A Stranger In a New Town

Today I'm going car shopping.
I'm not excited about it. I should be, but I'm not.  I just keep thinking about how excited I was when I bought my Toyota. I was so excited to drive that thing across the country.  I planned to have that car forever...I was so excited...I mean look at me. 

Ignore the old water mark...It's from my old blog. 

And now, here I am. Shopping. Again. 
My car and I have been through a lot together.  I took it with me when I moved to Las Vegas.  It made 5 trips back and forth between Salt Lake and Las Vegas.  It took me on a weekend trip to Flagstaff, Arizona for a bluegrass music festival.  It took me to Los Angeles for a weekend for the Marine Corps Ball.  It took me to 29 Palms multiple times to see my friends...I put about ten thousand miles on it in less than a year.  
And now I have to take something different on a cross country road trip to Kentucky.  It makes me sad. But maybe I'll buy something even better... 
You can see from my past year of travels, that I have a bit of wanderlust inside of me.  I love going new places.  Being a total stranger in a new town is exciting for me.  Traveling around the west has been fun, but I am so excited to travel around a new part of the country I've never really had the chance to explore. I've just seen so many beautiful things, I can't wait to see more. 

I'd be okay with seeing a few more of these firey sunsets across the country.  I caught this one on the California freeway. Stuck in ridiculous traffic...But I didn't even care. 

I have all sorts of other places that I want to go.  I have a list a mile long. And that's just in the US...

Well...here's too...new road trips, new adventures, and new fun in a new [to me] car.

Ice Cold Lemonade and Tank Tops

All I want to do is play outside.  Every day.  I want to run.  I want to sit on porch swings.  I want to go to bonfires.  I want to drink icy cold lemonade and play with sparklers.  I want to lay out by the swimming pool and get a tan.  I want to eat otter pops wear sunglasses and tank tops.   Every. Damn. Day.  I don't know if I have ever been so hungry for summer in my life.  While I at work inside the office, all I want to do is lay in the grass and do nothing.  I want to smell suntan lotion and chlorine.  I want to always wear a pony tail and go fishing.  I want to walk into a nice air conditioned building and feel the sweat on my forehead cool instantly.  I want to hike up mountain sides.  I want to jump in lakes.  I want to eat an endless summer diet of grilled chicken, potato salad and watermelon.  I want to wear sandals and flip flops every day with a pair of shorts that are probably too short. I think it's safe to say I have the fever.  Life is better when the sun is shining and there is no work to do.  It's time to move to California or Florida or some place nice and warm and be a beach bum forever.  It's time for a change. 

  

The Creativity of the Bored Soldier

Remember when week ends were fun? I don't...I spent my Friday night saying a final goodbye to my car.  It was a terribly sad moment in my life...Hopefully I'll do some car shopping soon and find something that I love even more.  Saturday, I worked, ate some Arby's, and watched Netflix.  Sunday, I worked. Like always.  What a wild weekend.  I guess I'll spice up today's post with a little Military Monday.  It only seems appropriate as it is Memorial Day.  Photo Cred  With that being said, I hope everyone can take a moment out of their day to remember those that have fought and died for our freedom.   Although a lot of people think it isn't right to thank those who serve on Memorial day, I think it's completely okay.  Any one of us that raised our right hands and swore to defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic deserve a little bit of thanks today.  Maybe they didn't die for your freedom, but they would. To me, that matters.  An all-volunteer-force where I chose to be the one that may have to risk my life instead of you...that matters.      And to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, I am eternally grateful.  Today, I've been cruising military pages and looking at all of these photos of memorial bracelets on a beer bottle...most of these men and women that have given their lives are my age...and I've barely lived any life at all...I can't imagine what that must be like.  They deserve all the thanks in the world.  Not just today, but everyday. 
And now onto...

At the Beginning of AT, there honestly wasn't a whole lot to do, so if you were on some specific job, you were able to sort of just, hang out.  The first few days of AT were probably the best part (besides my birthday)  I have a best Army Friend. I don't know if I'm his best Army Friend, but he's definitely mine. Well, he brought a tablet with a bunch of movies on it.  By the time we left, we had watched quite a few movie and found several ways to mount the tablet so that several people could watch at once. This was the first way.

