It's officially official! :D

I survived the grad application clearance process and got my diploma today:

Yay!

♫ all that I'm after is a life full of laughter ♫

Trying to get my bridesmaids together to all agree on both a day and a time is a daunting task. We were originally going to go BM dress shopping this Tuesday but one of the girls is having a bunch of car problems (totally not her fault)...the other one had the wrong date written in her planner this entire time, and we have talked about this/been planning this for awhile now! I'm kind of annoyed with that. I scheduled an appointment with David's Bridal for this upcoming Sunday (Jan 23rd) at 1:30pm. Hopefully that works, because I can't wait any longer to do this!

My brother's birthday is this upcoming Thursday and I have NO idea what to get him. Neither does my mom. Any ideas on what to get a growing 29 year-old? lol He always loves his Caribou coffee but I feel like a gift card wouldn't last him long if I got that for him. I don't know.

I also ordered an Army Wife keychain! I got it from Just Initials.

I was tossed between the camo and the large polka dots one, but I got opted for the latter. I basically got the last keychain in that picture with a 5.5-6" strap that will fit on the wrist. It was only $11 with shipping and I think it's really cute! Can't wait to get it! :D

The Making of a Military Wife

When the good Lord was creating Wives, he was into his sixth day of overtime.

An angel appeared and said, "You're having a lot of trouble with this one. What's wrong with the standard model?"

And the Lord replied, "Have you seen the specs on this order? She has to be completely independent, but must be sponsored to get on post; have the qualities of both father and mother during deployments; be a perfect hostess to 4 or 40; run on black coffee; handle emergencies without a manual; be able to handle flu, birthdays and moves around the world; have a kiss that can cure anything from a child's torn Valentine to a husband's weary day; have the patience of a saint when waiting for the Unit to return home; and have six pairs of hands."

The angel shook her hand slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands... no way!"

And the Lord answered, "Don't worry, we'll make other military wives to help. Besides it's not the hands that are causing the problem, it's the heart. It must swell with pride in her husband, sustain the ache of separations, beat on soundly when it's too tired to do so and be large enough to say, "I Understand" when she doesn't, and 'I love you' regardless."

"Lord," said the angel, touching his sleeve gently. "Come to bed... finish this tomorrow!"

"I can't," said the Lord. "I'm so close to creating something unique. Already I have one who heals herself when she's sick, can feed three unexpected guests who are stuck in the area due to bad weather, and can wave good-bye to her husband, from a pier, off a runway and understand that it is important to his country that he leaves."

The angel circled the model of the military wife very slowly. "It's too soft," she sighed.

"But tough," said the Lord excitedly. "You cannot imagine what this woman can do or endure."

"Can it think?"

"Can it think? It can convert 1400 to 2 p.m."

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek. "There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model."

"It's not a leak," said the Lord. "It's a tear."

"What's it for?" asked the angel.

"It's for joy. Sadness. Disappointment. Pain, loneliness and pride!"

"You are a genius," sighed the angel.

The Lord looked somber and replied, "I didn't put it there."

~Anonymous

Well, that's it. He's gone. He's on his way back to MO (just talked to him and he's actually only about 100 miles away!)

We really didn't sleep at all last night. We woke up at 0700 and his mom made us some eggs over easy & sausage and biscuits and gravy. And a full pot of coffee. We relaxed for a bit, Eddie did some more last minute packing and by like 0815 he was out the door and on his way back.

The past 9 days went by too fast. Christmas was wonderful, and so was NYE, even though it was uneventful - we didn't go out to a party and get wasted off our asses. I just enjoyed spending time him.

There is a possibility that I will see him later this month, otherwise I probably won't see him again in person until late February/mid-March, which seems like foreverrrr from now. In the mean time, work, taking my review course and studying for my boards as well as additional wedding planning will keep me busy. Once my work lets me go though (which will probably be in March, when I get my RN) I have no idea what I will do between then and May.

And let me just say, I really hate it when people complain about not seeing their SO's for a few days or like a week. Like my roommate. Her fiance is on his way to Thailand for a missions trip for just a week and she is so upset. I'm not trying to sound whiny because Eddie left today too and I'm not sure exactly when I will see him again, but there are a lot of people who have it so much harder and have to wait WEEKS or MONTHS before they can see their SO's again. Some may never see them ever again. Overall I'm doing okay, probably because I know Eddie isn't on the front lines atm or anything. I'm sure I'll be a nervous wreck when he deploys but for now I'm just taking everything a day at a time. ♥

merry christmas :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Eddie's family was way too good to me this year! I got a lot more than I asked for - I think too much! Four of my favorite gifts:

+ my fiance coming home :) <- this is like the best Christmas present of all!

+ a Vera Bradley Betsy from Eddie's sister husband in Imperial Toile. I actually don't have this pattern yet and I really like it, I just never bought anything in it! He picked it out himself and I love it :)

+ TomTom GPS from Eddie - this will be very helpful especially when I trek out to Missouri and also when I move to Texas.

