Birthday weekend pictures!

Last weekend, I turned the big 28.... UGH. That hurts me to even say that number!!! Where the heck did my youth go? How did my twenties get washed down the drain so fast? And since when did two small glasses of wine cause me to become a happy go lucky, chatty, smiling and goofy Mrs. Top Gun?? WOw. Anyways, Mr. decided to surprise me with a birthday weekend trip to a resort up north in Nago, and even though it managed to rain the entire freakin time (oh, how I despise the rainy season here!!) we had a fabulous, relaxing, romantic and much needed weekend away from our 'stomping grounds.' Here are some photos from our weekend!

Giveaway update...

Oops... My sun drenched brain neglected to mention when this giveaway is up! Since we live overseas and sending packages can be a real pain in the @ss, I am leaving this open for TWO WEEKS!! (and like two days...)

The last day to enter will be JUNE 10th.

And WELCOME to my TWO new followers :)

Welcome New Followers, and giveaway!!

Wow! I posted last night, and this morning woke up to find SEVEN new followers!!! That makes me so uber excited and happy!!! So, I would like to extend a warm welcome to the following newbies...

-Rachelle

-Erin

-Mr. Superman and Mrs. S

-Stefanie

-Brianne

-The Somarribas

-Colin *My ONE guy follower!*

In honor of this awesomeness of people actually liking my blog, I am going to do a give away of some sort!! Here are the conditions:

1. Mention my blog on your blog and post a link to it.

2. Send me an e-mail message with something interesting about yourself

mrandmrstopgun@gmail.com

3. Comment on my blog!!

I will be putting together a little gift box filled with cool and neat Japanese goodies!

Mr. Top Gun's Squadron goes back to College...

These are photos from Fridays annual "Old Skool" Beer pong tourney in our squadron. Apparently, the Officers and Mr. Top Gun felt the need to relive the good ol' days back in college one last time? The tourney is a tradition in our squadron, and each year the last person who is due to PCS from the island puts the party together. The patches from all of the guys and gals who have since PCS'ed in the last few years are put together in the shape of a 17, and placed on the beer pong table. Mr. Top Gun and I weren't able to play since we arrived too late to get our names on the board. Oh well, I left my beer pong days back in college 8 years ago!

Can you find Mr. Top Gun in this picture?

See him again? And yes, that is the NEWEST Flyboy to our squadron. We literally picked him up from the airport less than 5 hours prior to this. Welcome to Japan!! No sense in letting him think that we are a dignified group, right? We like to party!!

The smile that takes my breath away.

Welcome to The Revolution!!

Unexpected surprise

First, let me preface this post by saying this: NO, I am NOT pregnant! Well, not yet... That's for another post, perhaps :)

Mr. has been crazy busy this week at work (what's new,) and this craziness has caused my plans for dinners to be thrown out the cockpit window. Tuesday, I had a romantic dinner planned for the two of us, that is until his phone call... yes, he would be home a bit 'later' but that bit turned into 8:00 at night. Le *sigh* Anyhow, yesterday was a much better day! I cleaned the house and prepped for our dinner, did laundry, washed my hair... fun! Then, I looked at the time and realized it was getting late- again. I figured he wouldn't be home until later and had almost decided to put dinner on the back burner and just make something simpler and faster. Then, the door opens and I hear his flight boots stomping up the stairs.

I run to the stairs and hide behind the wall (like I usually do,) and he sees me and says: "Hi! Close your eyes, because I have a surprise for you." Flowers? Card? Sweets? Nope. I open my eyes and he slips this AMAZINGLY SWEET and hand crafted ring on my finger...

I asked him when he found time to make this, and he replies with: " I was checking e-mails and I thought about you." What did you use to make this, I ask? "It was a quik tie thing holding together some cables on my desk, so I took it off." Yes, my husband made me a heart ring in the middle of organized chaos at the squadron. And I mean serious CHAOS... serious chaos, people! Like nobody has a chance to get a drink or go pee. Nuts! He got some major kudos for this one :) Love him!!

Grabbing my blog award, and 10 things about me.

I picked up this award while reading one of my favorite fellow Mil Spouses blogs, *Daddy's Duty* and she was kind enough to pass it onto ALL of her blog buddies! What a sweetheart! Thanks, Ashley! Don't mind if I do :)

1. Why do you blog?

I ventured into the world of blogging last June when Mr. Top Gun and I received lovely 'surprise' orders to PCS to Japan... At the time, he was still finishing up his last phase of flight school in New Mexico and I was back in Texas preparing for our move across the world. It became an outlet, a way for me to vent and express my thoughts and feelings about the move, and to share our exciting lives with other fellow mil spouses. It later became my safe and happy place when he deployed a few months after our PCS. I enjoy writing and sharing our adventures with everyone!!

2. How did you meet your significant other?

Mr. Top Gun and I met while he was in flight school in Texas. I happened to run into him on base, and it was love at first sight! We exhanged numbers, and some awkward first words, and had our first date later on in the week. After our first date, we never separated (if we had any choice in it!) and about two months into dating, he gave me a key to his place and asked me to move in. We lived together for a year, and got engaged about a month before we moved our new base for the second phase of flight school. We were married in 2007, in Texas by the most AWESOME Justice of the Peace ever! Our huge wedding happened about a year later, when Mr. Top Gun and I were in between moving from our old base and waiting on his LAST school slot to open up. We've been running around the globe since then, and finally settled in Japan!

