Moving Madness has begun!

Today the moves began, the movers showed up bright and early and packed my house away while I sat on the couch feeling helpless and reading my blogs.  Tomorrow the truck will take it all away, and on Wednesday they will pack Man Friend's stuff and we will be on our way to Waldorf, and the new house.  This weekend I have something very special to look forward to, seeing these lovely ladies!!!

Fair Winds and Following Seas...

Today was officially my last day on DALLAS, a day I thought two years ago I wouldn't see.  DALLAS was not where I wanted to be two years ago, I longed for the comfort of New England, close to home as I officially went out on my own.  But there were other plans for me, and it brought me to Charleston and the life I have now.  And I am truly thankful!  It hasn't always been an easy two years, but I have always had friends by my side as we have struggled to make DALLAS what it is today.  And the friends that I have made I will have for years to come.  The one thing I can truly thank DALLAS for is Rudy, because without DALLAS we never would have met. So good bye ol girl and I look forward to seeing you again!

Yesterday was officially the one month to go until the wedding, which was made more exciting by the fact that my dress came today!! Happy Dance!  After a minor try-on struggle, I was just as in love with it as before.  In honor of operation wedding dress starting, we went to my Carb Heaven,

I absolutely love their pizza and will definitely be missing it when we move north!

And for our last Friday night in Charleston, Man Friend and I are enjoying our new couches and watching,

Hope everyone has a good start to the weekend!

Little By Little the Last Week in Charleston

The last couple of days have been kind of a whirlwind, as we try to get all the loose ends tied up in Charleston in preparation for moving north!! But on the other hand we are sad to be leaving Charleston.  One of the biggest challenges thus far as been setting up our move.  Our organization has a moving system, but with it being transfer season it is exceptionally difficult to navigate.  After a week and and a half of practically stalking the moving people we have the move from the Charleston house set up for the 28th and 29th and the move from the Columbia house for the 30th! It is a relief to finally have that piece of the puzzle figured out!

On Monday we decided on couches.  After a long battle of going to multiple furniture stores ( at one the women recognized me from my three previous visits) we decided to go with a leather couch and loveseat for the family room.  My initial inclination had been to get a sectional for that room, but man friend and I fell in love with these couches and thankfully they will be delivered this Friday in time for our move!

After the couch expedition, I dragged Rudy to Homegoods to look for some home decor and I came across this delightful rooster that will I think go very well in the new kitchen...

The kitchen is kind of dark so I think I am going to use the reds that we already have in the house we live in now and try to use them.

For Tuesday I will put the bad to the bone puppies, aka Jack and Lola.  Of late they have insisted on acting out, particularly they enjoy shredding magazines into a million pieces, and Jack-O has developed an interest in track and field, and has begun high jumping over the fence anytime he is left in the yard.  Thankfully the new house has high fences so I can't wait to see him try to get over that one!

Jack, Hes too cool for school...

Lola, trying to look out the corner of her eye for her next magazine of choice...

Today I took man friend to the USS Yorktown which is parked at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant.  The retired WWII Ship is home to the national Medal of Honor Museum, which we were really excited to see.  I had previously seen it when my dad came to visit in July of 2008.

A view of my favorite bridge from the pier...

and our best attempt at a self portrait from the flight deck.

Tonight we went out to dinner with Casey to Reds, which is a great surf and turf restaurant on Shem Creek.  Casey was really excited to go so he could ride his motorcycle.  We have previously been there a  lot because it is one of the dog friendly restaurants in Charleston, and Jack made appearances often when he was a puppy.  The food was great and it had finally cooled down as a storm passed through this afternoon.

Sorry for the blur, I turned the flash off..

Casey's Motorcycle sitting outside (I thought it was a good pic with the flag in the background)

And now man friend and I are watching one of our favorite shows, or rather my favorite shows that he willingly suffers through with me.  I'm very happy that Toddlers and Tiaras has a new summer season.

Hope everyone is having a good night!

Weekend Fun

Although I had duty yesterday, we still managed to have a pretty good weekend!  On Friday night we got together with some of our Charleston Friends as this will probably be the last weekend we have the opportunity to hang out and have fun before we leave.  I'm sure next weekend will be consumed with cleaning and getting ready to leave!

For dinner we went out Yamato, one of our favorite Hibachis in Mount Pleasant.  Mary and I love it so much that we sometimes call and order take out from there and just skip the whole experience.  Everyone except myself, Mary and Man friend had never been there before so it was a good time for all!

Mary and I at the house for the last time as roomies!

Rudy, Tyler, and Liam enjoying a drink before dinner

Annette and Wes, and him being silly....

Me and Man Friend

Today when I got home from duty, we took the pups to the James Island Dog park to meet up with my friend Reanna and her dog Chance.

