Current obsessions and wishes!

 

I have decided to start a new entry called Current obsessions and wishes. It seems as if I'm ALWAYS obsessed with something. There is always something catching my eye. It could be a new fashion trend, getting a good deal on an item I love, stumbling on a new brand or new store, a specific food or new restaurant opening, or of course, any type of home decor tip. Whatever it may be, I somehow become obsessed, so I thought I might periodically share them with you.

 

Also, I am constantly making lists of items that I want. I seriously plan out what I'm going to buy each paycheck. Sometimes I feel as if I'm too materialistic because I buy way too many things for myself, plus the husband does too! It's hard to be a woman these days though. There are so many adorable things out there, and I can't help that I like nice things. Lord knows all the things I might purchase once I have a real full time job and a real salary! Ahhh be afraid, be very afraid!

 

Current Obsessions:

 

1.) Camouflage Under Armour hoodies

I have been wanting the pink one for about a year now of which Jarrett was going to get it for me last Christmas. Bass Pro was completely sold out of it and so was Under Armour online. Instead, Jarr ended up getting me the black one. I had been dying for a pink camo hoodie, but I loved the black too because it still had the pink camo in it. Bass Pro is one of our favorite stores, so we're in there quit frequently. This past week we visited like we always do and low and behold, they had my pink hoodie. They had four left of which they had one small. Jarrett bought it right then. I was so excited. I love unexpected surprises.

 

2.) Mudd smocked tops from Kohl's

I absolutely love smocked tops, especially Mudd ones. Mudd has always been one of my favorite affordable brands at Kohl's. I always lean towards the smocked tops because I love that banded feel at the bottom of a top. If you're not a fan of baggy tops, smocked ones are the way to go.

 

3.) Purses from Kohl's 

My purse obsession has become larger over the past couple years. I love my Vera Bradley, Coach, Dooney and Burke and all the typical high end brands. I also love the purse brands at Kohl's. These two purses were actually given to me by a family friend. One is Simply Vera Vera Wang and the other is Dana Buchman. I just love them.

 

4.) Dollar Tree nail polish

I have come to learn that nail polish can be expensive. I walked out of Ulta one day and had spend about $30 on three bottles of OPI. Seriously? Whoa! I love my OPI, but this dollar tree brand called L.A. Colors worked just as good as a popular brand. My co-worker Jillian steered me towards this brand because it actually does work better than my other brands. Hmm $30 for three bottles or $3 for three bottles? I wonder which is the better deal? :)

 

5.) Pocket bacs, large hand sanitizers and mini candles from BBW

I love Bath and Body Works so much! When they run their sales on these items, I go crazy. For $5 I can get five mini hand sanitizers or two mini candles and for $15 I can get five large hand sanitizers. They usually run these deals for a good while, so I always try to get in there and stock up. I'm so funny. I have to have each of these three items for each season and holiday. I can't help it! Ha! :)

 

6.) "Love" votive holder from Yankee Candle

I love living so close to the Yankee Candle Factory Outlet in Williamsburg. They have so many other cute things that the small stores don't have. This votive holder caught my eye so quickly and I knew I had to get it. I'm not usually a votive person because I love the jar candles and tarts better, but I just had to get this. I am currently burning sparkling apple in it, and it smells so divine.

 

Current Wishes:

 

 1.) New Coach purse

This is the new Madison Metallic tote. It is gorgeous, and I think I will make it part of my Christmas list!

 

2.) New Vera Bradley purse

It has been forever since I got a new Vera Bradley! This print is called Rosy Posies and the purse is called the Laura tote. I'm in love.

 

3.) Cowgirl boots

Ahhhh I have been wanting cowgirl boots for forever now, and these are definitely the ones I must get. These are called the Old Gringo Sora boot and they are from this amazing store I just discovered called Country Outfitter! Being as I am from Fort Worth, Texas, how in the world do I not own a pair of these bad boys, or should I say bad girls?

