closing time July 14, 2008

okay.  so i am a delinquent blogger.  this is not new information.  so, in the interest ofthe WHOSC (west household of south carolina, for those who are not formerly familiar with that abbreviation) i’ve decided to create a combined “west family” blog.  justin and i will both post on it… however, all posts will be releveant to the WHOSC… justin will still have his own blog to post crazy videos and information pertaining to the great University of Kentucky. 

thus, with a heavy heart (not really) i make this my last post on the “kacey leigh west” blog.  i hope you have enjoyed my sporadic entries. 

come check out the new blog…

www.wildwestfamily.wordpress.com.

wii bowling. June 20, 2008

it’s been a long road. many time i have wanted to throw that little controller across the room. or at justin, because he was beating me so badly. (to his credit he has been very patient with my learning journey. he has celebrated my measly spares and given me lots of helpful pointers to improve my game.)

anyway, today i reached a milestone. record score of 233! that’s really good for me. and only 26 points behind justin’s high score! seven strikes in a row!

next obstacle: tennis! yikes.

stinky trash! June 11, 2008

if there is one thing that i hate, it’s trash juice.  absolutely foul.  i suppose that would make today a milestone for me…

i just cleaned out the trash can.  not the nice little kitchen trash can.  i’m talking about the huge gray trash can.  gross!  it was smelly.  really smelly.  i was tired of smelling it everytime i opened the garage.  so, with gloves, ammonia, dish soap, a hose and a few plastic bags i cleaned it out. 

one of the less appealing things that comes along with owning a home.  nonetheless, it’s done.  only to become stinky again.  i hope that at lease one of my neighbors saw me out their back window…watched…and laughed.  that would make it especially worth it! 

musings on… being an air force pilot’s wife. June 10, 2008

that’s my hubby.  he’s a cutey, huh!?  he likes to act like a kid sometimes.  i like that about him.

right now, that hubby of mine is somewhere far away… i don’t know where.  i spoke to him on sunday afternoon (about 4pm my time, here in charlie-town, about 10pm his time, in germany)… his crew was set to fly “down range” (in layman’s terms: to the desert– iraq, afghanistan, etc.) and return in the early morning hours today.  i expected to have an email from him this morning when i woke up… and i hoped that it would say “i’m coming home on wednesday”.  i had no such email this morning… and no such email this evening.  i have no idea where he is and i have no solid idea of when he’ll be home.  i am strangely okay with this.  don’t get me wrong.  i love my husband VERY much.  and i miss him TREMENDOUSLY.  there are a three reasons why i am okay with not knowing the whereabouts of my air force pilot…

1. i am choosing to trust (by God’s grace and strength) that he is safe.  and believing that “no news is good news”.
2. justin is the most trustworthy man i have ever known. 
3. i have dreamed of being “an air force wife” for a very long time.  i believe God wove this into who He has made me to be.  He knew i’d be here one day, and He wanted me to be ready for it. 

i am incredibly grateful for the man i married.   it is no small thing that i have full confidence in him.  it is an incredible testament both to God’s grace and to the kind of man justin is, that i can sit on our couch watching the celtics/lakers game, 54 hours after the last time i spoke to him–the day before he flew into a war zone, and say that i am peaceful.   

this will not be the last time that i have no idea where my husband is.  this is not the last time that his return will be uncertain.  my prayers will always be for his safety and for the grace to take it one day at a time.  i have no doubt right now (and i can only hope and pray that i never will) that every moment of not knowing is worth it… worth have justin, my best friend, as my husband.  i am so proud of him. 

classicly awesome. April 4, 2008

what a face!

