Practicing…

My sweet brother in law sean downloaded an app for me to blog from my phone!

Wishing…

I’m wishing I never got the phone call on Wednesday night telling me things aren’t going good in Mexico and he will be staying at least another week…

I’m wishing last night I could have picked my Lou up from the airport with the biggest smile of my life slapped all over my face and ran past everyone into his arms like they do in the movies!!

I’m wishing I could stop thinking of what I would rather be doing on our 12 year anniversary instead of spending it alone and countries apart..

I’m wishing I woke up this morning cuddled up to the love of my life next to me in bed with Tucker and Milly  in their usual “spots”.

I’m wishing we could have eaten breakfast at noon together and tried out one  of the many meals he has been missing in the last3 weeks that he has been gone….

I’m wishing his brother wasn’t so sick while he is helpless and so far away only left to worry about things….

I’m wishing most of all that he really will come back this Friday like he says….

Yup, yesterday was the day I have looked forward to and planned on for the last 3 weeks….

Unfortunately Friday came and went… not as I expected, pictured or how I dreamed about it happening since the day he left…. Wednesday (while having the best itme out with girlfriends picking out what and where to put balloons when he gets home) I got a phone call and found out it would be another week of him over there in that God awful place……

My world came crashing down… a little dramatic for most I understand but Lou and I are….. just different.

I have not been able to actually write that out until today and Lou told me i must continue to blog through the hard times so there you have it….

Thank goodness for the best girlfriends and mama in the world getting me through the roughest time in my life!

You too Milly, I know your life isn’t all daisy’s taking care of me and your brother!

Last weekend Renee and Kayla took over  the role of my entertainer (to give mom a break) and we spent the weekend in Hilton Head soaking up some sun!

   Oh how I miss my Ney, the only girl in the world I could stay up til 5 am with after ONLY 1 bottle of wine which was killed at about 2 am….. Yes that is what I call true friendship!

Saturday Kayla joined us for some sun and a beautiful dinner over the water at Boat House! One of my favorite places to eat at Hilton Head….

Renee has now met her match, for the first time she was scared me and her would not be the LOUDEST people in the place but rather Kayla and I (especially after downing about 3 Pina Coladas each home made by yours truly)… yes Kayla and I are loud but when all 3 of us are together it’s just chaos!!

I love it!!

Until bedtime that is when you have all 3 of us in one bed and Renee trying to be a mama “Not one more word!”…. and Kayla and I (naturally) wide awake and ready to go! We quickly found out all you have to do is tickle Ney and she is louder than us and recharged!! I don’t think either night we made it to bed before 3 am! Eating, talking, drinking, downloading funny photo apps and what else but prank calls!!

Getting back to Atlanta was not hard because I was so confident in it being my last week alone (with mama)!

We treated ourself to Ice Cream and sent Lou a picture which was pretty mean considering one of the things he misses the most is ice cream!!

They don’t have much of it there but he was happy to see my picture regardless!

 

Wednesday finally came and not only was it hump day meaning I made it half way through the week but it was the day Rachel, Kayla, mom and I had planned for all week…

Jane had reminded us about a whole in the wall Mexican place while we were in Hilton Head which gives you free refills on Margaritas so it was a date!!

They refused to let us have 2 sips with out coming around and topping it off!! I had been there before but mom had not and let me tell you she was in Heaven!!

Especially once they brought out free dessert!

Eventually we told them we had had enough (considering one of us would have to drive) and because we were trying to get to my favorite store “Charming Charlie's” before they closed!

That’s when my awful phone call came, just as i walked in the store so the rest was a blur until Thursday Morning when Rachel pulled me out of my pity party and invited me to lunch at the Flying Biscuit!!

For some reason Alex thought it was a good time to tell me seeing as my friends were around and could act as a distraction from me getting “too” upset…

We had the best seat in the house that was outside but covered and over looked 10th street….. we also got to feed the birdies!

I still wasn’t cured so mom (apparently called dad for back up) and to Target we went for some much needed retail therapy …..

We came home from shopping and daddy was waiting with flowers for both of us!

Sweet man… thanks daddy!!

