he should call me in an hour.

"Well.. We have to talk honey, I've got some bad news."

"Uh oh, What now?"

"They are probably going to make me go ride another boat."

To give some info, this essentially means that they (the Navy) would make James go help out another boat that is about to go on a deployment or an underway. Basically they would require that he leave his regular boat - which is FINALLY in port for a little while - to go out to sea again, on another boat!

I didn't have time to deal with the situation then, so I told him that I thought that sucked, and that I would talk to him about it later.

He took a few hours to call me back - and I put the time to good use, figuring out just how many ways I could get him out of it. It's not like I'm being crazy. I have waited two years to get some down time with my husband, and this stretch of time has been coveted since before we got married! The last thing I wanted was my precious time snatched away because the Navy felt like he would do more good out to sea. For the first time in my marriage, and my Navy career I wasn't going to take this sitting down. Nope, I was NOT going to agree to sending him back out to sea. If I had to chew out his chiefs, his captain, I didn't care, I was NOT going to let them take him.

When he finally did call back - our conversation went a little like this.

"Okay, honey, now what is this deal about you riding another boat?"

"Oh.. Yeah, they are probably going to make me, and Johnson (the only other married guy in the division) and Nichols - well.. probably not even him. Probably just me and Johnson out on-"

Well.. that told me all I needed to hear.

"WHY ON EARTH DID THEY CHOOSE TO SEND OUT THE ONLY TWO MARRIED GUYS?! Are they trying to break up our marriage? Are they trying to make us hate them? There are 6 other guys in your division who AREN'T married. Send one of them! This is Ridiculous! I can't believe that they would do this to us! I suffered through the whole last year alone, and maybe I wasn't clear, but it SUCKS. I EARNED this time with you."

"Uhhmm.. Wow.. you are really worked up about this."

"I AM. I'M PISSED."

"Ooookay, so, I'm going to see if there is any way to get out of this okay?"

"Thank you."

"Oh... and just so you know - it would only be a monday through friday thing. Just as a training to learn some new equipment."

"Oh. Just a week?"

"Yeah."

"Oh well... umm... You can go. Sorry - I just... I just really didn't want to go another few months or something. But a week isn't a biggie."

"... are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm fine now."

Moral of the story? Don't jump to conclusions. And sometimes the Navy ISN'T out to destroy marriages.

Support

I am trying to write a book.

I can't tell you the number of times I have spoken that sentence in my life. I have creative ideas and I love writing, but somehow putting my ideas into words leaves me with a whole bunch of jumbled, formal sounding ideas that isn't remotely like what I had in mind! Sometimes I feel that somewhere between my brain and my fingers there is a huge writers block that prevents anything good from coming out. It sounds fantastic in my head, and yet somehow everything i write up is thoroughly disappointing.

Well now, I'm up against a problem. See this book is different. Characters are already taking shape and just begging to be brought to life - and for the first time in all of my writing career, I have a story and an idea that just wont go away! After the first attempts failed, instead of scrapping the whole thing I took it from another angle, and it's actually not sounding too bad! But how long can it last?

One bonus that I have this time is James's support - and honestly, it's made all the difference. I've only trusted close friends with my story line and world simply because I'm scared that someone will snag my idea and run with it. I'm not the fastest writer - but I have goals to finish what I've started no matter how long it might take me to do it. Having James to support me has given me initiative and drive to keep going - because he wants to see it completed too! He loves my idea and he has a way of giving me new ideas without taking over the story to give me that little push in the write(haha) direction. I might not ever be a world famous author - and who knows if I will be satisfied with my book if I ever finish it, but for now I'm just glad that I have my husbands support and his willingness to let me have the spotlight for awhile in spite of the fact that he is arguably a better writer than I am.

I hope he knows just how much I appreciate him. Maybe I'll tell him - or better yet, write a blog announcing it to everyone who reads this...