1 really is a lonely #

So it's been almost two weeks now since Art left for Part 1 of his deployment. He is at training in LA. So far it has been ok, I am used to living without him since we spent all of last year doing it.  But it still is hard to be in this big place all by myself.  I know it's only going to get harder though, because I am pretty sure the amount of time I actually get to talk to him will drop. I get anxiety just thinking about it. Thank heavens he will be home for Christmas in fact he might be getting home early for his Christmas leave!!! I am beyond excited. I still don't know how I am going to be when he actually leaves because I was pretty much a disaster the night before he left two weeks ago, and I knew he would be back in 3-4 weeks....but the next time he will be leaving and not coming back and I may or may not get to see him before he actually deploys. Ugh, I get stressed thinking about it. Well for now I am just going to enjoy the time we will get, that's all I can do right? Wishing you all happy holidays and enjoy the people you are with and don't get bothered over the little things:).

I am Thankful

I guess I will jump on the bandwagon and do a "thankful" post. But in all seriousness I am thankful for so much in my life. Sometimes I catch myself complaining about the little things, and hopefully I stop myself and remember all the good things I have...now I admit sometimes it takes me longer than others to just stop and breath and reboot. But this time of year always helps with that. So here it goes, I am thankful for...
1. Family: I have the most amazing parents, an awesome brother who is one of my best friends, and an amazing extended family and in laws.
2. Husband: I know he is family but I think he deserves his own line. He is always there for me, makes me feel like I am perfect just the way I am. When I am sad he can always without fail make me smile even if I fight it. He supports me in everything I do, even if sometimes I get these really stupid ideas for cool "projects" I want to do.
3. The military: now this one is an interesting one, I am thankful to the military in so many ways. I am thankful for all our soldier/airmen/sailors for their selfless service and sacrifice. I am thankful for my job (and yes the $$ they put up for me to get to this point), I am thankful for my Air Force and Navy "families" we have met so many amazing people. I am not thankful that they are "stealing" my husband away from me yet again, but I know it's a part of our job so what can you do.
4. Sniper: yes I am obsessed with my cat and I spoil him like he is my kid, but he the best pet ever and loves me unconditionally.
5. Friends: near and far I am thankful to have so many wonderful people in my life
6. House and food: so thankful to have a wonderful roof over my head and food in my stomach

I have so much in my life I am truly blessed! What are you thankful for this season?

Me and My couch

We got very well acquainted these past few days. I got a really nasty flu this week, and it was terrible. Mind you, I haven't had the flu in YEARS. I mean I have had colds, with the sniffles and such, but not a flu. I got home Tuesday from work and wasn't feeling great, but by 8pm I had a fever of 102 yikes! When I woke up Wednesday morning it was only down to about 101. Needless to say I took my first sick day in as long as I can remember...I hate missing work/school or whatever. Usually I can just "power" through, but this one totally took me down. I slept pretty much all day. By Wednesday night my fever finally broke and I was back down to normal, but still not 100% better. And now Friday still not 100% but definitely on way back to normal. I hope this continues because I do not want to waste my 3 day weekend with my couch, so fingers crossed. Happy Veterans Day weekend!

Yes I am alive

So I know I am a terrible blogger but really does anyone but me read this thing anyway? So what has been going on...hmmm interesting question. Well besides a lot of boring dental stuff. I mean our lives right now revolve so much around work, both of us are just up to our necks with work. We come home and just about crash. Since we are probably in the minority of people who find all thing dental interesting I will spare you the details of work. Just suffice to say we fix a lot of teeth all day long.
I guess it is finally time to make the announcement...and NO I am NOT pregnant so don't go getting all excited. A lot of people already know this, but we haven't really publicly stated that coming this February Art will be deploying to Afghanistan for 6 months. I guess the reason I am doing this via the blog is because it leads me into my next point...this blog will be taking a little change of direction in the upcoming months. This will be our way of keeping people in the know since I know people will be very concerned as to his well being. So we are going to use this as a means of keeping everyone up to date as possible. As for now we are just enjoying life together in MS. It really isn't as bad as everyone may think, different yes but not bad.

