He + Me = We

So Sad :*(

2010-11-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

Well I know it's been awhile but school & moving into a new house has really taken away all of my free time.

But I just had to come and mourn the loss of my great little canon point and shoot that the husband got me for christmas two years ago.

You see, we had a Halloween get together over here at the house Saturday night & our friend who also loves to take pictures I guess grabbed my camera from my husband and it got dropped on the deck just right to make the lense break and the mechanism to break so that it will not go in and out any more :(

My heart is just broken...I now dont have a camera to take photos with and I dont even know if I can get the pictures off of it anymore!

We'll see

I neeeeeeeeed this!

2010-09-07T17:27:00.001-07:00

Follow this link to see the entire post & enter too if you like!

http://futuredomesticgoddess.blogspot.com/2010/09/master-makeover.html

I need to win this giveaway so I can do this treatment in my new master bedroom in our NEW house!

**sorry links arent working for some reason!

Operation Beautiful Kitchen

2010-05-07T11:24:00.001-07:00

First of all HELLO Ladies & Gents!

I am back from the long lost abyss of Radiography school! I am not done yet still one year left to go but it’s slowing down a little bit! I figure that I might as well wind down school (& DEPLOYMENT!) with a major project!

What have I decided to take on you ask?

Well if you read the title you already know!

THE KITCHEN!

Are you ready to see the most awful ugly 80’s throw back kitchen in the world?

Are you sure?….

Ok here it comes…brace yourselves folks….

I dont think you can handle it…shield your children’s eyes!

*SCREAMS*

Alright alright…enough of that ahem….

So here’s the nitty gritty down and dirty details…

Ugly light fixtures…

Down right horrendous cabinets….

Nasty floor (yes that is clean!)

& falling apart counter tops….

Okay so now that you’ve seen the ugliness in all its glory…

Lets discuss how we’re going to turn this ugly duckling of a kitchen into a beautiful swan shall we?

Budget: $500

To Do:

Paint cabinets and add crown moulding, trim to doors & hardware
Replace floor
Paint treatment to counter tops
New light fixtures
Backslash
Paint walls, ceiling and trim
New range hood

The Final Result (a mock up):

So over the next few days we’ll be discussing what is going to take place how much it will cost yadda yadda..

Join me won’t you?

Test Test 1.2.3...

2010-04-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

Testing out my new signature

Forgive Me Father for I have Sinned

2010-03-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

because I am breaking one of the 10 Commandments by coveting this baby.....

ever since I got to use my friend Heather's last September when I took her maternity pictures, I've been praying every night that one shows up at my door magically, I've even been on my best behavior and been doing my best in school hoping that being a good girl would help me reap a reward....

I digress I know I will get one someday but SOMEDAY needs to HURRY UP!

Sooo many ideas floating around in my little head, it's very exciting!

OH and PS: I'm not dead just very very VERY busy with school....

Run Dont Walk

2009-12-30T13:23:00.000-08:00

& go buy yourself a bag....or 10 of these babies! Officially my new favorite Christmas candy ahhh heaven!

Oooh SHINEY!

2009-10-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

So one of the blogs that I read quite frequently Centsational Girl who is awesome and shows you how she transforms her home to a beautiful place to live for a little next to nothing & shares it all with the world so we can do the same is having a give away! And I want to win I want to win BAD!

So to get my second entry I am writing to tell you about it too my faithful readers!

Head on over to Centsational Girl and enter to win either a kitchen or bathroom faucet from Price Pfister.

Our kitchen is in desperate need of some new bling bling & this is the one I'll pick if I win!

Isn't she beautiful?

Killer

2009-09-10T19:31:00.000-07:00

That is the only way I can describe this week!

I had 3 tests this week (one Wednesday & two Thursday/today) and it was just a nerve wracking week. I'm so glad to be through with it! I only have class tomorrow for about 2 hours.

But the greatest thing about getting through this week is not that I'm done with the tests (there are always more tests) but it's that I get to go visit my husband for the whole weekend! I'm so very excited! I cannot wait! I'm leaving right after class lets out on Friday so I should be there by early Friday afternoon!

I do not think I can contain my excitement! I might not sleep very well tonight! Okay that's a lie I'm dead on my feet! Like I said I'm lucky this week didn't kill me!

Even better yet I don't even have to worry about school this weekend because I got ahead and completed all of my assignments that are due for online work on Tuesday night. So that is a big relief that I will have nothing to do but spend time with my husband.......*sigh*

The perfect end to the most hellish week ever!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Just Some Stuff I've Made

2009-09-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Well I have some time to actually blog and I'm quite excited about it, I find blogging kind of relaxing and a way to let go of the things that are stressing me out or worrying me. Another way I destress is by being creative so in the middle of my high stress summer I made a few things so I thought I would share them with all of you along with a few of my upcoming projects...

Enjoy!

First up my first crochet project just a simple pink clutch!

Next, my mini fat bottom bag

Next up, my sewing machine cover (& my first sewing project)

Lastly, my flat iron travel case

&& just for fun here are my two crochet projects of the moment

The Rachel Swing Jacket from Blueprint Crochet (I"m using cream rather than red & yellow)

& The big bow cardigan from Crochet Today, & I think I'll stick with the color scheme they used

Well thats all for now, I plan on sewing a lot more here in the next few weeks gearing up for christmas..& I plan on making myself a skirt

Smarty Pants

2009-08-31T20:03:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm feeling extra smart right now because I got a 96 on my first radiography exam today! I'm proud of myself I studied really hard, and I know a 96 isn't spectacular to some but for me that is pretty darn good!

Just had to brag a little. I also started work today yay for money!

Okay I'm going to bed now gotta be up at the butt crack of dawn for 8 hours of class!

Good night :)

What I've been up to.....

2009-08-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

well school is in full swing and man is it killer! I am loving every minute of it though! I've met some great people and our class is awesome. I love my teachers they are nice and funny and keep things from getting too boring after sitting in class for 8 hours two times a week. I have my first test on Monday I'm super nervous but I think it will be alright. We have our first day of clinicals is September 15th I'm real nervous about that. We'll see how it goes.

The summer was good but busy. We got home mid may and J immediately started working back at the base and flying again, then left for 3 weeks of training in WHFRTC and then we had about a month to spend with one another between working and getting ready for deployment.

I'm sure there are some of my readers who can attest to how busy and stressfull predeployment is. I seriously felt like a chicken with my head cut off for about 2 weeks straight. I still feel that way now but for a new reason (school).

When I had downtime I redecorated our room. I painted it and my dad came and helped me hang crown moulding and i painted all of our mouldings white and hung curtains and got new lamps and put on the bedding we got as wedding gifts. It's so peaceful and relaxing just what I wanted! Oh and J likes it too! I'll try and post pictures when it's clean I havent had much time to clean between studying and going to class and generally taking care of myself.

I've also became quite the crafterista lately. I've picked up crochet and sewing and love them both. I'll post pictures of my projects in a later post. I'm working on a jacket right now for the fall and I'm very excited about it!

Overall life is pretty good. I cant complain too much. I have great friends and family, an amazing husband who loves me unconditionally, and I'm achieving my dreams.

Life is good. I'll get more specific on things in later posts so I can have things to blog about rather than writing one long post!

I have not fallen off the face of the earth....yet

2009-08-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!

I'm so sorry that I havent posted in so long with moving and getting ready for deployment and school I've just barely had time to sit down. I also redid our bedroom while J was off training for 3 weeks and it turned out great! I'll post pictures sometime,and I've been crafting a lot lately too so hopefully I'll be able to get back on track with posting more regularly.

School starts the 17th so after I get readjusted to school I'll be back I promise!

Sorry again!

Busy Lil Bee

2009-05-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone sorry that I've been sucking it up at posting lately. I've been super busy with finishing up school (2 A's and 1 B so far!) and getting everything ready for the baby shower (it was a success!) and saying good bye to all of our friends and of course getting ready to move. I've had no time for anything. So instead of everyone expecting me to post I'm just going to go ahead and say I probably wont be posting again until after the 18th. I'll be busy trying to get our house back in order and visiting with family and friends who I havent seen in months. So I'll be back soon my pretties with lots of great stuff to talk about!

Don't forget about me!

Graduation, Marriage & Babies

2009-04-29T10:03:00.001-07:00

I dont know about anyone else but there seems to be an outbreak of epedemic proportions of pregnancy these last few months. Every where I look there is another pregnant girl. I'm not saying that I don't like it I'm very happy for each and every one of them, but it's just crazy how many of my friends and friends of friends are popping out babies. Or maybe just the general population. OR it could have to do with the fact that I got to hold and snuggle the most beautiful little baby girl in the world on Monday. I wanted to take her home with me. Weighing in at a mere 5 pounds she was just breathtaking. I'd never held a newborn before (oh the curse of an only child & living far away from other family) and I swear I've said many times that I do not want children right now (and in my heart of hearts) I know that right now is not the time. But holding that little baby sure made me wanna throw everything out the window. I believe this is the start of my baby fever. Poor hubby.

Another thing I've noticed. Nearly all of my classmates from high school are graduating with degrees in a week. This my friends makes me feel somewhat behind. But I have nothing to complain about I FINALLY got what I wanted as far as getting accepted into the Radiography program and I'm married to the love of my life. No complaints. Just some things I'm noticing.

And lastly, oh marriage sweet sweet love. LOTS of those girls who are graduating are also getting engaged or their wedding dates are fast approaching. Once again CONGRATS to them! I had a TON of fun planning my wedding and I hope they do the same.

I don't know what this was really supposed to be about. I think these are just things I'm hyper aware of as of late. Sorry this post was kind of pointless.

Short Hiatus

2009-04-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

& when I say short I mean only this week! I didn't post much last week because my brother in law has been here so we've been spending time with him. I'll recap on all of that next week. I have plenty of good ideas for posts coming up so stay tuned! I have to take this week off because I have A TON of school work to get finished up but I just have to make it through this week so once I do it will all be down hill from there.

BUT I did see this when I was taking a break from the endless pile of homework today....you girls will appreciate it and guys it will make you appreciate the things we as women go through....

On the upside

2009-04-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhh......is all I have to say! My dad went and turned in my papers for Radiography admission today so all I have left to do is register for my classes and HOPEFULLY that will happen on Wednesday at the latest Friday.

I hope everyone had a good Easter. Mine was alright I guess I was still VERY VERY disappointed that we didn't get to go have lunch with all of our friends, even though we very easily could have but everyone else was against it so we had Burger King....nice huh? After that we went and played around in the simulators on base which was fun. Then went and hunted for fishing spots for the boys. They did find me an awesome spot to take my final pictures for photography class! I'm VERY excited! But I wont tell you until I've taken them! While the guys fished the river I read Eclipse and I'm still not very far! I'm a very thorough reader so it takes me a bit longer than usual. I'm getting there though I'm very excited to get to Breaking Dawn!

The weather has been quite bad today but it is supposed to be nice for the rest of the week so the husband will probably take his check ride tomorrow instead. It's hard for them to see with NVG's on when there has been a storm or the clouds are real low. Which we have both today. So it's most likely a NO GO tonight.

here comes the upside:

WE WILL BE DONE WITH HAWKS TOMORROW! Hallelujah! officially 4 weeks Thursday and we will be heading home!

Heading to the beach this weekend most likely.....blah

Bummed & Dessert

2009-04-09T19:31:00.000-07:00

Well you know how I wrote about having Easter dinner with our friends? Well that got squashed today because my husband's brother is coming to visit and we're going to the beach instead. I'm not exactly thrilled because I was really looking forward to having an enjoyable meal with all of our friends (please don't think I don't like my brother in law I really do!) So when I had to call the hostess and decline it broke my heart. I had already bought all of my ingredients for my cake I was going to make (recipe to come keep reading!) and I was just plain old excited.

Now don't get me wrong I like the beach and all that and any other time I'd be thrilled to go. But you know what not this time. I felt like I had something better to do that go sit and watch the waves come in cause lord know I aint gettin in that water. It's TOO COLD! Plus the weather is supposed to be crap the entire weekend so...yeah none too fun in my opinion. But I will suffer graciously as I have before. I was very sick the last time my brother in law came to visit and we went to the beach. I stayed locked up in our hotel room the whole time in horrible pain and drugged up. So my memories of the beach with BIL are none to fancy so it may be why I have a bit of a sour taste in my mouth about it. But anyways. I'll use it as a chance to catch up on some reading. I've been reading Eclipse (the 3rd book to Twilight) and I'm really starting to get into this one and I'm not far in so I'll probably get it done this weekend! Does anyone know if they are going to make a 5th book I want more I tell you GIVE ME MORE! I MUST HAVE MORE EDWARD AND BELLA!NOW I TELL YOU! (ahem ok I'm done sorry..)

Ok now onto the true purpose of this post besides me complaining like the 3 year old that I am... DESSERT! And not only like the yummiest dessert but one that hits close to home for me, I grew up with this dessert I would always get so excited to go see my Mamo and get some DUMP CAKE YUM! She would always make it for me and Oatmeal cake for my parents. I don't have her recipe but she showed me how to make it and it's easy a 2 year old could do it!

But instead of me just giving you a recipe and telling you what to do I'm gonna let one of my favorite cooks show you how! None other than Pioneer Woman! and if Pioneer Woman makes it then it is GOOD! You'll see!

Click this little link and she's gonna show you lots of pretty pictures and good directions on how to make this delicious masterpiece that I believe was invented by God himself and what better dish to serve on Easter than God's dessert!? None I think!

Click here to be taken to heaven!

My Plate is Officially Full

2009-04-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

Holy smokes (hahahaha this makes me laugh because my husband's instructor pilot says this when they are doing something stupid or going fast) anyways....life has officially became a tornado! I have so much to do within the next 4 weeks it's unbelievable! Here is a rundown...

