Life as a Sailor's Girl

Vacation!

2011-09-16T08:39:00.002-04:00

We took a much needed vacation right after the hubby came home. We went to Niagara Falls, NYC, & DC.

We did a ton of sightseeing & touristy stuff, made out under Niagara Falls, we enjoyed the night life in NYC, we had the most delicious Sushi & went to the Smithsonian in DC, and we had a blast driving through 6 states & even crossed briefly into Canada.

We both always wanted to go to Niagara Falls, and it

was breathtaking! I am so glad we finally went

The Rainbow Bridge to Canada

We ended our time at Niagara with some delicious Indian cuisine & yummy drinks at Hard Rock Cafe!

The next night we sat under the stars on top of niagara and watched a beautiful fireworks show.

In NYC we had a great time and really enjoyed the night life! We had Malaysian food, & found a quiet little bar on our last night where we had shots of their very own whiskey & pickle juice, it was an interesting combination! Not bad though!

On our last day we walked around DC and had the most amazing Sushi, it was ridiculously expensive, but worth it! They had this drink called Wasabi Cactus, I was hesitant to try it, but glad I did. It was probably one of the best I've ever had.

Life After Deployment

2011-09-16T08:10:00.000-04:00

It's been quite some time since I have blogged anything. I feel like I'm just so busy all the time with jewelry, hubby, and the puppy, that I never have time for it. I've really been missing it & the always beautiful Mrs. S inspired me to write this morning!

As of yesterday the Sailor has been home for 2 whole months... the time has really flown by! I never shared our homecoming pictures because we were so busy (get your minds out of the gutter!) here's my absolute favorite though...

It took foreverrrrr to find him in the huge crowd, and when I finally did, I couldn't get to him because there were a group of sailors in the way. I wanted to SCREAM at them! I was patient though, & it was so worth it.

It was definitely an amazing day, just like I had always heard, and I am so happy to have him home safe, even if it's for a very short while.

Tomorrow is his birthday & it's the first time ever that we've spent it together. You never realize how much you can learn to cherish when you live this life. I'm so used to Happy Birthday emails, but for the first time this year he was actually home on my birthday too. Our Birthdays are a week apart so it's even easier for him to miss both.

He's amazing though! I got handpicked cupcakes,

pink Gerber daisies

this beautiful vintage bracelet

& a bubble bath full of rose petals, but we won't do pictures of that...

Now I have to figure out how to top that for his Bday. He's been working really hard, so I'm thinking just a relxaing day at home & maybe breakfast in bed! He's always SO hard to shop for!

Hopefully I'll find a moment soon to blog again, but if I don't know that I love all my bloggy friends and even if I don't have time to comment I do still read your great posts!

Yellow or White??

2011-06-22T23:54:00.000-04:00

Sooooo I know it has been WAYYYYYY to long, but guess what?!? It's almost homecoming time and I need your help ladies! I'm trying to decide on a homecoming dress and I've narrowed it down to two! So I need your help with the final decision because I love them both and I really can't decide! lol so here are the final two choices...

MSAD 2011

2011-05-06T13:09:00.000-04:00

Happy Mil Spouse Appreciation Day to all my loves! You're all so much stronger and more amazing than you know, you deserve to have this day dedicated to you, and to spend it being pampered. I know a lot of you won't because you have deployed husbands, and kiddos, and jobs, and there is always work to be done, but I hope you at least stop today, and take time to be proud of yourself for all that you have and will accomplish in this life. You're all truly amazing women, and I am blessed to know you! [:

I woke up this morning to a special email from my love, I didn't even know he knew that it was Mil Spouse Day, he never let on. I am also truly blessed to call him my husband, and I will never forget that.

From My Love:

For the woman that watches my back both at home and afar

Her love always constant like the bright northern star

I love you in ways often not shown

Thinking it enough that our love is known

Fast pace in a hurry; panicking to provide

Rushing to do better for I am husband to my bride

You stand alone shouldering burden after burden keeping our house a home

It’s because of you that day after day I can walk proud out here on the roam

So for the heartbreaking silence and the cold swift goodbyes

I apologize with tears in my eyes

You are my friend my love and my life

You help me through the fiery trials you help me through the strife

I love you baby happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day!!

Thank You For Your Service!

2011-05-01T03:09:00.000-04:00

One of my absolute favorite things about deployment is the care packages! I love sending him packages, it's so much fun to decorate them, and find different themes to base them on. For Easter I went all our on his package, well technically it wasn't just HIS package. I bought over 100 eggs and filled them with different candies, then i sat and wrote out little notes for each one. The notes said things like "Thank you for your service" and "God Bless our Navy". It took quite a while, but it was so worth it! Amazingly enough, the package actually arrived on Easter Sunday, and they got to pass around all the eggs and enjoy the candy. My hubby said tons of them said thank you and it was nice to even have a little something on the holiday. I was super excited, but I'm a dork like that!

Along with all the eggs, I managed to squeeze in a few things just for my love, like energy drinks a corny ping pong game, some of his favorite snacks, and of course confetti eggs!

Lately I have been writing him a letter every night before I go to sleep, I just always like to make sure he has something going his way even when I don't have time to do a full blown care package. What have been some of your favorite packages you've sent out?

From the hubby

2011-04-29T03:47:00.000-04:00

I haven't done one of these in a while, but the other day I got the most amazing letter in the mail so I had to share his words with you all <3

Hello my love,

I hope that where ever it is that you are reading this that you have plenty of sunshine and a cool breeze. I like to envision you wrapped up in a warm glow of love with golden sunlight washing over you, it's rays splayed between your pretty hair, your eyes beaming down upon my letter reading every word, every syllable so very intently; as if to will a kiss from your lover's lips by doing so. The corners of your mouth upturned in a little smile, that you cannot help but bear, and your cheeks so forced by your smile, hugging your gorgeous hazel eyes. I love you my butter bean and I hope that through all of the unfortunate happenstance this deployment has brought you that you are still very assured of this fact, if not then I beg you, let me know.

Life here on the boat is not as sweet as home life, but it has its rewards, like my new found appreciation for so many things I have left at home like all of my loved ones and the sweet joy of embracing them and talking to them. Sunday morning breakfasts and long lazy weekends filled with lovemaking and laughter. Feeling the press of my wife's warm skin against my own, and the warm unmistakable ache of being inside her, and of simply just having her in the same room as me. Being able to run aimlessly getting lost in thought, and the simple joy of feeling ground below my feet, the salty ocean breeze and bright warm sun bathing every inch of my naked skin. Puppy kisses and the selfless affection given by our little sweet hearts, and OJ! A cold glistening glass of orange juice with just the right amount of pulp.

There is structure and discipline of being faced with work and assignments every minute of every day (A predicament I have brought upon myself, I know). The chance to be better at those little things that get to be so mundane and mind numbing; a chance to master my weaknesses and to better see and develop the traits I admire and beliefs I hold. Those things that often get lost int the pleasure of convenience.

Complaining is only natural but I try not to get lost in remembering how sweet my life is, with a gorgeous and loving wife and all! I won't bother you with the every day comings and goings because frankly it would be to long and boring and probably make me depressed. Only three more months, and even less by the time you receive this. I can't wait for that sweet moment when I get to wrap my arms around you and whisper I love you in those cute little ears of yours and inevitably to whisk you away to our bedroom and make sweet love for days! I don't think you'll be able to keep your hands off hubby once I come home not only because I'm good at what I do, but because I'm going to come home looking like a Greek god sculpted from marble. I love you my sweet darling wife, and I can't wait to return to the look in those gorgeous eyes of yours I so desperately miss.

Very deeply in love,

Daddycakes

He's amazing... *sigh*

Mili Mondays: Getting Out

2011-04-25T01:20:00.001-04:00

Today we have a great post about what happens AFTER military life, so leave some love for Ashley over at Adventures in Motherhood!!

Military is in my blood and military wifedom seems to be a tradition. I am a third generation military wife (at the very least, there may be more!). My mother and my grandmother were both military wives before me. My dad retired from the Air Force when I was in the fourth grade and I still remember his retirement ceremony. When I was a senior in high school I joined the Air Force Junior ROTC and then in college I did a semester of Army ROTC. I knew I wanted to join the military, and in fact I was on the path to do just that when I reunited and fell in love with a very tall and charming US Navy sailor - my now husband.

I loved being a Navy wife. Despite the hardships of being 3,000 miles away from family and friends and essentially starting over in a new town, I felt like I was a member of an exclusive club. Or better yet, a family – the Navy family. There’s a kinship among the spouses and family members, they “get it” when your civilian friends don’t. It was comforting to know I had that safety net when I needed it. My husband had already been in for 3 years when we got together; he had just gotten off a deployment and was transferred to shore duty after we got married. I’m sure some wives are jealous because I never had to endure a deployment or a workup but shore duty has its own challenges. By the time the Navy made the decision (I say that because it was not his choice) to honorably discharge my husband he had served 7 years of active duty.

Going from Navy wife to Navy Veteran wife was slightly difficult for me. I suddenly felt like I was booted out of the club, like my family abandoned me. I was afraid and angry at the Navy. I just kept thinking ‘How could the Navy do this to him?’ over and over and over again. Even though my fellow Navy wife friends didn’t treat me any differently, I still couldn’t help but feel this way. To top it off, my husband could not find a job and we had a 9 month old baby and bills to pay. Talk about stress! My husband and I handle stress differently and because of that it causes more stress. So for five months our house was nothing but a giant ball of stress with a sprinkle of abandonment issues on top. Not fun. I don’t know how we got through it but we did. The funny thing is that people have asked us how we did it, how we survived and our answer every time is “We just did it.”

And then it dawned on me, the civilian world isn’t so different from the military. When your husband is deployed and you’re suddenly a single mom what do you do? You suck it up, take it day by day and just do it because no one else will do it for you. Sitting and crying about it doesn’t help the situation. Being a Navy wife and navigating the ups and downs of the military world has prepared me for anything that life has to throw at me. Suddenly I wasn’t so angry or afraid anymore, I felt stronger and a little braver for taking on all that stress and beating it. I could take on the world if I wanted! So now I happily take on anything that is thrown my way because the Navy has taught me how to deal with it. My husband has earned his title of Navy Veteran and now I finally feel like I’ve earned my title of Navy Veteran wife.

Be Patient...

2011-04-18T02:43:00.000-04:00

"Be patient and be strong; someday this pain will be useful to you."

After reading through this post I realized it's really random so bare with me...

Someone posted this quote earlier, and I thought it fit how I was feeling perfectly. No matter what, you gotta just keep pushing through, and everything will be okay in the end. If you haven't already guessed, I had kind of a rough day. Days like these I just wanna hide under the covers and not come out. Now the day is over, and thankfully it's time for bed. Tomorrow is a new day, and will be a much better one! I'm expecting a package from him any day now & I can't wait to get it! It's full of goodies he has bought me so far on Deployment, and I have no clue what any of it is because he won't tell me! So I'll definitely post about it when it finally comes.

On a better note, some of you may remember when I posted about holding an auction for my friend Kevin who needs a kidney transplant. The auction is over now and I am happy to say we completely exceeded my goals and raised nearly $2,300 to go toward his medical expenses! and on another good note, we have passed our halfway point of deployment and my donut of misery is now looking a little less miserable! I am so excited to start planning for that day, it's going to be one of the happiest days of my life! I already have a dress picked out, I'm convinced it's way to early for that, but I couldn't help it. I have a photographer set up already too! It's going to be such a fun day [: I just keep dreaming of running into his arms.

It's a lonely night

2011-04-11T02:51:00.001-04:00

It's been a few days since I last blogged. I got home safe from Boston, but terribly sick. I've been in bed for three days now doped up on cough syrup, antibiotics, and some other sinus medication... it's not been fun. I have some sort of respiratory infection.

I haven't heard from my husband since I left Boston, it's not Navy related, I know he's just really busy with college and all, but most of you know, that doesn't make it easier. There's a thunderstorm going on outside, and I absolutely HATE sleeping alone when it's thundering. It's very scary, I would say at least I have Dug to sleep with now, but he's just as scared as me.

