Friday Pick Me Up

It's really gloomy today in DC and work has been crazy the last two days, so I'm feeling a pick me up post today, and I hope you guys are too.

And what's better than to lift spirits than cat photos?

Nothing I tell you!

He went in for the dice, but decided to stay for the obvious comfort level.

 And just to brighten your day even more, here's a video of Pepe being so happy he can reach the window that he starts wagging his tail. You can ignore our not showered lazy Saturday TV watching selves.

7 Months Apart

It's been a while since I shared my daily cat pictures that I send to Hal, and lets be honest, everyone loves some cat pictures.

I've lived alone for over 7 months now. 7 loooooong months. I see Hal on the weekends, and it's terrible to see him leave every Monday morning. It sucks so much that he's started not working on Fridays so he can be in DC by the time I get off of work.

 But honestly, I'm a little afraid to live with someone again. I'm all about routines in the morning. That's how I survive getting up in the morning. How am I supposed to share the getting ready space when my routine is timed to the minute to make the shuttle? Well I guess I did it for years, and it's 1000% worth finally living with my husband again, so I'll push aside my nerves and grumpy morning self and adjust when it comes time.

can you spot all three of us?

I think we've really just hit the point where we're tired of being apart. 4 months of complete separation, and three months of only weekends together really wears a couple out.

Hal asked EY to move up his start date from September to August. We're keeping our fingers crossed they say yes.

So keep your fingers crossed for us that they let Hal move up his start date, and in the mean time; you can laugh at Tuk Tuk's face in the photo below. See a Resemblance?

                                                         

Meet Pepe

We got this little munchkin from the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria a few weeks ago. We had looked a lot of cats. We went to a lot of animal shelters in the DC area. We spent an entire Saturday looking at cats and never found one that we fell in love with.

Hal wanted a long hair cat. I wanted a cat to play with tuk tuk who has too much energy. So we kept looking. We were going to drive out and look a this beautiful cat, but decided to try the Alexandria animal shelter first. Really, we went there because some of their cats had their adoption fee waved due to donations, and we're poor. The cat we were looking at with the adoption fee waved was not so nice. So one hand bite later we were still looking.

A volunteer listened to what we were looking for and showed us this little guy. He had been brought in by his owner because he ingested her anti-anxiety medicine and went crazy and attacked her other cats. But he didn't have any lingering effects from the medicine some weeks later when he was still at the shelter.

We kind of fell in love instantly. They told us all about how to introduce him to tuk tuk, but honestly, she couldn't have cared less that he was there, so we let them get to know each other the day we brought him home, and it was pretty much the most precious thing I've seen.

In getting another cat to play with tuk tuk, we didn't think about the fact that he's a year younger than her, and has even more energy. Overall they play together and have fun.

He has a genetic inner ear disability that effects his balance, so he falls over a lot. It is both sad and hilarious at the same time. I've tried catching it on video, but he's so dark it's hard to see sometimes.

We called this kitty everything under the sun before we saw a TV show that had a skunk on it and we realized he kind of walks like, and uses his tail kind of like a skunk; and thus Pepe Le Pew was born.

Making Biscuits

Let's be honest here. If you don't love cat videos, we can't be friends.

I saw this hilarious collection of vines on buzzfeed about cat's "making biscuits". You know, "kneading dough" "making pizza" and other such terms for the kneading that cats do with their paws.

So I thought I'd share my funny cat kneading video.

Tuk Tuk kneads a lot. She's obsessed with one purple blanket in particular, but sometimes if you have a good pet going on, she doesn't even need a blanket to get her knead on.

Also, here's this photo, just to make your day better. Tuk should probably have her own meme with some of the faces she makes in the photos I send to Hal everyday.

Stay tuned for a big cat announcement!

It's Finally Happening

Today. Today is the day. Today I am going home to finally be reunited with Hal. FINALLY!

103 days after I left Utah.

92 actual days apart from each other.

92 mornings of waking up alone.

92 pictures with my cat.

Endless hours of skype and g chat calls.

Endless ridiculous snap chats to make each other laugh on those days where you're unbelievably lonely.

Lots of money spent on flights.

14 handwritten letters sent to Hal.

It was all worth it. Hal is graduating next week, I have a fabulous job that supports us both if it needs to; and we finally get to be back together.

And I don't even know how to express to all of you how excited I am.

No more days of waking up alone.

Single Digits People

Can you believe it?! We're down to less than 10 day until we're back together. I can't believe it. I can't stinking believe it. Guys, I get to actually live with my husband again.

I saw some Peace Corps friends this weekend and they asked me what I learned about myself during this whole process of living apart from my husband. I guess I hadn't really thought about it before, but it seemed like my answer was an important one.

I learned that I can take care of myself. 

I went from living with my parents straight to getting married and living with Hal. My entire life I have had someone around to help take care of me, or help me out when I needed it.

