Gizelle's Farewell

Gizelle left 3 weeks ago, but I'm finally getting to the pictures from her farewell. We had her farewell dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Zama. One of my English students is the manager there. We got a 7 course dinner and an open bar for 2 hours for 5000 yen/person!

We miss you Gizelle!

Hydrangea Season

June and July are hydrangea season in Japan. The flowering bushes are huge and I just love the different colors of the flowers. Here are a few pictures from when Glenn was home around the 4th of July. Miss you baby!

Notice all the photographers in this picture? Glenn and I waited around for 20 or 30 minutes to see what they were waiting for... we think it was the fish. How you take a picture of a jumping fish...I don't quite understand, but they just kept waiting!

Happy Anniversary Dave & Jen!

I can't believe it's been 5 years already! Have a wonderful day!

Indonesia!

I'm headed to Indonesia today for a long vacation! I'm going with a friend because Glenn is still on deployment. We'll be heading to Bali, Lombok and Singapore!

Hopefully we'll see some of this...

and this...

and maybe not so much of the GIANT fish...

Posts will be automatic for the next few weeks!

Wordless Wednesday

Invincible Spirit

Here's a video from Fox News of Glenn's ship!

Keep doing good work, Mr. I'm so proud of you!

Here's a link to another story and video. You even get a glimpse of the mighty E-2C!

Weekend Trip: Day 2 Osaka

We started Day 2 in Osaka with some breakfast and shopping. Since several of the girls with us were straight out of college, they do meals the cheap way- the combini! Aka convenience store. We got some yogurt and coffee (and walked past the 20 minute line for Krispy Kream) and started our day with some shopping! After shopping, we took the subway a few stops away to the Osaka Buffalos Baseball Dome! I wish Glenn had been here, he loves a good J baseball game.

 The Buffalos lost to the Tigers unfortunately, but there were plenty of Chu-His and pickle dancers to go around. That sounds weird, but really what else would you call this?

After the game, we headed back to our hotel for a quick shower, nap and to change for dinner. We ate at a great restaurant called Slices that served American style pizza. Amazing! No corn, no mayo. Just real pizza toppings! Sadly, I didn't take any pictures. After dinner we went to a karaoke place. The karaoke places we have been to around here, are usually pay per hour. This place though, was a flat fee and you could use it until they close at 6 am! We only lasted about 3 hours (and so did our booze).

Osaka was a fun town, I'll have to go back again with Glenn some day!

Weekend Trip: Day 1 Osaka

In Osaka we stayed at a capsule hotel. Capsule hotels were originally designed for business men who need a quick and cheap place to stay when they couldn't make the last train or had to stay in the city for the night. The hotel provides everything you need from pjs to toothbrushes, hairbrushes and laundry machines. You could easily show up with very little and be just fine.

We chose this hotel cause it was cheap! Only 3800 yen/person/night (~$40). Compared to the average hotel that is closer to $100/person/night, it was great! This particular hotel was more like a hostel and it reminded me a lot of traveling in Europe with Laura. Since there were 4 girls in our group, we paid a little extra than the average capsule to have our own private room. If you don't have a private room, you are just one capsule in a giant room of many beds. You have a locker to put your bag in. Since we had our own room, we could just leave our bags out.

The bathroom is a typical Japanese style onsen bathroom. You shower with strangers (in the open, there are no curtains or stalls or anything). The bathrooms are obviously divided in to men and women sides though. It sounds strange for westerners and it was definitely strange the first time, but now it seems pretty normal.

The capsules were pretty spacious. The width of a twin bed and it was tall enough for me to sit up. Each one has it's own TV (and coin slot for the porn channels, nice), light, radio, alarm clock and little shelves. There is also a screen that you can pull closed. Our private room also came with tables and chairs, a fan and our own AC unit!

Check that J experience off my list! I wouldn't stay here when traveling with Glenn, but with our group of all girls, it worked perfect!

Weekend Trip: Day 1 Kyoto

Last weekend, I went to visit my friend Hillary. Hillary has come to Atsugi base, I've been to her home town in Fukui, but this time we decided to meet somewhere else!

