Boxes, Boxes Everywhere!

Well, our boxes have made it to El Paso!  In the past calendar year, I have packed up and moved my belongings 4 times. Ridiculous, I know. Last January, I moved in with Butler, Causey, and Sterling. In May, I moved stuff from that house and my house in Alabama into Brian's house the week before we got married. In June, I packed up the Starkville house, the Alabama room/furniture, and collected Brian's things from his house. (Thankfully for this move I had lots of help!) We took all of that to Ft. Benning. And then, December 16, all of my belongings once again were on a moving truck. And I now am at the "unpacking stage" once again! I probably could give you a verbal inventory of everything in our house and I most likely wouldn't forget anything...that's how many times it has passed under my nose! Haha! I'm learning to make an art of moving as well as purging...I already have a list of things I'm donating once most of the boxes are gone!  I tend to be really nostalgic and I really like to hold onto sentimental things...I'm learning what things really mean to me and trying not to get myself so emotionally invested in things like dishes and furniture... I know--it sounds totally lame, but when it's a table made by your grandfather, you kind of can't just cast it aside. So instead I'm getting rid of "college furniture". :)

So, as I mentioned before, OUR STUFF IS HERE! This is very exciting, because Brian has been here 3 weeks and I've been here roughly 2.5 weeks and we've had pretty much nothing to our name! We got into our apartment a week ago, but thanks to great friends here we had an air mattress to sleep on! We've done a lot of reading and watching a season of The Office on our computer. And of course, eating on the ground...we've called it "indoor camping" :). I started unpacking yesterday and then spent the whole day today working on it...I feel like we've made some good progress! Enough for me to cook dinner--whoo hoo! I managed to get the kitchen, dining room, and some of the office stuff done today, so I'm calling it a successful day.

Brian has gotten into his battalion and is really liking it so far! He's been having to do some more in-processing, which basically means running around post, getting papers signed, going to appointments, and the like. We did find out quite a bit of news though! Brian is headed back to Ranger School in February at Ft. Benning. I'll stay here during that time because Ranger School is where he basically goes to the woods/swamp for about 60 days or so...fun, fun, fun! We also found out today that when he gets back, he's getting a platoon! This is very exciting :) He'll be in charge of about 40 guys or so, and this is a great opportunity for him to get to use everything he's learned over the past few years! And he'll get to train with them for awhile, which is good because we found out that his brigade is deploying in October. He's really excited about going; me, well, I guess I knew it was coming! Soooo if you want to visit good ole El Paso, start looking at 2012... =) But I am glad that we'll have some time here to get adjusted before he heads off.

I've met some great people here through Brian's battalion, which has been so wonderful. It's so nice to make some friends--makes it feel more like home! Some friends of ours from Benning are here too which has made the transition so much easier! We've been doing a lot together and the girls and I are going to check out some of the classes at the gym next week...they offer a ton!

Brian and I have done some exploring of El Paso and we've found some neat things! Last week we went hiking, which was a lot of fun. The state park is literally in our "backyard"--open our door, and there's the mountain! We can walk to the state park from our apartment--it's so nice! I went hiking with one of the women from our battalion and she showed me some great new trails--so when you visit, bring your hiking shoes! If you're not up for hiking, there are some great wineries nearby... :)

Other than that, not much more to report! I take breaks from unpacking to job search...so far, I have a few prospects, but they're only in the beginning stages, so I won't know anything for awhile. Hope everyone is doing well!