 

4.) Sanuks

My younger brother works at an awesome shoe store back in Maryland called Vernon Powell Shoes. He owns like a billion pairs of Sanuks and has urged me to get a pair. I may just have to ask him for a pair as his Christmas present to me.

 

5.) Beaded bracelets

I have always loved beaded bracelets and I had no clue that you could get such cute ones at Bass Pro Shop. I didn't even know they sold jewelry to begin with, so when I saw these, I became a very happy girl.

 

6.) Rain boots

 

I really really need to invest in some cute rain boots. I'm the stupid girl who refuses to take her Uggs off when it rains, therefore nearly ruining every pair of them. Argg. Now that I have a puppy, I'm outside a lot regardless of the weather so I need to be prepared for when it rains. Plus rain boots are easy to slip on for when my little guy has to go potty!

 

Well that's it for now. Stay tuned for more posts on my obsessions and wishes. You might find yourself feeling obsessed and wishful too.

 

Katie<3

Blog facelift!

Standby! I am in the process of re-doing this blog to make it just a tad bit more presentable. Although, I am starting to notice just how picky I am seeing as I've been working on this blog change for about three to four hours now and it's 1:10 in the morning! Nuts much? I think so. But hey, don't you want to come to a more adorable and less boring page? Yes, you do. I am not the most savy when it comes to stuff like this, but I'm surely learning. I look at all these other gorgeous blogs and I want the same look for mine, but my own spin on it. So, stay tuned. At the rate I'm going, the way it looks now may not be the way it looks tomorrow. Any feedback is also welcome! :)

Katie<3

Remember what is most important...

Since I started this blog, I have incorporated a lot of quotes and poems within it. I may have mentioned them in a previous post, but these quotes are from my Blue Mountain Arts fridge calendar. Yeah, it may seem silly to dedicate a whole post to a quote on a refrigerator calendar, but it's not. The whole calendar is about giving inspiration each month. I bought the calendar at my store and have been in love with its words ever since. It gives me hope every day, and by sharing the quotes on here, I also plan to give you hope whenever you need it. The following quote is by writer Vickie M. Worsham.

 

It's not having everything go right;

it's facing whatever goes wrong.

It's not being without fear;

it's having the determination to go in spite of it.

 

 

What is most important is not where you stand,

but the direction you're going in.

 

It's more than never having bad moments;

it's knowing you are always bigger that the moment.

It's believing you have already been given everything

you need to handle life.

It's not being able to rid the world of all its injustices;

it's being able to rise above them.

It's the belief in your heart that there will always be

more good than bad in the world.

 

Remember to live just this one day

and not add tomorrow's troubles to today/s load.

Remember that every day ends and brings a new tomorrow

full of exciting new things.

Love what you do,

do the best you can,

and always remember

how much you are loved.

-- Vickie M. Worsham

 

Although I have never heard of any of the writers on the calendar, they are amazing all the same. I love walking in to my kitchen every day and having a calendar like this on my fridge. I just love calendars plain and simple. You turn the page to a new month and there is either a cute picture, a picture of something you love, or words that enter your thoughts. Whenever I'm having a bad day, I just look at the quote of the month on my calendar and smile knowing that tomorrow will be a better day. So go out and buy a new calendar. Buy one that inspires you to better tomorrows. Whether it has quotes on it or just a cute picture, you'll be glad you did.

 

 

-Katie

Grocery shopping venting!

 

 

Pardon me while I vent. I really want to refrain from venting or getting mad on here, but this evenings grocery shopping trip has me on edge. Usually we go to the base commissary to get our groceries, but ours is so small and way over crowded no matter what time of day you go. Granted the commissary has the best prices, deals and there's no tax, of course it would be the better place to spend our money, but it is just so hectic. The aisles are way too narrow, every aisle you try to go down there are either ten different people with their overly full carts or one of those moms with five kids with one of those huge race car buggy carts. Seriously? I just don't understand why a place that is so overly populated on daily basis wouldn't be much bigger. It's ridiculous. The aisles are barely big enough to have two people going down them at the same time. You're always afraid of running over some one's toe or something or knocking all of the food off of the shelf. I know I am. I'm literally over there living in fear that I'm going to be the person that takes out an entire shelf because I can't get down an aisle. Insane. Plus, it doesn't take much to stress me out, so because of all the chaos, I end up biting Jarrett's head off because I can't get to the peanut butter. It's exhausting! So after many trips much like I just mentioned, we decided to stop going to the commissary and just go to Walmart since it is five minutes from our house.