We started the weekend on Saturday and we both took the train to Kyoto. A famous festival, Gion Matsuri, was finishing on Saturday and we wanted to check out the end of it. We watched a parade that was somewhat disappointing (mostly because of the number of people), but it was neat to see the child that is used at the "diety" of the festival. This festival is the only one in Japan that uses an actual child for this anymore. Interesting!

Apparently it was a pants optional parade as well-

Hillary came with a few of her friends as well- Lindsey, Tessa and Kim (Rob came too but he's not in this picture). I met Tessa when I visited Fukui in March.

Kyoto was crazy hot if you couldn't tell by the use of their fans. At one point in the day we sat along the river so we could stick our feet in and cool off!

After the parade, we took the train to Osaka where our hotel was for the weekend. We stayed in a capsule hotel which was pretty nice! More pictures tomorrow!

My New SchitBag

I may have sent Glenn a link saying that this particular bag would make his husbandless wife back home all alone, much happier. Being the smart man that he is, this showed up just a few short weeks later! (from Malaysia? huh, oh well)

I may also have a small obsession with hip bags- that Donna Karen named the schitbag in her new fall line. Really? Worst name ever.

Stella is a fan too. Now if I could just get her to carry her own schit bags...scratch that...not just carry, but use them to pick up what it sounds like should go in that kind of bag...I'd be a happy lady.

This is a bad pic of the bag, but honestly, how cute is my dog??

Glenn at Work #2

So it has taken Glenn 5 days to send 7 pictures. Mostly because the internet on the boat is not very reliable, especially when sending large files. Sometimes, emails just disappear and I wonder why I didn't get an email all day. Then I write an email saying how sad I am that I didn't get one and his response is "I sent 3!". I suppose I'll always take a missed email one day over waiting 3 weeks for a single letter to arrive via the mail. It's not so bad, and now you get to see pictures of him over a couple days. Here he is doing some move waving- making sure those planes get on board safely!

Stella's Biggest Fan

Stella stayed with some squadron friends while I went to Osaka for the weekend. Maddie loves Stella so much! I knew she was in good hands.

What did people do before Skype?

Seeing this face makes me happy. And I didn't miss his call cause Vonage forwards to my J cell phone. I love that. Miss you baby. Talk to you in the morning!

Have fun in Busan, baby.

It's all over the news now, so we can talk about it here. Glenn's back in Busan, South Korea this week for a port call. He was last there in October 2008 right after he joined VAW-115. He said he promises to take his camera with him this time. Right, Mr??? Take pictures, please.

I won't be visiting him at this port call, cause well, it's Korea. I've got my eyes on a bigger prize if you know what I mean.

I am excited about skyping with Glenn and getting to talk on the phone a little more. He's excited about beer and land, I'm sure. Just make sure you get back on that boat, Mr, so I can see you at the next port call!

Izu Fun Dive

I am behind on some big events of the last few weeks, but I will try to catch up! I was out of town all weekend visiting a friend from college and I have a big trip that I leave on in a week and a half. So much to do! First, a couple weekend ago, I went scuba diving in Japan! The water wasn't as clear as Guam, it actually reminded me of when I got certified in the lake in Minnesota, but with much different sea life. Yesterday was Marine/Sea Day in Japan (a national holiday) so this is a good post to follow that!

My friend Nicole and I signed up for a tour through Camp Zama's tour office. It was advertised as a refresher/fun dive for new divers. That's us! We started the morning early with a 3 hour drive south to the Izu peninsula. The best part of the drive was towards the end when we had amazing views of Fuji across the bay. An amazing backdrop for our dive.

Our tour guide, Yoshi, had an underwater case for his camera and was able to take some pictures for us during the dive! Since our group was so small, only 4 people, it was easy to stick together and get some fun shots! The area that we went diving at, Osezaki, is a very popular place for divers. Underwater, they had rope courses that you could follow and different "sights" along the way.

Here I am with a Winnie the Pooh (Pooh-san) statue! This was close to the underwater shrine as well!

