happy holidays to all!

our Christmas tree and stockings!

take 1 for the Christmas card photo... Santa and his helper elf!
take 2 for the Christmas card photo... we have a winner!
Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas! from Santa Jack!

let it snow...

Well I'm currently down in NC, where the forecast for Christmas is 60 and sunny. But apparently, the north got hit by a blizzard? My dad sent me some pictures to show me the damage...

the back balcony @ 1 pm (roughly 12 inches)

the backyard and our 6 ft fence @ 5 pm (roughly 30 inches)

our trash can almost none existent @ 5 pm

Can't wait to head home in 2 days to all that! The boys will be in for quite the surprise!

xmas card sneak peek!

I took pictures of the dogs last night for our Christmas card. I'm not going to post the picture we'll be using, but here is a hysterical clue as to what it may look like :)

*update*

The supplies to make my programs/fans we ordered just came in, and we are now meeting with our DJ on Friday as well as the seamstress! Busy busy weekend, but soo excited!!

wedding planning galore!

I know it's been a while since my last post but things have been crazy! My car has broken down twice in one week, and I got a flat tire in the middle of those two breakdowns. It's running fine now so hopefully it'll stay that way for a while, or else I think triple A might cancel our membership! Pat's truck broke down the same time too so we were stranded in NC for a while.

I'm home now and taking advantage of that by doing lots of wedding planning! I have a meeting with a florist tomorrow, a seamstress Friday, and the caterer on Saturday! I'm also waiting to hear back from a DJ about when we can meet. Oh and Sunday two of my bridesmaids, Carly and Emily, went with me to J. Crew in DC to try on their dresses! It went very well and we decided on a color and all the styles! Also, the Save the Dates came in last week, and we all absolutely love them! I can't wait to finalize a guest list so we can send them out!

That's all that's going on with us for now. Pat's down in NC working hard, and I'm in MD planning things, I can't believe how fast things are coming up... it's already down to 241 days (or 34 and a half weeks). I feel like yesterday the countdown was in the 300s! Anyways, I don't have any pictures to post, but I will leave you with these funny pictures of Jack in his squirrel costume on Halloween! I know it's a little late (as we're getting ready for Christmas now...) but since my camera broke back in the summer, these were on my mom's camera and I just got motivated to put them on my computer! Isn't he so funny?! I love the little acorn!

arts & crafts night!

Last night I surprised Pat and went grocery shopping to cook him dinner (something I NEVER do since I don't know how to cook) and I stumbled across some stockings for sale. Even though we won't be around NC for the holidays, I still wanted to decorate! So I bought some stockings and paint and we made stockings for each other. I also made some for the boys. Here are some pics of the progress... and also... my new haircut (first one in almost 2 years)! It's not that much shorter but it is 1000 times healthier!

getting started...

our stockingsnot my best look the whole fam's Christmas stockings! trying to get all my hair in the pic

funny dogs!

With all the rain (about a foot) that we got from Tropical Storm Ida last week, our backyard has gotten pretty muddy... We got pretty sick of cleaning the white carpet really fast, so... We bought the boys booties for their paws! They do not like them very much but it is hysterical to watch them try and walk in them! Their first reactions were a lot better then these videos, but we were laughing too hard to hold the camera. They started to get used to them, but it's still pretty funny!

this one is of Jack and Winston getting ready to go out

(sorry it's sideways)...

and here's just a funny picture of Win with my slipper (one of their favorite chew toys) stuck on his nose

House Pictures!

Finally some pictures of the new house down in NC:

our little house :)

our mailbox
the living room
the kitchen
the dining room (and Jacko!)
tray ceiling!

37 weeks and change...

Thanks to a friendly suggestion I now have titles for my blogs for the next few months! Countdown to the wedding. According to my handy dandy Facebook countdown thingamajig it says we have 261 days to go. AKA just over 37 weeks. Scary that we'll be getting married in LESS time then Pat was deployed for...

Anyways, sorry for not posting for forever (to all 3 of you who read this hah) but we JUST got internet in the house here in New Bern. We got moved in really fast with a ton of help from Pat's marines. But the getting settled part is taking a lot longer. I have made countless trips up and down the East coast, and let me tell you how fun THAT is. We spend just about every night I'm here at Walmart, stocking up on things we just HAVE to have... But it's been good so far... pictures to come.