 

Boy was I naive to think our problems would just magically disappear because we started going to Walmart instead. The Hampton Walmart is just as annoying as the Walmart back in Salisbury. It's a madhouse. Yes, it is much bigger than the commissary, but there are still the same issues and much much more. The biggest thing that makes me angry is that they NEVER have enough lanes open. NEVER. Every single time we go there whether it's for one thing or fifty things, there are never enough registers open. There are usually one twenty items or less lanes open and two regular lanes. Even on their busiest days/nights. Really? You're going to have three lanes open on a Sunday at noon? Give me a break please. Oh and to top it off, you've got people that literally have fifty items in their cart and they are going through the twenty items or less line as if they only have ten items in their cart. They do this while there is someone behind them that only has three things. What? Argggg!

 

Just when you thought there was nothing more for me to vent about, this evening takes the prize. We ended up just going to Walmart to do our shopping because we didn't want to be gone long. I really  feel like there is never a right time to go to the store whether it is Walmart or somewhere else. Everyone is always like "if you go to Walmart at 10:00 am it will be really slow". No thank you. No matter what time you go it will always be somewhat busy and somewhat annoying. Tonight we go around 5:30 or so. It did not look busy from the outside, but as soon as we step foot in the door, it's crazy.

 

We go through our whole aisle debacle and get through that without ripping someones head off or ripping each other's heads off. Thank goodness. Now, here comes the hard part, trying to find a lane with less people in it. No such luck. Of course there were only two twenty items or less lanes open and only three normal lanes open. We had forgot hamburger buns, so Jarrett went to retrieve those while I scrambled to find a lane. All the lines were evenly long so I just settled on one. The line I get in is so long that it goes all the way to where the clothing section begins. If I were to get in the line with my cart facing the front of the store I would be blocking people from getting by, so I get in line behind this nice man and his wife and I move my cart sideways so other people can get by. Two younger girls get in line behind me and do the same thing with their carts. Mind you we were both coming from the grocery side of Walmart. You could clearly see that we were in line behind this nice man and his wife. Jarrett finally comes back with the buns and we stand there and wait for the line to move up. Well, as we're standing there carrying on a conversation with each other, this girl and her husband decided to interrupt us by telling us that they were in line and that we had cut in front of them. They came from the non-grocery side and I guess that didn't realize that the line had curved around so that people could get by. They were clearly not in line, they just thought they were. The girl proceeds to argue with Jarrett over the fact, but my husband and I don't really care to get in arguments with people over stupid stuff, so instead of getting rude with this girl and her husband, we just let them go in front of us. The nice man and his wife just smiled at us and shook their heads. The young girls behind us were ready to curse the girl out. It could have been real bad, but it wasn't thank God. I'm not going to lie, I wanted to get up in the girls face, but I stayed classy.

 

I guess grocery shopping gets to us all sometimes. When it does, we have to learn to keep it together and not let our panties get in a bunch. You have to try to ignore those pesky annoyances and just get what you came there for. Don't fight with your spouse because your frustrated. Don't take your frustrations out on a complete stranger either. Just roll with the punches.

 

Happy grocery shopping,

Katie<3

Home sweet home!

This past weekend was a fabulous one if I do say so myself. I got to spend a lot of time with my best girls plus the Ravens won a tough game. Not sure if I've mentioned it before or not, but my husband and I are huge fans of Ravens football. I hated not watching the game with him, but the awesome outcome was worth it. Anyways, I had Sunday and Monday off so I decided to go to Maryland again, this time by myself. Jarrett didn't really feel like making the drive there again since we were just home two weeks prior. He decided to just stay home and spend some time with his parents while my main purpose of going home again was to see my friends. He would have definitely been bored out of his mind with me spending all my time with the girls.

