fun with photos

not so much wanting to work

were you to pass by my office right now, you might assume that i am busy dilligently writing an article or working on a proposal for my current marketing event project. such a wrong assumption... alas, i am rambling aimlessly on my lovely blog. as usual, there is not much to report in my life. just over 7 weeks until i can wrap myself around my husband, that's good! i will fly to jacksonville, fl., pick up our rental car, and then tempt my fate on the inagural trip of the GPS as i wander aimlessly in a new city trying to find the naval base at which i will pick up my extremely good looking husband from the airport. from there we will again rely upon the trusty Garmin as we make our way to st. augustine. and so the vacation will continue as we experience a bit of beach time, some mickey mouse, a lot of roller coasters, entirely too much food, and some quality time staring longlingly at one another.
in other news, my weight loss battle is going slowly. i have always been a person who works best under pressure; but might i say that it was not wise of me to feel pressured 8 weeks before i see my husband again. 12 months - 52 weeks - and i wait for the last 8 to get serious. i have issues. but whatever, progress is progress. and at least in knowing that i am actively combating my chunk, i feel less pathetic and self-conscious about it, which improves my outlook considerably.
so to night is our rescheduled company holiday party. the restaraunt where it is usually held is fairly nice and we had prime rib and really fancy desserts and all kinds of nifty things last year. this year we're going to a bar in leavenworth where we will dine on little smokies and nachos. clearly a step down and i am not at all excited about it. in fact, i'm only going because you cant win a prize if you're not there, and they're giving away some nice prizes. but i am missing out on the gym and i will be cutting it close to get to jiffy lube to service my slowly dying mustang before they close at 6. tonight is "leg night" at the gym, so i will go home and do some sort of pain-inflicting activity that involves the muscles in my leg and will call it good. tomorrow i will work on my arms, which are still rather sore from tuesday. eeeexcellent.
i continue to attend birthing classes with my new friend evelin. evelin is the girl who was deployed to cuba with charles and his friend jamie. (she and jamie were dating when they left) one wedding and one pregnancy later, she comes back here ahead of him and is due march 5. she was living with me for a few weeks and now lives across the street. jamie will be back in about 5 weeks and if the baby (yet another goddaughter for us) gets here before he does, i get to play dad. last night at class we held hands and did stretches and i massaged her back, then we breathed together and stared into each others eyes as she imagined the intense pain of a 90 second contraction... this is a new level of friendship i think, but is silly and enjoyable in its own way. i will be giving her a baby shower on the 31st, but as she is just as un-sociable as i am, it will probably involve my mom (who has never actually met her) and my two friends from work (who have met her once or twice) and hopefully one or two girls she works with. once again, i have managed to find some amazing people to count among my friends who are not only willing to support me in my time of need, but my other friends as well.

happy new year!

alas, i enter 2009 with a bit of a cold/allergy thing happening, but thats ok. i'm getting better and now sound worse than i feel. my christmas in wichita was as enjoyable as it could have been, being my 2nd christmas away from my husband; and i'm extremely grateful to my friends and family for making it so. highlights definitely include a trip to elizabeth's house, hanging out with my mother in law and her family (a suprising joy), and a trip out to the lovely town of goddard to spend some much overdue time with the woodburn clan and my little michelle. don't feel bad, mom, the enjoyment of the typical family traditions were not at all diminished.

pictures:

a rare "acceptable" picture of me and my super snuggly dog. she must have known i was in need of some snugglage.


a camacho christmas morning: yes, that is dad and his flame pants. no day is complete unless dad is sporting the flaming pants.

Betsty, dad's dog. i love how this picture give some miniscule hint as to how mischevious she really is.

the newly-married Mr. and Mrs. Oakley.

a bonus: i figured out how to make my camera take black and white pictures. i love this one of Alyssa, Charles' neice.

ronda and i had to try several times to get Chloe to kiss her long enough for me to get a picture and even so, it's not a great one, but here they are. the girls really enjoyed their presents, which was extra fun for me because i had no idea what to get them. i was glad i guessed well.

just cute - you're such a great mom elizabeth. i love to watch it unfold.

mr. gabriel brown - i'm not entirely sure that is isnt aging twice as fast as he is supposed to. didnt he just turn 5? rumor has it he will be starting linebacker at carroll next year.

logan, whose face looks exactly like gabriels did when he was that age. i generally dont get too bothered by how much i really am missing by not living so close to everyone until i see things like this. but everyone is happy and healthy and well-loved, so all is right in the world.

the anual photo: