Taking Things for Granted

Michael has been home almost a year. Can you believe it? I can't? This time last year I was going through the hardest part of the deployment, thinking it would never get here, praying he came home safe, and then he did.

With all of the news coverage of celebrities and there disaster of a life and ridiculous behavior, it's hard to remember sometimes why we are here and to be thankful for everything we have. Every once in awhile I stop myself for a minute and look at my husband and remember how thankful I am to have him home, safe, mind and body. It is truly amazing.

With that being said, I saw this on a friends FB page and thought it was worthy of posting:

Can you believe the coverage being given to a spoiled 20-something year old Lindsey Lohan?

Here are a few 20 year olds worth knowing about:

Justin Allen, 23
Brett Linley, 29
Matthew Weikert, 29
Justus Bartett, 27
Dave Santos, 21
Chase Stanley, 21
Jesse Reed, 26
Matthew King, 23
Christopher Goeke, 23
Sheldon Tate, 27

They gave their lives in the service of their country this week.

4 Years Ago...

My husband made me the happiest girl in the world by asking me to marry him. We have always loved Disney World. My family and I went four or five times when I was little, so I was very happy when I found someone who had the same experiences as I did and love of Disney. This is the only place that makes me feel like a kid again and that anything is possible. How can you not be happy when you go there? Everyone is smiling, even adults, and kids are jumping up and down and anxiously awaiting a glimpse of Mickey. I.Love.It.

Back to the story....

We had a week long vacation planned to Disney after I graduated from ECU and he from OBC. We stayed at Shades of Green, the military resort down there that I highly recommend! We had attended a friends wedding about three weeks before and my friends kept telling Michael it would be a perfect place to propose. Little did I know, Michael had been planning this all along, but almost changed his mind because so many people kept bringing it up! Thank goodness he didn't.

It was our first night in the park, and we were down on the side of Cinderella's castle. It was hot as blazes, and I just wanted to go stand in line in air conditioning, plus we hadn't ridden anything yet! He insisted on taking pictures. He was standing behind me as I snapped photos of the castle, and when I turned around there he was with a ring in his hand. I can't exactly remember what he said, but most importantly I said yes!

(The castle is to the left of this picture. He didn't want to do it in front of everyone, and it was perfect because this is tucked away with a great view. When we walked down the three people that were there cleared out and it was just us!)

We then sat on a bench and called everyone. My parents already knew because he asked my dad for permission. We even had a couple who had been eating dinner across the water, saw what happened, and rushed down to congratulate us! We then had an amazing seven days together! It was absolutely perfect.

(Taken right after he proposed! We look so young...and HOT, sweaty hot of course!)

Schedule Your Appointment!

One of my guilty pleasures is getting manicures and pedicures. I love it. Almost more then wine. Almost. It is one hour that I can sit back and relax in my massage chair while I get pampered. My feet and hands feel wonderful and look amazing when all is said and done.

Although I love this hour or so of relaxation, I don't like paying for it! Pedicures normally stay pretty for quite awhile. Manicures however, are another story. Between working at the restaurant, coaching field hockey and teaching, my nails are normally chipped by the next day. Not to mention, they are my real nails, which makes it harder for the polish to stay on, or so they say! I must admit that I am pretty cheap. I am one that goes into a store, picks up a few things and then talks myself out of all of them before I can even make it to the register. Don't get me wrong, in my small town, a manicure and pedicure doens't break the bank! I still don't like shelling out $40 of hard earned money when I think about the things I could buy in our new, yet to be built, house.

In my quest to save money, I have discovered Sally Hansen's manicure kit. I tried it previously, but the tip on the white polish was too thick and didn't do a very good job. The other day I was in the store and discovered this beauty

The precision tip pen is just as skinny as a pen, and makes getting an exact straight line pretty easy! Now I can do my manicure myself and touch it up whenever it gets messed up by my busy life. I. Love. It. I swear it looks better then even the salon does it.

This takes care of the manicure, I think I will still leave the pedicure to the professionals. I'm not that good, plus I like my feet rubbed! What girl doesn't?

