Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Some more things about the Enchanted Air Force wife

1. If you could do one thing differently in your life, what would it be?
-Some days I feel like there are many things that I would do differently and other days I feel as if I wouldn't change a thing. I mean, these feelings literally change daily. Right now, I will stick with not changing a thing. Everything happens for a reason and without those things I wouldn't be who I am today!

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
-I see myself in Alaska of course and I see myself having a career there, have children there, falling more in love with my husband there and us just living our life together and facing every bump that comes our way!

3. Do you honestly want kids?
-Yesssss! I want at the very most four kids even though my husband thinks I'm crazy. Lately I have been surrounded by babies everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE! Everywhere I turn, there is a huge pregnant woman or a newborn baby or someone I know announcing their pregnancy. I can't escape the possibilities of motherhood and the more I am faced with these baby like things, the more I want children right this second.

4. What has been the best moment of your life so far?
-The best moment in my life so far is of course my wedding day. I went through hell and back to find my gem of a husband and the day that I married him made me the happiest ever in my life.

5. What is your life theme song?
-Enchanted by Taylor Swift

6. What is one thing you have yet to accomplish that you want to do before you die?
-Travel. Travel a lot. I feel like our move to Alaska is the icing on the cake to start our traveling journeys. Jarrett and I love trips and traveling and we haven't always been able to just travel whenever we want because life always gets in the way.

7. If you could choose one thing to be known for, what would it be?
-I want to be known as the girl that loved Jarrett with all her heart. Love is the most happiest and important thing in the world and I just want to be known as a girl that loved another with all her heart and soul!

8. If you could do anything you wanted right in this very moment (no consequences, no fear, etc.) what would it be?
-For Jarrett and I to just hop in the truck and drive to Alaska to see what we're up against. Sometimes I just want to get in the truck with Jarrett and just drive, drive and drive and leave everything else behind!

9. What has been the most challenging moment in your life?
-The past three years have been the most challenging. I have had to transition into being a college graduate, moving away from my family and friends, avid full time job seeker with no luck, Air Force wife, house wife and now an Air Force wife having to move across the country. My life has changed so much over the past three years and although this is the most challenging time in my life, some days it is the most exciting!



Monday, April 29, 2013

Weekend stuff

This past weekend was my last weekend alone. My husband is coming home this weekend and I am so ready! I miss him like crazy if you couldn't tell already! My awesome manager gave me Saturday off too so now I have Saturday, Sunday and Monday off to spend with him. Now lets hope that this week flies on by so I can hold and squeeze my husband for the first time in four months!

Friday night, I went to Walmart to get a few things and as I stated in my Friday Five post, Leo owned one of my work flats while I was out. Argh! And if that wasn't enough, I drove through Popeyes to grab some dinner after Walmart(I have been on a Popeyes kick lately) and I came home to not only my shoe on its death bed, but they forgot to give me a biscuit with my meal! At that point I wanted to scream! Popeyes biscuits are the only fast food biscuits that I really like. Boooo! If they weren't on the other side of town I would have driven right back over there to retrieve my dang biscuit! Haha!

Saturday we had our Spring VIP event at the store so of course we had tons of yummy snacks! Every time we have food at an event I can never keep my hands off of it. That Saturday I basically ingested about 15 donut holes, chips and salsa to last a lifetime, tons of cheese and crackers, cookies, rice cakes and tons of fruit punch! Oh you think I ate too much then? Well, after work I met Rachel at Cheeseburger in Paradise for dinner. Her and I have grown to really love that restaurant! Their burgers are amazing! Of course her and I got burgers and fries as our meal and then if that wasn't enough food on top of the food that I had had at work, we both got dessert! Actually, just about every time her and I eat a meal together it involves dessert! That's why I love her so much! Man oh man I was stuffed by the end of the day though!