Chance headed for the Water....

 One of the great features about Charleston is the park system.  In each section of the town there is a different park with its own unique features.  The James Island dog park is especially fun because it has a pond for the dogs to swim in.  Now unlike most golden retrievers, my pups hate the water, but shockingly Jack actually enjoyed the water today, he still refuses to swim but he was pretty happy wading in the water.

Jack Prancing in the Park

Rudy teaching Lola how to swim!

Carrying Jack into the water!

My two playful pups

While we were coming home from the park I saw a sight I never thought I would see, Mary's ship, GALLATIN, finally getting underway.  GALLATIN is the sister ship to my ship, and has been plagued with many of the age issues that the entire class has experienced.  They haven't left Charleston since returning home in July of 2008 and today I watched as they passed under the Ravenel Bridge on their way to sea.  I made Rudy stop at the waterfront park so I could snap these quick pics!

The afternoon was spent continuing the search for a couch.  Our new family room is really light and open so I wanted to stick to a nautical/americana theme in the room, but I have yet to find a couch that I like yet.  We found a few more furniture stores that we will probably check out tomorrow as they weren't open today, and hopefully we will find something we like, or rather I will find something I like as Rudy seems to like every couch!

As wedding presents to each other, the man friend and I bought iPhones, which naturally I am in love with! I will post a longer post tomorrow but for now I am just testing out the posting from the phone! Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

Me, My Big Empty House, and My Cupcakes

Today Has been the first truly empty house day in our Mount Pleasant Home.  I moved into this house this time last year with   Laura Beth's (one of my best friend's from college and one of my bridesmaids) sister Tara and Mary, who graduated a year ahead of me and is stationed on our sister ship.  The house has always been vibrant and full of people, having gone to such a small school you always know people who come and go into Charleston and we always seemed to have someone who was passing through staying at our house.  But that was the past year, and isn't today.  Today Tara has moved back to Virginia, and is happily planning her life and wedding with her fiancee Zak.  Mary has moved out because as I've mentioned on here I am moving, and Mary's ship is supposed to get underway at some point this week so she is living onboard.  So that just leaves me and this big old house.  Man friend is in Columbia, and has kept the puppies this week as it is his last week in Columbia ( I can't really complain since I am super excited about that fact) but I certainly wish there was someone with me in this house.  Its just me and my glass of white zin.


Today I had to go get my tires checked because I was losing pressure in two of them a little too often for comfort.  Well it turns out that not one but both of the tires had nails in them.  Unbelievable if you live anywhere other than Charleston.  While I love many things about Charleston, the one thing I do dislike are the roads in Charleston.  They are absolutely horrible.  If you aren't running over nails you are getting rocks in your windshield.  Just a little vent and all is well now that my tires are fixed.


This evening I decided to make cupcakes after we had had a discussion today at work about cupcakes.  While you would think I would use this little handy cupcake book to pick a cupcake....

instead I went with the age old fun traditional funfetti, which everyone loves.

And I think they turned out ok...

Pink and Green...

Bridal Shower Preview

Today my mother hosted a wonderful bridal shower for me with my Massachusetts friends and family.  I got so many wonderful gifts and I am extremely thankful that they could all attend to help me celebrate the upcoming wedding.  Below are a few pictures from throughout the day!

Me and my wonderful wonderful Marmie before the shower...

Dad and me...

the tables at the shower.  My mom had it at a beautiful waterfront restaurant that is very popular in Plymouth.  For the centerpieces she used Cherry Blossoms because of our upcoming move to Washington DC, so creative!

opening presents...

Two of my plymouth loves Maura and Jill

Jill was put in charge of making the bow bouquet and really took to making it, she did a fabulous job! She won't be able to join us down in Florida for the wedding but she will surely be missed!

My brother Joe and I, I think he is finally getting taller than me (but don't tell him I said that)

 The Flower Girls-To-Be, Regan, Shannon, and Fallyn

All in all it was a truly wonderful day!

Back to Plymouth for my Bridal Shower!!!

Yesterday Morning I woke up early and said good bye to man friend, and my puppies, and got on a plane in Charlotte to come home to my family and friends in Massachusetts for my bridal shower.  My Marmie has been surprisingly secretive about this so I can't wait to see what she has done.

Last night when I got home we headed down town and went to dinner at the local southern cuisine T-Bones.  The food was excellent and we all left full and happy!

And one again I am not so secretly in love with my adorable little sister, shanny, my baby love! Below are a few pics I took of her today, including some in starbucks, which was our favorite hangout two years ago when we went to China to pick her up!

Trying to do the hand on the hip!

The Teddy the Judge gave her at her Adoption hearing!!