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Ok, so there weren't any of the above, but there were some exotic animals! The other day I mentioned that the State Fair was in town. Normally there are the traditional animals that you would think of : cows, pigs, sheep, and chickens. So imagine my surprise when we strolled into a tent and found this -

Apparently this giraffe has even been in movies! You could buy carrots for $1 and he would eat them out of your hand. How he wasn't overfed throughout the day I can't tell you, but it was pretty cool! In the same tent, they also had monkeys, a ram and these -


Goats and llamas! There were probably 15 in a cage; mostly little ones, but two big ones like the one Michael is feeding below. You could buy pellets and feed them. They went CRAZY! Climbing over one another and pushing each other out of the way. Michael tried in vain to feed the little guys, but the bigger ones kept winning out. Poor things!


I didn't know the fair could be so interesting. I think I am going to try feeding the giraffe when we go back on Saturday for our concert. Wish me luck!

Come on Out...

To the State Fair! It's the time of year when the funnel cakes are fried up, and rides are assembled (again), different acts come to play and some, umm, shall we say, interesting people, come out to take part in the festivities.



I always remember going to the fair, ever since I was little. We also made a point to head out there at least once in the ten days that it was here. I have to say the best part of the fair is the food. Everything from kettle corn, to ice cream, to fried snickers bars and corn dogs. I could never bring myself to get on the fair rides like all of the other kids though. The thought of them being disassembled and then assembled again every ten days or so made my stomach turn. How can that possible be safe?

My parents and I always liked walking around the different vendors, getting a bite to eat and then calling it a day. My husband's family, on the other hand, had a camper set up and would be there all week! Some people just absolutely love it! Don't get me wrong, I will visit at least once, and we have a concert to go to too later in the week, but there is no way I could be out there everyday! There are only so many pigs and cows you can see!

I have to say. There are some very interesting people that come out of the woodwork. There are the country kids who live for this time of year! They just love everything about it. I guess since my parents are from the city, I was never exposed to any of that, so I just don't get why it is so amazing.

Either way, the fair is here, and I will at least get some kettle corn to eat!

At a Loss

I have been having a hard time deciding what to write about lately. There isn't too much going on, while other things are harder to write about.

Michael and I have always wanted kids, and while his Mom has asked since we got married if I was pregnant, we decided to take it slow. We wanted to accomplish some things first, like our graduate degrees and building our house, and just be with each other. Well, we both have our degrees. In fact, we each have two, while I am halfway to a third Master's and our house, while it isn't being built, our current house is up for sale, and we have purchased land. We knew that we wanted to do all of this first, because when we do have children I want to spend as much time with them as possible. We also needed to wait until after our last vacation because frankly, I wanted to drink! Selfish, I know. Sorry.

I have realized there is never perfect timing for a baby, and with that said let the 'practice' begin! As stated before, I am a perfectionist. When I want to do something I research it and plan it out to the finest detail. I have done all of this for months, so when that first test came back NOT, I was very upset. I have no idea why. I know that it could take months to be successful, but I was so upset. We have friends who have tried for two years, and unsuccessfully tried IVF last month, so why was I sad after one time? Ridiculous. I know I need to just relax, otherwise the stress will be detrimental. This is one time my pre-planning, Type A personality may not be beneficial! I guess we can at least have fun trying right?

We also found out today that a fellow teacher in Michael's school has Stage 4 cancer throughout her body. She has a 4 year old and a 1 year old. It is heartbreaking. How can such bad things happen to such good people?

Cherish every moment.

How Old are You?

I love my career : teaching. I dislike my summer job : waitress. I have had a summer job since I can remember - probably since the age of 14 when I helped my mom coach hockey for little kids. Throughout high school, I worked in an office during secretarial jobs for the school district, and then during college I took a job waiting tables at the beach. It was convenient to our beach house and I made pretty good money.

I always said that when I started teaching my days of a summer job would be over. I thought about doing summer school, and figured that was a good way to make a little extra money and not work all summer since it would be over in July. Not to mention it was over at 12pm and we had Friday's off.

Then my first year of teaching, there were budget cuts and talks of cutting teachers. Being a first year teacher and not having job security, I panicked. I immediately went to a local restaurant that a good friend had worked at for years. I figured if there were going to be cuts and, God forbid, I couldn't find another teaching job, I would at least be making money until an opportunity came along.

Needless to say, I did NOT lose my job, but did keep my restaurant job to make extra money. The money was amazing, better then those college days and it is only 5 minutes away. After three summers, I am tired of it. Last summer I was all for it. Michael was away, it kept me busy and I wanted to make as much money for our house as possible. This summer, he is home and I am over the drama that is the restaurant.

