Update.

So for those of you who may not know... Swiss is PCS-ing in a few days. Just Swiss. His unit is slated to deploy in mere months (assuming his assignment goes as planned) so it doesn't make much sense for me to sell the house, up and move South too, no family, no job, no Swiss. So I am sticking it out here in the Midwest until he and his unit comes home from the Sand.

I hate this.

I feel a bit like things finally got figured out. We made it official, we lived together like a normal couple, we settled in. We made a home together. And now he is leaving. Hrrmph.

Now before I start pouting too much, my employer BigHospital is all over FMLA. They are giving me up to 3 months (assuming his unit is still stateside in 3 months) of leave to go be with him down South. Words cannot describe how incredible that is. Of course even that has it's issues (read: mortgage payments without employment!) but it will all be worth it.

Anyway, that is the update. That is where we stand... Welcome to the Army!

Army Wife I am.

Hello Internets!!!

I am back... the honeymoon was lovely and I am officially an Army Wife now. The PCS is looming (read 5 days away) and our time together is getting short. This I do not like. I am prone to bouts of tears when I think about not being able to curl up next to him at night, etc, etc. But I am trying to focus on the positive (the wedding was great... things with us are wonderful) and not dwell on the twee details the Army's plans for him.

Right now, our biggest problem is 8th grade algebra. Yes, 8th grade. I suck at math. Swiss Jr. brought home 20+ algebra problems and our attempts to help just gave us shocking proof how quickly this stuff leaves you when you don't need it for a test next week!

Anyway, I hope all is well with you all and I'm glad to be back! Take care and any algebra-related tips would be greatly appreciated! :)

It begins.

Okay- the madness that is our wedding officially begins today with the arrival of my dearest Mom and her best friend (my second Mom) Carolyn. HOORAY! So I am signing off for a few weeks. We are off to wine country for the honeymoon and I will get back to blogging when we return... likely after Swiss' PCS move in early November. Boo hiss.

I'm off to become Mrs. Swiss and I couldn't be happier! Fingers crossed for good weather and thanks for all your well wishes! Take care internets! :)

Love,

Tucker

My Guardian.

Here she is. She is the Delphic Sybil. Her home is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. She spoke to me (not literally) when I was 22... on a trip to Europe with my wonderful mother.

I saw the fierceness, the strength in her gaze. I saw her fearlessness. And all these years later (okay, not that many, like 8) she has become my guardian. When I see her, I see someone watching over me, watching over Swiss. Someone who may or may not know the future, but someone who would be willing to step up to any challenge that comes our way.


She also said some pretty wise things. Aside from foreseeing the fall of Troy, the rise of kings, the outcomes of wars, she said this:


"make your own nature, not the advice of others, your guide in life."



She was a pretty smart lady.

New family.

New families are a trip.

Swiss' family is great. But man are they different. Waaaaay different than my family. They are bigger (number, not size!). They aren't really "talkers", I am from a loooooong line of talkers. I am an only child. Swiss is the youngest of six(!!!!!). The list goes on... So getting to know their quirks has been a bit of an up and down roller-coaster... Even more so now with a reasonably major family drama that has sprouted up. But sometimes different can be good. You can learn a lot from different, no? However, there are times when different is just difficult.

I can't decide where we are at now... difficult or different. It will suffice to say that differences really come out when the stakes get high. And they are pretty high right now.

I trust that everything will work out okay and that at the end of the day, as long as Swiss and I end up husband and wife... the day will be a success... Right?

Gawd I hope so!

Have a great weekend internets! :)

A fortnight.

Dude. (yes, I did just say "Dude")

We get married in 2 weeks. That is bananas (maybe even Bananas Foster! Yum!). Everyone is asking me if I am nervous. Lord no! I am not nervous! I am marrying the man of my dreams. Come on people! Oh, and pending deployments tend to put things into perspective, no? Now THAT is something to be nervous about!

Anyway, it is good to have the dress greens in the closet, and the ruck sacks have now made their way into storage downstairs. It feels like home again and that is good. Things are blissfully uneventful around here (save random family drama that we are trying to dodge) and it is grand.

Now for a random thought to ponder: What is your favorite highly-processed food? Mine is Velveeta. Yes, Velveeta by a mile.

Have a stellar weekend Internets! :)

Swiss has landed.

Swiss is home... with all his gear. Lawdy that guy has a lot of stuff (I however should not talk... I have TOO much stuff!) and it is all sitting squarely in the middle of the living room. I love it! (However it should be noted that the TV and Cable can't be turned on with all of the ruck sacks in the way. That HAS to change before Project Runway comes on tonight! I mean it!!!)

