Cloud Nine and Counting

Extremely Loud

2012-01-22T00:42:00.002-05:00

I saw this movie this weekend: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, as I understand the idea behind it but I'm really not fond of the storyline (who let's their little kid run around NYC by themselves all day going into homes of complete strangers?). But, either way, it got me thinking about 9/11.

9/11 sucked. I'm pretty sure there really isn't a better way to put that. Everything about wars and terrorism sucks. But, this particular event--9/11--sucks more than the rest of them just because it happened and I/we/my generation was there for it. There's always Pearl Harbor, all of WWI & WWII and other wars, numerous battles etc., and even the completely-non-war-related Titanic that were horrible events where so many people were killed. We hear about them, and read about them, and we know they sucked too. But, we weren't watching the news or reading the papers or listening to the radio when these things happened like we were for 9/11.

Instead the halls in our schools were very hush hush while non-descriptive "letters" were passed out to us and we were sent home early to empty houses where we then turned on the news alone and tried to make sense of what was happening. Was it a coincidence? Was it a terrorist attack? Where even ARE the twin towers? Do I know anyone there? Many of the news stories, at least for me, will be the things that stick around forever as memories. Especially the stories in the days that followed where loved ones cried out at the cameras waving flyers and pictures at the camera of their missing family members.

We weren't there to see the aftermath for the others.

And I think it makes us stronger as a generation.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T22:44:00.002-05:00

Here's a few images of Christmas in our house! The hubs is working all weekend, unfortunately, but we'll have a good 2 hour Christmas tomorrow :)

Cleo's just a little excited for her first Christmas :)

Not Even Sorry

2011-12-20T22:00:00.004-05:00

I don't have much to say in this post. I have no pictures of this event, so I drew you a picture...

The other day we took Cleo and Blitz (who got adopted today! So we are back to a one doggy home!) to the park to see how Blitz did interacting with strangers, on a leash, etc. We walked him over to the playground to find some kids.

There were none.

So we played on the playground like the grown adults we are.

This "bucketseat" spinning contraption? Amazing. You propel yourself once, and then it spins you and you can't stop.

And if you're me, you laugh uncontrollably and nearly puke when you finally get up the balls to jump off the spinning death seat.

And then you're horribly embarrassed when a biker or 6 goes by.

Blitz!

2011-12-18T22:26:00.008-05:00

As if things weren't crazy enough around here with our 5 month old nipping puppy, this week we added a foster pup to the mix!

Meet Blitzer...aka "Blitz" because we're really just too lazy to add on that extra syllable.

Blitz is a 4 month old that appears to be a fullbred golden retreiver. He is, however, absolutely going to be a GIANT dog. He's about twice the weight of Cleo, and younger than her. He's also much calmer, though, and he'll play with her but she wears him out long before she's out of energy.

But then they take adorable naps together, and it's all good.

We went to the park today and he met a dog a little smaller than Cleo, and snapped at her a little but wasn't exactly vicious, though. But he met our neighbors dogs and they have an akita mix and some kind of toy-sized mix, and he was fine with both of them. We're thinking it was just him being on the leash. He's not housetrained yet, either, but is much more well-mannered that Cleo (and we trained her!) and is completely cratetrained!

But, at the park together, we were also able to take a nice long walk ON the lake--which is a new experience for us, as our home state doesn't get cold enough for this. The pups enjoyed sliding around on the ice and I was frankly just fascinated with the ice fishers!

I have to take Blitz back to an adoption event on Saturday (Christmas Eve) and I'm definitely pimping this amazing puppy out! He's a great dog, and if we had a bigger house and he wasn't going to be a giant hairy beast when he grows up, we'd keep him! He definitely deserves a home for Christmas :)

Dear Santa

2011-12-07T23:11:00.004-05:00

Part of Writer's Workshop at Mama's Losin' It!

Dear Santa,

I understand that you can't get me everything I want, and that's okay. I had my husband here for Thanksgiving and I know that means it's only fair he will work all day and night on Christmas--that's okay, I get it.

I appreciate you letting us go visit family just after Christmas. That's so nice of you.

But...what I really want for Christmas? Well, that's pretty easy.

I want this to stop biting me:

She's very cute. She's very smart. She's fairly well-behaved. However, I don't have that many dressy long sleeved shirts, and people look at me funny when I go to work with tiny cuts all over my hands and arms and I'm just waiting for someone to ask me if I need help. Plus, it hurts.

Now, I know Cleo is nipping because she's a puppy. I also know she's nipping because she's a herding breed. I know it's normal.

But it really hurts.

So, if you can't get her to stop nipping, can you at least let her lose her other three puppy canine teeth? They are definitely the biggest offenders.

Or at least hit me up with some great cover-up.

Thanks Santa.

Love,
Via

Turk-ish Dreams

2011-11-25T18:00:00.009-05:00

This year we hosted our very first Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving has never been a big deal for me, as I'm usually needed at work before 4am the next day, and my parents were always out of town growing up so it was never a huge family event for me.

But, this year, we are on the other side of the country from our families and I don't have a job that will fire me for not coming on Black Friday, so we got to have Thanksgiving! Out here there are several people that we actually know from our hometown--we always find this truth odd, since we currently live in the middle of nowhere--and we all got together to great a potluck dinner last night.

Although we had a full dinner and much more food than we needed, I only made the turkey, stuffing, and cranberry/apple mold (thanks for the recipe, Family Circle). I was very nervous about the turkey, since I had never made one, and despite it taking 1.5 hrs longer than it was supposed to, it tasted absolutely delicious and I wouldn't change a thing if/when I do it again!

I decided to stuff it with celery, carrots, an onion, and sage leaves just to keep it moist and flavorful. I have read that actually stuffing a turkey with stuffing is no longer considered good practice due to some bacteria that tends to grow between the stuffing and the turkey, so I decided against that.

I used a mixture of honey, butter, and dried herbs (sage, thyme, rosemary) to baste with, and took it out of the oven (where it was covered in foil) about every 45 minutes to rebaste. It took about 6.5 hours to fully cook, but it was great!

And I went cheap for the stuffing..stove top, approx. 10 minutes total to fix. Best idea ever.

So, our first Thanksgiving was a total success!

Hope everyone else had a great one too!

In Case of Flood, Climb to Safety

2011-10-15T20:16:00.006-04:00

This week we took a little road trip and went down to Rocky Mountain National Park. The park was gorgeous, and Cleo had a great time as well--she even realized that it's okay to walk on a leash and hasn't refused it since!

We went up as far as we could go by road in the park, stopping where they closed the road (we assume for cold). But, honestly, getting there was half the fun. We had to drive through a canyon called Big Thompson Canyon on the way and the road is literally at the bottom of the canyon (next to Big Thompson River, of course) and it was absolutely gorgeous. I would make that drive every day just for fun! This is also where the "in case of flood, climb to safety" sign comes in...really it should say "in case of flood, good luck!"

And just about a half an hour outside of the park is a city called Estes Park, CO. I don't have any pictures of it, sadly, but I absolutely fell in love with this city. It's tiny and has all these one of a kind shops and everything is within walking distance. And it's super dog friendly--we only got kicked out of one store and most stores have signs on the front that say dogs welcome! (We can't leave Cleo in the car yet because she'll eat the car).

But, about a half an hour outside Estes Park, there's a store called Colorado Cherry. I love cherries. And this place has everything cherry: juice, cider, jam, jelly, everything. We stopped and I picked up some cherry jam for filling some cupcakes this week!

Very successful road trip!

How Here is Different Than There

2011-10-10T23:13:00.007-04:00

Moving to the other side of the country is obviously a big adjustment. But, some changes weren't really anticipated and we have to live around here awhile to get a hang of them. Mostly they are things you'd never think of that are suprising! Such as...

Traffic Lights

On the eastern side of the country, we have three lights at traffic stops: red, yellow, green. Occasionally we see a green arrow. And that's it.
Here, however, there are no "green lights" for turn lanes--there are only arrows. So you either get a green arrow (not that I've seen this), a flashing yellow arrow (which means proceed with caution), a regular yellow arrow (which means you better book it before the light turns red) or a red arrow. This seems particularly unintelligent since the flashing yellow and the regular yellow are in the same "circle" so you have to really be paying attention so see the change if you are waiting to turn.

Communication

Such as one area code for the entire state.
One news broadcast and, yes, it covers the entire state.
The news broadcast is horrible, too. It's so bad. We had a high school news produced by high school students and it was better than this. You can literally hear people in the background saying "ok...go" when they switch the cameras.
There are a large amount of radio stations, though. That was a GOOD surprise.
And I'm going to go ahead and throw "highways closed for high wind" into this one. Because the highway is pretty much the only way to get to any other city from here. And it's at least an hour away. The highways close way too often.

Lawns

The only lawns in this state that aren't brown are in our neighborhood. And that's only because we are required to water it three times a week.
However, we are not required to have the following in our yard, but can't seem to get rid of them: Prairie Dogs AND their lovely holes (Cleo likes to stick her head in them so..that's always fun) and antelope AND their lovely crap. Thankfully, Cleo is a pansy and after about 20 seconds of staring at the antelope that are consistently in our yard (eating my mums), she runs back to me or the house. Yea, she's a great herding dog ;)

Cleopatra

2011-10-01T21:30:00.005-04:00

We've officially been in our new city 1200 miles from our hometown for a month now. We're starting to get everything settled and have really been getting used to our new city. We've definitely hit a good curve, and are enjoying it out here. Especially because it was 80 all week and will be in the 70s all this week, while it's 45 in our hometown! :) We won't be able to brag about this for too long, but for now it's good to rub in our families faces.

To this point, I've been pretty sick since we got here. Had a 10 lb losing stomach bug for 2 weeks, and other than that it's been just kind of one thing after the other. But, I've still been looking for employment and despite looking for a job for a month, I still don't have one. After giving up on finding something in Education (you know...the thing I actually have a degree in), I'm just trying to find something full-time, basically anywhere, during the day--which is hard to do, apparently.

Why during the day, you ask?

Because of this little midget. Cleo.

We rescued our Cleo, half cattle dog half aussie shepherd, a few weeks ago.

And, although getting an 8 week old puppy comes with sleepness nights, many fond moments cleaning the carpet, and nipping at the ankles, we love this weird, adorable puppy of ours!

Ontheway Vacay

2011-09-02T17:15:00.010-04:00

That's right! We have officially moved from one side of the country to the other! I missed my sofa and my home, and am still missing my bed as it isn't here yet, but the weather has been wonderful since we got here on Tuesday! 80s and 90s with light breeze? I'm certain the West is just luring us in--this won't last much longer!

But, unlike our trip out in December, this time we had a little more time to play with. So, we decided to take a little vacation on the way. It was great, but we also noticed that we were doing the "senior siteseeing trip" as everyone we saw at our stops seemed to be either senior citizens or grandparents with their small grandchildren.

We went to...

Corn Palace. There was an awesome festival going on too--we had no idea, it was completely by chance.

The Badlands.

Wall Drug.

Mt. Rushmore.

Wind Cave.

Vore Buffalo Jump.

And Devil's Tower!

And it was awesome!

Colds in the Summer

2011-08-15T10:25:00.004-04:00

The progression of the cold vs. my evening at my favorite downtown restaurant:

Step 1: Throats a little weird, but fine still as long as I'm chewing bubble gum or drinking something

Step 2: Sneeze 8 Billion times.

Step 3: Go gome with fever and actual illness.

...who gets a cold in the summer????

The Shop Around the Corner

2011-07-24T09:14:00.001-04:00

This week, Borders announced that they will be selling the store to a liquidator and would be closing after 40 years. In all fairness, it's not something that us employees were shocked by. Borders declared backruptcy last year and closed 200 some of the 600 some stores, leaving about 400 open. eReaders have done considerable damage in the world of books, just as Netflix and Redbox have done their part to force Hollywood Video into liquidation and Blockbuster video into bankruptcy.

All I can think about, though, is Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail, so sad about her "little shop" closing because the "big" chain around the corner put her out of business. It's weird, because we're the big store.

Although I've only been back in Borders a short time after a stint a couple years ago, I've always fully enjoyed working there. I always say I have two jobs, but I only enjoy one...and Borders is it. It's such a relaxed place to work, and also intellectually stimulating, and we've made strong friendships within each other. I don't think there is any retail job that can possibly be more relaxing.

But, now we have signs like these plastered all over the store. Giant signs hanging off the cielings in several places, at least one %off sign every 4 feet, all sales final, no checks, etc.

This is a sad time for all of us, employees and customers alike. This time is, however, made harder with some customers who fail to put things in perspective so, in the interest of all 11,000 Borders employees who are about to lose their jobs, I ask you to please remember a few things as you come through the final sales and get your good deals:

We understand that you may have paid to upgrade your card with us and are now upset that you are out $20. We have no control over this, and please remember that your $20 is a small inconvenience--we would gladly trade your $20 for our jobs.

Although we appreciate that you are sorry we are closing and you may be generally interested in what we, individually, are now planning to do with our umemployed lives, we can only hear such things so many times in the day before we get frustrated. It's kind of like when you make comments like "Wow, you're only 6 months?!" and "Wow, you're huge!" to a pregnant woman--it's good natured, but when you look back on it you realize it's really not a compliment. Plus, it's depressing.

We don't know what day, specifically, we will be closing. We don't know when the sales will be changing. We no longer have the ability to use coupons or give discounts of any kind. Everything is now under control of the company that bought us, and we have zero say in what we do or don't do. It's kind of like being held captive.

Generally, please just remember that although our closing is getting you amazing deals, it's also taking the livelihoods of thousands of people. And don't be a dick.

To Facebook or Not to Facebook

2011-07-17T23:29:00.004-04:00

Lately, I've been thinking about the benefits versus the issues that come with having a facebook. I recently read an article by someone who spent a year without using facebook--to my surprise, she lived. I don't, for the life of me, remember what I did before Facebook. But, the superficial friendships and the lack of any commonly accepted rules on the site get to me every once in awhile.