School
6 more photos to turn in for photography class
one more discussion board for film class
a 400 point paper to write for film class (final)
10 discussion boards for nutrition
1 more assignment for nutrition
3 more chapters for finance
and a project for finance

Military wise
Find a dress for the ball
Find a dress for graduation
Get the house packed up
Get everything weighed and figure out this whole DIY move crap

Personal wise
Plan and host a baby shower
Get everything ready for starting radiography
Get a buncha shots (not liking this!)
Get re certified in CPR
Get the rest of our friends wedding gifts before the 20th
Get baby gifts for C & J
Finish wedding movie and burn to discs for family
Mail off copies of wedding photo discs and video to family
Keep the house clean and orderly
Keep the guys healthy and fed
Go to the beach
Have brother in law down for a week or so

See lots to do but I'm happy because it's going to make the next 4 weeks fly by!

Anti-Military: Are you serious?!

2009-04-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

In my entire life I've never encountered someone so un-American as these people. They are every where. Just watch the news! Your mouth will hang open just the same as mine did; you truly wont believe your eyes. I'm trying to deal with someone who is anti-military right now in my personal life and it is really no fun. It is hurtful to see someone so against a big part of my life.

I just don't understand who someone an American and someone who calls themselves an American be against the people who gave us the right to call ourselves Americans. I mean who do you think gave you the right to even let it be known you are against the military? Oh yeah that's right all the US Soldiers here now and all before them. If you really wanna get me fired up about something this one of those subjects.

How someone can disrespect the people who gave them the right to live, talk and walk in this country? I mean as I said are you serious? These people even have the balls to go to military funerals and protest right there at the grave site while family members are trying to say goodbye to their fallen soldier. Are you people insane?! They teach their children to hate the military too what kind of thing is this to teach our children to hate?! This goes on all levels and in the past for the people who taught their children to hate the blacks and Jews and Japanese and even today our children are predestined to hate people of Muslim and Islamic faith because we are at war with a Muslim country. When really in all reality most of these people have nothing to do with our soldiers being killed! They are innocent people just trying to live their lives.

I don't care if you think the military is wrong, or "baby killers" as I've seen them referred to. If it weren't for these kind brave people VOLUNTEERING to risk their lives for all of us then I shudder to think where our country would be today.

You may not agree with the principles that the military works on and how they run their business but do we really have a choice? Or should we all just bunker down in our homes and fight for ourselves. Have you ever seen a movie where there is a natural disaster? Who comes close after the medical personell? That's right the military! This isn't just the movies folks it happens in real life. Take hurricane katrina for example do you know who was responsible for most of the rescue of the people stuck in their homes and the delievery of supplies? Oh yeah that's right the military!

So my point is here instead of going around hating the people who fight and protect your freedom how about you walk up to a soldier the next time you see one and shake his/her hand and say thank you for what you do for us or better yet find a WWII or Vietnam vetern and tell them thank you and buy them dinner because Lord only knows what our lives would be like without those soldiers.

If you don't believe me about the anti-militarism in our country watch this video.

I have absolutely no words!

Easter Dinner

2009-04-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

So Easter Sunday is coming up this weekend and I received a phone call from one of my good friends from my husband's unit inviting us for Easter dinner on Sunday. I of course said we would be there and it sounds like it's going to be loads of fun with good friends and even the Easter Bunny which is really my 9 months pregnant friend C in a bunny suit! Her little 4 year old just gets a big kick out of it every year!

We were asked to bring a dessert and some drinks. So I want your opinions what would be a good dessert to bring for Easter dinner? What is your favorite dessert? I want something lemony possibly because lemon just reminds me of spring and Easter is all about spring!

Leave your suggestions below!

The Army Wife Is Having A Give Away!

2009-04-07T08:36:00.000-07:00

So one of my good friends The Army Wife is having a give away of Simple Green products over on her blog its easy to enter and free just tell her your favorite product and you are entered and if you post about it on your blog you get an extra entry cool deal huh?

I love simple green I remember begging my mom to let me use it when I cleaned my room real well when I was younger! The smell reminds me of pine sap. But the great thing is you aren't gagging while you clean with this stuff! Who could ask for anything better than that! I mean we all have to clean our houses ladies and if you don't well then EWW! LOL I'm a clean freak so anything that helps me clean my house better and in a more healthier way I'm all for it!

I have had every intention of switching to green cleaning products and getting CFL (compact fluorescent light bulbs) for all of our million light fixtures in our house when we return to KY in 4 weeks (here we go again with the 4 weeks baby 4 weeks! if you remember from my wedding countdown days) But if I win this will be an awesome start to my collection!

So hop on over to The Army Wife and enter it ends April 20th!

Lazy Man's Turkey Lasagna

2009-04-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

I whipped this up real quick Saturday night for the guys while they were over here playing video games and watching movies. It was quick easy and very cheap (ground turkey meat is cheap!)And also it's very yummy!

Lazy Man's Turkey Lasagna

Ingredients:
1 lb. of ground turkey
1 large bag of frozen cheese stuffed ravioli
1 large jar of spaghetti sauce
2 cups of Italian style cheese mix from Kraft

Directions:
1. In a medium frying pan brown the ground turkey meat until cooked through and no longer pink.
2. Bring a large pan of water to boil and cook ravioli according to the package
3. As soon as the meat is brown pour in entire jar of sauce in and mix well.
4. In a 13x9 pan make a layer of meat/sauce mixture and cover with cooked ravioli then sprinkle with cheese and keep making layers as you would a lasagne until all ingredients are used.
5. Bake on 350F for 15 minutes

Ruffled Feathers

2009-04-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

So apparently I ruffled some feathers yesterday with my post. And you know what I don't care! This is MY blog where I can talk about MY opinions. Personally I don't give a flying you know what about anyone else's.

Something else people need to understand about this whole blogging situation is that it is PUBLIC FORUM anyone can search you on the Internet and find your blog. Google yourself and you'll find out! If you don't like people talking about certain things on THEIR blogs don't read them. If you don't like hearing other's opinions on things you post about there are two simple solutions to this 1. Disable blog comments or 2. Just don't blog at all. It's that simple.

I don't blog for my family or even my husband I blog for an outlet. I like to write and talk about important issues and share things I like with those around me. To me this is the way I go about it. Others are more private with their sharing but I don't feel that does me any good. I already know how I feel about things but I want others to know how I feel about things so I share on my blog.

I stand firm by my opinions about everything and what I posted about yesterday. I've had this discussion with numerous military wives and they all pretty much agree with me. The girls and I in my husband's unit who are deploying have all decided to get roommates or live alone except for C who is going to live with her mom as I mentioned the other day. And again as I said yesterday about C's decision I completely 100% support her. This is because I KNOW that every one's opinion is different that is what makes this world interesting. If you can't stomach someone else's opinion well then you have a problem. And also, maybe blogging isn't for you because believe it or not everyone is going to have an opinion about what you post about. If I didn't want people to know about my life and how I live then I wouldn't blog either, especially if I didn't want their opinions on it.

I know it is the own person's decision but I just don't think some of them look at the other options. But I don't care anymore about other's opinions. You are more than welcome to comment on my blog matter of fact I encourage it! But don't start drama have you paid attention to how old you are lately? This isn't high school ladies so leave the drama behind and grow up.

And if you have a problem with anything I just said well....just don't read what I have to say....it's that easy.

Something I don't understand

2009-04-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

OK I try to be objective when it comes to the military and how we live our lives as military families. Everyone is different I know...and everyone has different situations. But here is what I don't get, as soon as some of these girls husbands leave their homes for a deployment or even a school they go and live with their parents and abandon their homes they have built with their husband's completely. This is just astonishing to me! I could never do that! Our home is my comfort place. Yes, I see all of his stuff around me and smell his smell on the sheets and clothes but this is comforting to me.

Now, don't get me wrong I have friends who NEED to live with their parents. For example, our friends C & J are expecting a baby later this year. He along with my husband are deploying in the later part of the year. C feels she cannot possibly care for an infant alone without her husband so they made the financial (and sanity) decision for C and the baby to live with her parents. This will not only allow C to have help with her first months of motherhood but for them to save up some much needed $$$ for their future home. So this was a good decision for them and one that I completely 100% agree with and support.

But, I see these girls who just completely flip a lid and leave their homes and I shake my head.....now I know you are young and don't want to live alone, but there are so many other better choices than paying for something you don't live in! Do what I did and get a roommate. This not only solves the living alone aspect but you also have someone to help pay your bills so you can possibly save some money for the future. Because if your family is like mine we are not always going to have these awesome paychecks so we need to save save save!

Look, I'm not trying to offend anyone here. I'm just telling you how I feel about this. I'm 20 something years old and I have not lived with my parents for over 3 years now. I have no intention of going back. I'm an adult and I can take care of myself. Yes, its hard and yes it sucks when my husband leaves me for extended periods of time but I know I'm stronger than that. I refuse to cower in the corner freaking out because I'm scared to go it alone.

What I'm saying here is do anything but live with your parents yeah go visit but don't live there you have a home of your own. Don't let something that was once a source of pride make you a scaredy cat.

If you are a military spouse I want you to tell me how you feel about this subject I'm always willing to hear other people out. Comment below!

Everything is falling into place

2009-04-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

I found out on Tuesday that I got into the radiography program that I've been working so hard to get into for the last 2 years so I can finally say hard work paid off! I can't wait to start in the fall! I feel so much better now knowing that I'm going to have a career to go home to!

Life is amazing!

5 weeks left until we go home! Even more amazing!

It's family day today for UH-60s so I'll try and have something interesting to show for it!

I LOVE this song

2009-04-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

The end......

Our Wedding Photos

2009-03-25T19:33:00.001-07:00

Never mind about me posting all of them I don't have the patience to deal with blogger uploading 60 something pictures. Too annoying so better yet here is my photographers blog she wrote about us and I think that it explains and shows all the pictures (pretty much) Enjoy! Leave her comments these are her work! She's awesome!

Priscilla B Photography

Tell her L sent you!

It's Official

2009-03-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

I am chopping my hair off within the next couple of weeks! I can't take it anymore!

I figure this is a good one (and it also may have something to do with my recent bout of "catch up" with The Hills) I love me some Lauren Conrad; and it also will be good to cover my gargantchuan forehead and it's still long enough that I can put it up and do interesting things with it!

PS: I have a suprise tomorrow!

How I spent my spring break

2009-03-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

The title sounds much like a paper you would write after coming back from spring break in fifth grade. But much like when I was in fifth grade I didn't do much for spring break for the first time in 3 whole years.

You see, it has been a tradition of mine (and usually my best friend) to go on a trip together every spring break since we started college in 05' we did this for 2 years straight first going to Myrtle Beach in 06' and then getting a group together and renting a huge chalet for a week in Gatlinburg in 07'. In 08' I came down to Alabama to visit with J which was a big step for me because I had never drove that far alone but I made it and came back to KY engaged.

But this year, I just couldn't think of anything I would want to do. Besides go see my best friend of course which wasn't really an option since she was in the process of trying to get a new job! Which she got so everybody congratulate her! YAY!

But what I did do was sit in front of my TV and try to learn to crochet while watching every episode of Friends from season 1-10 in consecutive order and watching every episode of The Hills to date.

By far the lamest spring break yet,but owell I guess that comes with the new territory of being an old married woman now.

Oh by the way! I totally suck at crochet, I can do the stitches but I just can't keep my lines straight! Anyone have any good pointers?

Chicken Risotto

2009-03-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

I made this last night for dinner. Once again as most of the recipes I try it was quick and easy, husband liked it so when it gets a man's two thumbs up then it definately goes into the keep file.

This is great for a weeknight meal, or could even be used as a side dish if you wanted. This recipe can go a million different ways. You can change the meat or the soup used, and the veggie.

Ingredients:
1 tsp. of oil
1 1/2 cups of water
2 cups of white rice
1 lb. of boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into strips
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of green peas drained
1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Heat oil in pan on medium heat, cook and stir chicken until cooked.
2. Add in soup, water and peas and heat to boiling
3. Add in rice, cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until rice is tender
4. Add parmesan cheese heat until melted.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Some New Drugstore Favorites

2009-03-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

I've recently been trying out a few new products because they've either 1. stopped making the previous product I was using or 2. I needed something new or wasn't satisfied with the results of the previous product. Plus with the economy the way it is I personally cannot afford to go out and spend a ton on beauty products. So here are some of my new favorite things from my medicine cabinet..

Dove's Smooth Cashmere Deodorant: this stuff is fantastic! I feel fresh and dry all day (even at the gym) and it smells absolutely wonderful the way I would describe it would be a fresh spring day! And the best part is it does work for 16 hours because I put it on in the morning and can still smell it (a slight hint) at night before I go to bed.....and of course it doesn't leave marks on my clothes and my armpits are now smooth LOL!

Almay self sharpening eyeliner crayon in Black Brown: this stuff is great it glides on smooth and doesn't drag like some eyeliners do. The packaging promises a 16 hour lasting power without smudging...and I'd say it gets pretty darn close to that. It's great for the $6 price tag.

Aveeno Skin Brightening Daily Facial Scrub: I picked this up because in the morning when I wake up I would feel that my skin felt a little flaky and that my makeup wouldn't go on smooth even after washing my face with my Mary Kay face wash which is supposed to have exfoliators in it also but it just wasn't doing the trick so I got this because not only does it promise exfoliation but also to help even out skin tone which was a good hook for me because I have what I like to call ruddy skin it's just not even so I've been using this in the morning before putting on my makeup and using my Mary Kay products at night. It seems to be helping and J. said he has noticed an improvement in my skin tone so we'll see...It cost about $7 at Walmart.

