It's official I have entered the age of technology...dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.....
So this is my new cell phone, yeah I know, pretty crazy that I just now got my first cell phone ever and my 13 year old neice has had one for like 3 years. I just hated the concept of someone always being able to get a hold of you. If I am not home, call back, now there's a nifty concept. Anyhow, I am one of the few people in this world apparently that holds those sentiments and after last week Brad thought it important that I get a cell phone. So I caved and I did, at least it is a cute purple one. Also it was free for the phone and just 9 bucks a month for the coverage. Can't beat that! Can you? I don't even know. Lets see if I can figure out how to use it.

Juliet Fire

We are very lucky! Now this was way too close for comfort. When Brad and I were heading into town on Tuesday all we could see was smoke and the ominous red glow from the flames coming from what appeared to be our house. I remember saying "Thats our house, our house is on fire!" Thankfully, I was wrong, but that is one of the worst experiences I have had yet in my life. It was a total feeling of helplessness as I sat from my car and watched what I thought was everything I had accumulated going up in flames. Also, what was so difficult was not knowing what was going on. Questions such as where was the fire exactly, had it destroyed homes yet, will they be able to keep it contained, they all raced through my head. I just sat there thinking I wish I had my wedding photo album, my wedding dress, my pictures, my jewelry, things from my childhood, and Brad's family heirlooms. I also remember thinking I hope they save my home but I hope that no one gets hurt trying to do so. That thought scared me, thinking that saving my stuff, my house, may cause another to be put in harms way. I understand how scary it is for their wives, and their families to not know for sure whether or not their fireman would be returning home after work. I know this is their job, I know that this is what they train to do, but I still did not want that burden on my shoulders. Luckily, only one fireman was hurt fighting this fire, I cannot express my feelings of gratitude enough.

The "Juliet" fire has already burned 4,000 acres is now 75% contained. The cause of the fire is still unkown, but it started in an area known as Juliet training area aboard Camp Pendleton, however the base commander is insisting that there was no live fire training this time. You see last week there was another fire in virtually the same area, it too started in the training area. That time though winds were low and the fire did not spread as fast and the firemen on the ground and in the air were able to extinguish it relatively quickly. That fire was started by 'live fire'. During last weeks fire I had packed my personal belongings prepared to be evacuated. At that time ash was coming down like snow, covering the lawns, and the cars in the neighborhood. I thought that was too close for comfort. After that fire was extinguished crews aboard the base widened the firebreak between my neighborhood and the base. Had they not widened that line (which the fire did jump adjacent to our street) who knows what would have happened. "A barren strip of earth was all that stood between hundreds of homes and a fast-moving wildfire hungry for fuel.The dirt barrier worked. Officials say the 300-foot-wide fire break, along with aerial water drops and weakened Santa Ana winds, allowed firefighters on Monday to keep a leash on a wildfire that flirted with the backyards of Oceanside and Camp Pendleton homes. A nearby fire crew was able to fight the flare-up, pulling hoses through backyards on Cockatoo and Nanday courts (my street)and saving all the homes that were threatened."
It seems as if we are safe for now. Parts of base housing are still under a mandatory evacuation. There are still firemen working the areas already burned. They have been spraying down the smoldering ashes and turning the earth with shovels. There are still some helicopters making water drops but not in our vicinity. Brad and I were very lucky this time, and I continue to count my blessings.

Juliet Fire Oct 13th 2008

Oceanside, CA

My birthday was smoking hot this year. Yesterday the 13th Brad and I were at my folks house, I had an orthodontic appointment. We received word at 3:30 that our house had been mandatorily evactuated. We got to O'Side an hour and 15 minutes later. They had us pushed back about 1.5 miles at a park (I run passed it on my jogs) and would not let us in to get any personal effects. Thank God I had Brutus with us. I cannot imagine if I hadn't! Then we left to get a car charger (our phone had died) and when we came back they had us pushed back about 3.5 miles (I almost can run that far ;> ). But there was no news, we had no idea what to do. Then Mandy called and said she could still get our answering machine when she called our house. Thank goodness, at least we knew the house was still standing. So about every half hour we were calling to see if we would get the machine or not. All night we did. We stayed with our good friends (the Wild Animal Park buddies) last night. They were so gracious to let us stay with the dog and make us breakfast. (I am thankful for my good friends).

