So I fell....... twice

So yesterday Ray and I went jogging/walking on a trail on base. We had walked a different trail about a week ago, and we jogged a couple of times. But yesterday, I would say I successfully doubled how much I had ran previously. Before we headed out I told Ray that I wasn't going to be able to run the entire time, so we decided on jogging for a a couple minutes then walking, jogging, then walking, etc.

We started out jogging and I was just starting to "feel it" when Ray quickly halts in front of me. I peak over his shoulder, and low and behold.... there's a snake sunbathing in our path (Black Swamp Snake, Ray is currently looking it up). Eeeewww!!! Ray picks up a stick and starts inching towards it. Luckily, it decided to go on its way before I got too creeped out and wanted to turn around and not partake in the afternoon jog. So we continued on, and I felt pretty good most of the time. We were a little over half-way through the trail when Ray and I are walking and I have the breath to chat a little bit.

ME: I'd much rather jog on a trail than a road or sidewalk.
RAY: Oh yeah, you just have to be careful of tree roots when you're going up hill, or anytime for that matter.
ME: *thinking* I've actually been doing pretty good about seeing them
RAY: Ok, ready to start jogging again?
ME: ... Ok, let's go

I make it approximately 10 paces and the next thing I know, my toe catches a tree root and I'm falling forward onto my face. Luckily, we were on a pretty soft surface and I caught myself before I totally face-planted. I laugh it off, what else was I supposed to do? Ray asks if I'm ok to jog again, and I say sure. This time, I told myself, I'm going to be so careful and pick up my feet.... 15 paces later, umpf! Yep, down I went again. The second fall was a lot less graceful, but I still managed to catch myself. Ray laughed along with me and decided maybe it was best to just walk for a bit.

All-in-all, it was a good jog/walk. It felt great to actually use the muscles that have been dormant since high school.

Today we had another storm come through, nothing too bad. Although there was a lightening strike that was a little too close for comfort. I was looking out the window from the couch and, *flash-boom* lightening and thunder and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I thought it possibly hit our fence and I had felt the lightening from inside the house, but I think I just really scared myself.

Hm... I got my e.l.f order yesterday which was exciting (Dad, that's a brand of makeup). Yay for cheap makeup!! Oh, for those of you who don't know, I make videos on YouTube about me being a Marine Wife. Ugh, it sounds sooo lame when I say it out loud (and a it's little embarrassing), but I'm very excited about things lately! I'm a contributer to a website, www.realmilitarywives.tv, and so I need to get a new video made for that. Also, I asked my viewers to ask my random questions (kind of like a Q & A) that could be about anything, and I've actually received questions! I was/am so surprised! I thought I might get one or two questions, but there are several! Yay! I've actually met (well, never officially "met") several Marine wives/fiances/girlfriends from YouTube who I definitely consider my friends. And now recently, I've met women who's husbands, fiances, or boyfriends are in the other branches of service as well. It's been a very cool experience for me, and I never thought it would end up like this.

Oh, last thing: we got our wedding pictures and CD the other day, so I will be putting some of those images to the side of my blog soon, yay! But... just because I want to, I'll include an image here. Love you all!!!

Happy belated Easter!

First of all, Happy late Easter everyone! Ray and I enjoyed the long weekend he was given, getting half of Friday off and today off as well. Saturday afternoon we took a walk on the beach. We didn't wear our swimsuits or anything, we just took a stroll, but it was a perfect day for it! Not extremely hot and the breeze felt great, not too cool at all! There were a lot more people laying out on the beach, and several kids were enjoying the water even though it's still pretty cold (the feet in the water was enough for me!). We headed back after that. Oh! I almost forgot to mention that on our way to the beach we saw a CR-Z so we stopped and looked at it. It was pretty cool, smaller in size than I thought it was going to be, but still a neat little car! The guy offered to let us test drive it but we declined. Maybe when we're a little more serious about it, hehe! Let's see... we spent Saturday night eating take-out at like 9:00 and then watching the Flintstones Movie (Ray of course fell asleep during it).

