What's Your Soundtrack?

Does your life have a soundtrack? Is it one particular artist or is it a mix of artists? If it could only be one artist, who would sing your life soundtrack?


If you're one of my fabulous Chi Omega girl friends reading this, it might be Lady Antebellum's new CD. And thanks to one particular Chi-O, I too am the proud owner of her new CD. After many weeks of following on various blogs and f-book posts about the glorious-ness of her new album and wishing I too could hear a new song or two, I was excited (no, excited is not a strong enough word. I was ecstatic, thrilled, full of joy and happiness) to walk into our office after Mail Call and see the only package on the table was ("surprise, surprise", according to the people on staff that I work with) addressed to me with a pretty pink return label from none other than Ms. Annie Coghill.


Inside, was a plethora of things to keep me entertained these last few weeks, including the NEW (ok, not newest, but February, which is pretty new in my book!) issue of Real Simple (also introduced to me by another Chi-O, Bridget) in addition to a few other magazines, a new book, a sweet card, an equally sweet bag of Jelly Bellies (yes, I ate the ENTIRE bag on watch in one sitting- but I did share with some other people in the module) and the NEW Lady Antebellum CD in its entirety. YESSSSSS! I am SOOO excited to finish up my work (and no, blogging is not my work, but it is quite excellent at distracting me from my actual work) and go upload the CD to my iPod so I can listen to it while I lay in bed and read my new magazines, wrapped up in my sheets and blankets that I just washed and dried (with a dryer sheet) so they are soft and smell nice and fluffy. Life is good, yes?


Seriously Banoodle, cannot thank you enough for such an AWESOME care package! Especially at this point in deployment when it's all downhill from here but not fast enough. JUST the pick me up I need to get through another 2-3 weeks. And my response to the eye-rolls from my colleagues for receiving yet ANOTHER care package was that it was not my fault that they didn't have sorority sisters who loved them as much as mine love me :)

On the note of soundtracks, I had my iPod on random today after my run while I wandered around and stretched and what not. During this time, my iPod skipped around to some songs that make up my "un-official Deployment Soundtrack".


What is an Un-official Deployment Sountrack, you ask? It's a compliation of songs that have always remind me of different points of deployment. And for the first time, I was able to listen to the "Homecoming" songs and actually get excited!

Here's my "Deployment Life Playlist":

• "Save Tonight"- well we know, I'm going away and how I wish, I wish it weren't so, so take this wine and drink with me, let's delay our misery... save tonight, and fight the break of dawn, come tomorrow, tomorrow I'll be gone so save tonight..."
• "I Don't Want to Miss A Thing" -i could stay lost in this moment forever. 'cuz every moment spent with you is a moment i treasure. i don't wanna close my eyes, i don't wanna fall asleep cause i miss you babe, and i don't want to miss a thing"
• "Leaving On a Jet Plane"- every place i go, i think of you, every song i sing, i sing for you, when i come back i'll wear your wedding ring. 'cuz i'm leaving on a jetplane, don't know when i'll be back again, oh babe i hate to go..."
• "If You're Going Through Hell"- you know those times when it feels like there's a sign there on your back it says I don't mind if you kick me, seems like everybody has. Things go from bad to worse you think they can't get worse then that and then they do
• "Other Side of the World" [this song was introduced to me by a good friend Austin when our then-boyfriends, now husbands, were away for a month adventuring around Vietnam and China after graduation] - and the fire fades away, most of every day, is full of tired excuses, but it's too much to say I wish I were simple but we'd give up easily, you're close enough to see that you're the other side of the world to me
• "Home"- maybe surrounded by a million people i, i still feel all alone, just wanna go home oh i miss you, you know. i've been keeping all the letters that i wrote to you, each one a line or two, i'm fine baby how are you? i would send them but i know that it's just not enough, my words are cold and flat and you deserve than that. another aeroplane, another sunny place, i'm lucky i know, but i wanna go home.
• "Here Without You"- a hundred days have made me older since the last time that i saw your pretty face, a thousand lives have made me colder and i don't think i can look at this the same, but all the miles that separate, disappear when i'm dreaming of your face
• "Soldier Coming Home"- I saw a husband run off the plane to his wife. He was full of emotion, didn't care who could see. It made me stop and wonder when's the last time you looked at me like you were a soldier comin' home. Like you counted the nights you were gone. Like each moment together's more precious then ever now that you're safe inside of my arms
• "Today"- I woke up this morning, with a feeling inside me that I can't explain like I weight that I've carried has been carried away. I know something is coming, I don't know what it is but I know it's amazing, you save me, my time is coming I'll find my way out of this longest drought and it feels like today
• And hands down, the BEST homecoming song EVER- "Home"- staring out into the night, trying to hide the pain. I'm going to the place where feeling good and love don't ever cost a thing. And the pain you feel is a different kind of pain. i'm going home, to the place where I belong. Where your love has always been enough for me. not running from, you know I think you got me all wrong, I don't regret this life I chose for me, but these places and these faces are getting old, so I'm going home.

