Loving life.

We made it safely to Seattle last Saturday and arrived to a ton of snow. It usually never snows like this in Washington State – at least not on the coast of Washington State. But this time the snow is actually staying. Collin’s mom who works at an elementary school actually had two snow days for the past two days. Roads have been really icy because, unlike in Germany, they are being neither salted nor plowed.

We have had a great time here so far. Last night we built gingerbread houses and afterwards went sledding with our friends. We have also been spending a lot of time with Collin’s family just talking, hanging out and watching movies. It is really nice to be here and next week will have a few more great things in store. We will get to see a few more friends that we haven’t seen in a long time. Plus, Christmas is next week.

Oh, on Monday I had an appointment at the Seattle Immigration Office to ask them in person about the status of my greencard. Well, I got my extension stamp since my current greencard and the initial extension letter have been expired for a few months now. But my case is on hold for now. Apparently my fingerprint card hasn’t gone through when I sent it in in July 2007. I now need a biometrics appointment which I can’t take care off until we are back in the States. So for now, my case is on hold until we get to Washington DC. I am glad I got to talk to someone in person. Now I actually know what’s going on and why I have been waiting for so long.

It’s time to watch another movie now. Man, how I love Blockbuster and catching up on all the movies that we haven’t been able to see yet. Life is good and we are truly enjoying being here!

Home for a month.

Collin has been home for a month now and it is so amazing having him back home and enjoying all the different things of being a reunited married couple again. 

Unfortunately, I have classes to attend and I usually don’t get home before 4 or 5 pm. Sometimes even 6 pm! So between going to school, doing homework, writing papers, tutoring, doing other random chores there is not much time left that we can enjoy together. But we are trying our best. Every night we are trying to watch at least one episode of King of Queens, The O.C. or The 4400 together. On weekends we are usually trying to get out of the house. Yesterday we went to Munich, did some shopping there and enjoyed a tasty traditional German dinner at the famous Hofbräuhaus. It was a lot of fun. The next couple weekends are pretty much planned out as well because my parents will be coming to celebrate an early christmas since we are leaving for the States on Dec 13th.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving and we are hosting it at our house. This will be my first time making a turkey. I hope it will be edible!!! Hehe. Wish me luck!

P.S.: Seven years ago from today Collin and I went out on our first date!!!

YAY!!!

Someone is going to welcome home her husband today!!!

I thought it was today.

Well, that’s what everyone thought. Today would have been the day and it is not. I am still sitting here waiting in a very clean house that smells like cookies, is filled with lots of presents and is just so ready for Collin to come home. The last 15 month are definitely catching up with me right now. It is not the first weeks or the last weeks that are the worst, it is definitely the last day or days. I remember Sunday when I was like a child. I was giggling and laughing all the time while making cookies. Today I am the complete opposite. I have a headache, I can’t sleep, I have weird dreams. Today I actually have class but I didn’t go. I just can’t concentrate on anything. Instead I will be running a few more errands, meet up for lunch with another wife who is waiting just like me, go tutoring and attend a meeting at school tonight (I originally planned to attend it with my husband…). I’ll keep you updated…

Hello October!

It is October 2008 and this will be a month that I will never forget. It will be the end of our first deployment. Yes, that’s right. Collin is coming home this month. I might only be alone for three more weekends, two of which are filled with super exciting events with my fellow Army wives.

This upcoming weekend I have my hair appointment that I have been longing for for so long. Thanks everyone for the advice on how I should get my hair done. I think I will go with the lighter brown and honey/golden highlights. Also, I will keep my length as I said before. I am just in desperate need of a good trim.

Today was my first day of school. I am doing the 7th semester right now which is packed with classes, projects, labs and presentations. I am really motivated and excited about everything though. Well, it always seems as if everyone is motivated at first but i hope that this time I will be able to keep my motivation alive throughout the next 4-5 months. Hehe. The past few weeks, I have been looking for internships for next year (preferably from August 2009 until either January 2010 or July 2010). The internship of my dreams would be at the DC Water and Sewer Authority where I could work at the wastewater treatment plant doing lots of lab work. I have also been looking into smaller places such as Environmental Consulting companies like this one. Wish me luck!

So, hello October! You may go by quickly!

Any ideas?

Okay this is me right now. Well, since Collin is coming home pretty soon, I want to go all out and get a new hair cut and a new color.

 I came to the conclusion that I actually like my current length and decided to just get a trim and maybe a cut that will shape my current length a little better. What do you think? Or should I go shorter again or maybe get layers? As for the colors, I am not so sure yet. I kind of feel like just getting highlights. Preferably blond – or should I go darker? I am so undecided. Maybe you guys have any suggestions. I am open towards anything.

