the truck.

jon has a few friends that are into cars like he is, i told them that they can borrow the truck whenever they need it. i never drive it, and it can't just sit in our driveway the whole time he's gone. so our neighbor and borrowed the truck today.

he turned it on and revved the engine. it's so weird how much it sounded like jon.

he's been driving that truck ever since we started dating. 

usually i'd be upstairs talking to my dad in his office when jon would drive up. i could hear him coming into our neighborhood. i loved when he was in town, home from training, and driving his truck.  

one night before he went to boot camp, we said goodbye, and he drove home. 

i got a text from our friend in the neighborhood 

"Did Jon just leave?"

"yes he did...."

"Ha ha. I can hear him leave your house everynight."

then we got married and moved out here. we shared my car for like two weeks. for those two weeks, he wasn't going to work. (!!!:))

at the end of may, his mom drove out here for a vacation andd....brought his truck!

it was nice because in june, he started working at pendleton, so it got harder to share a car.

he would only drive his truck sometimes, it takes a lot of gas.

i loved it when he did, though. 

in the mornings, jon would get up really early, get ready, eat breakfast...etc.....and start his truck. then he would come up and tell me goodbye. kissing me was the last thing he always did before going to work. then i'd lay in bed and hear him drive away. usually i'd fall back to sleep, and the next time i heard his truck meant that he was home for the day! i told him he had to drive a certain way home, because that meant that i could see and hear his truck in the neighborhood before he got to our street. 

i really missed him today when i heard his truck.

i do appreciate nights like this, where i miss him so much that i feel i would do anything for a hug. 
i just love that man so much.

wk 17.

the only picture i have with these girls that are so dear to me.

katie, me, lindsey, tranique.

honeymoon.

jon and i got married, and the next day packed up all our furniture, clothes and other belongings to move to california and start our new life together.

we stayed a couple nights in salt late here and here. 

both hotels were beautiful and i would stay there again so fast.

we drove to las vegas and stayed here which was soo nice.  

then we drove to california and stayed...here.

hotels on base could use some work, ummm...i was grateful to get housing so fast.

anyway...

moral of the story is-we didn't get a legit honeymoon.

marrying jon and moving to san diego together is honeymoon enough, but we want to go on vacation. to a romantic place.

i'm thinking east coast-

Annapolis, MD?

i would love to stay in a pretty bed and breakfast there. 

like this. 

that looks so quaint and pretty. 

hawaii-

quite typical and we've both been there a lot.

but the pretty beach and perfect weather would be ideal.

(thanks stacy)

orrrr

catalina island. 

if we went here, we could just drive to long beach and take a little boat to the island for like $60 a person. then we could use the airfare we would have used for the other places on a nicer hotel or fun activities...zip lines..massages. 

it would still be like a vacation, away and on a little island.

the weather wouldn't be anything to write home about, i'm sure its the same as san diego. 

soo...please help.

i'd love advice and ideas. places that you went or have been, places you've wanted to go. we want to stay in america. i don't know if jon can go out of the country? so it's easier to stay here. we want to go over our one year anniversary in may. hopefully he's home in time!

thank you, i am so looking forward to what you have to say. 

too cute.

pet peeve of mine=

having to open the lid of the egg holder to get eggs out.

solution=

cute ceramic egg crates

thank you anthropology for having such cute ones.

thank you homegoods for having the same ones in white for $4.99.

i bought two.

you don't even have to find a place to store the second one:)

and by the way, don't even try using the homegoods website. terrible.

one month down.

it's been one month since i dropped this man off to be taken away on a long white bus to a far off place.

this month has been filled with new friends, full nights of sleep (i have a hard time sleeping with jon in our full bed...call me crazy), lots of work out sessions, a new internship, new recipes and phone calls and emails from my husband. 

it's actually been a lot easier than i expected, i think we both prepared ourselves really well.

jon loves what he is doing. 

he likes not having a toilet.

he likes having supplies get dropped from helicopters because they are in such a remote place. 

he likes sleeping on a cot in a tent with dirt floors.

he likes doing the whole camp out thing with the guys.

i like having a house to myself.

i like doing laundry for one. 

i like having the same income that we used for two people, only being used for one.

and i like being in a position where i HAVE to make friends. 

isn't that funny?

i do miss getting a goodnight kiss and pushing jon off of me in the night then laughing about it in the morning. 

i miss being excited during the day for him to get off work.

i miss sitting next to him in church and seeing how cute he is with our primary kids.

i miss cooking together, cuddling together, and laughing together.

i even miss fight cleaning together.

cleaning by yourself with no one to fight with is SO uneventful.

all in all, its been a good month. i'm excited to keep pushing onward for another 6 months until he gets home. 

i've been fine without him, but i do love life with my best friend. 

♥♥♥

How to be alone by Tanya Davis.

This is a really great video and poem.

If you are at first lonely, be patient. 

If you've not been alone much, or if when you were, you weren't okay with it, then just wait. 

You'll find it's fine to be alone once you're embracing it.

Tthere's prayer and meditation. No one will think less if you're hanging with your breath seeking peace and salvation.

When you are comfortable with eat lunch and run, take yourself out for dinner. 

Go to the movies. Where it is dark and soothing. Alone in your seat amidst a fleeting community. 

And then, take yourself out dancing to a club where no one knows you. Stand on the outside of the floor till the lights convince you more and more and the music shows you. Dance like no one's watching...because, they're probably not. And, if they are, assume it is with best of human intentions. 
Go to an unfamiliar city, roam the streets, there're always statues to talk to and benches made for sitting give strangers a shared existence if only for a minute and these moments can be so uplifting and the conversations you get in by sitting alone on benches might've never happened had you not been there by yourself

Society is afraid of alonedom, like lonely hearts are wasting away in basements, like people must have problems if, after a while, nobody is dating them. But lonely is a freedom that breathes easy and weightless and lonely is healing if you make it.

Perhaps in the interest of loving oneself, perhaps all those sappy slogans from preschool over to high school's groaning were tokens for holding the lonely at bay. Cuz if you're happy in your head than solitude is blessed and alone is okay.

 take silence and respect it. 

you could be in an instant surrounded if you needed it.

If your heart is bleeding, make the best of it.

There is heat in freezing, be a testament.

guest post.

i wrote a guest post for Goodnight Moon! this morning. 

my first one....

check it out here.