February quote of the month!

Some ideas sound logical right from the start. The wheel and fire were obviously great concepts from the get-go.

But I wonder who first watched a chicken lay an egg and said, "Hey, let's eat that!" Yuck! That was probably met with some skepticism. At the time, no one had visions of fluffy chiffons, lofty meringues, yummy omelets, or delicate soufflés.

New ideas always encounter criticism and opposition. But remember, all great ideas start in somebody's basement with one man or woman with a vision. They key is to believe in yourself and persevere. So trust your crazy ideas. They could change the world!

Weekend stuff!

This weekend was a nice relaxing one. Besides working all day Saturday, Sunday was a perfect day! I got up super early and went to the early church service with my in laws. It was such a great service and a very eye opening one at that! After church we went on a drive to Gloucester, VA since the weather was warm and gorgeous. Such a nice drive through the country! For the first time in a while I just sat there and took in the beautiful scenery and did not worry about a thing. Ha, me not worry? Yes, it happened! After our lovely little drive, we stopped at Arby's for lunch. So delicious! After we got home, I spent the rest of the day doing laundry, washing dishes, straightening up the house a little more and then enjoying the weather even more outside playing with Leo!

Today, I got Leo all signed up for puppy daycare two times a week starting next Tuesday. Yes, I said puppy daycare (my mother in law thinks it's hilarious)! Jarrett and I figure two days a week of all day training for a little bit will definitely do the trick in breaking Leo of some of his habits and help Jarrett and I to train him better. The good part of today was signing Leo up for his classes and actually having the time to job search at the library even though I only found three jobs to apply to. The bad part about today was that I found out from our rental office that we are only allowed to have one pet per townhouse! Jarrett and I were seriously considering getting Leo a little sister once we had him for a year, but it looks like that will have to wait until we can move somewhere that allows more than one pet or until we buy our first home. I cannot lie, I was a tad bit sad when the lady told me that, but I guess everything happens for a reason!

Here's some happiness to lead you in to the week!

Blog help please!

So, I've been blogging for almost a year now and I still have NO idea what I am doing nor have the time to figure any of it out on my own! I hate asking for help because I always think I can figure things out on my own, but I really need help with this. It has been very hard for me to work on my blog because Jarrett has the laptop until his deployment is over. I barely have time to work at the library on this let alone job search at the library and since I can't get to the library, I have been limited to updating through my Iphone Blogger App which only lets you do so much!

I look at other blogs constantly trying to figure out how they made their blog so fascinating. I have no clue how to make it look personable yet professional or how to market it properly! I have no clue about html and codes. Even people that have been blogging less than I have have amazing looking blogs and already know what they are doing! Ahhhh this is driving me crazy! I feel like the only way I can make this blog look how I want it is to pay a professional to do it all for me! I do not want to resort to someone doing it for me so I will ask my questions below and hopefully one of my fellow kind bloggers will help a girl out! I hope I am not too annoying with all my questions!

1. Google Friend Connect: How do I get this on to my blog to gain followers? I have tried to set up an account before, but I'm not sure if I actually did it. I also want to know how to get the little link thingy on to my blog like everyone else has!

2. Pages: How do I set up a page for my about me and so on? I see everyone with cute links across the top of their page or on the side going down their page, and I want them on mine! Also, I notice some of you have a link to a certain page that shows you all the posts that you have labeled to that page (example: a page called Marriage that when you click on "Marriage" it takes you to every post with the word "marriage" in the label)! How do you do that too?

3. Marketing: How do I market my blog besides posting my links on Facebook? Should I create a Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram page for my blog? Hmmm!

4. About me section: How do I get rid of the standard Blogger About Me section and do my own custom one? How do I create a cute picture with an about me profile with cute wacky fonts?

5. Buttons: How do I create my own button? I want my own so bad! They are so cute and I want to see my button on other blogs!

6. Link ups: Can someone please explain link ups to me and tips to create my own link up every week?

7. Is everyone a natural graphic designer or are most of you just finding all of these graphics from blogs that offers tutorials? I want to create my own stuff and I want my blog to be completely custom by me, but I have not the slightest bit of an idea on how to do it!

Okay, I think that's all I have for now, so please comment below and help me come from an amateur blogger to a sophisticated experienced blogger! :)

Pinterest care package ideas!

So, as I stated in an earlier post, I sent Jarrett a Valentine's Day care package about two weeks ago. He actually got it before Valentine's Day even though I felt like I was sending it too late. This was my first package, so I had no clue what I was doing and kind of rushed the whole process. I did not have a lot of time to decorate the box the way I wanted either, but I did find a ton of awesome ideas on Pinterest. I mean, when can you not find an amazing idea on Pinterest? There are so many creative packages out there and it is so awesome to see what my fellow military wives come up with. I found Christmas packages, Halloween ones and Valentines ones that sure put my package to shame! Regardless of what it looked like though, my husband loved his so much! In the end, that is all that matters! Hope my fellow wives find some inspiration in my findings below!

Weekend stuff and baby shower!

This past weekend I took a weekend trip to Maryland again. This time I came home for my best friend Erica's baby shower. We had her shower on Saturday and it worked out even better than we had all planned. It was a great day spending time with my best friends and celebrating the upcoming birth of Austyn! Erica's baby shower has definitely given me baby fever, but Jarrett and I have decided to wait two more years on our fifth anniversary to start a family. We still have some goals that we want to accomplish before starting a family and we hope that in two more years those goals will be accomplished and that we will be ready for a baby! Until then, I am just being patient and hoping for everything to fall in to place for us!