I mean, do I really have 387 friends? No, no I don't. And I've deleted some 100+ friends in the past month. And do I have to add my boss if they ask to be my friend? Do I have to add my grandmother? My husband's aunt? My 10 year old nephew? If I add all those people, then I have to watch what I say because what I'd like to say may not be condusive to what my grandmother and my 10 year old nephew should be reading, or my boss to be knowning. And doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of having a profile when nothing you say or do is actually what you'd like to say or do?

But, if you don't use facebook, it's like your missing out on everything. You can't see when other people get married, have children, move, or (the worst) die. And how am I supposed to know if my child is cute without 300 people hitting "like" on their pictures?

I try really hard to keep my profile private. Everything on it is set to "friends only" and my profile is unsearchable. But, that doesn't seem to really matter--I can't stop myself from showing up in other people's "people you may know" section, I can't stop friends of my friends from seeing things I put on their walls or pictures they put up of me. Everytime my friends and I go out we have "posting rules" with photos--we can't risk the whole world seeing everything we do.

Keeping connected is great, but I often wonder if it's truly worth the stress and the fakeness that tends to come along with it.

Thoughts?

Good Ole San Antone

2011-07-10T17:00:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago, I went to visit the hubs who is down in San Antonio for the summer. Yes, I know you are confused. We, also, have no idea how to answer the question "where do you live?" at the moment.

But we had a great time in San Antonio! We went to the riverwalk and used our Heroes Salute pass to go to Sea World (thanks!) and really enjoyed ourselves. Seaworld, by the way, also has a waterpark...which was AMAZING since it was 107 all day! Mostly, though, we love that there are actually things to do in San Antonio, unlike in Alabama where he was most recently. That place was boring. And it smelled. True fact.

The Alamo. Which really surprised us. We figured it would be in the middle of nowhere but it's not--it's right in the middle of the city. In fact, we walked to the riverwalk from there and it was a super short walk in itself.

We ate at this place on the riverwalk called Dick's, where the waiters are rude to you on purpose. We all ended up wearing paper hats with dirty phrases on them, which was funny. It was no Ed Debevics, but it was still pretty good. But, good ole texas, it was 9pm and it was still 103 outside so it was a rather warm outdoor meal.

And then, of course, there was the highlight: SeaWorld. Which was huge, hot, and busy. But definitely awesome!

Plus, we got to see each other for the first time in 4 months, which was also awesome ;)

Fee-hee-hee-heeeny!

2011-07-06T22:45:00.005-04:00

This post is brought to you by Writer's Workshop at Mama Kat's Losin' It!

..well, and it's also brought to you by me, since I'm writing it. ;)

Prompt:
A list of 10 old TV shows you’d like to make a comeback.

1. Boy Meets World (REUNION please?!)

"What are you, new?!"

2. Friends!

"Crap Bag. No middle name. First name Crap, last name Bag."

3. Gilmore Girls

"I'm going to make out in the coat closet. Don't eat my chicken."
"That's going on your tombstone."

4. Will & Grace

"Knock knock, anybody homo?"

5. Reba

"I've got one word for you: letitgo!"

6. ER
I'll ignore the cast photo here, since there were like 8 billion people on this show. Oldschool ER though, not the last few years.

7. Dawson's Creek

8. According to Jim

9. What I Like About You

10. Still Standing

The Great Swimsuit Debacle

2011-06-09T21:48:00.007-04:00

I have boobs.

There, I said it.

I have boobs, and they are large. I blame BOTH of my parents for this. But, either way, they are there and I have to accept that.

This fact becomes especially important when bathing suit shopping. There are a couple types of "girl" I am not when bathing suit shopping. I am not a "one-piece" kind of girl, nor am I a "tankini" type of girl, nor am I a "just cover the center with my bikini top" type of girl. Basically, I want a bikini top with an underwire that covers a decent portion of my boobs--enough to make me look like I don't belong in playboy.

The right style (because when a person with real size boobs wears this, there is still a decent amount of prominent cleavage):

This is not an easy task to accomplish. I've only found two stores that I can accomplish this, well...50% of the time, and those are Everything But Water and Dillard's. And what do these stores have in common? One bathing suit=my entire bank account.

So, when I find one that I like, I buy it and hold onto it for a long time.

This year, I needed a new set of bottoms to go with my perfectly fitting top from Everything But Water. I decided to go with Land's End because they are cheaper and bottoms aren't as difficult as tops.

I thought.

I like the little mini-skirt idea. So, I bought this cute little scrunchie bottom:

It looked HORRIBLE. And then I realized that it really doesn't even look good on the model--you just can't tell as much because of where her arms are. I took it back.

Then, I ordered this one:

It doesn't look bad on the model. But it looks horrid on me. So I give up...I'm just wearing the old ones. Maybe next year, bathing suit season!

Blogging Failure

2011-05-19T16:09:00.007-04:00

I realize that I stink at blogger this year. So, here's a quick overhaul of the major happenings lately:

I got a new car!

I graduated college.
...and so did my sister, so she went to graduation and I stole her cap and gown to take my own pictures as if I went to mine :)

B and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! 2,000 miles apart. He sent me these pretty flowers:

And Brady started playing soccer. For approximately 2 minutes a game. And then she picks flowers and plays in the dirt. What can I say...she's 3.

And that's about it! Maybe I'll get back into this soon...

Car Shopping is for the.......Humans

2011-03-20T22:25:00.004-04:00

I'm finally doing some serious car shopping! After my failed Cash for Clunkers attempt where I decided on a Saturday to trade my car in for a new, tiny one and then they decided Saturday night to end the cash for clunkers deal a couple years ago...B and I have finally decided (well, with the Air Force and the 18 hours my car has to go to get to our new home) that it's time to get a new car for me.

Hopefully, my car will hold on until May/June-ish, and I'll be getting one then. But, I've been doing some serious research and I've narrowed it down to two vehicles that are highly similar that are both 2 wheel drive, automatic, 4-cylinder, small suvs. Only difference is about $3,000--however, one is a little bigger than the other so the difference makes sense. I'm going to try to test drive both in the next couple weeks.

The nominees are:

Toyota RAV4 (yes, this color)

OR

Hyundai Tuscon (yes, this color)

Thoughts?

Dude, Just Close the Closet

2011-03-05T21:54:00.007-05:00

Writer's Workshop!

Although I'm rather late on it this time around. But I'm avoiding grading super long character diaries (in retrospect this was a horrible assignment to give--I have to spend wayyy too much time grading them).

This week's topic: One pet peeve that shouldn’t drive you crazy, but does.

My pet peeve?

Open Closets.

They drive me insane.

I don't know why. I hate when the closet is open. It bothers me a lot. I mean...it has doors for a reason. You opened it, why can't you close it?

Closets always feel messier than the rest of the room to me. But, when it's closed, no one notices and everything looks clean and shiny.

This applies to every room in every type of building. If there's a closet, it should be closed. End of story.

I mean...doesn't this just look like crap?

It would look so much nicer if it were closed.

Dude, just close the closet.

Tidbits and Things

2011-02-13T21:41:00.006-05:00

Not too many exciting things have been going on lately. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! Exciting! Unfortunately, B and I aren't even in the same state so it will kind of be a bust. Maybe I'll hang out with my single friends? I think that's a viable option.

However, I get to see this shining face ALL next weekend:

B just went to Alabama for a training, and that's a minor 10 hours from here compared to the 18 hours Wyoming is, and I have a 4 day weekend so I'm going to see my hubby! I'm excited!

In other news...

Brady was sick not this last weekend but the weekend before that, slept with me, slept on my face, and I STILL have some of her illness.

I've decided that I need to move my chapstick because Brady knows it's location too well. When I cleaned yesterday I found three stray chapsticks stuck around under furniture and stuff. Usually, she just gets some out, holds it up and says "Mammay did you buy this for me?" My thought is usually something like ...yes, and that's why I put it wayyy back in that drawer so it would be easily findable--surprise! But I just say "yes" and she goes "thank you for buying this for me Mammay. i love it." And then we go shopping and she tells me everything I try on looks "beautiful" on me while doing this...

And all is forgiven.

I got a new smartphone. Much different than my basic slider with no keyboard was. However, it's autocorrections are simply fantastic. I tried to type something about my mom being home to take someone to the airport today and it replace "mom" with "abduction".....good times!

And, lastly, I discovered that I'm missing a Reba CD and a Sara Bareilles CD case. I'm pretty sure they are together having a super awkward party. But, in any case, I'd like to rediscover both of them!

See what you haven't missed in my seriously pathetic lack of posting?? ;)

Owlcakes

2011-01-27T16:17:00.006-05:00

Last week we had a couple snow days and, although I'm sure I'm probably the only one who felt this way, I was incredibly bored. I mean, I never mind getting the "you have a snow day" call in the morning, but I'm kind of on a deadline this semester with certain lessons that need to be taught at certain times, so I'm really not that into them at the moment. So I decided to go get some materials to make some sugarplums and some cupcakes. I took the sugarplums in for a couple classes and some coworkers at lunch on Monday, but didn't make the cupcakes until last night.

I chose this design a long time ago, because they are pretty easy to make and relatively cheap. I think they turned out pretty well...

My first bell couldn't just accept the treat...they were all "WHY did you bring us cupcakes? Is it your birthday?" And I'm all "...um, can't I just like you?" Any other class and it would have been a bribe, but not this class!

I had a couple left over and took them to lunch where a couple people decided that, because I brought sugarplums on Monday and these today, that I'm a super crafty person. I don't know if that's a good thing or not? But I mean...at least they'll remember my cupcakes when I leave in May :D

Now I have to figure out some cupcake creation to make for Little Man's birthday this weekend! I want to make some kind of cupcake cake (one that does NOT fail) like a racecar or alligator or something, but I'm not sure if I'm good enough for that.

Any suggestions?

Actual Update Say Whaa?

2011-01-16T10:27:00.003-05:00

I know it's been awhile since I've made an actual life update instead of just pictures! But, this time, it's happening! In fact, I don't even have a picture for this post. Fact.

I got back to Ohio on December 27th and left my poor hubs at our new base wayyy out west. I started teaching again on January 3rd. I really do like teaching, but I've been to several different schools for my degree in the last couple years and, frankly, they were starting to make me hate it. This particular placement, however, is absolutely amazing. I have juniors and seniors, which is quite a different scene from the freshman and sophomores that I have had in the past, and I love it. Looove it. Plus, I have a pretty awesome teacher working with me this time, which is also a far cry from the usual.

B is lonely out in the middle of nowhere, but he really loves his job so it's not that horrible. He has some training about 10 hours from here in February and I have a 4 day weekend, so I'm going to head down and see him then. I think I'm also finally going to make the jump from my local cell phone service to Verizon so we're on the same phone plan.

Question: Droid Incredible--yay or nay?

I haven't been too super busy lately as I have no classes this semester and I only work my part-time job on the weekends. I'm not used to not being busy. I'm not sure how to handle it--I was bored within 30 minutes of waking up today.

Fortunately, this is a pattern that looks like it's going to continue for awhile. The last couple years I feel like everything I've done, I've done super quick. Last year I had to hurry up and get all my finals done in May, because our wedding was that weekend. The morning after I finished doing 10 credit hours in 5 weeks last summer we left for our honeymoon. The morning after I finished taking all my finals early in December, we left to move 18 hours away. It's been go-go-go.

But, this summer, I have nothing to do. It's just me and work, and some glorious weekends at the lake! B will be at a training, so I'll visit once or twice, but other than that...I have nothing until August.

I hope I don't go stir crazy!

Make it Melt

2011-01-12T20:21:00.007-05:00

This post is part of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.

Prompt: The last time your heart melted.

Exactly 2 weeks ago, the midget and I both turned another year older. Brady turned 3, and I turned...well, another year older.

Now that she's three, she constantly says things to me that just make my heart smile. I save messages she, somehow, manages to leave on my cell phone because there is just nothing that's much more adorable.

But, the last time she really caused a full on heart-melting was about a year ago, after she had just turned 2 years old.

She had gotten up a little before me. I could hear her playing with her toys in the living room for probably about a half an hour before I joined her. I should say that this is not unusual...she gets up before me all the time.

But, on this day, I walked into the living room. She heard me come in, turned around, yelled my name and ran to me with her arms up. I should also say that this is quite normal, as well.

However, her royal cuteness wasn't done acknowledging me. She put her two tiny hands on each side of my face and exclaimed, "Mammay, I love you."

This is the first time she had said this without someone prompting her too. She then wrapped her arms around my neck tight and put her head on my shoulder. And my heart was lava.

I just love my midget.

Decoration Station

2011-01-02T21:28:00.005-05:00

Our house has grey carpet. Which I love. Except that every room, sans the kitchen and the bathroom (which are both brown and cream), has brown furniture. But, since I'm back in the eastern time zone and B is still at the house in the mountain time zone, I'm done decorating until I go back in the summer.

So far, this is what we have. I know it's lame, but we had very few days to get everything unpacked, organized, and put together and even fewer dollars to decorate with.

This is the only room we really attempted to decorate. And it's still curtain-less. I bought blue curtains and received green curtains, so they went back. :(

Living Room:

Kitchen

Spare Bedroom

Who ever lived in our house before us decided to paint the basement dark purple, so I'll spare you that picture :)

Funny Faces

2010-12-27T01:23:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas! A day late, I know. Tomorrow I have to leave here and go back to our home state, as I start teaching again on Jan 3rd until May. We have the house set up here and relatively done. I'll post pictures and such in the coming week.

But, for now, I just wanted to show you some adorable faces of one of my newest nephews, Raj.

Like this adorable face when he's happy...

And then this adorable face when he thinks something is hilarious...

Does that face not make you the happiest human in the world??

Things We've Found Around Here

2010-12-19T19:08:00.004-05:00

Chalk messages on downtown walls...

Giant boots...

More antelope than I care to acknowledge...

And giant fields of buffalo...

