Updates.

Whoa, where’s the time gone!? Life is somewhat boring/normal in the states…so no real exciting events to report. Thank God there hasn’t been anymore natural disasters!

Updates:

Valentine’s Day. Jason and I have never been ones to celebrate this day of candy, I mean love. But this year he was in the field and I hadn’t seen him for 2 weeks and wouldn’t see him again for another week. Nothing like an absent spouse to make you want to celebrate a made up holiday. Well Jason delivered this year. He had a beautiful bouquet of red roses delivered to the house! A wonderful, unexpected, welcome surprise. And it just so happens that these were the first flowers I’ve ever received from him…no judging him; he likes to buy me things that last.

They couldn't be more perfect for me.

woke up to this vday text from Jason...so cute.

Valentine I made for Jason and sent to his phone.

School. I finally got my shiz together and applied for college, yet again. Everything went smoothly and the government is going to pay for me to attend Clover Park Technical College starting in June. I’ll be going for Pharmacy Technician. Hopefully by next year I’ll have my degree. I picked this field because it’s a job that I can get anywhere the Army sends us in the States…and it pays well for a lower level medical job. So here’s to an education!

Work. After a long absence from the working world, I found a job! It only took 5 months of searching. I started this week at Runway Fashion Exchange. It’s a clothing retail store…but it’s a designer thrift store. It seriously couldn’t be more perfect for me. I love thrifting and I love nice things. My job combines them both! I love it so far…it’s easy and I get paid well.

Travel. My bestest bestest bestest friend ever, Rachel, is graduating college in May. AND my bestest bestest bestest couple friends ever, J and Becca, are having their second baby, a girl!, in May. So I’m going to SC for a visit! May 9-23 to be exact. I cannot wait. I need a mini vacation/sanity break from WA. I won’t be doing any traveling while I’m there. But I’d love company, so if you want to visit then please do!

Those are the main deets of my life right now. Life is somewhat uneventful and boring…this girl is NOT complaining. I enjoy spending my days with my kittehs and working on V.Carol. And now I’m going to enjoy being a working girl again and balancing home and work life. I never thought I’d be excited about working. I guess that’s what not working for 2.5 years does to you.

mah kitteh likes to cuddle.

let sleeping kittehs lie...even when they're in your computer chair.

snow woes.

When it snows it blizzards…figuratively and literally. Last Saturday…like over a week ago…it started snowing in the Puget Sound area. We were all so excited to finally see snow! Everyone else had gotten some, even in The South. It was our turn. It snowed off and on Saturday, Sunday, and tapered off by Monday. Jason had a four day weekend because of MLK day so he returned to work on a Tuesday. There were a few inches of snow on ground, nothing dangerous, but Jason got home early before the setting sun turned the roads to ice. And that was it, the last day of normal-ish weather. It snowed hard Tuesday night and all day Wednesday. We had over a foot of snow on the ground and more was still coming. Western Washington was hit with two storms systems in a row and the second brought large amounts of precipitation in the from of powdery white snow. Thursday morning rolled around and we were good and snowed in. Jason, of course, didn’t work Wednesday and now Thursday. Throughout the day yet a third storm system moved through the area bringing freezing rain and ice. On top of the foot of snow we already received, the ice really screwed us. It froze onto everything, weighing down trees and power lines. The snow would have just melted away with rising temps…but with ice and freezing temps at night…trees started toppling.

Saturday and Sunday snow...the first storm system

 

Tuesday/Wednesday snow...second storm system.

 

a foot of snow...before the power went out when the snow was still fun.