Sunday I finally got to sleep in a little and then I met the IL's at church! After church I got some cleaning done around the house and my MIL spray painted our tan wicker furniture white so it finally matches our other white wicker furniture in our bedroom! Yay so exciting! Our bedroom will look great when the fumes finally go away and we can move the furniture back into our room. Then later on Leo and I went over to their house for Sunday dinner. My MIL grilled out steak and corn on the cob and we had salad and buttered bread to go with. Of course I always bring the dessert. I brought a strawberry cheesecake for after dinner. I really don't think I ate enough this weekend! :P

Today Leo and I have been a little lazy, especially since it has been a rainy day outside. We took a mid morning nap, I got the rest of my cleaning of the house done and then I've been reading the last Fifty Shades book most of the day! I am hoping to finally finish it by this evening! I guess we'll see! :P

















Friday, April 26, 2013

Friday Five

Thank God it's Friday! Well really my Friday is on Saturday, but still, on Friday nights I'm completely exhausted! Hoping you all had a wonderful week and have an amazing weekend!

1. Monday, I learned that I cannot drive from Maryland to Virginia in the afternoon without taking a good nap first. Mom and I had a big lunch and naturally you feel very tired after eating a huge meal. I came back to my mom's after lunch and hung out with the pups for a little, but did not take a nap like I should. I left to come back to Virginia around three that afternoon and my eyes were the heaviest they've ever been. I even swerved a couple times which freaked me out! I drove half of the way home like that before I finally stopped for a mocha frappe! Whew that woke me right up! Note to self: never leave again without taking a nap or even grabbing a coffee before the drive! Lesson learned!

2. While I was home last weekend, we found more old photos of me and my friends, my brothers and my cousins. Some of the photos are below because I just couldn't help myself. They are hysterical! There is one of my sweet sixteen birthday dinner so naturally, I put it on Facebook and Instagram and tagged my lovely ladies in it! What is even more awesome is that even though that picture was taken ten years ago, I still keep in touch with all of them too! Thank God for social media

3. Last night I had the pleasure of doing a little bit of babysitting for my neighbor, Tori. Her and her husband are Navy and just had their first child, a beautiful baby girl named Annalise! Tori and I had a girls night and then she needed to go pick her husband up from work so I stayed at her house and watched after Anna bug! She made my job easy because she slept the whole time her mommy was gone. She's such a little sweetheart! I told Tori that Jarrett and I would watch her anytime they wanted to have a date night! I mean, we have to get some practice in some how! :P

4. My dog owned me tonight! Since Jarrett left, I have been experimenting with leaving him out in the house instead of having him in the kitchen all the time. I started doing this about three months ago and it has worked very well up until tonight! I left the house for about thirty minutes just to get a few things from Walmart. Usually Leo doesn't touch anything and is laying on the couch when I come home. Not tonight! He had gotten a hold of one of my black flats that I wear to work every day and pretty much killed it! I came home to bits and pieces of shoe all over the living room floor! After I cleaned everything up he crawled up into my lap and fell asleep! I guess I would be be exhausted too if I had torn up a shoe! Silly puppy!

5. This weekend I am looking forward to just hanging out at home with Leo and finally finishing the third Fifty Shades of Grey book! Also probably throwing some cleaning in the mix. Every time it gets close to homecoming I clean the house like a crazy person. I also like our vehicles to be spotless. I just want Jarrett to come home to a perfectly clean house, plenty of food in the kitchen and clean, pollen free vehicles. I know he wouldn't care either way, but these things matter to me. It's just my OCD kicking in, that's all!

















Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Oh annoying post graduation questions

So, my baby brother whom is not so much a baby anymore, is graduating from college in less than a month. I am oh so proud of him for all of his hard work and determination. I cannot wait to see him walk across that stage just as I did, as Matt did and as our father did. His graduation makes me think about my own.

With the happy times of graduation floating in the air, there are also those pesky annoying questions that EVERYONE and their moms must ask you ten thousand times. I mean, I understand that people want to know what your plans are after graduating, but it becomes a little redundant over time. It has become a huge annoyance for me! I have always wanted to write a post like this because I know I am not the only one going through it.

I graduated almost three years ago and people still bug me with all these questions. I always feel like I have to explain my life to everyone and I want to stop feeling like I just have to. Your life is your life and you shouldn't feel like you have to justify it every day! I warned Chris to be prepared for these questions because if you don't get some huge amazing job right away, people will be bugging the crap out of you just like they did me. Well, here are five common questions and here are my answers and thoughts on those questions:

1. What was your degree in?
-I have my Associates degree in Business and my Bachelors degree in English Literature. End of story.
-When someone tells you their degree, tell them how awesome that is and leave it at that. Don't keep pestering them to tell you more, especially if you don't know them that well.