Managers act like they're 7 so how can I respect them? One manager runs around untying aprons on waitresses. The communication is horrible. For example, the owner had my SIL text me to see if I could hostess. I said I could not due to previous plans. I KNOW she told him. The day arrived when I was 'supposed' to be there, and he threw a fit when I didn't show. BECAUSE I ALREADY TOLD HIM I COULDN'T. Then when I arrived the next day he wouldn't even talk to me or say my name. REALLY? How old are you? Are you running a business?

I really love the money, who can complain about that? However, I don't have the patience to deal with people who are immature and incompetent. I think the days of summer jobs is coming to a close for me. I wanted to work my a** off until we had kids. Accomplish as much as possible and make as much money so when we did have children I can spend all of my time with them. Now, regardless of whether we have kids or not next summer, my days of holding a summer job are over!

For now, I will plaster a smile on my face and deal with it and think of the money, and ignore everyone else!

Just Set It Up FOR Me!

I don't claim to be a technical person. Yes, I have a Master's in Applied Technology, but that's in EDUCATION, big difference from some of these crazy everyday gadgets they have now. I resist jumping right in to anything new because sometimes I just wonder if it's really worth it. Then, I slowly get sucked in.

Take for example the Nook by Barnes and Noble. I love to read. I can sit down a read a book in a day if I really wanted to. It drives my husband crazy. I will go to Target or some other store, see a book that peaks my interest, buy it, and finish it in 24 hours. My husband has begged me to get a membership to our library as it would be much cheaper. He wanted to buy me the Nook for Christmas, and I said NO. I just couldn't imagine not actually holding a real book to read. What fun would that be? Then I caved. Part of the reason was because the books are frequently much cheaper...at least half the price sometimes! As much as I read, I would make up the price of the Nook in no time. Slowly I fell in love.

I think part of the problem is that I am intimidated. I mean how many contraptions do you really need on a phone? I just want to call for the love of pete. Once again, my husband convinced me to get the Blackberry so I could receive e-mail anywhere while he was deployed. I said I would get rid of it when he came home. That was almost 8 months ago and I still have it an all it's apps. Just when I was getting used to it though, I was up for a new phone. And so the great debate began, Blackberry again or Droid?

Again I resisted the Droid because I knew nothing about it and I already knew how to use the BB. Of course, I lost this battle as well and now my Droid is finally here. I am sure it is cool and all, but until I figure it out, I could care less. My husband, on the other hand, couldn't wait to open the box. I went to work, and he set it up. I wanted nothing to do with it! I am sure once I figure it out I will love it, but until then, as long as I can make phone calls it's good enough!

Anyone else have the Droid? Any good apps you might suggest?

I'm Baaaccckk!

On Saturday, we returned from our wonderful 9 day cruise, much to the happiness of our four furry kids! We really had a great time, and I would recommend taking a cruise to anyone! It was great having our meals already paid for but still being waited on and having a huge variety of options. There was entertainment every night, including comics, singers and jugglers! Visiting the four islands was also very nice. I still love St. Maarten and found a new love in St. Thomas!

Our cruise ship, Explorer of the Seas. It was huge! On board there were over 3,000 passengers, not including crew. I must admit, my fears of sea sickness were not founded. You could barely feel it!
Every night there was a different towel animal on our bed! Here is our elephant. My favorite was definitely the lobster! I am trying to convince my husband to do this for me, but so far no luck.
This was the night we decided to eat in the nice Italian restaurant on board. Love my family, even if my brother needs a haircut!
We toured this fort in Puerto Rico...the Fort of San Juan. I swear we walked about five miles that day, but it was worth it. The buildings were beautiful!
My brother and sister-in-law played Bingo on board almost everyday. It wasn't cheap either...$55 a game. Bingo certainly has changed over the years. You can see they are holding a blue board. The days of marking the numbers is over! Instead this is an electronic hand held that can keep track of 30 cards for you! You don't do anything but sit there! Crazy! Even though they paid so much, it was worth it, because on the last day Sarah won the jackpot prize of over $2,000!
Our last night on board ended with a gorgeous sunset! We couldn't have asked for a better ending to our vacation. I have so many more pictures (over 400 to be exact), but I would be here all day! I will try to post some more throughout the summer.

For now, it's back to work here. Michael has only 8 more days off until he reports to the unit and works for them for the remainder of the summer, and meanwhile I am still at the restaurant. I still plan on relaxing as much as possible and gearing up for a new school year! I can't believe how fast the time goes. Maybe I will plan my next cruise too!