That's a deployment bag, two pens, and a fleece cap.  At one point there were 6 or 7 people gathered around watching Batman around our little theatre.  Boredom makes you creative I guess.   The other variations of this mounting were in an MRE box (there's two little vinyl straps on the boxes before you open them. We stacked two boxes on top of each other and wedged the tablet in the straps while laying in the back of a humvee) and we also used duct tape at one point. The tape was probably the least creative, but it worked.  These little theatres made life much less boring when we had down time. 

Honestly, most of AT was kind of demotivating. Our work/rest cycle was all screwed up, so basically, we were on missions every night and never getting any sleep.  On top of that, the food sucked.   It was like we rarely had the actual chance to recharge. I also think that I went 7 days without a shower at one point simply because the time was never available to take care of business.  It wasn't the most fun thing in the world.

This is me about a week and a half in trying really hard not to lose my shit.

That green thing over my LBV is called miles gear. It's set up for war games so if someone's laser hits them you die.  The dumb thing? We didn't even use them. It was just...cumbersome. Also very expensive.  We literally couldn't go anywhere without our kevlars in hand because the also had miles gear on them...crappy. 

Basically AT was so stressful, it caused me to break my soda fast. 

I didn't drink a ton of it, but I just needed...something and I don't smoke, so a coke and a Red Bull it was.  

Since I got home, I've been drinking a little bit of soda, but not nearly as much as I used to. If I do, I drink something without caffeine usually and I don't tend to even drink it all.  I just don't have a craving for it like I used to.  I'll just order a sprite or something at a restaurant every now and then.  Life is better without a whole bunch of soda in it. Promise. 

Alright, so this conclude today's "Military Monday" I hope you are enjoying this little series and it's not too much Army for you all.  If you get sick of it all, let me know.  I'll write something more exciting, or at least try to!  I hope everyone is having a fantastic Monday! 

Growing Old Under Fluorescent Lights

Friday holds such little excitement when I work the entire weekend. Nights.  Right now I wish I was getting ready for an epic night of 21 year old fun, but instead, I'm getting ready for work.  Boo, working.  I feel like I'm growing old under those florescent lights.  I suppose, technically, I am. Yesterday, I was finally able to speak with my insurance adjuster--The fact that I can even say that I have an adjuster makes me feel ancient--who gave me some news:  My car has been deemed a total loss. That is what I expected, but now it's so much more real. I was supposed to go clean it out today, but I can't find the address of the towing company...We'll see how this goes today.  If you really knew me, you would know that I'm not naturally a neat/organized person.  My trunk is just north of ridiculous.  
Okay, so now that I rambled on about that forever...the real point of today's post: 

I've seen a lot of bloggers do things like this and I really like it.  In my blog, I portray a certain person, well, I want to share a few things about me that you would discover...if you really knew me. See what I did there? 

If you really knew me, you would know that...

+I hate pants. The second I get into my room, my pants come off. I wear dresses because it's the closest thing to not having on pants I can get to without being nakey. 

+I don't really like to shop unless I have a true purpose for it. Just wandering the mall for no reason is sheer torture to me. 

+I don't smile with my teeth in pictures because I hate them.  Until I get them fixed all of my pictures will be of the no-teeth variety. 

+I hate fighting.  If I can completely avoid a confrontation, I will. 

+I'm a conservative with an open mind. 

+I hate public displays of affection. I used to be fine with it, but now I feel so uncomfortable. I think I went too long without having a boyfriend to like that kind of stuff.

+I think that pizza is a food group. 

+I lose 87% of respect for females in the military who have hair that looks like shit. Seriously, ladies, it's not that hard. 

+My toe nails are always painted. Sometimes it's chipped and barely there, but there will always be some paint on each toe. 

+I do nice things.  This one is hard to explain. I just...like to do nice things for people. If people let me, I like to buy them food. I just figure maybe they'll pay it forward for someone else. 

+I used to be against tattoos. I have two now. 

+I hate living at home. I love my parents, but I need my own space. 

+I work too much and party too little. 

 +I love this little blog and I talk about it all the time even when I'm sucking at writing in it. 