To top off the night, I just read the most heart breaking post I've ever read in my life. Before you ask, yes the authorities have been notified and they are doing what they can to find out what's going on. There is no way I am getting any sleep tonight after reading it, all I can do is pray, and hope from the bottom of my heart that she is okay. When I started reading I couldn't believe it, but as I got further into it my heart shattered for this poor girl. She poured out her entire life, I only pray someone was there to help her when she needed it most, that she just wasn't able to get to the post before it went out. I hope that maybe it was just a cry for help, whatever the case may be, I just pray she's alive and getting the help she needs.

MisAdventures of an Army Wife - A Final Goodbye

I've always been taught a very important lesson in life, that NO MATTER WHAT God throws at you, you never give up. You keep pushing through it, and as long as it takes, life will turn around. I can't imagine what she must be feeling, the kind of abandonment it takes to make a person feel that "A Final Goodbye" is their only option to achieve happiness. I just hope that every single one of you know that no matter what's going on, how far away you are, whether we've met or not, I will be there for you when you need ANYTHING. I am on facebook, where you can find my email, phone number, whatever you need. I consider every one of you a friend and you've been there to support me when I needed it. Please keep Jessica in your prayers tonight, and hope that she is okay, wherever she may be.

Cheers!

2011-04-06T10:17:00.000-04:00

Today is my last full day in Boston, I fly out tomorrow afternoon. It amazes me how fast it went by. I love that time is flying, and this deployment will be over before I know it. I have a few things to start planning, but that's a whole nother post. I have no idea what we are doing today, but I do know we had an AWESOME day yesterday. We started with a tour of the Sam Adams Brewery, and throughout the day we drank lots of beer.

The tour was free which was pretty awesome considering they gave us these cute little beer glasses and even filled them three times with different Sam Adams beers for free as well!

After we finished drinking our beer and got some souvenirs, we headed to a little bar they told us to check out which was the first bar in the world to sell Sam Adams. The bar actually is 125 years old, and several movies have scenes that have been filmed inside including 21 & Mystic River.

After all the beer drinking we decided to head to Fenway park, by the time we got to the area we had to pee sooooooo bad but no one would let us use their rest room, so we stopped at another bar, called Game On, and we had another beer just so they would let us use the restroom. Once we finished we headed over to Fenway park, and then realized we had missed the tour since we made so many detours. It was still amazing to be there and see everything though.

After all that beer drinking and touristy stuff, we were pretty hungry so we headed over to Cheers! for dinner. We decided to have clam chowder for dinner, and I didn't realize it would make me sick since I'm allergic to Shrimp, but it did. It wasn't that bad, just really, really nauseous. It was totally worth it though, it was delicious. All in all I've had an awesome time here in Boston and I'm sad that it is over, however I am excited to get home to my new puppy, and my baby flower. I miss them a lot.

Mili Mondays: Wifey Drama

2011-04-04T14:16:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've had a Mili Mondays post, you all know I was going through getting settled after deployment and all... and some other issues, but now I'm back! I'm so happy to be blogging again, I've really missed it. So even though it's a short post, I'd like you all to show Kate some love, and make her feel welcome! If you have any advice for her, you're welcome to comment and I will forward them to her!

First off, I want to thank Mrs. Gambizzle for having me write for her blog today. I am so happy to be a part of this! Second, I am going to introduce myself. My name is Kate and I am engaged to a United States Sailor. I am in college and work part-time so my hands are pretty full!

The one thing I wish that Military SO’s would learn to do is to keep the drama to a minimum. I have encountered a one of kind of drama, military wife drama. The Military SO drama is pretty much just the women talking bad about one another and creating unnecessary divides between themselves. Sure, not all of us will get along, but there is no need for the drama! I have met many women who create rumors about each other and try to create alliances. Is this needed?! We are all in similar situations and should just be there for one another instead of acting like petty 13 year olds. I hear about women creating lists to pass out to the new wives talking smack about the women they don’t like. Other SO’s being left out of the “cool group”. Etc. So all of you out in bloggy land can ya do me a favor? If you see or hear about this happening, confront it in a calm way. I want to help stop this nonsense!

Ya know, all of us Mili SO’s are in this together. Besides each other, we don’t have anyone else who gets what we are going through. So why alienate ourselves from the only people we can associate with? That is just silly.

On less of a “lecturing” note, how great is it to have a sisterhood of women who can fully understand what you are going through? I can’t tell you the amount of nights that I have spent beyond frustrated and upset and one of my mili friends knew exactly what to say to make me laugh and get over the hump. I love my non-military friends dearly, but sometimes they just don’t understand what my life consists of now. I don’t know when I will see him again. I don’t know where I’ll be in a year. Not many others can say that.

We’re all in this together. No matter where we are on this journey, we can all offer some comfort and love towards each other. We need all the love we can get <3

www.sailorskate.blogspot.com

Turd Floaters & Toad Chokers

2011-04-04T13:16:00.001-04:00

Today it's raining all day, which in Texas would be called a turd floater, or a toad choker apparently... so Nicole and I are sitting on the couch again doing absolutely nothing, except trying to figure out what we wanna eat. We've also been googling slang & idioms used in our areas. I found some pretty funny ones from Texas so I thought I'd share them. I'm interested to hear ones from your area too, so if you have some strange words or sayings you use in your area, feel free to post them!

Now I haven't heard of all these, and I don't use some of them, as I'm sure some are from different parts of Texas, which is like half the united states since it's so huge, however I am guilty of the occasional "y'all", "chunk", and "uh huh".

Do wut? this is the standard response if you weren't paying attention or didn't hear what the the person said. In other places you'd probably hear "excuse me" or "pardon me" or even "could you please repeat that?" Sometimes when we're confused it's, "Do wut now?"

Y'all: y'all, which is often heyyy yaaaaaallllllllll, it's our way of referring to at least one other person. In general if you are talking to more than a handful of people the correct southern and Texas address would be "all y'all". This is sometimes a bit confusing to people not from Texas, but just go with it...

Uh huh when you say "thank you" to someone in Texas, often you will hear the response "uh huh". This should be interpreted as "your welcome". It can also be a sign of agreement with the last statement made.

Jaw Jackin just talking to hear yourself or talking smack to someone. Jaw jacking is often combined with getting bowed up.

Bowed up when someone is really angry and is taking on an aggressive body stance, they are said to be all bowed up.

"They're proud of that" being proud of something means that you place an unusually or unreasonably high value on some item that is really not worth near that amount.

Chunk If you are throwing something a short distance we say we are "chunking" it. Don't know why Texans don't say chucking it like the rest of the world.

Coke anything that is called soda or pop anywhere else is called Coke in Texas. For example, Coke can be Pepsi, Sprite, Dr. Pepper or almost anything else that fizzes and comes in a can or bottle.

Fix'in this is the ultimate Texan slang. "Fix'in", which is NOT pronounced "fixing" is a way to indicate that at some yet to be determined time some action is going to be taken. An example of this would be "I'm fix'in to go to the store". It never indicates when, or if you will for certain do something.

tump to spill or knock something over, as in "I jes' tumped over mah beer"

Ma'am/Sir Many cannot understand WHY we add the "Sir" and "Ma'am". Simply put, in Texas, we take pride in being polite and showing respect, particularly towards our parents, those in authority, & the elderly. Country boys, who are gentlemen like to say "yes ma'am" to the ladies as well, its something we take pride in.

ABC's

2011-04-03T21:16:00.001-04:00

I've seen this on so many other blogs and liked reading other responses, so I decided to play along too! I think I sound pretty boring... I answered 'none' to too many questions.

A. Age: 23

B. Bed size: Queen

C. Chore you dislike: Laundry. Thank God, hubby loves it!

D. Dogs: Flower & Dug

E. Essential start to your day: Emails from my love. <3

F. Favorite color: Anything bright, especially pink, purple, turquoise, and lime green.

G. Gold or silver: silver

H. Height: 5′ 2"

I. Instruments you play(ed): none, I've never played any.

J. Job title(s): Stay at home wife & jewelry designer.

K. Kids: Flower and Dug, our furbabies.

L. Live: Virginia & Texas

M. Most embarrassing moment: I'm so clumsy, I have a milli0n.

N. Nicknames: Mrs. G, Betty Boop, Butter Buns (from my love lol)

O. Overnight hospital stays: Never. (knock on wood)

P. Pet peeves: hmmm... open shower curtains, when things are uneven, and misspelled words (we have spell check people!) (:

Q. Quote from a movie: I don't really watch movies, so I don't have one.

S. Siblings: 4 sisters & six brothers

T. Time you wake up: When my love is home 4am, when he's not, just whenever.

U. University attended: none.

V. Vegetables: I love veggies, just not onions.

W. What makes you run late: my hubby usually...

X. X-rays you’ve had: none.

Y. Yummy food you make: Enchiladas!

Z. Zoo animal favorites: Panda Bears.

Wicked Girl's Day

2011-04-03T20:13:00.000-04:00

I have learned all kinds of new words since I've been here like "wicked" & "Hey Kid" & all week I have been looking forward to going to Maine! We woke up a little early after drinking a little too much last night. We spent the day in Kennebunkport, ME with Nicole's mom. we had such a great time. On the drive, we too some pictures of the absolutely gorgeous view. It turned out to be such a pretty day.

We had a delicious lunch at a place called Allison's. We had Clam Chowder (my first time ever trying it) and Lobster Rolls.I absolutely LOVED the clam chowder.We saw this adorable little boy wearing pink sunglasses with Disney princess on them.

Afterward we did a little shopping, I got a super cute bracelet with anchors on it, a wine stopper with an anchor, and two more shot glasses to add to my collection. After we finished shopping, we drove down to New Hampshire and took a tour of the USS Albacore. We were being so silly since there wasn't anyone else on the tour.

We played captain for a while and pressed all the buttons we could.

We got comfy and tried out the beds, it gives me a new appreciation for what my husband does. I can't imagine sleeping in those bunk beds every night, they're so uncomfortable.

Nicole kept pretending she was talking on all the sub phones, and we played around with the scope thingy. We could see all the cars outside on the bridge it was pretty awesome. Before we left she snapped this picture of me on the tiny sub toilet.

After we were done being silly, we drove to a liquor store on the side of the highway. I was on a quest to find shot glasses for New Hampshire. It was the third time we've gone and I hadn't managed to find one before. I am amazed, one, that the liquor stores are open on Sundays, and two, that they have them on the highway. It's so strange since in Texas they don't sell liquor on Sundays, and it seems to me like they're sorta condoning drinking and driving by having them on the highway. Since I've been here I've managed to add 7 shot glasses to my collection. I was really tired so I took a nap on the way home for like an hour, and then Nicole's mom made yummy stuffed shells for dinner. Now we're relaxing, and I am excited for Army wives tonight!

Snow Day

2011-04-01T17:51:00.003-04:00

When I woke up this morning there was snow everywhere!

So Nicole and I have had an ABSOLUTE lazy day.

We have done nothing but sit on the couch all day and watch TV while playing around with out blogs. I gave hers a new layout, which you can see here...

...and then I made some logos for a few cute businesses on face book that I love.

We literally haven't moved in hours... hopefully the weather is better tomorrow! We're going to make pizza for dinner and then continue being lazy for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we're taking poor Miley to the vet for vaccines, and Sunday we've planned to drive to Maine! What are your plans for the weekend?

Woh Black Betty

2011-03-31T22:32:00.001-04:00

So all my life, for as long as I can remember, people have always sang songs to me when I tell them my name. In Texas I always went by Marie, my middle name, but now I have been going by Betty lately. It's just easier when I meet people on face book to let them call me Betty, than trying to explain to them (and have them remember) that I go by Marie.

When I was younger, school teachers, and random people, along with my bosses when I started working would sing songs to me including Brooks & Dunn - My Maria (which I always found weird since my name is Marie) Then I had a boss who would ALWAYS sing this song called Marie Laveau which was really weird since my maiden name is Love.

So, the point is we went out the other night to this bar called Hennessys, and we had an AWESOME time.

Both the bands were amazing. The one downstairs was called "Spike the Punch" and he was goig around singing to several people there, when he got to me and I told him my name he started singing "Woh Black Betty..." I laughed so hard because it's not what people normally sing to me, but it was still funny to know that no matter where I go it happens!

It was great to be out and having a good time, it was the first time since my lover deployed that I felt I could really unwind and relax which I really needed. We had several drinks and stayed til the last train was about to leave and we had to make our way back home, & I promise, we were not as wasted as we look in this picture!