As for Lou the facility he is working at went ahead and threw a going away party for them even though their date changed as to when they will leave…. anyway, this is what the security guards found outside of the facility:

So now I don’t only have cartels, drug lords, drive by’s and the guy who shot and killed another man at the Apple Bee’s they almost went to last Friday night but now snakes too!

Oh and lets not forget the 12 women killed in the last 7 days there!

I hate it, Lou please get home, you are taking all of this very graciously as you always do with stress but not sleeping, not taking a day off in a month, pressure building by the day for your work, putting up with me and worrying about me and your brother is just to much for me to watch you do….

You need a big huge hug right about now and all we have to do is make it until Friday for that to happen!!

Happy 12th Anniversary of loving you Lou!!!

Ohh We’re Halfway There….

Ohhhhhhhh living on Skype!!!!

We have one more weekend and a week until Lou comes home and I can NOT wait!! I’m sure mom is pretty excited too because (besides weekends) she isn’t allowed to see her hubby either! I require A LOT of attention and entertainment with Lou not being here, trust me!

Besides mom and Kayla and Rachel here is a glimpse of what has been in my survival kit since he left:

Yes, that bad!!

We have tried to feel closer to each other by sending pictures back and forth during the day of our meals, places we go and random “wish you were here” moments!

Here’s some pictures of what he has sent me over the past week:

This is the view from his hotel….

Also, here’s a picture from the restaurant he went to last night for dinner with the guys from his work:

It looks gorgeous and he said he ate the best steak of his life (I think he just forgot what “real” food taste like more than likely)! It was an old mans house that they made into a restaurant! Alex said there were hidden vaults everywhere where the man used to keep his money (they got a tour of the house while they were there).

This is a picture of the house:

Gorgeous right?

I believe this is from his hotel lobby:

He actually did say he has had some good meals since he has been there except the lunch they eat at the facility…..

Here’s Milly talking to daddy on Skype, notice she is looking away a bit- well she is starring at the front door…. every time he talks to them on speaker phone or Skype they run to the front door barking… poor things they still don’t understand where he is! 

The internet was SOOO bad the first few days he was there we couldn’t even skype or G-chat at night so he moved rooms to be closer to the lobby…. this is a picture I took while we were skyping of the pool view out his window!

This past week mom and I did a lot of eating and shopping when I wasn’t at work and when we were home I caught up on more work and studied for my licensure that is sooner than I want to think of right now…

Mom has been a super hero since Lou left…. not that she wasn’t super mom before but seriously I had no idea I was getting a dog walker, maid, cook, lunch and breakfast packer and entertainer!

This is what I have caught myself saying to co-workers lately who must wonder “what is going on with her and her mom”?

- Oh I love your shoes where did you get them? Ohh thank you, my mom got them for me yesterday at target for 3 $!!

- Would you like the rest of my lunch? Oh no thank you, I just ate egg salad my mom packed me for lunch!

- Jen when are you leaving work, you should go home. Oh I am about to I’m just waiting for my mom to pick me up because she drove me today!

I come home to a clean vacuumed and mopped house almost daily, I wake up to my “togo” cup and lunch packed and ready, she refuses to go to bed before me and is helping me rush out the door in the morning!

She brushes, feeds and walks the babies daily and does my laundry!!

Lou told me I must make her stop and that I’m getting spoiled….. I just can’t bring myself to do it though- not that she would listen anyway!!!

Thanks mama!!

This is Milly giving Grama her frisky look after getting brushed…. yes my dog gets “frisky” from one brush stroke!

Daddy came to visit us girls this weekend to see how we were holding up without our men….. and he made plans for us to go see Mr. Stevie (daddy’s “best man” and fraternity brother in college). They are such trouble when they get together, two peas in a pod who tune everything out around them when they start talking, both accountants too!

Saturday mom made her famous Pina coladas and midnight snacks for Rachel and I!

It felt just like when I was little with friends over and she would come out with a million different snacks for us and we got to eat on the couch until we fell asleep watching “I love Lucy”!

Sunday we house hunted and then had a cook out before daddy left: Alex called just in time to put in his request for hamburger or hot dog!

Cook outs just aren’t the same with out Lou here but daddy did great on the Lou’s grill!

