Blogoversery

Today this blog turns 2! Holy cow! It's hard to believe I've been here in the blogosphere that long. But here I am. I've met here and in person some great people. You all helped me more than you will ever know, especially while Jack Bauer was deployed. Thank you!!!

Get out the vote!

Thanks to everyone who nominated me into the top 5 in the milspouse category. I am really honored to be in the company of such fine blogs as ArmyWifeToddlerMom, SpouseBUZZ, Non-Essential Equipment, and My Crazy Amazing Military Life.

Click here to get started. You can vote for one blog in each category. Voting closes on Sunday evening. So you have plenty of time to read all the blogs and make an informed decision, right?

And I strongly encourage readers to check out the service branches to read "free speech from those who make it possible."

Happy reading and happy voting!

Award Season

As I said at SpouseBUZZ Live this past Saturday, this community of milbloggers saved my sanity through my deployment. When there was no local support system for me in Middleville, I found people who understood online.

Now is time for payback. The last Milblog Conference was held in DC in May 2007. This year, they waited and are combining it with Blog World Expo in Las Vegas, which will begin in just a few days. Recognizing the diversity and contributions of the milblogs, Milblogging.com is holding it's third annual award contest.

This is essentially a two-part process. The nomination phase is under way. The top 5 blogs in each category will then be up for a second round of voting. Due to the upcoming BWE, the whole process is short. So get busy nominating today and voting starting Thursday!

Here's a little more information.

Nomination and Voting Overview

1. A military blog can be nominated ONLY once by the same registered user. However, a user can nominate as many military blogs as they wish.

All nominations must be submitted online through Milblogging.com by 11:59 pm EST on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008.

2. The top five nominees in each branch category will be announced on Thursday, September 11th, 2008 and those nominees will move into the Voting Phase beginning September 11th, 2008.

3. Nominees may be military blogs that belong to the following branch categories in the Milblogging.com database:

U.S. Air Force
U.S. Army
U.S. Marine Corps
U.S. Military (Parent)
U.S. Military (Spouse)
U.S. Military (Veteran)
U.S. Military (Supporter)
U.S. Navy

Just remember, in this nomination phase, you can nominate for as many blogs as you like, and the five with the most nominations will be up for a final voting starting Thursday. Get started here.

And you can see the current standings here.

Tweaking the Layout

As you can see, I am finally taking the plunge and getting a template. Thanks to the SSB for helping me get it up.

But as you can see I lost most of my sidebar. :(

But don't worry. It is an opportunity to start over! As for the blogs I previously linked to, if I see your URL in my sitemeter referral info, I will try to get you back in there. Please feel free to send me your URL.

Also I welcome all feedback on the new layout. Let me know if there is something you really like or don't like.

If you don't want to leave a comment, feel free to e-mail me at butterfly.wife.life AT gmail.com. Just change the "AT" to "@" and you are good to go.

And one more thing . . . . The inspiration for this comes from A Cup of Tea with Friends. I love her new layout. So thank you Rose_Michelle. :D

Huh. Well what do you know about that.

I've been here for a year. Holy moly.

Here's the post that started this blogging journey.

What a year. Made some great friends. Made some great connections. Wrote a lot -- almost 1,000 posts. Had a lot of visitors -- over 30,000 (yeah, I came to sitemeter after I started with the other stat counter). Did a lot of expressing how I really feel, good, bad, ugly, silly, happy, sad, deep, senseless, coded, frustrated, scared. I've shared highs and lows. It's all good though.

I haven't gone back over many of my old posts, as I like to keep moving forward. And I honestly haven't made the time to slow down long enough to really look back.

Thank you all for being here, supporting me through it all. Your comments have meant the world to me.

Yeah, she rocks

So yesterday, I met TripleE for coffee and conversation. She is wonderful and genuine just like she is on her blog.

It was really nice to talk to someone in person who understands. We didn't need to explain or worry about getting blank stares or getting comparisons of our husbands' absences to an extended business trip. Nor did we have to be experts on all things military. We simply understand our own experiences. And that's OK.

She shared pictures and stories of her beautiful children and husband. Mind you, she is beautiful too. Her daughters have her same lovely hair and the same kindness in their sparkling blue eyes.

And of course she is thoughtful too. She brought me a purple butterfly carabiner-style key ring. I played with it throughout our coffee talk (I am a fidgeter) and tucked it in my pocket the rest of the day, a comforting reminder that someone is thinking about me. Very much like the pretty Green glass butterfly I got a few weeks ago that sits on my dresser at home and the lovely butterfly stationary set sent to me by a wonderful woman who knows what we are going through.

I wished we could have had more time to chat, but we needed to get back to our other realities. Ninety minutes can sure fly by.

