Twilight!

For those of you who haven't read Twilight (and the rest of the series) I recommend you do! I loved them! They are about an average teenage girl who falls in love with a "vegetarian" vampire. Its a sweet love story with a great plot. These were the first books that I COULDN'T put down. I read each 700 page book in about a day and a half (it helped that my mother-in-law was here to help with Landon). Lol.

My best friend Sheena told me about the books in June of last year. She told me how much she loved them and couldn't put them down. I thought they sounded cheesy and wasn't at all in the realm of what I enjoy reading. So while Justin was deployed I picked up the first two, they sat on my shelf for about a month or so...then I finally picked them up. Boy was I surprised! They weren't cheesy! They were well written and phenomenal!

Anyway If you haven't read them, you should. They are great. The movie doesn't hold a candle to how truly great they are.

I give these 5 out of 5 stars

3 Willows

This was supposed to be "another sisterhood". It wasn't great....barely even good. The author tried really hard to make it like the sisterhood of the traveling pants but she wanted to start younger. The plot wasn't great. It kept me interested but still it wasn't much. They mentioned the last books a lot (well the people that were in them at least) and that got old. I had right hopes for this book and was let down a little bit.

Here is what the back reads.

summer is a time to grow

seeds

Polly has an idea that she can't stop thinking about, one that involves changing a few things about herself. She's setting her sights on a more glamorous life, but it's going to take all of her focus. At least that way she won't have to watch her friends moving so far ahead.

roots

Jo is spending the summer at her family's beach house, working as a busgirl and bonding with the older, cooler girls she'll see at high school come September. She didn't count on a brief fling with a cute boy changing her entire summer. Or feeling embarrassed by her middle school friends. And she didn't count on her family at all. . .

leaves

Ama is not an outdoorsy girl. She wanted to be at an academic camp, doing research in an air-conditioned library, earning A's. Instead her summer scholarship lands her on a wilderness trip full of flirting teenagers, blisters, impossible hiking trails, and a sad lack of hair products. It is a new summer. And a new sisterhood. Come grow with them.

Honestly I would only give it 2 out of 5 stars.

Silence.

Everything is so quiet. It almost seems like time is standing still. As I sit here in my hotel room, nothing but the sound of the heater blowing from the other side of the room and only the light from the computer, I can't help to think how truly lucky i am. After so many years together I still go to bed every night knowing how much I am loved and that is something to be thankful for. My life has never been what I expected...but then again I never really knew what to expect. All I know is that I am happy and I wouldn't trade anything that I have for the world.

Justin and i are still in NY. We are having a really great time. Its so hard being away from Landon but I'm glad we got a chance to go away for a few days. We have gone to sooo many movies the past few days. I will post when I get home about all of them. Tomorrow we will make our drive home. I think we are going to stop a few times and See a few more little places. Justin says he has something for me for my "birthday" we shall see what he has planned.

I will write more tomorrow. Justin's laptop isn't my friend and likes to make things hard on me. Lol. Goodnight!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

I have been reading a lot the past year or two and I love it! I love sitting down with a book and reading for hours (but only get the chance after Landon is in bed). I have to admit thought that I don't like the "trashy" novels that some read. I don't enjoy reading about throbbing members. So I find myself reading young adult books most of the time. I just got done reading the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (books 1-4) and I loved them! I have both of the movies and liked them a lot, but books are so much different then the movies they are made into. If you have seen the movies but not read the books then you should know that movie 1=book 1 but movie 2=books2-4. It was crazy the amount of stuff they crammed into the second movie and how much they had to leave out. I loved the books and I'm glad I took the time to read all 4.

All in all I think I would give them a 4 out of 5 stars (It takes a lot to get a 5 from me!).

Visitors, Vacations and Violations.

Justin's mother will be here tomorrow afternoon. I'm excited to hang out and go places while shes here. We always seem to be doing something even if its absolutely nothing. She will be here for 10 days and even get to go to Landon's birthday party! While she is here Justin is taking me on a little getaway for my birthday! I think we are heading up to Saratoga Springs NY. I miss it so much up there and I have been hinting FOREVER that I want to go back. So we will get 3 days & 2 nights of just us while Justins mom stays here with Landon.

