Ben's Service Selection!!

I don't think I have ever been so nervous to receive a text/phone call from Ben before in my entire life! On November 30, 2011, all of the "firsties" (aka seniors) at the Naval Academy received their service selections. In other words, they found out what they will be doing after graduation.

The night before, we had talked about all of the "what-ifs." What if he didn't get Marines? What if he got ground over pilot? What if he did get pilot? All were viable questions to think about, but I continued to reassure him that he would get Marines because he is pretty much awesome (I'm pretty sure I boost his ego wayyyyy too much haha) and he would be a great leader and the military would be stupid NOT to give him what he wanted. He was the one being a little nervous (although he'll never admit it) and I was the one who was calm and confident.

Well, come Wednesday morning, I started FREAKING out! They weren't supposed to find out until 12:50 that day, and let me tell you, it was the longest morning ever! I woke up and text him telling him good luck and he better let me know ASAP and not play tricks (he likes to tell me he didn't get something just to mess with me sometimes) and that I was proud of him no matter what.

I hadn't heard anything from him all morning, but every time my phone vibrated, my heart started racing a mile a minute! I was talking to Michelle (another firstie girlfriend from Ohio) and we were both getting so nervous! Finally we stopped texting because it was getting so close to 1 that we knew we'd be getting news any time!

I had class all day (from 11 am until 6 pm), but my phone was in my lap all morning. Come 1 o'clock however, I had my water aerobics class and I was set on not going in to the pool until I knew. As I paced around in my bathing suit in the locker room, a mutual friend (Kristina) of mine and Ben's was waiting with my phone. I told her that if I got a text from Ben, she had to tell me what it said because I was getting so anxious and nervous! Finally I get a text message that says "Marines Pilot!" and that's all he said...ALL DAY!

I'm so proud of him that he got what he wanted and all of his hard work is starting to pay off!

So now I'm sure what some of you may be asking "so what does that mean for him for the future?" and if you're not, well then you don't need to keep reading, however, if you are curious, this is for you ;)

After commissioning in May, Ben will head to TBS (The Basic School) in Quantico, VA for six months of strictly Marines training. Upon graduating from there, as long as he keeps his flight contract, he'll be heading to Pensacola, FL for two years of flight school! However, he does have the option, that if he wants to, he can drop his flight contract and go ground (infantry or artillery) and if that happened, he would have three months of training specifically for either and then would be stationed somewhere.

It was a very exciting experience and I wish I could have been there to see him getting his head shaved (it's tradition for all the Marines to shave their heads), however, I get to sit on the sidelines at home and just be an oober proud girlfriend! :)

Ben and some Marine friends! 

Roommates: Ryan (Navy Pilot), Ben (USMC Pilot) and Lee (Navy Pilot)

I'm so proud of all of the seniors for their accomplishments and everything that is to come! I can't wait to see you all come commissioning time in your snazzy new uniforms! :D Congrats everyone!

Parent's Weekend and Miami games

This weekend at the University of Dayton, it was Parent's weekend, but it was more important since it is senior year! Being five minutes away from home, I see my mom a lot, but it was fun to have her come down to campus and hang out with me and do stuff we don't typically do.

Saturday, we played Miami University (of Ohio), and everybody had their families there so it was great to have so much support, but unfortunately, we lost both of our games. The first game, we lost 5-1 and the second game we got run-ruled 10-0.

After the games, I ran home, got ready and my mom came down to campus. We went to Dana's house (my roommate from sophomore year) and it was so much fun! Her parents were there and one of our other past roommates Becky was there with her parents, and it was a lot of fun!

Back row: Erin, me, Dre
Front row: Dana, Becky, Caitlin

After dinner at Becky's, Mom and I headed to the basketball game. UD was playing Findlay and we ended up winning 87-66.

We even got a picture of Mom with Rudy! 

After the game, we headed to The Fieldhouse or The Shed as she knew it. We got the famous fishbowl (lots of liquor and straws) and hung out for awhile. After The Fieldhouse, we headed to Timothy's Bar and Grill. Mom wanted to go see if it was still as bad as when she was 18 years old, and she said it was just as bad, however, I believe it was probably worse!