Austria here I come.

It’s finally over! I made it through this semester and it feels so good to be done. It was so stressful at certain times but looking back now it all seems so far away and I just can’t believe that I didn’t quit, collapse or go crazy during that time. I feel so relieved now. Today my grades were posted and I couldn’t be happier. All the studying paid off and I thought last semester went great but this one went even better (FYI: In Germany 1,0 = A and 4,0 = D).

This weekend I will be heading to Austria with my parents and my sister. We are going to do lots of hiking there which I am looking forward to so much. I love hiking and exploring the mountains and my sister is actually a really good buddy when it comes to hiking. She loves it as well. Hehe, at least one thing we have in common.

It’s that time of year again…

So here is what’s been going on in my life:

School
Busy, busy, busy. There are about three weeks of classes left in this semester. After that there will be three weeks of finals. Next week I have two presentation and my very first final. On top of everything else, I still have a big paper to write plus two lab papers to finish. And then I will be busy with studing for finals. There are nine of them. It surely is a stressful semester this time.

Celebrations
My birthday was last week. I am 24 now. I feel old. I had a great birthday this year. We went to watch the soccer game on Thursday night and had a BBQ at one of my friends’ place. Then at midnight they surprised me with a little birthday cake and afterwards we went out dancing. It was a good break from everything else, plus it made me feel really warm inside. I got so many calls that night and I hung out with so many great people. I don’t know how many times I thanked them but I did it a lot.

Random Things that make me feel good these days
Soccer! Germany made it to the semi-finals of the EURO CUP 2008 last night. What a great game! What a great team! I watched the game at a beer garden with some of my class mates. The atmosphere was amazing as usual and I can’t wait for next Wednesday when they play against Turkey or Croatia (which will be determined at tonight’s game!).
Coldplay! Their new album is out and it is amazing! I like that they are more like the original Coldplay from when they first got famous. It is a great album.

AND THE BIGGEST NEWS YET
Collin and I will be moving to Washington DC in September 2009!!!! We will be there for one year because he is doing his LPN training at Walter Reed Army Medical Center there. I am so excited!!!!

Ten months down.

It’s been 10 months since Collin left. On one hand I can’t believe that it has been this long already, yet on the other hand I am so done with it and it is hard to think that we still have 5 months ahead of us. There are so many things that I miss and I can’t wait to have them all back. We are looking forward to going back to the States and to hanging out with our friends and family there. We are talking about it all the time on the phone and it is so much fun to discuss what we want to do and what we are looking forward to the most. It will be over two years that Collin won’t have seen his parents.

Other than that, school is crazy these days. There are so many projects that I need to work on and finish by the end of the month. There is a 100+ paper we need to turn in, an AutoCAD project, two presentations and on top of everything else there will be finals (nine of them!!!) in July. I can’t wait for this semester to end. Next semester I will be with the Senior class. It will be interesting. While all my fellow students will be having their internship semester, I will be taking classes again because I am allowed to do my internship later (most likely when we are back in the States next year – HOPEFULLY! – We are so ready to live back in the States again.).

Next week I will be turning 24 years old. I feel so old. I got my birthday present from Collin already. It is a blue Mountain Hardwear jacket that I have been wanting for so long. I am wearing it right now. Yes, I am loving it that much. I don’t know yet what I am going to do for my birthday. I was thinking of having a BBQ with friends and since the European Championships in Soccer start this week and will be lasting until the end of June, I was thinking of turning it into a Birthday/Soccer-Party. We’ll see though.

 

Back to the States. At least for three weeks.

So instead of spending $2000 on two new bikes, we just spent $2000 on two fabulous paper e-tickets to the States. Actually it was ‘only’ $1912 for the two of us, which I am very happy about, because finding tickets for Christmas for less than $1000 a person from Germany to Seattle is almost impossible.

Initially we wanted to spend a quiet Christmas alone here in Germany but because of certain rumors (regarding the Army) that have been going around and that I can’t discuss here right now, we decided to spend Christmas with Collin’s family in the States. Collin won’t have seen them for almost two and a half years by then. It wasn’t hard to convince him that it would be a good idea. He, himself, mentioned it one day and I just decided to go ahead and book two tickets. We will be there for almost three weeks, which will give us plenty of time to spend time with family and friends.

PS: Thanks everyone for your comments regarding my immigration issues. I sent a letter to the California Service Center where my application is being processed. I am fed up with the US Consulate in Frankfurt as well as the USCIS hotline because neither of them seem to have a clue how filing from overseas works and how this issue is being treated. I know about the stamp and I hope that Frankfurt issues those stamps as well. So as for now, I am back to waiting.