Only week II?

Week II (only that long? feels like for-ev-errrrrr)

Emotional: I miss Lyle a lot. I'm highly stressed right now so my emotions are running pretty high. A couple times last week things just felt really overwhelming and I had to take a deep breath instead of just bursting into tears. Because crying wouldn't solve the problem. Or make it any better. 

Physical: I'm feeling great- starting to taper (reduce) my weekly running mileage for the marathon and I'm feeling strong. Lots of hydration, hand-washing and vitamins. Gotta stay healthy.  I had a great run on Sunday with my training group, met a new gal and we carried on conversation for about 8 miles. Pretty impressive. 

Communication: Lyle has been amazing with writing emails. I love getting email so frequently! I need to get better about sending them more often.

Something Fun You did This week: Spending time with Dan and Shane while watching terrible movies from 1992 was really fun. 

What are you looking forward to next week: THE NEW HOUSE!!!!!

What made you happy this week: Reading emails from Lyle and family, the election results, the Cowboys beat the Eagles yesterday. I also got a haircut which was some nice "me" time. 

What made you sad/mad this week: Feeling stressed/anxious about the move, wishing Lyle were here to help. 

What do you miss this week: Cooking and eating meals together. I ate fish 4 or 5 times last week because it was easy. I wish he was here to grill some delicious meat. 

Favorite song/show/movie of the moment: I'm so guilty of rocking out to ridiculous music this week- new song from Taylor Swift that is super cheesy. Lots of peppy pop music happening these days. 

Pictures from this Week: 

 New haircut. I LOVE IT! 

 Stuck in traffic (as usual) but the view was pretty. 

 Less than a month to go now! Woohoo!

Huge full rainbow Saturday evening. Never gets old. 

Deployment Recap Week 1

The first week on my own:

Emotional: Goodbye day was SO tough. Even now thinking too long about those last moments together gets me teary. But after that first day apart I've done really well. That is, until Sunday night. Sunday nights always were tough during deployments on The Old Boat and apparently still continue to be that way. It was all I could do to not randomly burst into tears at the grocery store Sunday night, just because I was feeling weepy. 

Physical: Mostly good- my right foot is a little tender, I think from being on my feet so much in the kitchen last week when I was packing boxes. I had another long run for my marathon training today and it was great! My running group planned for 16 miles and I felt strong and amazing the whole time, even though it was hot and hazy. 

Communication:  I feel lucky to have gotten a couple emails so far. I know that soon we won't have email and the silence will be tough. Lyle also left me a stack of cards to open at certain times and I got to open a card on Halloween. It was cute and fun and made my day. 

Something Fun You did This week: I ran a 5k on Saturday called The Color Run- it was an untimed, FUN run where you wear white and get colored powder thrown on you at various points along a race course. See pictures below. 

What are you looking forward to next week: It's going to be a busy week so I'm looking forward to it passing quickly, I guess? 

What made you happy this week: Email and my Halloween card. 

What made you sad/mad this week: Hearing about the devastation on the East Coast is tough. 

What do you miss this week: My old job in South Carolina. I miss having 4 day work weeks, being basically my own boss, my office and the people I worked with. Not that I don't enjoy my work out here, but I miss BCI. 

Favorite song/show/movie of the moment:  Nothing new to report. I rarely watch TV, I haven't been to the movies or a RedBox lately. The only TV I watched this week was football. But there are a few shows I'm excited to watch- The Next Iron Chef Road to Redemption and Whitney starts back up again in 2 weeks. 

Pictures from this week: 

 Halloween Inspired Mani! 

 Snuggles with Captain Jack

 How I spent my Friday night- updating rosters and Phone Trees.

 The Color Run! With our friend Dan before and then my shirt after the Colors!

Pretty sunrise this morning on my way to go running. 

Deployment Recap- Week Zero

Emotional: All over the place- this week has been good, bad and hard. I held it together until Friday night. Then I just started losing it at random times. I know that will continue to happen a lot more, it's just how I am. 

Physical: I'm doing really well- I ran 18 miles on Sunday morning and though they felt slow, my pace was right on target for my marathon pace goal. I was tired afterwards but no major pains. 

Communication:  Lyle was home all week so we were able to talk lots. We had lots of talks about the next few months and our expectations for each other. And lots of verbalizing things like "Yes, it's okay to call me at 3am if you are in a port". My favorite thing was Lyle telling me that he doesn't like blonde hair- in the nearly 7 years we've been together he's never told me that. It's a good thing he said something because I'm contemplating a major hairstyle change and had thought about getting blonde highlights. That would have been a shock when he didn't like it! I'm going to miss being able to talk to him everyday about all the random things I think about. Communication is going to be tough this trip. 

Something Fun You did This week: Lots of playing cribbage, eating tons of good food and just spending time together. 

What are you looking forward to next week: Getting these tough emotions out of the way. 

What made you happy this week: Spending as much time as possible with Lyle. 

What made you sad/mad this week: Today. Today is a sad day. Also- the Tsunami Threat made for a long night Saturday and cancelled my 30k race so I guess that made me a little mad. But I still ran and everyone was safe, so I can't be too mad about it. 

What do you miss this week: My girlfriends from the Old Boat. I miss Janet, Jess, Liz and Erica- a lot. Those gals got me through my first deployments and I wish I could go to their houses and drink wine, play games, watch TV and have our little girl family during this deployment. 

Favorite song/show/movie of the moment: The new album from Ben Gibbard makes my heart happy. 

Pictures from This week:

 Lyle got a new tattoo! It's on his ring finger. He's hardcore. 

 Lexi in her new Halloween Costume- a Yellow Submarine that our neighbors gave us. She hates it. 

 My amazing dinner last night at dk Steakhouse- Wild Caught Opah with King Crab Risotto. It was delish. 

Right before we had to say goodbye... 

The Beginning

"Have you heard of tiny Melinda Mae,
Who ate a monstrous whale?
She thought she could,
She said she would,
So she started in right at the tail.

And everyone said,"You're much too small,"
But that didn't bother Melinda at all,
She took little bites and she chewed very slow,
Just like a little girl should...


...and eighty-nine years later she ate that whale
Because she said she would!!!"

It won't take me 89 years, but I'm taking this one bite at a time and chewing very slowly.