Port Visit 2: Bar, Montenegro

The Mitscher made it to Bar, Montenegro yesterday for its second port visit! From what I understand, Justin is staying in a hotel in Budva. I don't know much about his itinerary for the weekend yet, but I'll update again when I know more. In the mean time...check out this view!

Fair winds and following seas!

Stephanie

Port Visit 1: Durres, Albania

Justin hit his first port yesterday! The ship is docked in Durres, Albania but many of the officers have opted to stay in a hotel about an hour away in the city of Tirana.

Here are a few pictures he shared with me:

view from hotel (1)

view from hotel (2)

hotel (1)

hotel (2)

But the best part about port visits is that I get to VIDEO CHAT with my hubby!

Gotta love Skype!!

I'll (hopefully) post a more detailed description of his weekend in Albania once he's back on the ship.

Fair winds and following seas!

Stephanie

JUNE: Peace

Well, we've reached another landmark--May is over! I'm happy to report that time has been passing quickly on my end, and thus far I'm receiving similar reports from "over there". Praise the Lord!

June is finally here, which means the beginning of a new focus for Justin's time away. If you missed the explanation of these "themes" you can find out more about them here. This month we will be concentrating on "peace" although that study won't officially begin until Sunday. Needless to say, I'm excited! 

I also thought I'd share a photo Justin sent me from his "Steel Beach Picnic" this past weekend. To preemptively answer the questions I know will follow the previous sentence--

Steel beach picnics are a tradition in the United States Navy. They are often department-sponsored barbecues held on the deck of the ship, hence the name "steel beach". Often held on the flight deck or in a large hangar bay for carriers, much like a day at the beach with volleyball and other sporting events

Thanks wikipedia, that's such a better explanation than I would have given!

My hunny's a grillin' machine!

So how did Justin get stuck grilling? Because he is the JORG ensign (pronounced: "George"), which means he has the privilege of executing all tasks tedious and trivial. This is one of the better ones, for sure! Again, a more detailed explanation:

The J.O.R.G. Ensign (Junior Officer Requiring Guidance) is the most junior officer in a naval command. The JORG is typically the collector and manager of the Wardroom Fund, a bank account funding miscellaneous incidentals to social functions as well as parting gifts or plaques for separating officers.

One of the other (implied) jobs of the JORG is to prank the XO (executive officer), the second-highest command position on the ship. It's worth mentioning that Justin is NOT the most junior officer aboard, and hasn't been for almost a year, but his XO just so happened to like him so much as the JORG that she promised him he could remain so for the duration of his time on this ship. Lucky him.

Fair winds and following seas!

Stephanie

Photoex

Justin sent me a couple of photos yesterday that were taken as part of a "photoex" for his strike group and said they were safe to share on my blog. Enjoy!

Justin's ship is the farthest right, in the background

Justin's ship--USS Mitscher (DDG-57)

Fair winds and following seas!

Stephanie

First Anniversary

Does anyone still follow that old, traditional wedding anniversary gift guideline?

If you're as in the dark about this as I was, allow me to enlighten you. You've probably heard of the silver and golden anniversaries, referring to the 25th and 50th year of marriage, respectively. But what about the 5th, 10th, or 15th year? Fortunately for the clueless among us, there is a long-standing custom of giving specific gifts for each anniversary. If the original list is too dated for you, just check out the modern version. Here's a peek:

Click image to see full list

Personally I'd rather stick to the traditional list, if I'm going to stick to a list. Luckily year one is just paper, which was easy to accomplish during deployment with the help of some Hallmark cards!

I got TWO cards (one funny, one sweet)

It's mind-blowing to think of everything that has transpired during the last year. Our first year of marriage has been a wonderful adventure together. I know that sounds so cliche but that's really what it was, considering that in the last year we:

• got married
• moved 1500 miles from home
• went on active duty

I don't know another word more qualified than "adventure" to so perfectly encapsulate the past year's experiences. I can only hope to look back one day and say the same about the next 50 years, but I'm in no rush to get there. I'm happy just enjoying each day along the way.

And in honor of our anniversary, I decided to share our wedding album. Enjoy!

Fair winds and following seas!

Stephanie

Saturdays // Table for One

First a quick note about Justin's Saturdays, then my experience celebrating my first wedding anniversary...solo!

Seinfeld Saturdays. This is pretty self-explanatory. Justin's mom helped me locate discounted copies of all nine seasons of Seinfeld for Justin to take with him. Of course he is not limited to watching them  on Saturdays, but my creativity (and time) had reached its limit for this iPad project!