Yeah, so I'm pretty stoked. After my workout, I put all of these songs (and a few others) into a "Deployment Playlist" mix and was pleased to skip to the last 3 and listen to those on repeat. Do you have songs that remind you of home or take you back somewhere comforting?

Alright, back to work. I am trying to work quickly and furiously and tire myself out so I can fall asleep. We're 18 days out and I ALREADY have channel fever and can barely sleep because my mind is already racing. If I were a puppy [a pug, of course], my tail would be wagging 24/7 til March 26th!!!

paradise (in no particular order :)

yogurtland. SVU. the smell of fresh air. dan. taking a shower without shoes on. wearing make-up. coffee with real milk. driving my car. iPhone + 3G. running on the pavement. cooking my own food. going home every day. making up for lost time. weekends. hugs. doing whatever i want to do whenever i want to do it. planning our next vacation. familiar faces. catching up with my friends. being a newlywed. the farmer's market. baking. flip flops (but not in the shower). my own bed. sunday nights. road trips. not having an airplane take off/land directly over my bed. making new friends. telephone calls. the dinner table. flowers. finally unpacking from august. exploring a new city. getting lost. getting found. going home. making a wedding photo album.  celebrating. holidays. music on the radio. purses. seeing the sun every day. taking walks. eating out. sleeping in. going out. staying in. singing in the car. singing anywhere i want. following the news. having fun. yoga. visitors. afternoon naps. cupcakes. pedicures. high-speed internet. my credit card. seizing the day. wasting time. doing nothing. doing everything. reading magazines that aren't 2 months old. Gossip Girl. making memories. laughing. loving. living.

are we there yet?

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?

So a few days ago, I posted about Congress passing a law that would allow the women from the USNA 2010 commissioning class to enter the Nuclear/Submarine pipeline to serve as the first female Submariners. Again, not to beat a dead horse here, but regardless of your opinions, what a great advancement for women in the Navy!

Then I saw this article on "Early Bird"- Early Bird is a compilation of news articles from many different new sources. It's then organized by subject: "Iraq", "Afghanistan", "Healthcare", "Elections", "Taxes"- whatever the articles are about. So it will list a few different articles about a time when the Iraq elections are a hot topic from multiple different news sources. Then someone uploads a webpage of all of these stories to what we call "the high side" which is our classified/secret computer system. This is great because when you can't rely on NIPR (which is our unclassified server) browsing to allow you to read the news (or, if you are on watch, which is at a secret server), then you still always have access to the news. I'm actually kind of going to miss "Early Bird" when I get home. After the title of the article, they give you a 2-sentence summary of the article so you can read it and decide whether or not you want to actually read the article. Plus, you can read about the same topic from multiple news sources.

Anyways, I saw this article yesterday and then tonight found the "TIME.com" version.

The Rise and Fall of a Female Capt Bligh

This is the story of a female Captain in the US Navy who was recently relieved of command (she was the Commanding Officer of a guided-missile Cruiser stationed in Japan).  I encourage you to read the article for yourself and I will try and withhold too many of my own opinions.

However, I hope that this event does not cause people (the general population, Navy officers, junior Sailors, etc) to look at it and say "well that's how women act when you put them in Command" or any other way that relates her actions to her gender. This kind of terrible situation could have easily occured by either a male or a female Commanding Officer and the outcome on their career would have been similar.

The only thing that frustrates and hurts me is that there you had a very successful (at least initially), pioneer female officer that could have gone on to even greater roles in the Surface Navy and touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of her fellow lady SWOs for the better. Instead, she seems to have had a harmful effect on junior Sailors and Officers, both male and female at every level of the chain of command. This is where the real tragedy lies.