After church on Sunday we went to Lowe's to check out some landscaping materials. Although we found what we wanted, we decided to hold off on anything to see if the landlord would take off our expenses from our rent. So we just priced the things we needed, came back home and did yard work. Ray mowed and I pulled weeds in front of the house. I almost find it necessary to tell you all something that Ray and I agreed on before we got married: I will not mow. Now before you start thinking that I'm a prissy little girl that needs to get over it, let me say that Ray was fine with this. I will pick up sticks, I will pull weeds, I will do basically anything other than mow. So far, it's working out just fine :)

That evening we went over to the couple's house I stayed with for a little bit last summer. Don and Louann are two of the most caring and giving people I know and I am so blessed to have met them. The story on how I met them is a whole other chapter I'll save for another day. But anyway, they invited us, two other couples and another guy from our church to have Easter dinner with them. We had such a good time! Dinner was great and the company was better. A couple weeks ago I was pretty sad about spending the holiday away from our family, but spending it with the people we did definitely kept the sadness off my mind.

Today we just took it easy, did some cleaning and took a bike ride. But I figured I would post a before-and-after-picture of how the bathroom turned out (thanks Whitney for the idea!). I don't think the pictures to it justice, but you get the point. That's it! Love you all :)

Before... blehhhhh!

After... ahhhhh!!!

Shower curtains and CR-Z's

Warning: I have no idea where this is going and it may be all over the place...

This week I have been so lazy! It' pretty much ridiculous. I finally went grocery shopping on Tuesday (which needed to be done on Sunday) because the previous nights I spent opening and closing the pantry and refrigerator, finding nothing. Now that I think of it, this is somethingI've done since I was little. Open the door of the fridge, take about 5 seconds to look at it, see nothing appealing, then move on to the pantry. I even go through cabinets to see if anything is in there, which is quite silly now considering the only thing in them are spices, dishes and cookbooks. But anyway, this horrible habit has carried itself into adulthood.  Well, after multiple trips to and from the pantry/fridge, I realized I absolutely had to go to the store (this is why on Monday we had brinner - breakfast for dinner). So... that was pretty much my Monday and Tuesday...

Yesterday Mindi and I went for a walk and then grabbed lunch at subway. After, I made a trip to New Bern to officially change my last name! Yes, I know what you're thinking - took you long enough! It's not difficult at all to change your last name on your social security card, I know this now. But they did shred my old card, and for a second it made me a little sad. I'd had that thing since birth!!! (Oh by the way, the Social Security Administration in New Bern isn't hiring, I already looked into that.) Then I stopped by Target and got the CUTEST shower curtain! For those of you who don't know, our guest bathroom is painted brown. And not a pretty brown, like poop brown. It was so dark with the dark walls, the dark red shower curtain and the rugs that matched. I know what the former tenants were thinking - I'm sure they were going for a "rich look" but it just looked bleh! I tell you what though, a new shower curtain can do wonders! It's white with blue, green, and LIGHT brown and reminded me of my china set because it has little birds on it. Throw some white rugs down and WOW! I like going into that bathroom now!

Today was beautiful at first, 80's when Ray came home at lunchtime. Then the next thing I know, the temperature says 69 and it looks like it could rain. The temp just continued to fall, and it did end up raining.... ruining Ray and I's plans to go walk/jog the trail after he got off work. We'll see how tomorrow turns out.

Hmm, what else... Gas prices are sucking. Has any one else noticed that? I'm trying to plan a trip back home and all I can think about is how much money its going to take to get there just in gas. It's depressing! Ray and I are looking into vehicles (yeah, go ahead and laugh Mindi, I said 'vehicles') that get better gas mileage. So far, we haven't gotten past our love for this Honda CR-Z  Sport Hybrid. It's soooo pretty! It's a sports car, so it looks great and it's also a hybrid and gets like 35 mpg IN TOWN! But.... Ray and I are trying to be sensible about it... Boo you car for being $20K! Send me a job so I can afford you! I'll include a pic of it so you can drool over it too. Well, that's it. Tootles!

Yeah! This is a HYBRID!

Oh the weather outside was frightful...

God was truly watching over us last night as a line of storms came through. We had known it was supposed to thunderstorm all day, so Ray and I kept an eye on the radar. Basically it just looked like a slightly curved vertical line of storms (I'm sure there's a better way to say it, but I can't think right now), and it was just going to hit once and then be done. Ray and I had been working around the house all day, and about 7:30 we realized we were starved. I started cooking some dinner and kept looking outside to see what the weather was doing. The more it started to pick up, we decided to turn on the radio and see what was going on. Ok... so they were saying that hail was likely... Ok.... maybe we should try to fit Ray's car in the garage (which is full of stuff mind you).