2. Oh, what can you do with that degree?
-Ummm, I can do a lot of things with a Business and English degree. Why yes, I am still working on obtaining a full time job and career. I am an Air Force wife and have been focusing on my role as such while putting my career on the back burner. So what?
-Okay! This question needs to disappear into the great unknown. Some degrees you can only do one thing. Many other degrees allow you to take many different paths. Hence why I chose my degrees because I knew I could take different career paths.

3. English degree huh? Do you want to be an English teacher then?
-NO! Yes, I've considered going for my Masters in education to teach English, but I don't think that that is what I want to do. I enjoy the aspect of a business type career and an English type of career. Like I stated in a previous post, I want to have more than one career while incorporating both of my degrees.
-Stop assuming that someone with an English degree wants to be an English teacher. You can do SO much with an English degree so I've stated several hundred times before!

4. What are your plans after graduation?
-My plans were always to move to Virginia to be with Jarrett and I did just that. I also dreamed of nailing an amazing job and career here, but that did not happen. Even though it did not happen, a lot of other amazing things did happen in its place. I am very blessed!
-Here's a fun fact: Not everyone knows what they want to do after graduation and that is PERFECTLY okay! This is 2013 and there are so many different options and circumstances that graduates go through! Some contemplate moving out of their small towns, some actually land a huge job in their home town and settle down, some get a retail job or keep the one they have until the right job comes along(no matter how long it takes), some decide to join the military, some become military spouses and their life changes majorly and many take a lot of time off to travel the world! No matter what you decide to do, do it for you and no one else!

5. Since you are an Air Force wife, isn't it going to be hard for you to have a career?
-NO IT IS NOT! The reason why I do not have my career yet is not because I am a military wife. Most of the employers that I have interviewed with did not care at all. The crappy economy is the reason behind my job troubles. I have been offered jobs, but they have not been the right ones. Regardless of my status, I keep pushing toward a future career for myself besides my husband's career. I even want to pursue my Masters degree at some point. Boom!
-Why do people assume military wives can't have careers? What, are we supposed to sit at home twiddling our thumbs and popping out babies left and right? Although there are a lot of house wives and stay at home mom military wives that are absolutely amazing a what they do, there are also wives that want to continue their education and have a career regardless of being in the military. All we want is to be treated just like everyone else out there! We can do anything that normal wives can do! We are no different!

Okay end rant for the evening! I didn't mean to do all this venting. Oh wait, yes I did! I wanted to get this off my chest while giving future graduates some advice on the life that lies ahead. I just want all you graduates to know that no matter what you go through after graduation or how many people ask you these annoying questions, everything will work out for the best! Don't let anyone put you down for the major that you chose or the path that you dared to take. You can do anything! So go out there into this big bad world and be the person that God intended you to be!

Monday, April 22, 2013

A home sweet home weekend, baby Austyn and reenlistment

I had a fantastic weekend in Maryland! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend as well! Saturday I got off work early so I was able to get on the road earlier than usual to go to Maryland! Leo and I rolled into Salisbury around 6:30ish and then mom, Matt and I went out to dinner at La Tolteca. Mexican food sounded amazing after the long drive. It was so scrumptious! After dinner we went by the local pet store and saw all the adorable puppies. So cute! Then we went back to Matt's house so I could see my other brother Chris and their cat Zoe! Zoe is the sweetest cat ever! I love all the pets in our family!

Sunday, mom and I went to church and then got yummy sushi for lunch. After lunch we went to Erica's house to finally meet miss Austyn! Brooke and her mom were there too so we were all able to be together to spend time with baby girl! Holding her was the most amazing feeling! She is the most beautiful baby and such a little sweetheart! I fell in love with her immediately! I e-mailed the picture of me holding her to Jarrett and he laughed and said it was scary me holding a baby! I told him he better get ready because it will be us in a couple years! Haha! I think he is finally warming up to the idea of us becoming parents! I sure can't wait to start our family!