+ This wine serving set from Eddie's dad that was actually on our wedding registry haha. It comes with 4 wine glasses, a wine glass rack and a bucket to chill your bottle in :)

I just realized that next Christmas will probably suck, because there will be a good chance that Eddie will be deployed (he is trying to deploy as soon as he can, grrr...) and hopefully I will have a big kid job by then, so I will probably have to work on Christmas. Ohhhhh well!

1 more day of work 2010 (tomorrow!!) and then HOPEFULLY seeing my fiance tomorrow night - if not then definitely for Christmas eve! Can't wait!

I went to Ulta today (again) to first return this Smashbox foundation which was too orangey on me so I got a lighter shade to try. I also picked up some UDPP, a Tarte 4-in-1 concealer and I was on the hunt for another spot treatment, so one of the SA's recommended Mario Badescu's Drying Lotion.

She told me this has been in many beauty magazines and a lot of people swear by it. It's $17 for a 1.0-oz bottle. Basically smells like calamine, which is one of the ingredients. You just take a Q-tip, dip it into the bottle and then apply it to your blemishes. I dipped mine in the pink calamine stuff (I don't know if you're supposed to) and put it on my face...now I've got spots and look ridiculous haha. I've read somewhere that this is more so for pustule acne (and while I occasionally get those, mine is more of the red/minor inflammatory stuff)...but we'll see!

I'm also starting to study for my boards. Slowly but surely. Its rough, because this stuff can be quite boring! lol...I also love looking at this while I study and make my notecards :)

I still need to send in my shiz (application for licensure + registering for the NCLEX...FYI, Ohio's application is only $75, New York is $143 and Texas is freakin $200 :(...NCLEX is another $200... + fingerprints, which are like $57, boo!)...but of course I don't want to do that until I know FOR SURE WHERE I AM LIVING. Once again Eddie said Texas is only a possibility, after he told me we were for sure going there! Grrrr! I should find out during the first or second week of January, though.

still can't decide.

I still can't decide on what to do.

It shouldn't be this hard. I seriously think that sometimes I have a hard time making decisions haha.

Eddie proposed the idea of getting legally married when he comes back for Christmas/New Year's. There are many benefits to this:

* an extra $1500/mo. that he'll be making just for being married. it goes to him but it's for me, I guess you could say. He said he would give me $2000 when he comes back (if we do this) to help tie me over, which can be used to help pay rent if I end up being short on money for a month or for more wedding stuff.

* an estimated $7500 would be made by May, but with taxes it would be more like $3000 + whatever I don't use (basically around $5000 if I don't spend anything). This could be used towards a honeymoon as well as extra money in the bank in case we need it for whatever reason.

* I also probably won't be working right off the bat when we move. So this will help.

* I can jump on his health insurance. I'm currently on my mom's, but then she wouldn't have to pay for me any more and that's more money she'll save.

* Changing my name now will save me from having to deal with it later. As of now we're planning on leaving the day after the wedding because it's about a 22 hour drive to Texas. All we'll have to do is go to the BMV and get new driver's licenses.

* This will also help with my RN license. It is such a pain in the ass to change your name on a license like that, at least in Ohio. if I sit for my NCLEX in March, I'm going to have to go through the whole name change process 2 months later anyway.

I probably wouldn't make this entirely public...just let closer friends/family know. I would have to change my name on all of my ID's and everything, but that doesn't mean I have to change my Facebook name (the name that matters, I think! lol). And with all of this shiz with the wedding bands I probably won't have one to wear for awhile so as my roommate said, it's even easier to hide lol.

Everyone says go for it. My mom said ultimately it is my decision but she feels it would "take away" from the wedding ceremony. I don't think it will because Eddie will only be here for a week and then he goes back to MO. I'll see him very little between January-May. Even if I legally change my name, I probably won't "feel" married until after the actual wedding ceremony. A friend of mine did this and in no way did this "take away" from her wedding day. I honestly think it's my mom that is keeping me from making this decision.

On a side note, work kind of sucked yesterday. Normally the ICU stepdown unit isn't bad. I was actually expecting to float to sit because that is what happened to me the past few times I picked up on that floor. One of the NA's called in sick so I had the floor. It was just one of those days where you constantly had to play "catch up" with everything - all of my work got done but I was constantly behind on everything. Then of course, I forgot to clock out at the end of my shift lol.

Only 3 more work days for 2010! :)

I also bought a dress! It's all black with beading detail on the straps and underneath the bust, but you can't see that in these pictures. It's got kind of like a ruching/pleating detail down the center. It's also form-fitting, which I kind of like. Only $69.99 @ Dillard's!

Don't mind my bug-eyed expression haha.

And the side:

I love it and can't wait to wear it!

I had all of these options for shoes but go figure I couldn't find any of them and I wanted to have shoes as soon as possible, so I just bought these pink leopard print ones from Kohl's:

They weren't my first choice but when I saw them in person I loved them even more! And best of all, these $54.99 shoes were only like $14 :)

6 more days until my fiance comes home!