The cluster on the right side in the plant are squid eggs.

We did two approximately 30-40 minute dives with a lunch break in between. Our max depth of the dive was about 55 feet. I really enjoy diving and am becoming more comfortable with my skills and my buoyancy. I can't wait to go diving again somewhere!

Glenn at Work

Glenn sent me a few pictures of him "waving" (aka bringing the planes on board safely). I love getting pictures of him while he is gone. It's nice to see what he does each day. Miss you baby!

A jet landing safely!

Members of Glenn's "wave" team:

Looks like they had a nice day for flying and waving. Stay safe Mr.

14 Things NOT to Say to Military Spouse

A friend posted this on Facebook...so true!

1. "Aren't you afraid that he'll be killed?"
(This one ranks in at number one on the "duh" list. Of course we're afraid. We're terrified. The thought always lingers at the backs of our minds ---but thanks brilliant, you just brought it back to the front. Maybe next you can go ask someone with cancer if they're scared of dying.)

2. "I don't know how you manage. I don't think I could do it."
(This is intended to be a compliment. Though, its just a little annoying. Here's why: it's not like all of us military wives have been dreaming since childhood of the day we'd get to be anxious single moms who carry cell phones with us to the bathroom and in the shower. We're not made of some mysterious matter that makes us more capable, we just got asked to take on a challenging job. So we rose to the challenge and found the strength to make sacrifices.)

3. "At least he's not in Iraq."
(This is the number one most annoying comment for those whose husbands are in Afghanistan. What do they think is happening in Afghanistan? An international game of golf? Guys are fighting and dying over there.)

4. "Do you think he'll get to come home for Christmas/anniversary/birthday/birth of a child/wedding/family reunion, etc?"

(Don't you watch the news? No! They don't get to come home for any of these things. Please don't ask again.)

5. "What are you going to do to keep yourself busy while he's gone?"
(Short answer: Try to keep my sanity. Maybe there's a military wife out there who gets bored when her husband leaves, but I have yet to meet her. For the rest of us, those with and without children, we find ourselves having to be two people. That keeps us plenty busy. We do get lonely, but we don't get bored, and drinking massive amounts of wine always helps keep me busy.)

6. "How much longer does he have until he can get out?"
(This one is annoying to many of us whether our husbands are deployed or not. Many of our husbands aren't counting down the days until they "can" get out. Many of them keep signing back up again and again because they actually love what they do or they VOLUNTEER AGAIN and AGAIN to go back to Iraq b/c there is work that needs to be done.)

7. "This deployment shouldn't be so bad, now that you're used to it."
(Sure, we do learn coping skills and its true the more deployments you've gone through, the easier dealing with it becomes. And we figure out ways to make life go smoother while the guys are gone. But it never gets "easy" and the bullets and bombs don't skip over our guys just because they've been there before. The worry never goes away.)

8. "My husband had to go to Europe for business once for three weeks. I totally know what you're going through."
(This one is similar to number two. Do not equate your husband's three week trip to London/Omaha/Tokyo/etc. with a 12-15 month or more deployment to a war zone. Aside from the obvious time difference, nobody shot at your husband or tried to blow him up with an I.E.D., your husband could call home pretty much any time he wanted to, he flew comfortably on a commercial plane, slept between crisp white sheets and ate well, paying for everything with an expense account. There is no comparison. We do not feel bonded to you in the slightest because of this comment and, if anything, we probably resent you a bit for it. Comparing a 12 month combat deployment to a few weeks business trip is like comparing a shitty ford taurus with mercedes convertible.)

9. "Wow you must miss him?"
(This one also gets antoher big "duh". Of course we miss our men. There are some wives who do not and they're now divorced.)

10. "Where is he exactly? Where is that?"
(I don't expect non-military folks to be able to find Anbar Province on a map, but they should know by now that it's in Iraq. Likewise, know that Kabul and Kandahar are in Afghanistan. Know that Muqtada al Sadr is the insurgent leader of the Mahdi Army in Iraq and that Sadr City is his home area. Our country has been at war in Afghanistan for seven years and at war in Iraq for five years. These basic facts are not secrets, they're on the news every night and in the papers every day ---and on maps everywhere.)