We meet with the inspector to do a walkthrough of our house in Tuesday, and we move in on Wednesday barring any drastic issues. We plan on having everything put away, put together, and the living room decorated for Christmas (...we won't be sharing the rest of our house with anyone back home, because we don't have time to make them look pretty!) by Christmas! It ought to be fun!

20 Hours Later!

2010-12-12T18:37:00.009-05:00

We made it!

We made it through Indiana, which I failed to photograph.

Then Illinois...

Then Missouri...

Then Kansas, where we missed the state line but found this awesome sunset...

By the way, I hate Kansas.

Then we made it through Colorado...

And, finally, to Wyoming!

We were here for less than an hour before we almost hit an antelope, and then found a mall :) Tomorrow we'll go exploring a bit more and check in with housing to see if we might get into our place pretty soon. If we're even getting a place on base!

"Wait, so that dog's not going?"

2010-12-09T07:01:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, we had a small visitor about an hour before our movers made it to our house.

He's a stray that's been living round our neighborhood for the past few days, but not really at our house. I fed him, tried to coax him into the garage, learned he was absolutely terrified by the garage door, and watched him lay in the snow and shake like he was having a siezure.

So, we got some old flannel sheets from the "rag" bin and put them on the spot he was laying on so he'd be warmer. We succeeded, and he stopped shaking. He's a friendly guy, but spent most of the day not wanting to be touched. He'd come up to you and smell you, but if you went to touch him he'd take off. It was down in single digits last night and I was seriously starting to fear for his life.

But, with a bit of pepperoni and a little help from one of our movers, we got him into the car. Where he, of course, preceeded to freak out for about 15 minutes before deciding that it was warm in there, panting happily, wagging his tail, and finally sprawling out on the backseat for a nap. Of course, I had already spent all morning calling rescue groups looking for a place to take him. Especially now that he was in my car.

Knowing he needed a leash, I hopped into the backseat with him and made friends for 2 seconds before slipping a leash over his head, which he was fine with. He immediately tried like hell to get his head as far behind me as he could, sticking it between my back and the seat, because he was as scared as could be. And it was all over.

This dog was not going to a shelter.

After the movers got all our stuff out of the garage, we pulled the car in and let him out to roam. We have floor sample tiles lining around the cars in the garage so that we don't slip on water. Here, we discovered he's scared to not walk on the carpet. We also decided he loves to be pet but in a "oh em gee please don't hurt me" kind of way.

Again, I spent the remainder of the afternoon looking for rescue groups while my husband concocted ways in his head that we could keep the dog since we're moving tomorrow. Which, unfortunately, is just not logical or possible. No rescue group can take him.

I spent an hour dragging him out of the garage to go out last night, where I discovered that he doesn't understand leashes, and then another hour dragging him back IN to the garage because the carpet doesn't extend all the way to the driveway and he was scared of the garage flooring. Haha!

He really is a sweetheart, but needs some TLC to know that humans really aren't evil. This afternoon, I'll have to take him to an SPCA around here. I found the best one I could and it's on the other side of town, but it's the only one I know of that only euthanizes if they get too vicious or too sick. It's his best chance.

And, I mean...just look at his face. He deserves a chance.

Who ordered that Blizzard?

2010-12-05T08:44:00.001-05:00

And it's officially winter...

Postcard Swap!

2010-12-03T18:54:00.004-05:00

This past October/November, Jessica over at Jesstagirl and her Officer hosted a kickin' Postcard Swap! It was a fabulous idea. I got a postcard all ready for my partner and sent it several weeks early, then patiently awaited my postcard throughout the entire month of November.

Which never came.

So, three of us who never received postcards got together and swapped amongst ourselves! Success!

Today, I received these two lovely postcards from Nina over at Adventures of A Lifetime.

Yes, that's right...did you SEE where this awesome lady lives?

ALASKA.

Nina, I give you serious props for surviving the ridiculously cold temps! I freeze here in my house when the temperature is set at 68. Literally, I sit here in my coat. More power to ya, woman! And hey...here's hoping for Hawaii next time! :D

Thanks girl!

(P.S. Please ignore the tacky date stamps on the photos. We've been photographing all of our belongs for next weeks PCS!)

The Deal with Christmas Deals

2010-11-26T18:12:00.004-05:00

I have an extraordinarily hard time coming up with things I want for Christmas every year. Or, at least things that fit into a price range that people would actually buy me things in. I can come up with plenty of other things--a car, a private jet, a new dslr package, world peace--but not small things. Mostly, I think it's because I have a thrifty shopper problem.

What kind of problem, you ask? (Because, in my mind, you care about my problems). Well, I am a thrifty shopper, and I hate asking for things from other people because I know I'll get a better deal on whatever it is then they will.

I've been conditioned this way. I blame my mother. And she blames her mother. But, at the same time, the only other people that I trust to get as good of a deal on something as I could get are my mother and my grandmother. Oh the irony.

But really.

For example, I bought this coat from Kohl's a couple weeks ago:

This coat was originally $200.00
When I got done at the register, I paid $40.00 AND got $20 back in kohl's cash.
If I would have asked someone for this coat for Christmas, most likely they could have gotten if for something around $100-$120...and that would make me feel bad.

Even today, I went shopping for my husband's Christmas gifts from my parents. I got him a dress shirt, a tie, a combo t & polo shirt, and a plaid button down that he told me he wanted that I'm certain he'll never wear...all for $36 (none of which were special Black Friday deals, as I worked through all of those). He also wants a book, which I'll use a 40% off coupon on and finish off his Christmas.

I can't not do this.

"Full price" is not something I am willing to recognize in my vocabulary.

I'm going to be that crazy old lady cutting out coupons and organizing them in a box by product.

...I'm going to be my grandmother.

Dear AF: All I Want for Christmas

2010-11-24T08:10:00.003-05:00

Dear AF,

I've tried like crazy to think of things I "want" for Christmas this year. I'm at a serious loss for material things to want for, however, and this is where you come in.

You are moving us 18 hours away from our families 2 weeks before Christmas this year. Due to the fact that this timing is separating my husband and I for months while I finish my degree, and the fact that he will be gone from ou rnew base for several months for TDY, we have to live on base. You said you wouldn't put us on the housing list until we had his orders. We got those two weeks ago, called, and you said you wouldn't put us on the list officially until we literally got in the car and left our current state.

You said the house we're supposed to have is on a 2 year wait, so we agreed that the converted JNCO housing would be just fine for us. You said the wait for that would be 0-90 days. USAA said we can't get renters insurance the things we have to bring in our car with us without having an address to where we're going. Which you said we won't have for awhile.

So, all this aside, all I really want for Christmas is a place to live. I will only be with him for a couple days after that and then I have to come back here. Please don't make my husband and I spend our first Christmas as a married couple in a hotel.

Please.

Love,
Via

How to Save a Life

2010-11-22T11:31:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday, this accident happened about 30 minutes from here. It's in a part of the city that I frequent, as I drive right by there to get to the school I teach at and my dad also drives through to get to work. But, it was a Saturday--neither one of us had to work. He was, however, still in the area because my brother had asked for his help putting some flooring in his house and you have to go down this highway to get to my brother's house.

It seems that this accident happened directly in front of my dad's car. He pulled over and ran up to help. One car (the black one that isn't a van) was, before impact, a ford focus. Was it black before it caught fire? We have no idea.

My dad had bought us all these "get the crap out the car" hammers some years ago you're supposed to use to break your window if you wreck and your car is submerged or your doors are busted shut, or there's even a knife to cut your seatbelt with on the same hammer. He came home and told us we might as well throw it away because it wasn't going to break anything and it certainly wasn't going to cut any seatbelts.

He said he couldn't do anything for the girl in the focus who drove her car the wrong way on the highway head-on into a mother with her two daughters, her friend, and her friend's daughter in a minivan. My dad managed to get most of them out of the busted minivan while the focus went up in flames, but the mother--the driver--was killed on impact. Two of the teenage girls were in critical condition immediately after, one was treated and released, and the older woman was in fair condition.

He didn't tell us about this until Sunday. It's scary to think how close it was to being him, how horrible it is for those families, and I can't even imagine how horrible it must have been to have to pull kids out of a crashed car knowing their mother wasn't alive in the front seat.

You know, my dad's always been special to me, but sometimes it's easy to forget how awesome he really is.

DIY: Peppermint Stick Cocoa

2010-11-21T13:07:00.000-05:00

Last week, I couldn't figure out what I was going to get my grandmas for Christmas. Ever since I can remember, my mom and I have made some awesome ornaments for the families. But, this year I have 3 grandmas in assisted living and 1 who gave me back a box of all the ornaments I ever gave her last year. So, ornaments were a little out of the question.

Instead, I went on a quick DIY search for simple, cute gifts I could do at home. I found Peppermint Stick Cocoa, tweaked the recipe, bought my own $1 plastic air-tight containers, created my own tags and went for it. I'm impressed with how they turned out--I wasn't really expecting much!

This is actually the only thing it looks like I'll be making for Christmas. I have all my Christmas gifts bought and wrapped, and I have directions on how to make some homemade decorations that are awesome, but it's looking like we'll be spending Christmas in a hotel so...I don't think I'll be doing anything else lol.

What do you think?

Fall Foto Contest (week 6!)

2010-11-11T22:32:00.002-05:00

Sarah over at G.I. Joe's Wife is hosting a Fall Foto Contest!

Click the button to check it out and vote!

Here is my 'foto' for the week!

Fall Foto Contest (week 5!)

2010-11-04T05:16:00.002-04:00

Sarah over at G.I. Joe's Wife is hosting a Fall Foto Contest!

Click the button to check it out and vote!

Here is my 'foto' for the week!

What? No teacher? Normal.

2010-11-03T10:24:00.004-04:00

This post is part of Mama Kat's writer workshop!

Prompt: Describe a moment when you saw someone hit their breaking point.

In my senior year of high school we had this English teacher. In all fairness, she was a good teacher and got is interested in things we weren't interested in before, and was a good confidant at times.

You know, times that she wasn't being completely insane.

I don't know what ever happened to this teacher. She quit after us and moved, then moved back, and no one has really talked to her since then. If one day she finds this and reads this then she'll just have to suck it up and come to terms with the fact that she's nuts, or at least was nuts at this point.

Anywho. To the breaking point.

In my senior year I didn't have a first period class and that was also her planning period. The next bell I had her. Our class was small, only 11 students, and at this point I was only on campus half the day and was teaching the other half of the day. But, a week or two before we had started a bookclub with this teacher during lunch--when I am usually gone. But, my schedule was flexible and I could change it if I needed to.

Right before my second bell class I was standing in the hallway outside her room with some friends. We had previously talked about a teacher meeting during lunch that day with 2 of the other teachers who were in the book club with us (shut it--I was a nerd and proud of it). This teacher came out of her room and this conversation ensued:

Her-"Are you going to be here for lunch today?"
Me-"I can be. Are we meeting?"
Her-"Well since the other teachers are in a meeting..."
Me-"Okay, then I won't. It doesn't matter, I can do whatever."

She then proceeded to stomp off, declare that she was not teaching the seniors anymore, and lock herself in her classroom.

Um....yea.

So we spent our class period in a big conference room with another teacher, and we're all sitting there just laughing because we all witness this psychotic outburst. The next day she "agreed" to teach us again, but it was obviously an unforgettable moment. Ehmm. This wasn't the only crazy moment of the year with this particular teacher. She occasionally left in the middle of the day because she felt like it, yelled at us for not knocking and then yelled at us FOR knocking, and occasionally went off on a random student just for fun. But this was, by far, the best.

I'm just saying...sometimes medication is good.

Bakeoff Winner!

2010-11-02T19:11:00.002-04:00

I know she had so much competition, ehmm, but our winner is...

Jessica from Jesstagirl and her Officer!

Congrats Jess!

This will be on it's way soon!

Boo Bakeoff: Link Up!

2010-10-28T13:41:00.003-04:00

Welcome to the Boo Bakeoff!

Don't know what this is? Shame on you! But, you can find out here.

Basically, you make and post pictures of adorable halloween cupcakes. You love cupcakes, right? 'Cause I do.

And then, of course, you win something! This lovely book:

Which is officially ready for me to pickup and send to one of you!

Making a post is 3 points. Tweeting about it is another point. And blogging about it without participating is another point. Each point=1 entry into the drawing for the book!

The linky should be at the bottom of this post for you to link up and win! You have through Monday to link up, and I'll be drawing a winner on Tuesday!

And, of course, I made some cupcakes as well!

Scarecrow Cupcakes (recipe from The Pondering Princess)

I think they turned out okay, but were pretty expensive to make...and kind of look like they have a turd on their head. BUT. At least it's a tasty turd :)

So, what did you make?

Fall Foto Contest (week 4!)

2010-10-27T19:39:00.003-04:00

Don't Forget to Enter the Boo Bakeoff!
Sarah over at G.I. Joe's Wife is hosting a Fall Foto Contest!

Click the button to check it out and vote!

Here is my 'foto' for the week!

Fall Foto Contest (week 3!)

2010-10-21T14:06:00.004-04:00

Don't Forget to Enter the Boo Bakeoff!
Sarah over at G.I. Joe's Wife is hosting a Fall Foto Contest!

Click the button to check it out and vote!

Here is my 'foto' for the week!

Boo Bakeoff!

2010-10-18T10:46:00.005-04:00

It's no secret that I LOVE cupcakes. I make them for every semi-important, and sometimes imaginary, holiday every year. I don't get concerned with the taste of the cupcake, for mine are typically the storebought box of funfetti (really, is there anything better than funfetti?). But, I adore the design of the cupcake!

So, I've decided to hold a cupcake bake-off for halloween! And yes, you do win something. So...here are the specifics and the rules...

First, pick a fun halloween design to do on your cupcakes. It doesn't have to be a design you come up with, it can be one you find online. Just something awesome! However, no fondant is allowed. Deal? :)

Then, between Thursday, October 28th and Monday, November 1st, create a post with your cupcake, add a link back to my blog, and link up here with your post!