Tresemme Heat Tamer Spray: I use a blow dryer on my hair about every other day and a straightening iron about once or twice a week so this stuff helps to keep damage control on my heat styled hair. It's good stuff for the money because I'm definitely not going to shell out the $30 for the CHI stuff...smells good too so that's a plus. It's about $4 at Walmart and Target

Sonia Kashuk Hidden Agenda Concealer Palette: I just got this yesterday and I'm already addicted. It has 4 colors in it one that is slightly green tinted for covering up zits and toning down redness, and then a few other regular colors to cover up all areas of your face and so you can mix and match to get the correct color. It's $10 at Target and I say well worth it too!

What are some of your favorite drugstore beauty products?

Comment below!

My Current Obsessions

2009-03-05T15:04:00.000-08:00

I have recently become obsessed with some things I've come across...so here is a list...

1. Youtube makeup and hair tutorials! You can find out how to do just about anything you can think of on there! If you are looking for how to do Lauren Conrad from The Hills braided headband you can find it! If you want a natural look to wear everyday or how to pluck your eyebrows it's there! Check it out! I can't stop watching!

2. Pioneer Woman Holy Batman folks this woman is just pure awesomeness! She has taught me most if not all I know about photoshop and I've tried like 4 of her recipes and dang they are GOOD! Check her out too!

3. Photoshop once again holy batman! My pictures have gotten so much better since I learned how to do even just the basics with this program! I took some of our engagement photos that didn't turn out so great and made the AWESOME, wall worthy even!

4. Photoshop actions are pure genius! Especially free ones! I found a bunch on Coffee Shop Actions and Pioneer Woman offers two huge sets for FREE! Check them out!

5. Stripped shortbread cookies from the dollar tree. Best cheapo cookies I've ever had! I've gone through an entire package in 2 days!

Ok I'm done....TGIF tomorrow and HOPEFULLY some wedding pictures! YAY!

February Revisted and New for March

2009-03-03T14:23:00.000-08:00

I started making goals for myself in February when I saw Katie from Bower Power does this monthly and it seems to help her get things done. So here we go we're gonna see my progress but first if you don't remember these are the goals I made for myself for the month of February...

I started FLYlady with my bestie so I want to keep on going with that; having someone to do the challenge with me and keep me motivated is really helping.

Make a propetual birthday & anniversary calender (I have a lot of birthdays and anniversaries to keep up with)

Organize and clean out the closets & drawers of old clothes and donate them

Make a list of basic clothes that I do need and slowly accumulate those basics

Get all thank you cards written and sent out (I'm a horrible person)

Clean out the Ipod and update it with some new music

Run three times a week using Bryn's method

And here is how I did:

I started FLYlady with my bestie so I want to keep on going with that; having someone to do the challenge with me and keep me motivated is really helping.-FAILED (it just wasn't working out for us so we devised our own plan and it is going fabulously more on that later!)

Make a propetual birthday & anniversary calender (I have a lot of birthdays and anniversaries to keep up with)-FAILED ( I didn't even get as close to making a list of all the birthdays and anniversaries much less making the book for them!)

Organize and clean out the closets & drawers of old clothes and donate them- Half Failed (I organized the closet, not the drawers didn't donate anything but got as far as buying new hangers!)

Make a list of basic clothes that I do need and slowly accumulate those basics-FAILED ( I did look a lot though!)

Get all thank you cards written and sent out (I'm a horrible person)-SUCCEEDED (all one billion of them...okay not a billion but a lot of them!)

Clean out the Ipod and update it with some new music-SUCCEEDED (I cleaned it out and put a FEW new songs I'm still accumulating!)

Run three times a week using Bryn's method.-SUCCEEDED (I have ran 3 times a week for the past 4 weeks and I feel great!)

Now onto the goals for March

Keep moving forward with our *3H* program

Make a list of all birthdays and anniversaries that are important to us

Donate the clothes I hate

Make the list of basic clothing items I need

Buy atleast 2 items off that list

Try 4 new recipes

Let's see how far I get this month! As you can see I broke down some of the goals I failed last month thinking that if I made it something smaller that I may be able to actually succeed this time! Wish me luck!

Baked Spaghetti With Chicken and Mushrooms

2009-03-03T09:41:00.000-08:00

I made this recipe last night as I was only just going to make simple spaghetti with some sauce and mushrooms in it and some bread sticks to use up some leftover pasta sauce I had sitting around before it went bad. But then I remembered the other day my friend Jess telling me that she baked her spaghetti. So I was like why the heck not! Then it went from that to the husband asking for some meat in the meal because well he doesn't like meals without meat. So I scrounged around in the kitchen and found I had one frozen chicken breast left over and this is the meal that resulted from it. It's really good simple and makes a lot! So we're having it for left overs tonight. I didn't get this recipe from any where I just flew by the seat of my pants and it turned out well! You could do this with any type of meat such as ground beef or turkey and it would turn out just as well.

Now on to the recipe....

Baked Spaghetti with Chicken and Mushrooms

Ingredients:
1 package of angel hair pasta (or spaghetti)
1 jar of pasta sauce
1 small can of mushrooms
1 frozen (large) chicken breast
Parmesan Cheese (the powder stuff)

Directions:
1. Cook the frozen chicken breast as directed on the package
2. Boil the pasta until tender and drain
3. Put pasta in a 13x9 inch pan and pour in the pasta sauce and mix well
4. Shred the chicken and pour in the mushrooms and chicken mixture into the pan and mix well
5. Put a generous amount of parmesan cheese on top
6. Bake in the oven on 375 for 10-15 minutes
7. Enjoy!

Serving suggestions: Bread sticks, a green veggie such as broccoli or green beans, and sweet tea to drink.

Sorry no pictures of this one. I forgot to take one! I might take one and post it when I make my lunch.

Mine All Mine

2009-03-02T14:06:00.000-08:00

I just ordered this dress from Forever 21 and I can't wait for it to come! It is perfect for spring time, maybe even a potential dress for J's flight school graduation! Even better is it is simple and could easily be dressed up or dressed down and it has POCKETS! Hello! I used to get so excited when I was a kid about my clothes having pockets (I'm weird I know!)

Now all I need are some cute accessories and shoes!

Short and Sweet

2009-03-02T11:12:00.000-08:00

A few updates....once again sorry about not posting much last week I just really had nothing interesting to post about so I figured I wouldn't bore you with my uneventful life,but I'm back with some news.

We will HOPEFULLY have our wedding pictures by Friday of this week (if not next week) but keep your fingers crossed for this week because J & I (along with everyone else in our families) are VERY anxious to see them it has been almost 10 weeks since the wedding so we've had quite a wait but it will be well worth it! Priscilla is just the best thing since sliced bread in my opinion (you can check her out over there ---> in the links section under "Pretty Pictures") show her some love she's awesome!

On another note I have updated the blog a little bit with some new links and an about me section to hopefully maybe turn you on to a new blog or anything. And also to hopefully give you a little bit of insight about me as a person.

Anyways, we have offcially 6 weeks left of blackhawks and 4 weeks + 1-2 week wait for BOLOCIIIBravo so that is a total of approximately 12 weeks until we go home that is 3 months people 3 months! I can't stinkin wait!

I've also been shopping a lot lately I've found some nice things which I will blog about later this week. I'm also inspired fashionably by Chloe over at The Chloe Conspiracy, she dresses totally the way I aspire to dress and she's a freakin hoot! Plus she's petite just like me so she gives me some good ideas to things that would look good on our body type and she's cute as a button I love her red hair! Check her out! You'll fall in love too!

I've been trying lots of new recipes over the past few weeks and I'll be sure to post them this week also! I'm trying to get where I don't make the same thing every week I would like to make a recipe once a month if possible!

Anyways thats about all I have for now!

Later taters

Easy Shepherd's Pie

2009-02-23T10:42:00.001-08:00

I got this recipe from KraftFoods.com and decided to give it a try. I've never made (or had) shepherd's pie before but it looked good so I gave it a whirl.

This was really simple and easy and VERY tasty the guys loved it and we had enough for left overs which is always great!

Ingredients:
1 lb. of hamburger meat
2 cups of hot mashed potatoes (I made homemade mashed potatoes)
4 oz. of cream cheese
1 cup of cheddar cheese, divided
4 cups of frozen mixed veggies, thawed
1 cup of beef gravy
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Directions:
1. Brown the beef in a large skillet until no longer pink, drain
2. Mix potatoes, garlic, cream cheese and half a cup of cheddar cheese, put aside
3. Mix thawed mixed veggies, meat and gravy together, put in a 13x9 pan
4. Spread potato mixture on top of meat/veggie mixture and sprinkle with remaining half cup of cheddar cheese.
5. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes on 375

See now how easy was that?!

Hair-apy Part I

2009-02-18T11:27:00.001-08:00

I have been so bored with my hair lately (I have a love hate relationship with it honestly) that I've been considering chopping it all off to about just above my shoulders like I had it in high school BUT then I think about how long it took me to grow it out (2 1/2 years) and how I can put it up easily and do a few more things with it that I chicken out. My hair at this point is so long that it just hangs there like a mop. Boring and BLAH! So in my quest to find something new to do to my hair I decided I had one of two choices:

1. Dye my hair which I've really been wanting to dye it dark brown for a while especially after seen Reese Witherspoon in Walk The Line as June Carter Cash.

or

2. Find some new hair styles and see if that tickles my fancy.

So way back in October I had boudior photos taken for J. as a wedding gift. I had my hair done at a salon and I told the girl I wanted it like an old vintage pin-up girl would wear her hair. So what we came up with was loose wavy curls. Now what no one understands here is my hair does not EVER hold curl (not for very long atleast) but somehow this girl got it to stay AND to top it all off she curled it with a STRAIGHTENER!

In my quest for new hair styles I looked on youtube for videos on how exactly to curl your hair with a straightener and I struck gold!

Take a look, it seems so simple! This girl is funny.

After watching this I feel like I could possibly do this with a little bit of styling product and a good straightener. So tomorrow I'm going to head off and find a nice straightener and some good product.

Does anyone have any good suggestions for a good straightener (not a CHI) and product?

I'll let you in on the results!

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Or if you are single Happy Single's Awareness Day! (I do not miss those days!)

Just short and sweet for today. Hope everyone has a great Valentine's with their significant others. I'll be back on Monday (maybe Tuesday the hubby has a 3 day SCORE!)

Comment and tell me what you and your honey did for Valentines Day.

Everyone Else Is Doing It!

2009-02-13T08:18:00.000-08:00

So you & I should too! No I'm not talking about jumping off a bridge, I'm talking about the Sproost find your style quiz, I saw Katie over at Bower Power had taken it & now John & Sherry at This Young House have done it so I jumped on the bandwagon so to say.

I have to say I tend to agree with this quizzes' results more than others I've taken in the past. Here are my results:

Nantucket Style

Oh how you love the beach! Who doesn't, right? And so your dream home is either perched in your favorite beach town, or you've brought that favorite beach town into your house.

Your art and accessories speak directly to the activities that are found at the beach. Pieces of driftwood you found here, pictures or paintings of the amazing views there. Things that remind you of the coast - surf boards or fishing boats - are found throughout the house.(not so much!) The feeling of the seaside is both abstract and literal in the design of your space. The fabrics are natural, cottons and linens and are light in color and touch. Much of the furniture is wood or wood framed (the lighter the better, think driftwood!) and wicker, when done right, is a must.

And since your true inspiration is the sea, the colors and textures in your home are the same that you would find at your favorite beach: white, light beiges and grays of the sand and driftwood, a variety of blues for the ocean and sky, and greens and vibrant blues of the sea glass� but the key is white! Your space should feel light and airy and give off the mood one has when at the beach: laid back!

Your furniture is comfortable and the layout is cozy. The more it reminds you of actually sitting on the warm sand, the better! And what do you do at the beach? Hang out with family and friends - and your home is just an extension of this play place. And though the space is filled with large white furniture, it somehow manages to feel both durable and casual.

**This pretty much describes the way I want my home to feel and the look I'm going for!**

Drink Up

2009-02-10T08:24:00.001-08:00

In my quest to be healthier these days I have taken up many new activities and trying to develop habits out of them. For example, I told you I've started running as a form of exercise. I'm also trying to eat healthier and drink more water.

Now I know it's been said that you should drink 8 8oz. glasses of water per day but if I were to do that it would send me to the bathroom every 10 minutes. So I found this hydration calculator that determines how much water you need to drink based on your weight, amount of exercise, the climate you live in, pregnancy/breast feeding, etc.

I admittedly weight 87 pounds (I've always been like this people!) I exercise for 25-30 minutes every other day I'm not pregnant or breastfeeding, I don't live in a harsh climate or a high altitude, nor am I sick with a fever or diarrhea.

Based on all of that I should drink 46.5 ounces of water a day to stay hydrated. So basically I will drink 48 oz. I have a measured bottle I take with me to the gym and it's 24 oz. so I'll just have to drink 2 of those which should be easy!

*edit* I'm an idiot I never realized I didn't link it up it's there now SO SO sorry guys!

Run Like The Wind

2009-02-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

Well I officially started my running routine today that I mentioned in a previous post.

It wasn't so bad. I definitely worked up a sweat but I wasn't dying. To me that is pretty darn great considering I have not exercised in a good 4 years!

I definitely recommend the routine that Bryn over @ Newlywedisms tried. It is definitely a great way to work up to being able to run for awhile.

Another thing that I really love about exercising is that I feel GREAT after and I have A LOT more energy throughout the day. Plus, it encourages me to drink more water than I have been.