Later on I went over to my dad's for Sunday dinner! It was great because my brothers were there too! It was wonderful to have everyone together and the food wasn't bad either. I mean, isn't the food at my dad's always good? After dinner I went over to Brooke's to spend some more time with her and her family! She showed me some of her wedding decorations of which were gorgeous, and I started to feel kind of down that I'm not able to be in the wedding anymore because of our orders! I hate having to miss out on something so important in her life. I know there is nothing that I can do about it, but it still hurts not being able to be there! I am just lucky that I have a best friend that completely understands my life and why I can't be there.

Yesterday, Jarrett reenlisted for six more years in the Air force! He had to reenlist to accept our Alaska orders. I could not be prouder of him! I also met mom for lunch while she was on her lunch break from work. We went to a restaurant right across from her work and of course it was delicious. After lunch I came home and rested with the pups a little and then got ready to drive back to Virginia. On my way out of town I took Leo to my mom's office so she could say bye to him. He loves his Gamaw! The drive back home was so tiring! I ended up stopping for a mocha frappe because I was so tired! I need to learn to take a nap before driving that long. Also, Leo was such a big boy during both trips! He did not get sick at all. This is a big accomplishment for him and I am so proud of him for it! That Dramamine is doing its job! Now I can have a huge sigh of relief for our big drive to Alaska!











Friday, April 19, 2013

Friday's Letters

Dear Husband, Yay! We have one more full week apart until you are home! Hopefully we will find out your exact date of return very soon. I just want you home so bad! I am just so eager to start the next chapter of our life together! It is all so exciting! I love you so much, honey!

Dear Leo, Little boy, I am so glad you are feeling much better! Mommy was really worried about you this week! Thank goodness it was nothing more than just an upset stomach. I hate seeing you sick because you are just not your self, but you are definitely back to your old self with your crazy laps around the house and your nipping at me when you need to poop! Mommy loves you little man!

Dear Erica boo, I cannot believe you have a daughter, finally! I am so proud of you for being so strong during your pregnancy and when you had to be induced! You were so strong and brave when you brought her into the world! So happy for you and Brooks and your beautiful little family!

Dear Husband, I just felt like writing you another letter. Maybe one of these days you will actually read them! Haha! You still think my blog is silly, but little do you know that it is turning into a masterpiece! Oh and by the way, we are not having all boys! We WILL have a daughter! That is all!






Friday Five

Hello all! What a world wind of a week it has been for our country! I know everyone else is adding these events to their Friday Five and I feel compelled to do so as well.

1. In just one week two terrible things happened in our country. I still cannot believe what happened in Boston and Texas! Thank God justice was served in Boston and the suspects were found even though one was dead. At least the other brother was found alive so they can interrogate him and make him pay for the lives he took and ruined! Kudos to the amazing law enforcement for catching both suspects! What happened in Texas hit close to home for me because I have a lot of family in Texas even though they do not live where the explosion took place. I just hope they can figure out exactly what happened soon! It is sad when things like this happen, but it is nice to see our country stick together!

2. On a lighter note, I am going back to Maryland tomorrow for the weekend. I finally get to meet little miss Austyn Lynn on Sunday! I am so stoked to meet this little angel! Just by viewing all of the pictures of her I have fallen in love with this little girl. She is the most beautiful newborn I have ever seen. When I get home Monday evening I will do my post about her and post plenty of pictures.

3. My little boy is finally back to normal. As I posted earlier in the week, I had to take Leo to the ER on Monday because of him constantly throwing up. They determined that it was just an upset stomach and may be the result of me switching him to adult food instead of puppy food. I was worried there for a little bit because he was very constipated from the medicine they had to give him, but he is all back to normal again. He's done with his medicine, eating and drinking again and pooping like normal. What a champ!

