One week down, twenty-seven more to go...

It's been a little over a week since Justin's departure to the Philippines. And it's also been little over a week since I packed my bags and moved back in with my family. (You're so jealous of me right now, aren't you?)

Thus far, I have only cried once! And that was on the day when Justin first left and I barely got any sleep and I had to clean our apartment for over five hours to get it ready for check-out and I couldn't stop thinking of all of the memories we'd shared in our first home. I was pretty frazzled.

Yet life has been pretty low-key here in Maryland. After I get up every morning, I write a couple articles for eHow and for my column on Examiner.com and then I work on my book. In between, I read my favorite Mormon blogs (what would I ever do without Feminist Mormon Housewives?!), pick up my sister from school, write numerous emails to Justin, and scrounge around for food. Oh, and I check on the status on the onion I planted a couples days ago. (More on that later...)

It's been nice moving home, especially since it keeps my mind off of Justin's deployment. Spending time with my family (especially my sister) is really great and it's SO nice to be back in DC. The restaurants. The cherry blossoms. The shopping. (Anthropologie!) The museums. I even attended an exhibition opening at the National Air and Space Museum on Tuesday as a member of the press. Pretty fun, eh?


But every now and then, I can't help but stare at my calendar and count down the days when Justin will come back. I miss him.

I'm such a sap, aren't I?

I'm just wasting time...

So I have a ton of things I need to do right now: pack, clean, finish editing my book, write an article about how to meet men after you turn 35, etc. But then I discovered a little website called Faceinhole.com and I can't stop playing around with it. So fun!

Oh, Jack, hold me tight!

If Justin was reincarnated as a penguin...

If Caroline was reincarnated as a black man...

My friend Kristen cheating on her husband. Well now!

(By the way, Lex, I tried to do one for you by saving a picture from your blog onto my computer, but Picasa is being dumb.)

We're adopting a white baby!

Ain't this little white baby as cute as a button?

We found her crawling by the dumpster the other day and decided to take her in. (Lots of rednecks around here abandon their young'uns in our garbage. Stupid hicks.) Thus far, we've discovered that she likes to eat, poop, cry, and wet her bed. Yet we put up with her antics because we hear these white babies sell pretty well on the black market.

Okay, okay, all April Fool's joking aside...

A couple weeks ago, Justin and I headed to Indianapolis to spend some time with his family before he heads out on deployment. It was especially fun to see our little niece Rowan because we haven't seen her since September. (Whoa, these babies grow really fast!)

My favorite quote of the week? Justin points at Rowan and whispers to me, "Are babies all that much work?"

My answer: "Um yes, honey. They are."

Justin: "Okay, I just want a dog then..."

Looks like we're getting dog once he gets back from the Philippines!

Anyway, Justin leaves next week and will be gone for six months. *Sigh* I will miss him terribly. And will be counting down the days until he gets back...