I went all gungho last night and bought two new shirts and a pair of running pants, some new sports bras, socks and a water bottle. I also got a new pair of running shoes which J. got me for Valentine's Day. Such a sweetie I tell ya!

What I did was walk at a pretty good pace (about 3.2 on the treadmill monitor)for 10 minutes; then I ran at about 5.2 for one minute then walked at 3.2 for one minute and continued this for 10 minutes. Then I did a cool down for 5 minutes. I will do the run 1/walk 1 2 more times (Wednesday & Friday) and then next Monday I'll do run 2/walk 2 for 3 days and then just work my way up from there.

If anyone would like to join in on the challenge with me I definitely encourage you to do so! Just comment below and let me know. You can do this outside or inside on a treadmill; which is my method of choice because I'd probably trip and kill myself running outside!

February Goals (a little late)

2009-02-08T07:20:00.000-08:00

Katie over at Bower Power does this every month & I also saw Working Woman's Guide to Domestic Success (that's a mouth full!) is also attempting. I think this is a novel idea because it makes you think in shorter terms as far as time goes so that may help me because I have a hard time when I know a goal is going to take forever to accomplish. So maybe month by month will help out.

I started FLYlady with my bestie so I want to keep on going with that; having someone to do the challenge with me and keep me motivated is really helping.

Make a propetual birthday & anniversary calender (I have a lot of birthdays and anniversaries to keep up with)

Organize and clean out the closets & drawers of old clothes and donate them

Make a list of basic clothes that I do need and slowly accumulate those basics

Get all thank you cards written and sent out (I'm a horrible person)

Clean out the Ipod and update it with some new music

Run three times a week using Bryn's method

Product Love: Cover Girl Lash Exact Eyelights Mascara

2009-02-04T05:17:00.001-08:00

OK, usually I don't do this but I just had to tell you guys about this stuff. In early January I decided it was finally time to throw the old mascara away and buy a new tube. I usually go with Maybelline Full Lash but decided to try something new on a whim.

I was going to try the Almay eye color enhancing mascara but at almost $10 at Walmart I decided to walk the other way. So as I was perusing the aisles I found this and it was basically the same exact thing as the Almay mascara just $3 cheaper so I tossed it in my cart and decided to give it a whirl.

I brought it home and decided to use it that day. Let me tell ya I love this stuff! It really does "brighten your eyes" as they say on the package. Even with just the mascara on and nothing else I feel more made up and fresh than I did previously with a whole ton of gunk on my face.

J. even noticed a difference. That day he walked in and said "you look different, but good different. What is different? Are you wearing makeup?" I replied "yeah just not a whole lot like usual" and he said he liked it so that gives it even more kudos if the husband notices and likes it!

Anyways, as far as the product goes it doesn't clump and it comes in either waterproof or just regular non waterproof. I got the waterproof and I don't have any problem with raccoon eyes or anything it stays put all day long (and long into the night when I forget to take it off before going to bed) man if Hilary knew I said that she'd show me pictures of eyelash mites again and tell me creepy eyelash falling out stories.

So, in terms of a number rating I give this mascara a 9, and that's only because when I do take it off at night I kind of have to be a little generous with the eye makeup remover and work a little harder than usual to take it off but to me it's worth it.

My work is getting in the way of my blogging!

2009-02-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry everyone really I am! It seems every time there is going to be a lull in the storm there comes another big wave of work to do. But I'll try and be better about blogging more often even when it's really heavy with work! Wish me luck!

But to make up for it I have a great recipe that I found on fellow blogger Heather's blog and decided to try. Plus you should definitely read her stuff she's great!

Easy Beef Stroganoff
Source: Heather of Heather Drive

Ingredients:
- 1 lb. lean ground beef
- 1 (12-16 oz.) package egg noodles
- 1 packet Lipton Beefy Onion Soup
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup water
- 1 (16 oz.) container of sour cream

Directions:
1. Start water to boil for noodles. In medium skillet, brown beef over medium-high heat.

2. Once beef is brown, add soup packet with enough water to moisten it. Mix well until soup mix is combined with beef.

3. When water is boiling, add egg noodles and cook according to package instructions. Once done, drain. Return noodles to pot and put back on stove over low heat.

4. Add beef/soup mixture to noodles. Add sour cream until creamy (we usually end up using the whole container). Stir until well combined and heated through. Serve immediately.

This is quick & easy and makes A LOT we had enough left over for one lunch & dinner the next night!

Wedding Dress Evolution

2009-01-28T07:20:00.000-08:00

First of all, I'm sorry I haven't been posting much lately. Time has gotten away from me and I had to run home for a few days to take care of some things but now I'm back to boring hum-ho Alabama until May (hopefully!)

I think I should really just quit appologizing.

Today I want to show you the evolution of my wedding dress. It changed ALOT from the time I tried it on to the time I actually wore it at the wedding.

First, here is a picture of me the day I tried it on. As you can tell I was not really feeling it, I had found the dress online and thought it was great so I tried it on. But that bow really bugged me and the color was just not right. I knew it had great potential though. So I ordered it.

Next,here it is the day I picked it up in July. Once again not really feeling it but it could have been that 1. the bow was still there and 2. it fit horribly! That's me with my bridesmaid Aim (right dress wrong color). I do like the color I knew I wanted white from the very beginning. So we are on our way!

Getting closer...

I dont have a picture of it after I had it altered (it disappeared somewhere) but I had it actually fitted, bra cups put in, and the bow is gone WOOT!

And finally the last stage...

Even after having it altered and fitted I just couldnt keep the dress up comfortably so I had seen that you could have sleeves put on your dress at Davids and they were relatively inexpensive so I picked out some and my mom sewed them in.

So here is me in the dress the day of the wedding quite a difference dont ya think!?

Me with my bridesmaids

&

J & I (this is a better view of the sleeves)

So there you have it ladies & gents the evolution of my wedding dress!

Did your dress take a drastic change before your wedding? Did you have more than one dress or anything that you didn't like that you changed? I'd love to hear about it!

Day #4 Household Goals

2009-01-16T05:53:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the last day of goals week! Hopefully each of you has taken something away from this and maybe even set a goal for yourself! Or maybe even felt more motivated to achieve your previously set goals. I know it's hard to stay motivated all the time but as my husband says "you have to keep your eye on the prize." You can do this in many ways you can put a picture of something you are saving up to buy somewhere where you see it every day, or put a little reminder all over the house of what you are really working toward. Also, always try to encourage yourself and tell the ones you love to encourage you also, because if you know that those around you are wanting you to achieve your goal also you will be more likely to in the end!

So here are my household goals for 2009!

Keep in mind that I am a new wife that comes with a whole new list of wonderful things to achieve!

1. Learn to cook properly: I'm tired of cooking things from a box I want to be able to cook from scratch the way my grandmother does. Now there is nothing wrong with a meal from a box every once in awhile but it is certainly not healthy to have it often. So learning to cook from scratch will help me provide better more healthier meals for my husband and I.

2. Join FLYlady and stick to it: there are so many wonderful things about this program, she is like your own little motivator in your email inbox! Everytime you open it she is there cheering you on and encouraging you to get things done! How great is that?! She's not all about house cleaning anymore she now covers exercise and budgeting also.

3. Decorate my home simply and fugally: as I said in my post below that we are currently saving for a new house sometime in 2011. So I don't need to go out and buy a whole bunch of things that I think look good in our townhome right now, when they might not work for our new home. I tend to decorate in a neutral color pallate so hopefully anything that I do acquire can be carried over into the new house.

4. Create a budget: I think this should have gone on yesterday's post but owell, when we return home J will be deploying almost immediately so we are allotted a certain amount of money each month for certain things like living allowance for housing and subsistance (food)so since it will most likely only be me living in the house I'll only have to feed myself which shouldnt cost an arm and a leg (hopefully)so since we are saving to buy (or build) a new house I don't need to go and spend a lot of money on clothes or household stuff and crash our savings right into the ground like i've seen some women do when their husbands deploy (this is not the way to go ladies) I believe deployments are a great time to save save save! Not only for us National Guard families but for active duty families too! You see NG doesn't make a lot of money all the time, only when they are on active duty do they make a good amount. So we need to save our pennies to use for those times when the money isn't so good. But during deployments NG soldiers are making the same amount as their active duty counterparts. With active duty soldiers they are making a bit more than usual because of family seperation pay and hazardous duty pay. So save it don't blow it!

5. Keep a clean house that is always ready for company: much like I want to keep myself always ready for company or ready to go I want to keep my house in the same situation! No more rushing around to pick up all the crap laying around so my friends can come over for lunch or being embarassed when a friend stops by unexpectedly and there is a huge mess in the kitchen/living room.

Hope everyone has a good and prosperous New Year!

Day $3 Financial Goals

2009-01-15T06:59:00.000-08:00

Welcome to day 3 of goals week! Today we're going to talk about financial goals (btw I apologize for mixing up my days this should have been yesterday's post but owell!)

I have 3 goals!

1. Start saving to pay off my school loans: I am about $8,000 in dept for school which I know isn't a lot compared to some folks but it's a good chunk of change. My plan is to save enough to pay it off in one lump sum when it comes due a year after I graduate. I want to pay for it with my own money because I don't believe it's fair to ask my husband to pay it off for me.

2. Save to buy one of these bad boys! Yup I've been drooling over this camera for years now, and now that I am taking a photography course and I'll actually know how to use a camera the correct way by the end of it, I want a nice camera. I don't want it for professional reasons, I want it just for personal reasons. Just because I love to take nice pictures.

3. Make better financial decisions in a rough economy! Next time I go grocery shopping or clothes shopping or any kind of shopping for that matter I plan to ask myself a few questions: 1. Do I REALLY need that new shirt or magazine, 2. Could I do without it? 3. Would I actually use or wear what I'm purchasing enough to makeup for the price?

I have these goals because in middle to late 2011 we plan on buying (or building) a new house so we need to save our $$$ for the mortgage, fixing up the town house so we can rent it out, and new furniture and decor!

What are your financial goals for 2009?

Say it isn't so!

2009-01-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

Word is my beloved Old Navy may be closing doors sometime this year!

Article here: trust me it gets worse

Day #2 Educational Goals

2009-01-14T06:55:00.000-08:00

Well today this is going to be short and simple because I have 2 goals as far as my education goes this year.

1. Get a 4.0 GPA for the spring semester.

&

2. Get accepted into the radiography program and kick it's ass (meaning get all A's)

See easy peasy lemon squeezy.

How about you do you have any educational or work related goals?

Day # 1: Health & Beauty

2009-01-13T06:21:00.000-08:00

Welcome to day one of goals week here at He + Me = We, today we're going to take a look at my goals as far as my health and outward appearance go.

1. Exercise more and get into a routine for exercising: this is because I am basically a couch potato right now, the most I do all day is clean and go to the grocery store. Most of my day is spent on a comfy couch or in a chair doing school work. And even though I may be a mere 90 pounds (I'm 5'1") I have began to see the changes in my body from when I was in high school and I really don't like it so in order to fix that I'm going to start exercising more (hopefully with a friend) and now that I have access to a free gym on post I wont be able to have the excuse of "it costs too much money".

2. Always look presentable no matter what you are doing that day: this comes from my friend Christena, no matter what at the drop of a hat she is ready to go anywhere and even when I just drop by her house she looks great even if she's been sitting around the house all day her hair is done she is wearing nicer clothes (not her pajamas) and she has shoes on and her makeup is done so she's ready to go no matter when or ready for company. I need to be like that, she says it makes you feel better about yourself when you know you look better and you aren't embarrassed when the post man shows up to the door unexpectedly with a package.

3. Floss every day: this needs no explanation it just needs to be done more often

4. Drink more water: once again I don't think this needs any explanation

5. Eat healthier well balanced meals: Lets face it I don't eat the best foods and to me the best foods are fried and greasy. I know subconsciously that it is bad for me but consciously I'm saying "oh it tastes so good" I need to eat more fruits, and veggies. I'm hoping to learn more about healthy eating by taking a nutrition class this semester.

6. Don't buy one more fashionable item of clothing before I develop a "basic wardrobe": OK I know you have all seen Tim Gunn's show on Bravo (even I who doesn't have TV has seen it before)well he has a list and just about every other fashion "pro" out there has their opinion of what every girl should have in their closet, 90% should be basics and only 10% should be fashionable. So I'm going to go through my clothes and get rid (donate) the old things and start adding new things and this will hopefully give me the gumption to get up every morning and put on some real clothes because I will actually love my clothes and the way my clothes look on me!

Well that's it for day one! What are some of your health and beauty goals for 2009 I'd love to hear them!

Goals Week 2009

2009-01-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

Welcome everyone to the first annual goals week here on He + Me = We! The purpose of this week is going to be me discussing my personal goals for each facet of my life. Since getting married I have taken on a couple of new facets, not only as a wife but as a homemaker.

So as to not bore you with a REALLY long post about all my many goals for myself this year I am going to separate them into categories for each day.

Now, I don’t like to refer to my goals as “new years resolutions” because to me it seems resolutions are made to be broken. I really do want to keep these goals and achieve them! So that is exactly what I am going to do ACHIEVE them!

Without further ado here is a list of what you will see for the next 4 days here on He + Me = We

Day 1 (Tuesday): Health & Beauty
Day 2 (Wednesday): Financial
Day 3 (Thursday): Educational
Day 4 (Friday): Household

I hope you join me for the rest of the week & I encourage each and every one of you to share your goals with me, I love to hear from my readers!

“See” you all here tomorrow!

Monday

2009-01-10T13:52:00.000-08:00

Monday will resume normal posting!

I'm working on some good posts and cannot wait to show off some of our professional pictures from our wedding (as soon as we get them!)

