Fun Filled Weekend

This past weekend Garin's parents came up to see us. They came up on Thursday afternoon and since Garin was on duty I showed them around the metropolis of Emearald Isle. This tour always includes a visit to the DQ and Bogue Inlet pier (that's really all there is to see). Then on Friday I took them over to Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville and showed them the base as well as the commissary and exchange. We also had to stop by Chick-Fil-A for lunch because I have been CRAVING it for quite sometime (I used to treat myself to it every Friday when I was working and I think I am going through withdrawel...the closest one is 30 mins away). That evening we went to the "Red Barn Fish House" to celebrate Garin's acceptance to OCS and then we, of course, had to stop at DQ on the way back home.

On Saturday we spent the morning looking through the many local antique shops and then spent some time on the beach in the afternoon. We then topped off the fun day with a DELICIOUS dinner from the grill (compliments of Mr. and Mrs. K). We had a great weekend and were sad to see them leave (maybe now I can start my diet though, we always do some GOOD eating when we are around them!!!).

Date Time!

On Monday when Garin got off duty he took me out for a surprise dinner out. We went to a restaurant called the "Icehouse" that is right beside the White Oak river in Swansboro. I discovered that I now like Grouper (I'm just now deciding that I want to like fish). We both had grouper actually...Garin's was grilled and mine was coated with something and then had a bacon burre blanc sauce on top...it was DELICIOUS! So I've decided I'm going to be a grouper groupie (har har).

This is downtown Swansboro, it was about to rain...and boy did it rain hard!

Another picture of the angry sky...it was actually quite beautiful!

Garin in front of the restaurant

Happy Couple after a great date!

Weekend Visitors

This past weekend my sister and brother-in-law (along with their two dogs) came up to see me while Garin was on duty all weekend. It was GREAT to get to see them and it really made the weekend fly by quickly. Unfortunately it rained most of the day on Saturday so we weren't able to spend too much time out on the beach, but we did get to go take a tour of Garin's station (that was cool!). Then on Sunday the sun popped its head out so we spent a couple of hours soaking in the rays before they headed back to Charlotte. Oh and it was the first time that Columbo and Lilly (the dogs) had experienced the ocean...they were NOT impressed. It was a great weekend though...thanks for coming you guys!

Columbo, MW, Lilly, and Alex catching some rays

"Family" portrait by the sea

The Inside

So I though it was about time for me to post pictures of the interior of our house for those of you that aren't going to be able to come and visit us. The decoration is less than stellar because we will only be here for another month, but its become home nonetheless.

The Living Room and Front Door, from Dining Area
The Living Room, from the hall

The Dining Area

The Kitchen

The Hall

The Office and Misc. Room

The Guest Room...this is what awaits you when you come to visit us!!

Our Bedroom

Our Weekend

This past weekend, since Garin had off, we decided to head back to Charlotte to surprise our father's for Father's day. We had a great weekend, but unfortunately I forgot to take pictures!!! The only picture I took was of our new contemporary service at our church called "The Lift." This service started on Easter and they have done a great job with it, no one can call it second rate. The service is held in the gym and has its own band, then the preacher is telecasted in. Technology is pretty cool these days. So, below is the ONLY picture I took all week!

New Creatures Spotted in EI!

When Garin and I went to the beach the other day we found this area out on the beach where a true artist had been at work (these weren't your typical sandcastles!). I was so glad I had my camera with me. Check out these cool sand creatures:

An Octopus!

A shark (I think)

A Flat Man?

A lizard on Rocks
A mermaid!

An Alligator

A turtle!

One Beach, Two Objectives

When Garin and I go to the beach we usually have to very different objectives. I like to to go the beach and sit in my chair, read a good book, and catch some rays. Garin on the other hand likes to find different painful ways he can get himself completely covered in sand. This usually includes a run beside (or IN) the ocean, sit ups, push-ups, lunges, etc...all in the sand. He then goes in the ocean to cool off and comes back and lays IN THE SAND to dry off and take a nap!! I don't get it. I try to keep the sand off of me as much as possible while I'm out there...I hate having it all stuck to me. But that's my boy and I love him for it! Here he is doing some kind of crazy nose-dive-dip-thingys in the sand (at least he has his sweaty T-shirt under him this time!).

Garin's Days Off

I wasn't expecting Garin home until around 4PM on Monday, so you can imagine my excitement when I heard car doors shutting outside at around 9AM. The previous night they had been up most of the night responding to a distress call for a grounded boat. Since saving lives takes a lot of energy, they sent him home early to catch up on his lost sleep. This sure made me a happy wife!