Playing tourist

2011-03-31T21:41:00.001-04:00

Today is my blogiversary, how exciting! Too bad I forgot because Nicole and I were out playing tourist and having an awesome time! We spent the entire day on a tour called the Freedom Trail, it goes all the way around Boston and is highlighted by a red line on the sidewalk.

Even though there is a red line leading you around, we still managed to get lost like 15 times lol there are parts where the line is hard to see, so technically it wasn't our fault. We saw some really amazing sites today, along with very historical ones. We Saw the USS constitution, and the USS Cassis Young. I was SOOOO ecstatic because since my love left, I've felt so lost without Navy all around me! Today it was everywhere.

(USS Constitution)

(USS Cassis Young)

After that we stopped for lunch, and then continued on our trail. We saw three graveyards with tons of famous historical people like Sam Adams, and James Hancock. I was really creeped out, but they were amazing to see. The stones were extremely old and fragile, most were from the 1700's.

We saw a gorgeous view of Boston from the bridge, Old City Hall, some beautiful churches, and the holocaust Memorial.

I heard a lot about this place called Mike's so we made sure to take a detour from our little trail to have a pastry, and I'm glad we did. We shared am espresso canoli because it was huge. Totally worth it though, oh it was delicious!

By far my favorite thing we saw was the Dog Tag Garden. It brought up so many emotions at once. It's a "Garden" full of dog tags, there is supposed to be one there for every single person who's been lost in the war with Afghanistan. It was heartbreaking to see them altogether like that. I had to sit there for a minute to take it all in.

I collect shot glasses, so I managed to pick up several today, a regular Boston one, one from Cheers the bar, and one from the constitution, along with an adorable "We Can Do It!" Rosie t-shirt! This weekend we have plans to go to Maine and I can't wait! We're also gonna head to New Hampshire sometime Next week before I leave. So I'll get to add two more states to my list. After the long day we ended up walking 5 miles, so now we are lounging on the couch watching it snow outside. So excited for the rest of our adventures!

Wining & Dining

2011-03-30T15:39:00.000-04:00

I think by the time I leave here I will have gained 10lbs! we've done nothing but have delicious food and drinks! Today is my sixth day in Boston, we went to a little winery in Nashoba, and it was so cute. We did a wine tasting and even got an extra sample, then we had this amazing lunch. I had a Salami and Brie sandwich. The bread was a little too crunchy, but other than that it was delicious. We had some amazing wines. My favorite was the last one, it was a desert wine called Plum Blush.

I absolutely LOVE Nicole's nana she's so funny & sweet! I think I've met Nicole's entire family while I was here! I even met her GREAT grandmother today. Tonight we are going out for dinner and drinks at one of her favorite places, Fire & Ice. I'm pretty excited since with the bad weather we were stuck in the house for a couple days, and today has been absolutely gorgeous!

Have you met dug?

2011-03-29T23:22:00.000-04:00

while there will always be a place in our heart for Mojo, we have added a new addition to our little family. There will neverbe a dog that can replace Mojo, he was one of a kind, but we need the puppy-ness in our lives again, we miss it dearly! So, I'd like you to meet dug. He is now 6 weeks old and as soon as I get back from Boston I will get to snatch him up and take him home! I can't wait to have a puppy around again! I have really missed it! I've been taking photos of him as he grows, and a few of you may have seen some of them already, but I thought I'd share! My hubby has really enjoyed being able to see the photos since he is away, it lets him feel like he's still a part of it all. <3

His mommy's belly.

Feb. 17th, he was born.

One week old, next to his humongo brother.

two weeks.

three weeks.

four weeks, he finally looked like a dog.

five weeks!

and my mom sent me this one for six weeks since I'm not there!

wordless wednesday

2011-03-29T22:48:00.000-04:00

New layout!

2011-03-29T21:38:00.000-04:00

I thought it was time for a new layout since I'm back in the mood to blog, hope you enjoy it! (:

Househunting

2011-03-29T17:47:00.000-04:00

It's coming to the time where I am starting to try and find a new house for when I move back. Problem is, I am still 1,700 miles away from where we are stationed so it's not turning out to be ab easy task. I may just be too picky, but I am so worried that I am going to get something I don't like and become very unhappy with if I am not there to at least see it before I sign the lease.

I have debated flying there for a weekend to just go and look at various places, or renting a car to drive down while I'm in Boston. I'm so frustrated over it, even though I'm supposed to be on vacation, I feel like if I don't start worrying about it now, then at the least minute I'm going to be screwed.... How many of you have had to deal with this? What helped you make the final decision?

States I've Visited

2011-03-28T11:23:00.000-04:00

I know, I know... my list is kind of pathetic, but I'm working on it! RIGHT now as a matter of fact I am IN Massachusetts with Nicole from Flip Flops & Combat Boots.

I've been here only FOUR days and already we've done sooooo much!

We had margaritas...

We went shopping since we're horrible packers & then we had scorpion bowls.

We saw Wayne Brady,

while drinking more...

Yesterday Nicole had a Scentsy & Avon brunch, and we didn't drink much, but we did have yummy mimosas & wine!

Today we have no plans so far, I think we are relaxing & recovering from the weekend. Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Kevin Needs a Kidney Benefit Auction

2011-03-16T19:10:00.001-04:00

My Friend Kevin has Cystinosis, a rare genetic disorder that causes kidney failure. Kevin had a transplant in 2008, but has been fighting acute rejection of the transplant. The transplanted kidney is no longer viable and he needs to start emergency dialysis and he needs a new transplant.

I am raising funds to help him cover his medical costs that aren't covered by insurance. Kevin has already had about $2000 out of pocket expenses related to the transplant surgery. Since care is ongoing after a transplant, the costs are also ongoing, and out of pocket costs are expected to be around $4000 more.

I have started an auction to raise money for him! The auction will be held on my jewelry page on face book from April 8th-15th. If you'd like to donate you can email me at MrsGambizzle@yahoo.com to get more info. Otherwise make sure you stop by and check out all the amazing things that have been donated! and above all PLEASE spread the word, the more people who see it, the more money we can make for him.

You can see my page here: http://www.facebook.com/gambizzlejewels

You can read his story here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kevin-McCallas-Fundraiser/137379516316268

New video!

2011-03-16T01:57:00.001-04:00

Pictures for new video!

2011-03-15T20:42:00.002-04:00

I wanna make another Mili video (: If you have a picture of you and your hero you'd like to be included email it to MrsGambizzle@yahoo.com ♥

Keep Calm

2011-03-15T19:41:00.000-04:00

I'm convinced this should be the Milspouse motto <3

It'll be all okay

2011-03-15T05:11:00.000-04:00

It's not often that a song can make me cry... but this one had me crying though the entire thing.

Hooyah

2011-03-15T04:50:00.000-04:00

Hooyah: is the war cry or battle cry most commonly used in the US Navy. It is also used to say Ok or understood or is sometimes used to show enthusiasm and as a vocal gesture which is used to show pleasure, satisfaction or excitement about an event, evolution or even a person.

Today is definitely a day for HOOYAH! (: Y'all know i can't say why, but lets just say I've sent out four care packages & I've got eight more to go! Here are a few things I'm also loving today...

I think with a few changes, this would make an awesome tattoo.

Right Here Waiting- Richard Marx

Oceans apart day after day
And I slowly go insane
I hear your voice on the line
But it doesn't stop the pain

If I see you next to never
How can we say forever

Wherever you go
Whatever you do
I will be right here waiting for you
Whatever it takes
Or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you

I took for granted, all the times

That I though would last somehow
I hear the laughter, I taste the tears
But I can't get near you now

Oh, can't you see it baby
You've got me goin' CrAzY

Wherever you go
Whatever you do
I will be right here waiting for you
Whatever it takes
Or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you

I wonder how we can survive
This romance
But in the end if I'm with you

I'll take the chance

Oh, can't you see it baby

You've got me goin' crazy

Wherever you go

Whatever you do

I will be right here waiting for you

Whatever it takes

Or how my heart breaks

I will be right here waiting for you

Prayers for Kevin

2011-03-06T14:58:00.000-05:00

hi ladies! I have a special request today! When I started high school I had a rough time, I made one really amazing friend though Kevin. We hung out every day and we did everything together, people always thought we were dating but we were just really good friends. We kinda lost contact a little while after he left for college but I still think about him, and I am very thankful he was there for me. I recently found out that he is very ill.

He has Cystinosis, a rare genetic disorder that causes kidney failure. He had a transplant, but he's now been fighting acute rejection of the transplant for 3 months. Kevin needs to start emergency dialysis and needs a new transplant. His wife, several family members, and even friends have stepped forward to donate a kidney for him and so far none of them have been a match.

I hate that he is going through this because he is such an amazing person. They are having fundraisers to help with medical expenses that insurance won't cover, so please if you are able, make a donation ANYTHING helps, no matter how big or small the donation.

If you want to donate just copy and paste this link in your browser:

http://www.ntafund.org/find-a-patient/profile/index.cfm/patient/AE014631-B03E-DB13-DB8B64F91908204A

If you are unable to make a donation at the least, keep him in your prayers!

Come Home Soon

2011-03-02T04:10:00.001-05:00

Mojo to Mijo

2011-03-01T03:06:00.000-05:00

As most of you know a couple months ago we lost our precious Yorkie Mojo when he was attacked by a dog. He was such a great companion, he always knew when I needed cheering up, or when I just wanted a cuddle buddy. We have missed him dearly and decided to add a new baby to our family. Meet Mijo! Pronounced (MEE-HO) for those of you who don't know Spanish, it means "my son". When we had Mojo we often called him "Mojito" as a nickname because my husband's grandmother calls EVERYONE Mijito, or mijita and so it reminds us of her. So we thought we'd honor Mojo by naming the new little guy Mijo.

He was born on February 17th and he weighed 2.75oz. You're probably asking how I know all this? It's because my mom has bred Yorkies for several years! Mojo came from her as well. I've been taking pictures to send to my love every few days since he can't be here to see him. He's really enjoying it, since we didn't get Mojo til he was 4 months old so he never saw pictures of him when he was small. Mijo is 11 days old now, and has just barely doubled his weight, he's now at 6oz. and he's almost as long as my hand. He's so adorable!

his eyes should open ANY day now and I can't wait, that's when they actually start to look like dogs! He's also turned out to be the smallest in the litter. Check him out next to one of his brothers who now weighs 13oz. He's a big guy lol

and here's his adorable mommy, Karlee... She's such a sweetheart, and I hope he turns out just like her.

Mili Mondays: Oh I'll be the one to break my heart

2011-02-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

It's been a whiiiiiile since my last Mili Mondays post, but hey I have been SUPER duper busy with deployment, business, blah blah blah right... well today's guest blogger has a GREAT post to share with you so I hope you enjoy it, and show her some love!

"Oh I'll be the one to break my heart"

It sounds like I'm a Debbie Downer huh? I'll explain what I mean more in a second! But first, I would like to thank Mrs. Gambizzle for the opportunity to make myself a better and more wholesome blogger :) And I would also like to apologize to her for waiting on me for so LONG! Well anyway...I'm in the midst of planning my own wedding which is coming up on March 19th! AH! I have been fantastically busy with making arrangements for people to visit, to making invitations, creating my flower arrangements, etc. Planning a wedding, ESPECIALLY a Marine wedding is pretty difficult.

And this leads me to my next point.

The song I took my quote from is called "I feel it all" by Feist. I think many of you have heard of it, but not know it by it's name. It's a beautiful song! Anyway, it kind of describes the craziness of life right now.

My life is:

unorganized

on hold

hectic

running a million miles an hour

stressful

joyful

I bet the last one has you confused huh? Well, the aforementioned things have to do with breaking my own heart. As many of you very well know, you can't set your heart on things with the military.

You can't.

It stinks. But, it's a part of a grander scheme of things that sometimes...well...I simply don't understand. When Mr. Z and I got engaged, we were shouting from rooftops squealing for joy! But After he left and after the feeling of happiness subsided because of the planning, we went from running around doing victory laps to running around like chickens with our heads cut off.

But this mostly has to do with my attitude.

