It's Columbus Day!

Ok, so it's not really Columbus Day for the entire country, but for this military family it is! This past Tuesday, Captain J and I pulled up to what is to be our last hotel on our long PCS journey. My beautiful Beamer, J's F350 baby, two sweet Alaskan huskies, and a few items of clothing were all we had to our names but I can't describe how good it felt to finally be in Columbus, GA. This is the city that will be home to us until the Army tells us otherwise. We've made it!

On our first night here, we drove around exploring a bit until we decided to stop and have dinner. I knew we were going to have some semblance of a date night so I wanted to look pretty :) If you follow me on Twitter, you know that my husband has created an awesome tradition for when we travel. Can I brag on him for just a moment? He gets me new jewelry that is characteristic of the place we're visiting. When we were in Arizona, he bought me this:

I put the necklace and earrings on (obviously) and actually painted my face a bit. To say that I was slacking in that department during our trip is a definite understatement.

Captain J and I had Mexican cuisine at a place called, Los Amigos. The restaurant wasn't crowded at all, but we enjoyed it. I ordered shrimp fajitas and a frozen margarita. Yum!

I think we're going to like it here.

Are you in the Fort Benning area? Do you know someone who is? Send me their blog links! I'd love to get to know the city via the blogs and it would be awesome to get to know some friends in the area, too.

Updates to come!

(P.S.- It feels wonderful to be a two car family again! Woo hoo! Freedom.)

(P.P.S.- The realty website already took down the photos of our new place, pictures to come in the near future.)

Blissful Birthday

I suppose I owe you all a birthday post, don't I? Or perhaps it's very narcissistic to believe that you all give two hoots about what I did on my birthday weekend. Regardless, I'm going to tell you alllll about it! Thursday evening, Captain J and I deemed date night. We hadn't had one since the game night date night a couple of weeks prior so we decided to spend some time together at a new restaurant in town. We headed down college road for the quiet atmosphere that Azucar Fina provides. Fairbanksians, if you haven't been there- go treat yourself. The food was amazing! I actually cleaned my plate, finished my wine, and had dessert. That never happens! The Cuban cuisine was cooked perfectly and the service was great, too. When we first walked in, Beauty and the Beast was playing on their large flat screen. It's possible that this is what sold me. I sang (quietly) to Disney ballads until they turned off the movie and put on some Latin music. This was okay with me, too but I definitely didn't mind the kiddo tunes either.

Saturday, Captain J was hanging with his buddy all day so I joined my dear, Ashley, at the Women's Bazaar on UAF campus. I bought some items there and then headed home for a nap. I just love Saturday afternoon naps! I woke up later and headed to a Wii party with some of my favorite Fairbanks girls! We had a good time playing Guitar Hero and Mario, although I think many of us lacked the talent required for the former. Here are the two pros of the evening-

[caption id="attachment_1826" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Poor Justin ended up being the only dude in company."][/caption]

Don't they look intensely focused? After some Wii action, they turned off the lights, lit some candles, and sang me Happy Birthday with a huge chocolate cake in hand! I'm so thankful for thoughtful, sweet friends :)

Sunday was a good day, too but we decided not to do much that day because we had too many other things to get accomplished because of the move. I woke up and began getting ready for breakfast at a favorite local spot. Captain J surprised me with a gift certificate to Elements for a massage, pedicure, manicure, and facial. The big day is tomorrow. I can't wait! It will be nice to relieve some stress. I've been crazy with all these PCSing tasks.

The movers came yesterday to estimate how long it might take to pack up our entire house. While here, they informed me of what all items that we couldn't take including liquids. Umm...

Look how many liquids I have just in the perfume department! They can't take them and I don't know that I can either. I know there's alcohol in perfumes, but is it enough to not freeze while floating on a boat through parts of Alaska and Canada? Any suggestions? I can't part with my smell goods :(

Anyway, my birthday night, J cooked for me. I don't know if I've told you this before but my husband is a pretty amazing cook. I told him what I'd like to eat and he went to the grocery, stocked up on what we'd need, and purchased a bottle of wine that my Mimi suggested. I had a lovely birthday evening with him and went to bed that night feeling incredibly blessed and loved.

a taste of wine (and regret) weekend

Hello Readers. Much has happened since we last spoke. Please allow me to update you with the goings-on around me. My hubby returned home, much later than we expected. It didn't matter much, though because I was in good ole North Pole helping out a friend (ahem...Shannon's Blog). Did you like my plug-in there? I've linked to this lady before, but I wanted to do so again because she is fabulous. Anyway, I was very happy to welcome Captain J home, but as I write that now it seems odd because he is already leaving again. I'll be saying my goodbyes again tonight.

We made the most of our weekend. Saturday we spent way too much money and acted like rockstars. To start the night off, we went to a restaurant nestled on the Chena River for appetizers and wine. We dined on the porch and talked about our future and starting a family. We sipped on Riesling and had a tasty fruit and cheese plate and thought about where we would head next. After making a quick run on post, we went back to our extravagant (well, extravagant for us) spending spree and found ourselves at Bobby's, a local Greek restaurant. We enjoyed a dinner of greek pizza, salad, and red wine and headed towards the door to make our last stop for dessert.

We love doing that--eating our courses at different locations. It can get pricey, though but we do it when we can. It's just that much more time we get to spend together at meal times.

Anyway, on the way out the door we spotted a friend who invited us to join his party of six so we decided to just have dessert in the bar area with them. We shared a hefty piece of Baklava and topped off the night with coffee and white Russians. Yum!

What a lovely evening after a hard days work! Oh, that's right...I didn't tell you. J and I built a fenced in area for our sweet doggies. When we left that evening, Solstice and Drifter were enjoying playing in their new pen. We returned home from our night out on the town and wanted to bring the dogs inside so we could spend some time with them before we went to bed. J had Solstice by the collar when Drifter charged after her, scaring her into running. She got out of Captain J's grasp and shot off out of the neighborhood with Drifter trailing her. We later found her collar, but no Solstice. :( I really regret not hooking her into a leash immediately instead of having J just hold her there. We picked up Drifter and continued to call out for Solstice and search the wooded areas around where we last saw her. I even called a friend that works at the animal shelter inquiring about her, but we've had no luck. I just want to know she's okay. She really is a sweet dog. I guess she didn't like it here with us, but I think that's because she had been abused. She didn't like any humans we introduced her to. I spent that evening and the next morning hoping she would wander back our way so I left her crate outside with the door open, but we've seen no sign of her. I fear she won't ever be caught because she doesn't allow people very close to her. Hopefully a nice family with a pack of sled dogs has taken her in. She's happiest outside with a bunch of other dogs. If you're in the Fairbanks area and see this dog, please let me know.

In her absence, we got another dog that seems to be very well suited for D-Nugget. Her name is Holly and she's two years old. They love playing together! She seems much more loyal to us already. I took them both to the park yesterday and she kept "checking in" with me every few minutes. What a sweet girl!

If Holly gets away it will break my heart and we will definitely be done in the dog department! I've got my hands full with these two little bundles of energy, but I also have much more quiet time now, too. Huskies are pack animals so having more than one is definitely much easier, in my opinion. Don't worry...we're done adopting!

Enough about pets, let's talk about kids! Not mine yet because those are non-existent, but you must check out this lady's blog to see all the interesting photos she takes while imagining what her sleeping baby is dreaming of. These pictures are so precious! I cannot believe the baby sleeps through all this-

Mila's Daydreams

I think that's enough randomness for now. Until next time, Ta-ta!

(Photo credit here and here.)