3. Where is your favorite place to shop?

Living in Japan makes it uber difficult to find and shop for clothes, so I have to rely on online shopping! Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Macy's, Anthropologie, Forever 21 (yes, still love it!,) Tons of other places too.

4. What is your favorite childhood memory?

I have so many wonderful memories, but the one that has always stayed with me would be this one: My grandpa used to take me to a place called Kiddie Park in San Antonio. It was a small carnival themed park, and he would take me every weekend, rain or shine! I even got to go during the week when he got off of work. There was a little school bus that I had to ride each and everytime we went, except I REFUSED to ride in it unless I was able to SIT IN FRONT and drive the bus! Often, I ended up being the only child on the bus, because someone else was driving or sitting upfront- and that was unacceptable to me :) I also refused to ride the merry go round unless my grandpa was with me... Not even my momma or daddy could take me on the ride. Only grandpa!

5. What is your favorite movie?

The Notebook. I watch this all the time, and always when Mr. Top Gun is away from me. It makes me bawl like a baby, but it also cleanses my soul. I also love Old School. LOve it!! LOve it!!

6. What is your biggest fear?
Something happening to my family and my husband.

7. What do you do for fun?
At this point, anytime I have with Mr. Top Gun is fun for me! We enjoy going out to dinner, the beach, and exploring the island.

8. Who is the one person you can tell anything to without judgement?
My husband

9. Do you have any pets?
Yep! 2 dogs: 1, Sadie Ann. She is in Texas with my parents :(

2, Keely Marie. Our adopted Oki mix dog here!

1 Cat. Zeus Baron, the Russian Blue... High maintenance, spoiled, regal, uppity, but the sweetest most loving cat I have ever had! He lives with my grandparents in Texas :(

10. What is your middle name and is there any meaning behind it?
Marie... I am named after my Aunt's middle name.

Five for Friday... the "Late Edition."

oops... Sorry this is super late in being posted, but Mr. Top Gun whisked me away this week for a surprise b-day trip to a resort up north!! Pictures to follow shortly!

1. I LOVE that you romantically whisked me away for my birthday week/weekend.

2. I LOVE that one of my gifts was the Shark Steam Mop. I know most women may have been offended if they received a cleaning gift, but I actually asked for it- and you bought it for me!

3. I LOVE that you bought me a new SUV (well, Okinawa new :) And, how you don't complain about driving the little car.

4. I LOVE that you took care of me when I decided it would be a good idea to get a migraine on our trip...

5. I LOVE that I was blessed to have you for an entire week!!

4. I LOVE

Totally Awesome 80's!

Last weekend, I attended an 80's themed Birthday party for one of the guys in our squadron who works for Mr. Top Gun. As usual, Mr. was NOT in attendance, as he was off at another school somewhere in the world this time... So, did I sit at home? HECK NO!! I went out and had the best time searching for and putting together my totally rad and 'fer sure' awesome 80's outfit! It wasn't hard finding ridiculous clothes like that here in Japan. The Japanese are kinda stuck in an 80's fashion rut, so all of the stores had just what I needed to make my ridiculous outfit. Here are some pictures from my "Rad" night!!

'Olivia Newton John,' 'High class 80's call girl,' and Me!

Me and 'Magnum PI...'
'George Michael,' and Me!
Me and 'Brett Michaels...' Yes, seriously.

Cost of the entire outfit?

Here's the breakdown:

* Leggings- My own, gifted at Christmas.

* Ridiculous Japanese shirt, which I cut myself- $8.00

* Cross necklace- My own.

* Earrings- $4.00 painted by me.

* Red aviator glasses- $5.00

*Pink shoes- $12.00

*Green Leg warmers- $4.50

* Pink Leg warmers- $2.50

* Red and Pink rings- $2.00

* Neon bangles- $2.10

Not too bad, right??

Happy Mother's Day, Momma!

That is me at age five, with my kitty cat named Ming-ming. You think I already knew I was moving to Japan at this point, with that kind of name right? I wish I had better pictures with me, but being so far away from home this is the ONLY one I had, and my Momma actually sent it to me. So, with that being said- Happy Mother's Day to the BEST Momma ever!!

Thank you for standing beside me when I couldn't find anyone else. Thank you for holding me up when I couldn't stand on my own. Thank you for giving me your feet when mine didn't work, and Thank you for helping me open, spread my wings, and eventually learn how to fly with them. No blog post could ever explain how much you mean to me, but this should suffice :) I wish I could have been in Texas with you and Nana. I miss you both so much!!

Five for Friday

Mr. Top Gun has been gone all week, so this Five for Friday is.. I miss...

