25 things....

Well, it was only a matter of time until I got tagged by the Facebook 25 things meme. So here goes (this is really off the cuff)!

1. I'm a pisces and whether you believe in astrology or not, the shoe fits me.

2. I went to three different high schools and three different colleges (high school: Germany, Alabama, Turkey; college: Germany, UT Austin, TX A&M).

3. The longest I've ever lived anywhere was 6 years spent from ages 3-8 in Las Vegas, NV where my parents live now.

4. I have a college degree in psychology. No I am not analyzing you.

5. I've had a polygraph examination before.

6. I never planned on becoming an expert on weapons of mass destruction policy - I just sort of fell into it. In fact, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I went to grad school on a whim and because I got a scholarship.

7. I have one sister who lives in Florida and she gave the most rockin' maid of honor speech at my wedding (it was the only point where I nearly cried).

8. I graduated from high school in Izmir, Turkey in a class of 11. Our school district spanned a distance greater than the continental U.S. from the Azores, Portugal in the Pacific Ocean, to Rota, Spain, to Bahrain and three schools in Turkey at Adana, Izmir and Ankara. We played basketball against the Bahraini girls who wore hijab (headscarves) and long sleeves/pants on the court and kicked our butts!

9. I used to be a wild child. Clubs, raves, drinking and drugs. I have admitted all of this to the U.S. government.

10. I was raised Catholic and had to attend CCD/church until we moved to Turkey when my parents stopped making us go. I was supposed to get confirmed, but I didn't finish the class until 2007. I believe in saints, angels, and the Virgin Mary and try to outrun my guilt complex.

11. I married a man who was once in the seminary. Now we go to church every weekend and even though I don't agree with all the Catholic dogma, I love the ritual and mysticism of Catholicism.

12. I want kids. Sometimes I want them NOW, NOW, NOW. Sometimes that scares me a little and I think of all the ways my life will change once I have them. For instance, how am I going to drag a baby to China???

13. I'm scuba certified and got my open-water cert in a lake in Texas where there are catfish as big as your thigh.

14. When I was little I cut all of my cousin's hair off with a pair of plastic Mickey Mouse scissors while my dad was watching football... ahem, I mean babysitting us. To this day it is still everyone's favorite story to tell when the family all gets together, especially if there are newcomers.

15. I struggle with maintaining my weight. I have been really thin a couple of times in my life through strict diet mainly. When I am winging my diet, I tend to be pretty soft and voluptuous (thanks Mom lol).

16. I love being an athlete. I love to lift weights and get a good sweat going on. I never said I was good at it though!

17. I had thyroid cancer and I got to be radioactive as part of my treatments when I had to ingest radioactive iodine and be isolated for a week. A year later, my best girlfriend in DC who worked in the same office as me was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

18. I still can't believe I live in Hawaii.

19. I love Adam more and more each day. Would y'all believe he rubs my feet almost every night?!

20. I also love anything chocolate.

21. I used to be a real dreamer and fancied myself a writer/poet/anti-establishment modern day bohemian beatnik. Now I'm a yuppie.

22. I drive a white Honda Civic. Too fast.

23. I pack my lunch every day in a huge cooler that people make fun of me for - it's been called my "pharmacy of food." I get comments about what I eat all the time.

24. My favorite color to wear is blue. My favorite color for the home is green.

25. I have a window in my office that looks down on the ocean and Pearl Harbor. You can come visit anytime!

Well, we're not going to Germany, but we ARE going to Australia and New Zealand!!!

This week has been BUSY! I've actually had a lot going on at work instead of my usual low-grade boredom, and we haven't even had time to accomplish our goal of getting our wedding thank you's done... tonight might not work either cause I need to be packing for our HONEYMOON! I'm so excited we are leaving on Saturday morning to Sydney, Australia and hopping on a cruise ship for TWO WHOLE GLORIOUS BLISSFUL WEEKS!!! It's going to fly by so fast.

Here is our itinerary:

Day 1
Sydney, Australia

Day 2
Sydney, Australia

Day 3
Phillip Island, Australia

Day 4
Melbourne, Australia

Day 5
At Sea

Day 6
Hobart, Tasmania

Day 7
At Sea

Day 8
At Sea

Day 9
Milford Sound, New Zealand

Day 9
Doubtful Sound

Day 9
Dusky Sound

Day 10
Dunedin, New Zealand

Day 11
Christchurch, New Zealand

Day 12
Wellington, New Zealand

Day 13
Volcanic White Island, N.Z.