Our last visit I didn't get to see any of my friends. This weekend worked out perfectly. Sunday, I got to spend most of my day with my friends Erica and Brooke. Erica, as I've stated before, and I have been best friends since middle school and been through a lot together, and now we are going through her having her first child. I am so excited for her and to be by her side as much as I can. I might find myself posting about babies now. It's hard not to think about babies and having one of your own when your best friend is pregnant. If you were wondering, and I'm sure many of you are, babies are still at least three years away for Jarrett and I. There are a lot of things we want to accomplish before we start a family. I definitely can't wait to experience it all, but for now, I'll just leave it to Erica.

Later on that evening I finally got to see Brooke. We had such a good time catching up and watching some football. I also got to hang out with her parents of which I love to death. I just love her family period. Before I left the house her mom took some awesome pictures of us in our football jerseys (even though Brooke is a Cowboys fan haha). Her mom always takes the best pictures. I was sad to leave her, but she knows I'll always be back.

The next day I got to visit with best friend #3, Christina. We went out to lunch then hung out back at my mom's for a little until I had to leave Maryland. Sophie was really glad to see Christina since she hadn't seen her since she was really little. We had a great time, and then mom got some really good pictures of us and Sophie. My younger brother Chris came over for a bit too, so he was able to get in a picture as well.

I use to hate taking pictures, but now I'm realizing that you have to capture those moments with the people you love the most. I'm not always going to be able to come home as much as I do. When I start working full time, it may be a while before I have free time again. Even worse, we could get stationed somewhere else. Somewhere that's far away. I come home a lot because I know eventually I won't be able to to this extent. It won't always be this easy. This is why I dedicate a post to my trips home. To me, regardless of what we do on our trips home, whether we go sky diving, or just hang out with family and friends doing nothing at all, these trips are worth the words on the page.

Katie<3

Don't ever try to understand everything!

 

 

Don't ever try and understand everything --

some things will just never make sense.

Don't ever be reluctant

to show your feelings --

when you're happy, give in to it!

When you're not, live with it.

Don't ever be afraid to try to

make things better --

you might be surprised at the results.

Don't ever take the weight of the world

on your shoulders.

Don't ever feel threatened by the future --

take life one day at a time.

 

Don't ever feel guilty about the past --

what's done is done. Learn from any

mistakes you might have made.

Don't ever feel that you are alone --

there is always somebody there for you

to reach out to.

Don't ever forget that you can achieve

so many of the things you can imagine --

imagine that! It's not as hard as it seems.

Don't ever stop loving,

don't ever stop believing,

don't ever stop dreaming your dreams.

--Laine Parsons

Katie<3

Fall/Halloween decor happiness!

Woo hoo! My fall and Halloween decorations are up! This makes me happy on so many levels! This is my favorite time of year. Yes, I love summer as much as you all do, but I love fall even more. With the beginning of fall comes Ravens football, cooler temperatures, bonfires, fall show premieres, jeans, uggs, hoodies and much much more. September through December are my favorite months of the year. When I can put my fall decor up, all is right with the world according to my book.

 

So here is our townhouse all decked out for fall and Halloween with most of everything coming from Michael's:

 

 

 When I was putting away my fall decorations last year, I thought of the idea that next year I should put up fall leaves over the dining room. I got the idea from my dad. Every fall he puts up leaves above the opening to his kitchen. It looks amazing. This year I decided to do the same and I absolutely love it, especially with my red berry wreath in the middle. It's a great idea if you have a wall like the one I have. I'm already thinking about putting garland up there for Christmas. Stayed tuned for the Christmas/Winter decor post coming in a few months.