11. "Well, he signed up for it, so it's his own fault whatever happens over there.
(Yes, ignorant, he did sign up. Each and every day he protects your right to make stupid comments like that. He didn't sign up and ask to be hit by anything, he signed up to protect his country. Oh, and by the way, he asked me to tell you that "You're welcome." He's still fighting for your freedom.)

12. "Don't you miss sex! I couldn't do it!"
(hmmm, no i don't miss sex. i'm a robot. seriously...military spouses learn quickly that our relationships must be founded on something greater than sex. We learn to appreciate the important things, like simply hearing their voices, seeing their faces, being able to have dinner together every night. And the hard truth is, most relationships probably couldn't withstand 12 months of sex deprivation.)

13. "Well in my opinion....."
(Stop right there. Yo, I didn't ask for you your personal political opinions. Hey, I love a heated political debate, but not in the grocery store, not in Jamba Juice, not at Nordstrom, not in a bar when I'm out with my girls trying to forget the war, and CERTAINLY NOT AT WORK. We tell co-workers about deployments so when we have to spend lunch hours running our asses off doing errands and taking care of the house, dog, and kids, they have an understanding. We do not tell co-workers and colleagues because we are giving an invitation to ramble about politics or because we so eagerly want to hear how much they hate the President, esp. while we're trying to heat up our lean cuisines in the crappy office microwaves.)

last but not least....

14. "OH, that's horrible...I'm so sorry!"
(He's doing his job and he's a badass. Don't be sorry. Be appreciative and please take a moment out of your comfortable American lives to realize that our soldiers fight the wars abroad so those wars stay abroad.)

Yay!

I got to talk to Amy and Marcy today on Skype. Miss you girls! They are roommates for awhile since both of their husbands are on deployment. It was wonderful catching up. It's nice to know that no matter what side of the world we're on, we'll always be friends. See you in Virginia next year! I can't wait!

Isn't it funny?

Yesterday was one of those day. One of those days that really only military wives can relate. So the rest of you that read this, bear with me. One of those days that when I hear a random Christmas song while my iPod is on shuffle, it makes me cry cause I realize Glenn won't make it home in time to set up the Christmas tree when we usually do. One of those days, when I think about him, I get the biggest lump in my throat cause I miss him so much. One of those days when you sit at work, but all I want to do is be at home with my dog watching "Sixteen and Pregnant". Don't judge, maybe I just like to watch people who's lives are far worse than mine could ever be regardless of the geographical location of my future baby-daddy. One of those days that I hate the Navy cause we have to say 'Goodbye' far more often than we want to to friends and family. So yeah, it was just one of those days.

So isn't it funny, or ironic, or cosmically wonderful that yesterday and today, I got to talk to a best friend 3 times, received an out of the blue email from an old friend, got a package from my grandparents, received the cutest present ever from Glenn (whether or not I asked for it is another story- it showed up today karma), and happened upon an impromptu neighborhood bbq that gives me the necessary reminder that I don't do this alone, and they all feel the same way (co-parenting means something different on a military base).

It was one of those days. And next week might have another one and the month after that and after that and after that, but deployments always end. And then he'll be home.

Happy Birthday Ali!

Happy Birthday Ali! I'm late on the post, but I was on time with the email and phone call! I hope you had a great birthday. Miss you!

Wordless Wednesday

What's for Dinner? His Last Meal

Glenn wanted to stay home and grill out on his last night at home before heading to the ship last week. He decided on some steaks which we paired with Honey Roasted Red Potatoes. I kept the butter, increased the honey and added some cayenne pepper as well. They turned out great and tasted even better once they cooled a bit and the honey had a chance to thicken up again. I'd add even more mustard and honey next time. Since we thought we needed even more carbs, we added some garlic bread as well. A yummy dinner before he returns to the world of lunch, dinner and midrats (the midnight-0200 meal served on the boat). I'm going to miss my grillmaster! Charcoal, huh?