Day 3 - Photo of myself and how my day was

Well gosh, isn't just fitting AGAIN that I just happen to take a picture of myself in my brand new sweatshirt that my DB sent me today, and today is when I need to post such a picture!  He's been on the move a lot over the past couple days but today he was able to sneak in a few VERY short phone calls just to say "love you" and we chatted on AIM for a bit too!  So because of that I had a great day but when I got home to find a package at my door (seriously, the 4th one in the last week!) and then when I opened it to find what he sent me, my day was made even better!  He had a silver dog tag engraved with our names, our anniversary date and "luv 4 evr", a t-shirt that says "I <3 My Soldier", a Blue Star flag for the window, a Blue Star lapel pin, and a Blue Star challenge coin that can be engraved with his name.  Plus various pins and magnets for his family.  Now, I'm not a materialistic person at all, but receiving gifts to the point of feeling SPOILED does help a girl feel a little better ;)  He has totally outdone himself and he hasn't even been gone 3 weeks yet!  Did I mention the Tiffany's ring and a box full of 6 pairs of shoes... yes SIX!  It still all pales in comparison when I hear him say, "I love you more and more everyday".

Day 2 - Something I Ate Today

Today is my brother's birthday, so here is a picture of his cake... Red Velvet!  Delicious cake, crappy picture!

Day 1 - Perfect First Date

How fitting that I start this challenge on Valentine's Day and this is the topic I have to post about... (ok truth is I forgot to do it yesterday!)

Our first date was less than perfect, but still wonderful in it's own way.  Last Valentine's Day we had brunch at Half Moon restaurant, and this year we celebrated V-Day early and had dinner there a few weeks ago.  It's such a romantic place for a perfect first date.  Right on the Hudson River with a view of NYC!  Gorgeous!

30 Day Photography Challenge

Today marks two weeks down.  Feeling not so bad, but he hasn't left the country yet so we still get to chat and text, and lately talk on the phone at night.  Yesterday I came home to a little box at my front door... he sent me a Tiffany's ring engraved with "I love you" with his initials on the inside.  We decided to exchange "promise rings" this year for Valentine's Day, but mine came a little early.  I love it and I love him so much :)


So I'm taking this fun idea from Adrie's Corner... I haven't been so good to keep up with my deployment journal this week so we'll see if I can remember to post a new pic everyday!


Day 1 – Your idea of the perfect first date. 
Day 2 – A photo of something you ate today. 
Day 3 – A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was. 
Day 4 – Your favorite photograph of your best friend. 
Day 5 – A photo of yourself two years ago. 
Day 6 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a pet. 
Day 7 – Your dream wedding. 
Day 8 – A song to match your mood. 
Day 9 – A photo of the item you last purchased. 
Day 10 – A photo of your favorite place to eat. 
Day 11 – What’s in your bag? 
Day 12 – A photograph of the town you live in. 
Day 13 – Your favorite musician and why? 
Day 14 – A TV show you’re currently addicted to. 
Day 15 – Something you don’t leave the house without. 
Day 16 – Your celebrity crush. 
Day 17 – A photo of you and your family. 
Day 18 – Something you crave a lot. 
Day 19 – Another picture of yourself. 
Day 20 – The meaning behind your blog name. 
Day 21 – A photo of something that makes you happy. 
Day 22 – A photo of tw of your favorite animals. 
Day 23 – Fave theme park 
Day 24 – A photo of something that means a lot to you. 
Day 25 – What’s in your purse? 
Day 26 – A photo of somewhere you’ve been to. 
Day 27 – A picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then? 
Day 28 – Your favorite movie. 
Day 29 – Something you could never get tired of doing. 
Day 30 – A photograph of youself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days

Normal or Not?

Does it always work like one good day, one bad day?  Totally in love and connected one day, disconnected and fighting the next.  Or is it just me, or just us?  One day I feel secure and alright, the next... lonely and terrified.  The good days seems to make the bad days worth it, but it's wearing on me already... or at least it's stressing me out that soon enough it's going to wear me too thin.  Soon enough... just the though of what's yet to come, and not knowing what to expect, makes me anxious and worried and very unhappy.  At least tonight I had a good cry.

Could it be?

We are just at the very beginning of this deployment, we have a long separation ahead of us... but both of us are feeling so much more in love than ever before!  We fought a lot in the weeks before he left, which is a real shame of course, but now it's like we are overflowing with love and appreciation.  Every text and instant message and email feels like a gift and phone calls are a dream... like we are falling in love all over again.

It's not fair!

To prepare for this deployment, for the last month or so I've been trying to find online support sites with information on how to make it through in one piece, stories and advice from others who have been through it, forums to "meet" others going through it now, ideas on how to stay connected... and I've found several wonderful sites with tons of information.  I've also been searching for new blogs to read and rediscovered some that I used to follow a few years ago (which, btw, is great to see where they are now).  One thing is continually disappointing... everything is about spouses.  EVERYTHING refers to spouses.  All of the blogs I've found so far are written by spouses, many also have children.  I just do not relate to this.  I'm not in the same "league" even though, really, I kind of am.  It's almost hurtful that girlfriends are not as important as spouses.  I will be enduring the same thing.  Granted we've only been together for a little over a year, I love my boyfriend as much as anyone loves their husband, I'm sure of that.  We share a home just like a married couple (except we are living in sin, shhhh!)  We are not new to this... in fact he's very near retirement year, although he won't be anytime soon... so I can't even relate to the other much younger girlfriends out there.  We don't live on or even anywhere near a post, but it's not like that matters anyway.  Some people not affiliated with the military have found out he's deployed and ask me how long he'll be gone... "a year?  that's not so bad, time will fly".  Excuse me?  Since when does a year just fly by?!  I get zero benefits, only exclusions.  It would be really nice to know that since I'm standing by my soldier that I'm important too, even if we aren't (yet) married.  I hate for this to sound selfish but I have to say it... It's not fair!

Update:  As soon as I finished writing this I realized, I haven't googled "army girlfriend" to see what comes up... too bad I did because what came up first in the list was a very inappropriate photo :(  I do not suggest googling those words.