Anyway, posting will likely be light during the next month. I want to soak up all the extra time I can with Swiss... but I promise to check in and let y'all know what is going on. P.S. - The wedding is in almost 2 weeks! Hollah!

Okay, have a great rest of the week Internets... see you soon!

Chapter one.

So "Chapter One" of our life is coming to a close... Swiss moves from his ROTC post this Monday and we will be ending our dating/engaged life in a matter of weeks. The PCS is looming, as is the deployment. Life is changing... big time.

As I reminisce I can't get over how much has changed, with me, with Swiss, with our relationship and our lives in the last year plus.

Just over 14 months ago I has just bought my first house. I was happy, if not a little lonely... but I had my job, my friends, my hobbies... I was doing pretty good for myself. And then I met Swiss on a whim. After a few little speed-bumps we went on our first date July 24th. And I knew. I knew that was the last first date I would ever go on. I knew that he was exactly the man I described to my best friend Beth when she asked me EXACTLY what kind of guy I was looking for. I was looking for Swiss.

And here we are... with a bounty of changes on our horizon. We will be Mr. & Mrs. Swiss in just a few short weeks. We will have a whole month of being "normal" (by that I mean actually living in the same state, zip code, and home) together. We have a PCS in a matter of weeks and more than likely a trip to the Sandbox in the next few month. Both of which I am dreading... not just because it means a deployment, but because it means so much time away from Swiss. I hate time away from him. He makes me feel whole... feeling not-whole isn't much fun.

But as I look back on this past year (plus) I am always in awe of the joy, the happiness I have found, we have found. I am blown away by the changes and unexpected events that have come our way. I am proud of the challenges we have overcome. I am comforted and elated by the contentment, the respect, the friendship and the love we share.

So here is to Chapter One. You were great. You were bursting with surprises, you were stocked with fun and memories, and you were full of firsts.

You were the beginning of the rest of our lives.

She's alive!!!

Good news!

My dear little iMac is alive. She is healed up and doing great... she thanks you all for your well wishes. I get to bring her home tonight, all fresh and new.

HOORAY!

Bad news... $400 worth of repairs. Bah. And now I am phobic so I need to go get an external hard drive. Double Bah! Anyway, do any of you have recommendations? What do you do to back up your computer???

Sorry!

So posts have been slow for the last week. I know, but I have a good reason why:



My iMac is sick. She might be dying (gasp!). This makes me so very sad. And nervous... there's lots to be lost on that there iMac. Anyway, send her your get well wishes and toss out your magic computer fixing vibes to the Mac-Fix-It-Guy in town. I'll be back up and running, hopefully, soon.

In other news... Swiss left again. I am bummed out as usual. It boggles my mind how the leaving never gets easier, no matter how much you practice. But the week together was great... he'll be home again soon, this time for a month before the dreaded PCS... and that's a whole 'nother story. But hey, let's not forget the wedding in 3 weeks!

This is the soon-to-be Mrs. Swiss signing off... have a great week Internets!

Explosion.

So Swiss is home this week. He has a one week pass to go deer hunting and hang out with his beloved. And it has been wonderful. All sorts of alone time, family time, just hanging out time, go out to dinner and run errands time, watch TV time even! I love it. What I don’t love, however, is that fact that my living room now looks like an IED that was made out of tree stands and clothes all packed into luggage went off square in the middle of my living room.

Boom. Fabric shrapnel has made a mess of my home.

It doesn’t make me mad though. It makes me giggle a bit, actually. See, I am not a neat-freak or super anal about cleaning (though I do have my bouts of both)… so I have been able to shrug it off for the most part, figuring it was only temporary. But this morning I had to trudge through the mess, in the dark, while trying not to sprain an ankle or ungracefully bite it face first into the coffee table, in high heels.

That was when I decided we might have to make tonight’s “us” time “cleaning” time. How utterly unromantic of me!

Guilty pleasure.

Project Runway. I am a sucker for it. I have been since the very first season. Hopelessly addicted... That's me.

And today the Season 5 finalists had their Bryant Park collections shown! And I have been glued to the computer waiting to see the collections before the final... see, I hate secrets! Anywhoodles, I will post more when the complete collections are up on the net.

Happy Friday Internets!

UPDATE: Here they are... thanks to Tom and Lorenzo.

Remember.

Slacking.