And while sometimes I complain and say I hate my job and get frustrated by many of the SWO-isms of my community, I am incredibly grateful that I have never worked for or with a person like this. This is a tragic illustration of how not to be a leader, regardless of your job or your community or your profession.

What do you think? Do you think the board's findings were fair and accurate? Sound off below!

Non-Sequitur

[*Author's Note post-publishing: Eventually the internet did come back up and I was able to finish the blog ALMOST all by myself. Except I can't get the pictures to upload so luckily, since that is Dan's FAVORITE thing to do, you will have to wait to see the associated pictures after I send them to dan and he has a chance to upload them*]

For those of you who are not familiar with the word (as I previously was not until described by a good friend as one), non-sequitur is Latin for "it does not follow" as in, an argument in which its conclusion does not follow from its premises; an inference or conclusion that does not follow from the premises or evidence. Basically, in a nutshell- something that does not logically follow another.

For those of you that know me (and presumably, if you have committed this much time to reading this much nonsense for so many days/weeks/months/years, then you must know me. If not- who are you?) you would probably be inclined to agree with my good friend, Bridget Barry (aka Bridgee, author of this blog which I love to follow to get my sometimes daily, sometimes weekly, fill of random honesty. We can probably all admit that we probably need a little more random honesty in our lives too.) who once described me as a "non-sequitur". I think this is a pretty spot on description (after I learned the definition of the word). I wouldn't say I have ADD or anything like that but frequently I easily and deftly jump from one subject to another, skipping around stories and ideas and thoughts. (again, if you've been following my blog, you are probably already aware of this fact).

So it should only be fitting to warn you that this blog is going to be a non-sequitur because I came up with 4 stories today, none of which have anything to do with the other nor are they really all that important. Don't worry though, I won't even try to come up with grandiose conclusion at the end to tie them all together. I don’t have THAT much time on my hands!

First. Let's talk about some new changes to the blog. You might have noticed on the left hand side, half way down the page, the new section entitled "My Cheerleaders." This is the section previously known as "My Followers." Apparently, most of my family/friends/readers think "My Followers" is a creepy thing to call yourself (i think stalking is technically considered a misdemeanor in some states), or else only 6 people are actually reading my blog. If that's the case, then apparently I need to come up with some better stories to start drawing in the readers. I am pretty sure though, that I have more than 6 readers. And for arguments sake, we will discount my parents/dan's parents who I don't believe have gmail accounts and probably don't religiously "follow" blogs at the rate at which our generation does (that means you get a free pass for not being "official" followers, mom and dad. I am excited that after 3 deployments you both finally started posting comments. This means a lot to me :)

Anyways, back to the point (here we go again with this "it does not follow" theme again). I changed around some things about the blog to help better tell "my navy story." So then I thought, I will call the followers section "My Fan Club"- but then again, that sounded too creepy as well. I mean, I think fan clubs dissolved sometime back in the mid 90's, right around the time that New Kids On the Block dissolved (the first time around).

So then it hit me- who are all of the people that read my blog and comment on it and send me emails? They are really my own personal cheerleading squad. Yes, that's it! They are my cheerleaders who bring a smile to my face and keep me going with their funny stories and comments and knowing that my family & friends are actually reading this blog (other than Dan who I think is required by some antiquated marriage law to faithfully read his wife's blog posts, even if they are super lame) helps me feel connected to them and to home. And let's be honest, who DOESN'T want to be in a cheerleading squad? Let's just say that if YOU had a cheerleading squad, I like to think that I would be on your team, cheering you on from the sidelines. That was basically a long-winded and overly desperate attempt to convince my loyal readers, whoever they are, to join "My Cheerleading" Section of the blog. If not, that's cool too, you can cheer quietly from in your heart. And if you have a blog that I am unaware of, please send the link my way because I would loooove new blogs to follow!