I asked him if he wanted to put his car in the garage, and originally he said, 'naw.' He thought about, and then decided we should see if we could get it in. We through on some shoes and started piling things up towards the front of the garage. It didn't take us too long and we had his car mostly in. We shifted things around a couple more times and then finally got the garage door closed (Ray took a pic of how it actually fit in there. I'll have to include that sometime, hehe). We timed it nearly perfectly because not long after, the power went out. Was it bad the first thing that crossed my mind was our half-cooked pasta on the stove? (I was hungry!) Not to say that I wasn't a little worried about the weather, considering the last thing I heard on the radio was the National Weather Service reporting a tornado 4 miles west of town, basically heading right for us. There was quite a bit of wind and rain, but nothing too serious. After that line came through, the power came back on, and all was well.

This morning was a beautiful day, hardly a cloud in the sky. But there was quite a bit of damage done the night before. A member at church told us to go look at where the tornado touched down on 70, and it was crazy to see what happened. I made a video when we drove by, but it didn't turn out very well, mostly because I was gawking at what I saw instead of looking at where I was aiming the camera. But here is a video that's better I found on YouTube. I couldn't find very many pictures of it, but I'll include some I found on the web by clicking "this!" Oh, here is an article on what happened if you're interested (you can look around and possibly find a better one on that site). Apparently, there was also a tornado that hit on or near Camp Lejeune (I don't live there so I don't exactly know). Ironically, Amanda texted me not long before all this happened. All is well here though! It was weird going through my first storm like this in a new place that I'm not extremely familiar with (I don't even know north from south yet). I heard numerous times that this kind of weather is unusual for this area. We did get some tips for Hurricane season though! But I'm definitely thanking God for watching over us last night. And please keep all those affected in your thoughts and prayers.

Top Shot

You may or may not know that Ray and I aren't huge fans of professional football fans, or even college football fans (unless it's Northwest or MU). The only time we actually sit down to watch a game would be for the Superbowl, and even then it's usually for the commercials. But if there was one thing that we sit down religiously to watch, it's Top Shot. This is our football game. We even have our favorite shooters we root for.  Number one, by far would be Brian Zins. Mostly because Ray's dad told us about him before the season started. I also have really enjoyed Chris Reed and Ray kinda liked Ashley (well, up until this past episode at least). We also have a strong dislike for George. *Side note: since we don't have cable, we have to wait for the show to come out on Hulu or on the History Channel, but anyway...*

For those of you who don't watch the show, basically it's down to the last six competitors and the shooters are going to have to start voting off their friends. One shooter earned immunity from being eliminated because he shot the best at the competition, but he was also the one that a few others didn't like because.... um... basically for stupid reasons that would take too long to explain. I just need to go on a little mini-rant right now... Dear George, don't say it's all about "who shot the best/worst" when basically the last 3 or so episodes you have been voting  for the guys who you just don't like for elimination. Let me say it like this: George, you are a douche. Excuse my language, but he just is. I had so much more to say before I started typing, now I'm drawing a blank. Basically, the point is: Go Brian Zins and Chris Reed!! And the sooner George goes home, the better the show will be :)

On a different topic, it's been beautiful outside this past week so we've been taking advantage of the nice weather. We biked on Wednesday and yesterday walked a trail on base. We even jogged a little (I know, I know - I'm sure it's hard to believe that I actually jogged, but I did it!). I'm hoping to get a bike ride in tomorrow morning before it rains in the afternoon. I don't know what I like more: the exercise or the fact that I'm getting tan... Well, aside from Magma being in heat and us pushing up her getting spayed sooner than we originally thought, nothing too much is going on! Have a good weekend everyone!

