Here We Are in Hawaii!

Well, as usual, some time has passed since I have been able to post. In my defense, however, I have had quite a whirlwind of events. The entire summer was filled with travel, school, work, and everything associated with moving oversees. After a vacation in my home state of California, we arrived here in Hawaii last Monday and have been running around like crazy trying to set everything in order.

We knew we wanted to enjoy the island life in a convertible. We were lucky enough to find a 2004 Chrysler Sebring with very low miles and at a very good price. Now we only await the arrival of my Honda Civic and we'll have our transportation in order.

Finding a place to live has proved challenging. It'd be nice to save money and also nice to find a place which would allow us to bring our dog, Marley, over here. We have been looking in one particular area which is very central between Nick's work and my school but the pickins have been slim, especially with our criteria. We do have a very good prospect in the works but are waiting to hear if we will be chosen. It is a high stress situation to be living in a hotel an hour away from school with the burden of house hunting upon your shoulders but I have been a good girl in keeping up with school work as best I can and making sure to get a good night's rest.

I am taking six classes at BYU Hawaii. It's a fun place to be, but I feel very old here. I swear I am the school matriarch even though I am only 25. Unfortunately, I am not too thrilled with many of my classes but I expect to do well. I have a ton of reading and writing to do so it will keep me busy. As we have no printer (all our stuff is being shipped here and will not arrive until October), Nick and I have been frequenting the BYU library for our school needs and here I sit.

Well, I need to get back to my homework. Until next time...

Nick at Night

Time: 12:00 am
Place: Nick and Andrea's bedroom

Nick and Andrea: (both asleep)

Nick: "Whoa!" (nudges Andrea)

Nick: (nudges Andrea again)

Andrea: "What?" (sits up)

Nick: "Look." (points to end of bed)

Andrea: (confused) "What am I looking at?"

Nick: "Sponge Bob."

Andrea: (................)

Andrea: "Hmm, I guess I don't see him."

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, it's my birthday today. I had planned to throw myself a big party but as this week is midterm week, that put a lot of stress on my already stressful plate. So I opted to cancel the party and have a stress-free birthday instead. Unfortunately, that took all the anticipation and excitement out of my birthday so I lacked that usual euphoria which accompanies this special day. Nevertheless, all I really wanted was a day without anything going wrong - no cars breaking down, no physical injuries, etc. So, I got what I wanted - today has been a perfectly normal, perfectly fine day.

The big present was from my wonderful husband, Nick, who spent a small fortune on a very nice, very compact Canon video camera. It was definitely what I wanted and I am very excited to use it. So, stay tuned for some videos! I plan to use the camera to keep people updated on what is happening in our lives, especially as we move to the faraway island of Hawaii, assuming I figure out how to use it, of course.

Trials of the Military School Girl

So, I called BYU Hawaii this evening and explained my unusual situation and how I'd like to continue to my schooling there this Fall and not have the move interrupt my educational goals. The lady asked me how many credits I have taken and I said 100 (including this current semester). Yes, folks, 100 credits! She sounded skeptical but it is true. I explained that my credits reflect the changes in my life - how I have had to work toward one school and then the next due to this unstable military life which affords me little chance of ever making concrete plans. She then explains that I would be automatically rejected by the school because they do not accept students transferring with more than 90 credits under their belt. She seemed a bit understanding of my circumstances, however, and I will be calling another person at the school tomorrow to discuss my options further. I'd almost rather drop all my current classes, get the W's and thus be able to go to BYUH, but hopefully they will work with me! What a tumultuous road this has been for me all to get that piece of paper! Aggh!

Beach or Bust! (a must read)

OK, so here's the story. Most of you know that Nick and I have been looking forward to a change of scenery. I don't have many bad things to say about Albuquerque - in fact, life has been pretty good to me here. But part of the adventure of being in the military is to experience new places - places you would otherwise never have had the opportunity to visit or live! Yet, month after month we received little indication that they'd ever ship us off elsewhere, so Nick and I decided to buckle down for the long haul here in Albuquerque. I applied to UNM with a 2-year plan to finish my degree. I was quitting my job here to go to school fulltime this Fall. The foundation was laid, the doubt was gone. We were here to stay and finally, and quite truly, I was at peace with that.

Meanwhile, Nick decides to accept another job offer at Kirtland AFB which would lock him in to stay for the remainder of his enlistment, congruent with my plans to be here and finish school. At the same time, however, he checks the online job listings and decides to apply for a job in Hawaii. His coworker had applied to go to England a few months earlier, using the same online job list at which Nick has applied for many such jobs, and is there with his family now, leaving Nick all alone and feeling luckless while his friend frolics the hills of England.

Well, interestingly, the other job at Kirtland AFB turns out to be a 4-year commitment position which would have extended Nick's enlistment to eight years , leaving us here in Albuquerque for a total of 7 1/2 years! No, thank you! Nick declined the job and said that perhaps the job fell through because he would be chosen for the job in Hawaii! Ha! Pish posh. No such luck is ever on our table.

So, on a perfectly normal dripping hot summer day, I come home from class to find my husband home. He shoves two printed pages in my hand and says, "We're going to Hawaii!" Now, I'm not one to jump the gun (I hate disappointment) so I remained calm, especially because, frankly, it is too good to be true and therefore must not be true. Most likely this paper means only that he's being considered for the position. I read carefully the writing on the paper, looking for clues at to whether the growing sense of anxiety within me was justified. A phone number! Call the number, Nick! Call and let's get this settled right here and now! He makes the call, he's saying his social security number, I'm on the phone with Mom who's already screaming with delight despite hard concrete evidence, Nick hangs up, I give him the raised eyebrows...

