over the past week...

i turned 26!!!!!

 i went & watched my little brother's soccer game with his girlfriend 

& busted out the saltwaters.

husband celebrated his last day at coast guard station sandy hook!

& celebrated in nyc while i saw my college roomies in poughkeepsie.

(anddddd kept the sun off my face with some Utah love!)

i fell in love with this new essie color "go ginza"

 & snagged this gnomie candle for california to remind me of my gnomie roomies!

and i found the prettiest soaps that come in the cutest reusable tins 

& started re-reading outlander... cuz it's that good!

the past week started with the best roomie reunion. it was much needed time spent with two people who i love dearly: miss mary & minna. my birthday followed two days later & then pete celebrated his last day in the coast guard on wednesday. i just have to do this right quick:

AHHHHH HUSBAND IS DONE WITH THE COAST GUARD!!!!!!! 

HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE EVERRRRRR!!!!!!!

ok i'm good. 

i seriously can't believe he is done. well not totally done, he is going to stay in the reserves for a little bit, but the ridiculous crap we have both put up with for the past 4 years of him being stationed in nj has come to an end. an END! i don't even know how to react i am so excited. it is sunday night & i keep thinking pete has to go to work tomorrow but he DOESN'T. it's so crazy! only military wives can understand what i'm talking about. it is so hard to wrap my head around the fact that i get to see my husband everyday from now on. it's so exciting i can hardly contain myself.

and then, on friday, pete and my best guy friends brett & keith planned a little surprise going away party for us & that was just the best. talk about flip cup, salt 'n peppa pandora station, & mixing dunkin donuts fruit coolada's with vodka (my greatest idea ever!), mixed with my favorite people... it was just a great night with great people & i am so thankful. so thankful i have a husband who has become friends with all of my friends because he knows how happy that makes me, & just genuinely loves seeing me smile. i don't know how i got so lucky.

and sooo... happy sunday everyone!! we are getting ready for some serious game of thrones action... can't wait :)

see ya tomorrow!

a day in the life of husband.

 image from pete's iphone on the day of the case described below.

I'm not one to really talk about my job, however at the wife's request I figured I'd help out and do a post for the blog. I've been in the Coast Guard for the past 5 years. I started out in the west coast aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Chase out of Naval Base San Diego. The Chase's main mission was drug interdiction patrols by running the Pacific from South and Central America up to the Baja Peninsula. I had a blast out there, but you can't stay out to sea forever. 

I left the Chase in late summer 2009 for Station Sandy Hook, NJ located directly south of NYC lower harbor. Sandy Hook's mission was completely different than the Cutter i was used to being on. We currently conduct ports, waterways, and coastline security patrols daily around important infrastructure in the New York City area. We also work closely with local authorities, National Park Service, and wildlife, fish, and game. Lastly, Sandy Hook's main mission is maritime Search and Rescue & the station remains on the original grounds of the U.S. Life Saving Station Number 1. Search and Rescue, and operating my own 47ft motor life boat, is why I joined the Coast Guard to begin with. Over the past three years in Sandy Hook, I've been lucky enough to be involved with some great people and take part in Station Sandy Hook's long Search and Rescue history.

There have been countless great cases that I could share with you, and maybe one day I'll sit down and share them all with someone, however today I'll just go over one of our more recent ones. While on duty last Monday we received a call from Sector New York's command center that there was a crew member aboard the Nord Inspiration out of Panama that was coughing up blood and possibly suffering from other symptoms related to extremely high blood pressure. After gathering all of the pertinent information on the crewman and vessel, my crew made preparations to get under and head 16 miles off shore to Ambrose Anchorage where the Nord Inspiration was awaiting our assistance. The crew I was running with on this particular day was one I couldn't have hand picked better myself. As the coxswain in charge, your crew can make or break you on a case and can definitely take stress of your back if you're with guys you trust. This particular day I was running with my engineer MK2 Nick Sherman who has 6 years of station experience, crewman/engineer MK3 Josh Kitson who I've worked with closely over the past year, and "break-in" crew member FN Zach Pappa who is 3 weeks removed from boot camp. As we headed underway we new we would be in for at least a 40 minute run to Ambrose due to 4-6 ft swells, 20+ kts of wind, and "pea soup" fog. We arrived on scene with Nord Inspiration in just under 40 minutes, made contact with the Captain, and began procedures to disembark their sick crew member immediately. As we approached the starboard side, we were riding the 4-6 foot waves up the side of the Nord Inspirations Hull. The crew on board the N.I. lowered there accommodation ladder and Jacob's ladder against the hull, and the sick crewman began his climb down to our boat some 40 ft below. After a seamless transfer to our boat, I made the call to return to base and bring the man to the EMS waiting on the pier. After the 30 minute run back to the station, we safely transferred the man to the National Park Service EMS, moored our boat, and returned to the station crews lounge to await news on the gentleman's condition. After 15 minutes, we received a call that the guy had been in stage 2/severe hypertension and if had we been 10 minutes longer, his organs may have begun to fail or he could have suffered a brain aneurysm.