Here is the coffee table centerpiece I made. I already had the vase, rocks and red berries, so all I needed extra were the flowers and ribbon. All and all I would say that it would cost you a total of 10 bucks to make this. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

The TV stand. I love having decorations on our TV stand especially since I have so much room to work with. I love to do my own little combinations of decor. Here I bought a couple of fall ceramic baking dishes of which I laid a couple of fall gords inside them. They look so cute. Although they look cute, I may actually have to use those ceramic baking dishes to make pumpkin bread in the near future. That may be a future post as well.

Computer desk. I put out some cute little flower arrangements that I got on sale at Cracker Barrel and some of my fall Yankee candles. I then got a couple of Halloween figurines from Michael's to give it some spooky flare.

These are my end tables. No matter what season it is, I always have a little arrangement on my end tables. Love it!

Both bathrooms. My upstairs bathroom has more of a country flare to it so I always incorporate spiced cinnamon type scents and light/dark brown colors into it. The above picture is of my tart burner which is burning pumpkin spice, and of my sparkling pumpkin hand sanitizer. My downstairs bathroom is a summery combination of beachy/sandy scents along with light colors throughout. To mix the beach scene with the fall scene, I put in a creamy pumpkin candle and creamy pumpkin hand sanitizer to match. I love Bath and Body Works hand sanitizers. They are amazing and amazingly cheap at 5 for $15. I usually have a stock pile of them. Don't judge me! ;)

Kitchen. This is my kitchen window seal. I have a couple of pumpkin spice candles from Bath and Body Works on there and some fall figurines much like the Halloween ones on the computer desk. As far as candles go, I have always been a Yankee Candle fan, but Bath and Body Works always runs really good deals on their candles. Sometimes you can even get their large ones 2 for $20. Awesome deal. Their candles possibly smell better than Yankee! :)

Patio. Aside from the dirty patio table, I put out a cute pumpkin centerpiece along with some shimmery pumpkins and coasters with leaves on them. So cute!

 

Now all I need are some fall mums and carved pumpkins for my porch and I'll be all set!

 

Happy fall and happy decorating,

Katie<3

Destined for Greatness!

You are destined for greatness.

The road to greatness starts within you.

Count your blessings, cherish your potential,

and appreciate the full beauty of every day.

Tomorrow is yours to create.

There's so much potential inside you...

in every dream you hold close and in

each hope that is important to you.

Dance your way to the stars, dream

tomorrow into being, and celebrate each step along the way.

Expect great things, and they will be yours someday.

--Linda E. Knight

 

Katie<3

My "off" day!

Okay! Today was definitely not my day. Either I had a spastic "off" moment or something would just irritate the crap out of me. Whatever it was, it wasn't my day for sure. I swear I walked under a ladder this past week or something.

At our Hallmark store we have a gourmet candy case built in between our registers. I had a customer come in and she wanted $1.50 worth of chocolate covered raisins, so I had to go to the back room to get them. Now, we have tons of boxes of candy back in our back room, so sometimes you have to move boxes around to get to what you need. In this case, I had to move a box of chocolate covered almonds to get to the raisins. Just my luck, the lid on the almonds was not on all the way and when I went to move them, the lid fell off and the box fell spilling the chocolate covered almonds EVERYWHERE! Awesome. My manager Diane comes over and pretty much almost falls on the floor laughing, so I didn't feel too bad about it. It was pretty hilarious now that I think about it. That was nothing though compared to what happened on my lunch break.

So usually on Saturdays we order in for lunch. Today we ordered food from this awesome Pizzeria down the road called Anna's. So yummy! We all eat lunch in our little office room which doesn't have much desk space at all. We also love to have a couple votives burning in their too to make the back room smell yummy at all times. So I'm eating my stromboli when I see a huge flame coming up at me. Yes. My paper towel had caught on fire. Awesome. Just awesome. What do I do? I freeze! Then I literally freak out yelling "omg, omg, what do I do, omg, omg"! Like an idiot I throw the flaming paper towel down and start stomping on it melting the bottom of my shoe in the process. Thankfully Diane was in the back room doing a little organizing and heard me freaking out. She ran over and threw water on the paper towel and the fire finally went out. Whew! I wanted to cry so bad because I was so frustrated at myself.

