Happy New Year!

 

And I'm also a little late for my New Years post, but it's all good. I cannot lie, 2012 was a pretty good year for us, and I believe that 2013 will be even better and even kinder to us.

 

2012 in review:

• In February and April, Jarrett and I celebrated our 25th birthdays, plus our car insurance went down tremendously. Score.
• In March, my blog was finally born. After literally years of contemplating starting a blog, I took a leap of faith and started it. Although my blog is not well known yet, it will be. As I learn more about the blog world and everything that it has to offer, I am hoping that this will be crafted into a masterpiece. Look out in 2013 as I shape and mold it into something amazing.
• In April, Jarrett's parents moved here to Virginia and moved in to our apartment complex for the time being. His step-dad's job transferred him to our area which was so perfect. They missed us and we missed them. It has been such a joy and blessing to have them be here, especially during deployments.
• In June, Jarrett and I became parents to our sweet and handsome mini dachshund, Leo. Leo has been the perfect addition to our family and we cannot wait to get another dachshund maybe this year or next (and grow our family even more within the next two to three years).

In August, Jarrett was sent to Georgia for two months, so I was able to slip away and visit him for a long weekend. It was an accomplishment for me because I had never flown by myself, so knowing me, I was scared out of my mind. The whole flight and trip worked out perfectly though. One of the best weekends of my life.

When Jarrett got back from Georgia in September, we sold my crappy Honda Accord and bought a brand new Ford truck. My Accord was getting old, falling apart and was high mileage, code for it might die soon, so my husband, being the truck loving man that he is, knew we had to get rid of it and get a truck again. Jarrett got his truck and I got his Impala, which is a much newer car. It was a win win situation. The two car payments are no fun, but the fact that we both have nice vehicles is definitely a plus.

2012 also included many visits to Maryland and many visits from family and friends, including our first Thanksgiving get together at our house. Between my mom, mother in law and myself, we cooked an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. We also had a wonderful visit in Maryland for Christmas as you saw in my earlier post.

 

Excitement in 2013:

• February: I'll be visiting Maryland for a long birthday weekend with my family and friends. I cannot wait. Then, the following weekend I'll be back in Maryland for my best friend Erica's baby shower. I cannot wait to spoil miss Austyn. :)
• March: Jarrett is leaving for deployment soon and I have an amazing opportunity to fly out and spend a week and a half with him. Thank you loads of tax money that we'll be getting back. At this point, I cannot broadcast where he is going or for how long. Jarrett does not even like me putting it on here or Facebook that he'll be gone, but it's a little difficult to keep your husband's deployment a secret sometimes. I'm sure many of my military wife friends think the same way. All I can say is that where he is going and where I'll be visiting is an amazing, beautiful and quite interesting country. The fact that I'll be flying for twenty hours to a different country scares the crap out of me, but heres to getting out of my comfort zone and taking more risks.
• April: Miss Austyn will be making her arrival into the world. I cannot wait to meet this little princess. Her Aunt Katie will surely be spoiling her very soon.
• May: Back to Maryland for another fun weekend. My younger brother, Chris, will be graduating college. It seems like just yesterday I graduated from college and there we'll be watching my little brother walk the stage too. My dad, my brothers and me will then all be Alumni of Salisbury University. So exciting. I cannot wait to see all of the things my smart brother will accomplish. Watch out world.
• August: My other best friend, Brooke's wedding and I'm a bridesmaid!!!! Ahhhh! I was a bridesmaid before in my friend Kristin's wedding and I loved it. I am so happy to see another best friend tie the knot. It will be once again another awesome weekend at home.

Resolutions 2013:

• To OBTAIN and SECURE a full time position. I mean really? It's taking this long to secure a full time position after college. I have had many, many set backs, but I am confident that this is the year that a really decent full time position will come in to my life.
• To get on the ball with grad school. Doing more research, finding the right online school, figuring out the right major and direction and actually applying and starting classes. Then hopefully handling working a full time position while juggling grad school and actually juggling both with no major issues.
• To be a stronger military wife during deployments. I tend to get a little mopey and annoying to be around when Jarrett is gone. He needs to know that I am holding everything together while he is gone and not drowning my sorrows in wine and The Notebook. I mean, I'm sure that's normal for most military wives to do that when they are missing their husband, but I want to be better than that. Jarrett needs to be focusing on his job and his mission when he is gone and he needs to know that his wife is holding down the fort at home for him. I'll miss him so much, but he has much more to miss, so I need to be a huge support system for him.
• To take more risks and jump out of my comfort zone as much as possible. A trip to another country will be just the start.
• As cliche as this may sound, I want, no, I NEED to get back in the gym ASAP. Ever since we got Leo, I have been slowly getting out of my gym habit. I was doing so well for the longest time and then BOOM, stopped going all together. Not cool. I mean, I don't really need to lose weight, but I do want to be and stay fit always. I want to be healthy period.
• Drink only water and 100% cranberry juice. I made it a habit to not drink sweet tea anymore and I have not had a sweet tea in over six months. If you know me, you know that's an accomplishment in itself. Now, soda and coffee drinks are another story. I am having issues giving them up for good. I am already a water fanatic and I drink it constantly, so that is not an issue. I started drinking cranberry juice daily because it is delicious and so healthy for your body and your digestive system. I wanted to allow myself to drink something else besides water all the time, so cranberry juice was the perfect choice.
• Update my blog at least every other day, learn more about the blog world and the technical parts of it all, meet and talk to more military wives, market my blog better, make it look even better, become more involved and become more noticed.

Three cheers to an amazing year ahead for all of us,

Katie<3