" Stay Strong" ?

I can recall countless moments in those ever so daunting pre deployment briefs going over the important details such as OSPEC, mailing addresses, and how often we could expect to hear from our Marines. Words of advice and encouragement from fellow spouses and from my husband's command; things like "stay busy" and " stay strong" " you need to keep it together so he can stay focused and do his job." But what no one tells you is how strong you really have to be, and that holding it together is easier said then done. No one ever tells you that the gaping hole in your heart and the emptiness you feel on the first day of deployment never goes away. Instead you just learn to push past it and go about the day as if everything is just fine, after all that's what " staying strong" is all about right? I've tried and tried to find things to fill the void of my husband being gone, including starting a blog but nothing has made the sting of missing him any less or the ach in my heart any more bearable. Sure staying busy does make the time go by faster ( sort of ) but it doesn't make missing your loved one any easier to handle. When other wives would tell me to stay strong I thought it was there way of saying keep it together and pretend as if you're fine, now I think its a simple way of saying YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS, its not going to be easy but it is also not going to be for forever either.

It's been a while

It sure has been a long time since I have posted on here,  between moving and friends coming to visit I have been going non stop this month! Our house is finally starting to come together... at least the living room and kitchen, our bedroom not so much. But it WILL be done before Brett gets home :) I started working out again I'm not sure why I hadn't been working out through the entire deployment, its amazing how much better I feel and happier I am on a daily basis. We are now over half way through with deployment :) Yay! I  cannot wait to have my other half home again <3 Its going to be an adjustment and I'm kind of starting to get nervous about it, I've grown so used to him being gone and being so independent I'm not sure I'll be able to be as dependent on him as I once was. Deployment has made me realize my strength in not only myself but in our relationship as well. I may start posting about my workout journey, I just started insanity and should be done with round 1 right before Brett gets home I can't wait for him to see me lol! Well on a healthy happy stay strong note

<3 

Finally in Hawaii

Yesterday didn't go as planned in the slightest, but then does life ever go as planned? I woke up at 4:30 am to get ready and get to the air terminal on base as early as possible... I didn't want to not get a seat on the Space A flight to Hawaii.  I had this odd feeling that something wasn't right, so I called to make sure the flight was still available. Good news it was, bad news it was a smaller plane and my bags could only be $25 Lbs. each. "Crap!" I thought this isn't going to work, frantically I start unpacking all of my "unnecessary" items... I can live with out 3 purses, 5 jackets and my favorite sparkly wedges would just have to stay behind. I get to the air terminal at 6:35 am two and a half hours before take off, only to find out that the flight had be canceled. Why? Because the plane just never showed up the night before. How a  plane just doesn't show up I have no idea? Now what? I had to be back in Hawaii this weekend, my hotel had already been booked and I already made all the appointments to get the keys to our house early Monday morning. Last minute plane ticket it is : / Luckily a one way to Hawaii from San Diego only cost me $176 more than I wanted or planned to spend, but at least it didn't break the bank.With 2 hours before the plane was to take off I rushed home repacked and got to the airport just in time :) The flight was boring as usual. When we finally landed in Hawaii, I went straight to the baggage claim which happened to be on the other side of the air port! Well these people must have been taking a nap or on their lunch break who the hell knows, but it took over an hour for our luggage to start coming out! Yes over an hour we landed at 1:15 pm and I didn't leave the airport until 2:45 ridiculous, I know. Luckily I made it back to base just in time for my friend's baby shower. One of the baby shower games was this sort of relay race it involved eating melted up chocolate out of a baby diaper, lots of toilet paper, and ending with two Marines chugging baby formula out of hot pink baby bottles! (funniest thing I've seen in a while)

 My day started off all wrong but ended with good friends, yummy food and lots of laughs. 

I never thought I'd say this but I am actually looking forward to living in Hawaii again. This time around I feel comfortable, like I know my place, now all I need is my husband back home and everything will be perfect <3

the view from the plane :) 

On a happier note

Thought I'd post some good news to go along with my rant about moving.
        I've been wanting a watch for some time now, you know those cute white ones with the crystals going around the face. A few months back I found a fossil one I really loved but it was $100+ and I just couldn't bring myself to buy it, I hate spending money on unnecessary things. A month or so later I saw the watch again at the PX this time for about $75, again I just couldn't bring myself to spend the money. Well today I remembered I had a giftcard for Kohls with $38 left, and figured I should go spend it before I left for Hawaii. Browsing around I see a similar watch made by Relic for $65, nope I thought you don't have the extra money to be spending right before the move. :'( But then a sales lady notices me looking at the watches and proceeds to tell me all of the watches are 25 % off :D yay! This brought the watch down to $37 and then $40 and some change after tax. Long story short I finally got the watch I've been wanting for months and only had to pay $1.80 for it. Oh and on top it off Coffee Bean messed up my drink order and gave me a free Chai Latte ( My fav). All and all today was a success, I just love finding a great deal.

 

my new watch :) 

The Marine Corps sure makes things easy ... Not!

