I took a moment to go over some of my older posts and I noticed something. Most of them have nothing to do with being a military wife. I started this blog when my husband was deployed so at the time the title seemed to fit. Such Is the Life of a Military Wife would be the perfect place for me to write about things that go on in our military family while my husband was gone.
But then he came home.......early. What in the heck was I going to write about now?
Sometime right after my last post I thought about changing the title to something more general like My Life. After all, shouldn't the title be a reflection of what I write about. Well, I'm glad I didn't.
Like any career, the military has moments where you're moving at warp speed and then there are down times. After Jacob came home things were nice and quiet. We settled back into our somewhat normal routine and just kept trucking through the days one by one.
Now before I tell you our big news let me give you a little information about myself. I was born and raised here in Jacksonville, NC. I graduated from White Oak High School, went to ECU, received a degree in Secondary Science Education, and then moved straight back to Jacksonville. I've never ventured very far. I've wanted to believe me! It just didn't work out that way.
Anyways, so here I am, a southern country girl who for her whole life has lived in a town that doesn't require you to take exit ramps to get from one place to another. Kids I took graduation pictures with are also in my kindergarten photos! And if not kindergarten then they're in class pictures for 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade....you get the point. After I became a mom it took awhile to make friends who were going through the same things as me. But I did and I love every single one of them.
So what do you do when your husband comes home, slaps orders down on the table, and basically rips you from the only life you've really ever known?
Go there for a week sans kids!
Work was over for me June 14th and my husband and I left the 15th. It was so beautiful in Tampa Florida. Well, parts of it were beautiful. The base looks a heck of a lot different than Camp Lejuene. Good bye pine trees, hello palms. I can't wait to trade in pine needles for coconuts.
Of course one of the first places I made Jacob drive me to was housing. Some of the pictures I saw online made it seem as if we were going to be living in Cell Block C. Oh yeah, I had to stop looking at the base's website because it was freaking me out. I'm all for adventure and going with the flow, but living in something that resembles a wing in a prison is a little too much.
But we're good! Housing is wonderful and the older ones I saw on the website are getting ready to be demolished. Phew!
Big wig housing. I can dream.....:)
E7-E9 housing
E-6 and below housing.
Beautiful, right? Like I said, we're good to go on the housing situation.
I love my kids more than anything but lets face it. They can be a logistical nightmare when it comes to site seeing. So we took complete advantage of being kid free.
Ybor City
My husband was really just being nice when he agreed to go to Ybor City. I read in a brochure that they have an open market where you can buy goods from local merchants. Fresh produce, spices, salsas, baked breads and desserts, artwork, jewelry, etc.
In all honesty the open market was a complete bust. It took us a whole 5 minutes to walk through and see everything. So instead we walked the streets of what is known as Tampa's Latin Quarter. The whole city is an ecclectic mixture of Greek, French, Spanish, Cuban, and Italian shops and cuisine. Apparently it's really known for its night life which we didn't have an opportunity to experience....yet:)
St. Petersburg, Florida
As soon as we entered into this city I thought Now this is what I picture when I think about Florida. Simply stunning is the only way to describe it. The first place we went to was The Pier. It's a neat building with shops on the first floor, an aquarium on the second, and a resturaunt/bar on the 4th.
Some of the locals explained to us that The Pier has taken a hit with the economy and all. So obviously, after hearing that, we had to go in and spend some money. The stores offered typical tourist trinkets but the restaraunt was great. The best part about our lunch was the incredable view.
When I was in college I had to take Intro to Color and Design. This was the only art class needed for my major. Oh my gosh the class was awful! However, I did discover my favorite artist that semester. Salvador Dali. A very talented yet screwed up individual.
Kudos to my husband for finding the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. I'm giving you an even bigger kudos for viewing the artwork with me, going through the guided tour, and renting headphones so we could listen to recorded explanations on various pieces.
We spent almost 3 hours in the museum. If you ever have a chance to go make sure you take the guided tour. Also make sure your guide is a short white man with white hair. He talks very fast, is extremely animated, and sometimes stutters because he gets so excited. And you have to use the headphones afterwards. Like I said before, Dali was one messed up individual. The guided tour is highly...censored.
No cameras allowed inside the museum =(
