a little bit like home

Aside from the fact that it's about 50° out there, today's weather reminded me a lot of Florida. The morning was overcast, and it started pouring just before noon. Then, all of a sudden, it went from raining like crazy to...nothing. Five minutes later even the clouds were gone, leaving only the puddles to indicate that it had rained. Now, in Florida, there would have been steam rising from the wet ground, but I'll take what I can get. And man oh man, does that sunshine look good!

Anyway, I have quite a bit to catch up on, starting with last Saturday (12-1). Bran came home on Wednesday and told me that one of the guys from the unit, Eli, was throwing a party Saturday, starting around 1 and going until the last one was ready to quit. Awesome! Except...I had already made plans with the girls to watch the second half of the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. So, we were faced with a conundrum. What to do? How to make it work, with the two of us needing to go two different places at the same time, but with only one car. Brandon provided the solution: we go together to Eli's party, then I just leave when I need to, to get to my thing. When that's over, i rejoin party number one, and we stay until we're ready to go home.

It worked out really well, actually, except that I was actually in the mood to drink but I was obviously the DD so I couldn't (for the second night in a row, I might add) and the rare opportunity passed without use. Oh well. I did have a really great time. I got to meet some of the other unit 2 wives, which was cool, though most of them were enough older that it was hard to fund much in common with them (beyond the obvious military connection). One though, Eli's wife, Brandy, can't be more than a few years older than me. Nothing much happened at this point, because it was only an hour or two before I had to leave for Peguy's. There were two things of note: Eli's kick-ass brisket, and Brandy's kitten. The first was delicious. The second was adorable.

I was the first to arrive at Peguy's, aside from Sarah, who was staying there for the weekend. We were joined by Maria and Leah, two of their friends from EUCOMM, and then we had all the frozen pizza, banana fondue, and Colin Firth-as-MR.-Darcy that we could handle. It might sound like an odd combination, but it was AWESOME!!! The BBC version really is better than the Kiera Knightly version. That one is ok, particularly for those who are not Jane Austen fans and are satisfied with just the basics. But this one covers every aspect of the book, is perfectly cast, and overall just very well done.

We were having a great time, but I wasn't sure when the other party was going to wind down, and I didn't want Bran to be stuck there alone, feeling awkward after everyone else had left, so I took my leave (to many protests) and headed back to Eli's. The party was still in full swing. I ended up sitting on the kitchen counters with Brandy, discussing all manner of things, but mostly we ended up talking about religion. It was an interesting discussion, and one that I enjoyed thoroughly. It was punctuated by visits from Gill, who was floating from little group to little group, trying to find one that was talking about something a little more down to earth (apparently, the group outside was talking about quantum physics), but I think it was probably kind of like scrolling though the radio stations and finding nothing but commercials. You know when that happens? You can't reach your CD's and there's nothing on so you just keep scanning through the same stations until you find one playing something you like? Yeah, I'm sure it was like that.

We ended up staying there until about 11. For those of you who know me well, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Knowing Adrienne, she probably got tired and wanted to go home and get to bed. She is, after all, a morning person and not a night owl." But, if that is indeed what you were thinking, then you would be wrong. I was having a great time, and not even thinking about heading home, when I wandered out into the dining room and found Bran sitting at the table with his head down. Apparently, he had been drinking non-stop since we'd gotten there that afternoon, and was definitely feeling it. I guess even juggernauts have their limits. So it was amid jeering taunts questioning his masculinity, to which I readily contributed, that I gathered him up and herded him toward the car.

Apparently, joining the guys in teasing him was exactly the right thing for me to do. When I told Sarah about the whole thing, she told me that it was a good thing that I hadn't tried to defend him. In the course of her job, she's spent a lot of time around military guys, and more specifically SEALs. She said that had I told them to back off, that they would have just ribbed him all the harder at work the next week. Which made me feel better, because I had been feeling a little guilty.

So....that was Saturday.

Monday I went to Stuttgart with Sarah to help her get moved in to her apartment. That is definitely a story in itself, but I really don't want to be here all night, so we'll just say that it was a comedy of errors and leave it at that.

Tuesday I stayed home, and did a whole lot of nothing. By which I mean, I spent my day alternating between working on the cross-stitch, and playing the 360 RPG that Bran recently bought for himself. Not that he has a problem with me playing, he just didn't expect me to like the game. But I love it! And Bran has found himself competing with me for game time.

Wednesday, I'd intended to go to the gym, hit up the USO and get some shopping done, but when we got to the gate on base so that I could drop Bran off at work, I discovered that I didn't have my wallet. Turns out, I'd left it in Sarah's Xterra on Monday. So, I went home and did nothing (see above definition of 'nothing') until time to go back for Brandon.

Yesterday, I just stayed home since I was without my ID and such. But Bran got off early, so we headed back to Panzer to get him a suit for tomorrow, then over to Patch to get a Christmas tree. Hopefully, we'll be decorating the tree tonight. :)

The Christmas party is tomorrow night...Yay! I'm super excited about it. I'm even going in to get my hair and nails done...I didn't even go to get my hair professionally done when I got married! But, this is my first formal party in Europe, so i want to do it right. I will definitely be taking pictures, and I won't waste any time putting them up. I still have more from before to post....

And finally, speaking of posting: we will have phone and internet AT HOME as of December 17. Unless something goes wrong, which is always possible. But, keep your fingers crossed!