Where has the time gone?

Seems like every time I write I am apologizing for how long it has been, so why stop the streak now? It has been a crazy two months. All of July was spent at Maxwell AFB in AL for my officer training. It was a heck of a month, it was probably one of the longest months of my life. I think have 18 hr days would make any month seem long though right? Up at 4:30 and usually not in bed till 9:30-11. Sleep deprived, just a little. I learned a lot and I am glad that I went through it. It all ended with a surprise visit from my mom. It was amazing, I had absolutely no idea her and Art were planning this the whole time! It was the best way to end a long month.
Then coming back and starting residency the Monday after training ended. It has been a lot of running around and getting things signed, lectures and such. Then in the little free time we have we have been working on the house and just spending time with each other. Oh and now we are in the midst of a hurricane. Our very first hurricane. So far it hasn't been eventful, but I am ok with that. We are off work for 2 days, so it's been pretty much like a snow day. We are confined to our house. I've been able to clean the house, make bread, and just relax with Art. It's been actually quite nice, especially since we are safe, dry and have power! That is pretty much it for now.

Off to Alabama

Well officer training starts tomorrow...and to say I am nervous is an understatement. I know it will be a challenge, more mentally than physically for me. So for now I will say goodbye, until August 3rd.

A New Start

Well we officially made it and live in the South. I can't believe it was just a year ago we had moved Art to Chicago, and now we are down living in MS! We spent our last days in Il with our friends the Secrests, we played games for hours, ate, watched movies and went bowling it was a blast. I am going to miss Il for so many reasons,
1. Our friends, especially the Secrests and our endless game nights
2. Restaurants: Kori, LBBC, Silo, Curry Hut, The Grille, Port o Call
3. Bowling on base
4. The neighborhood
All good things must come to an end. The best thing about moving? Living with my husband again! Things I won't miss
1. Driving or flying to see Art almost every weekend
2. The nasty Chicago traffic
3. Dental school
4. Small apartments
5. The stupid train that was outside Art's apartment
6. Winter
So we took 3 days to drive down to Keesler. We all (including Sniper) survived the drive. Our cat is an amazing traveler, he is so cooperative I feel blessed. We stopped in St. Louis the first night. It was a cute little neighborhood outside of St. Louis actually. It was nice to walk around. Stopped just south of Memphis the 2nd day and ate some good BBQ. Then we finally made it to Biloxi/Keesler. The base is HUGE. The commissary and exchange are like triple the size of the ones at Great Lakes. I must tell you it definately will be some culture shock being down here, and will take some time to get used to. Oh an the weather? Yeah...it is hot and humid, that will take some time to get used to too. As for now I will leave you with some pictures of our road trip.

Dinner at a pub in St. Louis

Our little traveler

The welcome to Ms sign

Tower in the back says City of Biloxi

The end of an era

So I have officially become a dentist! Hurray, it was a hard road and stressful but well worth it. I have also officially left Ohio, moved in with my husband for the first time in almost a year! It has been so busy around here. We are just trying to make the most of every last minute we have in Chicago together before we move down south. I am really going to miss this place. Even though I never officially lived here it feels like home. I love the neighborhood, having our own little apartment, and of course our friends. I can't believe it's all coming to an end. We are getting packed up next week, then will live in a hotel for a few days before we set off for the South...which means 900 miles of driving ugh. Definitely not looking forward to that. However, what I am looking forward too is a nice big place to live. So much is going to change so fast, and the next few months promise to be quite the adventure for us.

I did it!

So the title probably makes it sound more exciting then this post really is, but for me it's very exciting. I actually successfully made bread! For those of you that know me, know I am a chef not a baker (and I use the term chef loosely). I hate to measure or take the time to be precise when I cook. I just add this and that whatever I feel like. So when I saw this recipe a couple months ago to make bread in a dutch oven that required no mixer or kneading I was dieing to try it. Let me tell you, it actually works. Even for someone like me who has only successfully made hard dense bread.

Just out of the Oven

First piece, it really did taste good. Photography has never been my strong suit.

