Happy Easter!

Justin and I decided to have a seafood dinner today. It was amazing. Crab legs, crab cakes and shrimp. All of my favorites. Not to much new here which is why I haven't posted lately. I did start work this week which was good. I was going crazy sitting in the house all the time. The job is good. Seems easy enough which is nice. It will be nice once I start back to school. Which happens next month. I can't believe it. I feel like there is finally an end in sight for school. I am soo ready to be done. I will have a hard schedule for the next year or so but it will all be worth it in the end.

Justin and I went downtown yesterday just to walk around and check out some local stores. I wish the weather was nicer because I would have taken pictures but it was cloudy and gloomy so pictures will have to wait. We did eat at Humpy's for lunch. It is a cute little dive where you seat yourself. The food was beyond amazing. I had a blackened salmon burger and Justin had a blackened halibut burger. We split them so we could each try both. Probably the best thing I have ever had in my life! I am so looking forward to doing things like fishing and camping this summer. . Crazy, right? Who would have thought I would look forward to camping! It is getting warmer everyday and with that comes more sunlight every day. Right now it doesn't get completely dark until around 10:15 or so. This will be an interesting summer and I can't wait! As much as I love it here I do miss everyone back home. It is nice to talk to everyone and Skype sometimes. Pictures are coming. . I promise! =)

What a day!

I have had the craziest day so far and it's only 2pm! But first I will catch you all up on "Alaska" stuff. As of right now, Alaska is the only state that doesn't have a veterans museum. Sunday all of that will change with the opening of the new veterans museum. Justin and I are planning to attend which I am pretty excited about. Something new and exciting to do! We also have started planning our summer trips and things that we would like to do. I am so looking forward to seeing new things in Alaska. The snow is almost completely melted and hopefully we won't be getting anymore of that stuff until next year!

Now for my crazy day. Justin left for work and for some reason I wasn't able to fall back asleep. I called my dear friend Trisha and talked to her for a while. And I might add that I miss her like crazy. Being able to talk and Skype is nice but not being able just to hang out stinks. Plus she has the most gorgeous baby and a pretty cool husband too. Then I called my Memaw and talked to her which is always nice. I am so looking forward to a visit from her and my grandpa while I am here. My grandpa's brother actually lives in Alaska. Upstate though in a town called Barrow. Which I learned today he is the mayor of. . pretty cool, right? So anyway, after all that catching up I decided to try and get some sleep. Took a nap, woke up, took a shower and made lunch. As I am sitting on the couch eating lunch, the doorbell rings and the dogs go crazy! I look out to see a little boy standing there. He was maybe 3 years old and in his pajamas with snow boots and a dog. Super weird. When I open the door he asks if he can come inside my house. Umm, no. I don't know you and you don't know me. We "talked" for a while. I found out he took his dog (whose name in Flin) out for a walk and then he got lost. The dog wasn't on a leash but seemed nice enough but very scared. The little boy said his dog was very nice but I know how dogs can be. When I tried to look at the tag on the dog's collar, he turned and snapped at me. Just the chance I knew I had to take to try to find this little boys home. I finally was able to see the address and walked the little boy all the way to the end of our street and to his house. His front door was open but the screen was closed. He didn't want to go inside and told me his daddy was at work and his mommy was upstairs sleeping! Really?! How do you fall asleep and let your little boy escape from the house. I finally convinced him to go inside and made sure he stayed inside for a while before I walked back to my house. Looking back I probably should have rang the door bell or something but honestly I was in such shock and soo mad about the situation it's probably next if I didn't. I don't have kids so I try not to judge but I just don't see how something like this could have happened. This mother is not only lucky her little boy ended up at my house and I was able to find his way home but lucky that she lives on base. Because it's sad to say but in this world today, her little boy could have easily disappeared. The sad thing is I am sure this happens more than I know about. Just breaks my heart for this little boy who was such a doll. It is a lesson for me for sure.

. .

