A look into the past couple years of our hectic, crazy lives!

I'm a complainer. I complain about everything. I always have been. I want to make it clear that I really do love Little Rock. I've enjoyed my time here better than anywhere since we left Georgia a little less than 2 years ago.

I can't believe it hasn't been 2 years since we left Valdosta!!! These past months have been a whirlwind. Seriously. Except for you other military wives who have just done the same thing, you can't imagine what it's like to just pick up and move. We moved from Valdosta, our home. We loved Valdosta, everything about it. I'd love to move back there someday. We had incredible friends, and the opportunities were endless it seemed like. George was there 2 years before I was but my 3 there were amazing and I made some great memories. (Let's not forget this was also my college experience so, bonus points for Val-Deezy)

Then we packed up and headed out West to the great state of Oklahoma, "where the wind (seriously) comes sweeping down the plains." I don't have any attractive pictures of me outside in Oklahoma because of the wind! Ha! Here's one!


Here's one of Cheyenne trying to escape a doggie fence when she got locked up at a neighbor's house. Hahaha.


And here comes the complaint: The Brown Recluse Spiders. Exhibit A:

This one was found on our back patio. I frantically screamed for George to come get him because it was the biggest spider I had ever seen in my life. (That was not a pet tarantula... and actually... I've never seen one of those!) George didn't believe me, but when he saw him he did. As he approaches with a can of spray, George loses him, LOSES him! He gets a flashlight, guess how he finally sees him? The reflection from his eyes! Seriously.

Another embarrassing thing that happened was when my sister Alison came to visit for my birthday (a SURPRISE visit, mind you) and we were going to get the camping chairs out and a mouse, yes, MOUSE fell out of the bag the chair was stored in. Yuck. Lucky for you, there are no pictures of this.

Fast Forward a few months from July 2008- March 2009 when we moved to Corpus Christi, Texas.

I got an amazing opportunity to work at the CDC there on the base, we got to live at the beach and we got to spend a lot of time with our friends and neighbors Keith and Ashley (who are getting married in less than 2 weeks). We also had visitors! My parents, Uncle Scott and my 85 year old Grandma made the drive (yes, drive) out to Corpus Christi, Texas. We got to explore, rent a boat, eat at local restaurants and spend good quality time with them for the 4th of July. I love when we have visitors! Here is a picture of our visitors!!!


And here is Cheyenne feeling patriotic for Independence Day!


We got a second set of visitors when George got his wings! My sister came to visit (she is the only one who made it to both places we lived) along with her boyfriend Brent, and both George's mom and dad made the trips from Wisconsin and Georgia. Here they all are!


We also had creepy-crawly visitors in Corpus Christi. We had 3 snakes (yes, Snakes!) 1 giant one my mom and I saw, we still aren't sure what kind it was but it was brown and tan and scary. Then George and I saw a little garden snake, and then the mac-daddy snake we saw was a Texas King Coral snake. Yes, very poisonous. Here is that one all chopped up (what? he was poisonous).


So even though the weather was 100 degrees all summer and it only rained 3 times the entire time we lived there, and the mosquitoes the day we moved out were unbearable (literally), and we didn't get our orders in time and had to move out of our home into a hotel, we still enjoyed Corpus. (Well... kind of.) We enjoyed the restaurants (Docs, Padre Pizza, Stinger's coffee), our friends we made there (way too many to name) and the time we got to spend with each other.

So from March-September we were in Texas and from September-May we are here in Little Rock.

Little Rock has been my favorite place yet. We are TDY enroute to Japan so all of our possessions were packed up in Corpus. We have 600lbs of stuff with us. Nightmare. We are more than thankful that Kyle and Lauren took us in. We've lived with roommates. Not only Kyle and Lauren but our friend Chris also (the three of them are the original class 09-13 from Vance, in Enid) so they're lifelong friends that have had the same experiences as us. And toss Chris' girlfriend Beth into the mix, we've had a great time living together. We've had our moments as anyone would in any roommate situation but overall this has been an adventure and such a positive experience.