In other news. We went to a "Nuke" dinner/game night over at a friend of ours. We played a few games and watched them play their Wii. It was so much fun! But I don't think I have ever heard the word dick so many times in one night...or seen it sculpted out of clay in so many ways. But I guess that's what happens when guys drink and play cranium. Lol.

It feels so nice to have everything back to the way it was. I have my husband home and since all of my friends have theirs, we have gone back to game nights and potlucks. How I have missed people making fools of themselves while playing games.


Also TMI. My sweet, loving husband has also taken it upon himself to slap my "behind" every time he walks by me. I now have permanent red marks. One day I will get him back for this. All is fair in love and war!

The Last Summer (of you and me)

This was a really good book. I liked it a lot. I read this before I read the sisterhood books and was surprised that it was the same author. This book was nothing like those ones. I felt like she wrote the characters well and knew them (just as any author should). I laughed and cried and couldn't put it down.

The back reads

In her first adult novel, the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants makes a journey to Fire Island, where 21-year-old Alice and her slightly older sister, Riley, are sharing a home and an infatuation. Boyish lifeguard Riley values her closeness with longtime neighbor Paul, but their "best friend" relationship has less pull than the attraction he shares with Alice. To protect Riley's feelings, the pair try to keep their blossoming romance secret. In the land of fiction, as in the real world, such furtiveness can't be sustained indefinitely, but in The Last Summer (of You & Me), complications and surprises confront us around every turn.

I would give this one 4/4.5 stars.

.:Passion:.

Everyone has something in their life that they are truly passionate about. For most its friends and family. For some it goes further then that. While my friends and family will always be number one in my life. I breathe music. I used to dance. It was a big part of my life and hours every week were spent in a dance room, mirrors lining the walls, preparing for dance competitions. I hear music on the radio and dance in my head, and while some people would call that crazy (mostly the people who have seen me tap dancing down the local stop-n-shop isles while doing my monthly grocery shopping). I call it love. I think about music and dancing daily. If I didn't have a child that I had to listen for I would fall asleep with my headphones on every night.

P.S. Random piece of information...Justin and I met on a trip to Seattle to play in our school band......LOVE!

Done!

Here it is! I'm done with it! I took 1,400 pictures, got it down to about 80 that i loved, had Justin write which ones were which port, then had to pick just two of each from there! Once again I don't know who took the pictures but they let my husband put them on his computer...so thank you whoever you are!

top- Gibraltar

bottom- Greece

Bahrain

top- Turkey

bottom- France

This is how I'm going to put it on my wall. I think they will be going behind my couch, mostly because it turned out to be a lot bigger then I thought it would.

Art?

Justin came home this morning from duty with coffee and breakfast in hand! I love him so much. I'm so lucky that I have him and its not just because he deals with my love of Starbucks.

Today I'm doing an art project...if you can even call it that. I'm going through the 1400 pictures that Justin brought home. He didn't take all of them, in fact I think he took most of them off of other peoples cameras to tell you the truth. But all the same he has them. I'm going to take 2 pictures from every country he went to (no people can be in them, just things they saw), put the date on one and the country on the other then frame them. I think it will be a neat project that I hope to do for every deployment. My only problem now is where to put all of them. I was thinking on the first floor right when you walk in, or I have tons of places on the second floor that I think they would look good. Do I put them behind the couch on the wall? In my kitchen? Or do I enjoy them to myself and put them on the third floor where the bedrooms are? OK I doubt I will put them by the bedrooms but still it has gone through my mind.

Wish me luck and hope I don't go crazy! Picking just two pictures from each port is going to be hard. Everything was so beautiful.

Love/Hate

I have a love/hate relationship with the "boat" smell. On one hand its nasty.....it just smells dirty and anything it touches has to be washed IMMEDIATELY. But then again its almost comforting. Like I know hes home when I smell it. When Justin left I kept one of his work shirts tucked in a drawer for when I really missed him (I know its kinda gross), but I also kept a clean one with his cologne on it to (redeem myself?). Is the boat smell just a sub thing? Or do carriers smell just as bad? Justin says it smells like that due to the filtering system on the boat.....I just think no one showers.