Sometimes I feel like shaking my little fist at the Marine Corps for not giving me the date I want, for not giving Mr. Z and I a honeymoon, and for being a pain in the rear end when it comes to getting leave. BUT! That is breaking my OWN heart. I know this is what Mr. Z chose to do and I know this what I also signed up to do with him.

So thank you Marine Corps for allowing me the privilege of being part of silent ranks.

And thank you Marine Corps for reminding me that something I need to learn in life is patience, sacrifice, and love.

In case you didn't get it, that was the joyful part.

"wild card inside"

You know the cool part though? I get an experience that not very many women get to live through. I get to fall in love with my one and only over and over again. It is a wild card :) You get to pick and choose the cool things about it. Maybe I won't be saying this later...but I am now.

And that's all we can hope for right? :)

Well, wish me luck with the remainder of wedding planning! :)

We'll see you on my graduation...err...wedding day! :D

Blessings!!!! ♥

to my haters

2011-02-23T01:33:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the foul language, but I've had enough!!

Due to rude comments from "anonymous" bitches, and don't think I don't know who you are because I do! The blog will be going private and you'll have to be a member to comment, I am so tired of all the hatred from snobby people with nothing better to do than leave comments like "You've gained so much weight" & "Why don't you start hooking". Get a life skank.

I've got the blues

2011-02-23T01:03:00.000-05:00

I should warn you this post is probably going to be a lot of rambling since there is SO much on my mind, and I haven't written in quite some time. Right now I am wishing I had stayed in Virginia. The days were flying by for a while, but lately they've been going way to slow for my liking. Most of the friends I had here previously have moved away, and the ones who haven't have jobs and are usually busy. I guess you don't really realize how much the military lifestyle changes you til you try to move back to your hometown. That's when you see the difference of being a stay at home wife. It's when you REALLY begin to understand that people who aren't in the military, can't and won't ever know what you're going through.

bleh... sounds so depressing doesn't it? That's what I have been dealing with, so now I know better than to ever do this again. I'm done, I am definitely staying next time. I miss my girls, the ones who know what it's like, and just what you need to hear when you're having on of "those days". I guess the main thing is I am running out of projects to keep me occupied after I'm done working on jewelry for the day. Once it's time for "Me time" I'm getting lost in the I miss you phase... I have already made a quilt, started a scrap book, sent off four care packages, and of course I make jewelry all day long. I've also done major work on our car, it got new rims, tires, and everything else it needed. It's way to early to start planning homecoming stuff, at least I think it is, so I need ideas ladies! (:

It also doesn't help that he has no communication and I haven't received as much as an email in over a week now. I know, I know you're all thinking the same thing right now, just be strong, it'll be over before you know it. I am being strong, believe me, being here with family is NOT making life easier like it's supposed to... it's making it waaaaay harder. Don't get me wrong I love the in laws, but they are definitely getting to me and we're no where near the 50% mark yet. I want to go back to VA so badly, but I promised hubby I would stay here where he feels I am better off. He's a major worry wort, and he has enough stress as it is between work and college so I don't wanna do that to him. So that's where you come in my bloggy loves (: I need projects! Hook me up with ideas, and lots of them!

A Care Peackage & a Special project (:

2011-02-07T23:57:00.000-05:00

I have been INSANELY busy the last couple of days! I'm loving it, the days are flying by as I hoped they would. I just finished up the third care package which will go out sometime this week. I call it "You're My Super Hero" It's full of all my nerdy butt hubby's favorite things, comic book characters, action movies including teenage mutant ninja turtles, Super Man, Bat Man, and some Kung Fu movies. It also has energy drinks, some of his favorite candies like Nerds, and whoppers. He's getting some PJ's with all his favorite super heroes on them, two t-shirts with super man and batman, Gatorade, some pictures of us, and a few other goodies

The special project I am working on is a quilt for us to cuddle with when he gets home. It's all red white and blue, and once it's finished it will have some patches from his old uniforms, and other memorabilia (:

Counting the days

2011-02-06T02:17:00.000-05:00

I've been counting the days in pictures since the night he left, I've missed a

few days but getting better! Here's what he's missed so far.

On the pier the night he left...

Hit 150,000 miles driving home to Texas.

The Mini got towed again.

Our baby sleeping soundly when I finally got to Texas to see her...

Not so willingly getting settled in back in Texas.

Organizing Jewelry supplies...

The only thing that makes me smile when I wake up...

His first care package

"Be Mine?"

A poem by my hubby his mom put up in my room

A very special gift I received in the mail which made me cry like a baby

the note says:

Betty,

I just wanted to send you a friend to have while Ric is away, a heart

to hold while yours is gone, and a guardian angel to protect you and the one you love.

Our puppy mama's prego belly, yes we very soon will be the proud new parents

of another Yorkie, we just miss our Mojo so much we have to have another.

Care package number two.

"Home Sweet Home"

insomnia...

Drowning out Deployment blues

something to keep me warm while he's away.

More deployment blues...

Showing off my pride for him. (:

annnnnnd of course more organizing and TONS of jewelry making to make these days fly by...

He's been gone three weeks already, and the time is flying by. I know it

will pass quickly and soon I'll be running into his arms!

Home, Sweet home.

2011-01-17T01:43:00.000-05:00

Jericho (Our Mini Cooper) is a traitor. He has a new best friend. Even after everything we've given him, he stills loves the tow truck more. He decided after we drove for 26 hours that he just couldn't take it anymore even though we only had ONE MORE HOUR to go. So he decided to blow a tire. In the RAIN. When it was 49 DEGREES outside. My boots were soaked, my pants were soaked. I was exhausted, and once again crying my eyes out. When will it be enough? So no Jericho is DEFINITELY on my SL. This is the third time he has been towed in THREE WEEKS! I can't say I really blame him though after driving across the country, I'm sure it's exhausting, and this IS the third time.

Needless to say, I finally made it home at 1:30 am when I should have been there around 8! however I am safe and that's what matters, and after sleeping the entire day away I feel much better. I will defeat this deployment no matter what it throws at me.

Falling

2011-01-14T03:53:00.000-05:00

Last night was rough to say the least. JUST when I actually started to sleep, I had a pretty intense dream. I dreamt that I was walking along and I accidentally stepped into a muddy puddle and my feet slipped out from under me. I fell backwards but it was like there wasn't any ground under me and I just kept falling. Just when I was about to land I literally felt my arms jerk up to catch myself which abruptly woke me up. When I woke up tears started pouring out of my eyes, I couldn't control it. It was pretty scary to wake up like that in a completely dark, empty house, alone.

Later I Googled it, and found that most often dreams about falling simply mean you are at an overwhelming point in your life. Which is definitely where I am right now. Between the car breaking down, being stranded for those two days, and the car rentals we spent a total of $1,230, then the death of our sweet little Mojo, moving, staying strong & keeping my head up so I wouldn't worry my sweet husband, and then deployment, I'd definitely say it's enough to overwhelm someone. It's a different kind of overwhelmed though, I'm just exhausted. I want to be home already so I can start to breathe again. There is so much going on right now I haven't even had a chance to miss him yet. All I can say is tomorrow cannot possibly come fast enough. I just have to finish packing up the last of our things, wait for them to inspect our apartment and I am out of here.

See You Soon

2011-01-13T04:18:00.001-05:00

The hardest part is officially over & my heart has begun to ache. I have no doubt that things will get worse before they get better, but a day is behind me and all I can do is look forward to this all being over. The next two days are not going to be easy. All I have to look at is an empty house. This is the time when Mojo was always my best friend. He would come cuddle with me, and not leave my side as if to say he knew I was sad.

So far I have managed to keep myself from breaking down, by focusing on my plans throughout the next year and reminding myself that in only two days I will be on my way to be with our family. I definitely want to keep myself in a positive mindset throughout, to keep both of us strong, and a part of me is even a little excited to be starting the next step of our journey together. Our marriage is rock solid, and I know we will make it through this like champs. That's not to say there won't be days when I won't be able to drag myself out of bed, but I do know that we can do this together even though we're oceans apart.

I managed to snap a picture as he left. It was nice to capture our last moment together before he walked away. We are both exhausted as it has been a very long, stressful couple of weeks. We've been through a lot even after everything in my last post, but there's nothing in the world that can tear apart a love like this.

I have a TON of stuff planned. My business has really taken off, so that is my main goal right now. I want to focus on getting it where I want it to be. I have officially purchased a website finally and I'm almost done putting it together. It still has quite a bit of work to be done though, so that should keep me busy over the next couple weeks. I am really looking forward to getting started on the first care package which should arrive just in time for Valentines Day, and I Definitely can't wait to start blogging regularly again.

Well, off I go to dreamland, I have a very important date with a very handsome man who has promised me a Tulip just like every other night that he's away.

Strength

2011-01-07T14:52:00.000-05:00

I don't go to church, and I don't read the bible, but I do believe in God & right now I believe he is trying to help us grow and become stronger. We have a very long road ahead with deployment literally right around the corner and I think God is testing the strength of our marriage and showing us that together we can overcome anything.

The last two weeks have been a nightmare. Christmas leave started on the 20th and so we left for Texas with our two dogs on the 21st. From Virginia Beach to San Antonio is a 29hr drive without stopping at all. We left around 7pm and we got about 5 hours down the road when our car broke down on the highway about 10 miles from the nearest town. It took about another hour before we got a hold of road side assistance, and then another hour after that before a tow truck arrived. when we finally got settled into a hotel for the night it was about 2:30am. we were exhausted. We found an auto repair shop about 2 miles away from us so hubby decided to drive the car over since it was still working a little. He got about 1/10 of a mile away when it completely gave out, so he waited another hour for a tow truck to arrive. When he finally got there they said since our car is a Mini Cooper which is a BMW model they didn't have any of the parts in stock so they would have to order it, and due to the holidays it wouldn't be in til the following Tuesday.

We spent two more days in that hotel before we finally gave up and rented a car. We were wasting time that we should have been spending with family. It was now Christmas Eve, and $285 later we finally got a rental car. We drove straight through for the next 24 hours and finally made it safely to Texas. We had a great Christmas and things were starting to look up!

We forgot all about the car and started to relax. Four days after we got to Texas my husband's little brothers went out in the backyard to play where their parent's three Labradors are kept. Now my adorable little Yorkie Mojo who loves to be curious and follow everyone decided to follow them out the back door. Since Bear, the male Lab had never met him he didn't take to kindly to it, and he immediately attacked. I heard him screaming so I ran out the back and saw the chaos as all the boys were tackling Bear trying to get him off. Mojo finally broke free and took off running toward me, but Bear got him again. When Mojo finally made his way into my arms I could tell he was hurt badly. He couldn't breathe. We RUSHED him to the vet clinic where I used to work and I was terrified. They immediately took X-rays & decided he needed emergency surgery. He had a torn thorax and God knows what else and after an hour long procedure he finally succumbed to it. I have never missed a dog so much before. He was literally our baby. We spent the rest of our time in Texas without much more tragedy, then made our way home. our house is so empty without the little pitter patter of puppy paws running around.

We have only a handful of days left at this house, til it feels like the whole world will fall apart again. After everything we went through I just waned some time to relax and enjoy being in my husband's arms before he leaves, but we can't even do that. In between him working all day & packing up our house at night there isn't anytime left for anything else. We are both exhausted.

Then.

2010-12-12T02:21:00.000-05:00

For the whole month of November I think I reminded my husband EVERY single day that it was our anniversary on the 30th. Not that I thought he would forget, I was just SO excited that it was finally coming. It's amazing to me that it has already been one whole year since I married that man. The time flew by, but I guess that's how it goes when you're in the military. You learn ways to cherish every day that they are home, and make the time fly by when they are not.

So when the day FINALLY came I was SO ecstatic! I held the words back in the morning when we woke up because I wanted him to be the first to say it. We woke up at 4:45 like usual and I was expecting to hear "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY" right away... but it didn't come. He left for work and still nothing. I was SO sad all day because I didn't get a text message, a call... nothing. I really started to think he forgot. He got home from work that night and STILLLLL nothing! No present, no words, no poems... nothing! I was so mad I just started crying! ha ha now that I think about it I probably was being a little childish but I was really upset.