For participating (linking up on that weekend), you will get 3 entries into the drawing at the end.
For tweeting about the contest beforehand, you'll earn another entry. Just leave me a comment here on this post with your twitter handle.
For blogging about the contest beforehand, you'll earn yet another entry. Again, just leave me a comment here on this post with a link to your blog post!

That's a possible total of 5 entries.

For what, you ask?

For this awesome sister-book to Hello, Cupcake:

What's New, Cupcake?

It's full of adorable cupcake design ideas and directions! I'm actually jealous, because I don't have this yet...but I ordered it for one of you guys! The winner will be drawn on Tuesday, November 2nd. Because Halloween is over a weekend this year, I left the entries open for several days to make it easier for you guys.

So, you in?

Fall Foto Contest (week 2!)

2010-10-14T10:24:00.002-04:00

Sarah over at G.I. Joe's Wife is hosting a Fall Foto Contest!

Click the button to check it out and vote!

Here is my 'foto' for the week!

Will you enter?

Engagements, New Babies, and Famous Relatives

2010-10-11T22:31:00.005-04:00

Also known as: three posts in one. :)

My fourth niece was born saturday! She makes me an aunt x7 now. I have my fourth nephew due in December, and that's all on the horizon at this point.

Also, one of my cousins was in How I Met Your Mother tonight! He'll be on it again next week, and his brother will be on Law & Order this month as well. You see what moving to hollywood does to you?! ;D

AND lastly, I had my first engagement shoot this week! What do you think?

Fall Foto Contest!

2010-10-08T13:58:00.002-04:00

Sarah over at G.I. Joe's Wife is hosting a Fall Foto Contest!

Click the button to check it out and vote!

Here is my 'foto' for the week!

What will yours be?

My First Photo Shoot

2010-10-05T20:20:00.003-04:00

Today I roped my best friend into being my model for my first individual photoshoot. I love pictures, and my hubs and I have a great camera, and I'm seeing other people get paid $300 for an hour of photography. So, I decided that I was going to learn how to take great photojournalistic photos (um, only because I love them) so we never have to pay people to take our kids pictures.

What do you think?

Should I ever create a company and actually charge people for pictures, I think it will be called Life Via Pics. Hehe.

Posting Failure (+Pics)

2010-10-02T22:52:00.007-04:00

I know I haven't posted in...well, weeks. I actually wrote a post last week, mostly, but never posted it. I'm just out of the swing of blogging. But, eventually I'll be back. I swear.

We went to an Old West Festival a couple weeks ago here. It was cute, but pricey for the events within it. I think they are trying to get it going as a yearly event, this being the first year.

And on the way home we met this cow. He's not special. We just liked him. And we named him EmoCow.

Little Man started playing football. He's really enjoyed it so far! He ought too, he's the biggest kid on the team. He's #48 catching the ball below.

And we got a Cricut...for my mom...that I love. More on this later.

Bake-N-Blog: Banana Cupcakes with Maple Icing!

2010-09-15T20:01:00.011-04:00

That's right! The time has come for the Bake-N-Blog, hosted by Jess over at Jesstagirl and her Officer! The cupcake recipes themselves come from Ming Makes Cupcakes.

For the Bake-N-Blog, I chose the Banana Cupcakes with Maple Brown Butter Frosting!

The ingredients were many...

And the mixes were not very attractive looking, seen here is the cupcake mix and the icing mix.

And I had some help from Little Man. He really enjoyed "mashing" the bananas. And then Gangsta's Paradise came on and, even though the song came out several years before he was born, he indulged in the fun and broke out in "gangsta dance."

After our gangsta break, we pulled the baked cakes out of the freezer and iced away.

All in all, they turned out really well. They tasted pretty much like banana bread with maple syrup icing.

At least, Little Man says they were good!

Another cupcake success :)

What Labor Day at the Lake Looks Like

2010-09-09T13:52:00.005-04:00

Our last labor day at the lake looks like:

Cuddling in the early morning cold...

Laughing and swinging...

Bubble blowing...

Smores...

Babes sleeping on the boat, one in a lifejacket that is not accurate for his gender because we just used Brady's old one...

And water slides.

It wasn't too shabby at all :)

A Plan for PCS

2010-09-02T20:55:00.005-04:00

We FINALLY have a date. That's right! B's birthday was on Tuesday, and on Sunday he said all he wanted for his birthday was his date. It came on Monday! Ha! We are happy that, after 8 months of waiting, we know when we are leaving...not so happy that it's not until December. It also happens to be the weekend before my finals, so I'm working with my professors to be able to take them a week early--so far, so good.

The breakdown goes a little like this. We are going to the base first. We will be gone well before Christmas. But, with it being this close to the holidays, B's dad--who was originally going to go with us--can't join us to help us move. So, right now we're looking at possibly using ABF U-Pack services, which is similar to PODS, that we pack it up and they ship. Honestly, it would probably end up being cheaper than renting a Uhaul anyway.

I don't know how long I will be at the base with B, as it depends on how long my job will give me as a leave for it. I hope it's until December 27th-ish, but it could be 7-10 days. If they refuse to give me at least 7 days off for this, I'll most likely quit. It's not worth it.

"But wait, you're moving, what do you care about your job?"

Gee, excellent question.

I have to come back. I have student teaching starting the first week in January. Which, honestly, isn't that horrible because B will be gone to training schools for 5 of the following 8 months anyway so we still wouldn't be together. In fact, I will actually be staying here until late August of next year because I see no point in sitting at the base alone while he is gone when it's unnecessary. But that also means my husband will miss my graduation and our one year wedding anniversary :( Comprende? I hope so, because this paragraph was even confusing to me.

Over the summer I'll still be working on stuff in Wyoming from here--putting in resumes and hopefully doing some phone interviews. I may be in WY earlier in August or late July should I get a job that requires it.

So...that's the low down!

Tomorrow morning we are heading off to the lake for the weekend with these little cuties...

...and we even rented a pontoon boat for Saturday with a slide, so hopefully Brady will like it and it will be worth the $$$. Sunday it's back to our boring no-slide boat, though :)

Bag Lady

2010-08-26T14:18:00.006-04:00

I. Love. Bags. Purses are nice, but I have no need to own expensive purses with brand names. No. Purses are fine for other people.

Bags? Bags are for me. I have more bags than I know what to do with. Mostly, little duffel bags with bows or polka dots or something cute...also known as "I love this. I don't need this. I'll take 2, please."

The lovely people over at Simply Bags sent me a lovely little bag this week! And I love it. Why? Because it's adorable, and if there is one thing better than an adorable bag, it's an adorable bag with your name on it.

This little beauty is one of their Insulated Lunch Bags.

But that's not all they have. They have tote bags, duffels, photobags, diaper bags, kids bags, and tons more. All adorable!

Oh Simply Bags, I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship!

A Word About Passion

2010-08-24T18:31:00.003-04:00

This is going to be one of those actual "writing" posts. I know, crazy. Not even a picture.

I was thinking about passion this week. In the two weeks of break from my summer classes and my fall classes, I read a couple books. I chose both for specific reasons, none of which were really important, and finished them fairly quickly. But, when I was done, I came to a horrible realization: I don't know if I liked them or not. Somewhere in the past couple years, I basically lost the ability to tell whether I enjoyed what I was reading or not. How do I not know if I like it? And if I don't know, who the hell does? I could easily point out the things about the books that I didn't like, but that didn't mean to me that I didn't like the book as a whole. I live a lot of my life in the grey matter. It was good, but it was also bad. Neither means I did or didn't like the book.

This got me thinking along the lines of likes and dislikes. Plus, with my extra time this week, I was able to submit some writing pieces to various publications, do some painting, and even do some drawing. All of which I like to do. Then I realized: I don't have a passion for all of those. I like to do a lot of things. But...who was it that said this?..."I can do anything I want to do, but I can't do everything I want to do." If you say you have passion for many things equally, then you spend little time on each and never spend enough time on any to make them effective. There has to be some kind of focus. One or two things that hold your passion, and not just your enjoyment.

I do a lot of things I don't like to do. Everyone does--I'm not some ultra-sacrificing woman, no one can do what they want to do all the time. I don't like doing laundry. I don't like cleaning the bathroom. I'm not a big fan of dishes. But we all have to do them. That's fine. But, I think a lot of time we get lost in doing things we "should" be doing and forget to do things we "want" to do--things we have a passion for.

And therein lies the question: what is your passion? I like to draw and to paint, but not for long periods of time. I like to bike and kayak, but often I find myself forcing it. I like to write, but many times my brain prefers to focus on 928392 other things while I'm writing and that's makes the process frustrating. So, what do I love to do?

I don't know. It seems like an easy question. I mean, it's me...no one knows me better than me...this shouldn't be difficult. But, I do know that there are a few things that I'm waiting for right now that may point to my passion. I'm waiting for our PCS date, so that I know when I'm going to be on the other side of the country. So I can call the RedCross there and set up disaster relief training. And I know that if I hadn't ever started dating B, I'd be getting my assignment for the Peace Corps next year. But, does that mean that because my life with B took a higher priority than my Peace Corps plan that my dream--my passion--is lost? No. It just means that I have to look for my passion in other things. And that's okay.

As long as I'm passionate ;)

Craft Time: Red & Turquoise

2010-08-23T12:01:00.009-04:00

I got a little carried away with kitchen decorations this week. It was my only week at home without having classes, and it was wonderful. Plus a little IKEAing didn't help with my decoration overload. I found this lazy susan at IKEA some months ago. I love it, but it's brown. Our kitchen is all red, turquoise, and black. So, of course, throwing a brown lazy susan on the middle of the table wouldn't have been too pretty.

But, with $4 in paint, some tape, some sandpaper, and two 59cent foam brushes, it went from this...

To this...

And suddenly it matched!

But I couldn't stop there. Oh no sirree. By then, I was thoroughly enjoying the painting process. At this point in the decorating, I should have put more thought into it. But, instead my thought process went a lot like this: I want to paint something else. I already have the paint. I can't buy anything else right now. Hey, how about painting on some sketchbook paper? Could I find 8.5x8.5 frames? It didn't matter. There was no stopping me.

I spent a little bit of time searching "red and turquoise" online, and found a few prints/paintings and used them to imitate my own on paper. With the paint. (imitating here and here, but only using simple specific colors). I came up with these:

Where I go from here, I don't know. I have two options for displaying these (assuming I can find frames to fit them) and both include at least one more painting. I could do two more paintings, both with black backgrounds, and go with one of these hanging situations:

OR.

I could buy this really awesome red shelf from IKEA, do one more painting with the black background and both red and turquoise in it, and set the three paintings on the self (below) and just hope that it fits in our house...which we don't have yet.

Decisions decisions!

Someone should really hide the red and turquoise paint from me.

One Bahama Mama, Please!

2010-08-15T18:26:00.011-04:00

The honeymoon was wonderful. Although we didn't sail right into the middle of Tropical Storm Colin, we were awarded three days of the rain caused by him (added to the list of names I dislike: Colin). But, the last two days of our cruise (in Nassau and at sea) were hot, sunny, and perfect!

I'd love to show you some pictures of the boat. But I'm legally bound not to. But, I like to think we are prettier than architectual structures anyway...so here is some of what we did!

We sat in the window of our room and watched the rain. For two days.

We drank incredibly strong daquiris out of carved coconuts on the beach under the storm clouds. On the third day.

We took pictures of our feet (mine are the brown ones. what can I say, I married a white boy).

We wrote cheesy love letters to each other in the sand. On the fourth day. The one where the sun existed.

We stopped by Oprah's to say "What up, Oprah."

We built a crocodile.

We visited the straw market and saw more knock-off bags in one are than anywhere else in the world. I have never been called "pretty lady" so many times in my life.

We watched Dion, whose address on his business card is "on the sidewalk outside the straw market," paint this. And then bought it.

We took pictures of unsuspecting locals...

...random ship parts...

...cheesy poses of ourselves...

...and gorgeous sunsets.

We finally got some sun on our last day at sea, which made me super happy!

The cruise experience was different. I've been fortunate enough to have been able to experience many different "types" of vacations and, although the cruise was fun, it's really hard to top the all-inclusive resort.

The ship had 2600 people and one pool the size of the one in the backyard, so we only ended up using it once and that was just to cool off for a minute in the hot sun on the fifth day. I found myself wanting to jump off the boat multiple times in a non-titanic-suicidal fashion (which we, of course, took pictures of ourselves immitating), but because I really just wanted to swim! Plus, soft drinks weren't included...and that just seems odd to me.

It took hours (literally) to get on the boat the first day, and by the time we finally made it to our room we were starving and exhausted and couldn't decide which was more important, food or sleep. Getting off the boat was much much faster, which pleasantly surprised us! We were basically planning on missing our flight home because of a long debarkation process, and we were actually at the airport 2.5 hours early.

But, we enjoyed ourselves and the food in the dining rooms for dinner was absolutely fabulous. Lobster, steak, the best lasagna I've ever had, turkey...we even tried a little esgarot and discovered that it's really not half bad (as long as we don't have to pay for it :)].

We had a lovely honeymoon :)

Weather: It follows us.

2010-08-05T19:56:00.004-04:00

Lots has occurred this week, including but not limited to free new jukeboxes, broken car windows, expensive useless car parts, kickboxing mishaps in sporting good stores, and several finals. My last final is tomorrow, so Saturday will rock.

And that's not just because we're going to the Bahamas.

It's because we will be rocking from side to side in the middle of this:

Do you remember when my husband was chosen for training in DC, and the day they went DC began it's biggest snow storm on record?

Mother nature is pissed at us for something. It's definitely not legit though, I've planted flowers and we grow strawberries. Everyone loves strawberries.

A PCS full of PDQ's

2010-07-29T17:07:00.003-04:00

I suddenly realize I have no idea what PDQ stands for. Why does that knowledge not come to me?? But I meant it to say "lotso questions" so...we'll just pretend that's what it means. Mmkay? Mmkay.

But I actually could use some advice and answers from some of you lovely military wife bloggers.

