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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Traveling Katie Show

This morning I had a shocking discovery- my suitcase and backpack no longer held all my belongings. Now I had the sneaky suspicion that this would be the case so made arrangements for a real second carry-on and am still debating if I'm just going to ship a small box back. Do I really want to tote around a suitcase in the airports? Nope!

Clearly I'm not that concerned as I just got back from a Cost Plus and (yes another) Target trip. What did I get? Nothing too exciting- a new lid for my coffee mug and a strainer thingy for the kitchen sink for when I return to the land of no garbage disposals. It felt like a typical week day night- me wandering aimlessly through a store with lots of things I want but less than 1% of things I should actually walk out the door with. It really is retail therapy but at least I'm a pro with browsing. Seriously though, seeing brands I know and reading wine labels from Monterey, Paso Robles, Napa, Sonoma and even spotting a few that I've visited brings home all that closer. It may be genetic- I remember my sister telling me she did the same thing in the produce aisle when she moved looking for "home." Something happened in the wine section though- I started looking at the Italy wines! 

I think I'm caught between 2 "homes" and I don't know how I feel about this. 

Where we love is home, 
Home that our feet may leave, 
but not our hearts.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

So yeah. Maybe all this hotel living really is wearing on me. Don't get me wrong, I'm so thrilled that this new command is able to send me on these trainings and that I get to meet the higher ups so early in my career with them but really? I'm ready to set up home in MdP...especially since I received word today that my HHG shipment arrived. For you non military folks that means that not only did my shoes and clothes arrive, but so did my everything else I shipped- like my teddy bear! He's never been out of the country and I'm sure he's ready to be out of his box.

Seriously though, I think all this traveling/living out of suitcase is getting to me. I didn't really remember it was Tuesday until I had a video chat with someone in Monterey in his uniform. Ridiculous right? My place here in Newport News is really nice...nicer than "home" back in Gricignano. But again, reminds me of my days back at NPS when I would send the Admirals out here for all the big NDIA conferences. It's nice to know that after one more day of training, one (hopefully two) social visits, I'll be on my way back to Italy and back to house hunting.

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