A big day ahead

Today, I am heading out to do something very exciting. I am going to meet another blogger. :D

Yeah, TripleE rocks.

I'll be sure to tell you how much she rocks later.

SpouseBUZZ Live

Today this is where I am going to be.

And if you too are a military spouse, that might be where you want to spend a few hours too.

Click here to get started. There is a chat room and a live feed of the event. It will be going on from 9 AM to 3 PM ET.

I won't be live blogging it, I'll be living it. See you there. :D

So how will you recognize me ...

By my butterfly necklace, of course.

See you tomorrow.

:D :D :D :D :D

What I AM doing

Sunday night in the SpouseBuzz Chat Room, someone asked me if I was going to be taking a break from blogging while Jack Bauer is home.

The answer is a resounding NO. I plan to blog MORE while he is home. :D

Heck, I'm going to be off of work so I am going to have all this free time, right?

But seriously, you've been with me through the bad times, so you might as well be with me through the very good times, too. I do plan to bring you as much of the excitement of this leave as absolutely possible ... within reason. heh.

Oh, and be sure to take a break tomorrow from all the fun of dealing with relatives who want to tell you how to cook and football that seems endlessly keeping others from helping out and come over here and watch me get all ready to pick up Jack Bauer at the airport. Woohoo!

More on people who get it

Talking with people who understand what it means to have your husband deployed was just amazing. I feel like I have had an experience that can't undo. Like awakening.

It is really nice to be around people who know what it is like to have a loved one at war. Who know what it is like to have people ask uneducated questions about the war and repeatedly say "I don't know how you do it." People who know what it is like to have people that you know primarily online. I don't have to explain myself to them. Because they already know, they already understand.

And that level of understanding is just breathtaking. Especially, when for the last 22 months, I swear I have not met another person who gets it.

I was thinking about my earlier statement that this trip may have been more refreshing and spiritually energizing than the retreat. I figured out why. The people I met in Las Vegas are the community I most identify with. The wonderful women I met at the retreat are the community that help me cope, but they don't really understand me.

Vegas Packing List

So what does a butterfly take to the Blog World & New Media Expo in Sin City?

• Polar bear flannel pajama bottoms in order to have something appropriate to wear to a Pajama(s Media) party. I can't decide between the Blackfive t-shirt or the Badgers Forward tank top.
• The Blog of War: Front-Line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The copy Jack Bauer sent back months ago still has gray talc sand all over it, but I will see if a few of the authors (Blackfive, AWTM, Sarah) might be so inclined to sign it.
• The Sandbox: Dispatches from Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. I believe at least one of the contributors (Teflon Don) will be there.
• Listerine Whitening Quick Dissolving Strips. :D
• MacBook with pretty new bag and pink neoprene cover.
• iPod.
• Cell phone.
• Cards.

I will do my best to blog all about the excitement as it is happening, but I hope to be having the fun not just typing about other people having it.

Later!

Playing with the cool kids

I was never one of the cool kids. Ever. I have always marched to my own beat and that seems to have worked pretty well, but I was certainly teased (tormented really) a lot. I matured faster than most kids my age. I was taller than my 3rd grade teacher, I started wearing a bra and got zits in 4th grade, and started my period in 5th grade. And I wore glasses and had unfashionably wavy hair. That didn't help any. I was awkward for sure. In fact Ugly Betty comes to mind (no wonder I love her).

Occasionally, I would get invited to hang out with the cool, popular kids, but I would get teased or picked on or have arguments with them. And those friendships never developed.

Fast forward 25 years. I feel like I have been invited to play with the cool kids in Las Vegas. And they all seem to know each other. And speak their own crazy language. And have all their inside jokes. And I am having flashbacks to being the awkward kid that was mistakenly (or worse, purposely) invited to the cool kids' party.

Now that is what the irrational, emotional child part of me is thinking. The rational, logical adult knows that will not be the case at all. I have been reassured by many people that this is a very open, come-as-you-are kind of group and that people will like me just the way I am, coffee-stained teeth and all. :D And remember this is a like a coming out party for me so a wee bit of anxiety is perfectly in order.

Oh, and btw, I don't think of myself as an Ugly Betty at all. In fact I think I'm kinda hot! Heh.

No, I don't look like America Ferrera. My hair just isn't that long any more. :D

2007 Weblog Award Finalists

A BIG HUGE Congratulations to all the Weblog Award Finalists! And an even BIGGER, HUGER shout out to a Super Duper Milspouse who made the finals:

ArmyWifeToddlerMom is a finalist in the Best Diarist category!!!!

And then to ALL of us Milspouses as SpouseBuzz is a finalist in the Best Military Blog category.

