Friday, July 1, 2011

~* July?!?! *~

Holy crap, it's July. As I get older, time seems to make less and less sense. For example, I can't believe it's July already, but I feel like I've been living in Fayetteville a lot longer than 3 months. I don't get it.

I've been smoke-free now for 3 whole weeks (yay me!), and some days I wonder how. Believe me, I've had more than a couple of situations in the past 3 weeks that definitely called for a foot-long cigarette. I haven't mentioned a whole lot of them because, believe it or not, I really don't like to complain. My job has been a big stressor, and every now and again there is a situation at home, but I'm most proud of myself for not smoking when I drink. Now, I don't drink NEARLY as much as I used to, but drinking and smoking have just always gone together for me. Like peanut butter and jelly. I put myself to the test a week ago today.

Last Friday night, Mr. M and I went to Lucky's, a little Irish bar right down the road from the apartment. It's a pretty regular Friday night spot for us and a bunch of the guys he works with. It's not super-close to post, so I don't understand the mass appeal, but I love the convenience. And it's NEVER super-crowded, which is always a plus for me. I tend to get uneasy in big crowds. Anyway, there were a lot of us hanging out last week- more than usual- and we were all having a really great time. And I didn't so much as take a drag off of a bummed cigarette. Mr. M and I left probably around 11:30pm, because I had to be at work the next morning at 8:30am.

Turned out to be a blessing in disguise that I had to be at work early. Two of our friends that we had been hanging out with that night got shot in the parking lot of the bar at closing time. From my understanding, there was some macho pushing and shoving and shit-talking....and people got shot. One of them was a very good friend of Mr. M, a really sweet guy with a pregnant wife. Luckily, he only got shot in the leg, through and through, and he was sent home pretty quickly. The other guy was someone I had just met that night, and we shared pitchers of beer for a while. He seemed like a typical alpha-dog douchebag, but he still didn't deserve to get shot. He got hit in the stomach, and the bullet nicked his intestines, colon, and pancreas, and exited out his lower back. He is still in the hospital, but expected to recover.

Now, you may be wondering why I'm posting this when I intended this blog to be about my experiences as a military wife. I have a few reasons- 1) I lived in Baltimore for 8 years, and never knew anyone who had gotten shot - 2) These boys are friends of Mr. M- and 3) THESE BOYS ARE SOLDIERS. These boys fought for your fucking right to bear arms, and you choose to use that right against them??? Are you fucking kidding me??? They survive getting shot at every day for a year in hostile territory, just to come home to the same thing??? Excuse all the language, but I am disgusted. I don't even know what else to say- just wanted to share all that.

And I still haven't touched a cigarette =)

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

~* Better Late Than Never, Right? *~

Wow, I just realized that I've never really introduced myself. No wonder nobody ever reads this =) So, being a little worse than fashionably late- please allow me to apologize, and introduce myself old-school myspace style. Enjoy!

