The B!!!!

Packing Day 3: Exhausted! But our apartment is looking less and less like people live here! It's kind of sad leaving our first apartment together...but I am SO EXCITED to find out what comes next! As of right now we don't know where we will be living in San Diego, but we have a month of leave to figure that out, it was funny listening to the Hubby on the phone with the military housing people trying to convince them we are having babies soon so we could qualify for a place with more than one bathroom.  It's CRAZY, but I know everything will work out, only because it has so far! I just bought my mom a plane ticket to come out and help us drive across the country, that is going to be so much fun!

So far I've learned that being a Navy Wife takes a lot of TRUST, in God, in your Husband, in yourself and in your family and friends. And the more trust you have the more fun it gets. Personally, I love this moving every few years plan. A couple weeks ago when we didn't know where we were going yet, I was obviously anxious about it, but it was so exciting to me to find out. I think a lot of adjusting well to this life is your attitude. If you are negative about things, you wont be happy, if you stay positive then everything will be that much more exciting.

And speaking of EXCITING...

This weekend I am going up to North Carolina to have some much needed girls time with my bestie, B!

We have been really close since we met in 7th grade, B had just moved to Arizona from Georgia and she talked kind of funny, but she seemed really nice so I asked her to be in my group for a project on nuclear weapons, of all things. We pretty much clicked right away, and did just about everything together! Jr. High was awesome because of B, and her family became a second family to me. Her mom is a big source of inspiration to me as a military wife. B's dad was deployed with the Marine Corps right after 9/11, and it was rough on everyone but she stepped up for her family and was this great strength that kept them all together until he came home again. I hope that when the time comes I can be just as strong and level headed as her. :]

 After our freshman year of high school B's dad retired and they moved back to North Carolina. It was really sad but they asked me to make the move with them and spend some time in North Carolina over the summer! That was an amazing trip, I saw so many places and things I'd never seen before.

 

 Since then we have been back and forth to see each other at least once a year. So moving to Charleston was great for us because it's only a short drive instead of an all day flight! 

 

  We even spent Thanksgiving with B's family this year! So basically it's our last opportunity to spend some time together while live within reasonable driving distance of each other! 

We've already started planning our shenanigans.

I'm EXCITED! :]

They don't sell packing elves at Walmart

The packing has started!!!!
Not my favorite thing, but it's getting done. One box at a time. I didn't think we'd actually accumulated so much stuff in the year we've lived here but unfortunately we have, so that means a trip to the store to get more boxes and a few other "packing necessities"; trash bags, bubble wrap, packaging tape, extra large sharpies for labeling boxes, packing elves...I wish they existed! Haha, like the elves that made the shoes at night for the shoemaker in that story. It would be awesome if I just woke up and everything was packed neatly into labeled boxes ready to go. We are doing a DITY (Do IT Yourself) move so...no government movers to pack everything up!
The closest thing I have to a "packing elf" is Charlie and he does more of the finding new things to play with than actually pack :] But it's okay! I don't mind packing by myself because I like knowing exactly what is in which box and where it's going, since I am STILL just now finding things from the last move! My goal for when we get to our new house is to not have anything in boxes after a month...we'll see how that goes!

Finally.

I finally did it! I started a blog.
Of course I figure now is a good time, since we are getting ready to move from one coast to the other, no big deal right? Ha, I finally decided to do this because; I have a little extra time, and it's something I've been wanting to do for awhile. And here is the best part, it isn't an assignment for school or a requirement for life, I started it for myself.  My new creative outlet, since "art school" of all things took the creativity out of everything for me.
I chose the name of my blog (which took days) not just because I like sea shells, and I like taking photos. Sea shells come from the sea, and that is where my husband will be for months and months at a time. One of my favorite things about the Navy is we are always going to live near a beach (it may not always be one in southern California...but any beach is better than no beach!), which is one of my favorite places. And snapshots, photos, pictures, they not only can tell you so much about not only the person who took them, but establish a connection between the people, places, and things in them. With a blog, each post is a snapshot into the writer's life, and I think people are so drawn to them because of that same connection they feel.
So, this is for me, for my friends and family, and anyone else who feels a connection with what is going on, on this crazy adventure.