Of course, some of my favorite other milblogs made the finals in Best Military Blog. Here's the list of finalists:

• Blackfive
• Michael Yon
• The Long War Journal
• OPFOR
• American Soldier
• Jeff Emanuel
• Badgers Forward
• The Sandbox
• Army of Dude
• SpouseBuzz

I made a cursory scan of the finalists in the other categories to see if I recognized any other milblogs that might be nominated, but I didn't see any. (The TTLB categories were not yet announced when I wrote this post.)

Oh, and yeah, I did not make the finals for Best New Blog. Go figure. Disappointed? Not really. I am still incredibly flattered that someone thought enough of my little blog to throw my hat in the ring.

Voting begins this evening. And it looks like you can vote once every 24 hours. So be sure to go vote for your favorite blogs. Good luck everyone! :D

Helping out a friend

My dear friend Lemon Stand is having Internet problems and asked me to help her out. I've got a new post up over there. Well, actually, it is an old post from here, but it has been bothering me lately.

So go read!

I promise I am not a freak OR I'm just your kind of freak

Sarah posted this over at her blog. LMAO! That being my JLo-sized "A". :D :D :D :D

Your teeth are fine.

Dear Butterfly Wife,

I have no idea what you're talking about with needing to whiten your teeth. I certainly didn't notice that when we met. I was too busy feeling like a fool because I couldn't figure out how to read the menu at the coffee shop. I can never read coffee shop menus, and since I didn't want to look like a dunce, I pretended that I didn't really need to eat any breakfast. So I starved and then made my husband take me to a gas station on the way home and get me some food.

I didn't notice your teeth, I just noticed that my husband, who generally doesn't like conversation with anyone, seemed to be having a good time talking to you about Iraq. That's an awful big compliment in his book.

And you're wearing make up in Vegas? Crap. I am so out of my league here.

Oh and also, the weight thing? Hogwash. From reading your blog, I expected you to weigh 300 lbs when I met you. You look great. Don't be so hard on yourself.

Can't wait to see you again in Vegas!
Sarah

P.S. You need to copy this post and put it up on your own blog so your readers can hear somebody saying that you have nice teeth and a normal sized butt. They're going to picture you as a freak of nature if they go by your description of yourself.

So there you go. I don't weight 300 pounds and my teeth are fairly white and straight (thank you junior high braces). And I wear make-up. And I even shower once in a while. And I wear clean clothes. Not so much of a freak.

Geez. I guess I'll just have to post pictures from Vegas. More proof that I actually exist.

D'oh!

Those wacky Weblog Award people faked us out. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. :D Uh, the wacky part.

Since we're not quite ready to begin selecting finalist slates, and because there's always people late to the party, I'm extending nominations for all categories until Wednesday. [emphasis added]

Last day for nominations!

Just a friendly little reminder to get your nominations in for the 2007 Weblog Awards. And to plus-up those who are already nominated. Just do that by clicking on the plus sign. That let's the finalist selection committee headhouncho guys know that you really, reall like the blog.

NOMINATIONS END TODAY!!!

AWTM has done a great job of nominating milblogs in non-military categories. Let's see the finalists stacked with milblogs!! Wouldn't that be awesome?!?

Oh, and you can always go plus-up me from Best New Blog while you are there. (I am shameless.) I'm facing some stiff competition from 128 other blogs, but at the time of this posting I had the 4th most plus-ups. A few more wouldn't hurt, I am sure. Thank you for your support. :D

Lesson #2 in trackbacking

Stephanie rocks ... still!

Update: Stephanie, being the awesome wonderful lady that she is, taught me how to use trackbacks in blogger. You will now see a "links to this post" link next the the comments button. Rumor has it that this only works for links to other blogspot blogs. Also, I can trackback to other links using the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger.

I'm soo vain, I probably think this post is about me ...

Nothing quite like the prospect of meeting a bunch of strangers that I supposedly "know" in some fashion to be a sufficient motivator to make me improve my appearance. Yes, I am vain. And I am going to be Vain in Vegas.

In recent weeks, I have purchased new make-up -- foundation, powder, eyeshadow, more lip glosses -- and actually started wearing it to work.

I've got a new 'do -- sassy -- and will get it trimmed up and touch up the highlights -- red and blonde -- before the trip.

I started using Listerine Whitening Quick Dissolving Strips. And boy do they work. In less than a week, I have probably taken off two years of coffee drinking; still have another week to go. And they are soooo much better than other strips that aren't quick-dissolving. I highly recommend them.

Now if I could only lose 50 pounds and a couple of dress sizes and get a whole new wardrobe, well, I would be in heaven. But that just isn't going to happen.

So I will just have to be happy with whiter teeth. :D