This week we have again, tried to keep ourselves very busy and here’s a few picture I sent to him to keep him in the ATL loop:

We met Ali at “The Real Chow Baby” in midtown for a first time experience! It was such a neat place (Billy you would love it- it’s all you can eat made to order)! You get 2 bowls, a meat bowl and a vegetable/noodle/ rice bowl to fill up and give it to the people at the cooking station!

You pick any sauce and spice to go on top and they have vegan options too!

The Mojitos weren’t too bad either- except the one I spilt all over everything at our table!!! Mainly it was just soo good to see Ali even though I forgot to get a picture with her!

Good choice on the restaurant pick Ali- as always!

After dinner mom and I went to Andy and Rachels to (finally) watch the “Jaycee Duggard” story that they “tivo’d” for me!! So sad yet so amazing, I think everyone could learn something from that strong, strong woman!

This was the first picture I took with my new phone for Lou!

“Everyone say: Hey Lou, we miss you!!!”

Above: Tuesday mom came to Marietta to meet me for my long lunch break since I work long days on Tuesday!

We both craved chicken fingers and where else is cuter to go than to the Marietta square!

Say “Hi Lou!!!!”

My response from that picture:

“Ok Jen Jen, now I’m depressed, I want to be able to go eat lunch with you guys!”

Ha, I told Lou if he says that than he won’t get any more pictures!!

He instantly took it back and says the pictures help him stay happy more than anything!!!

So I kept them coming!

Toes day!!

(Notice Kayla in the far background in moms picture)

Kayla and I decided we had been without our boys for 2 weeks now (Lance works our of town too but for a month at a time!) so we deserved a pity party at the pool on our shared day off!

So we sent this to the boys!

“Wish you were here, I miss you!!!”

Below: “Look what I found”!

Alex and I lived right around the corner from a “Rita’s” in Clemson and went almost daily during the summer…. I had not been since we moved away and it was so good!!

That’s all for now!! Mom and I are heading home tomorrow for her to see Daddy and for me to have a little get away girls trip in Hilton Head, I’m sure it will be just what I need and as entertaining as ever!!!

Time to skype my Lou, Goodnight!!

A Happy Weekend and Sad Goodbye

What a weekend we had before our VERY, Very, Very dreaded airport kiss, squeeze and bear hug goodbye to each other….

We ate out for every meal, drank with just about every meal and had very long moments of pausing followed by “I’m REALLY going to miss you.” quite often…

Needless to say, I decided to give my best shot at denial for the weekend and especially the morning that he left…. The weekend part wasn’t too terribly hard seeing as we kept ourselves very busy with friends and fun activities!

Friday Alex was “able” to leave work the earliest he has left all summer… (about 5:30) so that we could enjoy some amazing BRAVES tickets Andy got for us!

Thanks Andy!!!

He also provided free parking and amazing snacks (bbq cheddar cheetos to be exact, which are my new favorite!)

Snacks, boos’ and shade, what more can a girl want!!

Well, app-AREN-tly to go INTO the game bc Rachel was pretty persistent with that request…. can we say selfish?!? Haha just kidding!

Honestly though who knew she would be the only one who cared to actually go into the game and sit in our amazing seats (directly behind the dug out)! So we finally gave into her request during the 7th inning and entered the stadium!

Perfect night topped with amazing fireworks after the game!

Oh yes, I should probably mention that the BRAVES WON… Thanks to my boyfriend Ugla hitting a home run!!

Saturday we had breakfast at the Landmark Dinner which we have passed about a million times since moving to out house now and I have always wanted to go but never have…

As you can see I also got away with a million more “Lou smile” due to it being my wonderful phrase I came up with of “But Lou it will be the most recent picture I will have of you to look at when I miss you”  which I through out every chance I got!

See!!

Anyway After breakfast we joined Kayla and Lance at the pool!

See, my phrase worked again!

Kayla and I have a slight handicap when it comes to laying out- pools instantly make us hungry and Mexican is always what calls our name! A sudden storm and Andy calling to say get your ass to El Amigo for Mexican helped too!

Yay for Andrew being in town and officially in love with us to the point that he is wanting to move here now!!!

YAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Side note- poor Lance, almost immediately after I took this picture the waiter came with my CHEESE BURRITO and spilled cheese sauce all over the back of his neck!

