MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #25

1. What is the best gift you have ever received or given? from Jessica Lynn Writes

This is a hard one because I've received a lot of great gifts over the years. I can't think of the "best" gift offhand, but one of my most memorable gifts was a suitcase set from my parents for Christmas 2000. 2 days after Christmas I left for a 10 day trip to England to visit some friends/co-workers of mine who lived there. It was my first trip overseas, and I was beyond excited, so the new suitcases that I got for the trip really stick out in my mind as memorable (and of course that day was the last day that the suitcases looked new - thanks airport baggage handlers!)

2. Do you celebrate holidays differently when your loved one is deployed/gone or do you keep tradition?

So far he's only been gone for one holiday - Thanksgiving last year. I don't know if I can say that I celebrated it differently or not. I wasn't with any of my family, but I did go to a friend's house for a big Thanksgiving feast, which is how I typically celebrate Thanksgiving. So even though Mr. V wasn't here, there weren't really any drastic changes to the WAY I celebrated the holiday. Just the people differed.

3. If you celebrate Christmas, do you put an angel, star or something else on the top of your tree?

Its always been a star in my family.

4. What are your three favorite websites?

Facebook - (its been a great way to stay in touch with friends and family as I move around), Amazon and Google....I guess that's kind of boring isn't it?

5. On your man do you prefer… boxers, briefs or boxer briefs? Or commando? (yeah, I’m starting to get desperate for questions!)?

boxers or boxer briefs

MilSpouse Friday Fill-Ins #23 & #24

Once again, I'm combining 2 weeks of the Friday Fill-In into one post.



Friday Fill-In #23:

1. If you were given $1,000 right now, how would you spend it?

I'd buy a new camera. I'm tired of my point and click camera so I've been looking at more expensive, nicer cameras. I need something that can take pictures that look somewhat professional, but is easy to use. When we went to the Olympics back in February, my friend took some AMAZING pictures of the ice dance competition. I couldn't take any. Not only were we far away, but ice dancers move pretty fast - all my camera would produce is a huge blurry image. While her pictures aren't perfect, they are five thousand times better than anything my camera could have produced. I've wanted a camera like her's ever since I saw how her pictures turned out, but unfortunately, they aren't exactly cheap. We're going to the Canadian National Figure Skating Championships in January and I want the ability to take pictures like these when we are there.

(Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir - Gold Medalists in Ice Dance...this picture was taken from our nosebleed seats)

(Same goes for this picture - it was taken from pretty far away)

(Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir in Sears Stars on Ice in Vancouver - this was also taken with my friend's camera)

2. If you had to choose a movie title (a real one that already exists) for your life story, what would it be?

Serendipity - based on one of my favorite quotes from the movie: "Life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences, but rather, it's a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite sublime plan."

3. If you were a teacher, what subject would you like to teach?

History..its what I have a degree in so it would make sense to teach it if I ever decided to become a teacher.

4. Has being a MilSpouse changed how you view holidays or how your holidays are celebrated? If so, how? If not, what hasn’t changed?

It hasn't changed my views on holidays, but its definitely changed the way they are celebrated. Its not as easy to go home to my family for Christmas anymore, and last year Thanksgiving was spent here in Washington with some girl friends because our husbands were deployed at the time. So I guess the biggest thing that's changed is the inability to spend the holidays with my family (family meaning sometimes my husband but most of the time my parents and grandparents). This will be the 2nd Christmas in a row that I won't be in New Jersey for and that's upsetting to me.

5. What is your favorite Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) memory?

I don't have any specific memory, but my parents had one tradition that they did every year. When we went to bed on Christmas Eve we would turn the lights off on the tree. But when I woke up in the morning the lights would already be on, even though my parents were still in bed. My parents used to tell me that Santa turned the lights on so he could see what he was doing while he was leaving presents for me. Then he left them on so I would wake up to a lit Christmas tree and presents on Christmas morning. They continued to do this every single year that I was home for Christmas. Even once I was old enough to realize that Santa wasn't real, they still turned the lights off at night, and had them turned on again before I woke up the next morning.

Friday Fill-In #24

1. What do you see your life like in 10 years?

I can't even figure out what my life is going to be like in 5 years, so 10 years? I have no idea! I suppose I'll probably be living in some state that I don't particularly like, while Mr. V finishes up his 20 years of being in the Navy. Almost exactly 10 years from now he should begin his final sea or shore tour, leaving him with only 3 years until retirement.

2. What do you like most about your job?

I like that I have nothing to do. Seriously. I don't work. The fact that I don't have a job bothered me for a pretty long time until I realized that a lot of people would give anything to have their days completely free to do whatever they wanted to do. So now I enjoy my freedom and the time I have to get things accomplished that I didn't really have when I was working full time.

3. What are three things you do every day, no matter what day it is?

brush my teeth, take a shower, feed the cats

4. What would you do with an extra five hours in the day today?

I'd make Christmas cards. I have everything I need to make homemade Christmas cards but I always seem to run out of time to make them.

5. What is your favorite Christmas (or whichever holiday you celebrate) cookie recipe (please share!)?

Italian Knot Cookies and Spritz cookies - both recipes that I can't find right now. Its about time to make them, so when I'm able to figure out where I put the recipes I'll post them in another post.