After the incident, Diane and I cleaned up the mess I had made and we ate our lunch. Randomly while we ate, Diane just busted out laughing again. I then busted out laughing myself. Sometimes that's all you can do when you mess up. Instead of getting mad at yourself, just laugh. Laugh really hard too. Laugh until you feel tears coming. It sure made me feel better. We've all had those days though. There's nothing you can do to avoid them. As cliche as it sounds, you just have to roll with the punches and pick yourself back up again.

Then, as if today's incidents weren't enough, I had to sit in traffic for an hour on my way home because the stupid Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel was closed going Eastbound. Seriously? What takes me literally seven minutes to get home took me an hour. All I wanted to do was get home. When I did get home, I had a handsome husband and an adorable puppy waiting for me. Bad day over!

Katie<3

No makeup Monday!

I'm usually never home during the week days, so I don't get to watch my daytime shows that often. This past Monday I just happened to be off work so I was able to watch my shows such as The Young and the Restless, Bold and the Beautiful, The Talk and Ellen. That Monday also happened to be the season premiere of all the talk shows, so of course, they were all awesome episodes.

The Talk really stood out to me because they did something that you've never seen on Ellen, The Revolution, The Chew or even The View. For their season three premiere, all of the hosts did the whole entire show with NO, yes I said no, makeup on. It was simply amazing to actually see them come out on stage with not a smidgen of makeup on. Nothing. And I must say, they all looked fabulous!

Celebrities live their lives in the spot light, constantly having their pictures taken, constantly in a magazine, constantly having others judge them left and right about what they look like. We base our judgment of them on how well their hair looked in a specific photo, how well their makeup looked, how well they wore that dress. Now magazines are always posting articles and pictures of celebrities that they caught with no makeup on like it's a sin to have nothing on your face. It's ridiculous that we judge those celebrities because we saw a sneaky picture of them with nothing but the skin God gave them.

Yes, I love make up and I feel much better about myself and my image when I wear it, but we as women do not need it to be truly beautiful. I praise the ladies of The Talk for doing what they did. As celebs it could not have been easy to do a live show with absolutly no make up on. I literally would have freaked out if it were me going on TV with nothing on my face.

What was even more amazing was that they had the whole entire audience with no make up on and even their guest came out with clean faces. Plus everyone was on the show in nothing but white robes. It was adorable! They had Jamie Lee Curtis come out and then at the end of the show, they had three of my favorite soap opera stars come out with no make up. As leading ladies, those actresses are always so beautiful and glamorous on their shows. They are leading examples of beautiful women on TV. That day, they all looked gorgeous as ever with nothing on.

All and all, it was a pretty eye opening show. Below is a little video of the ladies chatting it up about the episode.

 



Heres to being comfy in our own skin,
Katie<3

Home sweet home!

 

This past weekend we finally got to go to Maryland. We had not been since we got Leo three months ago, so it was definitely time for a trip home. Jarrett's leave had started and I actually had a three day weekend so it all worked out pretty well. We also took Leo with us because we want him to get use to my mom's house again, plus it's so fun when him and Sophie are together. We also want him to get use to longer car rides. He actually did pretty good on the ride there considering it is three hours long. I figured he would whine the whole way, but nope, didn't hear a peep out of him. That was definitely nice for a change. It's nice to know we can take him on a long car ride without him whining or getting car sick.

We left Friday night after I got off work and stayed till Sunday evening. It was a short weekend, but it was a great one. My younger brother's birthday was Saturday, so we spent most of Saturday doing celebratory things with him and my family. Later that night we all went over to my dad's house and he cooked a huge dinner like he always does. Of course, it was fabulous. He also made peach cobbler and key lime pie for dessert. Can you say heaven? I swear that day felt like Thanksgiving. It was such a good feeling to be around my family again. Three months was a long enough time for me to be away from them. I know I won't always be this close to home so I have to cherish it while I can.