Only Lance, Poor Lance!

Andrew as always, finds the funniest videos on Youtube!! I don’t know how he does it but Alex cracked up all weekend bc of this video!! Click below to watch!

It’s pretty hilarious!!

After Mexican we decided to move the party to Andy and Rachels house but not before hitting up Kroger for Moscato and Cookie Dough!

Please ignore Rachels ghetto front porch tarp from oiling a chair  (welcome to the neighborhood neighbors, i know she is bad!) also please ignore the fact that we remained in our bathing suits the whole night!

Besides the Moscato and cookie dough we somehow managed to pick up British accents for the night to go with our miniature wine glasses (it made us feel important because we needed a refill after each sip therefore had to ring the door bell every 3 minutes and have Alex wait on us)!

It was pretty amazing… until the boys became interested in Corn Hole and Lou brought us the bottle to serve ourselves!

LAME!

(BTW) RIP little glass…… Lance will soon go to Peru and replace you I hope because you sure were fun!!

The mess from that was soon cleaned up and Corn Hole was continued!!

The next morning was rough.. very rough…. actually the whole day was! But we had plans to tube down the river and I just knew I would be better any minute….

Unfortunately I wasn’t…… and to top it off I got a call that morning that a realtor wanted to come show our house….. shoot me!!

My response: “Sure I will have it all cleaned for you and will have the dogs out in an hour- of course!”

My Response to myself after hanging up: “Why me?”

So Milly and Tuck went to visit Chelsea and KC and mama and daddy went tubing!

        Rachel quit working so hard, your even sweating and making Kayla and I look lazy!

Thank you :)

We had a few minor first timer mishaps:

This would be Alex getting in the car with a stranger….. yup we hitch hiked.

I must credit us for thinking to leave one car at the top of the river and one car at the bottom but it didn’t help that both sets of car keys were at the top of the river…..

That night was pretty rough, Lou still had to pack and I was so exhausted I could barely help him at all, I was literally immobile!

Mom says it was probably me being stressed so my body shut down physically- I think I agree!

I don’t know how Lou held it together but he did, he had a big talk with Tucker and Tucker has taken their talk very seriously!

We thought TJ was over protective of me before…. well he has been ON DUTY since Lou left….. literally follows me everywhere and everyone is a bad man!

Milly needed no lecture, similar to me she only needed a pep talk and kisses!

I was able to take work off Monday and although he had to be at work bright and Early at 7am Monday his flight didn’t leave until 4:45! So we were able to eat lunch together at the airport and I finally said goodbye to him about 3:00…..

I honestly didn’t know I owned a pair of “Big Girl Panties” that were big enough to handle this situation but I did it and now the count down begins!!!!!

We decided at the airport we will only think of it a moment at a time, for example: phone call to email to phone call to skype and certainly no more than one day at a time, similar to an addict on crack :)

Thinking of it as 2 or 3 weeks is just way too unsettling for my stomach right now!

Speaking of which:

Alex said they have free breakfast, lunch and dinner at the facility they are working at but will “only have to be there for lunch”….

I wondered why he said “only” until I got this picture of his lunch, ew! He said this is what they feed their workers and that you can request different meals but he wanted to see what the locals eat and that’s what he got!

He said they feed this to the 4,500 workers at the facility 3 meals a day! Its some type of chicken, rice and lettuce (apparently)!

He does say that he feels safe there and sent me this beautiful picture of the pool!

Why does something so good have the capability of hurting you so much?!?! Now I guess I know what people mean when they say they are afraid of love… it can hurt….a lot! No worries though, I have not taken my big girl panties off yet and it has been 3 days!! Mostly because I feel like Lou may crumble it if I do…. because if it was only me I would have tumbled down long ago!

We have never been apart like this before and the unknown is such a scary place to be…

Thank goodness for mom being here and babysitting me (and Tucker and Milly)! She is the best distraction, entertainment and Lou replacer in the world!!

She always knows how to add a little sunshine to my day!!

( To Lou: I hope you enjoyed all the pics from this weekend Lou, I will have more of Tucker and Milly up soon! Stay busy over there and don’t worry about us!!! The easy part was falling in love with you…. now THIS is the hard part!)