I guess I have a lot to catch up on in these past two weeks to fill everyone in on how my life has been! Seeing that I stopped after I announced that I would be visiting my “husband” in the Navy in San Diego. Well, I went! It was an awesome trip to say the least. I drove up there with DeAngela and my brother Mark. We first stopped by Egor’s house so that his mom would give us some homemade Russian pastry- the outside looked and tasted kind of like a donut while the middle of it had lamb and cilantro. Needless to say, it was delicious! Once we said our goodbyes to Egor’s parents, Mark started out driving. As anyone who has driven with me recently knows, I am extremely anal about how others drive. I am by far the worst back-seat driver you will ever find. It happened very abruptly to me, and suddenly I get more nervous when people drive. Then again, I really am not used to being around people as much as I have been in the past. Somehow, I think I just need to learn how to behave around people again- something I never thought I would have to do, considering that I am judgmental of how I act. I think something just kind of clicked this time in my head, making me scared of potentially getting in an accident and dying. I think it is something that is subconscious in my brain that just makes me nervous when other people drive. So, yes, I do order around people when they drive instead of me.

Ok, so after four hours of driving, Mark and I decided that he would pull into a Jack In The Box so we could get some food in our starving tummies and so that I could take over driving for the last four hours of the trip. And boy was I wrong when I thought the drive was only going to take 8 hours. It took 9-10 hours to finally get to the Navy base in Point Loma. I blame LA for all of that traffic, boy, it was miserable! I decided right then and there that I would never live there. (If so I would need to have a chauffeur because there is no way I would have the patience to drive there myself). But luckily, we did get to San Diego all in one piece, and only had to fill up once- but I am very sure that my amazing 2012 Honda Accord (Helga) would be able to make it there without having to fill up. That was extremely convenient so we did not have to waste any of our time driving and could spend it on visiting. We did have a few navigational issues, but we did get there nevertheless.

We met Egor and Aiyanna, his girlfriend, at the Starbucks across the street from the Naval Base. I will be honest, I was a little mad to see that he had brought her with him right away, I was hoping we (DeAngela, Egor, and I) would be able to hang out by ourselves the first day, but that didn’t happen. But, I was pleasantly surprised when I met Aiyanna. I found out that she is actually really pretty- she just isn’t the most photogenic in the pictures of her (yes I stalk people, that is normal and necessary lol). She also was in shape and very down to earth, so I was happy that Egor had picked such a nice girl.

We were told to follow behind Egor to get onto the Naval Base because of security reasons. When we all got in, we went to the lobby to get our room. By the way, it was $59 a night for a 2-room, 1-bathroom. The bathroom had so much space!!! It had one sink at either end of the bathroom, and had mirrors for each sink, it was all so nice. Now there was only one bed, so Mark had to sleep on the couch. He was under the impression that the couch was a futon, but that was not the case. So I gave him one of our many extra pillows and gave him a blanket that was originally on the foot of Dee’s and my bed. The bed that Dee and I got to sleep in the whole time was an amazing queen sized bed, which was perfect because we never ended up kicking or hitting each other during the night, even though I apparently have an evil laugh in my sleep and play with my hair. I believe it too! Lately I have been sleeping with my mouth open, so it is very possible that I talk and make weird noises, I do normally wake up from them though, when I am in the car. Oh, and this bed was literally the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in! I really need to see what mattress they use, because I would fall asleep a lot faster in one of those!

