Bloggy Date

Today I had my first in person bloggy meet up!  I met up with Julie, an Army Wife, from When Your Feet Don't Touch the Ground.  We grabbed a cup of coffee, and talked all things post grad and Army life.  I don't think either of us stopped talking the entire hour we were enjoying our coffee.  We shared ball stories and how blogging is a great way to reach out to others in the military community, especially when you are not living near post. 

It was awesome to meet another blogger in real life, and she is in a very similar place in her life as I am.  We're both doing the medical profession thing, and loving our boys in the Army.  They even currently have similar jobs :)

So, you should follow her if you don't already, she's pretty awesome!  And Julie, here is to more coffee dates in the future!    Sorry for no photos, bloggy fail on our parts.

The Squadron Ball

Where do I even begin??  The evening was fabulous, lots of dancing, too much wine and lots of new friends were made :)  The evening started with getting ready at boyfriend's house.  My dress was a surprise, so I made him stand in the living room and wait until he could turn around and see me.  What can I say, I'm a sucker for the jaw drop :)  He then finished putting on his jacket and I got to admire the full uniform, stetson included, for the first time in 2 years.  His jacket is a big snugger than I remember, and it was interesting to see his dress shoes with spurs, but he did look quite dashing. 

We arrived, went to the social hour and starting chatting it up with other couples and learning more about what boyfriend does on a daily basis.  His guys were really funny, and one even ran up and gave me a hug and boyfriend a big high five, saying "she is real!"  Oh goodness.  The guys in boyfriend's platoon thought I was made up because they had never met me before, so now they have proof I'm real!

Seating began, we watched some rough tributes to those that were lost during deployment, saw Order of St. George presentations (it's a Cav thing) and got dinner while listening to the guest speaker.  He was really good, and had a jolly good time during the grog ceremony.  Also, the grog was amazing and knocked me on my butt for the evening.  I'm going to need to drink it slower next time, if I even drink it at all.

After all the festivities, the dancing began!  I had a blast and boyfriend and I got to dance together for the first time in a long while.  He was so sweet with singing along to songs and whispering in my ear the whole time.  We ran into some of his buddies so they gave us plenty of grief all evening.  We ended up getting a cab home and stumbling into the house, were I spent the night putting boyfriend to bed.  He then managed to wake me up at 7 am all bright eyed and feeling great, and I was ready to throw things in my hungover stupor.

I suppose I should get around to showing some photos huh??  I'll have the formal ones to post when we get them.  Those will also be full length, the only full length ones I have didn't turn out well, it was too dark to get a good look.  Enjoy! (*edit sorry this took so long, I was having issues with iPhoto*)

Before we left and minus the Stetson.

Taking a knee for the "Order of the Garter"

Cute one with the Stetson.

Sometimes he has to get his Stetson back with a kiss.

And then it ends up on my head.

My "Order of the Garter" certificate.

Putting on my dancing shoes

Today is the ball and I'm so beyond excited!!! My dress is hanging up, fingers and toes are painted and now all I have to do is some odds and ends before starting to get ready. 

This last week with school has been INSANE with clinicals and classes, and I still have a ton to get done in the next 3 weeks.  I'm trying to not think about it at all, and just enjoy the weekend with my soldier.  We have a great weekend planned, with some trail running, hiking, date nights cooking together, and lots of snuggle time.  Once he has to go back to work Monday through Wednesday, then I'll park my butt in the library and get some of my work done.

When I got to his house yesterday, I beat him home and walked in to find a dozen roses sitting on the table waiting for me :)  He is such a sweetheart.  We grabbed some food and ran to the liquor store for some wine, and found our favorite- Francis Ford Coppola Shiraz.  If you haven't tried it, you seriously need to, it's my new favorite red!  I can say it's also the most expensive bottle of wine I've ever bought, haha. 

Well, I'm off to run a few last minutes errands, finish laundry, and start the primping process!  I'll be sure to post tons and tons of photos on Monday when he has to go back to work.  Have a fantastic weekend bloggy friends :)

JT and the USMC Ball

I'm sure many of you remember the youtube videos that went viral awhile ago asking celebrities to attend the Marine Corps Balls and many of the celebrities agreed to go.  I read JT went to the ball this weekend I was really touched by the response he put on his website.  It was great to see a celebrity that was humbled and proud to attend the event.  I just wish there were more photos!

I'll admit I teared up reading his response and reflections on the evening.  He was humbled by the service members and their sacrifices.  I think what got me the most however, was the line where he stated "To all of you that serve every day for us... Ensuring our freedom, I say: My deepest gratitude to you. I've met so many of my heroes... From Michael Jordan to Michael Jackson. And, nothing makes me feel more honor and pride than when I get to meet one of you. Last night changed my life and I will never forget it."

Here is the link to the article: Read here.

Did anyone else read this?  What were your thoughts?

It's that time of the semester

Yes, the one where all your assignments are due and you have so much stuff to get done in the next month it makes you want to cry.  I could go on and on about all the papers and projects but I'm just trying to keep my head above water.  Also, next semester I was getting very excited to only have 1 full semester course and 2 8 week courses, well the program decided to add another course for me to take.  Argh.  I can take it next year, but I think I'd rather get it over with.  I'm still going to have a much better schedule than in previous semesters but I was really looking forward to only having 2 night classes by the time spring break rolled around.

Thankfully I'm going to have a vacation for SURE in March, I managed to score a volunteer slot/scholarship to attend the national convention for Audiology!  It is going to be in Boston this year and I am beyond excited.  My classmate is also going with me, so we will be able to have lots of fun together.  The volunteer slot/scholarship covers the registration and some meals, but not airfare or hotel.  I did manage to book flights on southwest for $180 round trip so that's pretty cheap!  I already had to purchase those, so my November/December budget is completely blown. 

I'm just fighting to get everything done that I need to before the ball in a week and a half! I keep looking at my dress and shoes in my closet and getting so excited!  I've been hitting the gym more regularly to relieve stress and also tone up my arms and back so they look fabulous in my dress.  Here is to hoping I accomplish that!  I've also been tanning a few times just to get a little color and also because it clears up my skin a bit.  I'm not getting super dark thankfully, I've been limiting it to 5-7 minutes at a time. 

Anyways, I cannot wait to share photos with you after the ball!!  This Thursday my fellow RA/military girlfriend and I are going to have a pinterest day, with dinner, desert and drinks all compliments of pinterest.  I am seriously addicted to that website! If anyone knows of some cool stuff to do in Boston, let me know!  My classmate and I have a night where we are going to explore the city a bit.


EDIT:  I accidentally deleted the post but lost my comments :(