But I will be posting about all sorts of things come Monday! I start back to school for the semester Monday as well, but I have lots to talk about and plan on doing some designated post for our wedding and honeymoon so everyone can see all the fun!

I also plan to tell you my new years resolutions (albeit late, but better late than never don't ya think?) and my get organized 2009 plan!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

I'm Back & We're Married!

2009-01-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone sorry it has been so long but I just now had some free time to write since getting back home to finish up wedding plans have the wedding and go on our honeymoon, the holidays, and move back down to Alabama for a few more months, then getting "enlisted" (haha) into the Army (which I finally got done today!) I hope everyone will come back! I promise I have TONS of good stuff coming!

But just to hold you over until I can get started on all that good stuff I promised here are a few pictures.

Favorite picture from our wedding so far (from our lovely friend Kathryn)

On our honeymoon (in Cozumel)

And me w/my new military ID (or what I like to call "the freedom card")

Everything Happens For A Reason

2008-11-28T18:33:00.000-08:00

Well ladies and gents,

I apologize for not writing in so long but I've been quite busy and stressed with no time to do anything! Not with wedding stuff either. We have gotten lots of bad news over the past week or so and it's stressful trying to figure out what to do about it all.

First we found out that J. starts UH-60's on Dec. 10th, so he's quite busy trying to get all of his information for the bird learned (which is a lot trust me) because they have no mercy on you if you don't know your information. So he's going to have quite a few weeks so pray for him to have patience.

Then on my way home on Tuesday my car broke down when I got 20 miles down the road. It's so dead that I have to actually buy a new car! It was going to be $5000-6000 to fix it, so we're just going to get a new car. This didn't happen at a good time obviously with having to pay for the rest of our wedding which is no small feat. So pray for me that we find a car that is reliable and a good deal.

I hope everyone has had a great thanksgiving holiday!

I'll be back Monday!

4 weeks baby 4 weeks!

2008-11-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is exactly how I feel (only watch the first minute or so)

4 weeks from today we are getting married & not only does this signify we are exactly 1 month away from our wedding but J. is officially done with his first part of flight school! It's been a long hard 20 weeks but we made it now it's on to hawks (whenever that may be) and BOLCIIIBravo then we are going home baby! I cannot wait!

After the wedding that will be my countdown I cannot wait to go home!

I just cant believe it! Only 4 short weeks left to go! Holy Moly there is still so much left to do!
We (well I) need to:
-Finalize the ceremony
-Make programs
-Finalize centerpieces
-Order flowers
-Do one last thing to my dress (more on that later)
-Figure out what to do about my shoes
-Create a day of timeline
-Pack for the honeymoon
-Finalize reception menu
-Finalize & Download music for the ceremony
-Create playlist & download music for reception
-Pick songs for our entrances and special dances
-Pick dinner music
-Pick prelude music for the ceremony
-Make plans for our after party & make invitations
-Make plans for the girls after the rehersal dinner and make invitations
-Make a final "Aisle File" to send the girls with all the final details
-Find jewlery for me & the bridesmaids
-Make rehersal dinner invitations
-Make my veil
-Order my fur wrap

& there are probably things I am just not thinking about right now!

Baby it's cold outside

2008-11-19T06:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been told it's has been snowing in Kentucky already, and even down here in Alabama it's very cold (especially in the mornings.) I love to be warm, being cold is just so uncomfortable and I hate trying really hard to get warm.

So, in my quest for staying warm I thought I'd put together an outfit for just lounging around the house that still looks nice enough that you wouldn't be embarassed to answer the door but still keep you warm and cozy.

Happy Birthday To Me!

2008-11-14T09:06:00.000-08:00

Well here I am officially 22 years old. My Mom when she called me earlier asked "well do you feel any older?" and I said no not really after 20 it's just not that different. Except for last year when I turned 21 I could have a drink and no one gave me flack about it.

So I promised a look back at the year of 21 for me so we'll start with that.
November: On this exact day one year ago was the day that J. first told me he loved me. We had been dating for over a year at that point but him waiting made it that much more special.
December: My best friend from North Carolina came and visited us and we had our own Thanksgiving/Christmas at our house, and also a going away party for J. as he was leaving for Flight School that weekend also. Christmas came and went, nothing especially memorable about it.
January: J. left after New Years and I had to get used to not seeing him or even being able to talk to him again. Nothing especially memorable about this month either.
February: J. graduated from WOC school and I got my first taste of Alabama, I rode the 580 miles with his mom (which I was really nervous about). This is also when me & J. started seriously talking about getting married. He was home for Valentines Day and that is when he bought my ring, but told me I couldn't have it yet.
March:March brought spring break and I decided after fighting with my parents over it (they still hadn't figured out that I was a grown up) I was going to travel the 580 miles to Alabama to see J. for the week. Boy was it worth it because this is when he proposed, and I couldn't have imagined it any better. We also decided toward the end of March that we would get married in December so I got to work on wedding planning.
April: We decided in April that I was going to move down to Alabama with J. for at least the summer and we'd see where it went from there. I had also booked everything for our wedding at this point (by the first week of April) photographer, church, reception hall, catering and bought my dress.
May: I had finals the first week of May then I headed to Missouri to visit my family. The next week I moved down to AL. It was nice getting to be with J. every day and night again!
June-August:In June me & J. made the trip to North Carolina to see my best friend get married and it was so great I'm so glad we got to be apart of their special day, and I can't wait for them to be a part of ours! Most of the rest of the time through August I spent my time honing my domestic skills taking care of the guys, cooking cleaning. And making new friends.
September:The very last week of September I made the long trip back home for my first bridal shower, my mom and matron of honor (best friend) put it together for me and it was so great to see her and everyone else from back home.
October: Before I came back to AL, I had boudoir pictures taken for J. as his wedding present. It was a very empowering experience! One I'll never forget!
November:And here we are a year later. Alot has changed since last year. I've gone from a girlfriend to a bride-to-be, and from a girl who clinged to home to a semi-independent woman. It's hard to believe in a little over a month I will be a wife! I cannot be more excited to start my life with J. though!

The years just keep getting better and better! Even though they go by faster too!

Now for a little wish list:

Friends Seasons 3 & 8 (the only seasons J. doesn't have)

This dress from Old Navy in electric blue

These two bikinis from Victoria Secrets for our honeymoon.

These slipper boots from Old Navy

And finally, the skirt I raved about in a previous post! (It's gone on sale, glad I waited!)

Getting Older

2008-11-13T12:44:00.000-08:00

Well tomorrow marks my 22 years of being here on this Earth. I have found that through the years birthdays have taken on a different feeling from year to year. I find myself at a loss because never more will I have one of those "milestone birthdays". I'm way past a year old, even way past thirteen for that matter. I'm a few years past 18 and no longer a teenager once I turned 20. I've had my feel of being able to "legally drink" at age 21. Now here I am at 22 and I'm sitting here thinking "well what do I have to look forward to now? I can do what I want now so what is left, well besides getting older?"

When I was yonger I always knew what I wanted to do for my birthday, and now in the last few years I've found myself at a loss for as to how to celebrate my birth. I mean really you can't have a sleepover (too old for that) Going out to a nice restaurant is nice, just spending time with friends and family is a great thing too. But since I am away from my close friends and family this my 22nd birthday, J. has taken over the responsibility of making sure that I have a nice birthday since it will once again be my parents turn next year since he'll be deployed. He has asked me what I wanted to do, and honestly I don't even know what to tell him.

At first I wanted to go to the nearest "city" (if you can call it that) to us and go to a fancy restuarant and get all dressed up and go have anice dinner with our friends down here. But as luck would have it, we have a meeting to attend tomorrow night at 7PM (prime dinner time in my opinion)so we considered dinner to be out of the question, but J. has decided we just wont eat at our meeting and go out to eat afterwards where ever I want because the restuarant our meeting is at is definately not great.

So finally I chose to go to a Japanese grill here in AL and then to a drive in movie (I havent been to one in ages)and I figured it would be nice to go and snuggle up and watch a movie. Then maybe after we'll go to a respective friends house and play some games (which is how we spend a typical friday night) but that is just fine with me because I enjoy getting to spend time with my fabulous friends that we have made down here. And lucky for me I get to take most of them home with me! As they are all the wives of the men in J's unit back home in Kentucky! So lucky me!

Ok so anyway, tomorrow I'll write about my birthday wishlist, and a look back on my year as a 21 year old.

Day 5 & 6 of the Fall Cleaning Challenge

2008-11-09T11:15:00.001-08:00

Ok for yesterday we had to clean up our main living area which was hard for me because the boys have a 4 day weekend and all they wanted to do was watch movies and drink their beer and relax & I kept getting in their way and making noise. But it is done. Once again no pictures because it's not pretty and it's already messed up again.

Here is the list from day 5:
Living Areas:
-Wash inside of windows
-Change HVAC filter (don't have one)
-Flip sofa and chair cushions (I just vaccummed them well as they only have one "side)
-Clean and scrub down baseboards and moulding.
-Wax floors if needed (not necessary)
-Shampoo wall to wall carpeting and air-out area rugs(I don't have a shampooer so I just vaccumed really well)

Here is day 6:
Outside

-Wash outside of windows with water and vinegar solution
-Clean screens
-Power wash porch areas
-Clean out grill
-Clean and store outdoor furniture and accessories

It's a good thing I don't have most of this stuff since I got a rush job to do on a map book (it has to be ready to go by Tuesday) and I'll tell you guys more about this later but it is $200 to pad my pockets!

Spotless Bathroom

2008-11-06T14:31:00.000-08:00

Here is our latest challenge from Katie over at Hyper Homemaker for her Fall Cleaning Challenge

Finishing up the bathroom

-Throw that shower curtain in the laundry (plastic curtains come out perfectly clean when laundered, just don't put it in the dryer!! Hang it dry)
-Shine and degunk the sink (you know how to do this from the kitchen)
-Scrub all the tile grout (YES you can do this! Magic Eraser, I hear, is a big help)
**If your tile hasn't been sealed in a while, it's worth doing to help you clean it easier.**
-Mop the floor
-Wipe switch plates, doorknobs, and doorjambs
-Empty and disinfect wastebasket

All done, but no picture because even clean once again it's too hideous for pictures!

Medicine Cabinet Revival

2008-11-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

Our challenge for yesterday from Katie for the Fall Cleaning Challenge was to clean out the medicine cabinet & organize it.

Well I don't exactly have a medicine cabinet but we use the area under the sink to keep all of our toiletries and personal hygine products and medicines so I cleaned it out and boy did it need it!

Here is the before:

Yikes!

This is during & after organizing it into "his side" "her side" and "our side"

After all of this I still wasnt happy with the results so I ran to the dollar tree and picked up 3 white buckets to put stuff in and keep it from being so all over the place.
So this is the final product:

Not as pretty as some people's but it does it's job!

Mini Penne with Italian Sausage, tomatoes & green peppers

2008-11-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

I originally found this recipe at Taste of Home Cooking I thought it looked easy enough and was yummy and something I could use the left over sausage I had before it went bad.

Also, I used mini penne because that's what I had laying around and I didn't have any red pepper so I used some green bell pepper instead. Also, J put some leftover tomato sauce on his and he said it was good so I may try that next time also.

Ingredients:
3 Hot Italian Sausages
2 Cups of shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 medium tomato diced
1 red (or green) bell pepper diced
2 Cups of Mini Penne (or orzo or pasta of choice)

Directions:
1. Boil pasta of choice until tender
2. Broil sausages until cooked through (this is the easiest way)
3. Dice tomato and bell pepper
4. Cut sausage up into slices
5. Lay down a bed of pasta layer on your veggies and sausage
6. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese
7. Enjoy!

Nice Clean Kitchen

2008-11-03T07:13:00.001-08:00

OK well as you know I have been following Katie's Fall Cleaning Challenge over at her blog Hyper Homemaker and we finished giving our kitchens a good scrub down yesterday so I finally decided I guess it is OK that I can post a few pictures of the finished product.

Now I promise you it isn't pretty but this place is a rental and for what we are paying (and putting in the bank) each month is worth it since we were only going to be here for a little over a year anyways.

OK so are you ready? Sure ya are!

See that little brown cabinet over there, that my friends is my pantry! (Katie & Bryn I win for having the smallest pantry EVER!) Oh and PS: all of this furniture is included in the rental so it's not ours and we had no choice what got put in here but I do have to admit that some of it is nicer than what we have at home!

This is the sink area, like my little checked and watermelon curtain? My mother-in-law made that for us so I just had to hang it.

There is the refrigerator. I worked my butt off cleaning that thing on Saturday (more pictures of that further down!)

And here is the microwave and all my cookbooks (I love them all!)

Finally here is the inside of the refrigerator.

See the boys have a habit of putting a beer in there to get nice and frosty and sometimes (well not all the time) forget about them and they freeze and explode leaving our freezer full of frozen beer and glass shards. Nice huh? So Friday night it happened (again) and I had just had enough! On Saturday morning after they had woken up (both of them) I said no more beers in the freezer and if I catch one in there again and it explodes they will clean it out! So hopefully they will enjoy having a nice clean freezer and refrigerator for their food. Hopefully being the keyword there.

I swear this thing probably hadn't been thoroughly cleaned since way before we moved in. It was disgusting! So as you can see I live in boy town where the fridge is constantly full of beer and pizza. Oh and BTW that amount of beer has since shrank by about 2 six packs!

So I hope you enjoyed this tour of my "loner" kitchen!

Now it's on to the medicine cabinet today!

Let the cleaning begin!

2008-11-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

Ok I mentioned yesterday that I was going to start a cleaning challenge with Katie over at Hyper Homemaker. So I got on today to pick up the list and see what I had to do today.