And for now, that's all. I hope that you learned a few fun things about me. Now I have to figure out how to get all the crap out of my car before work starts. I hope you all have a wonderful Friday. 

Sun-Kissed and Fancy-Free

Real Talk: 
It's only my third day back at work and I don't wanna go.  Bad News, Bears. 
It isn't really that I don't like my job, it just feels so...static. Static is something I'm not really a fan of. Lately, I'm all about constant forward motion, and that job just doesn't seem like it's in motion at all.  On the bright side, I'm making money.  Money is nice. 
My first week back in the "real world" hasn't bee so bad though.  It's only been a few weeks, but I really missed civilian clothes. Cute, fancy, civilian clothes. I don't really wear a ton of make up, but I missed that too. My aunt got me an adorable outfit.  I was so excited to put it together.  Please don't judge that mirror. It's like 25 years old...It's not getting any cleaner than that.  And can I just say, fashion designers need to realize that not everyone runs around with the flattest bum in the world. Skirts should be longer in the back.
Even more than that, I was excited to feel the sun on my shoulders. I'm nearly convinced that I need to pick up and move myself to some place where I will constantly bear sun-kissed skin.  I don't really tan well, but If I don't stay out too long, I get just enough color to be happy all the time. 
Sadly, now is not a good time to pick up my life and move away, so I'll stay here for now, but until then I'm going to thoroughly enjoy this sunshine. If I complain about it being hot even once, please someone remind me about the winter. That horrible, terrible, no-good cold...

Parked In a No Parking Zone

So...I guess it's time to divulge the gory details of my car accident.  On Saturday, I was leaving my unit picnic/barbecue thing we were having and heading to my boyfriend's place (oh yeah, btw, I have a boyfriend...weird right?) heading north.  I was driving through an intersection when I saw a car coming from the west that didn't seem to be stopping.  Their light was red and I was really confused. I tried to react in time to avoid the accident, but obviously, that didn't happen. the other car ended up hitting my back end. I luckily, I saw that they were coming and I did have a reaction. I sped up a little and kept the other car from hitting my door.  This was the end result.  That metal thing you can see underneath my car? It's a sign...I was 'parked' on a 'no parking' sign...I didn't hear it, but apparently the cop made some dumb joke about how he should have cited me for parking ON a "no parking" zone. ha. ha. So funny.  Currently, my car is sitting in a tow yard.  It's filled with half of my dorm room from when I moved back.  It's my lil baby. It was the first thing that I ever financed. I bought it all on my own. I paid on time and extra each month...I drive carefully.  So carefully that my whole family makes fun of me.  And yet...I wrecked. That just goes to show that it can happen to anyone I guess. I'm just so very lucky that I saw it coming, I reacted, and I caused less damage and no real injuries. It could have been so much worse.  If you know me personally and you're just finding out about this accident, chill out, I'm fine. 
Now, I'm driving a Nissan rental car that is way too nice for me.  I'm so glad I have insurance with full coverage...If I'm lucky, I'll get a nice new car out of this super sad and horribly unfortunate accident...
Drive safe, folks, and wear your seat belts

I Don't Know About You, But I'm Feeling 2[1]

While I was in Wisconsin, a very big thing happened.

1. 

I turned 21. I'll admit, I was pretty disappointed when I realized that my birthday would be during AT. 21 is such a huge milestone, especially when all of your friends family are there and have been there for a while. I've basically become the babysitter when everyone else goes out for a good time. Don't get me wrong, I love the baby, but it bums me out to miss out on the fun they all have.    Finally, here I am. 21.  On my birthday, I woke up around 5 am (why does the Army like to eat food so early?) and the first birthday wish I was given was this:  "Happy f%*@ing Birthday!" The Army is weird.  Once we all gathered for chow, everyone sang happy birthday. I figured that was pretty much the end of my Army Birthday festivities.  Wrong. 
After the duty day was over, we all got to together for a barbecue. It wasn't technically meant to be for my birthday, but I saw it that way anyway. They all sang to me again and treated me with tasty drinks. I got to know people on a much different level and it was so much fun. But whoever let me take the pictures is fired. There are only two good ones.  This is me with two guys in my unit. There were several other ones just like this with random other people that were blurring in and out...I guess that's how you know a good time was had. This one was taken with a fairly steady hand as well.  This was even later in the night, so I probably deserve a round of applause for it being so clear. The party ended just after dark per our 10 o'clock curfew.  We all had a really great time. I don't think that I could have asked for a better way to spend my 21st birthday. It was probably the best one I've had in a few years.When I got home, my family took me out to The Cheesecake Factory and I ordered myself a tasy legal pina colada, ate way too much, and got a tiny free desert.  
It feels good to be catching up to everyone. Now if I could just stay this age forever, I think that would be okay.