He told me he didn't have to be to work til 10 the next morning due to some meeting or something at work but I didn't even pay attention because I was upset. So we got up in the morning and I was still mad at him so I didn't say anything. He asked me if I wanted to go out to have breakfast since he had the morning off so I reluctantly said yes. We ended up at Cracker Barrel where my anger began to fade because we were having a good time. We had a delicious breakfast and it started POURING rain as we were leaving so he went to get the car and picked me up in the front. As we started driving away he said he had forgotten his cell phone so we had to turn around. We just got droids a couple months ago and I'm still intrigued by the fact that I have internet on my phone now, so I was playing around on it when there was a knock on my window.

I tuned to look (a little startled) and he was holding this HUUUUUGE teddy bear and a little box. I screamed because I was so excited. I opened the door and he handed me the box which had this adorable necklace with a locket that said "Promise" on the front.

We started to leave again and he said "That's not all... I also got the day off!" apparently his boss gave him the WHOLE day off so we could spend it together since had worked so late on our actual anniversary. So he took me to see "Tangled" which was absolutely ADORABLE! Then he took me shopping at Victorias Secret (Did I mention I'm spoiled?) and thennnnnn I got this....

Since we got married so spontaneously we never got wedding rings. I always knew we'd get them someday but it didn't bother me a whole lot that we didn't have them because our love is what's important. I am so blessed to have found such an amazing man. He is my world, and I cannot wait to spend the next eighty years with him.

I'm gonna miss Virginia

2010-12-11T14:17:00.000-05:00

My time her is almost up for now. I will be going back to Texas in less than two weeks. I am not happy about it & I promised the hubby I wouldn't decorate for Christmas since we wouldn't be here for Christmas. He's been out on the boat for a little while now, and I couldn't help myself. They had a HUGE sale at Michael's on all Christmas items, so I bought a few things and made a wreath and a small Christmas tree for us. I love Christmas and I couldn't help it, my house felt so weird without any sort of decorations. I compromised though! I used ALL purple and a little turquoise since purple is his favorite color I hoped that might help him not be upset!

Here is our little tree...

Our wreath which I LOVE the way it turned out.

and a little crooked hanging on our door...

More Pictures!

2010-12-11T13:17:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I met iwth another lovely photographer who's hubby bought her jewelry from me. I thought it would be great to have her take pictures of all my pieces for the new website I am working on. She decide she wanted to take pictures of me as well and she already posted a few so I thought I'd share!

Technical Difficulties

2010-12-10T12:47:00.000-05:00

The blog is having a few issues right now as you can see... I'm not sure what happened, but I am trying to get it all fixed ASAP! (: It's much better than it was last night everything was effed up! Ugh...

Updates!

2010-12-09T22:17:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of news I'd like to share with everyone, so I thought I'd just put it all in one big post! Here goes:

First, since lately I have been a horrible, horrible blogger, I have handed over Thursday Five to Nicole from Flip Flops and Combat Boots. She absolutely loves it and has more time to make sure it gets done in a timely manner for ya'll! So make sure you check out her blog and if you don't already, be sure you follow her so you can continue with T5!

I just found out my hubby will be home several days earlier than he was supposed to be, and he hasn't been gon every long on this underway so that is extremely exciting! It means we get a few more days together before yucky "D-Day" comes along.

Unfortunately, I have lost my graphic software for the time being, so I can no longer do buttons, backgrounds, lay outs or anything of the sort. I am hoping I will have it back soon but our computer caught a virus so I thought I'd be brilliant and completely start over... well I forgot that I no longer have the box with the serial number for my graphic software... so bye bye it went.

I will be moving very, very soon. I'm not happy about it, but I think it will make my life easier to be around my family while my loverface is away. Soooo back to Texas I go for the next several months.

As soon as this dreaded move is over, I will be blogging more often like i used to. I am definitely going to need all the support and kind words to make it through this so please stick around with me!

That's all I can think of for now, but I'll definitely be back soon! I also have some great posts coming up for Mili Mondays over the next few weeks and I am always looking for more so please contact me if you'd like to be featured!

Pre-D Pictures

2010-12-08T22:09:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone!

I know I have been non existent in this blogging world lately, but i haven't had time to do anything lately with this jewelry stuff. It's taking over I swear! Anyway I thought I'd share some of our pre deployment pictures with you, and I promise very soon I will be back in the blogging world I will definitely need the support of my fellow wives to make it through this deployment! These are just a few of my favorites, I don't know how I will ever decide on which ones to hang up as we got over 40 pictures!

tee hee, We had such an amazing time taking these and our photographer was so much fun! WE actually spent the weekend with Nicole from Flip Flops & Combat Boots and we had SOOOO much fun! Too much fun i think... because we were a little hung over in the morning, we met the photographer at 8am. Well we were supposed to but we overslept due to too much fun, and we didn't get there til 8:30. OOPS!

On top of that I wore a strapless dress to the shoot since it was the more complicated outfit to put on. We were in such a rush to get there I forgot our third outfit, AND my bra!! So our amazing photographer had to make sure you couldn't see any goodies in the photos with the white shirt!

Mili Mondays: Don't Do It Alone

2010-11-22T07:08:00.000-05:00

Hey all! I’m Trish from This Life of Ours. Pleased to meet you.

First, thank you Betty for the opportunity to write this. I had so much fun and I hope I can be of some help to other military spouses/girlfriends/fiancés etc.

I married my husband Paul, a naval aviator, over three years ago. We’ve been blessed that during our marriage, Paul has spent most of his time in flight school and other training. Up until May of this year, the most we had been apart during the course of our marriage was two weeks. Two weeks apart, over three years, in a military marriage. Unheard of, right? Please don’t hate me.

Well, as the saying goes “every good thing must come to an end,” and this proves true for our lack of separation. Paul’s squadron is gearing up for a long deployment next year so we’re in the workup phase. Since May, Paul’s been home about nine weeks. I’m alone a lot these days. Well, besides my two adorable pups.

I’ve always prided myself on being fiercely independent. The truth is that Paul thinks that I’m a little too independent. I like things a certain way, want them done the way I want it, and usually will try and do it myself because it’s just easier than asking for help. Type A much? You betcha.

I think independence is a great quality for a military spouse to possess but sometimes, something’s got to give. We can’t do it all, all of the time. We’re not superwomen even though sometimes we feel we have to be. I’m just a fumbling 26- year old teacher who happens to be married to a man who leaves her a lot because of his job. It’s a lonely, stressful, and tiring lifestyle, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. You know why? I don’t have to handle it alone.

In my humble opinion, the absolute best part of being military spouse (besides the discounts and commissary of course- I kid) is the amazing friendships I have made. Friends that have done everything for me from help move a dining room table, to watching my pups, to cooking me dinner when Paul is gone, to coming over when I had to call the police after my car was broken into (good times, good times). Any hour, any day, anything, my friends are there. There’s really no better feeling than knowing I still have people that are there for me when Paul can’t be.

So, my advice to you from my relatively short stint as a Navy wife is to surround yourself with other strong and positive women. Women that will be there to pick you up when you need it, share a bottle of wine (my friends are great for that) or take you out on a hot Saturday night date. Women like you! Put yourself out there, make good friends, and, most importantly, be a good friend. You won’t find many other careers that allow your friends to become lifelong family so soak it up! It’s one of the many sweet things to living the good old military life.

Trish @ enjoythislifeofours.blogspot.com

Delicious Dinner on a Cold Night

2010-11-16T08:31:00.000-05:00

Since it is fall we have been cooking a ton of different foods with pumpkin! I absolutely love it and since it is only in season for a couple months we have been having it often. We've tried things such as pumpkin soup, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies...

I found a new recipe which I just HAD to try I was a bit skeptical of it a first and I wasn't sure I would like it. I was amazed to find that it was AWESOME! You have to try this one, it's super easy and absolutely delicious. Especially topped with the cheddar cheese, sour cream, and crumbles of corn bread. MMMM!

Pumpkin & Turkey Chili

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound ground turkey
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 dash salt
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and saute the onion, green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, and garlic until tender. Stir in the turkey, and cook until evenly brown. Drain, and mix in tomatoes and pumpkin. Season with chili powder, pepper, and salt. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Serve topped with Cheddar cheese and sour cream.

Buttery Corn Bread

Ingredients

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 2/3 cups milk
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Combine the eggs and milk. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with egg mixture.

Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees F for 22-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cut into squares; serve warm.

Mili Mondays: Being a Fiancé

2010-11-15T06:55:00.000-05:00

Today I want you to say Hi! to Olivia, she is a very sweet girl who is going through deployment as a fiancé with all the same struggles we endure as wives. I know there is always a huge debate over who has it harder. I personally think it is hard for all of us, but sometimes we forget the issues women have to face being "just a girlfriend" or "just a fiance" who doesn't have all the same privileges and benefits as a wife. So I have asked her to write about life as a Marine's fiance going through a deployment! Hope you enjoy!

Hi everyone this is Olivia from Simply Sunshine and Daisies

I have experienced all kinds of emotions in my life but none so great as to having to deal with a deployment, it almost makes me think of what a divorce would sort of feel like. I have experience 2 deployments while being my Marines fiancé and it hasn’t gotten any easier since the first one. You may think that the wife of a military man is hard but being a fiancé is really hard…

When I was just a girlfriend things didn’t bother me that much, I was just a long for the ride.. Waiting to hear back from him and loving the giggles from the girls that would watch at the library when I would momentarily skype with him it was just a “Oh my man does this” kind of thing for me and I was proud and anxious for his return, but I always figured it might be too good to be true.

I survived my first deployment to tell about it! With a box full of letters and a few tear stained..

I am dealing with the deployment with a box of tissues, a handful of letters and all of them tear stained. The jump from girlfriend to fiancé changed a lot. I want to know everything, and I need to make sure he is ok I want to be married before I become a widow you know… I watch the news (which I was put on restriction from doing L haha) and that doesn’t help being a fiancé is one of the hardest parts of being on deployment, I feel like I am stuck in the middle I am not carefree like I was when I was a gf and Im not white knuckled dealing with ankle biters as a wife.. I am sick to my stomach over plans and being worried, I want nothing more then to send out letters and packages and get letters in return (I get flowers as a bonus) for days and days of torture building up just for a donut to change and sometimes I swear it doesn’t…

But these are some things I have learned…

Being a fiancé means your foot isn’t in the door yet to all the clubs and support groups.

Being a fiancé means you get those snooty looks from the wives.

Being a fiancé means you have to give blood samples to prove that you are military connected.

Being a fiancé means you don’t have that option of going to select certain venue locations with the man you are going to marry.

Being a fiancé means that if something happens to your man the military will not be sending an officer to your door to tell you the horrible news.

Being a fiancé means that you are constantly worried about knowing things and learning more and yet never being able to find out.

I have so many others but I will not bore you with them…

A fiancés job is so hard; we are so young and just in a relationship the core of it is being built by a woman who wants so badly to pick up an invitation and say “Do you like this one?” or getting photos back and having to choose all by yourself.

I have hardly had any time to my fiancé because he is just mine on loan the government owns him and yet he owns my heart so every day the government gets to tear at my heart.. When all I want is my Marine safe home protecting my heart.. as I cherish his …

I appreciate the chance to write this post and Thank you Betty so much for giving it to me!

Olivia

t5

2010-11-04T07:38:00.001-04:00

It's time for Thursday Five ladies!! Want to join in? Just list five things that have made you feel

Happy

Giddy

Excited

Giggly

Adored

this week and then come back here to link up! Oh yeah and make sure you include this button in your post, and invite all your friends to do so as well! Happy Thursday!

Here are my five:

I had a great Halloween with my love, we dressed as clowns and went out dancing. Everyone kept telling us we should have entered the costume contest because we were so cute together!

My dogs were super cute in their costumes as well...

My computer is finally fixed and you have NO idea how happy that makes me! It's so much easier to work now that I can access everything it took hours, and a complete system restore but it works! YAY!

I won ANOTHER giveaway and this one has me very excited! I won a photo shoot with my hubby over at Jessica Valentin Photographer she is absolutely amazing, and has photographed some of my bloggy friends including Nicole from Flip Flops and Combat Boots, and Katie from Like Sunshine After Rain

I've finished my part of the recipe exchange cook book and am working on getting it out (Sorry Nicole) it's been a crazy week and it should have been out already.

AAAAAND.... in only a couple weeks I will finally be on my way to North Carolina to meet Nicole! EEk! I'm very excited to meet her and to just go there, I've been through the state many times but never actually stopped there!