18 out of 25 questions is not bad. i made it all the way through. and a lot of people were impressed that i could answer some of them. (ex: what is justin’s favorite home cooked meal by mom? beef stroganoff. or what did justin want to be when he grew up? a garbage man) however, 18 out of 25 means that i got 7 wrong. (ex: what was the name of justin’s first pet? brandy. or what was justin’s first car? ford ranger — which i should have known. especially after the “i will never learn to drive” story!) 7 pieces of bubble yum is a lot. and very difficult to chew all at once. in fact, it was very similar to the size of a swollen tongue. gross!

nonetheless, it was hilarious! and lots of fun. thanks dad and lyndsey for creating the questions. y’all did a great job!

55 days… March 23, 2008

…until the wedding!

hard to believe that it’s approaching so quickly.  really, it couldn’t come fast enough.

it’s nice to be at the place (in the planning process) where i could do nothing else and the day would still come and go with relative ease.  the rest of the things “to do” are fairly minor details…convenience things — menu planning, programs, favors for out of town guests…

justin and i have already received a few gifts (very exciting!) and we have a shower in tallahassee next weekend.  we have also started to receive reply cards in the mail (also very exciting!).  of the 220ish that we inivited, we have 19 yes’s and zero no’s.  it is really exciting to think about all of my favorite people (and some people i don’t know, who love justin a whole lot) being in one place.

and the most exciting part:  regardless of who comes or what we eat or how we transport the wedding party from the church to the reception venue…

…i will be kacey leigh west at the end of the day!

moving. AGAIN!? February 11, 2008

yep.  that’s right. 

since i moved out of my parent’s home for college (7 years ago) i have moved all or most of my belongings a total of 18 times.  4 of those moves have occured in the last 6 months.  not even joking.  i just counted. 

so. the move that will occur in just 2 and half weeks will be #19.  and the move that will occur 2 and a half months later will be #20.  20 moves in 7 years.  thats an average of 2.9 moves per year.   ridiculous, yes.  that’s my life.  as crazy as it sounds.

at this point, i have very little “stuff.” call me a professional mover. 

i am thankful that move #20 will conclude the nomadic chapter of my life.  seems like a good round number to end on. 

oh, and justin deserves some mad props.  he alone conducted move #16.  and was an integral part of #15, 17, & 18.  not to mention his part in #19 & #20. thanks justin. 

and thanks dad and brother too.  they have lifted lots of couches, boxes and such. 

“just another day at the office” January 27, 2008

so this is what justin is doing in oklahoma.  i like to say that he’s learning how to save the world better.  like superhero training.  that’s just me being silly. 

really, he’s at aircraft commander school at altus air force base, in oklahoma.  and this is a video of what he’s doing.  “ar” in air force lingo.  air refueling in layman’s terms. 

seems pretty awesome to me… that two jets can hook up to one another, in flight.  and stay attached for as long as 5 minutes!  justin’s the one controlling the stick (not in the video)… keeping the jet steady.  not an easy job.  i’ll boast for him: he’s pretty much an expert at it :) 

he has a pretty cool job.  i am proud of him.  even though he has to be far away.

movie stars and presidents January 24, 2008

so i met a movie star today.  his name is simon woods.  he’s the one on the right in the picture (his hair is shorter now and blonde). he played mr. bingley on pride & prejudice.  the new one, not the abc one.  anyway, he came into my store this afternoon.  it was really cool. 

then, one of my co-workers saw chelsea clinton walking down the street outside the store.  apparently, she and bill are staying up the street while hillary tours around sc.  i was hoping bill would have the uncontrollable urge for a cup of coffee… he didn’t.  not saying i feel a great deal of love for bill clinton or his political stance…and i am certainly not campaigning for his wife (ugh!)… but he was the freaking president of the greatest country in the world!  i would be stoked to meet him! 

 anyway, that was my exciting day at starbuck’s on the corner of king & calhoun. 

 supposedly danny glover is in town too!  i love charleston.

running January 16, 2008

once upon a time i was a runner. 

then i hurt my knee. 

now it has been approximately 5 months since i’ve run consistently.

i ran today.

i plan to run tomorrow.

i’m on my way to being a runner again.