I made a new friend today :)

Hello everyone! I didn't have much news from yesterday, so it would have been pointless to write. Yesterday was full of laundry.... the end.
Today I got up with Ray  at 5:45 because I wanted a jump start on the day (so what if I had to take a name later this evening). I finished up the dishes that I had been slacking on after he left for work, did the last load of laundry, and a couple other things before I headed out to meet my friend, Mindi, for a walk.  It was forcasted to thunderstorm around 11, but it was far from that - blue skies and sunny. Mindi got a much better workout than I did, pushing a stroller with a 2 year old and her 3 month old. That's ok though - first time working out on my two feet for awhile so I've got to work up, haha! After our walk, we sat at her house and chit chatted until the afternoon. I do believe I made a new friend :)

Since I spend much more time away from the house than I thought, my afternoon "to do list" didn't really get done... After Ray got home (and I took a nap) I started on dinner so we could eat at a normal hour. We just had tacos, topped off with a little cup of ice cream. We worked on some thank you's tonight and I realized how pathetic I was these past couple months about not doing them. I actually got mad at myself for not making myself do this sooner. But they're getting done now, so I guess that's what matters. 

Well, that's it for now :) Oh wait! It did end up raining this afternoon and a beautiful rainbow was in the sky. Ray took a pic! I'll add that :)

Auto-X

This weekend has pretty much flown by, but it seems like every weekend does. There was an auto-x race this weekend, but luckily it was on base so it was a nice change of pace (rather than driving two hours). Ray was out the door before 8 this morning, with the event starting around 11 (although it was supposed to start at 9). I met him there after church, just in time to see him drive his first run. In my rush to make it to the race, I forgot the camera so after his first three runs I ran home, picked up the camera and made it back, yet again, right on time to see his first run of his second round. He was doing well the whole day, consistently shaving off a couple seconds each time he went. I even got to ride in the car on his last run!

Let me describe it as this: I've never been scared of his car, or the way he drove it or whatever. I knew it had the capability of being fast, but he's not a reckless driver so I guess I didn't know what I was in store for! Now, picture this: me sitting in the passenger seat all giddy-school-girl-like thinking I know what I had gotten myself into. We get in line, waiting for the two cars in front of us to go. Now waiting for the car in front of us to go, my heart pumping a little harder in excitement. Then Ray gets directed forward, and we're just waiting for the starter to tell us to go. Ahhh! This is going to be so cool!! "And, go!" *squealing tires* As Ray punches the gas! Let me just say this, for the first 5 seconds of that ride I thought I might loose it (my lunch that is). And just so you know, you can get pretty far in 5 seconds! After I stopped looking right in front of the car and could actually see the course, it was a lot of fun! However, I have no idea how someone could think that fast, much less react to it. But as Ray says, "practice."

All in all it was a beautiful day to be outside and I even got some sun on my pasty-white legs. We spent the rest of the evening eating leftovers and watching "Grownups" (we thought it was funny! fyi). Ray hit the sack early and here I am - killing time. Well, I hope to have good luck this week in the search for a job. Wish me luck!

Oh, and if you were wondering how Ray did on that last run with me in the car? It was his best time of the day! :) (Just ignore the fact that he hit four cones... shhh!!)

The Military Spouse Life, so far at least!

Well, the pot roast turned out pretty good! I probably could have cooked it an hour less and it would have been a little more juicy, but all in all, I think it was a great first shot! But I do think we need a bigger slow cooker - the veggies barely fit!

Al's makeover was a success. Ray doesn't really agree that it was a "makeover," but I think a shiny new muffler qualifies! When I first started it I kept waiting for the loud noise, but it never came! He's such a trooper!

Yesterday I had my first experience with the pharmacy on base... Luckily, a girl noticed how lost I looked and helped guide me to what I needed to do. I'll get the hang of it one of these days. It was actually kind of ironic that I was walking around like... uhhhh... um..... is this where I need to be?? because Ray was in the process of doing the same thing when checked into his new squadron! We are both very excited, but know this is going to bring a lot of changes. He will be flying more often, and will most likely have a very different schedule than he's had for the past two years. But to be honest, I'm just glad he's back doing what he loves to do. I want him to have that spark back in his eye when he talks about his job. Changes, changes, changes!

