1/3 of this deployment is over.

it seems like just yesterday that i was excited for it to be a 1/4 over. in a few months it will be 1/2 way over and then it all goes down hill. :P

i miss you honey.

food network is evil.

i sleep with the food network on (ok i watch the shows and happen to fall asleep *yay for the sleep timer*)

the most evil part is not only does it make me hungry, it makes me want to cook...

but doesn't necessarily make me want to clean.

the pie turned out great!

i love cooking and everything during the holidays, but the funny thing is i don't look forward to it at all. i stress out to the max, i always spend TONs of money because i want the freshest, organic, and the best ingredients out there (yep i go to whole foods for holiday food shopping). for instance i am making apple pie right now. i could have bought frozen crust. i could have made regular crust but NO WAY!!! i am making flaky crust (lol) from scratch. i should be leaving in about 45 minutes, i'm not even dressed, the pie isn't even done, the dog has not been walked, i am a mess from all the cooking i've been doing, i haven't bought the ice cream yet...

but i LOVE it!!!!

and still there is the possibility of the pie coming out yucky lol.

i LOVE the holidays. i LOVE to keep busy. this is what i did this week:

i baked 2 batches of cookies (peanut butter kiss drop cookies, paula deen's snowflake cookie cut in different shapes, YUM), creme brulee pie (sorta yum), roasted a roast, made a bunch of sides, went out with friends and family, and mainly sad in front of the computer chatting with paul.

unfortunately today was a communication blackout day. of course he wouldn't tell me what it was about and i didn't care to ask. it was good that i was especially busy today because otherwise i would have sat in front of the computer all day... so it all started with pho with paul's dad, julie, and john. lynn came over and we made a creme brulee pie (store was out of heavy cream but we improvised... :P) and paula deen's snowflake sugar cookies, which came out WONDERFUL (i LOVE baking cookies!) between all that i went out to dinner with shyam and jill. gajamoc was fun, it was pretty good although i make okonomiyaki differently at home.

thanks family and friends for making this christmas a good one despite the situation i am in. i am truly blessed!

wow. there is only a week and a half left till the new year. paul's deployment will already be 1/3 over. in no time he'll be back for R&R, jake would be here and life will move faster.

hopefully.

what's coming up in the next three months

christmas 12/25
new years 1/1
9th 'anniversary' 1/24
my dad's birthday 1/28
jake's baby shower 1/31
paul's birthday 2/6
valentines 2/14
my birthday 2/24
3rd wedding anniversary 3/5
paul's R&R 3/?
jake's arrival 3/?

going to be SOOOO busy!!!!!

also i should note that the robins brothers is only about 2 blocks away from where i live but the necklace was picked up by fedex, taken to hawthorne, shipped to LAX, back to hawthrone the next morning, and shipped to me three times (because my dad ordered something sent by fedex and there was some confusion) before i got to open it today.

also it was funny how it was packaged. it definitely reminded me of paul because...


ok here it all started!


took forever to open this plastic bag.


another box!!!


er...



finally!


and please continue reading for what was inside of all this packaging!

it was the first piece of 'real jewelry' i ever got. i think it was for my 24th birthday (i must be getting old!). it was a .15 ct diamond solitaire necklace. it sparkled so beautiful. maybe it was going to be my daughter's (if i ever had one) sweet sixteen birthday present, maybe i would add it to my wedding ring, or maybe i was going to be buried with it. either way i had plans for it....

but i did not plan for it to be lost.

i took the necklace off to shower. i swore it was under the towel. i put it under the towel so it won't fall into the sink. that's the last place i saw it. i thought it had fallen into the sink. i didn't use that sink until my dad came home from japan. the day he came back i made him drain it and see if the necklace was there. it wasn't.

i was devastated. i called paul and cried.

that was 2 years ago.

this came in the mail today.



he special ordered it from iraq. not even a diamond a million carats can signify what this one means to me, especially now. it is now the most precious thing i have (until march of course).

i still haven't worn it. i'm afraid to. i am going to sleep with it tonight. maybe i'll wear it tomorrow. :P

love from 7600 miles away.

i got a pregnancy pampering package from paul yesterday.

<3

so people are signing up for the military because of these 'tough' economic times. i don't know if thats a good thing. are these people just joining because they need the money and the healthcare? do they know what this job is all about??


its weird how people have been bashing the military the past few years and yet during tough times they turn to them for money and the benefits. so the past few years we have been an army of those who volunteered at time of war. now its evolving to an army of those who volunteered at a time of economic depression during a time of war. i will be interested to see how the army changes.

in a few years are we going to have unhappy disgruntled soldiers who have fought in the afghan war who joined because 'they needed the money'? paul will soon be the NCO in charge of such soldiers who are coming in (yes, he is working hard to get promoted while in iraq). its a tough road ahead.

i'm on....


Baghdad time!

well sort of.

he has night shift so his shift matches my time.

its the small things that can make or break your day.

for instance...

it had been years since i stepped into a vons here in california. yes, years. i don't think i shopped there since grandma mori stopped going to the vons in gardena. i always shopped at ralphs. the other day i went because i couldn't find a ham anywhere. not only did vons have the ham i needed, i had this eerie feeling that i had been there before. i couldn't put my finger on it. i kept going shopped around for some stuff for the post thanksgiving dinner the next day.

then, a realization (as i walked down the frozen aisle no less!). i realized that vons = safeway = colorado = grocery shopping with paul. i almost broke down in a supermarket. i missed him so much and the little everyday things we did.

it also reminded me again about branding, even something like a supermarket. like how i was transported back to california when i went to a target in colorado, i was transported back to colorado when i went to the vons here in california. 1200 miles away yet feels like 'home'. its interesting. i have a feeling i'll be going back there once in a while for that 'colorado' feeling.