I let him sleep for a little while, and then he woke up (on his own, I promise!) and we took a trip down to Atlantic Beach (about 3o mins away) to "Sector" (which is the command center for all of the stations in North Carolina). We had heard that they had an exchange where we could get some Coast Guard goods. We were a little disappointed as the exchange was no bigger than a gas station and very similar to a gas station as far as the goods they sold. We did find the special "coast guard blue" shirts that G was looking for but I wasn't able to find the "I love my Coastie" shirt I've been dreaming about. Oh well, one day I'll get to sport my Coastie Chick pride. After our trip to the Coast Guard Exchange we hit up the closest Wal-Mart and stocked up on some needed goods which included a bike inner tube for Garin's bike and a nice large seat for my new bike (my rear end was way to large for that little excuse for a "saddle").

After we got home we got ready and went to the Men's and Women's Bible Studies held at our church. I think I'm going to really enjoy mine. We are going to do Beth Moore's Bible Study called "Stepping Up" on the Psalms of Assent (that's Psalm 120 - 134). I'm excited because I have done multiple Beth Moore Studies on my own but I have never done it with the video series. There are about 40 women in the group, so it should be good! The Men are going over 1st John...its a much smaller group (about 6 men), but Garin seemed to like it.

On Tuesday we went on a new adventure. As I mentioned earlier I got a new bike! I'm pretty pumped about it because I've never had a new bike with gears and hand brakes and stuff. Growing up on the farm didn't afford much opportunity for bike riding, and gears were pretty nonessential. But since we are living at the beach and EVERYONE has a bike around here, I figured I needed to join the crowd. So last weekend we bought me a bright shiny PURPLE bike from the Marine Exchange in Jacksonville.

So, on Tuesday Garin and I decided to go for a bike ride. We rode up to the pier and ate our bag lunch that we packed (and mind you that I carried ALL of our stuff in a backpack because G wanted to get a tan on his back...he got all red, all over again, which serves him right!). We decided to ride even further past the pier along the bike trail that takes you on a road by the ocean. I was feeling pretty good until we decided to turn around and come back. I had heard about the wind around here being tough going one direction. I sure didn't feel it when we were on our way out, but boy did I feel it when we were on our way back in. My legs were BURNING! That was some hard work! And it was pretty flat, that's what is sad. OH well, I guess bike riding just isn't cut out for me. I just enjoy it for getting me from point A to point B (and hopefully A and B are in close proximity!). After we finally made it back to our house we headed out for the beach. I'll post some pictures later on what we saw there. All in all it was a GREAT two days from my perspective! Now back to two long days of work for the both of us!

(okay, I just don't get it...the spaces between paragraphs worked at the beginning of the post, but then won't work on the last couple of paragraphs! Grr! Anyone have any suggestions for figuring this out?!)

First Visitor, YAY!!!

So, I had my first visitor to our Emerald Isle home this weekend! One of my best buddies from college, Kara Folkert, made the 3 hour drive out here from Raleighwood to visit me and keep me company while Garin had to work the whole weekend. We went for a sweltering run on Saturday morning and then relaxed the rest of the day by the ocean. Man, it sure was a HOT one. We had to take a dip in the ocean about every 20 mins to keep ourselves from sweating to death (fortunately the ocean was VERY cool). WE got a good tan and only a couple of burned areas (I had parted my hair, so of course, I got the burned scalp along my hair part...I'm gonna have flaky scalp for the next week!!).

One funny story was that after dinner on Saturday night we decided to go out and get some ice cream from DQ. We both went to change and came out with our red NC State gear (seen in picture). We both just looked at each other and started laughing. Its a lot easier to be a Wolfpack fan during the summer, because we have the hope that better football and basketball seasons are ahead of us...we are a hopeful bunch!

After DQ we went for a walk on the pier and realized that all the rednecks in EI had congregated there...what is with fishing and rednecks? ;). Kara learned how to perfect her southern drawl (she is from Michigan) and we both learned all about King Mackerel fishing. Needless to say, we left the pier amazed by God's creation...especially of rednecks and King Mackerel. The picture above was taken after we got back from the pier, that's why our (well, my) hair is quite tasseled...I like to call it the beach look!

(and I can't figure out WHY blogger won't put spaces between my paragraphs...I've corrected it like 5 times and it CONTINUES to post it with no spaces...I just don't get these computer programs!)

