my turn!

ok, so this time tomorrow i will be somewhere over the ocean in a very antsy way. i fly out of KCI at 9:53am tomorrow and end up in venice roughly 9:30 local time (2:30am) there. it is finally here! i am mostly ready to go - clothes are packed. i have not been as methodical and overly-0rganized about this adventure as i usually am if someone else is traveling with me. consequently, i am slightly anxious and plan to spend my evening furiously going up and down the stairs moving things around and making lists and cleaning. i checked the weather today for Pordenone, Italy -the town closest to Cameron's house. should be high 80's/low 90's the whole time.
anticipated highlights:
the beach - not even sure which beach, or where; but i think it will be the stretch of land on the north east coast of italy close to where it connects with the rest of europe. even if my beach experience totally sucks, just saying that will be totally cool anyway. besides, it can't suck! dad told me people there like to wear their birthday suits to the beach, so no matter how self conscious i feel in my tankini, i'm fairly certain i'll be looking juuust fine.
camping in Austria next weekend - sing with me: "the hills are alive with the sound of music!". yes elizabeth, i have already been practicing "the pose". unfortunately, i do not own a pinafore and so the picture will probably be taken in jeans and a tank top. we will camp at "faaker see". dad has been there, it is a glassy lake in a valley surrounded my mountains. yes please.
arnoldstein - the hometown of arnold schwartzenager. need i say more?
pasta - hello?
gelato - shya!

ok, i promise to have well over $1700 worth of fun - that way at least i am reimbursed for the plane ticket. HORAY!!!

killing time

so yes, saturdays are my lazy days anyway, but today was especially so because i woke up at 10ish, then wandered around the house for a bit listening to the rain outside, then did a pilates video. i didnt get much out of it because Beanie was determined to prance all over me and every time i would sit up, she would park behind me with a toy, making it quite an ordeal to have to lay down again during the exercises. so then i did some house cleaning for a couple of hours and right about the time i was going to clean MYSELF, the power went out. yes, this was 3pm. quite pathetic. so i got ahold of my parents because i was worried that perhaps i would have to venture to the spider-infested basement and hack my way through cobwebs to reset a breaker - something i not only didnt want to do, but dont know how. but mom convinced me to call the emergency maintenance line instead. low and behold, there was a post-wide power outage and there wasnt anything to be done about it. so i celebrated by taking a nap. sleeping from 5-6:30pm is not very productive, just so you know. so alas, although i will go to sleep soon regardless, i am not especially tired.
life right now is going alright i guess. weekends are pretty boring and especially lonely. although my house has never been so clean! i keep a running list of chores and get through a few of them a week. today i cleaned the window sills, wiped down the baseboards, and emptied my food shelf and wiped it down, then put the food back on it. yes, i am that bored. so if you ever come over during the next 8 months, be sure to check out my baseboards and window sills.
my God i miss my husband so much. i keep thinking over and over about what it will be like to pick him up from the airport in 3 months. i already have my outfit picked out. i can picture myself getting to the airport an hour early and then just sitting there shaking like a leaf with excitement and nervousness. what will it be like to spend 7 months alone and then have to share the bed again? what will it be like to get to call him on the phone? how will it feel to touch him? hug him? what will it be like to finally be with him, then have to go to wichita and share him with everyone else?

just about 2 weeks left!

my goodness, it's just starting to sink in that this time next month i will have been to italy and back. it's crazy! i am so thankful for the opportunity to do this. i was just researching venice and now i'm even more excited to explore! plus, cameron lives so far north, that we can easily hit austria, and i think switzerland in a couple of hours. woa! so all i really have to do is get through the next couple of weeks at work and i'm home free! too bad these will be the worst 2 weeks of the year and i am filling in for the secretary... yuck. oh well. it will pass.
physical fitness update: week 2 began today of my "waking up and exercising before work" thing. today was especially interesting since i was up late and had to be at work at 7 instead of 7:30 - but i did it! 4:15am i was awake. that's a miracle in itself! but alas, i did not do intense cardio on saturday or sunday and i felt tired, draggy, and foggy all day long. so i understand now that this is something that i just NEED to do. yoga class is going fantasctically too. today i went to my 3rd class and it is getting harder but feels so wonderful! i'm looking forward to the changes in my bo-day from all this fantastic exercise it is getting. and since i'm fairly certain that my workout buddy from work will only be exercising with me for yoga class, i plan to start going tot he gym tuesdays and thursdays after work and do weights. its too hot outside to do cardio then, so i do it in the morning, then weights twice a week at the gym! woo hoo! size 10 pants, i'm coming home!
*for elizabeth's amusement* i totally bought a pair of white linen pants from ann taylor the other weekend, dry clean only. HA HA!!

4th of July

so i will have to post some pictures up later of my work event that i planned and executed for the 4th fo july. we did 3 events: watermelon eating contest, sunflower seed spitting contest, and water balloon toss. the watermelon eating is just toooooo halarious. i was looking forward to it all year after working at the event last year. but alas, my camera is downstairs and i am tired and dont want to go get it and monkey around with picture downloading.
so after working the event, i had been invited over to my friend Valerie's house. she and her husband are both in the Army and have considerably more friends than i do, so they had a get together for sevreal couples. luckily, they are all military also, so they understand my situation and arent weird about it. but the "affectionate couple" atmosphere was kinda tough. but that's life. it was fun to be around people and to get to know those people better and meet some new people. everyone is very nice and friendly.
tomorrow - well, today actually, josh and valerie will come over. i have bribed them with dinner in exchange for josh's manly ability to change a flat tire on charles' car. i can fix the front door on my own and keep the house clean and even deal with spiders - but i cannot change a car tire. not going to happen.

question: how did an act of treason by a group of men who had a dream of a better country back in 18blablabla turn into a holiday celebrated by blowing things up? i dont understand the connection. been pondering that today...