some big, big news. BIG.

(WARNING WARNING: THIS IS A LONG ONE - And no, I'm not pregnant. We've got Rudy, remember?)

It's actually been quite a week in terms of big news. We got iPhones (super cheap because I'm a bargain hunter). We got a dog. Jon is leaving Jon and Kate +8. Hellooooo, it just seems that the timing is perfect to launch this as well.

Short story: Andrew is applying for the Navy. And he already made it through phase 1 of 2 (!!!)
Long story: As you all probably know by now, the boy has been unemployed for almost a year. Sometimes I can't believe that it's been that long, that we've made it this long without falling apart at the seams, that the Lord has been so good as to bless us with the patience and strength to get through this time. But as the months started rolling by, we started wondering what the next step was. Andrew was considering the military B.P. (as we call it, before Page), so it was already on his mind, but we decided long before we even got married that the military wasn't the best setup for newlyweds. And we put that idea to rest.

But then, after many conversations about Andrew's passions and long-term goals, and after he made incredible grades this summer (the program he was considering B.P. is very physics/math heavy), we decided to look into the military option a little more. And after a lot of planning/praying he's pursuing a program in the Navy that would make him an officer on a nuclear-powered submarine. At this point in the process, his application has been accepted (!!!) and he's waiting on a date where he'll go to Washington, DC for several rounds of final interviews. I have to mention that the application process is supposed to be the hardest/most competitive of the whole process, not the interview. So I'm uber proud of this smart man that I married for getting through that phase. In September, they accepted 24 out of 25 interviewers in DC, so we're hoping for the same stats at his interview! If he's accepted in DC, it's official right then and there. He'll leave on the payroll and start planning for OCS (bootcamp for officers).

Here's the scoop (if accepted):
1. OCS for 12 weeks in Rhode Island (Rudy and I will hold the fort down back here)
2. Move to Charleston for a year so Andrew can go to nuke school (Charleston? Ok, twist my arm, I’ll go…)
3. Move somewhere else close to the water. Andrew will spend 2 years going in and out on a submarine (Rudy and I will hold down that fort, ticking away the days that Andrew’s gone and making the most of the days when he’s around)
4. Move somewhere else where he would have some sort of desk job for 2 more years (i.e. Pentagon, ROTC at a university, teaching at the nuke school)
5. DONE. The commitment is up after 5 years (including school) and he'll essentially have a degree in nuclear engineering and some awesome leadership experience.

All in all, we're really excited about where the Lord is taking us with this. It's an adventure and we welcome it with open arms. We’ll keep you updated on the details as they come in. In the meantime, we’d love a prayer or two in our name.

“Sometimes the only way is jumping, I hope you’re not afraid of heights…”

Meet Rudy

We adopted a puppy! We went to look this evening and it was love at first sight. They called him a terrier mix, but he we think he has some kind of boxer/pit bull in him. He'll probably be somewhere around 40 lbs, which is perfect for us.

Since he's the little runt of his litter (the group was abandoned a few weeks ago), but he's definitely got spunk, we're calling him Rudy.

Our little guy comes home on Wednesday, but here's a picture to tide you over. How precious is he?? :)

holy hot stones, that was fantastic

Here's the thing about my job. Even in the midst of late nights, early mornings, back to back meetings, 100+ daily emails and lots of tedious, detail oriented projects, it definitely has its perks. For those of you that don't know, I work at an ad agency as a media planner, where I plan and buy advertising space. When you see a commercial or a magazine ad or a billboard on the interstate, a media planner decided that the ad was best placed in that spot (it's why Dove chocolate commercials come on during Desperate Housewives and BudLight commercials come on during a football game).

And for every ad space that I want to buy, there is someone who wants to sell it. And to get in my good graces, the sellers offer all kinds of stuff - notebooks, pens, stress balls, windbreakers, travel alarm clocks, lunches, dinners. I even got a mini-fridge once. And when you buy from them, they want to thank you for it.

So that's my lead up to this - my team was treated to massages and dinner at a swanky golf resort in Cary last night. AMAZING. I'm not one to pamper myself, but I appreciate it when someone else does. It was such a relaxing treat and 24 hours later, I'm still feeling the effects.

Reason #234 that I love my job.

break out your fuzzy socks, folks

I think I saw an orange leaf on the way to work this morning. I'm just sayin'...

Before we know it, the mulling spices will be mulling in my apple cider and you won't be able to coax me out of my Eddie Bauer fleece from 5:30pm on Friday until bedtime on Sunday. Love it.

the good life

I had a sweet memory this evening.

I was waiting in the car for Andrew to pick up our 24 disk of the week at Blockbuster (because I forgot to add it to the Netflix queue in time!) and I remembered a certain escapade from last January. But let me preface this story with an explanation. We started watching 24 on Netflix a few months ago, thinking that it couldn't hurt to watch one episode to see what the fuss was about. Three hours later, we had started a tradition. Every Friday night since then we've spent our date night watching a disk and we've slowly made it through the most recent season. In short, we're obsessed/addicted.

So back to last January. We finished a particularly exciting disk, on a snowy weekend, and we couldn't wait for the next disk to come in the mail. So we drove to Blockbuster at 9pm in an ice storm so that we could get our fix. I don't know why, but it's one of my favorite memories with him. It was just such a spontaneous thing that we probably won't be able to do in 5 years. I just love this time, where we spend time together selfishly and it's okay. We can make last minute decisions to go walk around the mall just to kill time, settle on pancakes for dinner because we don't want to wash dishes later, and sleep in if we want. We stay up late on Fridays, watch movies on Saturday afternoon and spend Sundays reading and napping. We're low maintenence and I like that.

There's no reason for this particular story, just something to share in case you stopped by and didn't want to see that another week had gone by without a post. Because I'm sure you'd be SO disappointed if that were the case :)

Enjoy, dear friends.