In other news. I love my husband being home! I'm actually warm when I go to sleep now! My days of wearing socks to bed are over! But I hate how cold it is! Its 11 degrees outside right now!!!! I'm really missing South Carolina at the moment.

OK I'm off to wash all of Justin's deployments clothes. Wish me luck!

Oldies!

Justin got me an AMAZING new printer for Christmas.....I know I'm lame and asked for one. Anyway we needed a new one and I really wanted a scanner and a printer that did a little more then "just print". So here I am scanning random pictures from the past. Enjoy!


This is Justin and I back in 2002. We had been dating a few months and were madly in love. Lol. I think we are both 15 in this one.

This is after the fair in 2004. Justin and three of our guy friends thought it would be funny to get their faces painted. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard. My dad just had to get a picture of it when we got home that night.

Homecoming Pictures!

This is Landon and I waiting for them to let us on the pier. He was soooo cold! He had Nikki's mittens on with hand warmers inside of them.

Finally get him in my arms.

A picture Stephanie took of us.

Random picture Nikki took.

I couldn't let go.

Landon talking with his daddy. He was so happy he was home.

Us.

I humped his leg......

My boys.

Our little family. Together again!

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!

23-11!

No one thought they would be doing this good! They have a great chance of winning against Arizona. Too bad Justin is on duty and couldn't watch the game with us today, but I'm glad it wasn't the Eagles last game and that Justin will be home for the next one.

Perfect!

Justin is back and everything is back to normal. It was so amazing getting to see him again even if I was lucky enough to get to see him three months ago in Bahrain. After we chased the boat in and waited at the pier for a half hour for them to be all hooked up. It was time for them to start unloading. all the boys were bringing trash off. I was not right in the front so Justin didn't see me right away so I walked down to the fence and found him. I don't think he has ever held me so tight. It was amazing! He had bought me two dozen red rose....which he left on the boat hahaha. But its the thought that counts and if he would have gone back for them he would have gotten stuck doing more then he should have done. So we just went home. Landon was so excited to see his Dad and it was almost like he was never gone. They went straight back to being best friends.

We came home and watched a few movies and ordered pizza. Then headed to bed. It was crazy getting into a WARM bed! I forgot what it felt like. Then this morning when Justin's alarm went off he got back in bed and hit snooze three times just so he could cuddle with me. It feels great to be married again.

He left for duty this morning but came upstairs to kiss me goodbye four times because he wasn't ready to leave me yet. It will take him a little bit of time to get used to being on solid land and getting used to "Kim" rules instead of boat rules. Lol. I'm just happy to have him home!

Also hes planning a birthday get away for me! When his mom is here in two weeks hes going to plan a little trip for just me and him. I'm so excited!

Welcome home USS Alexandria!

Wooo Hooo!

He's home! I have a ton of pictures to post...but I don't want to do it just yet so I will get them up soon! Have a great night....I know I will!

Thank you!

To all of my amazing friends who came over tonight to hang out! It was so much fun and because some of you stayed well past midnight I didn't have a problem falling asleep!

I had 6 girls over to pass the time until morning. We watched movies, ate really great snacks and decorated our cars at eleven at night (sorry to all my neighbors. I know we were probably a little louder then we should have been). Michael got locked out of her car. hahaha. But we had a great time!

I'm so lucky to have all of you. I can't wait to start making it a monthly thing!

Happy Birthday

TO ME!

I'm sad to be spending it without my husband but lucky to have such great friends to make up for it. I got a few cards in the mail, TONS of phone calls (some starting at midnight) and I'm blessed with an amazing husband who knows how to treat a lady. Lol.

Justin sent me an edible bouquet (Its all different kinds of fruit most dipped in chocolate), a balloon and a simple yet sweet card to go with it.

Balloon

Wrapped.

Unwrapped.

My card. Don't mind the name.....once again it would take a while to explain. We have nik-names for each other. I know its cheesy but I love it.

He will be home SO soon! I love him so much and I'm so lucky I have him.