Here it is:
Pantry
- Take everything out of the pantry.
- Wipe down shelves.
- Toss old items and donate unused good items.
- Repackage all messy items into nice containers.
- Place all items back into the pantry in an organized fashion.

Fridge
- Take everything out of the fridge and freezer (placing items in a cooler with all the remaining ice.
- Scrub down the inside and outside of the fridge, shelves, doors, ice maker and freezer.
- Replace water filter if you have one.
- Clean fridge condenser coil.
- Toss old or useless food.
- Place everything back into fridge in an organized fashion.

Cabinets
- Take ALLL your items out of all your cabinets and drawers. Yes... ALL!
- Wipe down the inside of all cabinets and drawers.
- Wipe down the inside of all containers such as utensil holders.
- Store items not used in over 6 months, or summer seasonal items.
- Thinking logically (ie - potholders next to stove, towels next to sink), try to put everything back in a more useful and purposeful place, and in an organized fashion.
- Scrub down the cupboard exteriors, from to of the kitchen to bottom.

Now I'll admit that seemed like a lot to me at first but I did get it all done and I felt a sense of accomplishment. J & our roomate thought I was crazy and kept asking me "what are you doing that for?" obviously men do not understand the importantce of a clean house!

They'll thank me later!

Sad to say but I didn't take any pictures I still haven't worked up enough guts to be proud of this place (it's a trailer for crying out loud its not pretty in the least little bit) *sigh* I'll try and take some tomorrow after I stock the fridge because I got yelled at for taking all the beer out (it's quite full of beer and pizza boxes right now but it's all clean underneath!) It looks quite bare with out all of that in there but it's not pretty! LOL

So how did you do today?

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T14:10:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you have a great night of trick-or-treating or partying or what ever you do with your halloween!

Me, well I suppose I'm going to get all gussied up and go out with J. (who doesnt have a costume grrr!) so it's gonna look funny! But maybe we'll go out with a couple of friends or hang out somewhere who knows! It's all up in the air right now!

I'm gonna be a pirate yarg! How about you?

PS: I might be starting a cleaning challenge with Katie over at Hyper Homemaker doing her Fall Cleaning List tomorrow. She encourages us to post pictures of our houses all clean but I'm not so sure I could do that This place is ugly even clean! It would be quite an embarassment to show. Maybe I'll just post about what I complete each day...

Anyone wanna join us?

1 Skirt = 2 Outfits

2008-10-29T16:24:00.000-07:00

I found a skirt at Old Navy today that I absolutely love, but am going to wait to see if it goes on sale before I buy it and boy if it does I will definately buy it. I have so many intentions of buying it that I am already putting outfits together for it. The thing I like about it so much is that it is so versatile it could be dressed up or dressed down and it still looks just as awesome. Plus its made out of sweater material so it's warm!

So here is what I came up with:
Dressy:

This entire outfit including the skirt is $76.09

Casual:

This outfit including the skirt is just $80.60

Jewelry For the Maids

2008-10-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

I have been back and fourth on jewelry for my 4 bridesmaids. I originally thought way back when I first started planning (before we even picked out dresses) that I would want them to wear pearl necklaces. But then once we picked out their dress I knew pearls were not the way to go as the dress has a rhinstone brooche on the side.

So I've been searching hi & low for a cheap alternative and something they could definately wear again. Then yesterday I came across a tutorial on a toggle clasp necklace on Vintage Glam Blog & if you are a member of the knot you know about Vintageglam and her GORGEOUS wedding so I was like I think I could do this! So today I'm going to pick up the materials and see how it goes and it is really so simple that I believe I could make these for myself and friends as Christmas and birthday gifts. Plus, I've always wanted to try my hand at jewelry making and this is just simple enough for a first project.

So tell me what you think, will this necklace go with their dresses? Or is it too simple or should they just not wear any jewelry at all (except earrings of course)?

Here is their dresses:

& here is the necklace:

Image Courtesy of VintageGlamBlog

Now all that's left is earrings

My Sassy Girl

2008-10-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

OK here is something interesting for you. My roommate and fiance both have a huge crush on Elisha Cuthbert ever since they saw her in Girl Next Door I thought Girl Next Door was OK but not something I would watch numerous times as they have. So in their quest for their Elisha Cuthbert fix they found My Sassy Girl.

At first we were all like what in the hell because it's pretty random and weird, but as we (well I) continued to watch it got better and better. It is definitely a very sweet movie and shows that if it really is meant to be that person will find their way back to you. It is a quirky love story and a bit of a chick flick (which is probably why the guys didn't enjoy it much as I.)

So in my movie rating scale of 1-10: I give My Sassy Girl an 8 and that is just because of it's slow beginning.

Here is the trailer (it is out on DVD now) check it out for yourself!

PS: Don't tell the boys but I have a bit of a girl crush on Elisha! But that will just be our little secret! shh..

I have a confession

2008-10-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

I wear children's shoes, yup you read that right folks. My feet are so small they don't even fit into the smallest women's size 5 (unless they are made really really small or are boots or flip flops).

So you ask how do you find shoes that don't look too baby-ish. Well I tell ya it is hard! But sometimes I luck out at places like Payless and find things that are almost identical to the adult versions. But it is really hard I really love these loafers at Old Navy but guess what smallest size they come in is a 6 (which is typical) so most of the time I just do without.

Most of the time when I go shopping for shoes it is almost if not if as bad as when i go shopping for pants (that's a whole nother story for a whole nother day!) I just buy the basics that go with everything.

1. One pair of nice athletic shoes (this is the area I don't have a problem with)
2. One pair of black dress shoes
3. One pair of brow dress shoes
4. One pair of black flats
5. One pair of black boots
6. One pair of brown boots
7. One pair of red flats

This is literaly about the extent of my shoe collection. It really is sad because I see so many shoes that I love and that I wish I could make my feet fit into but no such luck. The one thing I do love about having such small feet is it is cheaper for the most part to buy kids shoes (especially athletic shoes).

This whole shoe thing really became a problem when I started hunting for wedding shoes. It really is an atrocity. The shoes that I thought would fit (Marisa from Davids Bridal * I pink puffy heart those shoes*) in fact do not.....by a long shot. So I have one of two choices.

1. I can try and make them fit with some sort of insole
or
2. Wear no shoes at all because guess what they don't make wedding shoes in kids sizes.

What a quandary....

But I have lately decided that I want more cute shoes. Most of the time when I hunt for shoes it's more about whether they will actually fit not whether they are cute or stylish (if I find cute, stylish shoes that fit I definitely feel I have hit the jackpot)So, on my hunt for cute stylish shoes that fit I have found a few websites that offer kids shoes that don't look too "kiddish"

www.zappos.com Great stuff but a little expensive but it might be OK if you could catch a good sale. Plus they have free returns and free shipping

www.journeys.com/kids Some cute stuff and great prices just gotta be selective.

So does anyone else have my problem? What should I do about wedding shoes I mean after all it is going to be December when we get married!?

PS: My boudoir pictures are done I'm just waiting for her to email me the password so I can look at them YAY!

Meal Planning part Deux

2008-10-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

In my pursuit to plan perfect meals for 2-4 people (myself included) every week I work hard on my meal plan every Sunday morning, while trying to at least make one new recipe per week to "broaden my horizons".

Usually I write it down on some little random piece of notebook paper that I find somewhere or a piece of printer paper that I messed up the print on just to "conserve" (like my green effort there?) Most of the time I write both my meal plan and my grocery list down on one piece of paper (once again going with the conserving method) but by the end of my shopping trip the list is all bent torn and marked all over and not something pretty that I want to display on my refridgerator!

So, thanks to Kimberly Michelle I have found the ultimate meal planning/grocery shopping sheet! How awesome is this handy dandy little piece of paper?

Courtesy of Russell & Hazel

Not only does it have a slot for every day of the week, but a slot for every meal of every day! Very nice! Also, my favorite part is the "detachable" grocery list that is seperated into categories. Oh my organizational mind is going bananas over this little beauty!

A German Feast (the easy & quick way)

2008-10-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

Now as I've said before I am a novice cook but I'm learning. Meaning I do not make everything from scratch if hardly at all. I use what I like to call "shortcuts" that being things like frozen veggies and some pre-made things like pasta sauce.

Anyways J. loves German food and now I will admit to me this isn't authentically German but he likes it and says its good so I guess I should be happy he likes it.

Ingrediants:
1-2 Polska keilbasa sausages
1-2 cans of saurkraut
2 teaspoons of oil
1-2 bags of stir-fry veggies
2 small cans of mushrooms
4 baby potatos

Directions:
1. Slice potatoes into thin rounds (wash them first silly!)and begin to fry them
2. Slice keilbasa into 1 inch thick pieces
3. Once the potatos are done put them somewhere to keep them warm and toss in the veggies and fry them up
4. After the veggies are done throw in the mushrooms and heat them up until warm
5. Take a sauce pan and put the saurkraut in and heat it up because the sausage doesnt take long to cook.
6. Toss the sausage pieces into the frying pan and fry until golden brown.

Serving:
I like to eat it all seperately but the boys love to take it and mix it all together so I'll put how they do it (since it's probably the correct way anyway)

1. Put down a nice "bed" of saurkraut down on your plate
2. Add veggies (stirfry, mushrooms and potatos)
3. Add a generous amount of sausage (I always have to get my plate first so I have some sausage for myself because they take it all!)
4. Add seasonings to your taste
5. Enjoy!

I hope you try this it's pretty good, easy and quick; which I like since I dont like to spend a lot of time cooking.

Because everything is coming up roses

2008-10-16T15:43:00.001-07:00

While I was home a couple of weeks ago I attempted to make my trial bouquet to see if I could do it. I wanted to make sure it was fairly simple and quick since I was pretty sure I wanted to do the flowers myself for the wedding.

Well I'm here to tell ya ladies. If I can make something that looks this pretty outta walmart flowers then a monkey could do it!

I followed the directions from this site.

What you will need is
25-30 long stemmed roses in the color of your choice (you can use more depending on the size of bouquet you are going for)
Some gardening gloves
Floral Wire
Floral Tape (I used both to give it extra hold)
3-4 yards of pretty ribbon of your choice
And maybe a pretty pin or brooch?

I just grabbed a couple of dozen roses from walmart and stripped them of all their leaves and thorns cut the stems and grabbed a rose and started putting them together. All in all it was easy and I think that even if you are already married this is something nice to know because you can create regular floral arrangements for your home in this manner also. It's easy to find ideas and tutorials on floral arranging on the web. Just Google it.

So here is what I came up with....

Not bad for a first time armature huh?

There are a couple of things that will be different. I will have all white roses and a much wider white satin ribbon for the wrap (I used what I had on hand) and I am in the works of trying to find a pretty brooch to put on it to give it some "bling"

My mother still insists on me having a florist do it for me but I'm not willing to pay $500-$600 to have someone do something that I can do myself. She said she's worried about the time constraints but you know what it took me less than 30 minutes to do that, and the part that took the longest was stripping all 24 roses. Plus, I'll have all 4 of my bridesmaids and my mom there to help me! We should have all the floral arrangements done in less than 3 hours! We'll do it while pigging out on junk food and watching sappy wedding movies!

After the wedding I plan to give you guys a full budget break down of our wedding costs. So then you can see how much it would save you by doing it DIY.

All for under $25

2008-10-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

Me & my friend Christena went "bargin hunting" today. I had never been truly shopping at a thrift store or a goodwill or salvation army before until today. Now I dont know how I ever did not go shopping at any of these places.

I learned that if you dig well enough you can find some really cool stuff for a great price. I didn't go looking for anything in particular but got some really cute stuff for under $30. So I'll show you what I got.

I wish I had a picture of the chair Christena got for like $12 it was so cool and would definately make a great office chair! Pink leather and chrome = awesome!

First for the random house "junk"

I typically do not like stuff but I found this brass star and thought it would be cool to decorate for some holidays such as fourth of july and christmas. I may spray paint it a different color or just leave it the way it is. But a candle on it maybe?

Next I really needed something to put my ring in when I take a shower or wash the dishes because J. was tired of me leaving it on the counter and has threatend many times that he would take it and hide it from me to teach me a lesson and I only paid 3 cents for it who could argue with that?!

I found these really cute candle holders for a $1 each plus I like white so they go with practically any decor.

and finally this small apothacary jar I thought it could hold jewlery or cotton balls maybe? or something else like candy. It will probably be moved around our house a zillion times. It was only a dollar and I can think of about 10 uses for it so I'd say it was worth it!

Now onto the clothing/accessories

I dont have a picture of them but I found a great pair of black dress pants which to me are so comfortable I'd wear them anywhere even if it wasnt a dressy occassion but everyone knows what regular black dress pants look like! Plus they were $4 normally probably about $30 and they fit! Which is a big thing for me!

I also hardly ever find shoes that fit! But these were so cute I knew that if I put them on they wouldnt fit but to my suprise they did & plus gold is so "in" this season and the little flower gives it a little something special.

I really have a thing for dark purple this fall too (I hope it carries on into a few other seasons and next year also) and found this purple clutch that was just too cute and was only $3.50 what a steal!

This is for my mom who has been complaining for the last two winters that I really needed a new scarf so I found this one and its cute and a double layer of knit so its great just a little febreeze maybe a hand washing in the sink with some woolite and we're good to go & only for 1 smackeroo!

So were we keeping a tab here? Lets see total comes up to...
Star plate: $3.00
Ring holder: $0.03
Candle holders: $1.00 each x 2=$2.00
Apathacary jar: $1.00
Black pants: $4.00
Shoes: $9.00
Purple clutch: $3.50
Ivory scarf: $1.00

Grand Total: $23.53

I plan to sometime in the near future (maybe tomorrow) make some outfits for you guys out of this stuff to show how a few small peices can go a long way!

