Playing Catch-Up

Again, I suck at life when it comes to blogging. I'm sorry!!  I'll give you a run-down of what's been going on since coming home from our honeymoon:

1. Marine Corp Birthday Ball- This one was again in Reno this year. By far, the best Ball I have been to!! Normally, people leave right after dinner to go gamble, or have their own private party in their hotel room, or go clubbing (whatever it is, it's not in the ball room). This year, the majority of the people stayed! And actually danced! It was even more fun because I actually knew more people this time around. My friend Courtney (who lately has boycotted Balls) decided to come, I know the CO's wife better so we had good chats and danced, a mutual friend of Matt and I's was there (he's a civilian employee in Matt's office) and a new friend we made we found out was going since he used to be an active Marine.  All in all, great time!!

2. A Visitor's Coming!!- The week we got back from our honeymoon I got a call from my best friend of almost 20 years saying she wants to come out and visit! Now, normally, I just assume "oh, she wants to come in the next 6 months or when we move to our new place at some point". I get it..I'm across the country, spontaneous trips are not usually going to happen. But this time, it is! She called, gave me a date to "okay" and now I have my girl visiting from December 6th - 20th..2 whole weeks! Needless to say, I am stoked.  And I am extra excited she gets to know the Mr. a little better.  I think this trip will be good for the both of us.

3. Pictures! - They're heeeere!! Our wedding photos finally came in! Well, via the photo site, anyway. We are still waiting for the index photos to come in and the order sheet. But our friend, Phil, has a way to extract the photos off of the website and has been emailing them to me so I can post on facebook..so I shall share a few at the end of the blog (extracting takes a long time so right now we have the getting ready photos and some bridal shots..still waiting on ceremony and rehearsal and the Magic Kingdom photoshoot). 


So, that's really it as far as report-able news on our end.  A friend of ours just got hitched, we found out! Her honey comes in town for a visit, Matt and I leave for the Ball, we come back and find out they spontaneously went to Reno to get married!! I think it came as a shock to all of us and their families (they've been dating a month, month and half or so) but I guess when you know, you know!! She looks happily in love and excited for her recent news, so I am equally happy and excited for her :)  Ain't love grand!  The best of love and wishes goes out to her and her new husband <3

Thanksgiving is coming up this week. Normally, I am uber excited for it. The family, good eats, the time off everyone has to play. This year it just doesn't seem like Thanksgiving! It's my first holiday away from home.  I am very thankful to have my husband here to share it with me (I know a few women whose hubbies are deployed or not able to be home..and my heart goes out to them. Strongest ladies I know!) and I am excited to have my first holiday with my husband. My new family. I'm just really blue about the fact I won't be with my parents and sister, as well. I am allowing myself to be sad because it IS my first holiday where things are different. I've spent 25/26 years having a tradition. And now that's changing. Change is okay. I know that. But, I'm still allowed to mourn the loss of one to replace it with a new.   I was hoping this year to have ours here at the apartment, even if it is just Matt and I. He would cook the turkey, I would whip up everything else. While I cook he was going to try to volunteer to work the event Run for the Hungry (or something like that). But now I think we are going to spend it at a fellow Marine's mother's house.  I'm not against the idea. It's different. It's not how I imagined our first Thanksgiving together. I'm really really shy around people I don't know and I know I will feel pretty uncomfortable (I really don't want to resort taking a shot to ease my nerves!! lol) but I know it was very sweet of this gentleman to invite us, so if Matt wants to go, then I do, too. There will be plenty of other Thanksgivings to spend with our families or just us! Matt requested I make my homemade Four Cheese Mac and Cheese :). So I'm doing that and baking a mix of cookies to bring over. All this talk of food is making me hungry!!

As for news on the internship, I am still trying to work in an appointment to get my fingerprints done. I have to do it at their office so the ball is really in their court. I've been calling here and there to get updates on my information packet they used for a background check, and to see if they found someone to fingerprint me, but so far I haven't been given a concrete date. The admin assistant I spoke with 10 minutes ago says she will call me tomorrow morning to let me know if the lady who does fingerprints will be in the office. It's Thanksgiving week, so I guess a lot of the staff is out of town. I just want to get this done and out of the way so I can be one step closer to starting! (That is, if they decide to bring me on.)  Experience would be welcomed in my book so I can apply somewhere for REAL with confidence to wherever we move next (which I hope we find out this month!). 