My Mum is in town for the week. I will try very hard not to use this as an excuse to slack off on the blog. We have lots of fun wedding stuff to get done and Swiss, being the Prince Charming that he is, is taking my mom and his out for a day of fun on Friday. Isn't he the best? Anyway, I will try to sneak some posts in this week... promise! Have a Happy Tuesday Internets!

I want to be a Pioneer Woman.

There is this woman. Her name is Ree. She is a super cool lady who used to lived in the big city, she fell madly in love with a rancher back home and moved out to the country. Now she home schools her kids, takes beautiful photographs, cooks some wicked recipes, and writes an AWESOME blog (I am sure she does lots more, but I'm trying to be succinct!). Confessions of a Pioneer Woman.

Seriously, she has the coolest life. Swiss and I totally want to move out west when his Army days are done. Only we won't be ranchers. Maybe we will just live next to one. Or three.

Anyway, Ree has a FANTASTIC cooking/recipe section and last night I made 2 of her recipes. One was so darned good I ate the whole thing. I literally could not stop eating it. The other was mighty tasty too... So I thought I would pass them on to you and tell you to go check her out. She is cool. And she is coming out with a cookbook soon. Ree Rocks.

Crash Hot Potatoes: Super yummy and crunchy. I love me some potoatoes... so this was right up my alley. Crunchy potatoey goodness.

Fresh Corn Casserole: SHUT UP. This was insane. I ate the whole thing. I made it with a combination of canned and frozen corn because I am not yet a Pioneer Woman with fresh corn at my disposal. It still rocked. Big time.

Anyway, that is all I have to say about that. Hope y'all have a super day!

Sleepshirts.

I have a silly habit. I will only admit it to the likes of you ladies, those of you who know what it is like to be away from your DH for more than just a business trip or a weekend with the guys. Here it goes...

I sleep in Swiss's t-shirts when he leaves.

I know that doesn't sound so bad. But you see, it's not the clean ones in the drawers. It's the ones he just wore this weekend. Yes, I sleep in Swiss's dirty laundry. I know. Gross. But there is something about the smell of Swiss and dryer sheets that is positively intoxicating. Not to mention it is the same wondorous smell that I am greeted with every time I see Swiss, that would be when I burry my head into the nook of his neck and shoulder... same smell. And I love it. As sappy as this sounds, it makes me feel like he is there in bed when he is hundreds of miles away. His arms might not be there to surround me, he may not be there to curl up with, but at least it smells like he is there. It might not be a lot, but hey, I'll take whatever I can get.

Now you know one of my dirty (literally!) secrets. Do y'all have any of these silly quirks?

Alone time.

No, this isn't about being left alone when Swiss heads back to his current post (although it does suck, always will. And somehow it never gets easier... sigh).

This is about having a whole 28 hours to ourselves. Alone. No family. No responsibilities. No one else to attend to other than each other. And it was fantastic. We spent so much time curled up with one another I was a twee bit worried we might begin to physically grow together. And it was blissful! It is times like these that make me so sure that we are meant for one another, that we really are each other's perfect match. We get along so well, we have so much fun, we have so much love and admiration and respect for one another. There is so much affection and tenderness, so much support and comfort... and we don't need anyone else or anything else to keep us happy and content: just each other. He's the One. And it makes me so giddy to have found him!

PS: I finished two paintings this weekend... I will post the pictures this week! :)

Changing the pace.

With Swiss on his cross-country trek with the government van I will have some extra time this weekend. Time that I can do whatever I please with (don't be mistaken though... I would SO rather be with Swiss!). So what shall I do?

I think I shall paint. I am a not-so-closeted artist... but I really haven't had time with all that has been going on... any ideas for what I should paint?

These are just a few of the things I have done in the last year... now I just need some inspiration! Happy Friday Internets!

THANK YOU!

I cannot thank you all enough! And I can't possibly thank Butterfly Wife enough for sending you all here (she's the best!).


Your kind words and support and the fact that you were all willing to reach out to a stranger to lend whatever comfort and encouragement you could is incredible.



So thank you... from the bottom of my heart.


Love,
Tucker


Image courtesy of russmorris over at flickr.com

Deal with it.

I know I need to deal with all the uncertainties of military life. I know I need to come to terms with the fact that Swiss and I are the only ones who care about our lives. The Army most certainly does not.

But I can't help but be bummed about a whole day lost. It seems to be happening a lot lately. Swiss got up this morning, administered a PT test and was told that he had the rest of the day off. And I sat at home, watched TV, visited a friend, and generally did nothing special with my day. Only it would have been special if Swiss and I were together... it always is. Heck, if we would have known I would have driven back to the college with him last night. But no. Not to be. So I am bummed.