We were able to get back into our house this am, they were checking i'd's to make sure we lived on the right part of the street. Our street to the North they weren't allowing people back home yet. Needless to say we were all pretty stressed out. Unfortunatley we are not out of the woods yet. We have our important irreplacebles packed next to the front door waiting in case we have to be evacuated again. Hopefully, the winds will not shift.

We are very grateful. This year for my birthday I got a house still standing. I am very grateful to all the firefighters and police men who kept my house safe.

My digital camera broke so this is the best I can do with the photos for the time being. Once I get my 35's developed I will try to post. You can also follow the links.

http://www.10news.com/video/17711262/index.html

at minute 1 is our neighborhood. The men walking along the fire break is right behind our neighborhood on Alexandrine Ct.

http://www.10news.com/video/17711262/index.html

At minute 2:39 the news man is on our street, and the video is from our street.

http://maps.google.com/ This is a map of our neighborhood. We are on Nanday. The empty area behind our house is a nature preserve. Thank God it didn't travel down the preserve, this is what we are afraid will ignite still. Everything else is already burnt.

It was/is massive.

This is taken on College Blvd. The area up in smoke is right behind our neighborhood, Wilmont Ranch.

The evacuated area shown on the map is our neighborhood.

Local news report
OCEANSIDE -- Mandatory evacuation orders remained in effect for all city of Oceanside residents who were forced to evacuate during the Juliet Fire despite earlier official reports to the contrary.
Early Tuesday morning, the American Red Cross announced that city of Oceanside residents who took emergency overnight shelter at El Camino High School could return home, along with other evacuated city residents who sought private shelter. But city spokeswoman Kathy Baker later said that only some residents have been allowed to return home to recover necessities but then must leave again.
The Juliet Fire charred about 3,000 acres in the southeastern sections of Camp Pendleton and was about 25 percent contained early Tuesday, fire officials said.
In addition to city of Oceanside residents, the fire forced the evacuation of thousands of people from base housing. Those evacuation orders remained in effect, according to base officials.
The blaze also prompted the closure of three schools today in the Oceanside Unified School District -- Del Rio, Libby and Reynolds elementary schools, according to OUSD's Web site.
The blaze -- the second to erupt on the grounds of the Marine Corps base in less than a week -- began spreading amid dry, moderately breezy conditions about 3 p.m. Monday, according to CalFire.
As of 3:20 a.m. Tuesday, the fire had spread to about 3,000 acres with no structural loss or injuries, according to base officials. CalFire officials said early Tuesday that the blaze was 25 percent contained.
The cause of the blaze was under investigation.
Authorities cleared all residents out of several base housing developments around Vandegrift Boulevard and from more than 1,000 homes in Oceanside's Wilmont Estates (us) neighborhood, near Papagallo Drive, and the Pilgrim Creek district, in the area of Luiseno Park.
The city used a "reverse 911" telephone system to notify those in threatened areas. Oceanside residents were instructed to go to an American Red Cross evacuation center set up at El Camino High School. Military families were encouraged to go to the Stuart Mesa Housing Office on base.
Last week's blaze broke out Wednesday afternoon and blackened about 1,500 acres in a remote part of the base, resulting in no structural damage and requiring no evacuations.

Beach Buddies

Alyssa and Maddison, my friends girls

Brad riding the white

Eric, surf friend

Wild Animal Park
Sep 1st 2008

Brad and I along with our good friends Brandy & Eric and their two girls spent the day at the beach and then the Wild Animal Park. The park allows active duty military a free pass and since our friends are "members" I also got in for free. Pretty cool. We always have a good time with them and I am glad they invited us to tag along.

Love my Sister !

Missy had business in San Diego this week and on her way home she came up to Oceanside and met me for lunch. It was a nice visit and the first time any on my sisters have come to any of my houses.

Thanks Missy, it meant a lot to me!

Padres Game, 2nd August 2008

For our eleven year wedding anniversary Brad and I celebrated by going to a Padres game with some friends. They played th SF Giants, both teams suck, neither has a batting average over .300 but the Padres sucked more and lost 0-2. The game was very fast over in less than two hours and there wasn't much action but it didn't really matter, we had a good time anyway.

Sea World, San Diego, Cali

Del Mar Beach, Camp Pendleton Cali

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I'm in the big leagues now, Cal King Baby

The old bed and matress we had was a queen that my parents bought for me my senior year of high school. While the bed itself is still in great condition, I think Brad and I have been married long enough to know that the night time snuggles have lost some of its appeal. More importantly it was time for a new mattress and since we had to spend the money anyways I thought that is was high time that Brad's feet don't hang off of the edge. Now I am excited to get the rest of the furniture to go with it.