Two. Tonight as I was getting ready to leave the watch floor, one of the Surface Trackers (I don't know who she was because she was a NIMITZ watchstander and I don't really know that many of them) said "Ma'am- do you know who you look like? You look JUST like Jennifer Love Hewitt!" I was like "whoa, no way, that's the SECOND person to tell me that this deployment" and she said that all of the other watchstanders have been talking about it for awhile. I thought that was the funniest thing ever! I didn't see it a month ago and I don't get it today either. So tonight, I googled "JLH" again and after finding MANY racy photos (apparently she's quite the babe these days!) of her, I found this one that I held up to myself in the mirror. Now, I know I've been gone a long time, as I looked at this picture and looking at myself in my rumpled, frumpy coveralls with no make-up on, I thought "there is no way that ANY amount of time away would give me such long and healthy looking hair and such a great tiny waist to large chest ratio, topped off with killer toned arms" (in fact, the longer we are away, the SHORTER my hair is getting!). Anyways, I thought that was funny because I feel completely opposite of this polished movie star right now. I don't even think I remember how to apply eyeliner. I should probably brush up on that over the next few weeks, lest I return home looking like a Halloween costumed-girl.

Three. I have beat the Navy internet system. Yes, the one that doesn’t allow Gmail or skype or anything else EVER. The one that limits our “open internet hours” (anything non-Navy or banking) to only 8 hours a day. Well, it turns out that google is always available (however, after you click on the link that you would like, then you get blocked out). But, because you can physically log onto Google, type in something and see at least the results, that means that you can always log onto blogger (since it is now supported and run by Google). What does this mean, you ask? Well, this means that even after midnight, I am able to read and write blog posts. SUCCESS! This also means that I am not QUITE as dependent on my husband to get out the good word. However, as I was proudly blogging all by my self (a very fulfilling thing to do after months and months of having to email off my posts for uploading), the internet cut out. Stupid, stupid Nimitz internet system. Totally predictable. UGH. Just when I had the system beat!

So now I am blogging with slightly less enthusiasm, knowing that I will have to wait until the internet comes back so that I can email it to Dan and have him post it for me like 15 hours from now when he gets back from work (no, Dan doesn’t work 15 hour days but we’re SEVENTEEN hours ahead of west coast time so he is just getting up and getting ready for work so he won’t get around to this until after he gets home. Apparently he is a very busy/important person at work and doesn’t do frivolous tasks like blogging at work. Weird, I know since that is the norm for me. However, Dan also doesn’t live at his office, or at least to my knowledge he doesn’t… I think/hope he still lives & pays rent at 1455 Kettner Blvd, since that’s what I’m counting on… and apparently they do let him go home at nights so he will get to it them shortly)

Four (finally, I know right? You’re wondering when this will end already!) I wanted to tell you about these awesome shoes I bought in Malaysia (and given that I have bought no fewer than SIX pairs of shoes this deployment… oops?... I have to delineate where I got them AND the story behind them).

These sandals are AWESOME. They are definitely different than anything that I would buy back in the States (my other 5 pairs of shoes were all flats. Right now as they’re reading this Dan/my father are thinking “FIVE other pairs of flats?! Molly, you can only wear one pair at a time!”). These sandals were procured at the Central Market in Kuala Lumpur. They were made by this little old lady and man out of “the official Malaysia wood” (which I promptly forgot what it was that made it so special/official). The old man (he is over SEVENTY and still making shoes EVERY DAY!) takes the wood from the trees and sands them down into this wedge/platform style. If I could best compare it to something back home, it would be like the shape of the sole of a Dansko clog. Some of them were higher than others, but I picked out a medium height wedge. After he sands them down, the old lady hand paints Malaysian flowers on the sole and the wedge part of the bottom of the shoe and stains/finishes the wood so that it is shiny. Then, they take this material known as “Batik” which is a very traditional and brightly printed cloth, with flowers, geometric designs, birds, etc etc. It runs a range of colors and styles, but it's basically a really pretty material that they use for skirts, sarongs, napkins, table clothes, whatever.

So after the painting of the wooden part, she takes a small piece of batik and drapes it over where you would logically place fabric to make a sandal. Then, she uses a big staple gun to staple the fabric to the shoe. Then she takes a hammer and nail and hammers the nails across the fabric to secure it to the shoe and then removes the unsightly staples.