So,  as everyone knows my husband is deployed and I'm moving back to Hawaii before he gets back from deployment. This is our first time moving onto base and I was told that DMO would move our stuff for us. Great I thought because there is no way I can move all of our furniture myself. Fast forward almost 6 months and DMO tells me that they are going to charge us to move our furniture because it is in a storage unit. The difference between it being in a house or a storage unit is beyond me ( not to mention its all packed and in one room!) but whatever. No big deal, I'll just do a DITTY move ( do it yourself move) and have some of my husbands buddies help me out. DMO then proceeds to tell me I will have to move my stuff between 8am and 3pm Monday - Friday because that is when the weigh station is open, and all of our belongings need to be weighed.  Gee well that makes things convient doesn't it, everyone I know will be at work, and DMO refuses to move our stuff. Guess its safe to say I shouldn't get my hopes up about getting reimbursed for having to hire moving guys just to move my stuff from storage and onto the moving truck, there goes $160 -_-

Thank you so much Marine Corps, you have been more than helpful

Blog Name

I have been going round and round trying to think of a cute and catchy blog name. It seems like all the good ones are taken. Orginally I was going to leave the name as " cammies on my floor" but didn't think it was catchy enough, so then I Changed it to " cammies on my floor, a Marine in my bed" I like that one but, maybe its a little too much. Haha or maybe I'm just thinking to damn much into this name thing who knows. But of course me being me I changed it again, third times a charm right? So as of now I'm sticking with " Dress Blues & High Heel Shoes" Yay? Nah?  Leave me a comment and help me choose a name for my blog :) Oh and its 3 am right now, I should probably be sleeping instead of trying to come up with a name for my blog, but this is what happens when my husband is away I just can't ever seem to fall asleep at a "normal" hour. Oh well a few more months and we will be sleeping side by side again <3

Moving

So I'm still getting used to the idea of blogging and that I should be posting on a regular basis, after all that's the point of a blog right? Anyways I have been crazy busy getting ready to move back to Hawaii. My husband is stationed in Hawaii, and I decided to move back home for a few months during deployment. I'll be flying SPACE A and if you have ever flown space A then you know how complicated that can make things. I have finally got everything in order though for my move, and cannot wait to move into our new house on base :) We are almost at the half way mark in our deployment, so I'm hoping that getting the house together will keep me busy for the next few months. I have so many pinterest projects I want to try... hoping they actually turn out though. After the move I plan on being more consistant with the blog and I will be sure to post picture as I get the house together :)

Long distance love Civilian vs. Military

So Today I was thinking about how we have spent more than half our relationship apart for one reason or another. Sometimes it was training in a different state or country, me going out of state, or deployment. Yet even with the months and months apart we are stronger than ever. I've had so many "civilian" friends ask me how do you do it? And I don't really know how to answer that, I mean we just do, maybe its because we don't have a choice. The military decides how often we get to see each other and there really isn't anything we can do about it except to accept it and try and make the best of it. Maybe that is what sets military relationships apart from "regular" long distance relationships we are not given the option to be closer to our loved one a lot of the times, and if we were we'd all be on the first plane out to the sandbox or where ever they might be.  Knowing we have a limited time together makes each moment that much more special, and I think that is what keeps us all going... that feeling you get when you're finally together again.

                                         

                                    picture from Tumblr

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone,
I hope you all had a wonderful time with Family and Friends today. Holidays are always hard with Brett being so far away, but I always try and make the best of them.  Fortunately for me I have a big family that always keeps me busy during the holidays.  Spending holidays, Birthdays and anniversaries apart will never get easier, but I think I'm starting to get used to it ... sort of. I always try and make sure that my care packages are extra special for the holidays. For Easter I filled the care package with camouflage easter eggs found at Walmart for only a $1.50, and lots of candy and treats for Brett to share with his buddies.

Happy Easter <3

Another holiday down & another day closer to being together again

First post :)

I made this blog a few weeks ago with the best intentions of actually blogging about life as a Marine spouse... better late then never though right :)

So I figured I'll start my page with a little introduction, because I'm sure you are all wondering how I became a military wife and what made me want to start blogging.

My husband and I met at a waterfall in Hawaii, romantic I know ;) just kidding I was in a bikini covered in mud and bug bites  .... oh wait now that I think about it he probably liked that( minus the bug bites haha). Okay anyways so we hit it off instantly and ending up talking the entire hike back and hung out that night too, and we have been together ever since. Fast forward to Last August when we decided to get married and here I am an official Marine wife going through our first deployment.  It still boggles my mind at how much my life has changed since getting married, especially to someone in the military. I went from 18 year old care free college student to wife, to wife waiting for her husband to return from Afghanistan. I spent my 19th birthday packing up our  Apartment and helping my husband organize his gear for pre deployment training. Not exactly how I imagined my life, but I can honestly say I am enjoying my new life more and more each day. I'd like to think that for being a young military wife( like many of us are) that I am doing pretty good and handling deployment way better than I expected. I'm hoping that this blog will give other young wives support and guidance to get through the tough times and  long lonely nights with out our men.
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Goals for the blog:

1. Links to different Military spouse support sites
2. quotes and other inspirational things
3. Acronym cheat sheet ... because we all find our selves wondering what the heck our men are talking about sometimes
4. Places that offer military discount
5. Blog lust ... links to my favorite blogs
6. care package ideas / tips
7. cheap date ideas for when my husband isn't 7,000 + miles away