the past two weeks…

I get on these “blogging kicks” every now and then, and I have NOT been on one of those kicks lately. The last two weeks of my life have been nothing short of RIDICULOUSLY busy, but honestly, what else is new? I am by no means complaining though. I’d much rather have a full to-do list then have nothing to do at all!

Wednesday, February 9th – Jamie graduated from Military Intelligence Officer Basic Leadership Course (MIBOLC) and hit the road bright and early Thursday morning. Two days and 1600 miles later his little red Celica pulled into my driveway! Of course I was looking out the window for a solid 10 minutes waiting for him to get here, and that hug was one of the best hugs ever because it solidified that we were FINISHED with cross-country long distance! Cross-WORLD is another story, but we’ll just consider Afghanistan an extended business trip.

That following weekend was GORGEOUS, and consisted of mini-golf, running on the greenway, washing/waxing our cars, visiting a rescue animal shelter, and watching five or six episodes of Glee. Fabulous weekend!

Last week was madness. We didn’t get our official marriage license sent back to us until two weeks ago, so needlessness to say we had a lot of name change stuff to do. Take the “normal” amount of name change stuff and add all of the military stuff in there, and you have a ton to do! Forget about the fact that we are getting extremely close to deployment, so we had to get this stuff done quick. I had to teach all week but somehow found time to do social security, license, bank, tricare, and military ID. We are in the process of passports. Who knew that was such a pain in the butt? Highlight of name change process = having my own military ID in my hand. I love being Erica DeSpain to the world. 🙂  I forgot to mention that the beginning of the week wasn’t so bad. 🙂 On Valentines Day Jamie got me some fabulous Burberry perfume, took me to Cotton Row restaurant in downtown Huntsville, and then we drank some wine from Stem N Stein. Fabulous. I’m a lucky girl!

This past weekend was a whirlwind. It started on Thursday when Jamie came to my classroom to meet my 8th grade classes and speak to them about leadership in school and some opportunities that West Point could give them. A lot of them have very high interest in the military, so they really listened to Jamie. Friday was the Valentines/Mardi Grad middle school dance that the SGA organized. I’m the sponsor, so I had a lot to do! I dragged Jamie with me, and he had SO much fun! He and another teacher’s husband served the drinks all night, and we even got a few dances in here and there. I absolutely love my students, and it was great to see their more relaxed sides and for them to see MY relaxed side. 🙂 Jamie even got two votes for 8th grade King. HILARIOUS! They absolutely love him. The only debacle of the night was the fire alarm going off and two fire trucks pulling up while we rushed 150+ kids out of the gym. Everything was A-okay and in hindsight it added to the memories. Did I mention my cousin had a baby (beautiful Brynlin) and we drove to Bham to eat at Brio for the FOURTH year in a row on our dating anniversary? We have been there on Feb. 17th every year! It’s a fun tradition. We also got to share the dinner with our brothers, which was nice. Somehow we squeezed all of that in there too. 🙂

Saturday we drove up to Fort Campbell and checked Jamie in. We didn’t bother to check out the post too much because it was such a yucky day. That worked out though because I made it back in time to go to Kelly Cobb’s FANTASTIC lingerie shower and go on a little double date with Jennifer Voorhies and Flanagan. Fun.

Sunday consisted of a lot of cleaning and organizing. Most of Jamie’s stuff is staying here in Madison until I move it all up to Campbell. I swear the man has as much stuff as I do! We went through his 1/2 dozen duffle bags of clothes, and needless to say, my brother and the thrift store racked up on clothes!! 🙂

He left Monday to head up to work, but will be back tomorrow! The St. John’s  benefit gala is Saturday, and I AM SO EXCITED! Everybody says that it is an absolute blast. Looking forward to it. 🙂

I feel like this post has been all over the place, but at least I’m a tad caught up on this crazy time in my life. If you would, please pray for the family of Daren Hidalgo, a 2009 West Point graduate who was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday. He is the first 2009 graduate to pass, and it shook me up extremely hard, to say the least. I cannot imagine. Please please please keep our military in your prayers!

Have a great weekend! 🙂 XOXO.