03 October 2012

3 Years!

It's my favorite day!



It's kind of amazing to think that even though B was in the military, we have spent all of our anniversaries under this same roof in Pensacola.  What wonderful and adventurous years they have been married to my best friend. Here's to many more in wherever life takes us!

It fits again! (But only after I nursed the baby, LOL!)
Check out the dress in other years:

28 September 2012

Where Life Takes Us Next

B accepted a job offer!

He is starting his new position on November 1.

He'll be doing something at a power plant, but not a nuclear power plant.

I'm sure you guys don't care much about that, you just want to know where we're going!

Well . . .

It's in the Eastern Time Zone. (I'm actually kind of bummed about this; I loved Central Time!)

It's the second-largest city in its state.

One of us graduated high school about 2 hours away from it.

We will need winter clothes to live there.

It is the 74th largest city in the United States with a population of 255,824.

It is known as The Summit City.

It has a large Burmese ex-pat community.  (I heard that on NPR, lol.)

We are moving to . . .
Fort Wayne, Indiana!


Yup.  Sort of back home for B.  He went to elementary school in this city, and his grandmother and various extended family live there. I finally get my "village" to help raise my child, so that's a plus.  However, I now have to dress my child in pants. And a jacket.  I have to learn how to drive in the snow.  No beach anywhere near, but I think there are lakes which you can actually swim in (no gators!).

As for how his job search went?  Well, I had previously mentioned the headhunters and job conferences and all that jazz.  Those amounted to squat for him.  This job was found the old-fashioned way: connections.  His cousin is an engineer up there (at GM, where he'll be working as well) and blasted his résumé out to anywhere she saw fit. B will be working for a contract company, but within the GM truck plant.

I suppose you want to know our timeline, too?  Yeah, I knew that when it happened it would happen quickly, which is why I quit my volunteer job right when he went on terminal leave.  We're moving NEXT FRIDAY (in one week!).  Holy crap.  The Navy is moving us; we had to pay an extra $100 or so because it's slightly farther than his hometown.  They're packing us up Thursday and the moving truck is coming Friday.  Our stuff will go in storage while we look for a 3-bedroom apartment.  We don't plan on buying a house immediately because I don't like being rushed into major life-altering, debt-inducing purchases.  We currently are debt-free, and will be taking a pay-cut for the initial part of this job (and the health insurance is flippin' expensive!), so we can probably get a better house in a better location later anyway.  We'll hopefully have a house in a year, but no rush. Renting has generally been good for us.  Maybe we're nuts, but we like  having other people mow the grass (and shovel the snow!).

So that's our story. Farewell, Navy.  Hello, Hoosiers!

27 September 2012

A Letter From the White House

Yep, a letter from The White House, not to The White House.  Well, I did have to send them a baby announcement, but then I got this in return!


I really don't care what your political stance is, nor does your baby. I will be getting one of these for each child of mine regardless of who is in office. This is just. plain. cool.

To get yours, send a birth announcement to:
White House Greetings Office

Room 39

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Please include the following in your request:
  • name and home address of honoree(s)
  • form of address (Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., Miss, etc.)
  • exact date of occasion (month, day, year)
  • your (the requestor's) name and daytime phone number
  • any specific mailing instructions if other than to honoree's address
I sent an extra birth announcement and then typed up a little slip with her name, birth date, and our names and address (mostly because my handwriting is awful).  I probably didn't even need to include the actual birth announcement, but it had pictures!  You can make an email birth announcement for free on pingg.com and print it out if you didn't do formal announcments.  Also, I didn't send this until she was 6 months old!  It took a few months after that to get a reply.

You can also get greetings from the White House for a variety of other celebrations, including weddings and retirement.  (I have one from when I got my Gold Award.) Check here to see what qualifies.

This is now in her baby book!