So once we figured out our room, put stuff in the refrigerator, opened our windows to let the heat out, found there was no thermostat in the room at all, our group  needed to figure out what we should eat for dinner. I was really craving agedashi tofu (deep-fried tofu) and sushi, so I heavily suggested that we go to a hibachi bar. We chose one that was only a few miles away and that was not super expensive, even though I was tempted to go to Benihana’s, I was responsible for feeding Mark and DeAngela, so that would come up to be way too expensive. But we all did enjoy our stay at the hibachi bar/grill. We did not have seats up at the grill because the wait would be too long, so we got a nice booth for the five of us. Tons of sushi was ordered, rice was ordered, miso soup was ordered, and my brother ordered the only thing he would eat on the menu- steak. And even though I had tons of food leftover, I ordered chocolate mochi ice cream. It was pretty darn good! Aiyanna was not too happy with it, she was confused about the mochi and did not like the feeling of it. I was happy eating it though! So once we paid our bill, we were driven back to the hotel by Egor. I offered my car for all of us to use during the trip because not only does it get great gas mileage, it also has enough room for all five of us. I let Egor drive my car because I trust him with my life, and know that he is a competent driver and he knows the area better than I do by far!

We then got ready to go to this country club called Stampede, where we would spend the rest of our night. Well, we got there at 11pm and left at probably 12:30am because we were all getting tired (especially me!) and Mark was moping around, and not to mention that the line dancing ended up getting harder and harder up to the point that I could no longer go with the flow and try to copy the dance moves of the experienced line-dancers. 

On our way back, only Egor and I were awake. Clearly, they were all pooped. I was not going to fall asleep because I never let the driver be the only one awake at night- I feel the need to keep them occupied so they don’t get too tired. So we talked and kinda caught up some more, which was really nice. I hadn’t seen my best friend in like a month! But (SPOILER ALERT!) Egor and Aiyanna are going to be visiting Elk Grove for a weekend next week. I am so excited, and by talking on the phone with Egor’s mother, Irina, she is extremely excited that he is going to visit as well.

We had a late start to the day on Saturday. We had to sleep off the dancing and all of the time spent in the car. Our plan was to go to the beach, because we all know I need my sun, especially since I am not really able to swim anymore. We left at around 2 to go to the beach, and to our dismay, there were no parking spots whatsoever. So Egor ended up dropping of Dee and Mark and I so we could get a spot. He and Aiyanna would be driving together to try to find a spot. We had no idea how long they would take- and boy, did they take forever. We all sat on the beach tanning for maybe 30 minutes before I decided that DeAngela and I should go check out the beach shops. And boy, did I score!!! I got this adorable bright pink tummy-showing shirt, a cute beach hat to make sure I don’t get sunburnt, a cute pair of earrings, a mug for my mom, a shirt for my dad, a shirt for me, a shirt for my brother, a shirt for Dee, some lime coconut patties, and my first lighter. Everything was so amazing and so cheap, I could never get bored in San Diego!!! Eventually Egor called us and told us to meet him outside the store, so then we made our way back to the beach. A few minutes after that, three of Egor’s friends came to join us. I had just met them prior to us leaving to the beach, so it is not like we were true strangers. The guys played football for a while before heading out into the water. I am not a fan of cold water to say the least, so I only went down to about my mid thighs. Everyone except for Egor’s friends went farther than I did, so I ended up getting to know these fellow military men. They were all so nice and funny! I did not feel awkward around them at all, and one of the guys was pretty darn cute to me… He was wearing glasses, had a Florida tattoo, and happened to come from Florida- which is awesome to me! I love Florida more than any other state, so I was a little jealous.

Eventually we all left the beach because it was getting cold. We all stopped to get something to eat for dinner. I ended up going to Panera Bread and got some pasta and a really nasty lemon orzo soup. Gross. Once we returned to the hotel room, everyone took a shower and was ready for a relaxing movie night. Egor brought over his PS3 so we could watch movies in the crazy big screen in our room. We first started with The Evil Dead (my request!) and then Dark Skies (which I had already seen). By the end of Dark Skies, Aiyanna and DeAngela were passed out. So Egor took her to her dorm and then came back to finish the movie. Once it was done, we all went to bed.