Momma and I at The Fieldhouse

Sunday, we had our final game of the season against Miami. We haven't beat them in four years, and we played AMAZING! I couldn't have asked for a better end to the season! We beat them 9-7 and everybody played fantastic! 

One of the freshman, Livy, played AMAZING! She had so many plays that if they weren't made could have cost us the game, so I awarded her with the BIGGEST hug! :) 

Molly, Meghan and I laying around in the sun waiting for the umpires before the game

Reilly and I dancing to "Firework" before the start of the game

Alyx, my little army "granddaughter" and I cheesing it up

It was such a great weekend and that's really all there is to it. Thanks to all the parents and siblings and friends that came out to show us your support this weekend! You all mean the world to us! 

So it's been awhile...Oops!

So it has been awhile since I posted something, so I think it's time to do that.

Well, as the end of the semester quickly approaches, classes are becoming more and more stressful. For the majority of the semester, so far, I've kind of breezed through everything because we really haven't had a whole lot to do, but EVERYTHING for ALL of my classes is due in November and December so it's about to get crazy. Other than that, school is school. Softball is going well. We joined a new conference this year and we're doing fairly well. Right now, we're third in the conference which sounds really impressive, right? Well it would be if there were more then six teams. Oh well though. I love all the girls! I couldn't ask for a better group for my senior year! At the end of the semester, I will be moving home. There has been a lot of drama and I decided that I wanted to move home and save myself some money, and I get to be with my puppy.

Oh yes! I got a puppy! His name is Kugel. He is a chihuahua/terrier mix and I love him! He is almost six months old. I'm usually not a little dog person, but he's awesome!

Right after we got him

Few weeks ago on our way to the dog park

It's kind of a funny story about getting him seeing as how I didn't tell my mom. My friend's boyfriend put pictures up online of these puppies that his dog had and said "free to a good home" and my birthday was coming up and I had been wanting a dog for such a long time, so I said I would take one! I then scheduled a time to go down to pick him up (from Kentucky) and I told my little brothers about him so they went with me to get him! We told my mom we were going to Cinci to the outlet malls to get Ben a birthday present and she bought it. I figured it would be easier to ask for forgiveness then ask for permission (story of my life). So anyways, we drive down and pick him up and the boys immediately love him and he was getting along with the boys! We stopped on the way home to pick up a crate (aka cage), food, a gate (to keep him in my room) and a toy or two. When we got home, we all ran straight in to my room and past my mom and she followed to see what all we had bought from the "outlets" and as she walked in to my room, she saw him. She wasn't very happy at first, but now, even though she won't admit it, she really likes him. My brothers love having a dog! They've taught him to sit, lay down, shake, dance and even give high fives!

Zach (left) and Drew (right) with him a few days after bringing him home.

Now he's gotten so much bigger! 

And of course, he's a Navy football fan! :)

So far this semester, I've only been up to visit Ben once, but it was a great trip! We spent the entire weekend in Washington D.C. and had a blast! We took an early morning jog one morning and ran around all the monuments and saw the White House. We went to the International Spy Museum, Holocaust Museum and the Smithsonian of American History. We also got to see the new WWII memorial which is beautiful! As well as the Washington Monument, the White House (again), the capitol building and lots of other stuff! We also went to the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial (it was the week after 9/11). We stayed right downtown in the Hilton Garden Inn which is only a few blocks from the White House, so we were in the PERFECT location and got the most clutch parking spot right outside the hotel (for FREEEEEEE) and didn't move jeep all weekend. We got to try lots of new places to eat as well as going to the awesome Fogo de Chao which is always delicious!

White House! 

He was super excited to be going out this day!

Date night at Fogo de Chao

As I said above, softball is going great! My team is AWESOME! In our league, we play Ohio State, Miami University, Xavier University, Eastern Kentucky University and Ohio University, and we also played Miami Hamilton (a Division 3 Varsity team) at the beginning of the semester.

