Chapter 10: 4 days till the 5K!

I finally used our apartment's gym for the first time & ran a little over 2 miles this morning on the treadmill! I was going to continue on to run 3 miles, but then I decided not to push myself. I haven't ran for a little while & my 5K is coming up soon, so I didn't want to over work my body. I'm so excited for Saturday! I made certain to take the day off from work because I'm sure that after such an eventful morning running with some of my Navy Wives [& a thousand or so other strangers], I'll probably want to relax for the rest of the day with my husband, all while feeling victorious over having completed my 1st 5K :) Lol. After all, who wants to ruin such a fun & exciting day by having to go to work at night? Not me! =P

Anybody curious about which 5K I'm running?

I'll be doing the Color Me Rad 5K!

A bunch of wives from my husband's ship decided to form a team a few months ago. We even made shirts to wear ;) Unfortunately, I was working during the night of the "T-Shirt Decorating Party", so that was a bummer—but I'll still be decorating my shirt! A bunch of the wives will be wearing matching (or similarly designed) shirts. Mine may not match theirs exactly, but it will say basically the same thing so that everyone knows we're all a team :) Can I just say one more time how excited I am? Because I'M SO EXCITED!

What is the Color Me Rad 5K run, you may ask? It's a whole bunch of amazingly-fabulous-awesomeness! It's an event that everyone should partake in at least once in their lifetime!

For more information & race locations, visit their websites:

www.colormerad.com

www.facebook.com/colormerad5k

I'm RAD.

You're RAD.

Let's hug.

♥ Robert & Darlene ♥

;)

Chapter 9: Dear Diary...

[An entry from my personal diary. Thought I'd share in hopes that it may help someone.] 

8.27.12 

Things were much simpler when I was younger.

So children of the world, cherish your years of innocence.

Don't grow up too fast because you don't know what you're in for.

Yes, LIFE is a beautiful thing & there are many things to look forward to as you grow up.

You'll experience great things, 

but you'll also experience heartbreak that comes in many different forms.

You'll experience things you're going to wish you hadn't.

You'll want to change the past but realize that you can't.

This realization might shatter your world completely if you let it.

Pain can be relentless.

Open your mind & your heart to LIFE, but learn when to keep guarded & stand watch.

I have memories I wish I could relive

& memories I wish I could erase.

Unfortunately, we don't get that choice.

We don't have that power.

However, we do have the power to move forward.

To move on.

To let go.

To live.

Let your lemons lead the way to happiness.

LIFE can be hard.

LOVE can hurt.

PEOPLE can be mean.

...but don't let any of that get the best of you.

We only get one life to live, so don't waste it by not living it to the fullest.

When you're down on your luck never forget your blessings,

because hard times are the perfect times to count them.

Always be grateful.

Both the good & bad in life benefit you.

You learn from both.

You grow from everything.

Chapter 8: Training for a 5K!

Went for a run with my husband at 4:00AM this morning! I finally got new running shoes & put them to use :) I only have 2 1/2 more weeks to get myself ready for this 5K that I've been looking forward to for months! It will be my first time running a 5K, so I'm really excited about it! The run this morning kicked my butt, but it sure felt good! The best part about it was running with my husband & spending that time together before he had to head to work :) We plan to go for a run every morning, at least until my 5K. After that we'll take it easier, but for now I'm really going to have to step up my game! Glad I have my husband to help me! Off to bed.. Gotta wake up at 4:00AM again tomorrow for running/training day #2! Bring it on! Motivation & perseverance is a GO!

Chapter 7: The M.I.A. Newlyweds

Do you want to hear something that will blow your mind? It's pretty crazy. You ready? Well, my husband & I have been living together since July 19th & we've only spent 10 days completely alone together/in our home!!! True story. We did the math & the realization blew our minds as well! We've been living together for 1 1/2 months & have spent such little time together. Talk about M.I.A. newlyweds, huh? The reason we've had such little time together is because of house guests, 2 underways, & duty days. Although, I'm not complaining too much because it's a lot better than the 5 years of a long distance relationship that we did. Thank God those days are over & that chapter of our lives has ended! We've officially turned a new page & it's such a blessing & dream come true. Even though we haven't gotten to spend much time together, we've still managed to do some pretty awesome things since I moved here :)

To name a few::

-We took a day trip to Savannah, Georgia w/my eldest sister!

-We attended our first wedding (besides our own) together & signed as witnesses

-We found a church to attend mass at

-My husband is teaching me how to drive a stick shift

-I'm teaching him how to cook

-We celebrated his birthday when he came home from his underway

-We attended a fun Polynesian Dance event w/free food

-We went to Disney World for my birthday/our 2nd honeymoon!

Although, we still haven't spent a day at the beach yet & it's only 10 minutes away from us =P We must do this before summer is over! I'm mostly looking forward to attending Disney World's Food & Wine Festival at Epcot during the Fall & the Navy Day Ball (or Winter Ball) =D I can't wait! CHEERS! Here's to many more amazing days to be had & wonderful memories to be made! 

Teaching my hubby how to cook chicken adobo (a Filipino dish) Yum! :) 

End result of the chicken adobo! We had it over rice, of course :) SO GOOD!

Chapter 6: Conversations with Strangers.

