babies!

So this is the summer of babies ... for everyone else. Tonight I got to meet my pal Ginney's new baby boy Gus. Photos on my Flickr, but you have to be a contact of mine to see them. If you don't have a Flickr account, I think you can log in through a yahoo account. But then you have to request to be my contact.

Anyway, Gus is super adorable, as is Ginney's oldest Analise. And it was so so nice to sit and chat with Ginney. I miss when we both worked downtown and could meet for lunch. And then before that when we were wild and crazy college students (oh boy do we have memories).


Also, I got a letter from Rob tonight that was very sweet and included his "top 10 reasons for missing Maggie while in bootcamp." AWWW.

another phone call :)

Rob called me again tonight! I asked him what he did right this time :) He was kind of quiet on the phone, but it had something to do with standing at attention ... or something. It was quiet on the phone. Either way, I'm pretty lucky to have received four phone calls from him so far - only one has been "routine" the other three were earned because he is doing well. So way to go, Rob.

He said he's enjoying boot camp a little more each day. He's glad he joined the navy. He said the hardest thing is the "bad apples" in his division - the recruits who have bad attitudes, and make it harder for the rest. So, if that's his biggest problem, that's pretty good. At least he's not complaining that he made a huge mistake, or that he can't take it physically. He sounds in pretty good spirits on the phone.

Also, he mentioned that there is a chance he will do A-school at Great Lakes instead of Florida. This would be fantastic! Of course, he won't know for sure until the last week of boot camp. So I won't get my hopes up just yet.


In non-Rob news, I had a nice Fathers Day with my Dad. My parents came over to watch the Cubs game, and I made lots of yummy food for them - fried green tomatoes, slow-cooked BBQ country style ribs, grilled chicken & veggie kabobs. Way to go me. AND the Cubs won. Woot!

Half way done with BC

Tuesday was a great day ... I got a phone call from Rob and I got a letter from him. Actually, it seems like he writes a few letters during the week, and then sends them all out on Sunday. Or Monday. Anyway, it was a great day. And today I got the information about his graduation. Although I recently discovered www.navyformoms.com, which is also a good site for wives (and other loved ones), so I feel like I already know a lot of "insider" information about PIR (pass in review, or graduation), although I wonder if knowing more is stressing me out more, now that I'm trying to figure out the logistics, considering every recruit gets four guests, but only one vehicle pass to get on base, and I'm the only one staying near base the night before. Hmm.

Anyway, in my non-navy-wife life, I had a band concert last night. It was interesting, since we got locked out of rehearsal the week before, so it had been almost two weeks since we all played together. Plus it was raining all week, so we weren't sure if we'd get rained out. But, the concert went really well. We have two concerts the week after next, and they are both patriotic, one with cannons for the 1812 Overture, which should be fun.

And in completely useless-to-anyone-but-me news, Mad Men season one is available again on Comcast On Demand. So there goes my weekend. Not that I really had any plans. The past few weekends have been so busy for me, I would like to keep this one free of plans for now. Plus I really need to clean the apartment. Don't tell Rob how messy I can be when he's not around. Because I'm always the one complaining about his clutter. But he's the one who sweeps and stuff.

Relay For Life

Last night was Relay For Life (annual American Cancer Society fundraiser). It was a lot of fun, but I am so glad it is over. I was one of the Event Co-Chairs this year, so it was a lot of work, time, energy, etc. I was also a team captain, and I feel like I didn't get to spend nearly as much time with my team as I would like, but it seemed like they had fun.

Also, as event co-chair, I spoke during the opening ceremony. In front of lots of people (we had 700+ registered), as well as two mayors and one Illinois State Representative. But, I told myself that considering how many cancer survivors were there, if speaking in front of a large group is the hardest thing I had to do that day, I should consider myself very lucky (which I do, every day).

Some photos:

My team:


Gennie's 8 months pregnant and still participated! What a trooper!




Luminaria Ceremony


My Dad participated in the Miss Relay contest (he's wearing the hat)


All of the Miss Relay contestants


Around 4am, I took a nap in the jumpy


Sunrise (I stayed until 5:30am, which was pretty much the end)


The rest of my pics are on Flickr (link above).