So what is your favorite piece of clothing or home item that you have that you are really proud of that you got from a place like Goodwill, Salvation Army, or a thrift/flea market? Tell me about it I'd love to hear!

I think I found it!

2008-10-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

In my post below I asked for everyone's opinions on 3 necklace's for the wedding and I was pretty sure I'd go with one of them, but being true to myself I kept digging around looking for something just perfect.

Well I really liked this one

but then I found this one...

They are both fairly similar and the 2nd one may solve my problem of worrying that it might get stuck down in my dress or be too long. The only thing is that the 2nd one is alot more expensive than the first one. The first necklace was a set and costs $28 for the set. The second necklace is just the necklace and is $54.

Does any one want to help convince me that it is ok to spend that much money on a necklace that I will only wear one time?

If I did go with this necklace I would go with simpile diamond (cubic zirconia) earrings that I already own. Opinions? Anyone?

Oh PS: J. got approved to leave the 19th so we'll be in the clear YAY!

I need help/opinions

2008-10-09T11:48:00.000-07:00

OK I haven't asked for very many people's opinions when it has come to our wedding except my mom, matron of honor, and of course J (even though he doesn't give 2 shakes of a stick about what happens as long as I'm happy), but now I am truly stumped I don't know what to do. I'm having a hard time picking out jewlery to wear with my dress.

Here is a link to my dress.

Now I want you to imagine it in all white and without the stupid looking bow on the front all of that is gone.

At first I thought I wouldn't wear a necklace and that I wanted to wear chandelier earrings but the more I look at myself with them on the more ridiculous I think I look so I think I'll most likely go with a slightly dangly earring or studs but really I am truly stumped on the necklace.

The look I am going for is vintage. I have a cathedral length viel and my hair will be in an updo so my ears will be showing. I'll have my grandmother's brooch in my hair and my flowers will be white roses. One of my worries with a couple of these necklaces is that if it dangles it may be too long and get stuffed down into my dress. I'm not real sure I'd probably just have to try it on to see how long it is.

Anyway I'd love your opinions on which one you think would look best with my dress. All of these are sets so the earrings do come with the necklace but I'm considering the earrings below also. The sets are all the same price so that is not a deciding factor. So please help! I really really need it!

Click To Enlarge

Number 1:

Number 2:

Number 3:

Earrings:

Confidence = Beauty

2008-10-07T13:00:00.000-07:00

OK, let me first explain to you that all my life even though I am skinny as a rail and all that I've been made fun of for it, just the same as any overweight girl would have been. They had obnoxious nicknames for me (even my family). Anyways I'm not trying to make any one pitty me here so I'm gonna get to my point here. I have never been confident in my looks or felt very pretty.

During high school I was so vain I would never walk out of the house in the morning without putting makeup on and being fixed just so. I tried wearing the latest trends in clothes and still just felt ridiculous. I'm still slightly guilty of this to this day. Only I've gotten lazy. I'll leave the house without makeup and just have my hair thrown up in a pony tail and in a pair of running shorts and a tshirt. I tell you what though this doesn't make me feel any better about myself.

I've always ever since I can remember wanted someone to tell me what I should wear to accentuate the parts of my body that I like and have someone tell me how I should do my makeup to look nice, and show me how to do something with my hair besides wear it down and flat just hanging there or even worse in a bun or pony tail.

Well, like I have mentioned before in a previous post I had a consultation with a Mary Kay lady & man I tell you what I recommend having one done to any of you. She color matched foundation to my skin (no more ring around the jaw=mask) and showed me how to hide my dark cirlces and accentuate my blue eyes (my favorite feature). I loved what she did for me so much that I wanted her to do my makeup for my wedding and we did the trial and she did an awesome job. She even did my makeup for my boudior shoot and I felt just glamourous.

She also showed me how to properly take care of my skin. I have always had a bad habit of not washing my face before going to bed or even in the morning. That's gross I know, I told ya I was lazy. Now, since getting these new products and actually seeing what they can do for my skin and how much better I look even without makeup on I have been washing my face morning and night. She said it could take up to 2 weeks for everything to work its self out so after two weeks I should see a dramatic difference. I plan to take an after shot at about 3 weeks from now (i've been using it for a week now) to show everyone the difference.

Even J. notices a difference in my skin. He'll come in after work and say "are you wearing makeup?" and I'll tell him no and he'll say "well you look like you are your skin is looking really nice" which helps.

Poor J. though he always makes a concious effort to tell me that I look nice and my brain just cannot seem to wrap it self around the concept that I can actually look nice. I wish that I could but I can't; maybe one day.....

Maybe one day I can finally fully (I'm getting there slowly) accept myself and my body and skin for what I have.

So anyways. what do you do to make yourself feel more confident or what is your number one confidence booster? When did you finally accept the skin you are in? I'd love to know and even try some of your tips out!

Life, Death & The Whole Crazy Thing

2008-10-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

Well I am officially back from my "vacation" in Kentucky.

I had a wonderful time at my shower and getting to see everyone in my family. I also had a lot of fun getting made up with two of my bridesmaids after my shower and learning how to apply makeup the correct way. I had 2 bridal makeup consultations with my fab Mary Kay lady Hilary this past week and it was just so much fun. She also did my makeup for my boudoir pictures and it was so fun I felt like a 50's movie star! I can't wait to see the pictures in about 3 weeks YAY!

Sadly after returning back to Alabama me & J. seemed to receive one thing of bad news after another. Saturday we found out that his dad's father passed away Friday night. It came as quite a shock because no one was expecting it, it just happened. Even worse, is since the funeral is during the week J. will not be able to attend the funeral which really tears him apart, but his family understands the circumstances. With him being deployed in less than a year we cannot have him washed back to another class because of time constraints he just wouldn't be done in time to deploy with his unit.

Then yesterday night I received a phone call from my roommate and bridesmaid Amy telling me that a husband & wife couple that were friends of ours were in a car accident and the wife passed away from her injuries on impact. It was just utterly shocking I just did not know what to say. I couldn't even speak. The husband is barely scathed so he'll be fine, but I'm sure his heart is in a million pieces after his wife's death.

So please pray for the families of these two wonderful people, also pray that they are no longer hurting or suffering and for God to ease the hurt and grief of their family members.

Until tomorrow....

I promise to have something happier

A vacation.....sort of

2008-09-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

Well folks I'm heading home to KY for a little bit. I cant really call it a vacation because I'm going to be super super busy the entire time I'm there but I am going to try to keep updating as much as I can while I'm there. I have so many activities to do while I'm there I just hope I can get it all done!

Here is my schedule:
Friday: 10 hour drive (pshew) and going shopping with my mom for food
Saturday: My bridal shower (YAY!) and makeup trials for 2 of my bridesmaids
Sunday: My first makeup trial
Monday: Homework and maybe a hair trial
Tuesday: Doctors appointment and more homework
Wednesday: Another makeup trial and a hair cut maybe
Thursday: My boudior photo shoot (oober excited about this one) so that means a full day of hair and makeup and taking pictures whoo hoo!
Friday: Driving back home! (boo!)

So as I said I'll try and take as many pictures as possible and keep updating as much as I can! If I dont have time I'll up date on Saturday (probably Monday)after I get home!

Have a great weekend/week everyone! And pray for me as I travel this long distance back and fourth!

Betty Crocker I am not...

2008-09-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

But a beginners cook I am!

I have never cooked a fancy-fied meal in my life! I have just recently began to learn how to do things from semi-scratch. I have gone from a pizza out of the box into the oven girl to a take something out of the box mix it together with something and it becomes a meal. One of these days I really do look forward to being able to make things from scratch like my STB Mother-in-law and my grandmothers have both done.

So I give you my first recipe! Insanely easy Quesadillas!

Chicken & Cheese Quesadillas
Ingrediants:
8-10 large burrito sized soft flour tortillas
1-2 cans of canned chicken (shredded)
1 tomato diced
1 bag of mexican style cheese mix (I perfer Kraft)

Dippings (if perfered):
Sour Cream ( I perfer this)
or
Salsa (the boys perfer this)

Instructions:
1. Heat up a large skillet to about medium high heat
2. Lay out one tortilla at a time and sprinkle cheese on one half of the tortilla along with chicken and some tomatos.
3. Fold over the other half of the tortilla to make a sandwich like effect
4. Toss into heated skillet
5. Leave in until golden brown
6. Flip to other side
7. Repeat number 5
8. Do directions 1-7 again until you have your dresired amount of quesadillas
9. With a chefs knife cut into quarters
10. Serve and enjoy!

Now see how easy that was!

A word about the pictures: You will never (most likely) see my own pictures displayed with my recipes because well the one time I did take a picture of something I made my FI laughed at me and still makes fun of me for it to this day so the only way I'll ever get pictures of my own food is 1. If he'll stop making fun of me or 2. I can do it in secret which right now is't possible!

I'm bringin sexy back.....

2008-09-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

Image courtesy of Leah Stafford Photography

OK now I have to admit that 1. that is not me in the photo and 2. I have never considered myself to be "sexy" and 3. I really wish I was sexy.

You know that you wish you could look as good as those Victoria secret models do in the catalogs and you think you could never have the guts to take pictures like that. Well let me tell ya I HAVE always wanted to look like that and I am a BIG FAT CHICKEN but I thought there was no better time to get over that then for my wedding and my future husband who I know will enjoy these pictures immensely. So I thought I would give you a rundown of what I'm going to wear.

Outfit #1: I wanted to go for something classic and timeless and I've always loved black lingerie and pearls so I got a black lace garter belt, black lace thigh highs, a simple black lace bra that I already had and black pumps for accessories a long pearl necklace and diamond stud earrings (the earrings will be in all the pictures)

Outfit #2: I wanted to go with something more bridal so I bought an ivory lace bra and pantie set at VS, and I'm in the process of looking for a gold necklace. I probably wont wear shoes for the rest of the pictures.

Outfit #3: I wanted something playful so I got a pair of light blue ruffle butt panties which I may also wear under my wedding dress the day of (even though I already have my something blue which is my garter which I LOVE ♥ ) I haven't decided what to do for a top yet I may just go with a white tank top

Outfit #4: I found boy short undies with your new last name "Mrs. New last Name Est. Wedding date" in crystals and thought I could make them myself which I am in the process of doing! I'll probably wear his dog tags with this one.

The rest of the pictures will be done in a jacuzzi full of bubbles :) I'm very excited about those! Also probably the most nervous about them too!

I hope to have fun with it and get some confidence in myself from doing these!

How about you did any of you engaged/married ladies do these for your fiance'/husband as a gift for the wedding or what not? What was your experience?

Lesson Learned

2008-09-18T10:44:00.001-07:00

***Warning: this post may contain R rated language, a long drawn out vent and is not suitable for children.***

Ok let me start off by saying "I should have known better". Why and what in the heck am I rambling about you ask? Well we MAY have hit a major pot hole in the wedding planning and it is a GINORMOUS one.

Our wedding date.

Here is the back story. Back in March after J proposed I started trying to find a good date for us to get married. I had always wanted to get married in the early spring/summer but knew with him in school and deployment imminent it was not possible to be able to pick a date that we knew he'd be home. So I continued to think and one day while driving home from work Christmas just popped into my head and I started imagining all the pretty christmas tree with white lights and candles everywhere and my girls dress in beautiful red dresses. So I called J when I got home and said "how about we get married while you are home for Christmas?" he said "specific date?" and I said "well how about the 20th of December" and he said "yeah that sounds good I will be home in plenty of time for that!" so I ran off like a bolt of lighting and booked everything within a week and I do mean everything (photographer, ceremony and reception site and catering).

I come down to Alabama expecting to get some dates in writing or atleast from someone who knew what they were talking about as far as when Christmas Exodus actually started. In the beginning no one knew anything. Then we started hearing rumor that it was actually starting on December the 20th (you see where this is going dont you?)

So now we're hearing more and more that it actually does start on December 20th. The rules are that you cannot leave until 5AM on the day that exodus begins. It is a 10 hour drive from Alabama to Kentucky. So if he left at 5AM he would get there at about 3PM (4PM KY time) our pictures start at 3PM and the ceremony starts at 6PM. This also means we could not have a rehersal and if we did it would be without the groom.

J. has been telling me from the very beginning not to worry that they WILL let him take Friday off so he can get home in time. But really folks I dont see that happening. You see, the Army has a tendency to be really BIG assholes. They can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Right now it seems they are the enemy until they proove me otherwise.

I also dont believe they will let him have the 19th off because he "should" be starting his primary aircraft at the beginning of December so he'll be in a class at that point. So he might miss something or lose flight hours, they couldnt fail him I dont believe but from what we've heard it is a pretty intense class.

So here I am left to wonder if I'm even going to have a groom on our wedding day. I mean I can't do this by myself! And I don't want a billion pictures of just me I want him in the pictures too!

Thinking about what could possibly happen that day makes me want to both laugh and sob at the same time. And knowing J. the way I do he will not ask what to do until the very last minute. And I can't do anything or find out anything because well I'm just a fiance' I have no power in the Army world as of yet.

So I wait....

I love....

2008-09-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

to procrastinate so if I find something more interesting to do than oh say math homework or reading a chapter of webdesign (even though i actually enjoy this class) I'll take it!

I found this one Newlywedisms by Bryn and thought I'd share my answers.
PS: You should also check out her blog because well she's just fabulous!