This process was made much cooler by a few facts. One- these handmade right in front of you shoes will run you about $25. Which is more than I paid for some shoes this deployment, but I thought was pretty reasonable after watching the process of how they were made and how special they were. Two- the lady didn't have the 100% combination of what I wanted (the height of the sole, remember, I didn't want a really high one) with the brown/gold/tan printed batik cover. Also, your average women's foot is much wider than mind, so I could tell by trying on a few pairs that my foot was going to slide around and thus it would not be a good purchase. So, she lets me pick the exact size and height sole and the Batik print that I wanted and then fit the fabric directly to my foot. Three- she was about to use these brown-ish nails when I saw that some of the sandals had gold colored nails, which I thought matched this fabric more. So, since she was already going to go through the whole staple and nail process for me, I thought I'd ask if I could have the pretty nails instead. No, no, no, she explained to me, those nails make the shoes more expensive, this price does not include these nails. Remembering back to my childhood with my economist parents who I think at one point explained that in capitalism, everything can be had for a certain cost (or was it everything can be had at a certain price? shoot, i forget. that's why I'm in the Navy and not an economist...) Anyways. So I ask the lady "can I pay a few extra dollars (or ringits or dinars or dirans or bat or whatever ridiculous monopoly money currency were were in at this point in the deployment) for the gold nails?". She immediately picks up on this idea and says that yes, for $2, I can have pretty nails. Given that we're already spending the time and effort to make these specially for me, I figured an extra $2 for the prettier and less-unsightly nails was a good idea).

So here is the final product- my less than $30 hand picked, hand painted, hand made, made to order like a Sheetz sandwich batik covered flowered wooden Malaysian wooden clog/sandal. Ta-Da! And of course, what else to show off next to my shoes, but a can of Coke Light (I have NO idea why I took a picture of these shoes next to a Coke Light can, but in light of the blog from a few days ago, it is interesting to note that as you move into South East Asia, they have apparently figured out how to master the non-removeable soda can tab, as evidenced here).

And a side note, as she was hammering away at my shoes, I look across the market and see a girl in a similar pair of shoes and I asked the little old lady "are those your shoes too?" and she looks up at the shoes and after studying them for a minute says with enormous disgust "those are commerical, not hand-made, fake" and I immediately felt EVEN better about my purchase.

Whew. Ok. That is done. That's all I've got. Back to work for a little bit and then good night. I'm sure in another 24 hours I'll come with more logically unrelated things to say.

"Ma'am" the Torpedoes?

No, not damn the torpedoes and yes, ADM Farragut, you read that right.

And if you read this article, you'll learn about some awesome, incredible, sweeping changes taking the US Navy by storm.

With the graduation of the US Naval Academy's Class of 2010, as soon as NEXT spring, the US Navy Submarine force, the all-male force since its conception, is going co-ed.

Wow- what an incredible idea! 14 years after women were allowed by Congress to serve on combatants (read: Warships and fighter aircraft), the submarine force will allow Academy women to go straight to Nuclear Power School to be the first women to serve onboard a submarine.

Despite all of the issues and debate and drama behind it- (and there are a lot! cost, integrating the crew, what do you do about fraternization, how do you alter berthing/bathrooms for women, blah blah blah)...

Whatever your opinion is (and for the record mine is: this is great but I personally would not like to be a submariner), this is an awesome time in our Navy's history. In the mid-1990's it was incomprehensible that I would be sitting here right now, doing the job that I am (ok, not blogging, but my ACTUAL job). All those grumpy old retired salty Sailors saying women could NEVER be on warships and could NEVER drive ships and could NEVER be leaders in the Surfare Community... All the same naysaying arguements were prevalent and here we are, doing the exact same job as the boys (and frankly, in my opinion, doing it better :)

What do you think?

This or That?

Today I had a “whoa!” moment. And I’m not talking about when I was running at a 7.0 on the treadmill and the ship took a little roll and I grabbed onto the bar and went “whoa” so I didn’t fall off. No, not that kind of whoa.

Today I merrily skipped to the vending machine to have my allotted one a day Coke Light (no, the Navy isn’t rationing our C.L. allocation, but rather I am limiting myself to one a day to keep up my health- with it being so cold I need plenty of tea and water to keep me healthy and plenty of water to keep me hydrated for my daily treadmill sessions and definitely don’t need too much caffeine- in fact, I need something to calm my excitement so I sleep more soundly through the night. Channel fever 26 days out? Oh dear- it’s gonna be a long month!)