As for me, I planned a date with myself today. I highly recommend this to other women. I think it will show you a lot about yourself. For me, I'm sure it helps that I grew up very independent--partly from being an only child, and partly from having a disabled Mom that couldn't entertain me every waking moment. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my day. Oh and the occasion for this date? My anniversary is TOMORROW!

I started off with a trip to the mall for a little retail therapy

I caught a matinee showing of Something Borrowed, starring Kate Hudson (love her!) Ginnifer Godwin, some other guy, and John Krasinski (The Office). I loved the movie, even though it wasn't as good as the book--but what movie ever is? I didn't come with any expectations and I really liked it. I can say, however, that I was not expecting this:

That's right. It was completely, 100% empty. Am I not alone enough already?!
The good side of that is this:

...putting your feet up without bothering anyone in front of you. Also, sitting front and center!

After the movie I headed to a spa near my house for a one-hour swedish massage. Special thanks to my mother-in-law for the birthday gift card that paid for it! 

One swedish massage and an hour later I was starving, so I walked across the street to Baker's Crust (local cafe) and requested a table for one. I've heard nothing but great things about it since moving here and have been dying to try it. I chose a soup/sandwich combo--crab corn chowder and chicken guacamole on jalapeno cheddar bread. 

Unfortunately it was not as good as I'd heard. The sandwich was dry and tasted pre-made and reheated. The soup was okay, nevermind the price. Next time I'll stick to Panera. Nevertheless, I was not discouraged from saying yes to a giant slice of chocolate cake!

It was my best effort to make up for not getting any groom's cake at my own wedding but, not surprisingly, the cake wasn't much better than the meal. Disappointing!

I left the cafe to spend the rest of my day at home relaxing and watching television and reading Love the One You're With, my new Emily Giffin book. Overall it was a nice day, but I would trade it all in an instant for an hour of doing absolutely nothing with my hubby, and I know he'd agree!

Fair winds and following seas!

Stephanie

Fridays

It's Friday again! You know what that means...it's my day off!

Apparently it's also special delivery day because for the second Friday in a row, I was awakened by a knock on the door. I thought it must be flowers again, knowing that my anniversary was coming up. When I looked through my peephole, however, I was surprised to find no one there. I opened the door to look down the hallway and discovered a small package on my doorstep. I opened it to find this:

...the first six seasons of One Tree Hill and a sweet card from my best friend, Sarah! She is so thoughtful--she even overnighted it to me so I wouldn't be bored at home this weekend. I am so grateful for our friendship and extremely excited to be the Matron of Honor in her wedding next May!

And now for a description of FRIENDS Friday (I told you I love pneumonics!)

Friends is, without a doubt, my favorite TV show of all time and despite his best efforts otherwise, Justin has come to love the show as well. Although I have shared with him the digital files for the entire series, I recognize that there often is not enough time to sit down and watch an entire episode. That said, there are SO many hilarious moments in Friends, several of which Justin and I quote and joke about frequently. I chose 30 of my favorite scenes and uploaded one for every Friday he is gone. Just a little comic relief to get him through the day! Here's today's clip:

Friday is also the day we read The Love Dare. Since I've already described this in a previous post, I'll hold off on a more detailed explanation. 

Fair winds and following seas!

Stephanie

Wednesdays

Wednesday is GREETING CARD DAY!

This excites me because I love greeting cards. I'm that weird person that saves all those birthday, Christmas, or whatever cards. I also believe that picking out a great card takes time and consideration. Be prepared to spend at least an hour with me at Target when I have 4 friends (congratulations Bethany, Ben, Britney, and Danielle!) graduating simultaneously. I just think there is something really special about finding a perfect card that seems uniquely made for the person you are shopping for.

It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that I love to send cards with Justin when he leaves for any stretch of time. But I am realistic and knew I couldn't send a card for everyday he was deployed because that would just be crazy! So I settled for one per week...and that's how I ended up with this whole "thing for each day" plan I've been blogging about.  Despite my best intentions, I was still working up to the last minute to finish the first 15 cards because I put as much thought into the inscriptions as I do the cards themselves. Thankfully this was the one thing that did NOT have to go on the iPad itself so I will be shipping him a second installment of cards in a few months.

I would also like to take a moment to brag on my hubby. He is so good to me. He knows how sentimental I am, so he hangs on to all these dorky cards I buy him and brings them home for me. I promise I'm not a hoarder! Those are just precious love letters and I want to hold on to them :)

He really is great, though. Otherwise, I wouldn't do THIS:

Finally, a mini-victory: it has been one week since Justin deployed.

If all the weeks pass as quickly as this one, this deployment will be over in no time!