Miami Hamilton 1-1 

Game 1: UD 0 MH 10 

Game 2: UD 6 MH 4 

UD's overall record: 1-1

Ohio University 2-1 

Game 1: UD 6 OU 2 

Game 2: UD 5 OU 8

Game 3: UD 8 OU 7

UD's overall record: 3-2

Ohio State 0-3 

Game 1: UD 1 OSU 13 

Game 2: UD 5 OSU 6 

Game 3: UD 1 OSU 10

UD's overall record: 3-5

Eastern Kentucky 2-1 

Game 1: UD 8 EKU 2 

Game 2: UD 12 EKU 6 

Game 3: UD 5 EKU 8

UD's overall record: 5-6

Xavier 3-0 

Game 1: UD 3 XU 1 

Game 2: UD 10 XU 2

Game 3: UD 3 XU 0 

UD's overall record: 8-6

We have a super young team this year, but everyone is getting along so great and meshing so well! I really couldn't ask for more for this season! And we're playing fairly decent in this new league. This weekend are our last three games against Miami University and if we beat them, we can place second in the league! This week, we also started our Flag Football league and won our first game 31-12 so "Go Flyer Nuts!" 

Halloween team bonding!

Alyssa, Molly, me and Amanda during the games against Xavier

Gina and I during the OU games

Me high-fiving Alyx during the game against Xavier

Team bonding

Goofy team picture! I love these girls! 

This semester, I'm taking a guitar class where I am learning to play a classical guitar and I'm loving it as well! My fingers have been quiet sore, and we're playing Christmas music already (since before Halloween), but it's a lot of fun and a good challenge that is keeping me pretty sane and I'm going to be able to play the guitar before Ben teaches himself to play ;) 

Oh, I also got a new job! I had applied for this photography job through the University at the beginning of the semester and ended up figuring they had already filled the position since I hadn't heard anything back from them, but about two weeks ago, I received a phone call saying they wanted me to come in for an interview! So I called Nick (boss at 808) and asked him for some images that I've taken to put an updated portfolio together to show them. After the interview, they told me my portfolio was beautiful and very impressive (to see images, check out my facebook page), so I was super excited and hopeful that I would get the job. Sure enough, a few days later, she called and offered me the position! So I will be taking pictures during UD basketball games in the Presidential Suites upstairs, so not only am I being paid to take pictures, but I also get a press pass that gets me ANYWHERE during basketball games AND I get to go to the games for free! I'm super excited about this opportunity! 

I'm also very excited for next semester. I will be taking 13 credit hours (the least amount I have EVER taken in my college career), but one class is Scuba Diving and at the end of the course, as long as I pass, I will be scuba certified for life! I will also be taking a Photography Studio Lighting course which should be pretty interesting along with Law and News Media, Philosophy of Music and Islam (religion course). It should be a pretty interesting semester.

Right now, I'm looking forward to this month! Ben comes home in 20 days and finds out his service selection in 27 days! I think I'm getting more excited/anxious then he is (or at least that he's letting on)! I also love this time of the year because you get to see and hang out with family and I love Thanksgiving (I'm a fat kid) and Christmas so the next few months really make me happy! 

Well, that's that for now. Hopefully I'll get better at posting things since I've been pretty boring lately. Hopefully you enjoyed the recap of the last few months and I didn't bore you too much! 

Letter to a Military Spouse

So someone shared this with me recently and I wanted to share with anyone who might actually read this...

"While I have never had the pleasure of meeting your or your husband, I felt the need to write you and express a very deep feeling that I have in my heart. 

I, as a person, am not brave. I do not tackle things head on, as I hate confrontation. I will travel 100 miles out of my way just to avoid a conflict. I am an American woman that has no idea what is going on in the military other than what I hear on the news. 

I have never had to let go of someone so that they could go fight for people that they didn't know, people that sometimes do no appreciate or understand what they are fighting for. 

I have never had a sleepless night of worry because of a report that another bomb has exploded and I still haven't heard from my husband. 

I have never had to wait for months on end to hold the one that I loved so.

I have never had to tell my children that daddy wasn't coming home tonight because he was so far away fighting for something that they aren't yet old enough to understand. 

