See You Soon

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

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.

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

 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

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!

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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

Stupid, stupid blogger...

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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

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!