Sunday, Jarrett stayed home with the puppies while mom and I went to church. It felt awesome to be back at my old church again. It was a great service by Pastor Martin. I could listen to his messages all day long. After church Jarrett met mom and I at Lombardis for some delicious lunch, and I got to stop into mom's Hallmark to do a little shopping. I bought another bead for my Pandora bracelet and a couple pairs of adorable Periwinkle earrings. So happy. We then left Maryland around three for the drive back to VA. Leo, once again, slept most of the way.

Cheers to perfect weekends with family and puppies,
Katie<3

We're all grown up!

Freshman homecoming 2001

 Senior English haha



Senior English again..you know you love my face! :P

I believe this is a couple days after graduation in 2005

Lately, I've found myself reminiscing a lot. I've been thinking about all my childhood friends and everyone that I went to school with. Some of these people I've known since I was two, some since first grade, some since middle school and most of you I met in high school. You enter high school and your told "these are the people you're going to see everyday for the next four years", and you're totally nervous about who you're going to meet. I know I was.

You spend four years with these people. You make life long friends, you get your first real boyfriend, you fall in love for the first time, get your heart broken for the first time, fight with your closest friends, stress about college and so on and so on. That's high school for ya. Before you know it, it's over. You're pushed out into a whole new world. Everyone goes in a completely different direction with their lives.

Honestly, if it wasn't for social media, I would have no clue what all of you are up to these days. Let me tell you though, it's crazy how much every one's lives have changed since high school. Some of you are still with your high school sweetheart. Some of you are getting your Master's Degree. Some of you already have amazing careers. Some of you are buying your first house. Most of you are married or getting married. Most are having babies or already have like three kids. Some of you guys aren't douche bags anymore. Sorry, but it's true. A lot of you dudes were douche bags. Just saying. Some of you moved away from Salisbury. Some of you moved to a different country. Some of you joined the military. Some of you are military wives just like me. Some of you are simply just trying to figure it all out.

I feel like now I am a better version of myself. I don't take crap from people like I use to. I speak my mind a lot more, hence this blog. I have more faith and optimism in myself. I believe in the things that I can accomplish. I open myself up to people more. I trust people more.  I have allowed a man to love me with all his might without ever questioning him. I learn more about myself everyday. I finally know who I am and who I want to be. All and all, I am a better Katie.

No matter how your life has turned out, we are not the same people we were in high school. I believe we are better versions of who we were. In a way, I am thankful for social media so that I can still keep in touch with most of you. I love knowing how everyone is doing. I get excited whenever someone gets engaged or pregnant. It's crazy how giddy I get. I bask in all your glories, no matter what they may be. It's kind of exciting to see how much we've all changed. I genuinely look forward to the next few years to see what all of you are up to.

Okay, enough reminiscing for one night! :)

Katie<3

I'm back! :)

Hello world, I am finally back! Jarrett was on a two month trip to Georgia of which he, of course, took the laptop with him, and of which I never got the time to visit the library and update! Boo sorry everyone! :( I tried to use my Nook to update, but it didn't want to work. Blah! I keep telling Jarrett that we need a desktop computer for me when he's deployed. I can only go so long without a computer, and the Nook and my phone only do so much. Anyways, here are the last two months in a nut shell!

The week that Jarrett left, mom took her week long yearly vacation and came down, of which while she was here I somehow came down with pneumonia. Awesome. Not quit sure how I got it, but I did. I spent most of the day in the hospital hooked up to an IV because I was so dehydrated with a fever of 103. Nuts, I know. I then spent the next four days cooped up in the house with mom and the dogs. I felt so awful that I got so sick while my mom was visiting, but I was also really glad to have her there. You always want your mommy when you're sick, it doesn't matter how old you are.

So, after I finally got over pneumonia, my older brother, Matt, came to visit. He had a work seminar in Williamsburg, so he was in town for three days. Quality brother time, Busch Gardens, shopping and real food again was just the thing I needed. I feel like the older we get, the more close we become. I know I don't say this often, but I truly love having brothers. Both of my brothers are seriously amazing. I am so lucky to have them.