I have never had to hold my head high and suppress the tears as I hear that it will be at least another six months of separation before my loved one gets to come home. 

I have never had to deal with a holiday away from the one that I thought I would share every day of my life with.

And I have never had to feel the panic rising in my heart at the sound of a ringing phone or knock at the door for fear that it is the news that everyone is terrified of getting. 

For the reasons listed above, I can not tell you that I understand how you feel. I can not tell you that you must be strong. I can not say that you shouldn't be angry, because you "knew what you were getting into when you married a military man." I can not say these things because I have never had to walk in your shoes. 

What I can say for certain is that because of your unselfish acts of bravery and your husbands willingness to stand up for those who see him as "just another soldier" -- I will never have to walk in your shoes. 

I do understand that as a military wife you are expected to uphold a certain amount of control, but I never understood how you could do it, until now. I have figured out that you are not like other women. You are of a special breed. You have a strength within you that holds life together in the darkest of hours, a strength of which I will never possess. The faith you have is what makes you stand out in a crowd; it makes you glow with emotion and swell with pride at the mention of The United States of America. 

You are a special lady, a wonderful partner and a glorious American. 

I have more respect for your husband than I could ever tell you, but until recently I never thought much about those that the soldier leaves at home during deployment. 

Until this moment I could never put into words exactly what America meant to me. 

Until this moment, I had no real reason to...Until I heard of you.

Your husband and his military family hold this nation close, safe from those who wish to hurt us...but you and those like you are the backbone of the American family. You keep the wheels in motion and the hearts alive while most would just break completely down. Military families make this nation what it is today.

You give us all hope and you emit a warming light at the end of a long dark tunnel. 

Because of you and your family...I am able to be me. I am able to have my family. I am able to walk free in this great land. Because of you and your family, I can look ahead to the future with the knowledge that life is going to be okay. Because of you and your family, I can awake to a new day, everyday. 

I realize that you are a stronger person than I will ever be because of these things and I just wanted to take the time today to say thank you to you and your family for allowing me that freedom. 

I will never be able to repay this debt to you, as it is unmatchable. However, I hope that you know that no matter where you are...what you'res doing...what has happened today...or what will happen tomorrow...your husband will NEVER be "just another soldier" to me...and you, dear sweet lady, will never be forgotten.

You are all in my prayer's everyday and I pray that God will bring you back together with your loved one safely.

May God Bless You! 

(Author Unknown)"

"For those I love, I will sacrifice"

Trip to DC

So last weekend, I went to visit Ben and we took a trip to DC for the weekend. I must admit, our expected itinerary was pretty busy, but it's been almost 8 years since I was there, and as an 8th grader, one can not honestly experience and appreciate DC for everything it is. It is such a powerful city and there is so much respect in the city that you can't even imagine as a 14 year old.

First, I would like to say how safe I really felt the entire weekend. It was very clean, the traffic was NOT as bad as I expected it to be, it was a lot bigger then I remember it being, but I really loved it. The homeless people were not begging you for money. They had what they had, and they slept on the park benches with everything they had and just left everyone alone.

So the plan was the following:

Get in Friday at 2, get to the academy about 3, get in to DC around 5 and rent bikes and ride around to all the monuments and around that National Mall Friday afternoon, then get a pizza and hang out. Well this didn't happen. I got in to Annapolis (the academy) at 3, but Ben didn't get out of class and back to his dorm until almost four, so I saw by a fountain and read and actually saw a few of the guys in his company which was nice. We ended up not renting bikes because we didn't get to DC until almost 7:30/8ish (before we left the yard, Ben had to pack, go to the library and get a book for the SMT guys, and then get his bike and get to jeep). We did however get pizza and hang out. We walked around downtown and just enjoyed the really nice evening.