Overall, the event was a success! It rained a little bit, but not too hard, and only for an hour. My team raised $1,802 and overall the event raised $158,000+ for the American Cancer Society.

Phone call!!

Rob called me again tonight!! I was hoping I would get another Saturday night phone call, and sure enough, I did, and this time I answered!!! I was actually on my way home from dinner with my parents when he called (they were driving), so my Dad pulled over into a parking lot, and they got out of the car so we could have privacy, which was sweet of them. We talked for about 15 minutes. Oh man. It was so nice to talk to him. He sounds like he's doing well. Boot camp is challenging, obviously, but it sounds like it is a good experience for him, and he is still glad he's doing it.

AHH I miss him so much! I hate waking up on the weekends, that's the worst time. During the week, I'm busy with work and stuff, that I miss him, but I don't feel his absence as much. But I really feel it on the weekends, especially when I wake up in the morning, because it's like "well, how am I going to distract myself for the next 16 hours?" And then I think that it will be at least October before we will be living together again.

BUT when we were talking I made sure to tell him as much as I miss him, I am so so so proud of him.

first real letter!!!!

I got my first real letter from the Seaman Recruit today. He's doing well. Surviving. I guess he had the flu (as did a lot of other recruits) so I'm sure that sucks - being sick away from home. He said getting letters makes boot camp more bearable - so send him letters!! If you need his address, let me know.

Also, he asked me to fill him in on current events, because they keep them isolated. So I had to think, what's been going on in the past three weeks? I filled him in on the Air France flight, George Tiller's murder, and Stephen Colbert doing his show in Iraq with the USO (hilarious - the Iraq episodes are airing until Thursday - way to go Colbert!) Did I miss anything else of importance in the news? I'm sure I did.

Missed Call

 I started off strong

So last night I got a phone call from The Sailor! Unfortunately I was out at a bowling alley, and didn't hear my phone. But he left a voicemail. It was mostly about financial stuff, but there was a "love you" near the end :) But I'm really bummed I missed a chance to talk to him! Considering the last time we actually talked was over two weeks ago, and I don't know when the next chance we'll be. At the most, in about 40 days at his graduation. But I have no idea if a call will come earlier. I wish the Navy would at least tell us a window of time, like, in the evenings after 5pm, or on Saturdays after 3pm or something, so at least I get a chance to pay more attention to my phone. Oh well.

I kept myself pretty busy again this weekend. Thank you friends!

Friday night: Dinner with friends

Saturday:
Played at the GSU graduation with my concert band in the morning
Went to my sister-in-law's dance recital in the afternoon
Stopped by my parents' house since I was down the street
Went bowling in the evening with friends to celebrate my brother's birthday

Sunday:
Crashed at my brother/sister-in-law's last night since I was in the city and tired and they have a comfy couch, we just chilled in the morning/early afternoon until they got moving and I went home. The rest of today has been spent doing the things I've put off: dishes, laundry, etc.

mail!!

Yesterday I got Rob's address!! Yay!!! I promptly mailed him the many letters I've written in the 12 days he has been gone. I hope he has time to read them.


Anyway ... something not related to Rob (imagine that!) So this year, I'm very involved in the Relay For Life in my town - I'm a team captain, I'm the publicity chair, and I'm the event co-chair. Whew! Luckily, we have a great committee that makes it all very easy for me, and we had our last meeting last night before the big event! (June 12.) It was a great meeting! We all have so much excitement and energy, I'm sure it will be a great event next weekend!

How I kept myself distracted this past weekend

Friday: Buffalo Wild Wings with co-workers

Saturday afternoon: Na'ama Rose Dance Center show (Loren and Melissa were in it and they were awesome).

Saturday evening: Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra with my parents and my buddy Scott

Saturday night: Going away party for Paula at Steve & Loren's

Sunday afternoon: went for a run

Sunday night: Pin-Ups with Pez with Loren and Melissa.


Kept me mostly distracted from the fact that Rob is gone. I mean, there is no escaping it, but getting out of the apartment helps a LOT. This weekend might be another good one. My Saturday is pretty packed. Need to fill Friday and Sunday ....