This is our first PCS. We're headed to the other side of the country sometime this fall (waiting on date orders, supposedly they will arrive by the 2nd week in August at the latest). We had decided to do our own move instead of using the military movers, even if that does mean we have to pack our own crap. We have heard far too many horror stories about bad moving experiences and we trust ourselves more. Or, we prefer to blame ourselves instead of other people. Whichever.

So here are my questions:

Uhaul or Penske?
Where can we weigh the vehicle before/after packing?
If we do two partial moves instead of one full move, will AF pay to transport 2 vehicles (truck & car) each time?
If we decide to tow a vehicle the second time on a trailer, is it part of the after loading weigh or before loading weigh?
How long is it typically before the reimbursement will get to us from the AF?

I'm positive there were more questions than what I have listed here, but I can't for the life of me think of them right now.

Help please???

My Heaven

2010-07-22T14:49:00.004-04:00

This post is part of Writer's Workshop over at Mama's Losin' it.

Prompt: Post a picture and a description that fits into this quote for you: “How far to heaven? Just open your eyes and look. You are in heaven” -Shankar

I always love B. Even when I hate him I love him. B just being B is amazing to me. I mean really, we should get married or something ;)

But, B around kids is the epitome of love for me.

He's always been great with Brady, but I had never seen him around little babies before. Brady was almost a year old when he started coming around. But, this weekend we had two week old RJ here with us too. Although B declined to hold him on the excuse that he didn't want to break him, he put his finger in RJs hand and played with him while he was on my lap, even sticking the pacifier back in his mouth if he dropped it. We had the TV on, but B spent 90% of the time watching RJ instead. I never thought he'd be so smiley around such a tiny baby.

I just love my hubby.

And I love this picture of him and Brady with all my heart:

That's my heaven.

Smelly Fish, et al

2010-07-21T16:50:00.009-04:00

You know I only have one blog post for July? One? That's horrid.

I have definitely decided that if anyone ever tells you that they are planning on taking 10 credit hours full of literature and foreign language in one month, you should repeatedly smack them in the face with a smelly fish until they come to their senses. Logically speaking, I'm a pretty good student with a pretty good GPA and a fabulous knack for last minute papers full of nothing but well-phrased bs.

This summer month of classes is kicking my ass.

So here's a little post of what's been happening around here this month around classes and schoolwork:

Jess over at Jesstagirl and her Officer sent me these lovely peaches and cobbler mix for winning a give-away! I made the cobbler for July 4th and it was the easiest thing ever, and absolutely delicious! (Jess, I have a thank you card sitting on my desk stamped and ready to go for you...sans address, because I forgot to take it off the box before I tossed it. Please drop me an email and I'll send it out!)

We attended the last Brooks & Dunn tour :( B had a small conflict with the drunk idiots next to us, who thought it was okay to reach over and grab the back of my best friends shirt and attempt to dump alcohol down it. Uh uh, not cool--choice words were used and after awhile the drunkards decided weed was better and stopped talking to people around them. Concert was good, though.

We made the decision to stop "sharing" drinks with Brady. She now gets her own cup.

We discovered that 1lb of meat on Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza is about double as much as one can stand to eat.

And, lastly, we discovered that Brady's tendency to throw herself underwater last year at 18 months old in a 1 ft pool did not end last year. Now it's just in a bigger pool and with more emphasis. But at least she can swim!

I swear I'll be back soon!

Welcome, No. 6!

2010-07-08T20:51:00.005-04:00

Last friday morning I became an aunt for the sixth time! One might say that translates to me having wayyy too many siblings, and this is true, but really it's just exciting.

RJ. 6lbs 12.5oz.

The best part about it is Brady, who is a bit more rambunctious around him because people aren't just paying attention to her. Before she informed B that he was a "hot mess" and that she was "pissed" (seriously, I don't know where she gets this stuff!), and before she opened the gifts for "her" baby, her 2 year old self attempted to comprehend the baby situation. She knows babies come from mommy's bellies, but she doesn't really grasp the waiting period or the "they have to be pregnant" part. You know, 'cause she's two.

Brady: [pokes my stomach] "Where's my baby?"
Me: "I don't have a baby sweetheart"
Brady: "Oh, does Nana have it?"
Me: [through panes of laughter] "No honey, RJ is the only baby"
Brady: "Okay!"

...she accepted it and ran off to play. Gotta love kids :)

On a side, less exciting note...I started my 10 credits in 1 month classes this week and have been super busy so I apologize for not posting much now...or in the next few weeks.

Here, We Recept You.

2010-06-29T10:35:00.000-04:00

I may have been at a loss for a creative title here. Don't Judge.

Our Reception..

..these simply need no explanation :)

Do we look at the light or the box?

2010-06-28T10:14:00.001-04:00

At the wedding reception, we also had a photobooth. This was the one thing that I said "I want this" in our wedding. Everything else was a "what's the cheapest" kind of choice, but this was a necessity in my book. Why? Because it's awesome, that's why. And everyone loved it!

We had our fair share of awesome pictures from the booth. And "how many people can we fit in here" pictures. And "look at me, I'm 6 and I have a drink, haha" pictures. And "where do we look? did it take it?" pictures. And some "look how not pretty we can be" pictures that I ...may or may not have...taken part in...

And it was worth every penny.

Terrible Twos goes to a Wedding (Ceremony)

2010-06-27T09:48:00.000-04:00

This time, I have to tell this story with a little bit of a two year old who happened to hit her terrible twos on May 15th.

This little thing...

...was absolutely hilarious on the 14th at the rehearsal dinner (as you can see). Brady does very well in large groups of complete strangers, for whatever reason, and while practicing she "danced" down the aisle while shaking her butt and sticking her tongue out. I wouldn't have expected her to do anything else.

So on wedding day, after I made the mistake of feeding her basically nothing but fruit for breakfast, I made the girls be really quiet while we were getting ready at the house so Brady could get a long nap in before the ceremony. And she did. I want to say a good 3 hours. I mean, check out this bed head:

But, once we were at the church, Ms Thing refused to smile for anything. I was actually worried about our other flowergirl, who I would have bet my entire life savings on not smiling or walking down the aisle if her life depended on it. She did fine. Brady gave scowls in ever picture.

Or the "hand on the hip" move that says "why am I doing this?!"

But by the time the reception came, Ms Thing was sweet again and wanted nothing but to be with me. The conversation we had before this photo went a lot like this:
DJ: "Is she walking in with you or...?"
Me: "She's going in with the junior usher."
Brady: "Noooooo!"
Me: "Okay, she's going with us.

And then she gave up some kisses, while we were in the center of a gigantic circle...mind you...

But, even with her two-yr-old-ness, Brady was still amazing. And so was the ceremony.

The Details

2010-06-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

This is the first installment of our wedding photo series. Aren't you excited?!? No?! Well, I am, so suck it up and put a smile on ;)

Today, it's the details of the wedding. Somewhere along the way someone once told me to start small and build up. So I am. It definitely doesn't have anything to do with keeping you in suspense for the actual ceremony, receptions, etc. pictures. Definitely not.

I definitely also did not do a whole bunch of posts in one night and schedule them. No, I did not.

Oo Honeymoon!

2010-06-23T12:00:00.001-04:00

We booked our honeymoon a few weeks ago! Can you guess what we're doing? I'll give you one giant hint:

Oh gee, I'll just tell you. It's a Cruise! Haha. Ha. ....ha.

We're taking a cruise (Carnival, which probably is not what that ship above is from) from Florida to the Bahamas. It's 5 days (read: in our budget) and we dock at Nassau and Half Moon Cay (which is not on the below map).

We're going in August, leaving the day after my last summer class ends, and I'm ... incredibly excited. We're about to take off to the bitterly cold and boring west, so we decided to indulge in heat and a beach beforehand!

Definitely eager for this!

Commissioning Ceremony

2010-06-22T19:21:00.006-04:00

B's commissioning ceremony was perfect. My honey is officially a second lt in the air force! I'm not going to post too many pictures for privacy's sake, but there were a couple important ones that I wanted to share.

This one got me, and created a wave of tears down our aisle of B's family. He asked his dad to give him his first salute.

B's dad is a really good guy. I got really lucky with my in-laws. If I could pick another set of parents, it would be them.

And then we took a picture by the flags. We're such tourists.

Lastly, we left. After the ceremony, they lined up all the ROTC non-commissioned students on the walk way, forcing them to salute to all of the passing NEW 2nd Lt's. It was quite the ego boost.

All in all, it was a great ceremony!

National USAF Museum

2010-06-21T18:10:00.007-04:00

Last week, B decided he wanted to take Little Man to the National Museum of the Air Force. We live close enough to it to justify driving there and back in a day, and Little Man loves all things military...so off we went!

The boys had a great time. Little Man was so well behaved I felt like I should have video taped it. It was awesome. I also decided that "Little Man" is not an appropriate name for him anymore...as he's nearly as tall as B and taller than all the other kids in his class by a foot. But, he's still my little man so it's staying :)

The place was actually fairly gigantic, and free, and had planes from the first plane to the current planes. Even some german planes from WWII.

There was a cockpit to play in...

And a plane with a big nose...

Little Man really liked this one...

And B was annoyed that he couldn't pull this out of the side of one...

But, this one was my personal favorite...

This medal was outside the museum...

And of course we drove past Terminator Jesus, so that had to make it in.

It was awesome.

No Pictures

2010-06-18T23:04:00.003-04:00

I have so much to blog about, and so little ambition. I don't even have a picture for this post because I just bought a new computer and there are no pictures on it yet. And I hate pictureless posts. But, apparently transferring my iTunes was higher up in importance to me due to the three computers that are currently adorning this desk.

Coming up in the land of whenever-via-finds-ambition:

-B's commissioning
-National AF Museum
-Computer shopping
-Professional wedding photos (mini-series)
-wedding scrapbooking
-our [booked] honeymoon

Hopefully I'll find my ambition soon before this list becomes too ridiculous!

Touchdown Jesus=Terminator Jesus (Follow Up)

2010-06-15T21:58:00.004-04:00

One more thing, and I swear I'll shut up about this. But I just find this ridiculous and slightly hilarious. And we're going to drive by it tomorrow so I have to follow it. Of course.

Touchdown Jesus has now been renamed Terminator Jesus.

See progression:

Photos courtesy MailOnline (UK)

Touchdown Jesus Burned Down

2010-06-15T11:18:00.004-04:00

B's commissioning was great, and I was going to make a post about it today...but I feel that Touchdown Jesus needs a little tribute today.

We had some serious storms roll through here last night. And, about an hour from here, there is a giant Jesus statue locally known (and wikipedia-known) as "Touchdown Jesus." 6 stories high, you can see it from the highway.

Last night, it's right hand was struck by lightning and it burned to the ground :(

It even got it's own youtube video.

Things just won't be the same without Touchdown Jesus :(

Commissioning: What to Wear?

2010-06-11T13:29:00.005-04:00

I'm roping you all in for help on this! On Sunday, the hubs is commissioning! It's really exciting for him, and I'm excited for him as well!

However, he knows what to wear ;) I don't. I asked one of our friends fiance what she was planning on wearing, and I quote "I went last year and most of the girlfriends had cute little sundresses on." This doesn't suprise me, because it's going to be in the 90's on Sunday (and raining, but we're pretending like that's not happening). So I went with this idea...and hope that the regulations for wife and girlfriend aren't different.

I actually planned on wearing a dress I already owned. But, apparently, "B has an air force event" really means "Via needs a new dress" to me...because I went to Kohl's for some shorts yesterday and after multiple hours, three cities, and two states I came home with two dresses and no shorts. And I might still end up wearing the one I already owned.

And now I can't decide which one to wear....which one do YOU think?

1.

2.

3.

Mission: Avocado

2010-06-09T13:13:00.003-04:00

Here in the last few months, my face has suddenly decided that it wants to be 15. Which is especially annoying because...well, it didn't act this way when it was 15. I mean, logically speaking, it's not horrible...but it's been better.

A few weeks ago I was talking to my best friend and she suggested eating an avocado everyday. The same week, randomly, one of my co-workers mentioned that he eats a lot of avocadoes and that's why his hair was so soft. So I thought hey...why not?

And I bought an avocado.

And it tasted like crap.

I tried to add salt and pepper. No luck. Honestly the first...five-ish bites weren't that bad. But after that I just couldn't go on. But, in an attempt to force myself to like avocado, I continued with my quest.

I moved on to avocado smoothies.

This seemed like a fabulous idea. I could cover up the avocado and taste something I actually liked, and just drink it so I didn't have to taste the weird consistency. I tried an apple avocado smoothie first (apple+1/2avo+applejuice+ice+mint). Failure. Then I went for the banana smoothie (bananer+1/2avo+nutmeg+cinnamon+milk+orangejuice). This one wasn't horrible...for the first few swigs.

It seems that during this process I forgot something crucial: I don't like smoothies.

However, I refuse to give up. I will make something with the stupid avocado and be healthy was shiny hair and a pretty face.

I will.

How All Great Divorces Start

2010-06-01T09:59:00.003-04:00

"Stop bouncing on my head!"
"You're in my way!"

"I'm dead."
"Serves you right."
"You knocked me off!"
"I did not! You body slammed me!"
"No I didn't!"
"Well I didn't body slam myself!"

"I want the mushroom!"
"You already have the penguin!"
"So?!"

"Thanks!"
"What?! It's not my fault you suck."
"I don't suck, I'm sacrificing myself for you."
"Jumping into a puffer fish does not count as sacrificing."
"You lived!"
"I didn't jump on the fish!"
"We all know it was sacrificial."
"Just because you're in denial of your suckiness doesn't mean it's not true."

....with just another night of Super Mario Bros.

Tuesday Tribute: Memorial Day Edition

2010-05-31T09:49:00.001-04:00

Two great charities have come to my attention this week as Memorial Day was creeping around the corner, and I decided that would be perfect for a Tuesday Tribute...on Memorial Day...on a Monday.. ;)

The first is an organization called Fisher House.