Tuesday was my birthday, and along with that comes the USMC birthday. And Pat's unit was nice enough to throw me a birthday ball! Just kidding... it was for the 2nd MAW, but I still got to get dressed up and dance with our friends... more pictures to come. Pat and I will be heading home this weekend to celebrate my 23rd with our families, and to discuss wedding plans...

And on the wedding front, we have ordered our save-the-date cards! And we (ok mostly me) are very excited about them! I wish they were delivered already, but it's only been like 3 days so I know that's a LITTLE unreasonable of me...

There's so much more but I won't bore you with any of it... I know I keep promising pictures but seriously, soon...

PS - we also just booked the BEST photographer! check her out: http://www.melissabarrickphotography.com/

...

I'm starting this blog without a title; now that Pat is home I don't have a week number to post, and I really have to think of something that sounds NOT boring!

I'm writing from the hotel again. Same hotel, different room. We checked out last Thursday and headed home. We spent some time with my family, and Pat surprised his mom at school. She had no idea he was in town and he walked into her classroom in the middle of one of her classes! She was so surprised, and her students loved it because it got them out of taking a test that day!

Our weekend in MD was filled with lots of visiting with family and friends, but it seems that there is never enough time. Sunday night quickly came, and we had to leave to come back down to NC. We didn't get in until about 3 in the morning today! Very exhausting.

We're back in the same hotel, one because they have a military discount (!) and two because we still have no house. We found one we like enough and we have an appointment to go see it tomorrow afternoon. It's a cute little house that allows dogs without a really high deposit. Plus, it has a big fenced in backyard with a really high fence. Makes me feel better knowing that the dogs will have somewhere safe to play. Hopefully all goes well, but that house still isn't available until Nov. 1st. So we'll be in the hotel until Wednesday, when we will head BACK up to MD for the weekend, then hopefully be able to bring the dogs down and move in next Sunday!

My parents will finally be rid of the dogs (thanks so much for all your help this past year!) but they won't be totally rid of me. I'll be back and forth between NC and MD to be with Pat and the boys, and then home to work and plan the wedding.

Wedding plans are coming along nicely. We're working on making appointments with a photographer for engagement photos (sorry we're so difficult Melissa!) and meeting with the caterer to try and get something together that works for everyone. Also, I think we've made the final decision on stationery for everything, and favors too! Now if I could only decide on colors... I've got an appointment for next month at J.Crew to check out what they've got and hopefully there will be progress on that front!

That's all for now, not terribly exciting, but thanks for reading anyways! Hopefully the next post will be from a house and not a hotel! Still waiting on getting some pictures together from Iraq... so check back next week!

Week 38

I counted on the calendar and Pat was actually gone 39 weeks, but I can't figure out where I skipped one. But my OCD won't let me post this as week 39 because it would be a constant reminder that something wasn't quite right. Anyways, it doesn't matter because he's home now! For good! He got in yesterday, I went to pick him up at base last night. I had all kinds of help from his marines and their families trying to get me one base. I was going to follow the wife of one of his marines on to the base, since I don't have a military ID, so I met her at her house. She was so nice and has the cutest little girl that had a t-shirt and signs for her daddy! I ended up just riding with another one of his marines that came home a little bit early with the advanced party.

We got there and we waited and waited. It ended up being about 2 hours before they finally were dropped off at headquarters from the flight line. And let me tell you, it was a COLD 2 hours. I think it was colder last night then it was the night I dropped him off in January 9 long months ago. Funny thing about that, he left on Sunday Jan 18, and came home on Sunday Oct 18. Exactly 39 weeks, to the day. Anyways... now the fun begins!

We still don't have anywhere to live. I'm currently writing from the hotel we're staying in while we look for housing. Pat's at the base right now for post-deployment stuff, so when he gets back we're going to go drive around and see what we can find! It shouldn't be hard, about every other house here is for sale or for rent, and there are new subdivisions popping up EVERYwhere!

That's all for now... I can't believe I don't have to count down anymore! 39 weeks down, 0 to go! Check back soon for some more of Pat's pictures from Iraq!