For the first time in my life I didn't really have anyone I could rely on that wasn't thousands of miles away. Of course I had people I could ask for help, and lots of fabulous people invited me to dinners, and to hang out, and pick me up and take me to the airport, but as I explained it to Hal, for the first time in my life, I didn't have someone who loved me unconditionally, that I could talk to about anything; that wasn't 2,000 miles away.

It wasn't easy by any means. There were times that I was desperately lonely. There were times that I felt I had no one to really talk to. There were days where the only living thing I talked to was my cat. There were days that I didn't leave the house because I was just plain sad.

It has been a hard 3 1/2 months. But I did it. I took care of myself, and I realized I can take care of myself. I can feed myself. That may seem trivial, but I've always struggled with hypoglycemia and keeping my blood sugar is a good place. So realizing I can completely take care of myself, and eat on a routine, and not go out to eat hardly at all was a really big thing to me.

I guess I've just always thought of myself as lazy and knew that people would help take care of me, but now I know I can not only take care of myself, I can also take are of a cat and two plants at the same time; and I can do it even during some of the saddest days I've ever had. I'm pretty sure that's like super human. 

3 Long Long Long Months

Tomorrow marks 3 months that Hal and I have been apart. 3 months since I got on a plane and moved 2,000 miles away by myself.

It's funny the things that come up when you're away from your spouse for a long time. Both of you start to forget things that were like second nature when you were living together. Both of you start to have insecurities come up because some days it literally feels like we will never be back together; and you get into fights over those insecurities. Coming to the realization that you're really just fighting over fear and insecurity feels like a revelation; and you just have to have faith in each other and knowing those insecurities will fade as we are reunited.

We officially have less than 2 weeks until we're permanently back together. Well, not quite permanently as Hal will be spending his summer part time in DC and part time in New Jersey, but 4 hours away is a lot more bearable than 2,000 miles away.

I don't think tuk tuk can wait for these daily pictures that I send to Hal to end. I don't think I've ever seen a more disgruntled cat. She's been giving me the stink eye almost every single night. This first photo is my absolute favorite, she looks like two face kitty. Hopefully both of us can hold out for these next two weeks, because even though that doesn't seem very long, when you're waiting to be reunited with your love, it feels like forever.

1 Month To Go

Today now marks one month to go until Hal and I are permanently back together. We were so blessed to have some plans move up a week, so we get to be back together a week earlier than we were planning; and it means I get to be home for Easter.

You have no idea how excited this makes me. Only a month. A month. I can do a month. Now that we've done two and a half months already, a month almost seems like nothing.

My yoga teacher used to say "you have __ more breaths, you can do anything for __ more breaths." I like to adopt that into other things, like when I wake up in the morning I tell myself, it's Tuesday, you only have 3 more days of waking up before you can sleep in. You can do anything for 3 days in order to sleep in.

Now I can say, I have one month to go. I can do anything for one month.

Which is probably good, because I think Tuk Tuk is getting real sick of our daily pictures. She's been giving some nasty looks lately.

Two Months On My Own

Today marks two months exactly since I boarded a plane and came back to DC on my own. It marks two months since I had to say goodbye to Hal while he finishes his last semester in Utah. It marks two months since my cat pretty much became my best friend.

What have I learned in my two months of living away from my husband?

-That I can take care of myself.
-That I can't save all of the bad stuff for skype sessions, just because I finally have someone I feel I can really talk to; because it makes for really sad skype sessions.
-That it can be really hard to motivate yourself when you're alone a lot of the time.
-That it's important to find a way to keep yourself motivated, because watching endless Dawson's Creek in fact, isn't going to help you feel better.
-That I must get out of the house for a few hours every day on the weekends.
-That's it's better if I push myself, and say yes to anything someone invites me to; even if I'm feeling introverted. It's way better in the end to go and spend the time with people.
-That spending the money to see each other once a month is worth far more than the price of a plane ticket.
-That having an animal makes being alone a lot less horrible.
-That I love mine and Tuk Tuk's daily photos to Hal.  Having something to send each other every day, and open from each other every day, really helps you feel like you are still a part of their everyday life.

 

And Today means we have just under two months to go until we're permanently back together. 

Meet Tuk Tuk

Remember when I asked for some help in naming our not so new kitty? Well, we finally settled on a name.

Introducing....Tuk Tuk

What is a tuk tuk?

This is a tuk tuk. A motorcycle that pulls a cart that you ride around in. It was our main mode of transportation when we were in the city.

Now meet this tuk tuk:

And now you're wondering why I have so many pictures of the cat and myself, you can read about why here.

She's a funny kitty. She's very vocal when she wants something. She will let you pet her head for hours. She love to play inside the laundry basket.

She has to be played with every single night before bed or she'll wake me up every single night with too much energy. She runs inside the laundry basket when she knows it's time to play. She had a litter of kittens before the shelter found them and took them all in. And I may or may not call her Stink as much as I call her Tuk Tuk. Sorry to those of you who hated that name choice.