Last night we went out for our friend Angie's promotion. She was meritoriously promoted to Staff Sergeant, which is no small feat! Only 28 were picked out of all the Marine Corps! Angie and Ashley were the first female Marines I met and have welcomed me with open arms and are a blast to hang out with. When Ray first talked about the two, I have to admit I was a little nervous to meet them (just because I had heard about how some female Marines are). But I'm so glad I did and they have changed the stereotype I had in my head. They are awesome girls :)

Ashley is actually getting out in about a month and moving to Kentucky. It's weird to have these friends and then they get out, or get stationed another place and just like that, a good friend is gone and you don't know when/if you'll see them again. Ray's good buddy, Caleb, left about a week ago. He's going into the Enlisted Officer's Program, and going to school out in Colorado. I don't really know how to describe it, but when he and Ray said goodbye, it was a moment I don't think I'll forget (and no, I'm not going to get all emotional, because it wasn't like that). There's a bond between Marines who are good friends - like a I'll always have your back kind of thing, but even that doesn't describe it. I don't know... I guess they just get each other in a way that no one else could understand but Marines themselves.

I couldn't wait until we got our CD of pictures from our wedding, I had to put this one up!

Al's getting a makeover!

For those of you who do not know, Al is my car. Al is very old and fragile to say the least. He needed a new muffler, so today Ray and I headed off to the shop to get him fixed up!

Since Al had to be at the shop around 8 this morning, this meant that I had to get up early than I have been. This would have been just fine if I have a normal sleeping pattern. I stayed up until 1 am last night figuring this whole blog thing out and then preparing for the pot roast we're having for dinner tonight. This is how my thought process went last night: If the pot roast cooks for 10 hours, and we're going to have dinner at a reasonable time, I need to put it in the cooker before we leave to drop off the car. Oh my... this means I have to get up extra early.... I know! I'll prepare everything tonight that way I can just dump it in the cooker and be out the door! After all, it's nothing too fancy - just carrots, potatoes, seasoning and the roast.

I'm sure many of you seasoned cookers know what I'm about to say and probably would have called me to say "NOOO! DON'T CUT THE POTATOES THE NIGHT BEFORE!" And you probably should have. Before I even sliced into the potatoes, I wondered if I really should. That, my dear friends and family, is what is called my gut feeling and apparently I haven't learned to follow it yet. Low and behold, I go to the fridge this morning and there they sit in their plastic bag - brown, slimy, and just plain unsanitary looking. Luckily, my husband is amazing and we stopped by the grocery store and picked up some more potatoes on our way home from the muffler shop. With all that said, I hope dinner turns out better than my salmon patties (story for another time).

On a different note, Magma had her adult shot and rabies vaccine on Tuesday which meant that she did nothing yesterday except sleep. I don't know if all cats suffer from side effects after shots, but Magma definitely does. When you pick her up, she hisses. When you try to pet her, she winces as if she's in pain. She slept all day and night without eating or drinking. It took her five minutes to move from one spot on the couch to behind the love seat. Ray and I felt so bad for her, but luckily she won't have any more shots until next year, yay! (Just don't tell her we're getting her fixed sometime in June) She did start to feel a little better last night and today she's back to her normal, active self.

Well, I'll let you know how the pot roast turns out and tell you if Al still sounds like he's attempting to be a Harley rather than the '91 Buick he is.

Hello blogging world!

Let me start off by saying, if you're reading this, I probably love you. I don't mean to say that as in, "I love you for reading my blog!" I mean that as in, I'm making this for my loved ones who are far away. I am sending them my love.

For those of you who may not know me, or my story I'll give you me in a nutshell. My name is Suzanne (Hi! Nice to meet you!), I live in North Carolina with my hubby, Ray, and kitty, Magma. I'm originally from Missouri where most of my family lives (hence why I'm making this blog). I graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in December of 2010 and then ran off and married a Marine on January 8, 2011! Just kidding, it was very planned out, hehe! But in all seriousness, we had a beautiful wedding surrounded by people we love and I couldn't have asked for anything more. As I said, Ray is a United States Marine, so we headed off to North Carolina to make our new home. But before I left, I made my mom a Facebook page so we could stay more connected and she could see pictures and all that creepy Facebook stuff. And although many of my family members are on Facebook, it still doesn't seem enough. Of course we call, text, email, and write (hello, just got married - thank you notes?!) I don't want to disappear on the east coast from everyone I love in the Midwest. To all my family and friends - this is for you. In some way, shape, or form I think of each of you everyday. I love you all so much.