T5

2010-10-28T09:22:00.000-04:00

Stupid, stupid blogger...

Not sure what's going on, but I guess I'm gonna have to stop scheduling posts, because they don't seem to be posting for me... anyhow, it's time for Thursday Five!!! This week has been absolutely amazing for me! I couldn't ask for more. The only downside has been my friend came over, and we went to the craft store. While we were out, her dog got out and jumped off my balcony... we have yet to find her and it's been three days. :(

I hope you're all having an amazing week too, here are this weeks words...

Giggly

Snuggly

Thankful

Excited

GLEE!

One.

My Daddycakes is home safe once again <3

Two.

I just ordered our new Droids and couldn't be more excited! We both were in desperate need of new phones.

Three.

It's been raining here like crazy which is perfect snuggle weather! Can't wait to watch movies and cuddle up next to my sexy husband all weekend!

Four.

It's almost Halloween!!! My favorite holiday, can't wait for our party. I made all our costumes (except flower's) this year. Mojo will be Gary, I am dressing as a jelly fish, my hubby will be spongebob, and I made this adorable cup cake costume for my bestie...

Five.

There are so many other things I could list that have been totally amazing about this week! I have to say though that the greatest is knowing I am about to have 4 amazing days to spend with my love!

Today

2010-10-26T20:33:00.001-04:00

Today has been one crazy day! I spent the whole day getting ready. In just three hours my hubby will be home in my arms again, and I couldn't be more excited!

I spent the day getting as many orders put together as I could, getting the fogs bathed, and cleaning the entire house. The dogs look so cute in their little t shirts, and I think they are just excited as I am, I'm not sure they know why we are excited, but I think they know something is up. After everything else was done, I baked some nice delicious pumpkin honey muffins, and now I'm waiting patiently til I get the call that I can finally go and get him. It's been a very stressful underway for both of us, so much went on, and I am so glad it's finally come to its end. We have a lot planned over the next few weeks, including a trip to NC to FINALLY meet Nicole from Flip Flops & Combat Boots. I will be sure to keep you updated as much as I can. I can't wait to take some pictures now that he's home again!

Mili Mondays: MYCAA

2010-10-25T06:00:00.001-04:00

We have a very special guest today! Shannon came to me and asked about sharing an opportunity with you all, and she actually works with the MYCAA program and has some great information she has generously shared with us!

My name is Shannon, I am a Navy wife. We have been stationed in Virginia Beach for 3 years now. I live here with my husband and three daughters ages 2, 4 and 6. I also have a two year old German Shepherd, Ada. I was really happy to get involved with the program because as a military spouse it was so easy to do. I can do everything from home and with three small children and never knowing when or where my husband will be it was a great fit for us. Working with this program has been a great opportunity for me to meet so many new spouses and make new friends!

MyCareerSkill, in conjunction with Florida Gulf Coast University, is offering virtual, portable, self-paced certification programs for military spouses.

Spouses may choose from the Pharmacy Technician or Medical Office Administration/ Billing and Coding training programs. These career programs can be completed in about six months from home allowing you to set your own learning schedule and pace depending on your own needs and career goals and provide the necessary skills to earn nationally recognized certifications exams in high-demand areas.

MyCareerSkill's mission is to provide self-paced, user-friendly multimedia, simulations, and, more importantly, one-on-one assistance from expert instructors and certification professionals. MyCareerSkill is a MyCAA and CAA approved program and spouses are eligible for 100 percent tuition coverage.

Eligible spouses should contact MyCareerSkill today for more information. This unique program was designed to suit the needs of military spouses as they support their service members.

For more information please call 1-800-298-5226 or visit
www.mycareerskill.org

T5

2010-10-21T06:00:00.019-04:00

Good morning & Happy Thursday! I've had another amazingly awesome week! Here are this weeks words:

Happy

giddy

Joy

glee

thankful

Well here's my list, go ahead, grab the button, and start posting all that you have to be thankful for this week.

ONE.

It's almost over!

TWO.

I am on week two of working out and still going strong! I've lost 3lbs! woohoo (:

THREE.

I'm almost done with the book for the recipe exchange it will be going out VERY soon.

FOUR.

I've been extremely busy which has made life bearable since he's away.

FIVE.

I got this adorable custom collar for my little guy & it's so cute! He's now showing all his support for his "daddy"

Pin Ups are finally here!

2010-10-21T00:02:00.000-04:00

I am so excited, finally got all my photos! Here are the ones I can show you:

Recipe Exchange needs a new name

2010-10-18T21:19:00.000-04:00

So the book is almost ready to go out, and it's not too late to sign up if you want to join in! All you have to do is leave a comment with your email.

The book needs a name though. So the person who comes up with the idea I like best will get the book first. Just leave a comment with the name you come up with, and your email.

The theme of the book is red, white, pink & blue. It has lots of cute polka dots, stripes, nautical, and other military stuff. It's for all sorts of recipes so anything is fair game. (: Put your thinking caps on ladies! As soon as I get a name it will go out!

Mili Mondays: Navy Seals

2010-10-18T06:00:00.005-04:00

When I married my husband, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I looked at the opportunity as an experience of a life time. Of course I loved him and with out a shadow of a doubt, at the ripe old age of 20, I knew he was everything I could ever want and more. I didn't realize, or care, at the time that I was taking the biggest risk of my life. I left everything I had ever known on a feeling, to enter a world unknown to me. Only now looking back do I realize how big of a risk it actually was.

There I was, diving head first into the life of a Marine wife, and with it a new world opened up to me. I became apart of something big. It was the first time I had ever felt at home in my life. It wasn't until, just this past May, when my husband EASed did I really feel everything I had been through and the changes that had happened in me.

Weeks went by and a strange feeling began to grow inside of me. I was missing something and it was quickly becoming apparent what it was... I missed the military life. It took me sometime before I ever expressed these feelings to my husband. But when I did it turned out we both had been feeling the same thing. There's some people who are just cut out for the military lifestyle, we are those people.

We eagerly agreed that the Navy would be our best option. He expressed his desire to become a SEAL. Absolutely not. No way. I couldn't possibly handle that type of stress! But he was very serious and incredibly persistent. The more he looked into the SEALs, the more I looked into them. I did what any sensible woman would do, I googled!

As it turned out, the life of a SEAL wife wasn't much different from that of a Marine wife. They had the same basic deployment cycle just a bit more training. I was also able to get in contact with a real life, honest to God SEAL wife. Imagine my excitement. There was only so much I could find on the internet and "how you feel about your life" wasn't part of it. She was excited to help and answered every question I threw at her. It relieved me a little to know that the SEAL teams are a close knit group, and that includes their families.

With my mind at ease it was time to fully give my husband my blessing. The process moved on. He has always worked out pretty consistantly, but once he had set his mind on going to BUDs he kicked it into overdrive. Swimming, running and cross training. Sometimes, he was doing 5 work outs a day. BUDs is mentally and pysically exhausting, he had to prepare himself. On top of the work outs there were the typical enlistment to-do's: Physical, PST, ASVAB, paperwork releasing him for the Marine Corps, hoop after hoop... We're not quite through all of the steps, but we are pretty close. Anyday (in military world this could mean quite some time) now he will sign his papers!

This time around I know what I don't know, and it scares me. I know this world is going to be much the same as life in the Marine Corps, but I know there is a laundry list of things I don't know. One day at a time, one step at a time, with my husband by my side (most of the time) we'll ease our way back into this life.

Over the next few months we are going to be picking a coast. I could use the help of you wonderful ladies to tell me your experiences on the coasts you've been on. The good, the bad and the ugly.

A big thanks to Mrs. Gamblizzle for letting me guest blog this week! You can stop by my blog at

http://untilyoucomehome.blogspot.com/

T5

2010-10-14T06:00:00.009-04:00

Good morning ladies! It's time for Thursday Five and I have had a pretty amazing week, aside from the fact that the Navy still has my husband. This week's list should be pretty easy for me, I hope you've all had an amazing week as well! This week I feel so...

Grateful

Adored

Motivated

Happy

Blessed

Well here's my list, go ahead, grab the button, and start posting all that you have to be thankful for this week.

ONE.

I received this absolutely amazing email from my sweet angel face hubby yesterday morning...

"Today the sun will rise, and the world will look as majestic and awesome as it has for eons! For some this will be the most important day of their lives however tragic or joyful it might be, and for others it will simply be just another day but know that for me my love it is another day in paradise consumed simultaneously by the terrifying thrill and joyful calm of loving you and having your love in return and as these words have brought that realization to light for me may they do so for you as well! I know that I get wrapped up in the everyday goings' on and sometimes forget to remember all that I have... that we have... (its to be expected I am only a man) but know that when I do its a splendid thing for me, have a great day today my love, have fun with it and know that I trust you and that my heart aches to know I can not be there to share the day with you! I love you Marie MUAH!"

TWO.

I know I am blessed, but sometimes we all forget just how blessed we are. I was reminded several times this week & it made me stop and think. So I want to do something this week to make someone else feel blessed as well.

THREE.

Those of you who are military wives know the importance of having either GOOD military wives in our lives, and how meaningful their friendship can be. Well I've found a few of those since becoming a Navy wife, and I am beyond thankful for it, there is one friend who has really stood out to me lately, she has motivated me in so many ways! I recently started going to the gym with her working out everyday, and i feel great! I wanna thank her, and I want her to know how important she is!

FOUR.

Happy. That's a word that is being used a lot lately. I have never been so happy in my life. My husband plays a huge role in that. This week I have many, many reasons to be happy, the list is too long to post! I will tell you one though, I am super excited to babysit this Friday night! You might think I'm wired but I absolutely love children and any chance I get to be around them makes me smile. :)

FIVE.

This week, as with many other weeks, I am grateful for my jewelry! It has kept me so busy & helped the time fly by til he is home again, I've started making plans to meet with Nicole which I'm super excited about, so the day he comes home can't come soon enough!

Mili Mondays: Do You Re-enlist?

2010-10-11T06:00:00.004-04:00

To re-enlist or not to re-enlist
That is the question
~~Whether tis nobler in the mind~~

Ahem... *hastily grabs the inner theatre nerd and tosses it back into the closet*

Sorry about that. Theatre Major. It happens. But in all seriousness..

Re-enlisting. It is a choice nearly all military members and couples must face the possibility of at least once. You made it through boot camp, training, schools, deployments, separation, duty, pcsing, and a host of other things the military throws at you for four years (or in my husband's case, five). After all of this the big question arises.

Do you re-enlist?

The possibilities suddenly seem endless. Of course there is the obvious choice to re-enlist. Four more years of military life. More deployments, more nights in the field, possibly more school if you suddenly decide to change your MOS.

My husband is due to re-enlist (or not) in May 2011. Depending on the day you ask him that choice is always different.

"I am going to re-enlist and try and get into CID."
"I want to train FBI Agents in Quantico."
"I am going to work in security for the government."
"Maybe I will go to college."
"You don't like it, but what if I re-enlist and stay infantry? Or maybe stay for now and try for CID later?"
"Do you think I would be a good cop?"
"How do you feel about me joining the Air Force?"

Yes, all direct quotes care of my husband.

At this point Ryan's real goal is to apply to CID in February after being a CPL for a year and re-enlist to do that. I support it. Now if he deosn't get into the program we have some more thinking to do. Hence the other ideas. Our plan now, wait for February.

This talk was triggered again yesterday when I got a slight chip in my tooth enamel and tried to figure out how to enroll myself in dental... we've only been married five months so I put it off. On the website it says you cannot be enrolled unless your spouse has twelve months of service left.

"What do you mean!? I am re-enlisting, so why would that be a problem??"

....

"You are?"

"Yea... probably."

Full circle. We have talked this topic to death. Ryan is kind of into the "perks", as he calls it. He loved military discounts, shopping on base at the PX or commissary, getting gas on base, insurance, BAH... yes it sounds great I know. But the downsides are huge too. The moving around, the long hours, and of course the dreaded D-words, deployments. One was hard. Not going to lie at all. You cannot sugar coat a deployment. They suck. Iraq is far away. It's dangerous. It goes on and on. Afghanistan would be even worse. That scares me.