Doe Drive...and that's no Misnomer

The road we live on is called "Doe Drive" and we live in "Deer Horn" neighborhood. We have come to know why this neighborhood and road are named after the four legged fawn. The first night we were here we went outside as the sun was going down and saw 3 deer cruising through our front yard (their hoof prints are everywhere!).

One morning I was on my way to the beach to go for a run and I came with in 15 feet of a buck (he had two knobs coming out of his head, so I think it was a boy deer). I guess he had heard about Doe Drive and had come to check out the women deer strutting their stuff down the catwalk. Well, I must say, I was a little anxious as I passed by this budding buck. I've watch enough episodes of "When animals attack" to know that seemly calm animals can turn into predators at any moment. We made eye contact, stared each other down, and I passed safely by. However, I was ready to take him on mano y hoof if he decided to make any aggressive actions. I'm not sure how I would have fared...check out this deer attack that was caught on video...them things are vicious!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khKrd1RNy2U&feature=related

The next morning I went out for my run I decided to take my camera with me to see if I could get a good deer shot. Fortunately the deer didn't fail me. This is a doe chillin in a neighbor's driveway.

I'll keep my eyes peeled and camera ready for the next up close and personal encounter with the Emerald Isle wildlife (did I mention that I saw a fox one night when I was out for a run as well...this place is crawling with creatures!).

One of the newest candidates for CG OCS

You are looking at one the Coast Guard's newest candidates for Officer Candidate School (saving lives is a tough job...you have to be in top-notch shape, which means practicing healthy habits at all times :). That's right, we found out yesterday evening that Garin was selected for OCS. As many of you know, this is something that Garin has been striving after for quite some time. After much prayer, patience, and sacrifice, this was news we were grateful to receive. Thanks to all of you that have prayed for us (don't stop now!!) and encouraged us along the way.

So what does this mean for us now?! Well it means that Garin will report to New London, Connecticut on August 7th for 17 weeks of training (that's twice as long as our last separation). Much of the beginning of this training will be like boot camp on steroids (or so we have heard); towards the end they will start molding and shaping these candidates into United States Coast Guard Officers. I will NOT be able to join Garin on this adventure and will have limited communication with him; much like when he was in boot camp. After about 2 months, I have heard that they start to get weekend liberties, so I will be able to fly up there to see him on the weekends at that point (we hope). After he graduates from this, we have no idea what will happen. He will fill out a "dream sheet" once again with his preferred locations but it is almost certain we will not be returning to Emerald Isle (there is not even an officer on duty at his station here). It is Garin's dream to go to flight school, but that will not be determined until the end of OCS...so we can start praying for that!

As for me and those 4 months he is away...we aren't sure what is going to happen yet. I'm praying about that and I know that God will show me where He wants me to be during that time.
Sporting our new hair cuts. Garin wasn't going to shave all of his off...but I messed it up pretty badly when I was trimming it up, so he had to go for the buzz (I take all the fault and blame for this).

Hair Today, Gone Today

Well I've been growing my hair out for quite some time and I was going to cut it off before Garin got back from boot camp, but then decided against it. I was thinking that having long hair would be nice at the beach because I could put it up and all...WRONG. With my slightly curly hair, it was a frizz ball most of the time. So today I decided I had had enough; I also was getting tired of myself and wanted to talk to another human being. So, I called up a local salon and went under the blade.

I will be donating my hair to Pantene's "beautiful lengths" campaign that helps make wigs for women who lost their hair to breast cancer. Since my mom had breast cancer and had to get a wig after chemo, I thought it would be a fitting donation. For more information on hair donation check out this website: http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/about.jsp ...note that you only have to have 8" of hair for Pantene and not the 10" like Locks of Love (which I also recommend).

Before

After

And He's Off

Well, living by the Coast is great and all. But it does have its down sides. The down side right now is that Garin is having to work extra hours to obtain certain qualifications. This means that we don't get to spend as much time together as we would like. He left this morning at 7AM and won't be back until 4PM on Wednesday. Then he will leave again on Friday morning at 7AM and won't be back until 4PM on Monday. This leaves me with A LOT of Free time.

I just try to keep things in perspective. We live near a lot of marine families. Many of them have loved ones overseas in hostile territory that have been or will be over there for months at a time. I am blessed because Garin is only 3 miles down the road, he is not being shot at (unless they meet up with some belligerent boatman...but fortunately he wears a bulletproof vest!), he gets to come home every 2 or 3 days, and he gets to call me every night. Although I wish I got to see him more, I really have no room to complain.

Here is a picture of Garin's Station (cute, huh?!)