Chris and Beth are packing as I type and are moving out in the morning, and it really feels like our time in Little Rock is coming to an end. Again, I'll say... how on Earth has the time flown by?! We are also going to a going-away party for our friends Katie (yoga instructor) and Logan who we will miss dearly as they move to New Mexico and then onto the United Kingdom!

Katie and Logan: Halloween 2009.

As roommates we've nicknamed ourselves "Team North Ridge" Here are a few pictures of us as Team NR!





I think the whole point of me writing this blog was to point out that it's 100% what you make of a situation. Even though I have been told all 3 places we've lived in the past 2 years, "Oh Enid? That sucks." "Oh, Corpus Christi? It's really hot there, it's gonna suck." And "Little Rock Arkansas? Why? That's sucks." Well you know what? I've got to spend the first two years of my marriage with a a wonderful husband traveling the US and making tons of friends and learning a lot about each other, and myself. So there. It's been an amazing journey so far. And I can't imagine the new heights Japan is going to take us to.

Happy Friday!

Chelsea

Morning Routine Sucks.

I hate everything about showering. I mostly hate the routine that follows. You have to dry off, get dressed, towel dry your hair, blow dry your hair, straighten/brush hair; not to mention the moisturizer, make-up etc. Maybe this is why I spend at least 50% of my days in a pony-tail with nothing but moisturizer on. I'm sitting here on the couch now with wet hair, no make-up and I have to leave for work in 20 minutes, and I'm blogging about it. :) I hope you all were more motivated than I was this morning!

Oh- on another note, I did get my application in for the job I want in Japan yesterday, cross your fingers I'll at least hear something back. And not to mention that I got a packet from our sponsor's in Japan with subway maps, maps of the city, a Japanese language guide etc. It was super overwhelming. :)

Have a great day!
Chelsea

Freshman 15 and St. Patricks Day!

I used to be really really skinny. Seriously. No lies. I was one of those kids that was as thin as a stick and couldn't gain weight if I tried. This continued all through high school. I even had my 12th grade Aerobics teacher tell me I needed to gain weight and seek counseling for my weight issues. I never had an eating disorder. I was just skinny, and weighed just 95lbs the day I graduated high school.

Man- do I miss that. :)

"What happened?" you may ask... well- guess what? The freshman 15 you hear about... NOT a joke. It's real. And it's scary and vicious. I don't know what the deal is, or why it happens... but it does. I'd like to read a study on it. I'm sure someone has done one.

Here are my theories as to why I gained over 20 lbs during my freshman year of college (Yep, TWENTY... not fifteen.)
A. Meal plans... I almost felt like it was money wasted if I didn't eat the 3 meals a day offered on my meal plan.
B. Dorm room fridge(aka, Pizza Roll central) There isn't a lot of healthy snacks that I could have eaten, so I my diet consisted of Pizza Rolls. Delicious, but not healthy.
C. No physical activity (aka, I'm lazy)... Our school offered an awesome PE/health complex but it was probably a full miles walk (or more) away, and it was half a mile to the parking lot to get into my car to be able to drive to the gym. Ha. So... besides the fact that I did a LOT of walking to/from class I also spent a lot of time doing other things besides working out.
D. I dated a guy who was overweight and followed his habits... (mistake).

Those are the main reasons/excuses. I don't know exactly what happened but I know that when I came home that summer I was over 120lbs... That is a HUGE jump in a year for someone who had such a tiny frame.