Your hair? boring
Your mother? confidant
Your father? enthusiastic
Your favorite thing? home
Your dream last night? forgotten
Your dream/goal? motherhood
Your favorite drink? soda
The room you're in? bedroom
Your ex? loser
Your hobby? lots
Your fear? death
Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
Where were you last night? home
What you're not? cool
Muffins? yummy
One of your wish list items? Camera
Time? afternoon
Where you grew up? kentucky
The last thing you did? homework
Favorite weather? fall
What are you wearing? shorts
Your favorite book? girly
Your TV? nonexisistant
Your pet? Jake
Your computer? dell
Your mood? unmotivated
Missing someone? everyone
Your car? old
Something you're not wearing? earrings
Favorite store? many
Love someone? engaged
Your favorite color/shade? white
Last thing you ate? sandwich
Your life? blessed
Your friends? greatest
What are you thinking right now? wedding
What are you doing at this moment? breathing
Your summer: hot
Your relationship status: engaged
What do you do when you can't sleep? think
When is the last time you laughed? morning
Last time you cried? recently

now you do it!

Coolest Wedding Video EVER!

2008-09-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

I saw this on another blog it is Mrs.Milkshake (from Weddingbee.com) wedding video. It is the coolest videography I've ever seen and I am jealous of not being able to have something like this. But pictures are more important to me....check it out you wont regret it.

Cheryl + Andrew's SDE - Vancouver from StillMotion on Vimeo.

Morning Pick-me-up

2008-09-16T06:33:00.000-07:00

I used to hate coffee (loved the smell hated the taste) until I was a freshman in college and we had Starbucks on every stinking corner of the campus. So I thought to myself if there are this many of these places on ONE college campus then it must be good, so I walked in one day after a VERY cold walk to the classroom building and bought a white chocolate mocha cappucino. It was the first time I actually drank an entire cup of coffee (it could have had to deal with the fact that it was below 30 degrees outside also and the thing cost me $3).

After I moved on from the big university campus to the community college campus (which did not have Starbucks) and moved into my own house (well fiance's house) I decided I needed to find a cheaper alternative than stopping at the starbucks on the way to school every Tuesday and Thursday mornings. So on my quest for some good cappucino that didn't cost an arm and a leg I found several good options. The first I tried was something from walmart in a french vanilla flavored. It started out good but as we kept on buying the stuff it began to take on a funny taste so we had to move on to something new...

That's when I found this...
Folgers cappuccino mix in french vanilla. I thought well it is from Folgers and from what I know they make pretty good coffee so I gave it a try. It is the best I've had yet and I suggest it to anyone who likes cappuccino. You can have it in the morning or at night, you can have it hot or cold (it has a recipe for both hot and cold drinks on the back). It has a light flavor that isn't too sweet and at $2 a can it can't be beat!

Well ok I lied the only thing that could beat that is if someone bought me a cappuccino machine and all the flavorings for a white chocolate mocha....but this will do.

I give it a Yumminess Factor Rating of 4 (5 being the best)

Meal Planning

2008-09-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

I've recently been trying out meal planning after reading that it will help you stick to a budget and a list while grocery shopping because I will be the first to admit that I am not one that likes to go to the grocery store and buy whats on the list I see things I pick them up and put them in the cart which ultimately leads me to spending way more than I should have. So I've been giving this a try, it seems to help me stick to the list but it's still not cheap.

You see we get $192 per month in BAS (Basic Allowance for Subsistance aka Food) so we add $8 to make it an even $200 for the month so we break that down by 4 weeks because we shop on Sundays every week and it comes to $50 per week. But most of the time our bill comes out to $70-80 per week which is frusterating. Plus our commissary on base has a surcharge which you never know how much it is going to be we've had it anywhere between $3-$6 it just varies which is frusterating because 1. it's higher than taxes and 2. it always makes our bill higher and makes it worse when we go over and 3. you can't tell how much it is going to be there is no way to tell.

But anyway...here is my menu for the week

Sunday- Tuna Casserole with veggie
Monday- Salmon with pesto and veggies
Tuesday- Fried Steaks with baby potatos and veggie
Wednesday- Chicken and cheese quesedillas with beef rice and corn
Thursday- Baked chicken wild rice and veggie
Friday- Eat out or order in Pizza
Saturday- German keilbasa with stir fry veggies and saurkraut

It's probably because of all the meat we eat that we go over....

Beautiful & Clean Rooms

2008-09-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

So today while I was taking a break (procrastinating) finishing school work I made two things. I've been thinking a lot about what to do with our extra bedroom at our home after my roommate moves out in May of next year. I've been talking with J. about it and he said we should just turn it into a guest room/office so I made up an ever so popular mood board for the room today.

I wanted to go for a cozy and comfortable space using neutral colors and greens and browns. So here is what I came up with...

Then I also made a cleaning schedule to help me keep the house always looking presentable because I have someone over nearly every day and I dont want to have to work so hard to get the house clean after I invite someone so here it is....click to enlarge.

I hope everyone has a good weekend! I'm off to have some German food! Yumm!

Make a list & Check it twice

2008-09-11T12:34:00.000-07:00

gonna find out who is naughty or nice.

ok ok no not really! This post is not about Christmas or Santa Clause coming to town. It's about lists....ahh yes list. How I love thee!

You see, I have a lot to accomplish throughout the day so to keep myself organized and make sure that I get everything I need to get accomplished done I make myself a list of the daily things I need to do. Between school and taking care of two (or sometimes three) yahoos I have a lot on my plate.

There isn't much to it really but I have a few simple rules that I will tell you about for when I make my "daily list".

1. Do it before you go to bed at night, it helps you not lay in bed and toss and turn thinking about all the things you need to get done tomorrow and trying to make yourself mentally remember all of those things. So instead write it down and litterally forget about it, you'll sleep better trust me!

2. Go find (or buy) yourself a red pen or sharpie. Why you ask? Well ok when I look at my list and I see that I did something that I needed to do that day I put a checkmark by the task, but when I just do it with a pen or pencil I sometimes don't notice it, so I take a red pen and I make a BIG FAT check mark or X by it and that is like saying to myself "tadah look at what you did", it's like a hug or a pat on the back for a job well done! It's an instant motivator.

3. Put it somewhere you can see it and you see it often. I leave mine either on the refridgerator or on my desk because I see both of those things all the time atleast 20 times a day and it reminds me to finish that list.

4. Don't put too much on your plate. Don't be like me and get too ahead of yourself. Sometimes I like to think I can do more in a day than I really have time for and at the end of the day I don't have some of my things marked off I get down on myself and feel like I didn't manage my time well enough that day.

100 Days & My Loot

2008-09-10T15:09:00.000-07:00

Well it is offcially 100 days until our wedding day and I tell ya I cannot wait I'm so excited with each passing day the excitement builds. Although I have to be honest there is so much left to do I also start thinking "100 days!!!? 100 days!!? there is not enough time to do all of the stuff I have left to do!" but I know I'll get it all done! Everything will be fine....

*faints*

Anyways as I said yesterday I went shopping today and I came back with some good stuff. And I didnt go into any stores that I didn't have on my list! After I show you what I got I'll tell you how much I spent.

First my new platter. I love it I originally saw this in robin's egg blue at TJ Max a few weeks ago but decided not to buy it then and I went back today hoping to find it but to no avail it was all sold out so I got the white one which to me is just as well it goes with everything!

Next, a new cookbook for the food lover in me. I had looked through this cookbook before and liked it but once again decided not to buy it because it was a bit on the expensive side but when I saw this at TJ Max it was just too good of a deal to pass up!

Now for the clothes....I needed some things for fall so I got a cardigan (in gray because it goes with everything brown and black) a plum lace trimmed cami and an ivory cowl neck sweater.

So how much do you think I spent? Well here is the breakdown:
Cowl Neck Sweater: $18.95
Gray Cardigan: $31.00
Plum Cami: $9.00
Platter: $11.00
Cookbook: $8.00

Grand Total: $77.95

Not bad if I do say so myself!

Go with a mission

2008-09-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

I finally got enough school work done to be able to go and do something fun so me & my friend C. are going shopping tomorrow! I love to shop but sometimes, I end up buying way too much. So, I'm going to try something new! I usually do this with grocery shopping and it makes things so much easier. A list! I dont know how this is going to work with clothes shopping but I do have a couple of things on my list that I need such as some earrings for the wedding, some undies, and a few fall tops. I also found this gorgeous platter at TJ Maxx the last time I was there and didn't buy it and I can't get it off my mind so I'm going to go back and get it! If they still have it that is *crosses finger*

I also like to plan what stores I'm going to go to so I don't just wander from store to store that really gets me in trouble because then I find lots of things in each store I like, so I'm going to plan what stores to go in and go in ONLY those stores.

So my list of stores is...
Old Navy
TJ Maxx
Target
Charlotte Russe
Gap
Victoria Secrets
Claires

A great start to the day

2008-09-05T16:26:00.000-07:00

OK, I don't know about many of you but there is something about getting up in the morning and going into my kitchen for my breakfast and looking in the sink and it being empty. To know that I don't have to rush to do the dishes before having a meal just really makes me happy and makes my day a whole lot better.

Another thing that really makes me happy in the morning is getting up and making my bed. I love getting into a freshly made bed after a long day. It's just comforting to me; and it feels different.

How about you? Is there anything that really gets your day off to a great start? Something you do in the morning that just makes your day smoother and leaves you in a better mood?

American Pride

2008-09-03T16:25:00.001-07:00

OK well the story is that me and J when to see The Dark Knight Friday at the post theatre. I'd never been to an on post theatre before until then and something I didn't know that they did was play the National Anthem before the movie started playing. I was a bit taken aback by this because well I just wasn't used to that happening in normal theatres.

But you know something...I liked it and I think it should be a normal occurrence, not just in military base theatres but everywhere!

Also, now mind you I have heard the National Anthem since me and J have been together but I don't know it was something about being around all of those Soldiers and their families having a good time together that just made it strike me a bit. But really this is what our military personnel are fighting for, not just our ability to be able to go view a movie whenever we want but to see a movie about whatever we want and the ability to do anything and everything we want whenever we want!

If we want to go to the park at 3AM in our pajamas we can, we can ride a bicycle in the rain we can wear whatever we please and speak freely about topics that interest us and voice our opinions.

So the morale of this story is....the next time you realize that you are doing something that you are able to do because of our country's freedom thank our military for keep it that way. Because without them it would not exist

Bridal Shower

2008-09-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

Well here is my first post that is wedding related and I'm sure it will not be the last...

My best friend and Matron of Honor and my Mother have graciously offered to throw me my first bridal shower which is on September 27th and I cannot wait! Not only because I'll get to go home and see my family and best friend who I only get to see so often now that we're a bit displaced as of right now (more on that later). But it will more than likely finally make me feel like this is really happening and it will mark the final leg of this wedding planning journey!

My MOH decided on a fall theme for the shower but didnt want it to be like too halloweenish looking or too bridal showerish looking so we decided on a color scheme of browm, gold, cream, orange, and lime green. I think it is a great mix of all the fall colors and it will be really pretty. She asked me to find some pictures of things that I liked as far as decorations goes so I am making this post mostly for her and for anyone else that may need some ideas as far as a fall party goes!

First a color scheme (which isnt pretty but hey I'm learning some photoshop skills):

and here are some of the decorations I like and should be pretty easy to pull off and cheap:

This banner is cute and you could use the fall colors and let it say bridal shower or congrats or whatever you like and looks pretty easy to make, you can also do a regular triangle banner with pretty scrapbook papers and yarn or ribbon I just couldnt find a good picture of one but Martha Stewart always has something like that floating around.

These pom pom things are so popular and over used but darn are they cute looking and thought they would be great to hang maybe over the gift or food table and they are pretty easy to make and cheap too all it is is tissue paper! Look up "tissue paper pom poms" on www.marthastewart.com

You said you wanted some flowers so here it is:

I thought this was perfect for the fall theme using pumpkins as the vase and maybe some white or cream mums or carnations inside them which are always cheap around that time of year :)

Everything else can be plain solid colored napkins, silver wear, plates, cups, table cloths, in the colors that i mentioned above which can all be purchased at any party supply wearhouse or garden ridge!

Well Amber my bestest I hope this helps you and maybe it helps someone else also!

Welcome!

2008-08-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! I have previously blogged over at www.simplegirlcomplexworld.wordpress.com as a single girl, but felt I needed something more appropriate for married life. So here it is!

I suppose you might want to know a little bit about me and my future husband to be. Well first off we are young 20 something year olds living and loving and learning to be grown-ups in this great big world together. I am a student studying to be an X-ray technician and he is an officer of the Kentucky Army National Guard and is currently learning to be a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter pilot. We are stationed at Ft. Rucker, Alabama for about another 7-8 months and will be getting married December 20th of this year. We are both so excited and cannot wait to return to our home state or Kentucky to be back in our own house and with our friends and family again.

For fun I like to cook, bake, keep a clean house, scrapbook, take pictures, and any other crafty thing I can come up with. Also, home decorating is one of my passions as well and once again cannot wait to get back home so I can decorate our house! Decorating the house down here is just a waste since we'll be gone in less than a year! But I have many ideas running through my brain!

In his off time he likes to hang out with his friends, play video games, ping-pong, drink a few beers, and read. He has both an extensive collection of books and movies which I really need to find a place for!

Some things you might see as topics on this blog will be things such as:
Our normal every day lives, some recipes, decorating advice, fashion that I'm currently digging, crafty things, some photography, you might also see a few things about our wedding.

Some stuff you might need to know is:
Due to OPSEC regulations with the military I cannot use our real names or post anything about deployments or rank (it's a scary world out there people) there for I will refer to us as Mr. or Mrs. T or sometimes I might use L (for me) or J (for him) or Mrs. L or Mr.J just whatever strikes me at the moment!

Well I hope you enjoy your stay here and find something interesting! I look forward to reading all of your blogs, and leave me comments so I know you were here and a link if you have a blog yourself!