Fisher House was created in 1990 to help military families in need. Because many military members must travel great distances for specialized medical care, these houses were created to keep their families close. These homes (45 currently) are built on many major medical military bases(18) and VA medical centers (15)both here and abroad. The goal of Fisher House is to keep families together during the incredibly stressful time of injury recovery, and the family never pays to stay. Each house has 8 to 21 suites and can accomodate 16 to 42 family members.

Since 1990, Fisher House has served more than 130,000 families for over 3 MILLION days and has saved families over $150 MILLION in lodging and transporation costs. They have provided 19,000 air tickets to family members and almost $7.5 MILLION in scholarships to military children. It's definitely a charity worth standing behind. Even Obama agrees--he donated $250,000 of his Nobel Peace Prize earnings to this fabulous organization!

The second charity that I just came to know about today is a charity called the Wounded Warrior Project.

WWP is a much smaller scale charity, but is fabulous in it's own right as it is just growing. The mission of WWP is to "honor and empower wounded warriors." They offer physical and mental help to those who are wounded and their families, and dispense backpacks with some essentials bedside to those wounded. These backpacks contain such things as clothing, toiletries, calling cards, and playing cards. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this charity grows!

Hope you take a moment of your day today to remember the heroic men and women who gave their lives for us, and to take a look at these great groups who are working to help the heroes who made it home.

On Names

2010-05-27T10:43:00.003-04:00

I love names. Names make me super happy. It's like a mini-obsession. The best thing about new babies are their names. I will watch A Baby Story and Bringing Home Baby just long enough to find out what the baby's name is, and then I turn it off. Naturally, whenever I find out one of my friends or relatives is pregnant, my first question is "what are you going to name it?" Due dates are unimportant. I want names. And my 3 pregnant sister-in-laws are not calming my name obsession at all...I want to know the names of my nieces/nephews #6, 7, and 8.

Naturally, our children already have names. That's not to say they won't change, but I named my kids years ago. The boy name did change when B and I got together, because he has a number behind his name and he wants to keep that tradition alive. This didn't bother me too much, because he happens to have the same first name that I was planning on using anyway ;) However, we're still arguing about what we're going to call him as a nickname.

But, since I love names, I write some down when I come across ones I really like.
I decided a long time ago that I didn't like really common names. I'm not a fan of names that every 5th child has. But, I'm also not a fan of names that are so out there that you can't pronounce them. I'm more apt to choose boy names that are common rather than girl names. And I can't get behind "Imogen." Ever. But I love this awesome baby names blog.

Our daughter does already have a name. But things are subject to change due to name popularity. Her middle name is after my grandmother, and starts with M. That won't change. Until probably...oh, three years ago...Olivia was my favorite girls name. I was probably 7 years old when I made that decision--seriously, my mom can attest to that. My kids have been named since then. I still love it, but it's in the top 3 girls names this year and has been in the top 10 the last three years. Therefore it's been indefinitely demoted. I want my kid to feel like I put some kind of effort into her name.

Some that I love for the girls (save my absolute favorite, because I'm stingey like that):

Aspen, Sylvia, Chandler, Chaney, Cambrie, Maya, Lorelei, Leah, Finley, Anabel, Addison, Adrienne, Makaia, Grace/Greyson, Ava, Eden, Gianna, Farrah, Vaida, Tessa

Some that I love for boys (irrelevent unless we have two boys, because he's already named, but it doesn't mean I don't love the names anyway!):

Luca/Lucas, Caleb, Liam, Joshua, Joel, Jonah, Julian, Everett, Beckett, Garrett, Anthony, Jude/Judah, Emmett

Lucas and Liam have always been my favorite. Liam is what I'm fighting for as a nickname. Lucas I love...but it really doesn't sound very good with our last name :( B loves it too.

Maybe we'll just change our last name ;)

Post Wedding Chop

2010-05-26T16:13:00.005-04:00

With my hair, I have a pattern. I grow it out until it's long enough to donate, cut it, then grow it out (rinse, lather, repeat). But this year I didn't cut it when it got long enough because I knew I'd regret not having long hair for the wedding.

But, the 10 minutes it took to dry it and the fact that it was getting just too long to be manageable won out immediately after the wedding.

So after this hair:

It went from this length:

To this length:

I'm not sure if I like it or not, but it's WAYY cooler. And I appreciate that I can drive with my windows down in my A/C-less vehicle and all I have to do to fix it when I get out is ran my hand through the part. Love that little detail.

There's a Tornado! [Just Kidding!]

2010-05-22T09:44:00.004-04:00

A couple years ago, the way tornado sirens worked around here changed. I don't know if it's just my state or if it was the entire country, but it changed.

Before, when a tornado siren went off, it was a tornado warning. Tornado warning meant there was a minimum of a funnel cloud hovering in the sky. However, now the sirens go off when we have a thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch. They say this means conditions are favorable for a tornado.

What this really does is a modern day version of crying wolf. When I hear a tornado siren, I want it to mean I have to run for my life. I don't want a "maybe."

Yesterday our sirens went off, we were all sitting up stairs, and our first move was to just turn the TV on because it was probably just a watch with a thunderstorm warning. It took us ten minutes to figure out that it was actually a tornado warning (meaning a likely % for tornadoes, and not actually a funnel cloud anymore).

Good thing there wasn't a tornado, because we would have died sitting up stairs trying to figure out what the siren meant.

No good!

Tales from the Land of Mrs.

2010-05-19T15:30:00.006-04:00

Well, we finally made it down the aisle! Saturday was an absolutely perfect day--the only day out of the last ten--and counting--that it has NOT rained! It was sunny throughout the day and overcast for the ceremony and photos (overcast is perfect for photos!) and after our rehearsal dinner and the fireworks show the night before, we just couldn't have asked for anything better!

The ceremony went very well. All of our services for the ceremony and the reception were perfect and amazing! Except for the woman who did our ceremony music...she was pretty horrible...but we didn't really care that much ;) All the kids in the wedding did great! I was a little worried about our older flower girl (who is 3) because she was in B's sister's wedding last year and she didn't walk down the aisle. Not only did she walk, but she smiled for pictures. Brady, however, was a being a complete terrible-2's turd all day and smiled for nothing. BUT, she walked down the aisle too--and even held hands with the other girl all the way down!

I don't have many of the professional photos back yet, obviously, but will post with them as they start rolling in ;)

We have a couple candids that I love from our friends:

I love this one because we weren't posed. We were just genuinely happy and smiling together. This was at the reception, right before we were announced and we danced in under the saber arch. Brady, obviously, was displeased with the amount of noise coming from the room we were about to walk into. (sorry about the small pic size! I edited it in flickr, and couldn't figure out how to get it back off any bigger!)

And, of course, the cake!

For the record we did not smash it in each others faces. But we thought somebody needed to have cake on their face, so our maid of honour, matron of honour, and both best men got a nice face full ;)

B moved in here (with our PCS coming up so soon, we can't justify an apartment), and was awarded 1/4 of my closet--I have a lot more clothes than I thought I did haha! So far, married life has been great. There are a few adjustments that will happen with time, for example the "scoot over, you're totally on my side" "I'm about to fall off the edge!" "you're two feet from the edge!" "am not!" sleeping adjustment. But, we're pretty frickin' happy despite the normal hiccups!

And it'll only get better!

To those of you who just found me from the bloghop link: hi! Great to meet you! I'll be stopping by your blogs as well ;)

Perfect

2010-05-15T00:16:00.003-04:00

Our wedding rehearsal ran very well. I do, however, fully expect Brady to dance down the aisle in her flowergirl outfit sticking her tongue out until she gets to B at the end and forces him to pick her up ;) True Brady style right there!

You won't see another picture or post from me for a few days. We aren't honeymooning right away, but will not be internetting for a couple days either!

But, I wanted to take this minute to show you one picture from this absolute perfect night.

Our rehearsal dinner was on the river, and the restaurant happened to be right across from the ballfield, where our team had a game and they just happened to have planned an amazing fireworks show afterwards.

Absolutely perfect.

Tomorrow...

2010-05-14T09:07:00.003-04:00

...we're getting married!

Three Days Away!

2010-05-12T12:16:00.005-04:00

First, to all those wedding planning books that say "don't try to do anything else while you're planning a wedding, it won't work," I'm here to tell you that you are crazy. One can work, be a full-time student, teach, blog, write, read, AND plan a wedding. And be successful at all of it. So booya.

Really, I'm just excited about these grades! I haven't had straight A's for years and years, since probably my junior or sophomore year in high school! I'm also fully aware of how horrible I am at foreign languages, so that A- in Spanish made me downright giddy.

And our wedding is 3 days away! At the moment, the only day it's not supposed to rain in the next 7 days is Saturday...hopefully it will stay that way! It's pouring out right now; flash flood warnings everywhere. It's so dark out that I had to force my brain to accept the fact that it was morning when I woke up.

Here's hoping for a dry wedding day!

The Weekend Before

2010-05-10T12:19:00.004-04:00

We are getting married in 5 days. 5 days. Crazy!

So, with this being our last "single" weekend we, of course, spent most of it together.

Friday it was gorgeous out. 85 degrees. It went straight from winter to summer. Our plants around here were looking gorgeous...

B's best man, Eric, came in from Florida on Thursday, so we all went fishing on Friday afternoon. I caught 2 fish (and a tree), Eric caught 2 fish (and 2 trees), and B...caught nothing. We threw them back, of course, because...well, I wasn't touching them. ;) And, with my dress being strapless, I had to remove the straps from my shirt while we were out there to avoid tan lines. I actually brought sunscreen for my face but didn't use it. Face didn't get burnt, but my shoulders did!

Saturday was our "apart" day, I suppose. I worked and cleaned, and B went out for his bachelor party (You'll remember that I had mine back in March).

Sunday we went to my uncle's for mother's day events. There were probably a good 10 dogs there. They only own two--apparently it's the new cool thing to bring your dogs with you to other people's houses? Don't get me wrong...I love dogs (really, we go to adoption events all the time...it's ridiculous) but...I wouldn't bring Chase over for Mother's Day Dinner?

It was 35 degrees on Saturday night. 85 Friday, 35 Saturday. Someone should get our country some bi-polar medication.

I'm also trying to keep up with the weather forcast for Saturday! It was supposed to rain tuesday until the end of time, but at the current moment it's supposed to be 72 and partly cloudy on Saturday (after four days of rain) so...cross your fingers!

Nobody Loves Ya Like Ya Mum!

2010-05-09T12:13:00.006-04:00

Do you remember this song? I don't have any idea where I heard it a few years ago, but I always end up with it stuck in my head around mothers day.

"Nobody ever loves ya like ya mum!
Everything we owe we owe to mum!
Even when she whacks ya on the bum!
Mum's the word and so the word is mum!
That's me mum!"

Well, my mom is pretty awesome. I can't tell you how awesome she is, because this post would never end. She raised me mostly as a single parent, she was there for every important moment in my life and has informed me that she will be invading every important moment in my life to come ;) She's a cancer survivor, a freaking awesome hostess, an amazing Nana, a kickass daughter, a caring sister, and a wonderful best friend.

She's my Mum. And I couldn't ask for any better.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

The Coming and Going of April 30th

2010-05-03T15:34:00.005-04:00

Our RSVP date was April 30th. We sent out invites out the second week of March.

I mean really guys, it's a pre-stamped envelope.

But, since it's costing us approx. $26 a person for the reception, we just don't like anyone on our list enough to say "well, we'll just put you down as 2 incase you come." So thank you, telephone and facebook and email, for providing me a way to track down all those losers who failed to RSVP. ;)

The good news is, however, that we had more people than we expected who are not coming. Since our hall holds 280, and we invited 350, we were really hoping for such an event to occur. Plus, it let me invite a couple more people that I really wanted to invite previously but couldn't. Win/win.

Also, conversations for (light) thought:

Last week, I had an incredibly strange dream about swimming 30 miles down the highway. No, not driving through water...swimmming. And then all the highways in the surrounding states flooded this week, so I took that as a sign that I have psychic dreams. (Of course, I mean...who wouldn't).

Me: "My swimming down the highway dreams must have been predicting the flooded highways!"
B: "Awesome! Next time, dream about swimming through money."

Mmhmm. That's my honey, always thinking.

Also this week, one of my uncles got himself a pair of dentures. I was not around for when this occurred, but that did not stop it from being funny. It appears that his wife saw his dentures laying out after he cleaned them, gave them a funny look and then announced:

"I just wonder where they got the teeth to make them."

...I would also like to take this opportunity to point out that she was married in.

In 2 days, our wedding will be in the scope of the weather.com forecast!

MilSpouse Blog Hop!

2010-04-30T16:22:00.010-04:00

I love bloghops, don't you? They let you find so many people that you have so much in common with that you would never find otherwise. It's just great. Kumbaya, bloghop, kumbaya.

This particular bloghop is for MilSpouses and comes from...

And I'm cheating a little (I can only hit you guys with so many bloghop posts a month, but I love finding new blogs to love!) and adding this to the bloghop here:

Now to my mini-bio!

I'm not actually a MilSpouse yet, but I will be in 2 weeks! And one day, but I'm not counting that day...because I don't want to and I can do what I want...right? ;)

My fiance, B, is commissioning from an ROTC program as a 2nd Lt in the Air Force in June. Our first PCS is in Middleofnowhere, Western USA. True fact. Really. Well, it's actually in the cornerofnowhere, but that's besides the point.

I'm a multi-year senior in University intending on a bachelor's in Secondary English Education. I love to travel, if just for the weekend or for months at a time in other countries. We're outdoors-y people, and we camp and boat often in the summers.

We love dogs, and will go to adoption events even though we know better than to get one right now. I have a dog, Chase, but he is staying here when we PCS. I have a seriously hard time not laughing in posed pictures--pretty sure I'm incapable of it. I photograph everything, sometimes I even get a good shot. DIY home crafts make me gitty. I bake and write. Sometimes I even write about baking. I also believe that the world would be a better place if Marisa de los Santos would crank out another novel and Boy Meets World would release all it's seasons on DVD. I am a philanthropist for a billion things--mostly involving women and kids--and I never make the decision on where we are eating dinner.