We lost power mid Thursday morning. We had just stocked up on some extra groceries Wednesday so we could stay in and enjoy the snow from our cozy home. Now we couldn’t even open the frig without fear of letting all the cool area out and spoiling our fresh groceries. In a similar situation some years back, it took a few days for restored power in our area…so said our neighbor. We didn’t get power back until Monday afternoon. 4 long, cold, annoying days of no electricity. I don’t know if you realize what that means…no tv, no computer, no internet, NO COFFEE, no heat, no stove or microwave, no hot water heater, etc. etc. I am being a bit whiney and dramatic but just think of all those things we take for granted everyday. Jason and I ended up going out for food and taking showers and charging phones at a gym on post. We only came home to sleep…which was cold and annoying. We dove under 5 blankets in our layers of pajamas. We were too cold to take off clothes so we just put more on to go to sleep! The kitties seemed to do ok in the cold. Sacha slept under the blankets with us at night and Milo cuddled at our heads. Secretly, I think he enjoyed the cold since he has 3 inch think fur and probably sweats most of the time. We made due just fine. It was just a bit annoying feeling run out of your own home…and taking showers at the gym is depressing when you HAVE too!

Milo staying warm! ha!

 

Sacha staying warm...and keeping us warm.

So after all the snow and ice came yet another storm system that brought torrential downpours and gusting winds. Coupled with all the, now melting, snow and ice the new weather caused more power outages and flooding. The poor energy crews were fixing one area while another area was going out. Hence why we didn’t have power for 4 days. Over 200,000 homes lost power during all the storms. Energy crews from California, Alaska, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Utah come to the rescue. Our area was considered to be in a state of emergency. A lot of roads were closed and impassable due to ice and snow. The snow is still lingering around even after 4 days of 40 degree weather. The chaotic weather finally tapered off Sunday and by Monday we had sunny skies and almost 50 degree temps!

I wanted to see some snow but geez…I did not want yet another natural disaster in and around the area is which I live! I am tired of eventful weather. Flooding in Korea, severe snow storms in Washington. I’m done, done with all the crazy.

Point A to Point B…

Taking it back a notch…When Jason and I were in Spartanburg on our PCS leave, Jason bought a car. I pretty red VW jetta. Got a good deal on it…can’t complain. O wait, yes I can. That meant we had to DRIVE cross country to WA instead of fly. Not my most favorite of situations…being in a car for 12 hours for 4 days only stopping to eat and sleep with 2 cats. Sign me up! As I was complaining, my mother kept reminding me how lucky I was to get to see our beautiful country. So I told her to shut her trap and go with us! Not some much in those words…but after inviting her to go with us several times, she took us up on it. So the 3 of us plus the cats loaded up the jetta and took off for our cross country road trip.

ze shiney new carz. (that's my german accent)

Milo ready for the adventure.

Sacha was not having it.

Point A to Point B. Doesn’t seem so bad.We drove for 9-12 hours a day and it took us a solid 4 days. We all took turns driving. We stopped in St. Louis, Sioux Falls, SD, and Billings, MT to spend the night. We were able to do some site seeing at the Badlands in South Dakota and Mt. Rushmore and we went to Deadwood and Sturgis so my mother could get some Harley shirts. Parts of South Dakota and Montana are absolutely breathtaking. It was hard to believe we were in the same country. Once we got out of Montana and passed through Idaho and started into Washington…it was ugly. It eventually started getting pretty again when we got closer to the west coast. I do have to say that, the states leading up to South Dakota and Montana can suck it. I never want to visit you fly over states again! It was terrible. No one willing visits Missouri or Nebraska or Iowa.

its so breathtaking in person.

My beautiful mother.

Deadwood, where Wild Bill was shot...apparently.

I think we stopped at every Harley store on the way. just for you mom.

and this is why I love them. so much.

South Dakota?

Wyoming?

Montana?

Idaho? was extremely rocky.

finally in WA...before the ugly part.

The cats...most of the trip.

It was a fun experience and I’m glad we drove, after all. I would have never got to see Mt. Rushmore or the beautiful scenery in SD and MT other wise. I know my Mom had the time of her life…listening to Jason and I argue and smelling kitty poo in the hotel rooms. HA! No she really did enjoy herself…and we had time to sight see in Seattle and Tacoma before she had to fly home. She even got to help pick out our apartment.

looking out at the space needle.