Just messing around while waiting for Ben

Just messing around while waiting for Ben

Saturday, we planned on going to the Smithsonian, the Newseum, and the Spy Museum. Instead we woke up, went and worked out (and I purposefully wore the same colors as he did, haha) went to the Holocaust Museum and the Smithsonian of American History and then around and saw the monuments and the White House. It rained a little bit, but we didn't let that put a damper on the day. We ate breakfast at a "Cosi" that I like to compare to a Starbucks and Panera combined and for lunch, we had hotdogs from the little food stands that are all over the city and for dinner, we went to Fogo de Chao (where on the way, I got cat-called by a homeless man who told Ben "you've got yourself a good one!").

All of the shoes at the Holocaust Museum

Us before working out and going for a run around DC

While walking around, we saw the White House, the new World War II Monument, the Washington Monument and the Capitol building.

Washington Monument 

WWII Memorial

Us in front of the White House

Ben with our tower we built in the Smithsonian of American History

Date night Saturday night! <3

WWII Memorial

On Sunday, we had originally planned to go to the Holocaust Museum, Arlington, the Navy/Marine's Monument, and the Pentagon 9/11 memorial. But all we ended up having time for was the Spy Museum and the 9/11 Memorial before heading back to Annapolis. The 9/11 Memorial was a little confusing because we missed the sheet that explained it, so as we were walking through it, we were trying to figure it out, but it ended up making us think about it more since we didn't know anything about it, and after we found out we were right about most assumptions about it. Sunday night when we got back to Annapolis, I checked in to my hotel while Ben went back for their 6 pm reformation and I got Chipotle for him, me and his roommate Ryan. We spent the rest of the night working on homework before I fell asleep on his lap while attempting to read.

Place we ate breakfast Sunday morning

My secret identity during the Spy Museum! lol

9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon

9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon

Whoops! Guess it's time for a new suitcase!

Monday morning, bright and early, I headed back to the Academy to take Jeep back to Ben and we had just enough time to park on Hospital Point and walk Ben to class where we had to say a quick goodbye since he's not allowed to do anything "ungentlemenly" in his uniform, and then I went to my shuttle and headed to the airport, and this is when the fun started! As I'm walking across the yard, I'm dragging my suitcase behind me and the handle ended up bending so bad that it wouldn't go back in to my suitcase, so after getting through security and finding my gate, two nice gentlemen tried to help me literally kick the handle back in and it still wouldn't go, so after 15 minutes of struggling with my suitcase, I decided I would just break the handle because if I didn't, it was not going to fit on the airplane.


Needless to say, the weekend was pretty amazing! I miss Ben so much when we're not together, but when we finally get to see each other, everything is perfect and I fall for him more and more. I cannot wait to see him next, unfortunately, I do not know what that will be :( but I know that the next time I do, it will be just as great as this trip was.

Retail Therapy, with a purpose!

So this coming weekend, I'm headed to Washington D.C. to go visit Ben and I decided I wanted to go shopping and get some new clothes for the occasion and also, why not go shopping now? It's getting to the end of summer and so stores are getting their new fall stuff in so EVERYTHING's on sale! Check out some of the deals that I got today while shopping at the Dayton Mall.

Vanity

 

Original Price: $29.80

Paid: $3.98

 

Original Price: $29.80

Paid: $3.98

 

Original Price: $24.80

Paid: $3.98

Original Price: $26.80

Paid: $3.98

Original total: $111.20

Total spent: $17.03

Total savings: $94.17

Wet Seal

Original Price: $18.99

Paid: $11.28

Original Price: $12.99

Paid: $7.72

Original Price: $6.50

Paid: $4.00

Original Price: $6.50

Paid: $4.00

Original Price: $6.50

Paid: $4.00

Original Price: $6.50

Paid: $4.00

Original Price: $6.50

Paid: $4.00

Original total: $67.21

Total spent: $41.73

Total savings: $25.48

Forever 21

Original Price: $22.80

Paid: $22.80

Original total: $24.40

Total spent: $24.40

Total savings: $0.00

Plato's Closet

Original Price: $16.00

Paid: $8.00

Original total: $16.56

Total spent: $8.56

Total savings: $8.00

Glitter

Original Price: $1.00

Paid: $1.00

Original Price: $5.00

Paid: $5.00

Original total: $6.42

Total spent: $6.42

Total savings: $0.00