Travis is away to Coachella. That man works so hard. I cant help but love him even more for being so willing to work as hard as he does for us. He's been gone almost a week now (sure do miss his handsome smile around here.)
I was on the range this past week, a most exhausting experience with days that start at 2:30 in the morning and end at about 5 pm (thats PRE-45 minute drive home). But alas, you're looking at the Marine Corps most recent Expert Rifle'girl'--Quite an accomplishment, if I do say so myself. It's taken me a few tries to get there. I've seen the days of Marksman, Sharpshooter and now finally... a composite-score-raising Expert. I know; I'm kind of a big deal.
In other news, I'm dreadfully sick with something that must be similiar to the flu--I am mis-er-able. But this is practically tradition post range week. Lots of dust, carbon, early cold weather, very little sleep and hearty stress levels apparently annoy your immune system just enough that by the following Saturday, it's given up on you and you're a congested head-ached, fevered mess. In fewer words, none of the projects I intended to work on this weekend were touched and none of the "Travis is coming home" cleaning got done. No one likes to come home from a weeks worth of work to a full trash can and unfolded loads of laundry... But I was couch-ridden today and couldnt bring myself to even consider doing any of those things. I slept through most of the day, mouth breathing until my throat could take no more and I awoke with my latest and least favorite symptom: a very sore throat. (Man, I sure am a whiney thing.) I'm lucky Travis is so sweet and for lack of a better term, "low maintenance"--he wont care at all about the unfolded laundry, unloaded dishwasher and full trashcan. He's much more of "what we eatin' for dinner?" kind of guy then a "why are all those clothes on the couch?" man. Did quite well with picking him, I do believe. :P
Lets talk about my Saturday. (It is Sunday and there are still clothes on the couch, so what did I do all day Saturday you ask?) Well, I had to be in San Diego at 5:30 in the morning for a 5k. If you didnt know, that's an hour and a half drive for me. And if you somehow forgot, I take foreverrrr and a day to get ready for anything, so I was up at 3:00 to leave by 4:00, to speed as safely as I could and arrive promptly 15 minutes prior. Don't get to thinking this is some silly thing ingrained in me by the Marine Corps, I used that saved 15 minutes to put mascara on, which I couldnt do safely driving down the highway. Anyhow, that was over and done with by 10 and I was headed home when a I got a wild hair to check out the beautiful (and high end) La Jolla mall. Ok, so maybe that was part of the motivation for getting up so early, but dont tell Travis, he doesnt need to know. This mall is the only mall around me that has an Anthropologie and I hadnt been in soo long. So off to the La Jolla mall I zipped. I promised before I got out of the car that I would not stop at every store along the way (its a beautiful "outside mall"). So straight to Anthropologie I went. And let me just say, when I shop, I am totally enveloped in seeing and touching EVERYTHING there is to see and touch. Anyone who knows me can attest to this--Mary wont shop with me for this reason. So fast forward 2 hours, and everything in Anthropologie has my little fingerprints on it and I leave with the cutest little butter dish and some ceramic flower shaped measuring cups and a very happy-girl smile. My treasures for the day!
This wasnt the most interesting part of my day though. I had a weird "coincidence" happen. (I put coincidence in quotes because I'm not totally sure where I stand on whether those exist, or if God is doing something I just dont understand yet.) Anyhow, I had just been to this 5k, and met a few people who reminded me of video I'd seen years before. It was at work, as part of some annual training, and a character in the movie was named Carpenter. We had a Carpenter in our platoon and every time in the movie that they'd say "Carp's gone" we'd look at him eerily. Well, as I was thinking "I wonder how Carpenter is doing..." I notice a person has awkwardly stopped right in front of me as I'm walking through the mall... and who is it? CARPENTER! The kid I just totally had a random thought about is right in front of my face. I jumped a little and my mouth was no doubt hanging open a second. He apparently recognized me as he was walking the opposite of me and stopped, equally in shock to see me there. We exchanged "Hi, how have you been's" and talked a little about who we knew was where and how they were and then I shook his hand and was on my way. But how weird to have a random thought about someone you normally never give any thought to and then randomly see that person not a second before the thought is gone. Strange occurrence, strange, strange. Especially since neither of us is stationed in or near La Jolla. That was just one of about 3 "coincidences" that day--but the others are less weird and not interesting enough to write about it. Especially since I'm getting more and more congested and tired as this goes... I'll probably head to bed now. I'm much closer to having my sweet husband home and in bed with me, so sleep will come easy tonight.
A Moment in Time:
You are a terrible cousin and friend and have not yet sent Danielle her birthday gift. You should do that tomorrow, you mean thing.
Note to self: You need a larger variety of music on this blog. One good Adele song is pushing it.
Dani Aplin got married this weekend. She's Dani Evans now. In case you forget.
Garrett joined the Air Force! Holy cow, you're going to have fun with that--actually you're jealous. You should of been an officer. Keep reminding yourself that "in order to truly be a good leader, you have to have at least tried out being a follower first".