1. I MISS you waking me up every morning with a kiss and telling me I am beautiful.

2. I MISS the smell of your body wash in the shower after you leave.

3. I MISS cuddling with you on the couch after dinner to watch our shows.

4. I MISS dancing with you in the kitchen while we are waiting for dinner to cook.

5. I MISS you!

Crazy, crazy, cat lady?

My actual cat... Zeus Baron, the Russian Blue

I am a self admitted animal lover. I mean it, I love all animals and wish I had the room to take in all of the stray cats and dogs I have seen over the years. Now, here is a little bit of background on me with cats... I fear that I shall probably become the nutty cat lady if I am ever left alone on this earth, and you know what? That's ok with me, because they all need homes! Ok, back to my point... When I was in college and living on my own, I moved into this gorgeous, new and fancy apartment complex. Everything was awesome, except I couldn't bring my dog Sadie with me (as she had grown so accustomed to living at home with my parents,) and I was lonely. I ended up noticing that an old and frumpy looking male cat had decided to take up residence on my back porch, and he had also decided to leave his 'mark' on my front door... Yuck!

I eventually got up the courage to feed him and let him know that it was ok to call my porch home, and that he would always have a supply of food and water to come to. This turned into me 'adopting' him, and I named him Grampy cat. He was an old cat, and had seen some pretty rough times while living on the street, but I loved him! Fast forward to three and a half years later, and he now belonged to me. I had a house on my porch for him, I worried about where he was when we had crazy Texas storms, and my parents would feed him when I went out of town with friends for the weekend. He was my little old man cat, and he was my heart. Unfortunately, he was also sick and I knew something was wrong with him when I came home from work and found him lying on the patio, a pool of his vomit with blood lying by the door. It took me a week to coax him into the cat carrier, but one day I opened the door and he just walked right in and laid down.

I knew what I had to do. I had to take Grampy to the vet to be put to sleep. It broke my heart, but the vet told me he was tired and ready and when she put him in the blanket and laid him on the table, he looked up at me and closed his eyes. Grampy has been gone for three years now, but he isn't completely gone... I had him cremated, and he sits upstairs on our dresser in a gorgeous sunburst red urn. Hey, he has been on all the road trips, tdy's and our PCS to Japan with us! This is where my love for cats comes from, and I ended up adopting a little grey cat who was his friend... that cat is commonly referred to on my blog, and that would be the Russian Blue named Zeus Baron. He lives with my nana and grandpa in Texas now :)

Here are the kitties that I have 'adopted.' As long as I have some food to feed them, I at least know that one more cat isn't going hungry tonight. And I also know I can NEVER adopt them, as they are too wild, but that's ok with me. It makes my heart smile to see them looking fuller and healthier! *FYI* These Japanese cats aren't starving here... the Americans feed them all the time :)

*My 'adopted' cat. This is Marcus MonteCristo!

*This is Ludwig VonKatzenStein* He is somewhat blind, and so sweet. He is my favorite and I worry about him..

Flying Fish in Okinawa

For the past few weeks, I have noticed something flying in the air around here. They are flying from telephone poles, houses, rooftops, flagpoles, and strewn up onto nets over looking the ocean and rivers. What in the world am I speaking of, you ask? Well, the flying objects are none other than: Carp flags! Carp, as in the fish Carp, to be precise. I thought they were Koi fish, but apparently Carp and Koi both represent extremely different things here in Japan. The locals celebrate a holiday called "Golden Week," and this brings people from all over Japan out into the towns, villages and cities for shopping, eating and celebrating. It has been NUTS around here at the local stores, and the children are also out of school for the week as well.

One of the days which happens to be my favorite is called "Kodomo No Hi," or (Children's Day,) where families raise colorful carp-shaped "Koinobori" flags, one for each member of the family. The largest carp flag represents the father, followed by the mother and smaller carp to represent children. The carp are famous for fighting their way upstream, which is why they are used as the symbol for the fighting spirit, efforts and success. I did not know that in the old tradition years ago, families with boys only flew the carp flags outside their homes and that this day was also called boys day. Today, however families with boys or girls fly the carps, and the celebrations are open to girls too.

A few of the homes in our neighborhood have been flying the carp flags in the last few days, and I know that all of the homes have young boys in the house- but no girls... Interestingly enough, the number of fish that are flying outside the homes does actually correlate to the number of children in the house. Hope y'all enjoy the pictures~

Where in the world is Mr. Top Gun?

Well, actually I can't tell you that... But, y'all already knew that :) It seems that Mr. has flown off into the blue, but the good news is that he won't be gone too long! Enough for me to shop, have some alone time, eat dinner off of paper plates, and use plastic utensils... I may or may not also have plans to eat the cake I baked strait out of the pan...

I had some errands to run this morning before my nail appointment, and didn't plan on hearing from Mr. for awhile (due to the odd time zones,) so imagine my surprise when I logged onto my e-mail and found this little present waiting for me in my inbox:

Hmm... Someone thinks they are handsome, and certainly not coy about showing it! Here, Mr. Top Gun is displaying what I refer to as his "I know I am handsome and dashingly debonair" pose. He has been doing this same pose since we first started dating, and no- he hasn't stopped it. I think it's cute :)

Thank you for making my day! I can't wait to kiss you!