New Years & Birthday!

For some reason it took me about 2 weeks to get acclimated to the time change!  My Jet lag was awful!  I slept during most days or didn't sleep for a few days until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore!  It was such a struggle for me!  So New Years Eve was no obstacle for me!  In fact I think that was day 3 or 4 of my insomnia & I think i was up for 2 more days after that before I finally crashed!  I don't know if it was stress from being in a foreign land so far away from everything that I have ever known, not having a vehicle, not having a place to live, or most of all not having my puppies anymore.  Whatever it was I was so happy to start sleeping again!  On to the main subject!

 This year New Years Eve was a tad bit different!  Usually we would have a party & a ton of food & drinks & games & hats & decorations & all that jazz that makes for a great NYE party!  Although 2011 NYE didn't end the way I would have liked with a phone call from my cousin telling me that my Grams had suddenly taken a turn for the worst...it was still a much better celebration in my opinion. This year we sat in our TLF room just the 2 of us!  Watched movies, had some champagne, fell asleep before midnight & woke up to the fireworks that lasted for 2 hours!!  Some pics to show you the difference!!

2012 food for just us!!(I couldn't help myself & some things should never change!)

12:01 of 2012 I do believe!

2011 NYE! Rockband!

Fun Decor!!

Great Friends!

Needless to say NYE was just not the same!  I cried & Christopher fell asleep!  I was lonely & felt that we made a huge mistake! Don't worry that quickly changed!  

Soon enough we found our house!  More on that to come soon!

Which has so much character & storage I absolutely love it!(I think this was about the time I started sleeping again!)

Found a car which turned out to be a big mistake!  More on that later too!  And then it was time for Christopher to start working again which meant I was left home alone without any of our furniture a loaner bed & no puppies.  I quickly felt depression creeping in!  Alas it was my birthday & I thought it was going to be an awful day.  We had almost nothing in our house to eat which was probably a good thing.  Chris had taken me on base to rent some movies the night before so on my birthday I sat in bed and watched season 1 of Gossip Girl & Downton Abbey on my laptop!  Soon my Facebook started blowing up with birthday wishes which sounds crazy but it made my loneliness almost disappear for the day!  I quickly became consumed with the drama & glamour of Gossip Girl & it was turning out to be a pretty great birthday!  Then Christopher called & said he had to work late so I would be alone even longer... :( Fortunately he ended up getting home earlier than he thought!  Since we had no food & pizza is my favorite as it reminds me of home my hubby comes home with this for my birthday dinner!

It was delicious & I think I gained about 5 lbs just from that nights dinner!  Nowhere near as good as any pie we'd get in the Chicagoland area of course but pretty good for Germany!

Then I got to open my presents which I was expecting nothing since we have been so busy and unless he was at work we were together & I hadn't seen him get anything...& my BFF sent me a gift too!

I learned that my hubby does pay attention to me more than I think!!  & my Bestie got me an Owl Pandora Charm which names was together forever!! (it's in the pic but hard to see!)  It ended up being a great day with a few hiccups in the middle!!

So there is my recap of  our NYE & my birthday!

Not sure what is next but stay tuned...!!!

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  We had a very low-key weekend!  Went out to dinner with some friends to our local hangout on Friday!  Had a great time but totally over-indulged! Saturday we were lazy most of the day but went on a date that evening!  Which reminds me save yourself the time & money & do not see Haywire it was awful!  We were going to see Hunger Games but I haven't finished the book yet!  I will have it finished very soon & hopefully we can go this week before it leaves us!  Sunday we did nothing!  Watched movies, took a nap, more movies, made dinner, another movie then bedtime!  With all of the doing nothing this past weekend I feel completely relaxed & rested & ready to tackle the week! I will be working on a few more update posts as promised this week with more pictures! Today is a gorgeous day although still in the forties/fifties but I will darn my ear muffs & head out for a run!  Happy Monday to all!

Much overdue Update!

Where do I begin!  I will skip over some stuff...

We got here on Christmas eve.  Was picked up at the airport by Chris' new co-worker Ben & his family & they brought us to our temporary lodging facility (TLF).  This was not only my first time overseas but also my first PCS. So when we walk into our TLF room & it is fully stocked with enough food, water & entertainment to last us a little over a week I thought it was normal!  But no, we soon find out that a First Sgt friend of Christopher's previous First Sgt hooked us up because of all of the passport mess we had to go through to get here!  It was so nice to not have to rush to the commissary to pick stuff up & not have a clue & blah blah blah!