Mom at the market...in her fancy coat.

chatting it up with the locals

Home again.

As most of you know, our next duty station is Fort Lewis, WA. Fort Lewis is adjoined by McChord Air Force Base and together they make up Joint Base Lewis McChord…or JBLM, for future reference. JBLM is located just outside of Tacoma, WA. It’s a pretty huge base. One of the biggest if I’m not mistaken. On a pretty day you can see Mt. Rainer reaching into the heavens from every location on base. Its quite a humbling site.

Mt. Rainer.

So Jason and I live in an apartment, again, barf, in a city called Lacey. It’s about 10-15 minutes from base. It’s a great location surrounded by shops and restaurants yet still out of the way enough to feel safe and secluded. AND it’s far enough away from Tacoma that we don’t have to fight traffic…or the ghetto. We’re about an hour away from Seattle, 10 mins away from Olympia (the capital), and 2 hrs away from Portland, OR. Technically our address is Olympia…which I don’t mind. I LOVE Olympia. Small port city with beautiful historic buildings. It reminds me of downtown Greenville but on the coast.

Port of Olympia

Capitol. 10 mins away from our house.

 

Seattle Space Needle

 

Pike Place Market, Downtown Seattle

We live in a beautiful area with tall evergreens, woodlands and even a marsh. Just 5 ish miles down the road is a state park right on the coast of the Puget Sound. It’s got some nature trails, a beach boardwalk, and tons of wildlife to watch. And 1 mile down the road in the opposite direction is a nature preserve located on a marsh. Basically, we live in a national geographic magazine. So in one direction we have the beautiful outdoors to enjoy and to the north, in Tacoma, we have  higher end shopping and a beautiful artsy district to peruse. Complete with art galleries and a magnificent glass museum. We truly live in the perfect place for us.

Tolmie State Park on the Puget Sound

beautiful evergreens.

surrounding landscape.

 

the locals.

So apartment living isn’t very desirable after living in one for 2 years already…but we found a cute, cozy place and it already feels like home. It’s much smaller than our high rise in Korea, but that’s less I have to clean and it doesn’t feel like we live in an overpriced hotel room. AND we still have plenty of room for visitors! All friends and family are MORE than WELCOME to come visit us! Seriously, when will you get the chance to visit Washington and have a free place to stay?? That’s what I thought, never….so take advantage of our situation and PLEASE come visit us!

 

A Competition of Epic Proportions

My family reeks of awesomeness. They are so awesome that their awesomeness cannot be put into words. My family is more awesome than yours. True story.

Being away from family in a foreign country for 2 years is rough…and it makes you appreciate your family. I finally realized how awesome my family is when Jason and I came ‘home’ for our month visit between our move.  Now, I can site a bajillion reasons why my family is cooler than yours…but I don’t want to write a novel at this point in my life. So, I’ll just indulge you with one truly great story from our visit in September.

Jason and I were invited to visit my cousin Jon Monroe and his family for a celebratory cookout. If there is one thing to know about Jon and that side of my family it is, they are like my older brothers and sisters. So no matter how long it has been since we’ve seen each other, its as if no time has passed. Also, they are just really awesome, so that helps. Anyway, we ventured our way to Martinsville, VA one afternoon for a night-o-fun. My aunt and uncle showed up for the festivities as well…and by the night’s end we were gathered around a huge bonfire, sipping our booze and enjoying each other’s company. Sometime during the celebration, Jason decided to appoint himself ‘keeper of the fire’. This glorious title consisted of keeping fresh logs on the fire at all times even if it meant chopping the fire wood as the night wore on. He did is job beautifully and kept a magnificent fire going all night. While we were all gathered around the magnificent fire and Jason was splitting some fire wood, my uncle Mark commented on how awesome Jason’s wood chopping skills were. Jason was honored by this compliment as he has never chopped wood before. My uncle just couldn’t believe it! He then told us all how much he enjoys chopping wood…something about it being a stress reliever and fun to swing a sharp object. Mark then decides to show Jason, and the rest of us, how awesome he truly is at chopping wood. Please keep in mind we have all been sipping spirits since 3 ish in the afternoon. So Jason and Mark have a wood splitting competition…but not before Mark picked up the ax, held it up to swing, and fell right on his arse. Funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time. We’re all laughing so hard we’re crying. So then Mark gets his shiz together and starts splitting wood like a champion lumberjack. It was quite impressive. By the end of the night there was literally no more wood left to chop. Thank goodness we all crashed there that night.

