March is here... which means Spring is on its way and I'm 1 month closer to Nick coming home.  3 months down, 9 to go.  

He's finally settled in to the base he'll be at for the rest of this deployment.  I've been patiently waiting for him to have internet access for so long, but so far it's been a disappointment.  He was using a Magicjack phone for a few days, but we got terrible reception and our calls always cut out every few minutes.  It was worse than the phone reception in Mississippi, which says a lot.  We've always planned on using Skype as our primary communication while he was deployed, but we haven't had much luck with that either.  The first call we could talk fine but had no video, and since then we haven't had luck talking either.  I can only hear the first few words of his sentences, which is ridiculously frustrating.  I really thought we had it all figured out today and made a video date for noon today.  I woke up early to shower and get pretty for his call, and when it finally came (2 hrs later than expected), I couldn't hear anything he said and once again we had no video.  I could have screamed.  I spent a total of 4 hours sitting in front of the computer, and never even really got to have a conversation with him.  We exchanged a few emails, but it's not the same.  If you have any advice on getting Skype to work, please share!

I had a great week at work, and I'm crossing my fingers that next week goes just as well.  I built amazing relationships with my patients, and got great satisfaction from the appreciation they shared toward me.  I also got great feedback from my coworkers, manager, and nursing students that were on the floor, so that definitely made my week even better.  I really do love being a nurse, and I pride myself on the extra effort and hard work I put into my job everyday.  Nursing is stressful and crazy at times, but in the end its all worth it.  

I ended my week the way every week should end- with a mexican dinner date with Katie.  We met for a late dinner last night at Camino Real, and then she came back to my house to help unload my new 47" LED LCD for the living room.  It's HUGE... and wonderful :)  It was so nice to have Katie here, even though I think she had more fun with my dogs than me!  They were definitely glad to have her here.

I've done quite a bit of shopping this past week for our house... I bought a new coffee table, end table, tv stand, bookcase, and flatscreen for the living room.  I've also bought a few odds and ends for the house, and a LOT of things for Nick's upcoming care packages.  I probably have more fun making them than he does receiving them, but I'm okay with that.  I've spent a lot of money, and I'm still a little shell-shocked about the price I paid for our tv, but I love the changes that are happening around here.  It's about time.  It's nice to have a house that looks more like a home than a college dorm room.  Needless to say, I don't plan on spending much outside of groceries and necessities for the next few weeks.

I find myself spending a lot of time these days sitting on the patio and daydreaming about the future.  I love to dream of walking through parks and cities all over the world with Nick, and sitting around our home watching our children grow with amazement and pride.  I know I shouldn't rush through life and wish for tomorrow, but now that we're finally financially stable I can't wait to start our family.  I know we're ready, and I know it's going to be an amazing journey.  Of course my dreams aren't always realistic and often leave out the stress and chaos of life, but that's why they call them dreams.

I'm going to go to bed now and dream of warm summer nights sitting on the beach and gazing at the stars with the love of my life.  Hey, a girl can dream :)