Fair winds and following seas!

Stephanie

Sweet Surprises!

Today is Friday, which means yours truly has the day off to be completely productive, wash clothes, clean the dishes...

Oh wait, what am I saying? It wouldn't be a DAY OFF if I spent it doing any of those things! As I mentioned, I am an accountant and I love my job. I only work Fridays during tax season. This means three-day weekends from now until Christmas! This also means that my Memorial Day weekend will be a FOUR day weekend. This knowledge has given me a severe case of travel itch! I've been throwing around ideas since Justin left about what to do with four whole days to myself--Home? Alabama? Georgia? Beach? Somewhere new? Bed and Breakfast!?! 

Turns out fate answered my question! My awesome Uncle Jim texted me this morning to ask if he could fly me down to Atlanta to spend the weekend with him and two of my cousins. Hold on while I contemplate...

YES!

As if this day couldn't get any better--while I'm searching for itineraries for him to consider, I hear a knock on my door. I'm definitely not expecting anyone and extremely surprised to find a flower delivery guy holding a huge vase of flowers! Who is sending me flowers? Only the sweetest husband in the whole world, that's who!

 

One of the ways Justin and I have chosen to help stay close in spirit during this deployment is taking "The Love Dare" a 40-day devotional aimed at bringing couples closer together through a series of daily dares. We originally passed over this book thinking we could not get the full value out of the book without being physically together. Then a few weeks ago I ran across the website Excellent or Praiseworthy and discovered they had adapted the book specifically for deployments! I was so excited I immediately went out and bought two copies of the book. Today's dare required buying something for your spouse. The flowers were his purchase for me!

Needless to say, it's been a great Friday so far and I absolutely cannot wait to see my precious Georgia family!

Auburn (65) - Arkansas (43) Football Game, Oct 2010

Fair winds and following seas!

Stephanie

Staterooms and Seasickness

I was able to talk to Justin again before bed last night, thanks to Google Chat! I am so glad that he FINALLY got a stateroom, and just in time for deployment. Staterooms are supposed to be automatic for officers but there weren't any available when Justin checked onboard last May. Consequently, he was thrown into berthing 6 along with the other out-of-luck JOs (junior officers).

"JO Jungle"

 

Aside from having absolutely zero space, there was also a huge plumbing problem. Any time there were clogs on the ship, they would back up into the "JO Jungle". Not pretty! Thankfully, he was moved into a stateroom about a week before deployment, just when we thought he had run out of time. He shares his room, and a computer(!), with two other guys--Kamm and Heighton. This new arrangement has made it much easier for us to communicate so far, and we are both so thankful!

(Kamm)

(Heighton)

He also told me about a workout regimen he and friends Drew, Naomi, and Jocelyn have come up with. They have decided to run (treadmill, bike, elliptical..) 2.5 miles per day for a grand total of 500 MILES by the end of deployment. Even though I think they're all CRAZY, I know this will be a great release of energy or frustrations.

Unfortunately satan is already throwing kinks in his plans--Justin is SEASICK! This from the man who is never seasick. I knew it had to be bad, but I was shocked when he told me they had 15 FOOT seas! No thank you! Please keep him in your prayers while they (literally) ride out this storm.

Fair winds and following seas!

Stephanie

Bittersweet

Well...it's finally here. The D-word.

Deployment.

I have to admit it was somewhat of a relief dropping Justin off at the pier at 8:30 this morning. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband and hated knowing that our last hug would have to carry me through the next seven months. But despite our tearful goodbye, I couldn't help feeling like a giant weight had been lifted from my shoulders as I drove away. This deployment has been hanging over us for the entire first year of our marriage. We have planned, prepared, prayed over it and were as ready as we could be for a first deployment. The outpouring of love and support from our friends and family  certainly helped and I can truly say that today, I have felt your prayers.

USS Mitscher, DDG-57

I didn't stick around to see them "man the rails" (see above) or watch the ship pull out...I honestly didn't see the point. I headed to work and grabbed a Starbucks along the way. I should mention that I love my job. I work as an accountant in a small office over my boss's garage in Chesapeake. Her and her husband are also the property managers of the condo we live in and her brother owns the unit that I rent. Small world? Nah, that's just Chesapeake. 

I got a quick goodbye phone call from Justin just before they pulled out of port at 11:00am.  Other than that, my day progressed as usual. I came home to an empty apartment but even that is not uncommon. Justin had duty every fifth night, meaning he spent that night on the ship and didn't come home. So tonight I sat on my couch, took in the silence, and enjoyed doing absolutely nothing for the first time in months.

Fair winds and following seas, my love!

Stephanie