Coach

I've never been one to buy things just for the name-brand and high-price tag, and this is no exception. I was out shopping, and this purse caught my eye. It is so beautiful that I had to share it with you, and, of course, buy it. It's my first designer bag. I feel so, I don't know, impuslive! I have to enjoy these things while I can ... dropping $$$ on something I want without thinking about it. One day we'll have kids, I'll be staying at home, and all these things will be but memories. Oh well, at least I'll still have my new purse :)

Patio

Here are the final photos of our patio "before and after". Ace and his buddies cleared out all of the old cement and dirt, and I helped him lay the sand and bricks. It was our first project together! We both think it turned out quite nice, especially for never having done anything like it in the past :)

Tonight Ace and I are celebrating our anniversary ... a little late. Our actual anniversary was last month, but with all of the patio-building and hectic holiday time, we decided to put it off until this month. It will be a wonderful evening of good food and wine (Santa Margarita Pino Grigio, to be exact) and then we are staying at a hotel downtown, since the drive back is around 30-45 mins.

Ace just recently started a new blog, if you are interested. I have it posted on my links as well. Yay! He finally succumbed to our ways!

Good Stuff

Well, I think I've neglected my blog long enough. Things have been very busy ... I was on leave for a few weeks, and my parents came to visit over Christmas. It was "go, go, go!" every day for a week -- very fun but it's nice to be back to normal in a way! One nice thing about having guests is that I usually see things on the island I haven't seen yet, like the Pearl Harbor memorials (this photo is of the flag flying over the USS Arizona Memorial). I'm back at work now for the next few days, and next week I start six beautiful weeks of training, meaning I don't have to get up at 2 am for a while! As far as other good news goes, I recently found out that I made first increment on the advancement cycle ... this means I start getting paid for E-6 next month for instead of waiting until June :) So, lots of good things going on right now ... life's pretty good!

Good Day

Today has been a great day. Ace is home (he got back on Monday), we had a good night last night (we saw the new Narnia movie and had some excellent Indian cuisine afterwards with some friends), and today has been a great no-work be-lazy-around-the-house kinda day. We got up real early, Ace cooked a wonderful breakfast, and then sat on the back porch for awhile. After much sitting around and doing nothing, we made a delicious lunch (pan-seared rosemary-garlic lamb chops with garlic-herb fried potatoes and a side salad, and of course a glass of chardonnay), and then sat outside on the porch again. That's when I captured this photo of one of the many lizards that like to call our backyard its home. Ah, what a day. Christmas is just around the corner, my parents will be here soon to celebrate, and I only have three more days of work before I officially go on leave :) I can't wait!

Famous

That's right! Kashi, my amazing acrobatic cat, is going to have his first TV appearance this Sunday, December 4th. A few months back, I submitted a video of him to America's Funniest Home Videos (yes, it's still on the air!), and yesterday I heard the final word that my video is going to be aired this weekend! So, here's the info:

Sunday, December 4th
America's Funniest Home Videos on ABC
(Check your local listings for the time and channel ... it's different depending on where you live)

The video is of my cat (above) chasing after a laser pointer, and then jumping up the wall and falling behind a chair.

I hope all of you get the chance to see my kitty cat star!

Boogy

This is for you, Currt-dawg :) ...

"I said a hip, a hop, a hip, a hippy to the hip hip hoppin' you don't stop the rockin' to the bang, bang, boogy said up jump the boogy to the rhythm of the boogy the beat."

Ah, the memories.

Misery

Sometimes things just don't go well. I am having one of those moments, a moment I hope will only last a month. I thought about it, cried, and had a wide mix of emotions ... sad, disappointed, frustrated, ashamed, humilitated, embarrased. I know I am being quite vague, and I don't really want to get into details, but I think that everyone has felt this way at some point, regardless of the situation. But as I was in the middle of these feelings I thought about the good points of my life; things could be worse. I have a wonderful husband (deployed, but still mine), a family back home whom I love to death, all of my limbs are still attached ... yes, things could definitely be much worse. But pain is in the gut of the beholder. Little kids cry when they accidentally let go of their balloon and it sails into the sky ... that balloon was everything to that little kid. They haven't graduated to the stressors that we pride ourselves in as we reach adulthood. I wish I didn't care about my problem. I wish it would just go away. But the reality is that it has to run its course ... a painful waiting game that I don't have much patience for. Also, sitting at home all alone, I felt like I was rotting away in my misery. I had to get out ... and so I did, with the company of a good friend over a bite to eat. I bitched, he listened. And I feel a lot better. I won't cry myself to sleep tonight ... I don't feel so alone anymore. Thank you :)

Photo taken in Paris, France and is Copyright Nicole Young, 1998.

Holiday

I'm slowly learning what it is I like about the holidays. I've always loved everything about them ... seeing family, all the lights and decoration, and all the yummy food. But, I guess in trying to re-create what it is I feel Christmas should feel like at home, I am noticing all the little things that I wish it could be. I've got the Christmas tree up already (I couldn't wait ... ), some decorations, and a few presents already under the tree. I still need the smell of apples and cinnamon ... I have some potpourri for that but I think it's lacking in aromatic strength. I don't have nearly as many decorations and knick-knacks around the house as I'm used to, but I have lots of lights, so I think that makes up for it (notice the tree lights above ... I think that's what they look like to someone after too much egg nog). But the one thing that I can't even come close to re-creating, aside from having my entire family over, is my favorite of all ... cold weather and snow. I've decided that on Christmas Eve I'm going to shut all the blinds, make sure that the a/c is down to (at most) 60 degrees, and then I'm not going to go outside all day on Christmas so maybe I'll forget I'm in Hawaii. This place wouldn't be so bad if it would only snow every once in a while ;)

Selected!

Well, it's official, both Ace and I are going to be advanced to E-6! I just found out yesterday, and poor Ace probably won't find out until he gets home :( A lot of people made it this cycle ... congrats to everyone! We'll probably get frocked sometimes next week, and I'm crossing my fingers for 1st increment for both of us! It was definitely good news for me yesterday, since I woke up with a touch of food poisoning ... at least, that's all I could figure it could have been. I'm still in recovery today from it, and lucky for me, I had today and yesterday off from work. Go figure.

( I just got a few more negatives put onto a CD, and this photo is one I took back in '98 when I was in France.)

Photo taken in Paris, France and is Copyright Nicole Young, 1998.

Anticipation

So I got a phone call from my chief today, and he had the statistics for this promotion cycle. The actual results haven't been released yet, but probably will be in a few days, so I am HIGHLY anticipating the actual results, but so far I think they look good. 81% of the people who tested for E-6 made it this cycle, so I have a pretty good shot. Actually, I have an outstanding shot. Let's just hope I'm not one of the 19% who didn't ...

I was on my front porch, taking some fun photos, and I thought these two looked the coolest. The first one is neat beacuse it looks 3-D, and the second one kind of looks like a robot-dog to me. What do you think?

Photo taken in Oahu, Hawaii and is Copyright Nicole Young, 2005.