I was extremely tired the next day (Sunday) and I decided to stay in the hotel while the others went rock wall climbing. Yeah, my little muscles would be so pooped that I would fall asleep on the floor after it! I made the right choice, because I wanted to be well-rested before going out and walking around Old Town San Diego. It was full of Mexican heritage, which was actually really cool! I got a cool scorpion necklace to put on my mirror on my car, a cute bobbly turtle which reminds me of the ones I had when I was little. I also got my dad another shirt, it was such a good looking shirt. We all walked around the town and saw many booths and cool stores, as well as beautiful restaurants. We sat down at a cute restaurant and chose to sit inside, as it was getting a little chilly and windy outside. Or as I put it, nipply. (my swim teams would so get it). We all ordered enchiladas while my brother ordered tacos. I was not pleased with my enchilada at all, as it tasted pretty sour, and I made that same dish when I was a freshman in high school and executed it much better! But the service was absolutely spectacular!! Our waiter was so nice and always made sure that our glasses were full. And at the end of the dinner, he took off everyone’s’ drink orders off their bills. He said that he never makes those in the military pay for their drinks. I thought that it was so nice, and he was actually sincerely nice, unlike those who are being fake about it. So that was nice!

We then went back to our hotel room and watched some tv for a long while, and then Aiyanna and Egor left so we could all get some sleep because I wanted us to leave at either 8 or 9 sharp in the morning. I really did not want to get into the traffic from last time! So we all had to say goodbye to each other, even though I will be seeing them in another weekend, but we just had a great mini-vacation. It was much needed! 

I started out driving (after I got starbucks) and only drove for two hours until I was so tired that I could hardly even keep my eyes open, so I had Mark take over the wheel. Eventually, after a long while at the wheel, we went to a McDonald’s so we could fuel up and go to the bathroom. And there was the rudest Asian lady ever there. Like, ever. She would always push by people and not say excuse me or apologize, and she was blocking the entrance to the door in the beginning because she did not know what the hell she was doing. After all the eating was done, I had to ask Mark to continue on driving because I was shaking all over. This was probably due to morphine, or lack there of. Either way, he was not a happy camper, but there was nothing he could do about it. We dropped DeAngela off and then went home. 

I will be honest, I did absolutely nothing during the week I got back from my vacation, I needed to rest from all of the activities that we had done.

However, it was one of my swim friend Matt’s 23rd birthday, and I was invited to go, so I had to go especially considering how many other swim friends would be there. I was soo excited to be going, because, I will be honest, I never get to see them anymore and I miss them. But that night was so much fun! Got to see a lot of the swimmers, played water pong and miserably lost (I did get two cups though!) and just kind of hung out and talked to my friends who I haven’t seen in a while, and I was so used to seeing them every day. I finally got to catch up with Katie, as she moved to Florida with her husband, and I needed to be filled in on the details of moving and living in Florida. I also got to catch up with Blake, who was unable to go to my wedding as he was in Chicago. I also got to see Dom, Michael Billey, Shannon (my bp partner), Erin, Ella, Aly, Charlie, Colette, Julio, and Cheyenne. We all went inside so that water pong could be played much more easily. Luckily for me, I reminded Steven to come to the party, and he came, much to everyone’s delight! We ended up having a really deep conversation, and I will be honest, I have not had one of those in a really long time, it was nice! Then we all went back inside (we were just chatting in my car) to join the rest of the group. After a while, it started dwindling down, and the people who stayed ended up watching the worst SciFi movie I had ever seen. The graphics were god-awful. The Yeti thing was basically looking like a sorry excuse for a yeti- it had the body of a big gorilla and had the face of a rat, with horns of mountain rams. It was so ridiculous, but we just had to see what happened in the end! So once that was done (at 3am) I drove back home. I was craving some Wendy’s, but found out it was closed. Then I found out there are no 24 hour fast food restaurants anywhere near my house- and there was no way I was going to go to Wendy’s. I ended up scrounging for food at my Grandparent’s house. I stayed with them and chatted for about an hour before I hit the road to go back to my mom’s house, I was not going to deal with traffic, and I did not.

So basically all of this week I haven’t been doing anything, but I will go out and walk my dog tomorrow and hopefully cook something nice… I need my exercise and one of my dogs needs it too.

So it is pretty darn late, so I am going to leave you with some pictures!

My chemo drink sucks!