Ahhh, October. Thoughts of burnished leaves, fuzzy sweaters, thunderstorms, snuggly boots, and candy corn pop into your brain.

Well, pretty much the only one that applies to Hawaii is the candy corn. Oh, well.

Time is drifting along on the island. It seems a little wistful to think that a whole summer went by without Nick, but so is military life. At least it was well spent.

Besides, the deployment clock is visibly ticking down. Now that I'm so much closer to his coming home than his NOT coming home, it makes everything more fun. All the preparation going into our first Homecoming- what a blast!

I have my outfit all planned out down to the tiniest of details. I can't wait to put up pictures afterwards! I still have some things I need to purchase for it but I've got plenty of time. I just like to be on top of it all.

I also started thinking about a Welcome Home banner. We don't live on base- we bought our house here in Hawaii and have a very strict community as far as hanging things outside (I heard a house nearby got written up for having an American flag outside- just insane). I feel like Welcome Home banners are maybe something that people on base do more.

But Eff it. I'm doing it my own way. And by my way, I really mean my way. I'll elaborate more on that later.

I also have some other BIG news (in a very tiny package). Nick and I had been talking for a while about getting another puppy. I LOVE my dog and want her to have someone to play with and to keep her company. Also, we adopted Maggie when she was about 6 or 7 months old so we missed out on the very young puppy stages. Which was probably good for a first dog, but it’s still an experience I’d like to go through.
 
We originally were going to get one next year, but with the way the schedule is working out we realized it would be better to get one now than to wait. And I lucked out- the opportunity arose and….we’re getting a beagle puppy (or "beaglet" as one of my good friends calls them)!

I can’t wait. She’s a few weeks old now and will be ready to go home soon. I met her today and she is a rambunctious little bugger but just adorable and a total cuddlebug.

I’ve already found the cutest things for her. I’m convinced she needs to have a collar covered in cupcakes and or sprinkles. 

I was thinking a dainty name would be cute. I was also thinking of some Hawaiian names since we’d be getting her here.

I’m brainstorming names now. Since she is a purebred beagle and very lady-like looking,  some names I have come up with so far (some from the help of friends) are:

• Charlotte
• Lilikoi (a Hawaiian fruit- actually the filling in our wedding cake- “Lily” for short)
• Cupcake
• Mimosa
• Champagne
• Coco or Koko
• Kokomo
• Kona or Kono
• Hoku (“Star” in Hawaiian)
• Lucy
• Lunakai ("Across the Ocean" in Hawaiian)
  
• Lola
• Grace/Gracie
• Sophie
• Miley
• Bisou
• Calypso (sea nymph who keeps Odysseus on her island in Homer’s The Odyssey- made me think of being so far out here in Hawaii)
• Daisy
• Paisley
• Olive
• Bellini (notice a pattern?)
• Picnic
• Audrey
  
• MaiTai
  

If anyone can think of a great name for this sweet girl, leave me a comment! I’d love more ideas! I did come up with a great one while sitting on the beach yesterday brainstorming and listening to Bob Marley. I thought to myself, “Oh! 'Marley'! That would be such a cute name for a dog! Ohhhh…..Bummer.” Too bad someone beat me to it. Hmph.

Seriously. Ideas, people.