Already!

I'm on book three for this year! As much as I love reading I think I owe this accomplishment to the fact that my husband is almost home. I swear I never sleep anymore!

Home Stretch

deployment is almost over! I feel like time is dragging on but at the same time I have been so busy that I have no idea where my day went. Justin has been sending me the sweetest e-mails telling me how excited he is to be almost home and it makes me feel so good. I know he misses us everyday like we do him but hearing (reading) it just makes my heart jump.

My outfit is done! I pick up my pants on Thursday (yay!) and besides that all of my outfit is in my closet! I'm getting ready for my big party this Friday and I'm so excited to hang out with all of my Alex lady friends! A night full of PJ's and great movies!

In other random news...the Eagles won their first game in the palyoffs! It was a really great game and I'm so happy they won! Justin will be excited to get the e-mail I sent him about the game...I know hes bummed that he couldn't watch it.

Also my friend Jenalei is back in town! I'm so glad, I missed her so much! And even better she now lives 4 doors down from me! I think its about a 30 sec walk to her front door from mine! I have been watching her little one all day while her and her mom get all of her stuff into her new house. It feels like everything is going back to normal!

Oh yeah...my Birthday is Thursday!!! I'm excited to see what Justin has planned since he knew he wouldn't be here. I bet he will surprise me as usual!

YAY!

I'm really proud of myself for losing weight while Justin was gone. I worked out a lot and found out that I love doing it and Landon loves doing it with me! Here is a before and after picture from this deployment. I can see a big difference.

Here I am in August.

and here I am today! I dyed my hair so that's a big difference but I also lost 16lbs! I have a chin...lol.

I am

Now the proud owner of a pair of perfectly tailored dress pants!!!

Chosen by a Horse: a memoir

Chosen by a Horse: a memoir BY Susan Richards

I really enjoyed this book. With all the snow we got today all I have done is read. It wasn't a fairytale book or a love story, just a good honest book about her love for a horse when the horse shouldn't be capable of loving like that. Scroll down to read a review of the book. No idea what I'm on to read next...maybe the Narnia series?


From Publishers Weekly
The horse was Lay Me Down, a tall, scrawny, sick (with pneumonia), abused standardbred mare, with a hostile foal at her heels and a wheezing sigh. The human was middle-aged, also abused (both as a child and in a bad marriage), an AA veteran and the owner of three Morgan horses in upstate New York. The Morgan mare, Georgia, was furious about the new intruder, although, Richards writes, "I blamed myself for creating a monster, a monster named Georgia. All these years of spoiling her, of never allowing anyone else to ride her, of letting her boss me around...." Richards's first book is an engaging, honest and low-key memoir of her love affair with the sweet-natured Lay Me Down and her almost love affair with a fellow named Hank, with many digressions into horse lore as well as life lore. Charming and sensitive descriptions of fiery Georgia; the gallant, lovable old gelding, Hotshot; loyal friend and "horsewoman extraordinaire" Allie; and daily life with animals intersperse with the trials of dating and buying underwear. The end of neither affair is happy, but this is a bracing and likable book, highly recommended for backyard horsewomen and their admirers.

I would give this 3.5/4 stars out of 5

2009

Now a list of the things that will happen this year!

1. Justin gets home from Deployment!

2. Justin and I will go on a vacation just the 2 of us.

3. We are going home for a few weeks

4. One of my besties will have a baby!!!!!

5. Landon will turn 4

6. I will lose even more weight the healthy way

7. We will have monthly board game night!

8. Once a month we will have a family movie night

9. We will go to church every Sunday

10. I will read 50 more books (and I hope to make a dent in the bible!)

11. I won't buy so many purses.....I hope.

12. We will make up for all the picnics Justin missed.

13. We will go on a few little family trips to fun places like Niagara Falls

14. I will get back into scrap booking

15. Landon will start a sport

16. We will go to an eagles game

17. We will NOT deal with another deployment! YAY!

18. I will write letters to my niece every week

19. My family will be here for Thanksgiving and we will go to the Macy's Day Parade!

20. I will fall in love with Justin all over again! 8 years!