A Quick Update

Wow, sorry it's been so many days since my last post.  With the Mister leaving in just a few days, I've been focusing more on spending time with him than blogging about spending time with him : ).  This past weekend was his last one here for a while, so it was especially nice that it was President's Day yesterday, making the weekend a little longer.

All together, it was a pretty awesome weekend.  We went out for a fancy, schmancy dinner in Pinehurst on Friday night for Valentine's Day.  It was so nice to get all dressed up, listen to live piano music, and eat way too much dessert.  On Saturday, we went to the Longhorn in Southern Pines for a delicious free meal (thank you to our friend Molly for the gift card!) and a movie.  We saw Monuments Men.  I'm pretty sure it was a really good movie, but we went to a 9:45 showing and it was freezing in the theater, so I'm going to have to rent in once it comes out on DVD to be able to enjoy it in the warmth of my own living room while I'm wide awake.  The Mister loved it though!  He's into that historical fiction genre.

We headed to my parents' house in Burlington on Sunday afternoon for a little going away dinner for Chris with my extended family.  It was a laid back good time with Philly chicken and cheese sandwiches, the Olympics on TV, a little fire on the back patio, and nice cigars for all the guys.  Chris and I spent the night in Burlington and did a few last minute errands yesterday, including a stop at BJ's Wholesale Club where we spent too much money but got Chris pretty much everything he'll need (toiletries, batteries, laundry detergent, etc.) to get through at least his first few months of deployment.  After that, we had lunch with my dad and then drove home.   Last night, we watched the episode of Black Sails (I still can't decide if I like that show) we missed on Saturday night and the Downton Abbey Season 4 finale (we bought the Season 4 DVDs this weekend so Chris could finish the season before he leaves).

Chris is back at work today and I'm trying to get some cleaning done around the house I've been neglecting for the sake of hanging out with him.  When we're together, it's easy to focus on having fun and not worry about the year to come.  But when I'm by myself and am making mental lists of all the logistical tasks we need to get done before he leaves and of everything that I'll have to do without him in the coming year, I sometimes become a little overwhelmed and find it hard to get anything done.  I mostly just end up staring at a wall or my Facebook newsfeed on my iPhone until I snap myself back into reality.  We still have a couple days left to get things in order, and I'm sure we'll get everything ironed out - like when in March we planted seeds in the flower bed last year, what kind of stain he wants me to use on the fence in the backyard, and what date I'm supposed to pay the mortgage next month.  And I'm trying to keep in mind that we will have communication of some sort, so it's not like he's dropping off the face of the earth for a year and I'll be handling everything alone, not to mention that we have a fantastic support system in both our families and our friends.  Another upside is that focusing on these kinds of "organizational" things drowns out worries about his safety and how much I'm going to miss him (especially now that his deployment may be a year instead of nine months).  All in all, I of course wouldn't trade our life for any other, and I can't wait to look back on this time with a sense of accomplishment.  Neither of us are the "sappy" type, so we see this more as an experience from which we will come away with some awesome stories than something to be "mushy" and upset about.  We're sad about not being together, but I think we both make a conscious effort not to focus on the negative side of anything.

Chris will be leaving at the end of the week, and I promise after that I'll do better about blogging!  

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!