You don't always realize how crazy situations are until there over. Even though for my crew, it's all in a days work, anytime you go home after a duty cycle and think back to yourself that some guy, who's name you don't even know, is alive today because of your boat crews quick actions and assertiveness... it is pretty cool. I know the Coast Guard isn't always viewed in the highest light, but trust me I work with a great group of guys that I would do anything for and I know they'd do anything for me. 

*A big thank you to my amazing husband for this write up. i think his job is so interesting & satisfying & i hope you enjoyed a quick preview of his job :)  after they saved this man, pete was interviewed & featured in an article... if you want to check out the Coast Guards official Press Release on the case, click here.

over the past week...

i got my first pics from Switzerland (thank you mother in law)... how cute is that building!

& pete and i had breakfast at Cohen's, the best place for bagels

we all played some serious domino train... the most addicting game ever

we went out to the local dive bar with some of our favorite friends

pete put on his brand new skates (an early Valentine's gift from me)

& played pond hockey all day with my brothers + company 

& pete spent quality time on the coast guard boats...

the water looks so pretty, until you realize it is 40degrees!

over the past week: husband edition

husband's duty week during the winter includes:

energy drinks + coast guard gear

boats + freezing cold men

a Sandy Hook sunset + cleaning lighthouse lenses

driving boats + saving lives

lounging watching fights + patrolling underway

this week was pete's long week where he was only home 2 days... you get an idea of what they do everyday while they are on duty. it is pretty quiet during the winter because not many people are out on the water, but they still go out to patrol & do coast guard things :)

hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. we are getting ready to watch the celtics/heat game by the fire! stay warm!

thank you to those who serve

 to my cousin in the navy,

 my brother in the coast guard,

(photo from his boot camp graduation two years ago)

and husband in the coast guard. 

happy veterans day (two days later!) thank you to all those who have served our great country & those presently serving. your contributions & sacrifices do not go unnoticed. 

quiet over here

for obvious reasons. we have been without power all week & just got cable back today. but mostly, it has been a somber week on the whole east coast over the total and complete devastation hurricane Sandy caused. 

right before the storm, pete's coast guard base was evacuated due to its location on the tip of Sandy Hook, NJ, so he was in Connecticut safe with me when the storm hit. yes we lost power, yes trees, powerlines, and the CT shoreline towns were hit hard... but my heart is broken for the place we called home over the past three years. i simply can not believe that we moved out of new jersey a month before the towns where we lived were completely wiped out. people's homes, the streets, boats, buildings, & the entire town of Sea Bright are no longer there. 

pete drove down to new jersey yesterday to help his friends who lost everything and couldn't believe what he saw. as a person who pulls dead bodies out of the water for his job, not much shocks my husband, but he called me almost in tears at the scene he saw down there. his coast guard base is destroyed, the docks for the boats gone, the military housing under water, & roads washed away. the neighboring towns are occupied by the national guard to keep people out while they bulldoze buildings & attempt to clean up the four feet of sand that has blanketed the town. people are lined up for miles and miles waiting for hours to get gas at the few stations that are open...

i could go on & on describing the chaos on the jersey shore, nyc, and all other states that were badly affected, but we've all seen it on the news & read it in the papers. it is all heartbreaking & i encourage everyone to pray for those who lost everything & to be thankful if the only thing you lost was the power for a few days. below are pics pete took of the destruction at the coast guard base, the marks from the water levels, the flooding, & pics of Highlands, Nj. i hope in a few months (with the hard work of the military, volunteers, townspeople, & workers) that i can take new pictures of a shore that is restored. 

shuttle enterprise

 

SHUTTLE ENTERPRISE.
on its way to the USS intrepid.
how cool is my husband's job.