Seriously though, we had so much fun hanging out with that side of my family it was hard to leave. We had a great time visiting with all my family while we were ‘home’. Being is Washington is definitely closer than being in Korea but still feels too far away.

Most of the crew

Appalachian Mountains...where I hail from.

 

Milo enjoyed my parents and their house.

 

hahahaha! I told him to do it!

 

She gave us a ride on her hog. o mother.

 

in VA still...

Welcome home!

Words cannot describe the relief I felt when taxiing into the runway of the San Fran airport. We did it! We made it back to the good ol’ US of A…Korea no longer held us captive! I felt like I could die happy just because we made it back. I wanted to make it all the way home first but beggars can’t be choosers.

Our flight to San Fran was not enjoyable but nothing to complain about either. We were to catch a connecting flight to Chicago and then on to Atlanta where my sweet, sweet parents were going to pick us up and take us home at midnight September 16. We de-boarded the plan with a quick step to make the most of our 2 hour layover time. International flights require more time to pick up bags, go through customs/immigration, re-check bags and then board your next plane…and we were traveling with 2 cats. We found our luggage and Sacha, who was flying under the plane, and made our way through customs and re-checked our bags. However, they wouldn’t take Sacha being a live animal so they sent us to another gate to drop her off. Except when we tried to find that gate and stood 30 minutes in a security line, we were told the supposed gate did not exist and we were to go down the United’s ticketing booth to straighten out the situation. We were getting upset and frantic at the measly 1 hour we had left and, some what, kindly voiced our concerns to the San Fran airport agent…he, not so kindly, stated, “You won’t have time to catch your connecting flight” and then walked away. Thanks for the welcome, you snotty bastard! So we flew down to the ticketing counter and went off on the poor lady just trying to do her job. She very pleasantly told us to calm down and not give up hope that we would make our flight. She also told us that someone gave us terrible direction but she would come to our rescue and save the day. Not so much in those words, though. We were able to re-check Sacha, drop her off at a separate baggage area, and rush through a special, no wait, security line in 30 minutes with the help of our friend. Then we, literally, ran to our gate with only 5 minutes to spare…but our flight was delayed 30 minutes…so we really had plenty of time and only managed to freak out Milo, who was our carry on kitty.

So they rest of the story goes like this…made it to Chicago, boarded plan and freaked out till they assured me Sacha made it on the plane, and then made it to Atlanta. I reunited with my parents much like a movie….spotted my Mom in the distance, yelled”MOM!” and then ran to hug her…of course, I was just as excited to see my Dad…and they were just as excited to see Jason as they were me. We stood at baggage claim for 30+ minutes enjoying each other’s company before Jason realized one of my bags hadn’t made it’s way around the rolling belt and everyone else had grabbed their bags and bolted…it was midnight, afterall. The nice lady at baggage claim said the bag got left in Chicago but they’d send it to Greenville/Spartanburg Airport the next day by noon. So with that, we grabbed the pissed kitties and our luggage and started the 3 hour road trip home. We ended up going to the Spartanburg Wal-mart at 3:30 in the morning to grab kitty litter and such before we could go home. Nothing says America like 24 hour Wal-marts. The cats were overjoyed with an undertone of annoyance to be out of their kennels and enjoyed sniffing every corner of my parents house when we got home. We were all so excited to be reunited after an entire year that we stayed up till 5:30 am chatting and catching up. Dad showed his extreme excitement by going to bed the very second we walked in the door. That’s how he rolls, though.

