At Home with Heather

(Ok, B and Renee don't kill me for posting this blog...y'all should post a blog too, b/c way more people read your blogs than mine!!!! =)

Well, my dear friend Renee had a milestone birthday this year-30! Renee is just as fun and young and fresh as ever though and 30 is nothing but a silly number... So her great sister, B decided that it was fitting to take her to a spa for some pampering.

I took her for a pedicure the day before her birthday and that was amazing. We were all really looking forward to the spa as well. B came in from Alabama, just for the occasion (oh and a wedding, but ya know...=)

We went to Panera Bread for "brunch" first and had a splendid time chatting and laughing.

And then to the spa we went....

When we got there we had to fill out a bit of "odd" paperwork, but soon we were sitting in the "relaxation room" sipping on sparkling white grape juice and eating yummy treats (such as an amazing pound cake) while chatting away, the way women do when they are all together and having fun.

After "relaxing" for a bit we changed into soft, fluffy, white robes. Ohhh....ahhhh... =)
And our spa journey continued with facials and massages. I had never had either, so it was a very fun experience for me.

Details will be had perhaps by Renee's blog...I want to leave something fun for her to write about too. =)

I personally throughly enjoyed the day off. It doesn't happen often for me, so I was thankful! I felt the people at the spa did a great job making it an experience. I definitly cuold get used to massages and facials on a regular basis, but everyone knows I am trying to swing back to my "hippy days" so it may be a bit before I do this again!

So, YEAH for me for not writing for 500 years!!!! What can I say??? My life has been SUPER busy since Jan working three jobs. I have enjoyed my time being a workaholic, but the time has come for me to say goodbye to at least one job for now. I am quitting my job at the mall. this decision came about for various reasons, one top one being I just can't work 75 hours a week anymore, seven days a week with no brake!!! =p It really was fun, but I have realized I have neglected other important things in the quest to "make more money." Like going to church and organizing my house, grocery shopping, training for a marathon. Needless to say I am super excited to have a little bit more time to myself to relax and reflect.

I am thoroughly enjoying my nanny job, with the two cutest little boys ever (besides all the boys of all the people who read this blog... =) Spending time with Grant (the 5 year old) in the afternoon is glorious. I love the way the world looks through the eyes of a 5 year old. Grant is as boy as they come and he always asks about Sam b/c he is in the Army. And Grant wants to be in the Army too, someday so he can "shoot bad guys and drive a big truck." The other day he said, out of the blue, "did your husband find you or did you find your husband?" How totally cute is that??? So, I adore that job and plan on staying there for a while.

In other parts of my life, I was able to run the half marathon-whoohoo!!! And now I am hopefully going to start training for the Chicago marathon in October.

Sam has come and gone. We had the best two weeks ever! I am really looking forward to him being home for good in August, so we can get into a routine of normal living and the like.

In the meantime his shift at the airport has changed so we can talk on the webcam and skype almost every night for 4 or 5 hours. it's really, really nice and I am so thankful that we have had such great circumstances. I am also so thankful that our marriage has actually grown stronger through all this and we will be able to leap ahead when he comes home.

Hopefully, I will keep up with the updates more often now..........no guarantees though!!! ;)

So I am finally deciding to write another blog. It has been a significant "hot 5" since I have written because like my brother-in-law, David I was taking a "moment of silence" for a fellow blogger.

So this is what has been happening in my life. I have taken on a third job as a nanny. For now I am temping for a family with two boys and trying to decide if I am going to take the job. The kids are really good, but it is a 30 minute drive up to the Ballentyne area of Charlotte and the hours are 8-5, 5 days a week. So, in due time I will have to make a decision about whether or not I am going to stay with this family. I am still working at the mall and waiting tables on the side as well. I have actually become a work-a-holic, and I enjoy the rush of being stressed and hardly having time to eat between jobs. Ha! No, really I actually like it. Who would have thought I would WANT to work 24/7??? Honestly, it helps the days blur together and a teensy bit more bearable for me to wait for Sam's arrival home (47 more days). The countdown has started and it can not come soon enough. These 4 and a half months have been a bitter-sweet eternity. It seems these last 7 or so weeks are going to be torture waiting until March when Sam will FINALLY arrive home.

Having friends and family to distract me has been wonderful too. I took a great trip to Arizona to see my rad bro-in-law, David and had a blast with him. And then my adoptive "in-laws" came to visit this weekend and it was so fun to spend time with them and hang out. I enjoyed the chill time and deep conversations. The support Sam and I have received has really been overwhelming and we are forever grateful to all the amazing people out there that have encouraged and prayed for us through this deployment.

Ok, next update. I am steadily back in training for the half-marathon. I am really excited about it and get a great rush thinking about it when I am running on the treadmill at the gym. I am so excited to reach this goal in my life.

That's a pretty good summary of what has been going on, on this half of the Heather/Sam duo.
I hope all is well with everyone else in the blog-a-sphere!