4. Okay I am just going to throw this out there. I have been eating like crazy! Yeah I said it! Whenever Jarrett is deployed, I have my moments of emotional eating that just go on and on. I also usually start baking a ton when he leaves. Weird, I know! Just my way of coping, I guess! Now, I'm not gaining any weight from it, but my eating habits have definitely changed since he left. I promised myself that when he left I would get back to the gym four days a week like I use to, but did I do it? Nope, sure did not! Baking and the drive-thru have been my bffs! Now that there is a week in a half until he is home, I am finally calming down and going back to my lunchables and lean cuisines! Ha

5. Jarrett is reenlisting on Monday for six years and then he will be able to accept our orders to Alaska! I am so sad that I will miss the ceremony! I have never been able to see him reenlist! Heck, I didn't even get to see him be sworn in when he went to basic training! There is always something standing in my way! Same for him too! He was deployed when I graduated with my Bachelors, so he missed my graduation! Actually, he was deployed during my graduation with my Associates degree! Dang! I'm glad we both at least made it to our own wedding! Ha! Anyways, I am so proud of Jarrett for his continuous commitment to our county! I feel safer at night knowing there are men just like my husband fighting for our beloved country!

Everyone, please have a great weekend and hug your loved ones extra tight! I know I will as I venture home this weekend!


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

April quote of the month

If you want rainbows, you gotta have rain. In a perfect world, everything would always go right. There would be no disappointments or trials, and life would be filled with only sweet, warm, and fuzzy feelings.

But how would we know if things were good if we had no comparison? Would we recognize the blessings in our lives without having the opposite to compare them to? Without darkness, would we appreciate the light?

Seems to me if we want rainbows, we gotta have rain. The trick is to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and go out and look for puddles to play in; recognize the tempest for what it is and train ourselves to look for the good in every situation. By overcoming our adversity, we find the joy in everything.
So go on, go play in the rain!


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Finding blessings during deployment

So it is no secret that deployments are tough and down right mean sometimes! They never ever get any easier no matter how long or short they may be. Jarrett has been gone since the first week of January and I have definitely had my hard times especially when he told me he wouldn't be home until May now. If I have learned one thing from deployments it is that us military wives are incredibly blessed to live this life! When our husbands are gone, we have to play superwoman! Literally! We have to take care of EVERYTHING!

We have to:
-Play mommy and daddy(to puppies and children)
-Take care of the house, the laundry, the dishes and all the grocery shopping
-Work full time while managing everything else
-Pay any bills and run any errands that our husband needs us to
-Handle anything else for our husband's since we are their POA
-Deal with a sick puppy or baby on our own
-Deal with hearing bad news on the television or radio that could impact our husband's mission
-Go days at a time without talking to our husbands
-Deal with receiving orders all on our own
-Learn how to run our household and keep everyone in it safe when needed(learning how to use a gun when needed)

I'm sure there is more that I could add to this list, but these are the main things that I have come up with and had to do myself! When I think about all the stuff that I have had to deal with since Jarrett left I feel so accomplished and blessed by it all. I am finally realizing how strong I have become since becoming an Air Force girlfriend/fiancé/now wife! I've been with him for over seven years meaning I've been basically married to the Air Force for over seven years! Seven years of having to endure all of this and with every new year there are more things that I am responsible for when Jarrett's deployed! Before we know it I will be at home with our future children while he is gone and when that happens I will deal with that too! I am not afraid!

So heres to all my military spouses out there! One step at a time we are getting through these deployments and working our butts off to get things done so that our husbands do not have to worry about us on the home front! We are blessed more than we know!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Weekend stuff

I cannot believe how quick the weekends go! They start and then before you know it they are over in a flash! Crazy! Hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was full of birthday shenanigans, time with the in laws and the birth of a precious baby girl!

This weekend we celebrated two of my co-worker's birthdays with Jillian's being on Saturday and Diane's, our manager, being on Sunday. We all decided to go ahead and celebrate Diane's on Saturday since she and most of us would be off work on Sunday. Friday night, I came back to the store to bring Diane's gifts and help the girls decorate her office and stuff! It all looked amazing as you can see below.

When Diane came into work Saturday morning she loooooved her decorated office! She was so surprised by it. We got her a Willow Tree angel, a Dunkin Donuts gift card and a bunch of owl stuff since she loves owls. Plus her daughter always bakes cupcakes for all of our birthdays, so she baked pumpkin spice cupcakes for her mom and Jillian. You all know I can never turn down a cupcake so all of us at work dug right in to them! They were out of this world scrumptious!

