La cuidad y los Perros

Read this book! Also in English as The Time of the Hero. By Mario Vargas Llosa.

San Antonio

Last week we found out that James' duty station after his training in Tuscon, Arizona will be Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. At first I was very upset by the prospect of having to be in Texas for a minimum two years. Living in the middle of the desert anywhere isn't any fun.. what with there not being any beach and the lack of rain. And the heat. And the cactus. Plus Texas itself is pretty bad.. with the cowboys and the Republicans.

But I'm starting to get used to the idea. Everyone keeps telling me how beautiful San Antonio is, and Fort Sam Houston is right in the middle of the city. The Alamo is there. And so is Six Flags. One of the most beautiful beaches in the country is in Texas, about an hour and a half away. And Mexico is about as far away as well. Plus there are some amazingly beautiful apartments and houses in San Antonio with very low rent.

So it might not be so bad after all. The reporting date is October 29, 2008. And besides... Change is good right?

Recomended Reading

I just finished reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. It was not only a fantastic, well-written and thought-provoking piece of literature but also enlightening and disturbing. Additionally, Pollan's rich lexicon invokes a mental picture of what he's writing while you're reading.

You can find the book review and summary here. Overall, an amazing read.

Pet Costume Contest

We didn't win. :-(

You're not going to believe this, but...

So I changed my major. Again. I know, I know.... Changing your major a semester and a half away from graduation is educational suicide. Right? Well apparently not. I spent over an hour in my advisor's office on Tuesday and what I discovered shocked me.

What I found was this: while FGCU does offer more Spanish classes than the HC, their department is actually smaller, with the necessary classes for graduation offered less frequently. Turns out that if I stayed the course with a Spanish major it would take me until Spring of '09 to graduate.

This is, of course, unacceptable. So I changed my major. To Liberal Arts Studies. Ironic isn't it? It's down-right hysterical from my point of view. I mean... really!

For this major I have to write a proposal (because it's a self-directed major combining the studies of two separate minors) explaining how I'll use my minors studies after I graduate.

It shouldn't be too hard to BS my way through that. I mean, with Spanish and Anthropology it's pretty self-explanatory, at least to my way of thinking. Plus there's the added bonus of graduating at the end of the summer, right on schedule.

Go me.

Registries.

Austin says I need to post links to my online registries. So here I go.

I'm registered at Bed Bath & Beyond, Target and Crate&Barrel. All you have to do is go the the site, and search for either my name or James' name. I believe it's a search by last name.

Crate&Barrel and Target have items added to the list, but Bed Bath & Beyond doesn't yet. In case you didn't know, James' last name is Freeland.

This weekend,

Friday night James and I went up to Orlando. Kristen and Ray met us there. We stayed at the Shades of Green Disney Resort in the Magic Kingdom. It was a pretty nice hotel. After dinner, during which the boys ran off to play in the arcade, we went to Halloween Horror Nights. That was pretty awesome. Plus we got lost both on the way there and on the way back, due to a very shoddily drawn map the guy at the front desk gave us. The next day we got up early and had breakfast at the hotel restaurant. It was a buffet and I think James and Ray each went back for more food at least 8 times. Then we went and walked around Downtown Disney until Kristen and Ray to leave at 1pm. After they left James and I ate lunch at Wolfgang Puck's. All in all it was a pretty awesome weekend.

Feeding Frenzy

Saturday we went to the Club to set down the reception menu. Micheal, the Catering Manager / Wedding Coordinator at the club, seemed astounded at the amount of food we have decided to serve. And seemed horrified that apparently such a gross amount wasn't enough, as we wanted to add more cookies and pastries and other such delights. I guess he just wasn't ready to run with the big boys.

So here's a warning: all those who are picky eaters or watching their weight, Italian weddings are not for the faint of heart or small stomachs.

Man up and chow down!

Also

This weekend I registered, at my mother's urging, at Target and Bed Bath & Beyond. Saturday I booked an invitation maker and the florist. Today I call photographers and follow up with the notary. I also have a butt-load of Spanish homework to do and a presentation for Composición Oral. Sometimes I wonder how I'll ever get it all done. I think I'll give up sleeping.