Ok, I can tell this story, now that I have told Sam. So the other day while I was driving home from grocery shopping I got pulled over. About 8 months ago, Sam got pulled over at almost the same spot. I should have known, it is a speed trap. The speed limit changes from 45 to 35. So I get clocked going 50. I see the blue lights and the cop motions me to pull into the nearest open parking lot. So, I pull over. He asked for license and registration. I hand them to him. He then tells me to get out of my car and sit in the passenger seat of his car while he writes me a ticket. A bit odd, per say??? I don't quite understand why that happened. He was chatting it up as he wrote me the ticket. I answered his questions politely because he is authority, but I did not "chat it up." I felt very uncomfortable the whole time. I find it odd because they have cameras outside of their vehicles, so if he thought I was going to run, (which come on, do I look like the type that would run???) he would have no worries, he has all my info right there-in his camera...anyway, I thought this was odd. Is this standard procedure??? I am confident I could have gotten out of the ticket, but I didn't really feel comfortable trying to talk my way out of it.

Has this ever happened to anyone else??? Maybe you all are exceptional drivers that never speed. Anyway, I thought this was odd and I was wondering if anyone knows of this happening before....

Well it has officially been over 5 months that Sam has not lived at home. First, that seems crazy to me. Next, people have told me from the beginning that it would get easier. They were wrong.
Each day carries new challenges. Whether it's trying to fix a crazy problem, I know nothing about, or not hearing from Sam for several days.
Recently, it has been a bit difficult because we have not been able to communicate as much as I would like. It's hard not hearing from Sam because our entire relationship is communication. They have him running around like a chicken with his head cut off, I have been working a lot and we have to deal with an 8 hour time difference, so it is really no one's fault, but it is difficult none-the-less.
I can't tell you how many people tell me we have the ideal relationship. "He pays the bills, but you never have to see him." I am always insulted when people say they wish they were in my situation. It really is sad to me, that people do not put enough effort into their marriages to make their relationship work and happy.
I know that both Sam and I have been through our own battles in the time we have been a part. I feel that is has gone smoothly for the most part. But missing him is missing him, it doesn't get easier or less painful with time, I promise. I know we have both learned a lot, especially me it seems, and somehow I know that all this is suppose to happen, but I will be happy when it ends.

Honestly, sometimes I get so jealous of couples who have not had to spend significant time a part. It seems so unfair sometimes, but it's in those times when you feel like you can't control a situation that you really have to trust God.

Every relationship I have had in my life has been, or turned into a long-distance relationship. It's almost like God was preparing me all these years to endure the pain of being a part from the person I would love the most, my husband.

The thing that has made this bearable is A. Sam's constant effort at connecting with me in emails or cards or phone calls. And B. having people that care about us and make an effort to connect as well.

I am so thankful and lucky to have so many loving people around me in this time. Sam doesn't really have that. So please keep him and us in your prayers. Really if we didn't have God to depend on I'm not sure how we would make it through this.

All this to say, thank you all for being there for us and also never take advantage of the fact that you have your loved ones near. Give the people you love an extra hug today or a "thanks for being so great." Having people you love around you is the best gift ever.

On Monday night I went over to my in-laws house to help decorate the Christmas tree. I was really excited about it, because honestly it has been YEARS since I have decorated a tree. Ever since my mom passed away, Christmas has been kinda hard for my family. She always made Christmas amazing and it was hard to be motivated to take her shoes in the Christmas cheer. For years I have looked forward to being married and having a family of my own to start Christmas traditions with. The Chapins got a beautiful tree and all of us girls had a GREAT time decorating it. After the tree was decorated Rachel and I went on a "hot chocolate run" because you have to drink hot chocolate and listen to Christmas music while decorating a tree. =) We also started to get motivated to make cookies, but we didn't quite make it because it had gotten so late. I had many other pictures I wanted to post, but they were either blurry or the lighting was wrong. I can't say I am talented like BA AT ALL when it comes to photos!!!!!
I have a small tree I am going to decorate so look for that post too!
I can't WAIT to have Sam home to do Christmas together, but I am happy and thankful for the friends and family around me that have made this time a part from him so much easier. Thanks and love to all! =)

This year Thanksgiving took place at "our" house. Minus a few members of the family, my dear other half, Sam, my brother Sean and my brother in law-Eric, they had to work. =(
So it was just me, my sister-Katie, my brother-Brandon, my nephew-Adien and my dad. We still had fun even though so many people were missing from our family.
Sam bought me a new camera so we took lots of pics, but the lighting didn't really turn out on a lot of them. And there is also a pic of our semi-Thanksgiving dinner-the table wasn't totally set. We did have the traditional Thanksgiving meal though-minus the cranberry sauce. For some reason we never did cranberry sauce in our family. =) And I have to admit-my dad did most of the cooking.

I am really looking forward to next year when Sam will be home for the holidays. Believe me I would have never thought at Thanksgiving last year that I would be married to the love of my life, but he would be away at war! It's really crazy when I start thinking about it.

It was fun to have Thanksgiving at our house for the first time, but I am really looking forward to next year when the whole crew will be present and I will be able to spend Thanksgiving for the first time with my husband.