Name: Jen
Age: 28 (which is ancient in an Army town, with a younger lower-enlisted soldier hubby)
Gender: if you haven't figured that out, please stop reading now
Status: happily married to Mr. M, age 23
Hometown: born in Newark, DE, but I call Baltimore "home" since I spent my adult life there
Current town: Fayetteville, NC
Job: server/bartender
Parents still together?: Not since I was about 5
Siblings: brother and sister, 1 younger of each. 4 older half-brothers.
Pets: chihuahua named Gus
Smoker?: Not anymore!! 2 1/2 weeks smoke free!!
Drinker?: yes, but not as much as I used to. Learned my lesson the hard way.
Hair: blonde-ish red-ish
Eyes: blue/gray/green depending on the day
Height: 5'4" on my good days
Vision: still lousy with contacts
Freckles: tons
Shoe Size: 6, or a 4 in kids
Piercings: nose and ears. I've had tons more, but they just didn't work out
Tattoos: 10 (for now)
Best Feature: eyes
Worst Feature: skin - I still break out like a teen hitting puberty
Look more like Mom or Dad?: maybe both, maybe neither. I can't tell.
Favorite Color: silver
Favorite Number: 3
Favorite Animal: baby giraffes
Favorite Flower: hibiscus
Favorite Food: anything seafood, especially steamed crabs
Favorite Ice Cream: soft-serve chocolate with butterscotch topping
Favorite Candy: Skor bars and Laffy Taffy
Favorite Alcoholic Drink: mostly beer. margaritas. lime rum and coke.
Favorite Non-: good ol' H2O
Favorite Musical Genre: depends on the day. I like it all.
Favorite Book: Farenheit 451
Favorite Movie: Wizard of Oz
Favorite TV show: Jeopardy
Favorite Season: summer
Favorite Holiday: Christmas
Favorite Sport: Football
Can you drive?: technically, yes. legally, no. DUI last year- haven't had the money to pay the fines yet.
Can you speak another language?: Sarcasm counts, right? I'm fluent.
Did you do well in school?: yes, very
Do you collect anything?: not intentionally
Do you have any obsessions?: life
Do you have any regrets?: not exactly, but there are a few things I would change if I could
Do you ever smile for no reason?: all the time
Do you support gay marriage?: 100%
Do you trust easily?: strangely, yes
Do you forgive easily?: that depends on the person
Do you get along with your parents?: for the most part
How do you vent your anger?: in my blog =)
What are your fears?: birds, drowning, going blind, fire
What are your goals?: get my license back, travel a bit, be a good wife, be a good person in general, get        back to school, take a vacation....
What are your weaknesses?: I'm easily distracted, I tend to only see the good in people, I'm a dreamer
What are your strengths?: I'm a dreamer, an optimist, and I stand by my beliefs
What do you wanna be when you grow up?: a kid again
Are you:
a daydreamer?: absolutely
shy?: not at all
talkative?: if I have something to say
energetic?: somedays
happy?: yes, more than most people
depressed?: no
funny?: some people think so
boring?: possibly
mean?: no
nice?: I try to be
caring?: yes
trustworthy?: yes
confident?: incredibly
friendly?: I think so
smart?: not as smart as I used to be, but yeah
sarcastic?: oh yeah
dependable?: definitely
mature?: when I need to be
religious?: not so much
logical?: only when it's necessary
outgoing?: yeah
daring?: sometimes
lazy?: no, not at all
optimistic?: oh yeah
persuasive?: I could sell ice to an eskimo
curious?: about everything!
artistic?: well, I'm creative...artistic implies some level of talent
respectful?: very
hot-headed?: nope
romantic?: not as much as I wish I was
ambitious?: yes, but my ambitions change daily
jealous?: nope

Monday, June 27, 2011

~* Couples Who Sweat Together...*~

We've both been working out lately, but he does it during his lunch break, and I do it at home before work. Yesterday, we finally got to go to one of the gyms on post together. I gotta admit, the first one he took me to intimidated the hell out of me. It was one level, all the equipment was squished together, and there was only one other female. I know that's the one Mr. M really wanted to go to because it has a protein bar in it, but I just couldn't picture being comfortable there. So he took me to another one, which turned out to be much better. It has an upper level just for cardio, the machines on the lower level are more spread out so you don't feel like someone is right on top of you, and it wasn't too crowded.

We spent about an hour and a half at the gym. I spent an hour doing cardio upstairs, listening to some reggae while pedaling thru a hellish program on the bike. Mr. M laughed at me listening to reggae while working out, but I love it. I hate cardio with a passion, and reggae helps me relax and get thru it with a smile on my face. After that, he came up to get me and show me how some of the machines work, which was helpful. If you've never spent an abundance of time in the gym, it can be kind of scary.

We didn't spend a lot of time "together" at the gym, but we've both been so stressed lately that I think it definitely helped to just be able to say "Hey, I know we're both freaking out right now, so let's go distract ourselves for a while". When we got home, we just curled up and watched a movie for a while, which was nice, too. I hope he has some luck trying to figure out this BAH situation today. If not, I don't know how we're gonna pay rent on Friday. We've used all my money just trying to make it thru this month. So, fingers crossed...
" Don't place your better days in the future."