Okay, I'm going to get dinner started. Oh, did I tell you Matt and I are starting the Paleo diet? Well, I guess it's not really a diet, per say, but a "way of life". Basically changing up our eating lifestyle and exercising. I'll get into that in a later blog. For now, I'll post some of my favorite pictures we have from our Getting Ready Photos :)

Our Disneymoon

They say that Disney World is the #1 place newlyweds are honeymooning these days...and I totally see why!! The Mr. and I spent almost a full week at the parks and then we went on the Disney cruise from the Sunday after the wedding until Thursday morning.  I couldn't be happier with the decision we made to keep everything Disney.  A lot of people brought up when I told them of our plan, "aren't there going to be too many kids?" or " it seems a little hectic to be a romantic honeymoon". Well, ya, it's a little hard to be mushy, gushy, sickeningly sweet romantic at a Disney theme park, but luckily for us, that was not what we were looking for.  Matt and I are kids at heart. We wanted a fun, light-hearted time..and we find the romance in the little things.

The Disney cast members are freakin' amazing! Because we wore our "Just Married" buttons and our Mickey and Minnie wedding ears, every cast member we passed congratulated us.  Every time we waited in line (which this trip was never long at all..booyah!) one would ask us about the wedding and sound genuinely excited for us. When we would walk up to the ride, they would let Matt and I pick where we wanted to sit (score!). There were some really nice employees who gave us things without any charge: photos from the ride we were just on, coffee, dessert, food from the Food and Wine Festival...and more.  It was not expected but we totally appreciated it.  We felt really special (who shouldn't feel special on their honeymoon?!).  Sure, there were tons of kids. Tons of unruly strollers. Tons of crowds. But that's expected at the Disney World. At least the lines were extremely short everywhere we went (I think the longest line we waited in was to meet Mickey and Minnie..I'll post those pictures soon!). Can't beat that!!

Every day I had reservations set up at a restaurant. At Epcot, we ate at both China AND Italy. Hollywood Studios we ate at the Sci-Fi Drive-In (which is my favorite!). The food in there isn't top notch(you know, just burgers and fries, shakes, that kind of food), but inside it looks like you are sitting in a drive-in theater back in the 50's. The "sky" is dark and lit with stars..the theater screen shows movie commercials, ads, and cartoons from back in the day, and our tables? They are CARS. I think it's the coolest :)   Then we ate at Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney..Tony's (where Lady and the Tramp had that infamous spaghetti kiss) at Magic Kingdom, and then Artist Point at our resort (Wilderness Lodge). 


The cruise...all I can say is "wow".  This was my first cruise ever, and Matt's first Disney cruise. Any notions you have that a Disney cruise is all family and kid related? Think again. Disney did such an amazing job providing fun and services for everyone. The only time Matt and I were ever really surrounded by kids was when we waited in line to meet Goofy and Tinkerbell (call us dorks..whatever!) and then when we were on the main deck taking a peek at the outdoor movie theater. At the time is was playing Lady and the Tramp. I loved it!!  Other than that, our activities were pretty secluded from the families and kids. There were a good handful or two of bars and clubs for adults only.we had an adult only section on the top deck equipped with bars, multiple pools and hot tubs, private lay-out sections, and more! We had an adult karaoke night (Matt made me sing once) and a Match Your Mate show, which is like the Newlyweds Game. There were trivia nights, a pirate party, they played movies. You name it.  So, our cruise went to the Bahamas. Our first day was Nassau and our second day was Castaway Cay..the Cay that Disney owns in the Bahamas. The weather was gorgeous!! We did a glass bottom boat voyage at each of our destinations and then layed out, afterwards. Our third day was a full day at sea which was perfect. We layed out on the top deck, with a good book, and had guys coming by offering us frozen cocktails. We gladly accepted.

Our honeymoon was a glorious two weeks. Just long enough to feel we did everything we wanted to do, and coming home wasn't such a bummer. I think we were both ready to get home as husband and wife and see our furbaby (who we haven't seen in three weeks!!). I now am wishing we could be back there, enjoying the sun and seeing the Christmas decorations the parks are filled with starting this month. But, we still have our annual passes (thanks to the Disney Wedding Team!) so I think we are going to try to have another Disney vacation sometime in the spring. When Matt and I relocate to where he is stationed next, he has a good 20 to 20something days off before he reports for duty. I think that sounds like a perfect time to vacation again in Orlando!