WLC DAY 3- HANGOVERS AND VALENTINES

Football ruins everything.

Even though the day started out well with touch-rugby, it quickly disintegrated into a blur of green, blue, chants and too much beer.  It was a fun time, but all in all, I didn't need that one last drink, or the last one after that, or the last one after that. And today I felt like crap. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I'm starting to get sick of that feeling. I'd rather wake up, feeling good and ready for the day. I woke up this morning at 530, went to the gym, and instead of getting a run in I ended up back in bed feeling like I was going to throw up and accidentally missing a 9am meeting.

This weekend I'm going to a snowshoe hash, and I'm pretty much dreading the 5 hour sunday drive back to seattle, because I'm a little afraid I'm going to get carried away in all the madness, chaos, and fun. I don't think I'm an alcoholic, but I'm starting to find victory in the nights I can go out and hold back. Not sure if that's a good feeling or not.

Today I also woke up to an email from the FRG- for those of you who don't know what that is, it's the Family Readiness Group. In the military, it can be generalized as a bunch of gossipy women with too many kids and not much else to do with their time. Anyway, they are having a "valentines day party" on Valentines day from 6-9. At first I scoffed at this, because why the heck would I want to spend Valentines day with a bunch of other military people, and my husband. But, I forgot. I was lucky my husband came home early, but half of his company is still deployed and they are spending Valentines day on their own.

Not that, if I was there, I would want to go spend V-Day with a bunch of other lonely women. It sounds like the saddest place on earth. However it did strike a cord with me. In the 4 years hubs and I have been together, we haven't had one V-Day together. We've always been in separate states, and this is really starting to get to me. Even though this is the first year we're going to actually be with one another, it makes me wonder about future valentines days. I know he's going to deploy again. I know coming back doesn't mean home for good, and I wonder if I can hack this for another 12 years.

Some days aren't so bad, but some days are- and the days that are bad, well, they are just happening more and more. Sometimes I wish he stayed deployed,  because the fact that he came home and we're living on completely opposite coasts makes it worse. Now it's not mandatory, it's a choice we made.

And, I suppose to bring it back round to feeling hungover today, days like this are the worst. Days like this are the ones where I'm supposed to wake up with a bowl of goldfish crackers and bottle of gatorade next to the bed, with a packet of alka seltzer for my tummy and two extra strength excederins and he's humming in the kitchen making breakfast. Half the time, I expect that still, and then when I crack my eye only to find a cat hovering over me giving me the death stare, a cold bedroom, and the bachelor-style condiments only in the fridge, well it's a pretty depressing feeling.

So, I suppose I'll start acting like a good grown up again, if only till North Carolina again. And by then, maybe it'll stick.

DAY 1 WHOLE LIFE CHALLENGE

I'm starting this up again because I've decided to do the Whole Life Challenge- an 8 week, online game-ified program that's supposed to help you change some of your bad habits into good ones. For me, back to working out 6 days a week, being active and less lazy, cooking again, stretching daily, and drinking less.

Some things I care a lot about more than others. For one, I want to get back into shape. When husband deployed, we had spent a month just being lazy, together, eating and drinking whatever he wanted. Then I quite literally drove across the country, from one coast to the other, visiting friends, drinking beer, hiking and eating whatever. And, with him being gone, and me back in a place with some old friends, well, going out to eat and drink became and excuse to take my mind off of being alone.

It's not that I got fat, or even got 'chubby,' but I'm certainly not happy with myself. And, living in the great state of Washington, I feel like I'm missing out. Boozing is fun, but there's so much to do here I'll just be kicking myself when I leave again. This year, my new years resolve is two parts. 1- For the next 6 months I'm here, do something interesting and new every weekend. Outdoors if possible. 2- When I move somewhere new, do the same. It doesn't have to be crazy, but it has to be done.

Then there's the cooking thing. Hubs is always making fun of me because I am constantly eating sausage on a fork. Yeah, that's exactly what it sounds like. I know how to cook, I'm just lazy. We have a chef at work who makes us lunch everyday, it's relatively healthy, and nearly free, so there's nothing really forcing me to get off my butt to make dinner. Not even left overs. It sounds stupid but when we move back in together, I'd like to be better at making dinner for him. He loves cooking, but I know he doesn't want to do it every night, and that he's not going to be thrilled when it's tacos or stir fry, or.. sausage on a fork.

Lastly, I feel like I am in very sad shape. I'm not as fast a runner anymore because I haven't been working out. Quite frankly, my ego is getting in the way. I was doing so well in marathons and especially triathlons, I don't want to do it again and suck. I'm not sure if I'll get over that, but I have to at least get back in the gym and on the trail.

Also, there's rugby. Rugby saved me from myself. When I got to North Carolina, I was full of anger and hate over the loss of Germany. But the Rugby team found me. They gave me friends, something to do, and places to go.  Most importantly, they gave me something to work towards. When I left NC for the west coast, the first thing I did was contact the rugby team. I found a new set of friends, a great new roommate, and touch rugby with a bunch of dudes who range from "How are you still walking, let alone springing and kicking my ass- old," ex USA team members, college kids, and a plethora younger (super sexy) guys, all who are willing to give me pointers, help me get better, and are, if I'm honest, a pleasure bumping into over and over again. Girls if you are single and straight, this is place to be. Oh yeah, and some girls show up too, ha! Long story short on that, I want to be a kick ass rugby player, and that involves me getting faster and stronger.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting my life-ducks in a row. Since I left Seattle the first time, my life has been nothing short of insanity. From 80 hour weeks in Chicago, to moving to Alabama and driving three hours to work, almost moving to Germany, moving to North Carolina, unemployment, re-employment, unemployment, re-employment, and then deployment and moving to WA- well it's enough to throw any girls life-ducks out of alignment.

So here's to getting back on track, and making sure I can fit into my wedding dress for Wedding 2.0 this October!

This weekend's adventure: Snowshoeing SkyLine Lake Trail. Not great views because it was cloudy but the trees were beautiful and it was awesome bouncing around in all the snow.

Cocktails Made Mild- Tasty Drinks for Pregnant Ladies

One of my lady friends recently got pregnant, which sucks for both of us because she is a super fun party girl. She's still super fun, but it still sucks to not be able to go out and drink a cocktail with everybody.

So Dear Husband and I decided to remedy that.

We came up with non-alcoholic drinks that mimic regular cocktails, and made a basket with all the ingredients. I also learned how to make different flavored simple syrups to give the different tastes, and they are pretty fun to play around with.

I poorly designed a recipe book, printed it out and stapled it. If I had more time, I would have printed it out on card stock, three hole punched the side and made binders out of ribbons. Sadly I suck, but there's a good idea for you.

Here's some of the recipes. Also I love crappy fonts. I don't care. This was is called Angelic War. Whatevers. Haters gonna hate.