Hello From Afar!: March 2012

Well, I'm nearing the end of my three-week-boredom-fest that is field training for Cameron and I have to tell you.....it wasn't that boring! I made a lot of new friends and I did so many things! So in a way, I'm glad he was away because it forced me out of my comfort zone! Most of you probably don't think of me as a shy person but upon first meeting someone, I am--which usually leaves me with not as many friends. Meh. However, I tried not to be awkward and weird and "give it all I got", and I wound up with some pretty awesome new friends! This is the time to be making friendships and establishing bonds with other ladies in my same boat! We'll all need each other for support throughout this upcoming deployment!
Speaking of, these last three weeks have really tested me and I think have given me a little bit more confidence in myself that I'll be able to take care of things when Cameron is gone. I certainly conquered some fears...especially my fear of hair! And I know I have long hair and you would think it wouldn't bother me but--BLEH!--it does! Because of this wonderful little furry dog of mine, EVERYTHING I own is covered in hair. So I took these past three weeks as a time to "de-hair-ify" my home...however, we don't own a real vacuum. We have all tile floors with a few rugs here and here. We didn't think we'd need a full size vacuum. WRONG! Anyway, hair is gross, and I don't like it. But I had to get rid of it. Off the rugs, out of my bed, and out of the shower drain. Talk about gross. I won't tho. I also took out the trash (which I NEVER do. I'd rather do dishes 100% of the time!) and killed bugs! Riley ate the bugs so I didn't have to pick them up. What a good little pup! These are things I would normally not do because they are gross, and boys are gross and are supposed to handle gross things. Doing it myself kinda empowered me a little. I know they are little things but it's a step in the right direction, ha.
I also turned a whole year older while he was away! And got a tan, and dyed my hair darker. I'm a whole new woman! I hope he likes this new older me! Ha, and to think, I was 16 when we first got together! BAH, so crazy! For my birthday, I went shopping and bought a new bike! This is my present from Cameron, or so I told him. At least it's better than a CD that I already had, wrapped in the bag it came in (no, I will never let him live that down)! I also get the chance to celebrate my birthday again on my "fake birthday" on April 1st. Out of the seven birthdays we've now had, he's been there for TWO! So I changed it. Plus, Riley's birthday is April 1st! My little baby puppy is turning 1 soon! Awwwwwwww! And you better believe I'm throwing him a party!
I don't remember where I was going with this update, but hey, it's something, ha. It's getting late here, and I need to go to bed! I get to see Cameron tomorrow, and I don't want to have sleepy eyes!

my precious :]

Our newly painted and decorated apartment

I've been trying to update this blog for about four days now because something always happens in between the time I sit down to write and when I'm done.....the dog needs to go out, dinner needs fixin', or Cameron is coming and going. Today is Monday and Cameron just left for the field again (training), this time for about three weeks. I've been trying to think of some fun things to do while he's gone to keep me busy. Everyone always says, "read!", but I'm not a reader...at least not of substantial things. I like celebrity gossip, oops, ha. With all this down time, though, I tend to start thinking of how my life will be in just a few short months when Cameron leaves for his deployment. Some days I think, "eh, no big deal, we'll get through it just fine," and other days I freak out inside. I try to stay positive for his sake and make him believe I am strong enough for this, and I think I am getting stronger, but sometimes it is difficult. My thoughts just begin to snowball..."what happens if" flashes across my mind a lot. But I've learned from this lifestyle that you simply cannot think about "what happens if." You'll drive yourself crazy. I need to just sit back and let life happen, and know that we can make it through anything. We don't have the greatest luck with things but that has made us find the humor in things. Right before Christmas (two days before, actually), our car broke down about 2 hours from home. We were pissed and embarrassed, but we were still able to laugh. Its moments like that that make me appreciate my husband even more. People were right when they said we'll have to rely on each other more than we've ever had to, which has definitely made our relationship grow, proving to me that we are ready for this challenge in June.

The Old City Hall, Altes Rathaus,
in Bamberg

Now, on to the fun part! A LOT has happened since I last updated. It's been about a month and you'd be surprised at all the things that go on in this unemployed, stay-at-home-wife's life! We had our first visitors--Cameron's parents--who stayed for a very quick ten days. I finished painting our apartment, colored my hair, decorated our little home, discovered our town, and grew closer to Cameron! While they were here, we traveled, we ate, and we saw things I never thought I'd see! Lemme try to recap it all...its been a while and I've had a glass of wine or two since then, ha! I think they got here on a Friday so after they caught up on sleep, we went to Bamberg on Saturday. We've sort of been to Bamberg, but at night, so seeing in the day time was fun! We got to see the famous Old City Hall building that is in the middle of the river and this gorgeous cathedral! We also had lunch at this cute place and found this little beer hall that is famous for their smoked beer. I did not have any of that, ha.

eating lunch in Bamberg, yummy!

Inside the cathedral. I like this shot.

Sunday was a lazy day. We went on a walk with Riley and found a couple of frozen ponds to spin him around on, then I cooked dinner for everyone! Gasp! Monday, while Cameron was a work, his parents and I went to visit their old friends, Christa and Josef (who only know German). It was much easier to talk to them with Kelley there instead of Cameron...she knows so much more, ha. We went shopping and ate more than I care to remember. Everythingisjustsogood! Tuesday was Valentine's Day so we all went out for a nice little dinner in our town. On Wednesday, while Cameron was at work, his parents and I drove to where they used to live when they were stationed here. It was fun letting them relive their memories :].

Spinning on the frozen pond, ha. The video is funnier!

Dinner! BBQ Meatloaf!

Thursday began our weekend adventure! There was a pie-in-the-face event at work for Cameron that morning, so after that we all drove back to Christa's to visit again. Even though I can't return conversation I'm beginning to be able to understand the words, and they just make it so easy to have a good time that you forget that you don't know what they're saying half the time, ha. Friday, after a teary goodbye for Kelley and Christa, we drove down to Austria! We stopped in Salzburg. If you know anything about Salzburg, you know that this is where (most of) The Sound Of Music was filmed. And if you know anything about me, you know that I adore that movie and that I freaked out when I saw The Fountain (from "I Have Confidence"), The GAZEBO, and THE VON TRAPP HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope the exclamation points are an indication to you as to how excited I was. The rest of the group tho....eh, not so much, haha. Although I did make Jack watch the Sound of Music before we left! After Salzburg, we drove and drove and drove, through the mountains, and stayed at a random guesthouse where we ate our weight in schnitzel and french fries! Saturday, we drove to Innsbruck (where they had the '64 and '76 Winter Olympics). We discovered that Italy was just a short drive to the south (about 40 min) so we decided to go have lunch...Italian food in Italy! After 2 hours of sitting in traffic on the side of a mountain we were a little more than hungry! There were great views tho!

All in all it was a really great visit, and we were not ready for them to leave! We can't wait for our next visitors! We also went on another trip as a couple to Ramstein, Luxembourg, and France! But I'll write about that later!