Christmas Day.  This year it was just us.  Well, that was what we had planned for anyway since we didn't have a car & didn't know where anything was & figured everything on base would be closed.  We figured we would eat the sandwiches, pretzels, & oreos that were awaiting our arrival for Christmas dinner!  Our "plan" didn't work out that way!  Early that morning the phone in our room started ringing & we immediately got scared because no one knows us here is something wrong etc. Nothing was wrong at all!  In fact it was the delightful Primrose calling to see if we had plans for the day!  Of course we said no & she follows with something along the lines of be ready about noon we are picking you up after church!  Primrose, I later found out is also one of Chris' new co-workers!

Her, her husband, Brett & there 2 lovely daughters, Dasha & Christy picked us up & brought us to their museum,( I mean mansion, i mean house) where I helped Prim & her daughters make a delicious Christmas dinner & Christopher walked around there home & was given the guided tour by Brett!  We watched them open some presents & to me that was the best part of the day!  The girls didn't get fancy new technology & video games & all the stuff the kids in the states cry for & parents spend way to much money on!  These girls got books, music books for the piano, candy bars, pretty smelling lotions & ornaments & school supplies and I have never seen 2 children more happy & grateful for those gifts in my life!  It was literally a life changing moment for me!  No I am not being dramatic I really almost cried & no it wasn't the delicious German & French wines we were drinking either!

Needless to say after Brett drove us back to our room after dinner & dessert we were so happy to be in Germany & to be creating these new memories already!  It was a great start to the adventure!  I will share more about our journey so far later!  But for now here are a few pictures from our Christmas!

This was the cake Dad & Cheryl & Jacob & Nano 

got for us our last night in the states! 

 It says Best Wishes & something else! 

Our Beautifully set table for our wonderful Christmas Dinner! 

 One of many Original handmade Tiffany lamps in their house!

 You can see a couple others in the first Christmas pic,

 but this one was my favorite!

Next up is a recap of New Years & My birthday!

Happy Hump Day!

I know I have some explaining to do & I promise that I will but for now I just want you all to know that we are alive and all is well!

I am having company over today! My first friend in Germany her name is Julie & we just happened to meet at In-Processing because I was wearing a shirt representing a college team from my home state! Which, turned out to be her home state as well! So we hit it off & since we are both unemployed she is going to come spend the day with me while our hubby's are working! We are going to go for a walk on some of the amazing trails they have in Germany & chat about girl stuff! I'm so excited! But I better go pick up my house before she gets here! Cheers! 

What's in store for your hump day?


And I promise a more in depth update soon!

Reflection

I really wanted to be gone by now, but I am kind of glad that we are still here.  We got to spend a few extra days with our family and our doggies!  I am especially excited because I have had time to make some stockings for my SIL out of Burlap and they turned out great!  Also, I have had time to reflect on this past year and try to prepare myself more for the next one!  I am in the process of making my list for next year of some of the things that I wish to accomplish! (I will post at the beginning of the year and you can all help me track my progress!)

If I had one word to describe our 2011 it would have to be INSANE!  With all of the people the two of us know there were eleven funerals, one divorce, two major moves, one job quit, two weeks with Cameron, lots of airplane rides, an engagement, four babies, a few fights, all of our stuff being packed and shipped to Germany, trying to sell our house then ending up renting our house, selling a car & a motorcycle, living in limbo for about a month, waiting 8 months to get orders and I could go on & on!  It has been a very stressful year with more loss than I hope we ever have again in one year.

I said at the beginning of 2011 that this year was going to be a year of production and progress.  I feel that this has happened though not at all how I had hoped!  I feel that through all of the loss and huge life changes I have progressed and Christopher and I have progressed together.  I have been blessed by a super supportive husband and so I have had since March to not have a job and focus on myself.  In these last few months I feel like such a different person.  I went through therapy which i highly recommend to everyone!  Through that my therapist helped to guide me to see what areas I really needed to work on and how to get through them!  I feel like a grown up!  I am embracing responsibility instead of running away from it.  I see the value in things and the life lessons more and I am learning about what I want out of life.  It is such a wonderful feeling!

Well, I have rambled enough for one post!  I will ramble more later & hopefully have more info on our big move!

Love,

Samantha

I am not naive enough to think that nothing was going to go wrong during our transition to Germany, but I really wish this hiccup was a different one!