Later after work we all went out to celebrate Jillian's birthday at Olive Garden. We all had such a good time and the food was yummy yummy! Our waiter was a little weird though, but then he kept refilling our wine sample glasses, so then he wasn't so weird anymore with all the free wine! Haha! Anyways, For Jillian's birthday some of the other girls and I put together a birthday basket with all kinds of stuff in it. It looked adorable and I forgot to get a picture of it. Boo me! Of course, you cannot leave a restaurant without them singing to someone with a birthday, so they sang to Jillian and she was not a fan of it! It was hysterical watching her face which you will see below!

Sunday, Leo and I slept in a little and then had a lovely Skype session with Jarrett while we continued to lay in bed. Then I finally got out of bed and got ready for church. I met my in laws at the 10:45 church service which was so inspiring. I am really going to miss our church. I am hoping that Jarrett and I can find a church just as good in Alaska. I want to become more involved in a church too when we find a new one. After church I went and did my grocery shopping for the next two weeks and went to Petco to get Leo his big boy food(adult dachshund Eukanuba). Later on Leo and I went over to the in law's new townhouse for a cook out. We drank wine, ate some amazing food and then had an awesome Oreo pie for dessert. After dinner we just played with Leo, rested and watched The Masters wishing that Jarrett was there to watch it with us!

Today was a mixed day. Bad and great all at the same time. The bad part of the day was that Leo woke up throwing up everywhere! I took him to the emergency vet clinic right away and they determined that it was just an upset stomach and gave him some antibiotics. Thank goodness! He's been doing so well since we got home so I feel much better. We just spent the rest of the day hanging out and being lazy. Later on this evening my whole day became much better when Erica gave birth to baby Austyn! She was 8lbs 12oz with a ton of hair! I am not posting pictures just yet, but I will do a post after this weekend when I meet her for the first time. I can already tell you that she is one gorgeous little girl so stay tuned! :)






























Friday, April 12, 2013

Friday Five

Happy Friday once again everyone!

1. Monday I came back from Maryland and I wish I could have stayed all week. It has been a blah week for me plus I am missing my husband so much! We don't know when he'll be home now, so it's getting harder for me to keep my cool like I have been. I am doing my best to refrain from being a whiney military wife, but somedays I want to scream in a pillow! At least there are two new episodes of Happy Endings on right now and I do believe I might go to Maryland next weekend too! Score!

2. A couple days ago it was National Siblings Day apparently so I thought I'd post some adorable pictures of my brothers and me. We were so stinking cute as you can see below. I also found a picture of my mom, dad, older brother and me as a baby. I was cute as a baby if I do say so myself! Just looking at these old pictures makes me realize just how lucky I have been to have two awesome parents and two crazy, silly, always there for me brothers!

3. Adding to number 2, because yesterday was throwback Thursday, I also added a photo of my best friend Christina and I of which I'm not sure how old we are in the picture. I believe it was my senior year of high school and her junior year. The other picture I posted was of me and my friends at sixth grade graduation back when they actually did graduation for sixth graders. What I love most is that I still keep in touch with those lovely ladies even after all this time. That picture was taken about seventeen years ago and I cannot believe how much we've all grown since then!

4. Ever since the beginning of the year Jarrett and I have talked about getting another puppy. We were going to get another mini dachshund, but discovered that our rental office only allows one pet so we decided to put the new puppy on hold for the time being. Now that we are moving and that our new base housing allows two pets, the new puppy is back on the table. I still want another dachshund, but now Jarrett is on the kick of us getting a husky instead! I'm still stuck on another dachshund, but I won't deny that us having a husky would be totally awesome, so I guess we will see once we get to Alaska!

5. This week we have had some beautiful, warm weather, finally! Like every day this week it has been sunny and warm and actually hot at some times. I was able to break out the flip flops which made me so happy. The only thing I hate about this weather is that I can't go buy spring and summer clothes because there is no point with us going to a colder climate. I hate not being able to go buy more flips flops and tank tops, but at this point I just want to enjoy the weather while we're still here! I don't want to take it for granted!









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