Day 14
Tauranga, New Zealand

Day 15
Auckland, New Zealand

We are trying to figure out what to do in each port call since we're only in port for the day each time we will barely have enough time to see a few things! There are a TON of shore excursions including kayaking, biking, train rides through the New Zealand Alps, city tours, wine tastings and more. Not to mention everything there is to do on the ship - can you say SPA-AHHH!

I will have a ton of pics when we get back!

Also, we are not going to Germany. Yes it is sad but I am at peace with it and I feel like it's the right thing. I feel like it is the "sign" we were waiting for... the detailer offered us AFRICOM and after talking to the guy Adam would be replacing we decided no, not for us! 12 hour days and sub-optimal housing and facilities. We could live with not the greatest living conditions IF the job was great... or we could live with a kind of crappy job IF the living conditions would be pretty cool... but both sounds like a bad assignment! So, as much as we both wanted to live in Europe, we also realize that we've barely had any time to enjoy the islands. And there is plenty of adventure left here. We want to travel to the big island and Kauai, and go to Japan, China and Thailand while we're here and relatively close.

So that is that. If I don't see y'all again before we depart, I'll catch ya on the flipside, after March 16! Think good thoughts for a successful vacation!

Love and Marriage

I saw this over at Because of Course and thought it was cute and appropriate since we just got married! (Squee!)

What are your middle names?

Lynn and Derrick

How long have you been together?

We met in mid-2003 and have been dating since early 2004. And we've been married for 5 days now!!

How long did you know each other before you started dating?

About 5 months.

Who asked whom out?

He asked me. We were at a bar in College Station and I gave him a ride home since he'd been drinking. He was very cute and asked if I would want to go to dinner with him sometime. I didn't want to get involved with anyone at school since I knew I'd only be there for 18 months, but he was so sweet I thought why not, just for kicks!

How old are each of you?

I will be 29 on March 8 and Adam is 26.

Whose siblings do you see the most?

His so far. They came to visit us in DC and we saw them in Kansas, plus they were just here for the wedding. My sister lives in Florida.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?

Uh... planning our frickin' wedding, yo! But it was totally worth it.

Did you go to the same school?

The same grad school - Texas A&M. That's where we met and fell in love!

Are you from the same home town?

No. Adam lived in Galax, VA and then Wichita, KS until he went to grad school. I was born in Germany and then lived in Nevada, Kansas, Virginia, Alabama, Turkey, Germany, Texas, Arizona, Italy, Texas again, Virginia again, and now Hawaii.

Who is smarter?

Me. Hehehe. Just kidding. He is smarter about money and finances and math stuff. I'm smarter about everything else :)

Who is the most sensitive?

Me. Adam is sensitive, but mostly he's calm and balances out my watery, Piscean emotional nature.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?

Our most visited restaurant is probably the Kabob Bazaar in Clarendon (Arlington), VA. We also end up at Cheesecake Factory a lot since they have big tasty salads. We hardly ever eat out, though. I don't like to eat out. It's usually a disappointment!

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?

So far Hawaii, although once we drove a U-Haul from Texas to Virginia and that SEEMED like the farthest we've traveled!! Next week it will be Australia and New Zealand!!

Who has the craziest exes?

Neither of us has crazy exes.

Who has the worst temper?

Me. I can be a real brat sometimes. It's hard to ruffle Adam's feathers. He just thinks it's cute when I get riled up, which is kind of annoying.

Who does the cooking?

Cooking? What's that? We cook for ourselves mostly.

Who is the neat-freak?

I am probably more of a neat freak, I guess. He's pretty tidy too. We both like everything in its place. I'm more of a cleaning person, though - hair in the bathroom sink - yuk!

Who is more stubborn?

It's a toss up.

Who hogs the bed?

He does sometimes - and his appendages weigh like 500 lbs so when they are on you in the dead of sleep, you practically need to send up flares to get rescued.

Who wakes up earlier?

I do. Sometimes Adam has to wake up earlier, but he doesn't like it.

Where was your first date?

Ask Adam, I can't remember the name of the restaurant. In my mind, Valentines day 2004 was our first "real" date. The first dinner was just a dry run to make sure he wasn't insane or anything. Valentines day Adam made a reservation at this chic restaurant in Bryan, TX (yes, I realize chic and Bryan, TX is an oxymoron), but it turns out he made the reservation on the wrong day (ha!) so we ended up getting Outback steaks at the carry-out window and eating at my place. He brought me a present too, which totally freaked me out at first because we'd only been interested in each other for about a week so Valentines day was a LOT of pressure and I figured there was so much that could go wrong in selecting a gift at that early stage... but he gave me these cute little teddy bears with their arms tied around each other in a hug from Red Envelope and it turned out to be perfect.