Enjoy your week and enjoy the pictures from the shower below! :)

Friday's letters!

Dear Husband, We have almost made it to the half way point of this deployment and I could not be happier. Thank you once again for the beautiful roses on Valentine's Day yesterday. Those being on the doorstep when I got home were exactly what I needed considering the hectic day that I had. You are the best husband I could ask for! Dear Leo, You really need to get this whole car sickness thing under control. Mommy has tried everything and you still get sick almost every time we drive somewhere. Hopefully you will grow out of this soon. Dear baby Austyn, We cannot wait for your arrival in two months. Your mommy looks like she could pop you out any minute, but we still have some time to get ready for your arrival. Your baby shower is tomorrow so be prepared to be one spoiled little girl. Dear Maryland, It is definitely good to be home for two weekend in a row. I wish I could stay longer this weekend, but it is never too long until I/we are back again.



Happy Valentine's Day!

I hated being away from Jarrett today, but I pulled through like a big girl. Jarrett usually gets deployed around this time every year, so it is rare if we get Valentine's Day together. Even though we are apart on this day a lot, he always makes up for it. Today I had roses and a beautiful note on the porch when I got home from work, and I cried like a baby! I hate being so emotional, but sometimes a girl has to belt out the tears! I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day and to all you military wives with husbands deployed, I hope you all got through the day too! Here's to hopefully being with our husbands next Valentine's Day! :)

A home sweet home birthday!

Hi all! This weekend was my birthday weekend! Friday night, Leo and I ventured to Maryland for a long weekend with family and friends. It was a fantastic weekend. Saturday morning I got my hair chopped off, which feels amazing by the way, then I went to purchase my bridesmaid dress for Brooke's wedding and had lunch with mom at my favorite pizza place in the whole world, Delmar Pizza in Delmar, MD. So amazingly good.  Later on that night we all went out to dinner for my mine and my dad's birthday. My dad's is three days before mine so we usually do a joint birthday dinner too. I opened all my gifts that night which consisted of a Ravens Superbowl tee, a new Vera Bradley wristlet, some gift certificates and lots of moolah! Very happy girl right here! The next day was my birthday and it was simple and great. I went to church with mom, ate some sushi with mom and Matt, ran some more errands then later on we all went out to dinner again at Longhorn Steakhouse. After dinner I took Leo over to my dad's house so he could see him. Today I took Leo to the awesome groomers here called Michelle's Pretty Paws. He loved it and they gave him a Valentine's Day bandanna to wear. After I picked Leo up, I went by to see my pregnant best friend Erica and visit with her and baby Austyn. I felt her belly and Austyn kicked me. It was such an amazing feeling. Next weekend I will be coming back for the baby shower of which I will be doing a post on the shower and baby shower ideas.

Go Ravens!!!!! I will wear it proud!

 I loooove my new wristlet and it matches my purse! :)

 My cake and cupcakes that mom got for my birthday!

 My delicious Blackberry Sangria from Longhorn Steakhouse!

In a couple hours Leo and I will be heading back to Virginia for the week. I'm not really looking forward to driving back, but I'll be back next weekend and before I know it, February will be over and Jarrett and I will have reached the half way point in his deployment. Between working so much, staying busy at home and taking trips back and forth to Maryland, time will fly by and April 30th will be here! :)

Here's a little something for your week ahead!

Katie<3

Weekend stuff and visits!

What an awesome weekend! My mom visited and my Ravens won the Superbowl! Take that all you haters and doubters! Oh, and take that all you mean Steelers fans! HA! Okay, anyways, my mom came to visit Friday night and it was so good to have her here this weekend with all the crap I've been dealing with. I'm okay now, but I was still a little bummed out by the trip not working out, so it was good to have some quality time with mom. I worked most of the weekend, but had Sunday off thank goodness!

Sunday, we went to church then the in laws came over for pizza and the Super Bowl with mom and I. Such an amazing game overall! I am so proud of my team and so proud to be a Ravens fan! We deserved this win so much and we got it!

Today, I finally mailed Jarrett's Valentine's Day care package! I am no longer a care package virgin! Haha! What an amazing feeling it was too! There is nothing like filling up a huge box with everything your husband loves and shipping it across the world to him! Now I want to send care packages all the time, and also to random soldiers in Afghanistan, Iraq or to any other country!

Plan B!

So, this week has not been a very good one. Jarrett filed our taxes and we definitely did not get back what we normally do every year. I am not exactly sure why, but we are barely getting back any money. We were counting on this money for my trip to visit him and it was a big key factor in the trip actually working out, but now it looks like it is not going to happen. At first I was really upset because this is not the first time a trip has not gone as planned for us! We have tried to have a honeymoon before and long story short, it did not happen for many reasons. So, instead of my trip to visit him on this deployment, we are going to finally start a vacation fund so that we can save for a while and really take an honest to goodness trip together maybe later on this year or early next year! We also know that this will not be his last deployment, nor his last deployment out of the country, so there will be plenty of more times when we will have the means for me to come visit!

It just fascinates me that every time we try to take a trip somewhere, there are so many hurdles to jump through while there are people that go on trips all the time with no issues what so ever. It just amazes me. I mean, do we just have bad travel luck or what? Sheesh! Oh well, I am just trying to look on the bright side and not be so negative and pessimistic about things. I don't want to complain or whine about anything in my life. I want to be blessed and grateful always no matter what curve balls are thrown my way.

I tell you though, in three months, we are going to have one hell of a homecoming, that's for sure! :)