Political Party Quiz

You scored as Green, The Green Party believes in an America where decisions are made by the people and not by a few giant corporations. Their environmental goal is a sustainable world where nature and human society co-exist in harmony.

Green 95% New Democrat 85% Old School Democrat 65% Libertarian 60% Pro Business Republican 55% Socially Conservative Republican 15% Foreign Policy Hawk 0% What's Your Political Philosophy? created with QuizFarm.com

Apparently several of the classes I've been taking lately have changed my political perspectives and ideals. A few years ago I would have classified myself as a moderate with a few liberal views. Strange the changes life can make and the huge impact education can have on a person.

Victory is mine!

I got the last of girls locked in! Officially now, my bridesmaids will be Kristen, Julie and my sister, with Paris as Maid of Honor. We have Ray and Kevin for James, with Thomas as Best Man. We still need one more guy to walk with my sister. I think I might tell James to ask his brother-in-law or Ruffner from his office to do it. We'll see. Tomorrow morning I have an appointment with an invitation maker, and we have a consultation set up with a dj. Coming along nicely, I think.

Numero uno.

Yesterday I took the day off to do some chores I'd been putting off. One of those was organizing all my wedding stuff into the wedding planner Paris bought me. It took about three hours. Funny thing is, I'm still at the beginning of the planning stage. I have the sinking suspicion that this is going to be more work than I thought.

I also registered at Crate & Barrel. Man, I love that store. I spent a couple hours on that also, going through the lists of all the things I might possibly want when we move to the new house next year. It's surprisingly more difficult than I thought it would be. How do you pick things you think you might want a full year in advance for a house you've never seen? Anyway, I have another store to register at still. Mom seems to think I should give people options or not put all my eggs in one basket or something. I don't know.

Either way, this online registry thing is pretty cool. You can go to any Crate & Barrel store in the country and pull up my registry. You can also access it and make purchases online and it'll ship directly to my house all wrapped up in a pretty box. Pretty sweet, huh?

Check out this video: Rockstar ~ Nickleback





No bones about it. I love this video.

Booboo Boohoo

I didn't go to school today cuz I was bleeding from the head. James picked me up this morning to give me a hug and my head banged the closet door track.

Here's a picture of my war wound.
Also, here's my cat.

Bah

It's times like these, totally aside from all the other obvious political ones, that make me really dislike the Army. It's 10: 20 pm and James won't be home for another 45 minutes. Having to work until 11 at night is really wrong. Especially when he went to work at 8 this morning. And that's not even counting the fact that he went in late this morning. I know he keeps saying it won't be like this at a regular unit but right now I find it really hard to believe.

Cleaning out the Closet

My mom and I have been talking about turning my old bedroom into a computer/tv/guest room for almost a year now. Yesterday we, since James had the day off, went to the house to go through all the things I left there when I moved to my apartment. I couldn't believe how much stuff I had accumulated in just the almost eight years I've been living in Fl. By the end of the night we had so much stuff piled up to give to Goodwill that my mom decided we should have a garage sale instead. Keep in mind, this doesn't take into account the fact that every year I go through my closet and make a Goodwill pile. In fact, just a few months ago James and I took several bags of clothes down to the Goodwill drop-off center by the house. When I think about how many clothes I actually do have it makes me wonder about all those times when I have "nothing to wear."

Also, Mom and I gave James a haircut. I cut his hair really short on one side (which is pretty much necessary in military life, and he was way way overdue for a trim) and she started freaking out. And unfortunately, for James, slipped with the clippers and gave him a bald patch. I felt horrible. I know I wasn't the one who did it, but I felt responsible since it was my mother. He went to a barber this morning and had it evened out.

Forging the way

So for all you who know and everyone who doesn't, yes I am getting married. We have picked a place and set a date. Everyone is starting to get excited, especially my mother and even James. Sometimes I feel like he has a new photo to show me to give me ideas about flowers or cake design every 5 minutes. In any case, the food should be good and the day should be fun for all. The place we have picked for the ceremony and the reception both is the Colonial Country Club.
The place is only three years old and kinda swanky.

Anyway, I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while now. I figured now was a good a time as any, what with everything going on in my life right now. While there will be updates on here, I don't plan on this being wedding-centric.

Also, I'll try to work on the up-keep whenever I have a few minutes to spare.