Can I really accept the fact if Ryan re-enlists that we would move from an area we are really happy living in, a job I like, and that he would more than likely deploy again? Of course I can. I am a Marine Wife. That's my job. I married Ryan under the impression that he would be re-enlisting. It was only around June he started thinking of other things. He has always said if he re-enlists now, the next time it rolls around he'd be at nine years and at that point we should just go for the full twenty.

Only fifteen more years! Or maybe seven months. Or four months. Either way, I will know by May for sure. Hurry up and wait indeed.

T5

2010-10-07T11:39:00.000-04:00

Happy Thursday everyone! Sorry it's late, blogger has been giving me issues! So I'll make this fast! Here are the Five words for this week:

Happy

Thankful

Joy

Glee

Giddy

I've not had the best week, so my list might be a little strained, but here goes!

1. I've had a ton of work, and a long to do list to keep me busy, and help keep my mind off my sailor who's gone again.

2. I got to watch this adorable baby last night which made me smile, he's precious.

3. I found some amazing recipes to add to the book which will be going out shortly! I'm gonna send it around my area first because I have a few wives here who wanna add to it, if you wanna join it's not too late! Click here!

4. I've finally scheduled a trip to meet with one of my FAVORITE bloggers! Nicole from Flip Flops & Combat Boots! I'm so excited about that.

5. I'm uber excited to get my package from the fall swap!

If you wanna join in, just use the linky below!

Anniversary Stories: Yankee Candles

2010-09-30T06:28:00.000-04:00

It's almost our anniversary. I can't believe it's almost here. One year already spent with this amazing man I call my husband. So to celebrate I wanna start sharing with you some of my favorite untold stories about our relationship. Here's one of my all time favorites, that will be with me for life, and I mean that literally.

"Yankee Candles"

Around this time last year I was flying here to VA for the second time to visit my soon to be, even though I didn't know it yet, husband. We had made plans for the week since we'd be spending Thanksgiving alone but for the first night he snuck me into his barracks. He was super sweet and made it all romantic like by sneaking in a few Yankee candles & putting flowers around the room and such. He placed the candles all around, on top of the desk, on the head board, and various other places. I don't know how many of you have ever been in a barracks room, but the desk is one of those kind that has shelves above where the computer goes, like this. Please excuse my half naked husband, seriously it's the only picture I could find to show you how tall the desk is!

I remember being pretty impressed with how far he had gone to make the night special even though we were stuck in his barracks. After I unpacked and got comfy, we lied down on the floor with some blankets and pillows all snugly, to watch some TV, and of course one thing led to another... & after three months of not seeing each other I guess it got a little carried away, and we must have hit the desk a little to hard, because next thing I know I have a face FULL of candle wax and blood trailing down my face, yet for some reason I couldn't stop laughing.

It took me a minute to realize what had just happened, because even though I was laughing for some strange reason, it was pretty painful. The candle had fallen from the very top of that desk, and I do mean the very top, and landed right on that bone above my eye. He ran and grabbed a towel and tried for what felt like forever to get the bleeding to stop, all the while I was laughing hysterically. We decided the candles were a bad idea, and put them all away.

I know I have told you all the story of how romantic it was when he proposed to me out of the blue, and how we spontaneously got married. What I hadn't told you is the reason why there is an obvious cut above my eye. Yup that's right, it was there both when he proposed, and when we got married. There are even a couple pictures where we're laughing because of it while the guy is reading our vows. We took some great pictures that weekend but in every one of them you can see my awesome scar.

Thursday Five

2010-09-30T04:56:00.002-04:00

Well it's only 4:30AM and my sailor has already left for the day, sometimes I really dislike the fact that he is such a good sailor. He didn't have to be at work today until 6:30, but he went in early to finish up some of the programs he is in charge of to make things easier for the rest of the crew before he leaves on the ship again. Well the point is I'm up & blogging already earlier than normal, so it's time for Thursday Five. I know I have a few new followers lately, so if you aren't sure what I'm talking about & would like to join in, Thursday Five is a post I do every week. It's a great way to reflect upon your week and find the good in it even if it wasn't the best week.

All you have to do is think about the last week and come up with five items that fit in with the words I have chosen, for this week they are:

Content

Thankful

Adored

Giggly

blessed

So once you get your five things in your mind, all you need to do is post them, along with this button, then come back here to link up with the linky at the bottom so everyone can share!

Here is my list for the week:

I feel blessed to be able to be a stay at home wife and spend as much time as I can with my husband, especially since his work days seem to be getting longer as the dreaded "D" comes nearer.
I was giggly last night when we watched "Horton Hears a Who" which was adorable.
I am content with having this week drag by since it's our last together for a little while.
I felt adored when I got a super sweet good morning text from my love after he left yesterday morning.
I am thankful for these last few days with my love and that the weekend is almost here.

Recipe Swap

2010-09-29T15:47:00.001-04:00

Okay I know I asked you all about this several weeks ago, but I'm finally getting ready for it. I'm so excited to do this! What I wanna do is start a cook book, I wanna include all my favorite recipes, and then pass it on to all of you, once you receive the book, you'll include your favorite recipes get a copy of any others you want from the book, and pass it on to the next person!

You can decorate the pages you make as much as you want, you can do them scrap book style, or just print them off your computer, it's completely up to you. Just be sure that everyone can read the recipes!

So if you want to join in the fun please leave a comment here with your name and email address. Once I get all the names and emails entered I will send out an email to you letting you know all the details, and then I'll send the book on it's way to the first person! I'm so excited and can't wait to see how many will join in!

Fall is Here!

2010-09-29T15:41:00.000-04:00

So Autumn is my absolute favorite season! The wether is perfect, there are wonderful smells of pumpkin and cinnamon floating around, I get to start pulling out my scarves and boots, & I LOOOOVE to bake! So I thought I'd start off the season by sharing this amazing recipe I found last night, and had to make right away of course! and oh man, did they turn out YUMMY! I hope you all will try it and let me know how they turn out!

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins

Ingredients

muffins:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apple

streusel:

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 teaspoons butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 18 muffin cups or use paper liners.
In a large bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stirring just to moisten. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping evenly over muffin batter.
Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Fan page

2010-09-28T14:23:00.000-04:00

I've started a fan page where you can all add me on facebook! So if you love my

blog go add my fan page so you can keep up with all my latest posts & other bloggy news.

Life as a Sailor's Girl Fan Page

Trash to Treasure

2010-09-28T07:51:00.000-04:00

This weekend I came across this extremely comfy looking chair someone had thrown out. I was pretty dirty as you can see in this picture, but it was nothing that couldn't be fixed.

I sometimes wonder how I can see all the good use left in the things others have thrown out & clearly cannot see. The chair was dirty & had a tear in the side, but it's real leather & just as I thought is also extremely comfortable! So I had my amazing strong hubby get the chair for me & then I started cleaning it.

It took quite a bit of elbow grease & a couple sore fingers from poking myself with the needle as I was sewing up the tear in the side but I think it looks pretty nice.

Maybe I'm weird, but I love that we haven't bought anything really for our house. Most of the things we have we've found and put work into, or were passed down to us. We have this gorgeous dining room table that was given to us by my hubby's parents and is an antique. The chairs we found, someone threw them out.

I got this lamp at the thrift store for $3.00 and it's one of my favorite things in our house! I bought the lampshade at Pier One and it's perfect because our apartment had no lights, we have to use lamps in every room.

We also found this little end table next to our couch it has a lamp attached it's pretty old, but there's nothing wrong with it and the light still works. We love it it hangs perfectly over our little couch for reading.

We love what our little house has become, it's so comfortable & it's very homey to us. I'm sad that we will be moving when D comes around and I have to go back to Texas. We will be coming back to the same apartment complex though I think. We love our apartment & we wanna stay here.

Pin Up Photos #2

2010-09-28T00:46:00.001-04:00

Jus thought I'd share a few more photos from my pin up shoot with

Christina Rush Photography.

If you're in the Hampton Roads area check her out she does amazing work and she's so much fun to hang out with!

I had so much fun during this shoot, I was nervous at first but I had my good friend Sarah with me who also took some photos so that made things easier. Christina is so easy to work with that all the nervous feelings went away anyway. I LOVE how the photos turned out and my husband loves them as well. I can't wait to print them for him and send them with him on the ship. I have tons more to come once they are all edited but I'm so excited I couldn't help but share again! I will definitely going back to take more photos there are so many more ideas that we just couldn't fit into the day. We spent nearly seven hours shooting between the two of us. It was exhausting but so worth it!

Mili Mondays: We Joined Together

2010-09-27T21:58:00.000-04:00

So sorry it's so late ladies! I had a busy day & the post was sent a little late to me today but here ya go, hope you enjoy this wonderful post form Sarah over at "Confessions of a Sailor's Wife".

"We joined together"

Sailor Man and I have been together for 8 years and married for 5. We have only been a part of the “Military life” for only 5 months. We had 7.5 years of civilian life together before this long stretch of military life.

When Sailor Man and I started dating he was dead set on being a music teacher. His true passion and calling in life is music. He is so talented; he taught himself guitar, bass and drums. And he sings. He has an amazing signing voice. My heart melts when he cuddles with Lucy on the couch and sings her a song very softly. When we were getting engaged he wrote me a song, the last four lines being “I have a question now, what will the answer be? Sarah my love, will you marry me”?

After graduating high school Sailor Man moved to Las Vegas to attend UNLV Music School. After living in Vegas a year we discovered how much we hated it down there, and after we got engaged we knew we needed to move back to Carson. Unfortunately for him, he lost his scholarship and we couldn’t afford for him to go to school and not work. School was placed on the back burner.

About 4 years ago, Sailor Man started at University of Phoenix but couldn’t do a music program, so he switched his thoughts to a Finance Degree. He started working for a bank and everything was fine! We both had good stable jobs, benefits and were finally making progress with our money problems. When I found out I was pregnant we were over the moon excited, but with pregnancy comes a lot of bills. A lot of medical bills. After Lucy was born we were sitting in roughly $12,000 in medical, car, credit card debt. We were sunk. We had no choice but to move in with my family and file for bankruptcy.

Around the same time is the first time we had the military conversation. Sailor Man claims he’d always been interested in the military life but didn’t think I’d be interested. He was right, I wasn’t. We had a newborn and were living with my parents, at that moment it was not right for us to do any kind of drastic life change. Over the next 4 years we had that same conversation over and over. For me it wasn’t the right time; he had a great job with benefits and I still wasn’t sold on the idea.

In August 2009 Sailor Man was offered a job at an insurance company who promised us the rainbow. After quitting his job at the bank and taking on this insurance job we slowly learned how much they lied to us about the job. He was miserable. I was miserable and we realized our HUGE mistake. He went back to the bank at reduced pay and very unhappy. The military conversation came up once again and we talked to our first recruiter in November 2009. I came totally prepared with a list of questions I wanted answered. The recruiter was very nice and answered all my questions, but the biggest question was: Could Sailor Man lose 45 pounds to meet the requirement? It was a challenge I extended to him. If he was serious about the military he’s lose the weight. If he couldn’t he’d stay at the bank and we’d just work it all out. My biggest complaint with the Navy is that they don’t accept University of Phoenix degrees. Instead of being able to enter as an officer (because he would have his BA) he had to start as an E1. BUT the Navy will pay for you to attend the University of Phoenix if you choose to go to school while you’re in. LAME LAME LAME.

The next day he started getting up at 5:30 and running up the mountain. He started a diet and exercise routine daily and lost 20 pounds by the New Year. I was shocked! He started going to MEPS in January 2010 and we started learning more and more about the life. I asked multiple people for opinions and help. I started reading military blogs and joined military groups on facebook. He continued to go to MEPS a few times a month but was never offered a job. I became increasingly frustrated. He scored really high on his ASVAB test and could have been offered a slew of awesome jobs; intelligence, nuke, language… but because we have a bankruptcy Sailor Man could not get into any of those jobs because of money issues.

I started thinking it wasn’t going to happen. I felt like one thing after another was going against us, and then in early April he went to MEPS and was offered a job of Ship’s Servicemen (SH). He called me and we discussed it and he took it. I officially became a Navy wife on that day. We learned that his boot camp date would be in August, we had 5 months to prepare. HAHAHAHAHA. On April 16 Sailor Man called me from work to inform me that his recruiters called, he would be leaving May 4 for boot camp. 18 days from then. I was speechless. I didn’t know what to say. We started talking to Lucy about daddy having to go away for a long time, but he loved her very very much.