7.19.12—My husband surprised me w/decorations, stickers (for scrapbooking), & red roses when I moved in :) 

If you know me, then you know that I can strike up a conversation with just about anyone because I enjoy talking to people & making friends. That's just the way I am. My parents tell me that I used to say hello & wave to people as a kid while sitting in my stroller...That sounds about right. Lol. I'm just a really friendly person & sometimes my husband thinks I'm too friendly. Anyway... I was talking to a USAA customer service rep yesterday & after she helped me we ended up talking about marriage & the newlywed life etc...
I told her how we only have 3 pieces of "furniture":
Air bed, computer chair, & an entertainment system.

I still have a lot of things I need shipped from Cali. We eat our meals on plastic bins & use those same plastic bins as night stands =P She laughed & told me that we don't need to have all the stuff our parents ended up with now, because those things accumulate over a lifetime of marriage. She said we should cherish these times because they'll probably be some of the best memories we'll have to look back on when we're old & laugh about it. I told her that we're already laughing about it now & enjoying our little empty home :) After saying, "Oh, well that's good!" she shared with me that she was married for 28 years before losing her husband to heart cancer or something (I didn't hear what she said, but I didn't want to ask her to repeat herself). She said it was the best 28 years of her life & how they loved each other so much & had a very happy marriage & life together. Then she added, "Well I believe that after talking to you, from what I hear, it sounds like you'll have a very happy marriage & life too!" I smiled a big smile & thanked her.... sometimes conversations with strangers are the best conversations to have.

Chapter 5: So this is love.

Yesterday while I was tuning my husband's violin, I accidentally broke one of the strings. I told him what happened & apologized. Instead of being upset with me, he was only concerned about how the string snapped & hurt the back of my hand... with a response like that, all I can think of to say (or sing) is:

"So this is love

Mmmmm

So this is love

So this is what makes life divine....

So this is the miracle that I've been dreaming of....

Mmmmm

So this is love"

—Cinderella

I'm feeling pretty blessed right about now to have the best friend & husband that I do. Too often people can get so caught up with all the materialistic things in this world that we forget about the things that really matter—like family, friends, health, compassion, humanity, kindness, love.... Not petty things such as a broken violin string. What's the point in wasting energy & getting upset over something so minuscule when your energy could be directed elsewhere? Somewhere more useful, positive, & loving.... With this violin mishap, my husband helped me remember that. Always love.

Chapter 4: My new found courage.

This is my husband's manual/standard car AKA my latest challenge. 

1 year older & 1 notch more courageous. I'm barely 23 & I'm already noticing a change in myself! =P Alright, maybe it's just a coincidence—either way, I'm not complaining. I still have yet to document about my wonderful Disney World birthday yesterday, but first I want to talk about our drive home from Disney World :) My husband & I didn't end up leaving Downtown Disney until just a little before midnight. We had a 3 hour drive ahead of us & I knew my husband would be tired because:

1. I was tired! We had a lot of fun, but it was a long day in the blazing sun & evening in the pouring rain.

2. He got less sleep than I did the night before & we left for Disney World at 7am in the morning.

We tried many things to keep him AWAKE. We blasted the AC, started singing at the top of our lungs, drank water & ate snacks, I'd pinch his arm if he asked me to, & he'd ocassionally slap himself in the face to try to stay awake =P Well, none of these methods would work for very long. All of a sudden I found myself telling him that I'd drive if he wanted me to. [Did I really just say that?] For a few times he'd respond with, "No, that's ok honey. I'm awake. Thank you though." After offering to drive a couple more times, his response turned into, "Are you sure you want to? Do you feel ready?" Oddly enough, I did feel ready. He gave me such an amazing birthday celebration, the least I could do to say "thank you" was take over the wheel & let him catch a few zzZ's. Out of nowhere I gained some new found courage in conquering the intimidating stick shift! I knew that the drive would be pretty easy because we just had to stay on the freeway for a long time, so there isn't any shifting of gears involved when you're just cruising. The only hard part was getting onto the freeway & getting off of the freeway, which I did last night for the very 1st time! I had already practiced upshifting a few times, but I hadn't practiced downshifting yet, & Robert said I did a good job! As you may already be able to tell, I'm pretty proud of myself :) 

The original plan: Drive the long stretch of freeway & exit before getting close to home so we could switch seats again & I wouldn't have to drive on the streets... However, once I was in the driver seat I kept pep talking myself, going over in my head everything I've read & everything Robert had taught me.

The new plan: I was determined to drive us all the way home! 

The plan was set. My husband was getting some rest & I was getting more confident in my driving by the minute. Everything was panning out just right... until I started getting sleepy =X [Bah humbug! That wasn't supposed to happen!] Robert woke up & I told him about how my sleepy mind started playing tricks on me & made the lines in the road look funny. I'm not even going to try to explain this. Lol. That's when we decided to switch seats again. Darn! But safety first! Right? I told Robert about  how I planned to drive us all the way home because I was confident that I could do it! I swear I would've done it if I hadn't have gotten so sleepy. He smiled & said he believed me :) Good! I just hope this new found courage of mine sticks around so I can hurry up & join the ranks of the those who know how to drive a manual car. Only a small percentage of the population under the age of 50 can drive a stick shift (the percentage is higher for those over the age of 50) & I can't wait to be one of those cool cats! =P