Since then I have fluctuated in my weight, but still haven't gotten under that 120 since before I went away to school. And that's okay. I have finally (5ish years later) accepted that I will probably never again be a size ZERO. I don't think I should ever be a size ZERO. I have boobs now (well... kinda...) and that's exciting. I am okay with my weight. I do not love it, and would love to break that 120 soon, I'm working on it. Yoga has been a great motivation for me to at least get to the gym and now that the sun is out and it's almost Spring I may try this whole running on a track idea. I really hate treadmills. Like... HATE them. I ran on the track yesterday, threw on my Pandora radio on my Palm Pre (which I love) and I ran 6 laps!

Ok, maybe I didn't RUN 6 laps, (which is 1.5 miles, thank you very much) but I tried! Lap one, I ran all the way around the track. Then I dry-heaved and almost threw up while I walked lap 2. Lap 3 I ran the last half of it, walked lap 4, ran all the way around again on lap 5 and ran half of lap 6. I think that is pretty dang good considering I don't really run. So. Today I am going back to the track, and I hope to run at least 3.5 of the laps. Three cheers for me!

And here is a little shout out to the wonderful readers I had lunch with today that said they enjoy my blog. It made me smile. Who doesn't love compliments? Thanks Kathy, Caitlin and Lauren! I like reading all of yours too!!!

Oh. And today is St. Patrick's day which I love! My favorite St. Patty's day memory is from the 1st grade. My teacher was Mrs. Hoek and she was awesome! Anyway... on that day while we were outside on the playground a Leprechaun, (yep... a leprechaun) came in and destroyed our classroom! He tipped over chairs, threw books all over the room, and drew a picture on the teacher's big paper (remember the big paper all the teachers had and would make lists and such on... yep) Anyway, there was a picture of a Leprechaun with his tongue sticking out drawn on whatever important list we had made that morning! And the best part was there was a trail of gold glitter that led to the window! Mrs. Hoek was awesome.

I also remember going home that night and my mom had the house all clean and I took clothes and threw them everywhere then told my mom "The Leprechaun" did it. She didn't believe me. :)

Happy St. Patty's day!

Chelsea

Oh... and I'm posting a picture of me on our Senior Trip to Disney World, I am super thin. Size zero pants, and note I have on a belt. Funny, right?

Dog Parks, Dentists, Damn Planes and Dumb Houses

When we lived in Valdosta, George and I would drive 2 hours to Jacksonville, Florida with Cheyenne, our friend Paul and his two dogs Sasha (big dumb boxer), and Jojo (fast little low-pitched yippy boston terrier). Well yesterday Cheyenne and I were invited to go to the dog park here in Jacksonville Arkansas! We went to today with our friends Jessica and Andy and their 6 month old baby, Morgan, and their boxer Bo.

Cheyenne and I pulled up to the dog park and kinda scoped out the area. There was a (possible) drug deal going down, so I parked on the other side of the parking lot. There is a lake (not for doggies to swim in though!), some ball fields and then two good sized fenced in areas for dogs. After the drug dealers/dealee's drove away Cheyenne and I got out and went to the fence. There were no other dogs there unfortunately! :( But soon Bo came along and Cheyenne had a friend to play with! But guess what? It took her a while to get up and actually play! Eventually they did run around for awhile, slobbered on each other, Bo did a few jumps over Cheyenne, they chased a ball, had some water, barked at each other and made Morgan laugh (which was adorable), got covered in mud then they were pooped. (No pun intended).

Another dog did come along with his mom and dad, a golden retriever, but Bo and Cheyenne were barking at the dog (playfully). So they decided to go into the other side of the fence, leaving our two very sad that the new doggie didn't want to play with them! Poor pups. :) Oh well- it was all well and good, they were kinda done anyways!

I got Cheyenne packed up and then got her home and marched her straight to the bath tub. She was filthy. Chunks of mud stuck on her and everything. I got her soaked, just enough that there was still mud on her, but she was wet so the mud was pretty saturated... then I turned my back for one second to grab the shampoo and Cheyenne went flying through the air! I caught her, and she started wiggling to get free from me! While she wiggled she managed to get mud on the door, more in the tub, all over me, the walls, floor and ceiling. I have pictures of the main area, but after I got her all clean I realized it was on the mirror, in the sink etc. Anyway, finally got her clean, she is laying in 'her room' (aka: crate) and she's sulking. I'm sulking too because that was a lot of mud to clean up!

