Texas Military Wives Hotel!

Is it a bad sign that when I'm home alone I look up Texas real estate, knowing I may not get back there anytime soon (if the economy doesn't improve)? 

Really, I just get more depressed, but I spend hours looking at houses...just wishing I still lived there!

For those that call it "home" like the ad above says...I HATE you!

Clearly, this post is making me angry and jealous...I need to stop coveting

I am going to buy this house and make it a military wives house. This will be for all of us who just want to move back home to Texas but our damn husbands keep moving us around. We can stay here for as long as we want and the guys can come visit. Then when we miss them too much to be away, we will leave and another Texas loving military spouse will move in! Like a military wives hotel!....How Perfecto! 

Answers to Your Questions - Round 2

I am sure y'all will be happy to know that I haven't had a breakdown, and am dealing with things a little better today! 

I have answered the rest of your wonderful questions. This round is more about fashion, so it's your chance to learn about my other weakness...besides Mr. Marine!

What is the outfit that makes me feel empowered?

I am not always the most secure woman, but when I put on a black dress and a pair of really high stilettos, I feel like I own the room! I have never been one to wear extremely slinky dresses. I prefer the ones that are classic and romantic with a bit of sexiness. 

What is my favorite store and why?

This question was easy. I live for Nordstrom! I can go in there and find a few things I "need" every time I enter the store. I can find cheaper brands, all the way to my favorite designer labels. I can get my make-up, my stilettos, my clothes, my yoga pants, my swimsuit and more stilettos all in one place...it is my dream...and Mr. Marine's nightmare (though he shops there too)

In fact, when I was in college in northern California, my mom and sister would come out for the big sale, and we'd spend the weekend in San Francisco. And we just got back from Chicago, where we stayed across the street from Nordy's. Not to mention, the Houston Galleria should have a parking space reserved for when I come home...oh wait, I just valet it!

What is my favorite dish to cook and why?

Umm...I like to cook Ranch Chicken and it is my favorite dish because it's the only dish I can cook! I am a terrible cook. My mom is an amazing cook and so is my sister. It skipped me! Luckily, I married a Marine who put himself through school by cooking at the Athens Country Club...yay me! But I don't totally suck, cause I can bake up a storm!

What are my favorite designers: cheap, affordable and expensive?

I am going to do designers/stores.

My favorite place to grab a quick something that I know will not survive more than one season is...

As for my affordable fave...I am a jeans whore! I am always in my jeans so my fave designer jean is...

Now...for the things I try on, fall in love with, and then leave the store without! I love DVF! She designs for the woman who wants "wow" but with practicality. I adore everything about her! I got my first DVF dress just after I got married and I love it! It can be dressy or casual..perfect!

*Don't worry Vera...you are my other fave designer!

Would I suggest other newlywed couples (married less than 3-4 years) getting into the armed services?

This is a tough one. I think each couple is different. But when I took my vows, I said "for better or worse" and I meant it. It is a very tough life, especially for the spouses. Our husbands leave, we don't always get to communicate with them and we are in constant worry of that knock at the door. But at the same time, I have made some of the best friends through the USMC. We lean on one another so much that "the third wheel" feeling civilians get when they are the one with another couple doesn't exist. We take care of each other and that is remarkable. 

As for a newlywed...this life will make you or break you. That's a promise. Mr. Marine was having some issues "having to answer to someone" (as he put it) after we got married. Then he deployed. He came home with an appreciation  for the woman who waited for his call every. single. night (even if it never came). He respected my commitment to him and our marriage. It was like he fell in love with me (and I with him) on a whole other level because of this life.

So I would say, if a spouse wants to join the military, discuss it. It has to be a mutual decision or it will just breed resentment. It isn't all bad...but I am not going to lie and say it's easy! But life isn't easy, right?

Do I think Mr. Marine and I will go back to "civilian" life anytime soon?

I hope so! I desperately want to get home to Texas. I love being part of the USMC family, but I miss my family (especially now). However, if we stay in, he only has 12 yrs left until he'd get retirement. So, in this economy it might be worth it. He is looking at either going to Law School or getting an MBA, and they will pay. We'd get out with additional income, plus he'd have a career path. 

Can you tell I am trying to convince myself of the advantages...cause I really want to get out!

What is my favorite pair of shoes?

I adore these shoes...They are 4.5" high and I feel so great when I wear them. I usually wear them with jeans and a feminine top. I have a clutch that goes very well with them!

However...I am in serious "need" of these shoes for summer! 

Where are we stationed?

We are living it up in the Heartland of America. We aren't stationed at a base so we are city people right now! No one cares he is a Marine. In fact, we live in a VERY liberal place so let's just say that the wooden yellow ribbon in my yard gets some strange looks. 

Where have I lived in the past?

I have lived in Virgina, California, Texas, North Carolina (Camp Lejeune) and now Missouri. This is the first time in my entire life I haven't lived within 30 minutes of a beach. 

Where do I want to go next?

I wanna go home...

Houston, TX

Lonely Marine Wife...No, this isn't a personal ad!

I am just going to say it, "Being a military spouse can be a rotten job at times!"

There, it is in the open for all my bloggers to read. It may make me sound whiny, or bratty, but it is just the honest to goodness truth!

I never thought I'd be living this life to begin with. In fact, Mr. Marine's and my "courtship" took a little hiatus when he informed me he would be joining the Marine Corps while at the University of Georgia. I said, "it is honorable that you want to serve your country, but I will NEVER be a military wife...especially not a MARINE wife."

Well, our story picked up a few years later (save for another post) and here I am...traveling the country, uprooting my life every time his life beckons, leaving friends behind and spending many a lonely night all in support of the Good Ol' USA.

I struggle with this emotion "bitterness" because I know many wives make this sacrifice without complaint. I am proud to be a military wife. My husband leads some of the bravest men and women for a greater cause and all I can do is whine that I don't have a shopping buddy? As one of my dearest friends said to me one day, "I (my friend) can't complain because all I do is shop, drink, raise our kids and hang out with the girls while he is gone. He risks his life and I don't."

That is Soooooo not my philosophy! Mr. Marine and I did not pick-up until he had graduated from UGA and was in Office Candidate School (or OCS to my fellow spouses.) So I already had an established job in Houston, I was living by family and prepared to spend my years on a front porch swatting mosquitoes off my citronella drenched skin!

Then I got married and relocated to po-dunk North Carolina. I cried every night. Then I met wives who cried too. We learned that coffee in the morning, margaritas at lunch and wine in the evening made the crappy times better! Now, I am not a drunk...but any wife who has gone through a deployment will agree that there are times when a stiff drink is all you want! 

Now we are living in the Midwest. I was thinking heartland of the US, down-to-earth ladies that I will make friends with immediately. Ummm...no. Now, I know some of my blog readers are from the Midwest so I must ask, "Is everyone this hard to get to know?" 

I feel like I am the new kid in school and the cheerleaders don't like me and I am foreign to the computer nerds (which I guess us Southerners are foreign to most people). Everyone is so clique-ish here. 

I am used to bangin' down the neighbor's door with food, drinks, housewarming gift...something. Here, no one cares who moves in because they already have their friends! 

I am just asking for some advice from any Midwesterners that might read this. Please help!

The Midwest is like another country to me and I just need someone who has traveled these roads before to give me a roadmap. 

I am all to familiar with the Southern way of life...but I am at a loss when it comes to the middle of this great country!