mittens

mittens

mitty, mits, meemee, meekey, mittykitty, mitkins, meowzers, baby mittens, meemers, pretty kitty.

i'm sorry i cried at the end when you were so brave. i miss you and love you so very very much. thank you for everything.

what i've been up to and will be up to for 3 weeks

tomorrow evening, joe will have been home for 1 full week.

out of that week, i got to spend 3 full days and two evenings with him. all very successful hangouts and two more weeks to look forward to.

i am enjoying this visit home more than any of his other visits i think for a couple of reasons. the first reason occurred to me in the car as i drove into the city this morning: he's back. on american soil. for good. the odds of him getting deployed again are almost nil and the general anxiety the military induces is now practiced and the norm for my family. i know what he'll be going back to in CA and it's this knowledge that alleviates some of the clenching "he's going back to war or to the unknown" stress usually associated with his visits home. august 13th, 2010, baby. what a celebrated day that will be.

the second reason for the surging joy i've been feeling boils down to the fact that he's growing up. both physically and mentally. physically, he's grown again! he's bulked up and when i look at his face, i can see that he's, well, a man. he was 18 when he went in, and he'll be 22 in just a handful of months...given the fact that we only see him maybe twice a year, these changes are huge and obvious. after i mauled him in the airport, i looked at what he was wearing and noticed he had on the swim trunks he and sam had bought for themselves on my last visit last september. these are the hilarious matching trunks in matching sizes that fit neither of them--for joe, they were too big and would not stay on -- for sam they were too small and were amusingly too tight. i exclaimed to the fact that he had them on and they appeared to be staying up without the aid of his hand or a piece of rope, and he smugly told me that they fit him now since he's gained a lot of weight (but mentioned that he'd actually already lost some pounds in the weeks he'd been back since he stopped his work-out routine). now maybe this is all too much information, but i think it's hilarious and i'm really really really happy to see him heavier and healthier.

mentally too joe has made some strides (not intellectually, he's already supersmart, duh, but i guess emotionally). my brother pretty much summed it up on the car ride home from the airport last week when he mockingly retorted to my jibe about him and sam partying too much and getting in trouble the night before by saying, "sue, we're not like that anymore...we're mature." to which i responded by pointing out his very mature black eye earned the weekend before with sam...haha. but it's true, he is maturing.

all summer long joe's correspondence with me was riddled with maturity--from quitting smoking, to working out and getting healthy, to reading books again and being proud of himself for getting back into that. he starting talking about the future and college and doing responsible things like "studying for entrance exams" or "inquiring about admissions processes for colleges." i'm so excited to see him enter into a new phase of his life. and it's obvious when talking with him that while he's still my baby brother, i don't need to obsess and worry about every little thing--like him getting lost or on the wrong train (well...almost). he's grown up a lot and it's exciting to be able to connect with him on a new level.

he's a bit more candid when asked questions as well it seems. he talked a bit about the difference between his two deployments and about losing a member of his platoon to a road side bomb. he's definitely witnessed some terrible things and i hope he will never be tortured by them and can use those experiences in loss to push him towards understanding and empathy.

but deep down, and through it all, he's still the same joe. still the same goof-ball, still the same sense of humor, the same forgetfulness, the same stoic behavior, the same brother and son, for better or for worse.

and i'm just so happy.

restless

i want to go back to italy.
it must be that time of year....god i miss it.

next summer i think i'll take a trip to italy.
either that or i may have a lead on an all-expense paid trip to turkey.

count-down!

JOE gets back in the usa on tuesday, august 11th! a whole month early!
he'll then get to come home to chicago for 3 weeks starting august 22nd.
so excited!

here are some of the things we will do:
1. aerosmith/zz top with our dad!
2. white sox games!
3. kumas!
4. beach! (weather permitting)
5. be awesome.


i also have two bachelorette parties coming up, followed by two weddings, as well as a couple of tourneys with my ultimate team that i am looking forward to.

july

first there was sandblast

montrose globetrotters-best team theme ever in my opinion. we lost a lot the first day (we had both final teams in our pool), partied hard that night, then came back like champs on sunday and won quite a few. but i stress, the most important aspect to the weekend was that our uniforms rocked.

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then, there was CALIFORNIA

my uncle got married so my mom and i bought dresses.

mission san juan capistrano. my neck got sunburned.

we went to the san diego wildlife park.

but we did not go up in the ballon.

we did interact with some super rad dinosaurs. this one twitched, roared, and bit my hand.

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this month i also went to the no doubt concert with ashley, sonia, and david. it was pretty much the best thing ever and i relived my junior high years again. there was lots of jumping and singing and being awesome. pictures may yet come. and today, jetlagged, sleep-deprived, and stressed out, i moved. again. i think i don't ever want to move again ever.

ruby

the 2nd of july was a success -- i now own a red 1998 mustang.
the 3rd of july was a success -- movie, bbq, and wine on the lakefront.
the 4th of july was a success -- fireworks. nuff said.
the 5th of july was a success -- sunny walks, semper fi, and lots of food.

what a great start to a great month.

and even though i only have my memory of this past weekend, there is NO DOUBT i will take some awesome pictures of the next 3 weekends to come. anticipate!
get it!?

triumph then defeat

have you ever tried to put an AC window unit IN a window? did you know that at first, it appears impossible to the inexperienced ACer due to the fact that the window sill acts as a barrier the unit must somehow balance upon? it also results in sweaty anger and frustration.

this morning however, i tackled the Unit anew and secured that big ol' broad to the window and got her up and running.

triumph!

10 minutes later i blew a fuse in my apartment blow drying my hair.

i left my apartment with wet hair and no AC running.

defeat.