Whew. What an afternoon.
AND I went to the dentist this morning. There are a few spots I need to keep an eye on, but overall- pretty good teeth. I do still grind my teeth (news to me 6 months ago) and this dentist recommended I wear a mouth guard at night... maybe I will. :-/

George was supposed to get his first real flight in the C-130 today but it didn't happen. These planes were built in the 1960's so his didn't make it off the ground today... maybe tomorrow! We're optimistic!

ALSO... update on the house hunting: I'm better with it, still don't love the idea but I'm okay with it if he takes care of it (although I realize it's inevitable that I'll be the one stuck dealing with it all...) so we put in an offer Friday, they let it expire, didn't even counter-offer so today George went and put in an offer for a bit higher. We'll see how it goes. If we do get this house we'll be repainting the whole house, putting in new carpet, blinds and airing it out from smokers... ::sigh::

Hope you all have a wonderful day, it was beautiful weather here today! Hooray for temperatures in the 70's and sunny skies. I can feel flip-flop weather right around the corner!

Chelsea

George tried to bribe me with fruit snacks and a new puppy. Seriously.

Ok, remember how I said that George was looking up houses to buy? It has gotten more serious than just looking. He's looked into loans, met with real estate agents, seen several homes and has done nothing but try to convince me it's a good idea to buy a house before we leave and rent it out. I just think it's so scary to think about other people taking care of something that we would own and would be responsible for! I am still very apprehensive but I did get talked into looking at a few properties he really likes and wants to show me... we're going in the morning to meet with the real estate agent. :-/ I'll let you know how it goes. He came into the living room the other night with a pack of fruit snacks. He says to me, "hey- want some?" I reply "of course!" His response... "and a puppy?" Me... "Yeah..." Him "Ok, well let me buy a house and I'll give you both." Bribery. That's what this has come to. I mean... a new puppy and fruit snacks? It ALMOST worked.

So I said about a week ago that I got Rosetta Stone from the library and I have it for 3 weeks right? Yep, just opened it tonight. Luckily I didn't uninstall it and was able to start where I left off... which was at Unit 1, Lesson 1. So I re-did it all, and was really surprised at how much I remember. I last had this in October, so I think that's pretty good I remembered all 12 words I learned! Right?! I learned, boy, girl, dog, cat, plane, car, man, woman, horse, elephant, and ball. Yep, in the Japanese language you have to learn Elephant before bathroom. Ha. I was expecting touristy words, but I guess that isn't exactly what Rosetta Stone is all about! It's about actually learning the language, not just about a weeks vacation to get by. After those initial 12 nouns it moves into verbs and I learned above, under, boat, table, inside, outside, fence, jump, run, walk, dance, read, chase, fall, water, fish, bull and bird. I'm in big trouble. It's SO complicated! What really throws me off is that they never say a phrase in English! So you learn solely from trial and error. It's difficult to explain, but it's nothing like learning Spanish! I keep waiting for these words to have something in common with the Spanish language, or heck- even English for that matter, but it really lacks a connection!!!

Why couldn't we have been stationed in SPAIN?! Oh yeah, because they closed that base in the '90s! I guess I'll tough it out. I've really been craving sushi since I started the lessons!

I finally wrote Fox News an E-mail about how awful the typos/spelling errors are on their website, and I feel better about it. I mean... how hard is it to send it to an editor before it is published... or at least hit the SPELL CHECK button! There are no excuses for releasing an article that says "tehy didn't like it." As opposed to "they"!
::Disclaimer:: I am SURE I have had a typo or two, and I'm sure it'll happen again, but I want to point out this is a blog, not a national news network. ::End Disclaimer::