After plenty of family time, it was finally time for my weekend getaway to Georgia to visit Jarrett. It was the perfect weekend away from everything. We ate at some of the best Georgia restaurants, drove to Hilton Head to go shopping and check out the beach and spent some time in downtown Savannah at the River walk. We didn't have time to go to Paula Deen's restaurant though. Jarrett actually ended up going to her restaurant two times later on during his trip, but she wasn't there at the time. He then ended up going to her brother's restaurant, Uncle Bubba's of which she actually was there. He met her and got his picture taken with her. Needless to say, I was a tad bit jealous until he brought me back her dessert cookbook signed by her. I was then a happy camper. I wish my trip could have lasted longer, but it was well worth it.

Not long after I got back, my mom came back for a do-over vacation. This time, I didn't get sick. Thank the Lord. I also got to spend some time with the in laws while my mom was down. We took my mom on a little day trip to Yorktown and showed her the battle fields. My in laws have become quit the little tour guides when it comes to Yorktown. I think they know their way around Virginia as a whole better than Jarrett and me. Anyway, that day was a great day and it ended with me coming home to flowers and gourmet chocolates from Jarrett. Yes, I cried like a little baby when I saw them.

Although this seemed like the longest two months of my life, Jarrett came home on Monday and Leo and I could not be more happy.

Katie<3

Relaxation fail!

So remember when I said I would have a relaxing day at the pool this Wednesday? Well, it didn't happen. The weather sucked, plus the pool didn't even open I'm guessing because of the weather. Blah. So what did I end up doing on my day off? I cleaned. Yes, I cleaned my house from top to bottom. I had been meaning to clean and that day was the only day I would have time before my mom arrives on Sunday. I have this tendency to clean my house like a mad woman when I have company coming. So much for a day of relaxation. When it comes to cleaning, I go off on a tangent for the most part. I become like a crazy cleaning lady once I start. I ended up dusting parts of my house that I didn't even know could accumulate dust. It was nuts, but boy do I feel better. I got a lot accomplished. I love getting things done and accomplished on days off, but it would have been so amazing to just have one day to lay out in the sunshine ALL day and read on my nook with no worries or a care in the world. Oh well, at least I don't work a ton next week, plus my mom will be here on vacation all week. It will be great to spend a lot of time with her since I haven't seen her in nearly two months. Then at the end of July, Jarrett is flying me out to Savannah, GA to spend the weekend with him since he will be deployed there for a month or so. That will most certainly be a nice little vacation from my hectic life.

Katie<3

Relaxation please?

  

My goodness I need to relax. I am stressed stressed stressed! Between the military and not knowing if we are staying in VA or being stationed somewhere new, work, the puppy, trying to find a real job in this economy let alone a career, researching and trying to figure out grad school and constantly worrying about the future, I am completely overwhelmed with everything. I never have real time to myself. Yes of course I have my evenings to myself because Jarrett works nights, but I don't really get to have "me time" very often. I live thirty minutes from the beach and I have a pool at my apartment complex, but do I ever have the time to just relax at the beach or pool? Nope, sure don't! My perfect relaxation day would consist of a pedicure and perhaps a massage and then just spending the rest of the day either at the pool or the beach just reading a book and getting tan. Perfect. Since I'm only off Wednesday this week, depending on the weather, I am forcing myself to lay out at the pool ALL day, and I will read my Fifty Shades of Grey and get a little tan going on. This WILL happen. You know things are crazy when you have to force yourself to relax. Actually, come to think of it, I have never been a relaxed type person. I have always worried myself into oblivion. I never really give myself a day to relax, just by myself. I think we all just need a day like that. A day to ourselves, to think about nothing. A day to rest and let all of the day to day worries rest also. I think we all get so caught up in our lives that we forget to breath. We need to breath. We need to relax.

Heres to a day at the pool,

Katie<3