Week 37

Well this last month has gone by so fast and I can't believe Pat's getting all ready to come home! I'm so excited! We've already made plans for me to drive his truck to NC and pick him up on base when he gets there. Unfortunately the house we like best isn't available until after he's slotted to come home, and since I can't stay at the BOQ, we'll be staying in a hotel for a few days after he gets back. But that's ok. Jack and Winston will be staying here in MD with Mimi and Bepa until everything gets settled.

Wedding things have fallen into place so well I was actually kind of bored this week. My mom and I met with a prospective caterer that we all seem to think is the best option. So check that one off the list. Next up, flowers, dj's, and seamstresses for alterations. Any suggestions?!

That's all for now... 37 whole weeks down and now just days to go!

Week 36

We are busy busy busy! This week we booked the venue! So it's official, we will be getting married at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (pictures in last week's post). We're all very excited! We got the last Saturday of the summer, thanks to a friend who changed her date to October. It's only a week earlier then when we were planning anyway. So everything worked out great, it was obviously meant to be :)

My mom and I are going to be doing some shopping for invitations this week. She said they have a whole bunch at DirectBuy for about 80¢ each! So we're going to head up there and look through their books. DirectBuy also has the Lenox china I love for half off! Very exciting! I've also picked out the bridesmaid's dresses. They're from j.crew and they're so cute I want them! No more dresses for me, two is enough.

Pat's very busy too, getting ready to close up shop and hand things off to the army and come home! It's so soon I can't believe it. What a change from before R&R when it was 7 months, this last month since R&R flew by! We found a house to rent that we both like. It's cheap, and cute, allows pets AND has a fenced in yard! And a washer and dryer so I won't have to cart laundry all over the place! Hooray! We'll be getting in touch with the realtor today hopefully.

Anyways, that's about all that we have going on... 36 weeks down... only 3 to go!

Week 35

Big things are happening! Well we've decided on a venue for the wedding (check out some pics below), and I'll find out tomorrow if we can book it for the date we've picked. I'll give more details when everything is finalized! Also in the past week I managed to make it to 3 bridal salons, in DC, MD and NY, and I ended up with two great dresses! What's a girl to do?!

Pat's good over in Iraq. Staying busy, dealing with my craziness well, and getting ready to come home soon! Even sooner then we planned! They've bumped him up again, so it looks like I'll be heading down to NC to meet him in just a few weeks! Jack and Winston are wonderful as usual. All in all that's pretty much it. It seems like a lot more when I'm dealing with it all, and not so much when I type it out, hah!

35 weeks down, 4 to go!

Week 34

Well Patrick made it back safe to Iraq. It took quite a while though, which I think was ok with him, hah! We said we weren't going to make any plans until he got back, but of course we couldn't wait. We have set a tentative date, we've picked a song, and we've picked save-the-dates (thank goodness for the internet!), and we're working on colors, and venues right now. I'm heading up to NYC next weekend with my mom and sister to go dress shopping! I can't wait! I don't think I mentioned that one of the first things I said to Patrick after the engagement started sinking in that night at Longwood Gardens was "I get to shop for a dress!" I can't wait to report back on how it goes!

Anyways, we're keeping ourselves busy enough that these last 8 weeks should fly by! I can't wait for him to be home for good. Now if we only had some place to live...

Marinarium and underwater pictures

school of fish (at the bottom of the picture) all around us getting ready to snorkel

jumping in!
Pat ready to snorkel

Pat jumping in
swimming with sharks...and stingrays...

me chasing a shark

Pat and I at the natural pool in the middle of the Caribbean

Pat snorkeling

professional pictures from Punta Cana

candid from our photoshoot on the beachfrom our photo session on the beach
with the monkey!

Pat and the monkey!

pictures from the Domincan Republic

at the swim up barthe resort's pool... biggest one in the Caribbean on our boat trip to the Marinarium (aquatic park)

dinner at the Oceana Restaurant at the resort
our balcony
our suite

pictures from the proposal

just after... in shock

Pat making phone calls because I couldn't talk without crying

showing off a little bit :)

close up... my baby did good!
@ Longwood Gardens