Who is more jealous?

Neither of us is particularly jealous!

How long did it take to get serious?

What do you mean by serious? We were seriously involved right away, but it took a few years before we got really serious about marriage. Or I should say it took ME a few years!

Who eats more?

Adam eats more most of the time, although I can eat like a linebacker when I'm in the mood.

Who does the laundry?

He does. (I KNOW!!)

Who’s better with the computer?

He is. I know how to turn it on and access my email.

Who drives when you are together?

Definitely Adam. He hates it when he's not in control. He likes to hold the remote control too lol.

We got married!

Thursday was a dream. It went by so fast! I was so sad when the day was over - I didn't want the day to end! It was a perfect day. We can't wait to see the pictures! Our photographer was awesome and there are going to be some really cute ones of us! It was kind of a cloudy day but the sun came out both times when we went outside to take pictures! I felt like a princess and Adam looked so handsome in his tuxedo! I'll be back to write all about it - I want to remember every detail. And to post more pics! The past two days we were staying at the resort where we had our reception and man, all we did is eat and sleep! Time to get back on the program before our honeymoon in a week!

Mr. & Mrs. Seiler!

Monumental tasks

Don't worry - I'm not holding out on you guys. We just don't have anything to report yet. The detailer was evidently on leave last week and this week was too busy to respond. Commence the waiting while I waffle back and forth between excitement about moving to Germany, dread about quitting work, and a general sense of anxiety and worry about the whole affair. It sort of helps that I'm super extremely bored at work, which makes me want to QUIT NOW. But then they start talking about how I am going to be the continuity on this or that after the two military guys leave our shop and I start to feel guilty and all like, I can't QUIT! They NEED me!

And of course right now I am up to my ears in boxes since my stuff got delivered on Monday and I keep unpacking and organizing but it never seems to end and all I can do is wade through mounds of packing paper moving things around from here to there and feeling forlorn. Woe. And we are talking about doing this again in less than a YEAR?! Am I out of my freaking mind?! Yes. Yes I am.

What a difference a day makes...

I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about baby names. Which ones I like (Madison, Victoria, Luke and Jonah) and which ones I like but don't like the obvious nickname - Addison/Addy, Samuel/Sam, Jonathan/Jon, Michael/Mike. I also spent at least 15 minutes signing my name "Michelle Seiler" in about 50 different ways. Traditional curly-que cursive S or written more like a normal capital S? And with the -eiler kind of messy and strung together... I then moved on to writing out baby names to see how they will sound with the last name Seiler. If all goes as planned we will be "Trying" by the end of this year.

Everything could change tomorrow. Adam is going to talk to the detailer and request orders to Germany. We both agree that when our babies come, I should stay at home to care for them. We can afford it. We will have to cut back spending, but we'll make it ok. Knowing I won't be worrying about a career at least temporarily means it's not important to stay here. So we appease my restless heart and go off on a new adventure. We are both excited for schnitzel and pommes, mayo on the side, Kristkindelmarkt, gluhwein, Oktoberfest, snowy villages and summer trips to Italy.

And if we can't get orders to Germany? Aside from the heartbreak, we don't know what we'll do. It doesn't seem like either of us really, REALLY wants to stay here another three years after this one. We both feel like we'll be sort of ... done before then. But where else to go? Adam raised the possibility of going back to DC and strange and crazy as it seems, I actually thought it sounded like a good idea. If I were in DC right now, I would have gotten up early this morning and bundled up to go jogging on the W&OD trail - maybe a light snow would fall and my breath would be an icy fog. I would peel off my clothes and my cheeks would be red as cherries and my fingers so cold the hot water would hurt. Then I'd pull on warm sweats and shuffle around with music on in the background, watching the snow fall, drinking warm tea, getting shocked by the static electricity. Maybe later I would go out and meet Erin and Megan for tea at Cosi. I try to remind myself of all the reasons I couldn't wait to leave there - the traffic, the ice, wind and cold, the rat race, the oppressive crush of people all racing to be... where? I can't explain why I am thinking maybe we could live there again. Maybe it would be different this time. No, I mean I know EVERYTHING would be different. But maybe it would be better?

Also tomorrow my things are getting delivered - my books and couch and bed and all the other stuff I've been accumulating over the years. We'll be up to our ears in it. And I'm sure I'll get sidetracked from packing when I open the box with the photo albums and journals - I can lose days reliving memories, unwrapping trinkets, reading old letters. Adam will unpack the kitchen stuff and put everything in the wrong place while I lose my mind in the past...!