Adjustments

Jon is officially in basic training and doing well.  Missing him has turned out to be harder than I expected.  The past couple weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions.  We went from being with each other one day to having no communication for 2 weeks.  The transition has been interesting and I know it has taken a toll on me.  The past couple weeks I have found myself irritable and agitated at things that would usually brush off my shoulders.  My patience has been minimal and I have had many feelings of loneliness.  I don't think I realized how much I communicated with Jon in a normal day and how much I would miss that communication when it was taken away.  I find myself getting distracted easily and when my mind wanders it seems to always end at him.  I find myself wondering what he is doing and if he is enjoying surviving training.  It sometimes seems silly that I would be struggling with not communicating with him for two weeks because we will have to make it through a lot longer than two weeks apart. 

There have been a few perks, though.  I have been writing him letters as I wait for his mailing address and last week I got my first 2 minute phone call!  It wasn't long enough but at least I got to hear from him.  Plus, since Jon is prior military he has gotten a few extra perks in basic training - he was given back his cell phone recently!  He can't call on it during training but I do get a text or two in the evenings when he has a little down time before lights out.  Even these small messages bring me so much joy - I catch myself smiling from ear to ear when I hear my phone beep and see a message from him.  That boy truly does make my heart soar - even with a text message.  

I found out this weekend that Jon may also get special privileges to leave base on Sundays in the upcoming weeks and since his basic training location was changed unexpectedly from Fort Sill, OK, to Fort Benning, GA, I may get the opportunity to go see him for the day!!!  We never thought this would happen, especially during basic training.  I am trying really hard not to get my hopes up too much but in all honesty, I AM COMPLETELY JAZZED!  All I keep thinking is there was/is someone watching over us, his basic training location was changed for a reason, and we are completely blessed to get this potential opportunity that we never, ever expected! 

Jon's visit - #2

I know I haven't posted in almost two weeks and I don't really have a good excuse - but here is a update.  Jon came to visit the first week in October and we had a fabulous time!  We tried to fill our time with as many little adventures as we could and I loved introducing him to some of the people in my class.  Before he arrived I did some research on the best BBQ restaurants in the area and it was unanimous - everyone insisted we go to Sconyer's.  Sconyer's is a restaurant authentic to Augusta and is known for their award-winning BBQ (they have even catered BBQ to the white house).  Jon and I went there on Thursday night and it was delicious - I am already planning to take my family there when they come to visit me for graduation next December!  After Sconyer's we met up with some people from class and spent time just hanging out. 

 (This was the only picture we took together the entire time he was here.)

  

On Friday morning we went to Brick Pond.  There is a park in North Augusta that has beautiful walking and biking trails and a pond where 'gators' hang out.  I heard about this place a couple weeks after I moved here and have been dying to go and thought Jon would enjoy it too.  The best part about Brick Pond were the signs.  Before you enter the area they have these signs warning you not to feed the gators and that if you do they will lose their fear of people and be more likely to attack.  I would be lying if I told you that the signs didn't make me a little nervous, but we entered the area anyway.  We didn't see any gators, but we had fun being outside and exploring such a beautiful part of Augusta!  

After Brick Pond we grabbed some lunch and made our evening plans.  Since Jon arrived in Augusta he had been wanting to go to a high school football game.  Everyone knows that football is big in the south, even at the high school level, so this seemed like a perfect way to spend a Friday evening.  Plus, for those of you who don't know, Jon LOVES watching high school football - he is always going to games in his spare time back home.  After the football game we rented a couple movies and picked up some caffeine.  Jon had to be at the airport early Saturday morning and we knew our time together was running out so we made every effort to stay up as late as we could.  I didn't make it as long as I would have liked, but we able to take advantage of a little more quality time before he left.  It was sad taking him back to the airport knowing that we won't see each other until mid December, but it was so great to get a little extra time with him.  I thoroughly enjoy his company and I can't wait until we get to be together for longer durations!

A Southern Weekend

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Athens, GA, for a UGA (University of Georgia) football game with a couple girls from school.  I was excited at the chance to get off campus, see some of the different scenery GA has to offer and just get away from school for a bit.  When we decided a group of us was going to attend, the conversation immediately turned to what everyone was going to wear.  Not having been to a southern football game or tailgating party before I was a little confused - when you tailgate at a ND Bison game you wear anything and everything you can to keep you warm and as long as you have something green or gold on, you are set.  The girls proceeded to explain to me that you have to dress up for the occasion and most girls wear dresses, mini skirts, etc. in school colors (red, black and white). 

I went to my closet and realized that the only red clothing item I own is an old high school t-shirt.  So I decided I needed to get creative.  As you know from my previous post, I am trying to be frugal and didn't really want to spend any additional money on an outfit or accessories.  I settled on a black dress I have owned for years, found some red fabric in my craft bin and began to work on accessories.  Here is what I came up with...

It is a headband with the fabric rosettes.  It was fun and easy to make and I think it jazzed up my outfit just enough to fit in.  I also tried to wrap red fabric around my flip-flops to make them look a little more festive but that idea was more of a flop - it started to unravel throughout the day and looked pretty funky by the end of our adventure.  (Ps... note how every one of the girls knows how to 'stand pretty' with one knee up and hips turned, they must teach that stance from a young age - haha. I am going to have to learn how to do that)

We started the morning of the tailgate with breakfast - fried chicken biscuits with jelly.  I have never had chicken for breakfast and was a little scared of the jelly but it was actually quite good!  For tailgating food, we did a 'low country boil' which is where you through potatoes, onion, corn, meat and seafood into a pot of boiling water with some seasoning, cook it, dump it on the table and eat! It was TASTY!  I do love the spices that are used in this part of the U.S. - everything you eat has a kick. YUM! 

Oh and here is a picture from our seats at the stadium.  The Georgia Dome is an open air stadium that seats about 70,000 people on game day, compared to the Fargo Dome holding approximately 20,000.  I thought the Fargo Dome was big until I went to the Georgia Dome.  However, I do think the Fargo Dome is louder - it must have to do with it being a closed dome and extremely proud Bison fans!

I had an absolutely FABULOUS time this weekend.  I loved tailgating in the warm weather and all of the people I have met so far.  It was a great experience and I told Jon that I think we will have to be Bison fans first and UGA fans second.  I figure this is ok since they aren't in the same division anyway.  Go Bulldogs!