The Military Version of a Roller Coaster

To avoid dumping too much Army on you at once, I present to you the ever so exciting...

Each Monday, you'll get a piece of my training experience:  What I learned, how I feel about it and why I still like the Army after it all. 

 Today I'll share a bit about my experience at Annual Training which will be referred to from here on out as AT.  Let me start with this:  Wisconsin is cold.  It rained nearly the entire time we were there. If it wasn't raining, it was at least very gloomy  We saw the sun maybe 3 or 4 days out of the 21 days that we were there. That meant that we always had to have on warming layers as well as our vests with our magazine pouches loaded down with blank ammo, carry our weapons around as well as wearing all these thick layers to keep us warm. It's uncomfortable. Almost as uncomfortable as that run-on sentence I just wrote... We were off to a very poor start.  Although there were plenty of things to complain about, there were a few fantastic training opportunities that we were afforded.  The first one we did was a humvee roll-over training. In this training, you get inside a humvee up on a machine, and they roll it around and teach you how to react when it happens.  As the lightest one in my group, I was selected for the "gunner" position. Each person sits in a certain seat and has a job to do in the even of a roll-over.   The gunner's job is to drop down out of the turret (that's basically the gunner's hatch) and be held onto by the other passenger in the vehicle (the gunner doesn't have a seat belt.)Well, unfortunately, my fellow passengers were not all on the same page, and I sort of flew all over that damn humvee. It was so scary! All I could think to do was press my hands up against the turret and hope for the best.  Everyone was shouting and there were little foam ammo cans rolling around and hitting me in the face...It was a crazy experience.  Lucky for you, I found a video of the exact simulator. Take a look.

When we all climbed out, I realized that my face was kind of hurting. Well I hadn't realized it at the time, but I smacked my face on the only un-padded part of the turret.  I walked away with a nasty bruise on my face that people commented on for about two weeks. Luckily, it's gone now, but it made my head hurt for days.  I guess that's what I get for embracing the military version of a roller coaster... Check it out.  See that dirt smudge? Not dirt.  It also stretched a little and changed from purple to green to yellow.  Gross. It sucked wearing that bruise around for nearly two weeks, but I think I got some valuable training out of it.  The Army can be frustrating and hard, but they sure let us do some cool shit every now and then. If you ever get the chance to try anything like this out, I suggest you go ahead and give it a shot. 

Pretty Sure These Eggs are Plastic

Well hellloooo! 
I know, it has been forever, but I'm finally back from annual training and I can jump back into this blogging thing head first. It has been a long three weeks...let me tell ya. Playing Soldier can be some tough business. I'd like to do a major photo dump and just detail everything that happened throughout the whole time, but I think I'll just dish it out a little at a time. Trust me, you can only read about how hungry I was the whole time so much in one post...
I mean...look at my breakfast. :P The only truly edible part was that cereal...That banana was not ready for eating...
But that is not to say that I didn't have some good times. The best part was getting to know all the soldiers around me. It's hard when you're in the Reserve and you only see each other once a month. It helped to be around each other for nearly a whole month.
In the next couple days you will also hear about my 21st birthday (also spent in poopy Wisconsin), a new adventure, a new boyfriend, and a the car accident I got into today...
Yep. The car I bought all on my own last august...I think It's totaled. Cool right?  
No.  Not at all. 
On the bright side, I didn't really get hurt, but my body feels like it got in a car wreck.  Because it did.  For now, I must go, but you can look forward to me returning the regular 5-days-a-week blog-mode by Monday.  I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and is doing better than I am write now.