I actually joined Blogger to "meet" other military wives before B and I were even engaged. We were one of those gag couples that knew very early on that we were in it for the longhaul, and I wanted to know more about the life of the military wife. I found it, and I absolutely love learning more and more so I'd love to hear from you all!

Thanks for stopping by, and head on over to these blogs if you want to join in on the fun!

Tuesday Tribute: Me to We

2010-04-27T11:00:00.004-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I had the honour of meeting an amazing young man named Michel Chikwanine(chick-wah-nee-nay), and hearing him speak to a group of college students.

I've never met anyone quite like Michel. He grew up in the Republic of Congo, and at 5 years old was kidnapped and made into a child soldier. He was able to escape his captors, but only to go home where a few years later rebels broke into his home and forced him to watch at his mother and sisters were gang raped. The family managed to escape Congo and made it to a refugee camp in Uganda, and Michel and his mother eventually made it to Canada--one of his sisters and father were killed during this process.
This is definitely not the end or all of Michel's story, and the way he has handled it with such maturity is amazing to me. Especially because, at the end of his speech, a student raised his hand and asked "Is the War in Africa still going on?"
This astounded me. Sometimes I forget that not all young people have a connection to the world outside of their own--not all young people frequent CNN or watch the nightly news. But, the War in Africa, since 1994, has killed more people than WWI and WWII combined...and I feel that it is necessary for everyone to know about it.

Michel travels and shares his story with people all over the world with a group called Me to We.

Me to We offers leadership programs, volunteer trips to Kenya, India, Mexico, Educador, China and even Arizona, tour inspirational speakers to education people about particular world matters and even overcoming difficult obsticles. And they do all this while making the environmental carbon impact as low as possible. They also sell organic and donate one tee shirt (or one book, depending on what you buy) for every one tee shirt purchased.

But, the best thing about Me to We is that they donate 50% of their profits to Free the Children.

What is Free the Children, you ask? Well, you'll just have to wait for the next Tuesday Tribute :)

But, if you want to here a little bit of how Michel delivers his amazing inspiration...

This is Me

2010-04-21T09:40:00.004-04:00

This is me worn out, tired, coughing, sneezing, on allergy meds, busy writing papers, in the final weeks of the semester, close to finals, three weeks from a wedding, working like crazy, the day before a twelve hour workday, wanting to post a Tuesday Tribute but not, making a post without even one picture, worried about switching health insurance/car insurance/cell phones, worried about taxes, worried about summer income, worried about summer classes, worried that I didn't know the word "preocupado" in spanish meant "worried" until yesterday when I should have known that months ago, living off mountain dew, nervous about the caffeine intake vs. my heart, running out of time, and out of energy.

It's not always roses and sunflowers. I feel like that is masked too much in the blog world. So, I just unmasked it. Sometimes life is just plain nuts.

Nashville: Where they keep the horse caves.

2010-04-19T11:37:00.009-04:00

B and I often have conversations about the smallest things that go on way longer than they ever should. So, when we were driving through Kentucky on our way to Nashville, we passed a sign for Horse Cave...

Me: "Hmm. Horse cave honey, should we go?"
B: "I wonder if it's a cave shaped like a horse of a cave big enough to fit a horse in?"
Me: "I'm wondering if it's an actual cave or if it's the name of the city."
B: "It might be the name of the city, but I bet there was at one point a cave called Horse Cave there."
Me: "Probably!"
B: "Maybe that's just what they call barns."

Hahahaha. So now everytime we pass a barn, we go "Look! A horse cave!"

Anyway...to Nashville!

We stayed in a pretty nice hotel across the street from Opryland, about a mile from Opry Mills mall. So, of course, our first order of business was shopping! We met this 'little' guy in bass pro...

But Friday night we headed downtown to BB Kings Blues Club, which is an absolutely amazing place. B loved it too!

Then dropped into the "world famous" Wildhorse Saloon!

Saturday we ate lunch at the Aquarium restaurant in Opry Mills

Then headed down the Centennial Park, where we discovered a huge earth day festival. But, we were really there to see the worlds only replica of the Parthenon! Which is amazing! Did I ever tell you I have a tattoo that says "Athena" in ancient greek? Because I do. Parthenon=rocks.

And, all in all, it was a great weekend! Definitely well spent :)

Again, I'm still without backlight, so I apologize if I have a billion typos or these pictures suck a lot. I can't see them haha! It's definitely new computer time for me!

Done, Check, Next?

2010-04-14T12:52:00.005-04:00

Things have been super busy around here, and I know I haven't done an update post on the wedding plans for awhile. I will say, though, planning a wedding takes a lot more effort than I ever would have imagined.

And can I just say that I don't understand why people think I should be nervous? Every time people ask when the wedding is, I say "about a month away now," and they immediately go "Ooo, close. Are you getting nervous?" No. I'm not nervous. I'm marrying my best friend. Why the crap would I be nervous? But, I usually take the polite way out and answer with a "no, I don't have time to be nervous!" Which is true!

The only thing I'm really nervous about at all is that I'm not going to be the one in charge. I know that sounds "i'm a control freak"-ish, but I trust myself to do things more than I trust others to do things haha! B is always saying "I can help you with stuff!" but...well, I mean when we did the save the dates I had him put a few of the mailing address labels on the envelopes, and they were so sideways that "straight" wasn't even in it's vocabulary. So, I'm like "hmm, thanks baby, but uh...I'm doing fine" haha. The biggest reason I like to do everything myself is mostly because if I screw it up, I can only blame myself. I can get over blaming myself a lot quicker than someone else screwing it up. I know, I'm nuts.

So what has gotten done lately?

The girls flowers as well as ordering the flowers for the church.

Favors and Pew Bows.

Hair picked, and trial run done (PS. This girl is not me, just FYI. I showed this to my Grandma and said "this is how I'm doing my hair for the wedding." She said "I like that. Your face isn't going to look like this, is it?" I replied, lovingly, with "No gram, I think I'll wear my own face that day.")

All reception songs chosen.
All readings chosen.
All readers chosen, notified, accepted.
All bridal party gifts purchased.
Pre-Cana attended.
FOCCUS meeting with priest accomplished.
B's passport attained.
Rehearsal dinner booked and invites sent out.

Up next:
Meeting with the music lady at the church.
Obtain marriage license.
Meet with wedding coordinator at church.
Construct programs for ceremony.
Purchase/Choose parent gifts (Any ideas here?)
Finalize things with photographer and DJ.
Pay remainder for photobooth.
Purchase video camera.
And have final two dress fittings. I was supposed to go to the "month before" fitting today, but the seamstress called and I guess something happened involving her car, purse, and store keys so it's rescheduled for tomorrow!

Phew!

Also, I apologize for any ridiculous typos in this entry! The backlight on my computer went out, so I'm using a desklamp to see the screen and it's not working too well! It's a really funny sight to see, though! ;)

From Monday to Nashville

2010-04-13T23:43:00.004-04:00

This Monday, B and I both had the day off. No work, no classes. It was lucky, and it was great. So, we went kayaking...

...and then we went hiking...

...and then I bought a bajillion $$ worth of allergy medicine.

And Monday night my mom and I took the rare opportunity to go out to dinner together "wherever the hell we want to go" (her words), so we chose Chili's. There isn't a Chili's close to our house, so we drove a little ways and lived out our plan: get one appetizer and split it, and then eat an entire Molten Chocolate Cake as our main course with a cocktail on the side. If you have not had this cake, you are like missing the sunrise your entire life--it's that amazing.

And this weekend, we are taking an impromptu trip to Nashville! Really. I haven't even found or booked a hotel for us yet! Anyone else going to be around there this weekend?

Wild horse saloon? BB Kings? Here we come!

Oh! And did I mention that Cabbage let me get some seriously adorable shots of her this Easter? I haven't had a good shot of her since...last fall I think...when she flicked off my camera with a laugh.

I did NOT see that coming.

2010-04-08T14:04:00.004-04:00

Since we are getting married in 37 days, I thought it would probably be a good idea for us to pick our songs, readings, readers, etc. Seems like a plausible, yet procrastinative, and reason to make up some wordage idea.

I picked "Daddy's Angel" by T Carter Music for my biological father. Nice, but doesn't say anything like "when I taught you to ride a bike" or "sang you to bed every night," but it will also keep me from having to hear about it for the rest of my life. Win/win.

B's mom picked "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts for them. The song I WOULD have chosen for my bio-daddy had she not beaten me to the punch.

But, I was having a really hard time with the song for my stepdad. He's not a sappy dude, he's a funny dude, but I wanted him to know that I love him...so it wasn't easy.

I eventually narrowed it down to two songs: "Daughter" by Loudon Wainwright, and "He Didn't Have to Be" by Brad Paisley. Still couldn't decide. So I gave him the two songs, and told him to pick.

This is what he picks....

...okay then, dad! Lion King it is! Weirdo ;)

I'd like to thank...

2010-04-03T23:19:00.006-04:00

G.I. Joe's Wife and Mrs. Sergeant for these lovely awards! ...back in February, that I am just getting too. Thanks ladies!

The rules are:
1. Thank and link to the person that gave you the award.
2. Pass this award on to 15 bloggers you’ve recently discovered and whom you think are fantastic.
3. Contact said Blogs and let them know they've won
4. State 7 things about yourself

New bloggers of greatness that shall be receiving this award are:

G.I. Joe's Wife
Me, Him and the Army
Diary of an Air Force Wife
Scatterbrained Frame of Mind

7 things about me:

1. I LOVE Horizon Organic vanilla low-fat milk. The fact that our local grocery chain has just started carrying it in individual boxes makes me giddy.
2. I'm a sucker for heartfelt cards and letters. Not so much for cheesy lines.
3. I really miss working at a bookstore, because I did 98% of my reading in those days while I was there.
4. Finding/using a good pen makes my whole week.
5. Pepsi is way better than Coke.
6. Nights when all the windows in the house are left open are my favorite. I love to hear the sounds from outside in the evening and morning.
7. The One Tree Hill soundtracks have provided me with 90% of my favorite music over the past four years. And I don't even watch the show anymore.

Rules
1. Post where you want to be in 10 years
2. Pass it on to 10 of your bloggy friends!

In ten years, I hope to have two beautiful children and be living somewhere warm. Or, at least, south of the horizontal line that we can't seem to get off of. Maybe Europe, maybe Hawaii. We will see! And I'll be teaching, of course, but that's a given. I hope to be actively, highly, involved in some kind of charitable organization in support of one of the billion things I love to support. I plan to be disaster-relief trained by the red cross for house fires and natural disaster readiness. And I'll be loving my life!

Lucky loves receiving:

Mrs. Sergeant
jesstagirl and her officer
New Girl on Post
Sgt and Mrs. Hub
That [Officers] Wife

Thanks again ladies!

I Wanna Be MADE.

2010-03-23T10:40:00.011-04:00

This post is part of Writer's Workshop at Mama Kat's Losin' It!

When I saw this prompt this week, I knew I couldn't pass it up. I had an encounter with MADE. And I was not in high school. How, you ask?

Pfft.

Since I was little, all I wanted to do was gymnastics. My grandma taught me how to do a cartwheel when I was five and it was all downhill from there. My father always wanted a son sports star, but he was stuck with a girl so he pushed me into every sport imaginable. I played soccer, softball, basketball, volleyball, and random other things on occasion. I did dance once on my own accord, and quit after a few weeks--rhythm is something I don't have.

But damn did I have good balance.

We built our own house (literally...my dad, mom, uncles, grandpa built the house) in the mid-90's, and for a long time the basement was unfinished. It was just concrete with a few poles, and a washer and dryer. And a pile of nice, smooth, long, skinny pieces of wood.

Welcome to the birth of the homemade balance beam. It was amazing, and I can't tell you how many cartwheels I did on that ridiculously unstable board, and I (almost) always stayed on it. Balance beam was my event--I could out-trick any kid my age on that thing.

Except I never got to take gymnastics.

I did once, with girl scouts, a few years before that. It was a week-long "camp." But gymnastics was too expensive and too risky and too non-boyish, and how could I possibly have time to do that when I was playing 4 other sports?

But I watched the olympic gymnastics faithfully, and as long as I can remember Dominique Moceanu has been my sports hero. I just settled for the homemade balance beam in my basement, the backyard cartwheels, roundoffs, and back bends, and the front tucks on the trampoline.

So when MADE came on, I held onto my dream. I said "hey, if that tomboy can be made into a pageant queen, then I could certainly be made into a gymnast." So I watched, hoping some mind-reader would eventually show up at my door and tell me that I was about to be MADE into a gymnast.

I guess all the mind-readers were on vacation, because that never happened. But early on in college, MADE came up with a new website. I think it was iwannabemade.com. I got on it and played around for awhile, and then grew some balls and submitted my story about wanting to be made into a gymnast.

A few weeks later, I was seriously surprised to see an email in my inbox from MTV. No, not one of those automated "thank you for your story" emails, no. That would be lame and I would not tell you about it. No. This email said "We are very interested in your story. Please tell us this this and this and we will get back to you about filming. We'd like to film and air your MADE story in the 2007 season. Thanks, MTV."

Or something like that.

I was floored. I said, "they WHAAA?!" and then I never emailed them back. Because I was in college. And too cool for MTV MADE.

We won't talk about the cartwheel I may or may not have done in the middle of work the other day. No, we won't.

Sure, I'll Hand-Cancel 162 Envelopes

2010-03-17T22:46:00.007-04:00

Any guesses as to what we've spent our entire week doing?

...any guesses as to what headed to a million different states and two countries today? ;D

In other news...I've decided that no one is pretty when they yawn. Really. Even babies. Even Brady looked like a small lion when she yawned as an infant...and she was normally pretty ;)

Lastly, a friend of mine just found out on Monday that she was selected to travel to the Republic of Congo for a missions trip. I'm trying really hard to be excited for her, but really I'm just deathly worried. I know this is hypocritical, since I dropped myself into Kenya in the middle of a genocide...but the war in Congo, it's just different. I remember saying a few years ago, "There are a lot of dangerous places I'd go but, as a woman, I would never go to Congo." It's not changed. I don't know why I know stuff like this, but if it's a country in Africa I'm pretty familiar with what's going on. Those of you who are not aware of the issues in Congo, do just the tiniest bit of research and find out. It's not good, and it's not changing--it's kind of being ignored, and that's really sad. I'm super worried for Tiff, but glad she has the guts to go.