It is getting there....
I choose a black mulch to remind me of the lava fields in Hawaii...

Side yard

Front porch
My plumeria, again remembering Hawaii...(I hope I don't kill it)
A Wandering Jew, I just thought it looked interesting
Cordyline, aka Electric pink,
Yellow Chrysanthemums
and an agapanthus aka Peter Pan, because I never want to grow up...

Oh Captain My LDO Captain

Brad got promoted on 1 June. Myself and Chief Warrant Officer V Kelley pinned on his bars. I am very proud of Brad, he has come a long way from just another boot recruit at Parris Island. I don't think he even imagined back then that this is where he would be. Here (finally) are pictures from his promotion.

Happy Fathers Day, Pops.

We hope that you have a wonderful day!

Love you,

Rissa, Brad, and Brutus

There is a new trashy reality tv show on E! entertainement called, "Denise Richard's ~ It's Complicated", I already love it.

This chick has a mouth worse than my own. Is she trying to save the world? No. Is she trying to save the environment, one hybrid at a time? No. Is she trying to give back what she has so fortunatley been able to receive? No. Is she a good role model for our children? No. Is she totally shallow and has nothing of importance to say? Yes

But who cares, it is called television people, if you don't like it don't watch it. I happen to still love it!

Front of house before

And after

TV room before

and after (we still need to paint it though). Brutus seems to enjoy it!

Time for some yard work

Master Bedroom and Bath

As you can see Brad and I went with a nice neutral color. I was kind of wanting something in the blue/green ocean family but I chickened out last minute at Lowes and went with a sand color instead. I will definatley need to punch it up with color in my linens.

It is official; we own it

After much havoc Brad and I finally closed on our house on Friday! We were supposed to close on Tuesday but the original owner (remember it was a short sale) went and got remarried and started signing her new last name on all of the closing paperwork. The title company went uh-oh and had to have her now new husband sign off on everything (even though he was not on the title or the loan) since Cali is a comm property state. But after everything was fed -exed to Florida and back it finally went through. Good thing since we were in the house fri morning before it closed.

So far we have tackled the master bedroom; we primed, painted the ceiling, and painted three coats not including the primer. (must post l8r story of Brad and paint sprayer, still not funny yet) We also steam cleaned the carpets, bleached everything in the bathroom, as well as prime, painted (only 2 coats), painted the closet, and switched out the light fixtures. Cha-ching, Cha-ching!

Outside we got the garage doors fixed, all three of them, cha-ching, cha-ching, got an estimate to get the dishwasher fixed (the labor alone costs more than a new one, hence we nixed that one), replaced all of the locks on all of the doors, sprayed down the outside of the house to remove a years worth of cobwebs, snail trails, and dirt and I also started slowly pulling one weed at a time.

Yesterday our furniture (yes, we have a bed) and personal effects arrived so until everything is unpacked the rest of the painting, weeding, ect is on hold. Brad went back to work on Monday so I get to tackle it by my lonesome, what's new, while he has a view of the ocean from his office. However I am as tickled as ever to live here after 14 years of negotiating with the Marine Corps to get here, I will tackle any project by myself I am so happy to be here, let Brad work!

Once my cables are unpacked to transfer photos I will post so everyone can see the progress we have made thus far.

Sorry to have missed everyone at the wedding, sounds like a great time was had by all! I have enjoyed seeing all of the photos. Wished I could have been there. Congrats Liz and Kyle, enjoy the honeymoon.

New House (crossing fingers, knocking on wood, putting a word in w/ the man upstairs)

Brad and I, if all goes well will be closing escrow on our house on May 28th and moving in on the 29th. We put in an offer on this house back in the middle of April, at the time it had four other offers. Another was accepted, but since it took the bank so long to respond (it is a short sale home) those buyers had moved on. Lucky for us we were number two in line (at this time it now had eight offers) this was May 19th and we are actually getting it for less than what we originally offered! YEAH for that! So since this has been the worst house hunting/buying experience we have ever had wish us luck that we close successfully on the 28th.

Our e-mail and home address will be changing again.
Check out the link to see more photos.
http://listings1.sandicor.com/SearchDetail/Scripts/PrtBuyFul/PrtBuyFul.asp?prp=mls&AgentId=120185&EmailKey=66881700

Don't worry Mom, I didn't actually get it!

Love You, Love You!