I live

Geez, it's been too long. I have been just crazy stressed out. First there was finishing dental school. The last month was insanely busy trying to finish everything, and get everything in order. Meanwhile trying to prepare for WREBs. Oh and traveling back and forth to Chicago a few times. End of dental school parties...and this last weekend taking WREBs. This weekend was possibly one of the most stressful 2 days of clinic ever. To spare you all the boring dental details, lets just suffice to say it was not a smooth 2 days. I did get everything done, and my patients were amazing to me, just a lot of other unforeseen things went wrong that is just what I didn't need. I think most everything went well grading wise only one mishap that I am worried about...so here's to hoping, fingers crossed that it is all over. These next few months promise to be just as busy. Moving out of cleveland to Chicago, graduation from Dental school, then back to Chicago for a few weeks, then moving out of Chicago and down to Mississippi, then one month of officer training, and finally starting my residency. For now I think I am just going to sit around and do nothing today. I haven't been able to really do that in a long time, I wonder if I can remember how? I'll let you know how it goes.

Vacation

Spring break is amazing. I have had the most wonderful week, so stress free. I have just been able to hang out with my husband, and our friends. We have met some wonderful people here. I have been hanging out with my friend Suzanne (one of Art's co-workers wife). She is a stay at home mom, so we are able to hang out all the time when I am on break and it's awesome! She is so fun. She has 3 kids and one is still home with her all the time, and he is adorable. I take care of him like he is my own when we hang out, which I think she doesn't mind because she is able to take a break from being a mom full time for a little. We bake together, shop and just hang out it's so fun. I am going to miss them so much when we leave. I think that is the hardest part for me about this life style, is it is just so transient that it's hard. I just hope next year we can find people as awesome as them.

The South

Well, I have been waiting a long time to post this. I think because I was so afraid of jinxing it. Art and I had been working really hard to get co-located next year and to save you the 6 months of agony we went through it all worked out. We are headed to Mississippi together. (well for now hahaha. As anything could change at anytime with the military). Both of us got our orders cut in the passed few weeks, so for the time being we are headed down south together. We couldn't be happier to finally live together!

I need a break...

So these last two weeks have been just insanely busy. For the long weekend I flew out to chicago then back on Tuesday morning, then drove straight from the airport to Medina for my rotation. The rest of the week consisted of commuting to and from Medina (about 45min. each way). Oh except did I mention we got our first horrendous snow storm so Thursday it took me 2 hours to get home, absolute nightmare. Then Saturday was Prophy day, were about 500 people came through...we were there from 8am-4:30. What a Saturday it was. Sunday was a total veg out day spent with friends watching football, so nice to finally relax. Then back to the grind and commuting in Medina. Friday was mock boards, so needless to say it was an extremely stressful week. After mocks I decided I really needed a weekend away so I drove out to Chicago, making a long day that much longer. Since Art had to fly out for some CE courses Sunday morning it was a really short weekend. I spent I think 36 hours total there, for 13 hours of driving, I know I am crazy. But it was totally worth it. Now it's back to case clinic which will be a shock after being treated like a real doctor for 2 weeks.

Food

Been a busy 3 weeks of cooking for me:). I love having the free time to make real "fancy" homemade food. I mean I pretty much always to homemade food, it just taste so much better, but I now I have the time to make long cooking dishes I don't do during school. Here is a list of what's been cooking: taco night (with homemade guac and salsa, chicken, ground beef and fish, and all the toppings), pizza night (homemade dough and pizza sauce), calzones (with the leftovers from pizza night. Even though they looked terrible they tasted pretty good in the airport:)), homemade focaccia bread, stuffed pasta shells with homemade meat sauce, spicy soy sauce glazed chicken wings, Philly cheese steaks and oven baked garlic fries, my dad and I did a breakfast for Christmas with banana mac pancakes, and a bunch of desserts for Art's co-workers. There were other meals in there that were not as exciting to mention. Here are some pictures...I do apologize the lighting and such is bad I am not a food photographer by any means. Oh an some of you may be wondering how I am eating all these "cheesy meals" I have discovered soy cheese for a cheap price at the commissary here and it actually taste ok.