I'll post about the bridalshower(s) gift explosion in our living room soon.

Moovin' Monday - Week 3

2010-03-15T23:17:00.002-04:00

Hosted by Casey @ Ever Changing Life!

I promised to get this in on Monday, and I still have 27 minutes to do that :)

The requirements:
1. No fast food.
2. Work out 3 times.
3. Post/link up on Mondays.

Well, I worked out twice: tennis with a racquetball with Little Man (trust me, 9 year olds planning tennis create an instant workout), and a fun 1am spontaneous 400 crunches/50 situps/10 pushups workout). As far as the fast food...well, technically I think I lost that this week. I had a kids hotdog meal at Target the other day. But none other than that!

Sorry this isn't longer and more detailed, but this is the first time I've spent 5 minutes NOT working on something all day! And I'm exhausted, so I'm headed to bed!

No serious plans for this week as far as Moovin' March is concerned, but I did just turn down an offer for Abby's and made fettucini alfredo instead. Things are looking up ;D

Okay, who's sleeping on the top bunk?

2010-03-11T14:04:00.010-05:00

Most people have their bachelorette party at a bar...or a collection of bars...but, then again, I've never claimed to be 'most people.' Nor have I ever claimed to enjoy being in a bar.

I have always been very straight forward about my hatred for cold weather, however. So, instead of a bar, we spent the day and night here:

Those of you who don't have one of these glorious things near your home, Great Wolf Lodge is a giant indoor water park. None of us had ever been there, and it was not cheap by any means, but it was absolutely worth every cent!

But, did we book an adult room? Pfft. That's for wieners. We book a "kids cabin." Complete with bunk beds, a real bed, a balcony, fireplace, two sinks, and nintendo.

We found it just a tad ridiculous that we couldn't get into our room until 4, but sucked it up and waited...or, rather, changed into our bathing suits in the parking lot while avoided awkward glances from strangers. It was amazingly nice outside, though, and after we got our room we stood on the balcony in said bathing suits and it wasn't even cold out...amazing.

Then we headed down to the waterpark. This place was AMAZING. Tons of waterslides, fun play areas, a "creep across the lilypads while holding onto a net and look like an idiot as an adult while doing so" section, and too many dumping water buckets to even count. There is one waterslide called the rollercoaster, that really runs like one, taking you up and down instead of the standard down, and is covered by a net to catch you when your tube flies off the slide. I may or may not have screamed like a small child on that.

We showered and headed down to dinner afterwards, where we were greeted with an hour wait and this giant wolf who somehow managed to hold my boob without me even noticing.

And almost all 9 of us had this gorgeous and delicious 32oz "meg-o-rita."

So of course it was time for twister, and to break out the henna tattoos.

But, all-in-all we were a pretty mild group, and not one hangover ensued the next day for my bridal shower! Have another shower this weekend, and I'll report on those together next week!

Are You Sure You Want to Wear That?!

2010-03-11T00:13:00.005-05:00

Today I took my wedding dress down to a seamstress in the bridal district. I suggested that we use someone not in the bridal district because I knew it would be more expensive there. But, my mom insisted that we go there because she wanted someone who specialized in bridal gowns. Of course, I agreed, and went.

I had several odd conversations with this particular seamstress. Starting with this one, that was the only time during the entire hour I was there that she actually attempted to make a human connection with us:

Seamlady, lacing up the corset back: "Tell me if it's too tight and you can't breathe."
Me: "Nah, it's not important that I breathe."
Seamlady: "Yes, it is. I've had two girls pass out in here and I'm not about to have another one."

Dually noted. Of course, the whole time I was standing on the podium after that I was just replaying that scene from Pirates of the Caribbean where Elizabeth faints because of her corset and falls off the side of the castle and into the bay.

Then, the lovely seamstress decided that she did not want me to wear a slip, this slip I proudly purchased two weeks ago.

Seam: "Why do you want to wear a hoop slip?"
Me: "Because it was cheap."
...she was very unimpressed with that answer.
Me: "I definitely want a slip to make the bottom of the dress fuller, but as far as a hoop over a tulle slip, it was just because it was what I found at a decent price."
Seam: "Well, most of these dresses have tulle in them to puff it out."
Mom: "She just wants a little more on the bottom."
Seam: "Let's just see without it."
she makes me take it off.
Seam: "See?"
....
......
........
Seam: "But if you think you want to wear the slip, put it on before I start tacking."
Mom: "She just likes it more full on the bottom, plus it keeps it away from her feet"
I put it back on.
Mom: "There."
Seam: "Are you sure you want to wear a slip?"
Mom: "She likes it."
Seam: "I mean, you can if you want, I've just never had a girl go through with wearing a hoop slip."
....
Seam: "But there's a first time for everything."

After our hour fight about the slip, I won and got to wear it. Then she hit us with the bill for the alterations and steaming.

Let's talk small budget here. My dress is awesome, i love it, and I only shopped certain pricetag racks. It was $600.

Alterations? $468.

That's almost as much as the dress cost itself! Not cool, non-people-skill-hoop-slip-hating-seamstress-lady. Not cool.

Tuesday Tribute: Compassion

2010-03-09T18:07:00.008-05:00

First, before the Tribute, please make some time to stop over to the Marsh's blog or find this lovely family here on twitter. Their baby girl, Layla Grace, lost her battle with neuroblastoma at only two and a half this morning. They can use all the good thoughts in the world right now.

This month's Tuesday Tribute is for Compassion, Int.

It took until tonight for me to pick a cause for March, because so many great causes have just come to my attention.

But I chose Compassion because Jennifer, mostly known as "MckMama," is currently in Kenya blogging for Compassion with her husband, and it seemed like a great way to get more support for them.

Compassion is a fabulous child sponsorship program. Started in 1952, Compassion now helps more than a million children in 25 countries in Asia, Africa, South America, Central America and the Caribbean, and for $38 a month per child.

Those of you who have been hanging around here for awhile know that I am not a religious person. No, I am not. But, this organization is. Although I don't consider myself religious, I do think there is a certain strength that comes with religion that can't be found elsewhere--and that strength comes out heavily in charitable organizations. Especially when many of these kids really have nothing to hope for, it gives them the opportunity to have faith in something bigger than themselves.

The best thing about Compassion, in my opinion, is that the $38 a month is not just generically used. The money is put towards the things each individual child needs the most. If it's food, they get food. If it's shoes, they get shoes. If it's an education, then it's school. Each child is considered on an individual basis, and that is great.

Compassion's services span widely. They have a Child Survival Program, which starts before birth. They have the child sponsorship program, and then they have a Leadership Development Program. And the types of children Compassion sponsors also have a wide range, from birth through 21, children with disabilities, and children living with AIDS.

It's also great that Compassion allows for personal connections between the sponsored child and their sponsor. It's not a simple "send this money in and we'll send you info about what it's going towards," no. As a sponsor, you sponsor one child and you get to exchange letters and pictures with them and maybe even get the chance to visit them in their own country.

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for children like these. But, you cannot understand how much your $38 a month impacts them until you are able to see first hand what their living conditions are really like.

I went to Kenya a couple years ago, and it changed the way I looked at the world completely. One day while we were there, we took the time to live the life of real Kenyans. We left our concrete-floor mudhut complete with actual cots and mosquito nets for the day, wrapped our shaws around us, and lived as a native for the entire day. We collected food to cook (kasaba) in the morning for lunch with the amazing Kenyan women, we followed the Kenyan men as they captured and killed a chicken for dinner, and then went hunting--although they scared away a DikDik and only managed to come home with a turtle, which we couldn't bring ourselves to eat so we let it go. We hiked down to the well with buckets, which we then filled with water and carried back on our heads. I had a 2-month-old baby boy strapped to my back as I helped make pine-thatching for the roof while the other women went to gather sticks for the fire, which they carried back on their heads. All the while sitting in a tiny pavilion area, next to the one-room homes that all of these amazing people made their lives in, and sleep on the floor of. A lot of times, these kids didn't even have shoes, which in Kenya is especially bad because they have these things called "jiggers" that get underneath toenails and multiple until the nail is lost. A simple pair of shoes helps these kids so much.

A lot of these things living conditions are common in all of the areas Compassion reaches. And a minimum of 80% of the money Compassion raises go directly to the kids, and that is wonderful. If you'd like to sponsor a child, check out the Sponsor a Child page at Compassion. They are doing amazing things.

Get MOOvin' Monday

2010-03-08T12:31:00.003-05:00

Hosted by Casey at The Everchanging Life.

This game has three simple rules:

1. No fast food for March
2. Exercise 3 times a week
3. Post about it on Mondays

I have good news! I had no fast food! And I'm posting about it!

I did not exercise, however. Technically. But, I am counting the waterpark on Saturday as exercise. You have NO idea how big that stinking place was! So I'm saying I exercised once. Yes. Once. It's better than none...right?

But, this week I'm on spring break. So hopefully that'll change! It's also supposed to be 58 today, and 60 tomorrow :) I have a couple appointments tomorrow, but nothing to do today until Little Man gets home from school at 4. I think the park looks favorable for us today!

However, I did one of those 10 hour sleeps last night, woke up with a seriously rough throat, and have been sneezing like crazy...all of which usually indicates an illness about to hit, so hopefully I'll be avoiding that and exercising instead! :)

And and don't worry, I will not fail to blog about the bachelorette party! Tomorrow I think you'll be getting a Tuesday Tribute thrown at ya for March, and then Wednesday? It's all about the party ;)

Say Hey!

2010-03-05T22:59:00.003-05:00

Today I worked all the daylight hours.

This week I may have gotten myself into something that I'm not sure I'm really okay with doing.

I can't remember if it was the kid or the dog that threw up on my pillow forcing me to get a new one, and I find that sad.

And one of my favorite co-workers moved seven hours away tonight.

BUT.

Today it was 50 and sunny. I didn't even wear a coat. Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be IN the 50's! Heat wave!

Tomorrow is my bachelorette party, and we are partying "inn style" at an indoor waterpark...because we are adults deprived of heat. 80 degree weather, bathing suits, hot tubs.

Sunday is my first bridal shower with my family and friends. I may or may not have been checking the registries...daily.

This weekend is going to be wonderful! So everything else can wait until next week.

Besides...neither one of these two could be much cuter..

And, also, this song is making me evening, and is pretty much perfect for my stepdad:

Happy Weekend!

About the Couple

2010-03-04T13:09:00.004-05:00

I suppose I've never really done any "about us" or "my childhood" or anything kind of posts on here. I probably should...I've been on here a year and a half, it's probably time! But it's always awkward starting on a post like that...but I saw this little survey on G.I. Joe's Wife today, and it was pretty much perfect for an "about us" post!

1. What are your middle names?
Anne and Grant. Anyone want to guess what our son will be called??

2. How long have you been together?
A year and a half.

3. How long did you know each other before you started dating?
9 Years. Yes, we were a little dense.

4. Who asked who out?
He asked me out, technically, I suppose. But B isn't exactly a forward kind of person...so really I got a text message that said "hey, you want to go to dinner and a movie? I'll pay" and a relationship was born.

5. How old are each of you?
We're both 20-somethings, and only a few months apart.

6. Did you go to the same school?
We graduated high school together and went to middle school together, but did not go to the same college.

7. Are you from the same home town?
Yes. About 10 minutes from each other.

8. Who is the smartest?
It very much depends on the subject!

9. Who majored in what?
I'm majoring in Secondary English Education, he's in Criminal Justice and AF ROTC. For two more months...and then he's done!

10. Who is the most sensitive?
Definitely me.

11. Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Since we've been together, about five hours. We haven't done any big trips!

12. Who has the worst temper?
I do. He's usually very calm about things. Very. But the rolls are kind of switched when we fight...he wants to argue it out and I want to chill for a couple hours before discussing it with a cool head.

13. How many children do you want?
3. 2 biological, 1 adopted.

14. Who does the cooking?
No one. Seriously.

15. Who is more social?
I usually talk more in social situations, but B enjoys being with large social groups more than I do. Toss up, I guess!

16. Who is the neat freak?
Neither one of us. But, just for the record, we are not slobs either! ha!

17. Who is the most stubborn?
Me.

18. Who wakes up earlier?
When we have too, I'm usually up earlier. But when we don't, neither one of us gets up early.

19. Where was your first date?
I don't even remember. B would know. He's fabulous about knowing that kind of stuff.

20. Who has the bigger family?
We have equally huge families. He's got 8 aunts and uncles, I have 7 with my two parents, and with the steps included I have an additional 7.

21. Do you get flowers often?
Not weekly or anything, but I'd say often is a good word.

22. How do you spend the holidays?
We try to split our time as evenly as possible between families. Usually, my family goes out of town to other family on Thanksgiving, but I typically have to work so we go to his family. Christmas is like two straight days of "okay we have to run" to get to everyone!

23. Who is more jealous?
Probably me. But it's not usually vocalized.

24. How long did it take to get serious?
Not long at all. On our second date, we started talking about kids. I know that sounds crazy to you guys, but we had known each other for 9 years already and had been really good friends for the latter 5 years, so it happened really quickly for us.

25. Who eats more?
At meals, I eat more. But B snacks constantly so it evens out.

26. What do you do for a living?
I'm a full-time student and I work retail part-time.

27. Who does the laundry?
Me. But B can iron. So that's a plus.

28. Who's better with the computer?
Neither one of us is really good with computers, to be honest. But I am more easily frustrated with them than B is.

29. Who drives when you are together?
B.

30. What is your song?
We don't have one yet, but at the moment we plan on dancing to "My Best Friend" by Tim McGraw at the wedding!