My engagement ring(s)

Ok, this is waaaaayyyy overdue, but I have had so much stuff to do I just can't get around to sitting down and actually making a legitimate blog entry!!! Life is ridiculously crazy right now, and a lot of it has to do with the military (that could be a whole book of blogs in of itself...)

Anyways, I've been meaning to download a couple pics of my rings. The reason I have two is also because of the military, and my regular work; uniform requirements and policies on jewelry! My "official" engagement ring has two black onyx hearts, and my "work" engagement ring has one tiny onyx heart. Here they are:

Surprise!

I'm engaged- actually, I have been since March 28th!!! Surprising, isn't it? Yep, to me too! I just really was never sure when- or even if- it would actually happen to me. And honestly, I never cared either way. I have always been of the mindset that yes, it would be great to find my "dream man" and marry him one day, but at the same time, it would just be the "icing on the cake", so to say! There's always so much stuff going on in my life, that I always felt I wouldn't really miss anything if I never got married.

But now I can say I am truly engaged to who I believe is the perfect match for me! Phil is awesome, and he doesn't put up a fuss with being called Piglet :) His proposal was casual and non-chalant (he asked me while we were out for a run), and we're trying to approach our wedding with the same persective- no stress, just have fun with it! We're looking at February 8, 2010 as our wedding day.

For those who are curious, I do have an engagement ring...I'll try to get pictures posted sometime soon. But use your imagination- if you know me, you know it doesn't look like a normal engagement ring! :P

We'd appreciate your prayers and support as we enter these foreign waters of wedding planning!!! Yikes! My roomie has already been a big help in decifering fancy pancy restaurant food words :) Its crazy, this wedding stuff- and don't worry, my wedding won't be normal either!!!

Wisdom Teeth Removal and an Official Announcement

I have 2 major things to report!!!

First- I had the not-so-fun experience of having all four of my wisdom teeth removed at once. This happened at 10 am last Saturday. Phil went with me as my support and "driver." For the procedure, I was completely knocked out. I was very nervous about this. Going under wasn't so bad actually. But apparently when they were bringing me back in to concsiousness, I had some serious issues! I do remember feeling like I was drowning, and not able to do anything about it. My brain registered one word- "wheelchair" (I guess they were trying to lift me into a wheelchair)- and I FREAKED OUT. They say I started thrashing and hyperventilating. All I knew was that I was sure I was dying and I could feel terrible pain! Phil says it took at least 30 minutes before I was completely back to normal. Anyway, I am now doing fine, and I'm waiting for the last bit of swelling to go down on my left side. Its still pretty sore. In just these few days I've had to make myself eat soft stuff like yogurt, oatmeal, and soup, and I lost 3 pounds in 3 days. I can't WAIT to eat solid food again! I just managed to finish a small bowl of turkey chili, so I'm getting there...slowly but surely! And thank God for ibuprofen and Vicodin...

Secondly- my official announcement is that I will NOT be going on the May deployment with my unit. I have very mixed feelings about this, and definitely appreciate your prayers as I make the appropriate adjustments to my life as a result of this decision. My medical paperwork was reviewed by the State Surgeon General, and my medical flag was not lifted. So I'm not going anywhere- at least for now. At least I finally have a definitive answer!

Birthday fun

Ok, so to catch up, my brother Rob came and visited from February 27th through March 2nd. It was a lot of fun, and I wanted to do something for my birthday (which was on the 5th!) while he was here. So we had a "pre-celebration" at the Wild Animal Park! It was a great day with good hot weather, and all the animals were out and about.







It was a bummer that Rob couldn't make it to my actual birthday. But it turned out well enough! A bunch of friends went with me to the Jasmine Bistro, a cool little restaurant at the Parkway Plaza mall. Afterwards, the people that could make it also came by the apartment and had chocolate truffle cheesecake, baked by my chef-in-training roommate, Tammi! It was by far one of the best birthdays I've had yet!

Overdue Pics

Its been a while since I last posted! I've been really busy, and fairly stressed out. Ok...really stressed out. A lot of it has to do with my ongoing medical issues. For all of you who have been praying for me, THANK YOU, and please continue!!! :) You have no idea how much it means to me. As I'm sure you've all figured out if you've been around me long enough, the military is one huge "hurry up and wait" process. I am still waiting for a confident Yes or No on whether or not I'm deploying. Its looking like a No, but I know better than to accept that right away!

Anyways, on to the pics. These pics is from my most recent trip to Camp Roberts with my unit. The purpose of the trip was for our preliminary pre-deployment medical screening. (I failed, by the way, which has resulted in the stress I referred to above...). During our time there, platoon did what we could to make the process as painless as possible. This included group games and a BBQ!

And these are from on the bus, on the way back to San Diego:

We're a random, rowdy, but very cool bunch of people let me tell you!!!

Two exciting things

The first is a movie that just came out. Its called The Uninvited. I went and saw it Monday night, and was totally enthralled with it!!! If you like drama, suspense, pyschological themes, and not over-the-top horror, this is the perfect movie for you- which of course, made it the perfect movie for me! :) I'm not going to say ANYTHING in detail about it because you have to go see it for yourself. It was a very well-done, actually believable movie, with great acting. Go see it!!!

The second thing is that my brother Rob is planning on coming out to San Diego to visit again! He was here for Thanksgiving last year, and this time its just for a bit of fun and relaxation. He'll be here from the 27th through March 2nd. I'm always excited to see my brothers!

I made myself watch it

Tonight I watched Home of the Brave with Tammi. I'm not sure if that was a good idea or a bad one! Basically the movie is about 4 soldiers who come home from Iraq, and how they cope with everything. In other words, a movie about PTSD. Great. I'll admit, there were parts that made me tear up, and the only other movie that gets me like that is Blackhawk Down. So that's gotta mean something...