Yes, we're moving to Hawaii...

Oh, the heat!

Does heat make you sleepy? I wonder. Of course, no matter what the temperature, afternoons are never nice to my brain. But, today in my New Mexico history class I was really struggling to stay awake and I kept feeling like this heat wave was blowing over me. Eventually, I just stood up and went to the bathroom, wishing I could catch some zzz's on the toilet that I didn't really need to use. It's days like these that I miss my parents' pool and those long summer days off school when I could cool off in my own background. Now, I have the unfortunate inconvenience of having to walk .05 miles to the apartment pool and sharing the over-chlorinated water with screaming children and nearly-naked women. I'll look back someday and laugh.

Awakening

So, I tried to be hip and do the blog thing but apparently my hipness has its limits. My blogs have been boring and infrequent. Truth is, my life is just not very exciting. I think it's a must for children to be involved in order for a blog to be worth reading - my kid did this and my kid said that, how funny, how cute. I'm not bitter, trust me. I'm perfectly content with my boring kidless life right now. I think I'm sort of like Chemish in the Book of Omni. Everyone has a blog. Everyone is doing a good job at it. Don't have anything to add myself so ... word.

I substituted for my husband's youth Sunday School class today as he is in Colorado with his dad. I started out being frank and disciplinary then ended the class by bawling my eyes out. Though probably awkward for the class, it was an awesome experience for me and much needed. After a long dead winter, I felt my Spirit awaken in me and I am renewed. Thanks, Nick, for letting me teach that lesson.

I spent my third year as a leader at Girls Camp this last week. I made some new friends but had a lot of regrets afterwards about all the things that I didn't do. I wish I could go back and do a lot differently but I guess we have to pick up the things we learn and move on to apply them for later experiences. In the mean time, I'm planning a post-camp YCL party as some mad attempt to make up for all my mistakes at camp. Live and learn but I'm very glad I went. I think it definitely contributed to my spiritual awakening.

Its Been A While

So, it looks like we haven't posted anything since November of last year. Is it because nothing has happened in our lives or because we're just plain lazy? Well, probably a little of both. I just finished another semester of school and will be moving on to Calculus in a short while. Life has been pretty good. Andrea is going back to school this semester so she can finally finish her Associates and start working towards her BA. I just applied for an online program through the University of Massachusetts, so I'm waiting to hear back from them. In the mean time I'm gonna keep knocking these math classes out of the way.
Today is Mother's Day! I am so grateful for my mother and all that she has done for me throughout my life.. In giving birth to me (ouch!) to the constant support that she gives in the things I've decided to do with my life (in joining the Air Force and being so far away). She is a great example to me and I've always looked up to her (even though I'm 6'6" and she's 5'5"). I hope that she has a great day and I wish I could be with her on this day.

Andrea Resurrected

Hello to all of you who have most likely given up on me ever saying anything else on here.

Ya know what the problem is? I have so much catching up to do that I want to take the time to add all these cool pictures and whatnot and since I never have that amount of time it never gets done. So, forget it. I will just sit and write a little something and work on pictures when I have the time! OK?

So, this one weird thing I do is look in magazines at all the beautiful faces and see how they do their makeup and hair and wish I could look like them. Don't worry, I don't have some huge self-image problem. I just like to get ideas. Anyway, one time I asked myself why people always look so good in these photos and I figured out it's because everyone has sparkling white teeth. Look next time, everyone's teeth are always perfectly white in ads and stuff. So, I thought, 'Well, hey, that's something I can do for myself.' I have bought the little teeth whitening strips a few times now in the past couple of years and they work pretty good actually. Anyway, it's on my mind right now because when you use them it makes your teeth hurt in this weird kind of tingly way and they're hurting right now. So, even though I still have lots of strips to go through, I'm not using one tonight - no way. Why does beauty have to be painful?

Have you heard of those lip balm things that are supposed to make your lips fuller too? This girl at my office was using it and said it hurt really bad. I had heard that it feels like a bunch of bees stinging your lips. And who the heck knows if it really works? So, there you go! Beauty must always come at a price, I guess.

This semester is awful but it is almost over. One good thing about being busy right now is I think it's helping me cope with some recent challenges in my life. After a year of trying to get pregnant, I saw a reproductive specialist who told me that I have polycystic ovarian syndrome. It's the #1 cause of infertility in women so I get to be one of those lucky ones who has it. It hinders me from ovulating and/or from ovulating a mature egg. So, now I have to go on the South Beach diet and exercise regularly to try and get the cysts to recess. If it works, which apparently 50% of the time it does, then I should be able to conceive. This will be good for me. I need to be healthier anyway. I just hope it works. If the diet doesn't work... I don't really want to think about.

Twelve days and school is over. Then, I can blog again and feel like a normal person that has free time and doesn't spend every waking hour... reading... textbooks!

What's happenin'

We were really excited about this blog and I was wanting to post regularly. I bet you can guess what has kept me away! School!

Life is good though. I have been able to keep up with my classwork and at least I'm learning about interesting things. So far, in my comparative government class, I have learned about Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and India. It's been neat to read how things works abroad. Next chapter: United States!

My mom is coming in a few days and I'm getting very excited. It will be a vacation for us both since I have been doing my homework to where I won't have any all while she is here. Yay! We will be going to the balloon festival and I hope the weather will cooperate. It wasn't so great last year.

Hopefully, now that I'm getting caught up in school, I can post more.