I don't even know how to title this post. As I sit here watching the countdown to the government shutdown, I am feeling so many different emotions. I must say that I do love Anderson Cooper. He knows his stuff, he speaks his mind and takes up for the military. I am in complete disbelief that this budget deal should have been done LAST year. The fiscal year is over in September 2011 and they aren't clear on a budget? Aren't we halfway through the fiscal year already? 6 extensions? Just seems crazy to me. I am upset that the people that fight so hard for this country might not get a full paycheck. What if they only fight half as hard as they could for this country? That would be not only unacceptable but it is not the moral code of any soldiers I know. The worst comment I have heard so far through this whole thing is where one law maker made that comment that she couldn't afford to give up any of her $170,000 a year salary due to the fact of "things going on in her life". Really? But you don't give the military the option to get paid or not. I hope that everyone can come to terms and agree on something. Not only because of course my income is on the line, but for everyone else as well. I have never seen or remember hearing about such a thing as this. Let's hope for the best. Right now, I am not too hopeful and am preparing myself for the worst. Just in case.

Before I close this out it just came across that they came to an agreement. This will keep the government funded until Thursday. Which is good for us. My only concern is what about next year? Or the year after. And it was said that since the senators are so tired from this whole thing they are probably going to take the weekend off. Well I am glad that they get a break since this was so hard on them. But lets hope that they come back to work on Monday with their heads on straight and really trying to work to get a solution to this problem. Being a military spouse is never easy. This is just something else that I signed up for and will deal with. . but not without a little anger. =)

Vegan?

Today I watched a re run of Oprah which I am now wishing I didn't watch. She had a challenge for her staff to all go vegan for a week. Didn't seem too bad and I thought it would be full of interesting information. I have slowly been cutting meat out of my diet for some time now. First pork and then beef. Now pretty much chicken, turkey and fish are all the meat you will find in our freezer. Not that I have anything against people who eat meat but it is a personal choice. Trust me. Justin loves a good steak or burger. After watching this show and seeing what happens in slaughter houses, I think I am slowly going to try and at least become a vegetarian. Driving to Alaska we passed plenty of slaughter houses and I always got a little emotional about them. I don't want to be someone who forces my beliefs on everyone else. Like I said, this is a personal choice and I know for a fact I will have to continue to cook meat for Justin. Which is fine. I just feel like I need to finally do this instead of thinking about it for another 3 years. New home, new job, new lifestyle, right? That being said, I think I am going to check out a book they had on the Oprah show. It's by Kathy Freston and called Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World. We will see how this goes. Since I just went to the grocery store yesterday, this is going to have to wait a few weeks. Plus I would like to read the book first. I will let you know how it goes!

A little bit of everything

I feel like since we have gotten to Alaska that things have been a little crazy! We have been in this great state for about 2 1/2 weeks now. I must say that I am in love with this place. Although we haven't gone out and done much yet, the city is great. I was recently on the "job hunt" which I must say I hate! I just don't like going in and talking to people about me. You don't realize how much you don't like talking about yourself until you have to do it. I ultimately got a job here on base. It is about 2 minutes away from the house. When you first arrive to Alaska or right before you go on a deployment, you have to get all your cold weather gear. Now those people will be coming to be for that! It is Monday - Friday from 7:30am to 4:30pm. Not too bad. And I can come home for lunch which is awesome. I don't start until April 18 so it gives me a little time to unpack and relax. As much as I would have liked to work off base in as an admin again, this job just seemed right for me right now. It looks like school will be on hold at least until the fall for right now. I am pretty sad about that.

We are in the process of getting unpacked for good. It seems to be taking longer than I would like. I forgot how much stuff we actually have. I will try to get pictures of the house up this week. Trust me, you don't want to see it in it's current condition. Total mess. On a side note we got about 2 inches of snow today. Yes. April 5 and we are getting snow. The good thing is it warmed up and most of it has already melted.

Things are suuuper expensive here. Everyone warned me but I should have really listened. A regular bottle of Olay lotion here is around $9. Crazy, right? Plus there is no Bath and Body Works or Victoria's Secret. Soo, my dear mother has already shipped me out a care package! 2 birds one stone luckily! She stocked me up on some things and it will end up being cheaper for me in the long run. As sad as I am to be far away from family I must say the one thing I am excited about it getting packages from them! And the fact that I can at least Skype with everyone and get to see them. I am going to try and get better about this blog and updating it. I keep forgetting that what is normal life for me is still new and exciting to everyone back home! I miss all my friends and family like crazy! The race is one to see who will be the first to visit us. I look forward to showing our new home off to everyone! <3