I mentioned in an earlier post that we were having issues with my passport. Unfortunately those issues are still being issues and sadly we will not be leaving on Monday the 12th. For many different reasons and most of them unclear I still do not have my no-fee passport. It has been lost, it was never sent in for, it is being held in suspense or it is sitting in one of the many piles of junk on the responsible parties desk! Regardless it is not in our hands & we now have to wait for a new one which we are being told will be here...TBA! We were told that the correct paperwork will be where it needs to be on Monday & once it gets approved again will then be sent to D.C. To be made again & then sent back to Fayetteville to us!

So we had to cancel all of our flights & hotel arrangements & invade Jesse & Rachel for at least another week! Maybe it is a blessing in disguise, but I just want to get there already!

In other news! I became an Auntie on Thursday December 8 when my Best Friend Jen Poeschel gave birth to a beautiful baby girl! Reese Noel Poeschel was born at 1:34am weighing in at 6lb 11oz & was a little more than 20in long! I am so excited for Jen & Kevin & wish them all the best of luck on their new journey into parenthood!

I hope everyone has a great week & I will update y'all again soon!

Love,
Samantha

Update!

Hey Everyone!
  So by now I am sure that most of you have recieved your Christmas card and have checked out our space!  Sorry I have not updated sooner these last few weeks have been a little crazy!  I hope that you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and have enjoyed the Christmas movies and the shopping and goodies that come with the season thus far as well!

  I am sitting here trying to think back to what all I need to update on!  Thanksgiving for us was good we had a fun weekend with my dad, Cheryl & Jacob!  Cheryl & I cooked all day & we all ate all night on Thursday and enjoyed a fun filled round of Taboo after dinner! (Words can not explain but my dad is one of the funniest people I have ever met!)  Friday night we all went bowling and Cheryl was gracious enough to give me the cold that my dad had given to her the weekend before!  So Saturday & Sunday for me were spent mostly sleeping!  Christopher raked leaves and watched football!  All in all it was a great last holiday in the States!  The only part that wasn't great was leaving Chipper at their house and Max looking so sad & confused.

  Monday we enjoyed our home for the last time!  Slept in, watch some of our last bits of American television, went over our lists of things we wanted to carry with us and made sure all of the laundry was done & dishes were clean because...Tuesday morning the movers came!  Tuesday most of our stuff got packed up into boxes and so we were kicked out into Rachel & Jesse's house!  Wednesday the rest of our stuff was packed and loaded into crates and headed on its way to Germany!  Our crew was wonderful & took great care of our stuff so hopefully it all arrives & in one piece!  Thursday was a day of rest for me while Christopher had to go into work to take care of a few of his last minute out-processing items.  I took full advantage of it!  That night we went to Christopher's cousin Hannah's sixteenth birthday celebration with the family & enjoyed one last night of fellowship with all of them.  Friday our Unaccompanied Baggage was picked up & our house was officially completely 100% empty!  :-(  I must admit that I did cry a little!  Saturday I did a little shopping with my SIL and then went to a little going-away party that Christopher's co-workers put together for us!  I had a blast, drank entirely too much & acted just a tad bit obnoxious!  But in my mind it was totally worth it!!  I gave everyone a great memory!  Sunday was a pretty low-key day helped out with some yard work & then the four of us went out to dinner together!  Carolina Ale House!  One of my fave's!  Had a Shock Top on draft & a delicious dinner!  Yesterday we had our house DEEP cleaned! (it took the girl 11hours!) I also got to enjoy a lunch date with one of my former co-workers.  It was so nice to catch up with her!  Today the carpets were cleaned, tomorrow is our move-out inspection with the property management company that will be renting out our house for us and Thursday is Christopher's going away ceremony at work which I am really looking forward to!

So far everything has gone smoothly (except for the MPF losing my Passport two weeks before we leave & no I still do not have my replacement)! I am a little stressed right now having to live out of a suitcase!  I had a minor melt-down this evening but am feeling much better!  I am so excited for the fresh start & new beginning.  However, I am scared to death at the same time!  Not knowing what or where I am going & getting myself into!  Part of not knowing is what is so exciting but at the same time it is what scares me the most!  But as most of my family & everyone who knows me knows that I love taking chances & Christopher keeps telling me that I have the gift of Blind Faith!

  We officially leave on Monday December 12...6 days from today!  I will try my best to post again before we go.  We leave Fayetteville on Saturday morning to go to my dads for the weekend & he will drive us to the airport Monday Morning!

  Keep us in your prayers that everything continues to go smoothly!  I will update y'all again in a few days!

Love,

Samantha