On May 4, 2010 I kissed my husband good bye and he set out for boot camp. I didn’t cry much to my surprise but I missed him like crazy. I wrote him letters every night and Lucy drew him pictures. We sent him photos and I prayed for him every day. I am thankful Lucy and I were living with my parents, it made those 8 ½ weeks fly by. I flew to Chicago on June 30 to attend his graduation. I have never been so filled with pride and patriotism as I was on that day. To see those men and women in uniform, to see them willingly join the military in war time, to see my husband become the man I always knew he was.

After boot camp he left for his A-school training and I spent the month wondering where we’d be stationed. Norfolk? Washington? Japan? San Diego? I thought of all the possibilities. I was shocked and relieved to find out we were headed to San Diego. I am glad to be close enough to family but far enough away to be our own family. We headed to San Diego in early August and got all settled in when the doom settled over my head.

We knew when we moved to the area that the ship Sailor Man was assigned to was out to sea. Which meant there was a 95% chance he’d be leaving, but there was that 5% chance he wouldn’t have to go. No such luck. 15 days after we moved to a strange city where we knew no one, Sailor Man flew out to meet his ship to help them finish out their deployment. This is new to us, we’ve never spent this much time apart and it’s been up and down. I’ve had days where I do nothing but cry quietly to myself. I have days when Lucy constantly cries for her daddy. He has days where he is so homesick. He has days when he feels like this is a HUGE mistake.

We made this decision together. We joined the military together, as a family, and this was the choice we made. We knew it would be hard going in, and I love the saying “if it’s hard it means it’s worth it”. I couldn’t have said it better. I get butterflies in my stomach when I think about the homecoming. I am surprised by the strength I’ve had to show since he left. I’m touched by the outpouring of love from fellow military spouses and I’m genuinely impressed with the way we’ve been treated. Sure, there are things that the recruiters left out or flat out lied about, but I don’t feel like this was a huge mistake. I have a feeling every soldier or sailor goes through those emotions during deployment. It’s not easy and I’d rather he come home to us every night but I am so proud of what he is doing. I have turned into a true patriot of this country thanks to him. I love him more than anything in this world and I could not be filled with anymore pride and joy than I am at this moment.

~ The Sawyer Bunch

Dinner For Two

2010-09-23T14:46:00.000-04:00

Last night I decided I wanted to do something special for my Daddy-cakes. He worked an extra long day from about 5am til 7pm. So I got all dolled up for him and cooked a romantic candlelit dinner, which turned out AMAZING. We really needed it, and it was a wonderful night. We shared a yummy slice of Boston Creme Pie for desert. I went to the package store and bought a nice bottle of wine which is made locally in Williamsburg. It was delicious. Here's the recipe for the Ricotta Gnocchi. Hope a few of you will try it out & let me know what you think!

Ingredients

Gnocchi:
1 (8 ounce) container ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup all-purpose flour, or as needed

Sauce:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 (15.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 dash crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
6 basil leaves, finely shredded
Salt and pepper to taste
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into small chunks

Directions

Stir together the ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan Cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a large bowl until evenly combined. Mix in 1 cup of flour. Add additional flour if needed to form a soft dough.
Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces, and roll into 1/2-inch-thick ropes on a floured surface. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces, and place on a lightly floured baking sheet. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garlic, and cook until softened and fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour in diced tomatoes and red pepper flakes; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in shredded basil and season to taste with salt and pepper.
While sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Boil the gnocchi until they float to the surface, 1 to 2 minutes, then drain.
To assemble the dish, stir the cubed mozzarella cheese into the sauce and allow the heat of the sauce to soften, but not melt the cheese. Place gnocchi into a serving bowl, and spoon sauce overtop.

Thursday 5

2010-09-23T14:39:00.000-04:00

I have lost track of my days for some reason this week, I didn't realize it as Thursday! I've had a pretty amazing week hope you all have too. So it's time for Thursday Five again, and I hope you have some great things to be thankful for this week. So grab the button, post your five, and come back here to link up!

Here are the five words of the week:

Giddy

Jubilant

Ecstatic

Thankful

Giggly

Here are my Five for the week:

I love FALL! I love being able to bring out my jackets and boots, and most of all I love all the colors outside! It's by far my favorite season.

I have over a week left with my husband before he leaves again which make sme so excited, we have a lot planned before he leaves!

I finally did my pinup photos with Christina and they turned out awesome! I can't wait to see them all and give them to my hubby.

I've caught up on al orders for once, and actually have a little time to blog, organize, and think.

Dinner last night was amazing. I'm going to write another post about that.

Sneak Peak

2010-09-22T06:24:00.002-04:00

A few of you have asked to see a sneak peak of my photo shoot with Christina. She's amazing and we had such a great time. We spent nearly 7 hours! I wanted to do something special for my husband for his birthday, as well as for him to take on the ship when he deploys. I've wanted to try this for a long time anyway, so it was the perfect time! I am so excited to see the rest but here's what I've seen so far.

I'm a little sad that you can't see my hair in this one, but it's okay. I'll post a few more of the ones I can show you all when I get them, the rest are for his eyes only! hehe

Mili Mondays: Newlyweds & Deployment

2010-09-20T21:32:00.000-04:00

Hello lovely bloggers! So sorry Mili Mondays is so late today, but it's with good reason. I spent nearly SEVEN hours today at a photo shoot taking pin up style photos. It was SOOOO much fun, and I can't wait to see how they turn out. Since you've waited all day, here's today's Mili Mondays, the writer is one of my good friend's Brittany from "My Life as a Sailor's Princess"

True Life: I am a newlywed with a deployed husband

As I sit here trying to figure out what to write, all I can think of is that silly show on MTV, True Life: (Insert life changing experience here). What was MY life changing experience? I married my husband 2 weeks before he deployed. We have our little fairy tale. He was my best friend for 2 years before he so cutely asked me if I would "go steady", we dated for 5 months before he popped the question and we became husband and wife at the end of July. He has been gone for a little over a month now and I miss him terribly every day. It has gotten a lot less rough though. Being newly weds while he is on deployment is... hard. I was left responsible for things I never had to be responsible for before. Between making sure bills are paid, cleaning the whole apartment by myself, trying to stay busy constantly, and sleeping alone, all the while missing him, wishing things were easier and YEARNING for his touch, it gets pretty tough at times. I could ramble on and on about how much I miss him but I am sure most of you already know how that feels.

Having said that, let me get down to the point of my blog. What is it like to be newly weds going through our very first deployment together? It's rough. I don't know how else to explain it. I have cried almost every day since he left. I know all deployments are rough whether newly weds or not but we aren't even out of our oh-so-in-love honeymoon stage yet. Not even close. I don't think what we are going through is any harder then any other deployment anyone else is going through, I just know how hard it is for me. How has is affected our relationship? Not much at all other then the seperation and him being awake while I am asleep due to the massive time change. We are still head over heels in love and we email eachother every single day. We constantly put the "I love you!" reminder in each of those emails. Communication is VERY important just in case some of you haven't gone through the seperation yet. Make friends, get hobbies and keep yourself busy and time is sure to fly! Speaking of time flying, if possible, visit your family. It really helps. I went to Indiana to visit my family for a few weeks and it helped me far more then I expected it to.

A few helpful hints and I promise I am done! 1: I know that time can be hard but you MUST stay focused on the positive future rather then linger in the negative present. 2: If you are a God fearing woman such as myself, KEEP ON PRAYING! Last one, I swear! 3: Surround yourself with positives. Positive people, a positive outlook and positive things are sure to keep your attitude positive!

A big huge thank you to Marie for having me be a part of Mili Mondays! I enjoyed it and I hope you all did too!

Thursday 5

2010-09-16T07:38:00.000-04:00

Hello ladies! I know I have been almost completely absent from the blogging world and I apologize. I'm still working on trying to get things together enough to the point where I can find time for blogging again. I've had trouble keeping up with my work now, and made a couple small mistakes so I've tried to work even harder so that doesn't happen again. Enough about that! It's time for Thursday Five! I've had an amazing week and have so much to be thankful for this lovely Thursday morning. So here are your five words for the day...

Thankful

Giddy

Happy

Excited

Adored

All you need to do now is come up with five things that have made you feel these words in the past week, then post about it, make sure include the button, then come back here and link up with the linky at the bototm of this post so everyone can share! Happy Thursday everyone!

ONE. My hubby is home.

TWO. I celebrated my 23rd birthday, and will celebrate my hubby's 26th birthday tomorrow!

THREE. My love is taking his E4 exam which has me excited!

FOUR. We have another long weekend which I am so excited about since I don't get him home for very long

FIVE.I am taking pin up photos in a couple days for his birthday present thanks to the beautiful Christina Rush, and I CAN'T wait!!

Ink!

2010-09-06T19:53:00.000-04:00

I did it! I got his name tattooed on me. I am so excited, he doesn't know yet. I mean I have told him that I would get it done and he was so excited about it, so I can't wait for him to see it. I wanted to surprise him though. He'll be home soon. I am so in love with it, I drew the design myself because I wanted something original. I know tons of people gets sparrows but at least I drew it myself.

Mili Mondays: Transitions

2010-09-06T06:00:00.002-04:00

This week's Mili Mondays features the lovely Mrs. S! So glad to have her as a guest on my blog, and I hope you enjoy her post! Don't forget to leave her some love here and on her blog!

I was asked by Mrs. Gambizzle forever ago to do a post. She suggested I do a post about transitioning from civilian life to military life and I thought, “Oh, easy!” What am I thinking now? “Um, what was I thinking?!” I have also had more than a month to do this post and now I’m sitting here, nearly hyperventilating because not only do I adore her blog and I want to do it, along with all her other guest bloggers justice, but I am so stinkin’ new to the military life that I just don’t feel qualified. I also don’t think that the civilian to military or civi to millie transition is ever complete. There is always a new roadblock to get around, there is always a new burden to carry, there is always a new situation to navigate, there are always new orders, more deployments, new neighbors, new plans, oh scratch those plans, lets try something else…. There is always SOMETHING.
Mr. Superman and I had been married for a little over a year when we started getting feelings and promptings that we needed to look into the Air Force. It wasn’t the first time or even the second but all the other times, it just never felt right. We had recently moved to Utah and both gotten great jobs. A few weeks later, we both got laid off. We prayed and went to talk to a recruiter. He took the ASVAB, blew them all away with his score, and signed papers about a week and a half later. Making the announcement, jumping through hoops, not having things work out the first time, waiting, and finally getting in gave us our first tastes of the unknown, the frustration, the waiting and everything else that comes along with this military world. Shortly after everything was official and we were awaiting his leave dates is when we lost our Angel Baby #2. I was seriously terrified he was going to have to leave before I was healed, recovered, and okay.
While Mr. Superman was at BMT we hit a few roadblocks. I had to have surgery which was no cakewalk without having my husband by my side. We also weren't one of those lucky couples who got a lot of phone calls and such. We had four phone calls over 9 weeks, two of which were less than two minutes. I would go weeks without letters and for someone brand new to the military life, living in a completely civilian world with no support system of fellow millies, it was really hard on me. Attending his BMT Graduation and spending time with him was absolutely incredible and one of my proudest moments. We had an incident that was semi Air Force related in October of last year that tested us as individuals and as a couple. It nearly broke us but we came out stronger and I daresay, better for it. We were assigned to our first duty station and arrived 2,000 miles away from everyone and everything we knew and loved in November 2009 and started our new life.
Its been hard. Its been lonely. Its been aggravating, frustrating, and at times, down right depressing but you know what? Its been incredible. I have been doing this for and because of my husband. We are now in a new transition period. The transition of pre-deployment. It was unexpected and the way its come about has been a bit unfair but it is all a part of this life. This unpredictable, roller coaster ride of a life that we chose. Sure its tough. It is also so worth it. I'm already looking forward to our next transition. Next year, when I get to welcome my lovebug home from Afghanistan and we get to fall in love with each other all over again will be a fabulous time. It will be a uncharted waters and I'm prepared to get annoyed and overwhelmed but its a transition that will be amazing.

--
Rachelle Organ-Steele
http://simplysteele.blogspot.com