So, anyways, there I was, in the Zulu module, where we stand watch when I absent-mindedly crack open a nice cold artificially sweetened diet soda. KPPPPYSSHHHH. (that’s the sound of me cracking open a cold one) when I stop in my tracks and think to myself “that didn’t sound right…”

I looked down and noticed what I had in my hand was not a Middle Eastern born and bred Coke Light, splashed with un-readable Arabic, with its environmentally UN-friendly removable tab (seriously? Who thought of that? How inconvenient!). What I had in my hand rather, was a good ole American, Capitalist produced, and red, white, and blue as the colors we fly on the NIMITZ, Diet Coke. With a non-removable, more environmentally friendly (what do you do with that tab? Who is within a trash can range when opening a soda? What do you do with that tab? Put it in your pocket? Throw it on the floor? Try not to cut yourself with it? Hello- this is 2010! Get with the trend, Middle Eastern Coke Producer!) tab. A KPPPYYYYSSSHHH sound producing Diet Coke.

Now, if you know me, you know I LOVEEEEEEE Coke Light. I love it as much as I love a cold glass of 1% milk with breakfast or a skinny vanilla latte when it’s cold outside (not that I know what that’s like anymore) or a crisp glass of Sauvignon Blanc on a warm day. One of my favorite things about traveling abroad (aside from the food), is the plentiful abundance of Coke Light. I love Coke Light like all good Americans love baseball and apple pie (neither of which I am really a fan of, but I’m still a good American, I swear). But today in the Zulu module, being only 26 (I think it’s actually now 25 days, given that it’s past 3:30 in the morning--- clearly I shouldn’t have had that Diet Coke!!!) days from home, that Diet Coke, was the most glorious taste and sight I think I’ve ever seen or tasted. It tasty of home sweet home and America and capitalism and freedom and 3G access for all and all of the other little idiosyncrasies that you never really realize are so important to you or that you would ever miss until you completely pick up and exit American society for 6 months at a time.

And with that, I think it’s time that I hit the hay. I know that was totally pointless and rambling but I couldn’t help but share. Also note, the Diet Coke photo illustrates a proper can opener tab. I can’t find any picture of the other kind, but I think you know what I’m talking about.

Counting Down… again

Hi Everyone! Not much time to write as I have to run to a staff meeting in about 15 minutes but I just wanted to say a quick “hello!”

Well, here we are, the first day of MARCH! Yes, you read that right- MARCH. In like a lion, out like a lamb, right? That means I can officially say “I’m coming home THIS MONTH!” Ahhhh!

As you can tell, I’m pretty freaking excited! Yesterday marked 3 weeks until I see the three M’s! We have a great day and a half planned for Seattle. I am excited to try a little crumpet shop in Pike’s Peak or Pike’s Place or whatever that market area is in Seattle. I’m not 100% sure what a crumpet is, but it has a pretty positive connotation in my mind- something flaky and fresh and doughy full of good-to-eat things. Which is awesome, in my book.

I also cannot WAIT to have a latte with REAL steamed milk. Oh, and milk. I haven’t had milk in over 5 months! (other than in one Starbuck’s latte in Dubai). And I think Seattle is a GREAT place to be re-introduced to American coffee- yum!

Wow- I literally can hardly contain my excitement. Our conversations and emails from home have slowly started migrating from “what did you do today, what are you doing tomorrow?” to “Oh my gosh I can’t wait to see you, it’s so soon, what are we going to do? Where are we going to go? Ahhhh!”. I was just thinking last night back to October, when I was living on ABOT. Where it was hot, and unfamiliar, and lonely. We were on SUCH a wedding/honeymoon high, but depressingly, we weren’t on that high together. It was so bittersweet to be able to look back at memories and pictures and so much happiness, but being so incredibly lonely because we weren’t together, and had just embarked on a very, very long time apart.

And I’m not saying that it’s gone by fast. Looking back at October, it’s like it was years ago. The wedding seems ages and ages ago. I literally feel like I have been all over the world and met a hundred new people and experienced a million new things. It’s been one heck of a roller coaster ride. But now that it’s almost over, I can’t believe 5 months are already behind us.

The winter Olympics are over, the snow is melting back on the East Coast and (I think/hope that) it has stopped raining in San Diego. We’re making our post-deployment plans, making our lists, checking them twice. It’s so great that March is finally here and the seemingly endless months? Well, 5 of them are behind us, and only 26 days to go!

Nicole and I are diligently counting down, we are cutting off one of our paper chain links every day and the chain that used to do a double loop is now almost to a single loop- we can actually see the chain diminishing, right before our eyes.

Like I said, you can tell that I’m excited. Alright, well off to our staff meeting and a workout and watch but I will try and think of something of actual interest to write about.