Lost Bag: Long story short, 10 angry phone calls to 10 unhelpful people and 2 days later my bag finally showed up on my doorstep unharmed. Another welcome home greeting from a negligent airport employee. At least us and the kitties made it home safe!

 

More stories about being home and back in the States to come later this week…my interwebz time is limited right now!

An Introspective Journey…

Things I’ve learned while in Korea (the hard way):

1. The value of friendship: Finding good people to surround yourself with is getting harder and harder these days. Especially if you’re in a small community with a specific demographic…young adults. No judgement since I fit into that category myself. I had an extremely difficult time finding good people to establish friendships with. When I first got to Korea I was finding anyone and everyone to be my friend. That quickly backfired when I realized not everyone is worth being friends with. I’ve always believed that friends should lift you up and not bring you down. And that was not the case with people I was meeting 2 years ago. I became more guarded and picky, for lack of a better word, about who I shared my time with. There is a fine line between being guarded and being a snob. I hope I came across as reserved and not the latter. Anyway, that brings me to today. I have, within my two years here, finally surrounded myself with good people. Not just good people but people who are good for me. I’ve also found that there are good people out there that just don’t mesh with your personality…and that is no ones fault. I’ve found friendships that will last lifetimes no matter how far away we are. I am truly blessed to have them in my life and I’m am beyond sad to have to leave them…or watch them leave. Such is the army way of life, I suppose.
2. Having a successful Marriage: I am NOT an expert on that one! And I’m not sure if I even have one…but I have learned what works for Jason and I. A little history first: Jason and I got married at the end of March 09 and 1 week later Jason left for his army training. When he got back 4 months later he was home for 1 month and then shipped off to Korea. He was in Korea for 2 months before I joined him. SO, Jason and I weren’t able to be a married couple till we got to Korea. We were by ourselves in a foreign country on the other side of the world. We learned fast how to depend on one another. We didn’t have the luxury of running to parents or friends during an argument. We had no one else to lean on but each other. I do not know how we would have survived together any other way. I honestly feel we wouldn’t be as strong a couple as we are today if we’d spent our first years of marriage at home with family. It sucked not having a support system but Jason and I were forced to become each other’s shoulder to cry on…even if we wanted to rip off said shoulder. I also had to learn to depend on Jason financially…which was hard for me. I had the help of my parents but I’ve never liked the idea of letting ‘other’ people give me money let alone a dude. I do not NEED a man…I WANT a man. I loved being independent, with my money. That changed. But thank God, Jason is very generous and understanding. He has never made me feel guilty for spending money nor like I have to ask. So thanks Korea, for helping us grow together…and not apart.
3. Being an adult: gag me. I hate chores, cleaning, cooking, responsibility. But I was thrust into adulthood when I arrived in Korea and quickly learned…I have to handle my own shiz. Mom ain’t gonna do it for me anymore! Adulthood means-sucking it up and doing what needs to be done. All the whining in the world doesn’t make the dishes wash themselves.
4. Strength: I can credit the Army for giving me titanium balls. Yes, big manly balls made of shiny impenetrable metal. I do not take ‘No’ for an answer and I do not tolerate ignorance or laziness. In the Army, no one cares about you and your plans but YOU so, you have to make damn sure your shiz is taken care of the right way the first time. I can credit Korea for giving me tough skin. I’ve dealt with the staring, the lack of our form of manners, the language barrier, racism. Non of that bothers me anymore…you get used to it and you don’t take it personally. I can’t imagine how easy things will be when communication is no longer an issue. Also, everything that can go wrong, does go wrong in Korea. I don’t know if its the way the Army works here or just being in a foreign country…but we’ve dealt with one thing after another here. I feel like I can take on the world after what I’ve dealt with over the past 2 years. I tell people that, “In Korea, we walk up hill, in the snow, both ways.”

So no matter how hard life has been in the past 2 years, I do not regret our time spent in Korea. More good things have come from our overseas adventure than bad.

Especially our two fluffy kittehs.

I love Sacha's smile.