Reset

You know that feeling you get when you are so busy leading up to an event, or a series of events, and then the event is over... and you look around and say, "Okay, now what?" That's kind of how I feel right now, because a lot of things I had been looking forward to (like my US visit with family and friends) are in the past, as well as things I was not looking forward to (like Martin leaving for his 4-month deployment). Now it seems that I have reached a "reset" point, where I can reassess where my time goes and what I focus on in my life.

I am somewhat embarrassed that my last blog post was on April 11th, almost 2 months ago, and this was pointed out to me several times while I was in the States, haha. So here we go! Martin came home from his deployment supporting Libya operations on April 17th, a month after the infamous whirlwind weekend when he came home early from Spain, proposed(!!!), and left for Italy in a span of about 24 hours. He got home just in time for Easter, and we celebrated by dyeing eggs together, one of my favorite traditions. :-)

On April 29th, while the rest of the world watched the Royal Wedding, we had Wing Sports Day at Lakenheath and ran around outside playing various sports (while my DVR was working hard at home, of course!). I was the 5th female finisher in the 5K race, which irritated me because I was SO close to three of the four girls ahead of me, but just didn't have it in the sprint to the finish. Oh well... motivation to get back in shape! The next day, we had a few friends over and Martin grilled amazing steaks while the girls watched and provided commentary on the Royal Wedding coverage. ;-)

May 1st-5th, Martin and I traveled back to my dream world of Sintra, Portugal. It was so exciting to share all of the beautiful places and incredible experiences with my favorite travel buddy! I may have been a bit more excited than he was at the amount of hiking involved (I love you babe ;-) )... but he helped me to slow down and enjoy the culture, food, and people of the area as well.

May also took us to my first horse race in Newmarket! Martin had been once before, but we finally got a group together and got all dressed up for a day at the races. My friend Laura and I went shopping for the perfect "floppy hat", a necessity to look the part! It was such a great time... we bet on horses, with varying success (Martin analyzed statistics, while Laura and I picked the funniest names!), mingled in the club area, watched a presentation in the winner's circle, and afterwards went out to an amazing dinner at a Turkish restaurant.

On May 19th, it was a bittersweet morning as I hugged and kissed my future husband for the last time until October. I left that day for a two-week trip to the US, and he left a few days later for a 4-month deployment to Korea. This will be the longest we have been apart since we met, but we are very blessed to have constant email and Skype communication, which will hopefully make it seem like he is not quite so far away.

My trip to the US was amazing, much as I expected it to be. I got to see my beautiful little sister Lisa graduate from the University of Virginia (eek, that must mean I am old...), and share laughs and memories with my parents and a majority of our extended family (missed you, Amy!). We went to a garden party for Lisa and her 7 housemates, had a campfire with s'mores, watched the entire graduating class process down the UVA Lawn, took lots of pictures with the family, and Lisa and I took a sunrise hike the morning before heading home.

After a few days at home with my family, I went to PA for a roommate reunion with my best college friends Carrie and Jamie! I got to meet Jamie's 9-month-old daughter Alexis (who I am quite convinced is THE most adorable baby in the world), tour the Penn State branch campus where Jamie's husband Ben is a professor, take several long walks and talks with my best friends, and had the most fun I have ever had during a power outage. ;-) Love you girls!!!

The Sunday after returning from PA, I had a wonderful morning at church catching up with so many people I grew up around, reminding me how thankful I am to call St Mark's my "home" church. That evening, my parents and I went to dinner with some of their friends who were in town briefly. We went to a tavern in Colonial Williamsburg, which felt a lot like being back in England!

After a couple more days with my parents, it was time to head back to England and back to work. Lucky for me, we had this past Friday off, so I only worked one day before a three-day weekend. How about that for time to reset? On Friday, however, I went to my first-ever hen party (that's bachelorette party in England) for my friend Lauren! Lauren is getting married on July 8th, so a bunch of us girls took her out in Cambridge on Friday night for some crazy adventures before she ties the knot. It was an eventful night, and ended with a walk back to Lauren's apartment as it was starting to get light again (but remember, that doesn't mean as much during England summers...). Fun stuff!

We hung out at Lauren's until early afternoon Saturday, then I came home and took a nap (haha), Skyped with Martin, caught up on Glee, and then stayed up way too late being sucked into my new Dan Brown book, The Lost Symbol. Today has been equally as relaxing, giving me a chance to think about some new goals and plans for the next few months... and what life will look like after hitting the "reset" button. I'll share that in my next post (which I PROMISE will not be two months from now, haha), since this one has gotten long enough playing catch-up. Hope you enjoyed the pics!