Deployment Update!

Helloooooo! Hope my sweet followers are doing GREAT! I have been trying to stay really busy lately. I really only hear from Duke about every 2 weeks now. But, I still feel very fortunate about that. I know of someone who is three months into a deployment with no phone call. That makes me sad!

I DID get to talk to him yesterday though!!!!! He sounded like he was doing really good. And --- great news! --- hopefully he will be getting promoted very soon! :) I am so excited for him.

On another note, I have somewhat learned how to crochet!!!! Yay! I have been working really hard at making myself try new things. Haha. That's always a challenge. So when I actually get good at it, I will have to post some photos.

{theorganicsister.com}

I've also spent a lot of time on Pinterest lately. It is so addicting. I found and LOVE this:

{12.media.tumblr.com}

 

 

I hate spiders.

Did everyone have a good Veteran's Day? Mine was lovely. I went to a parade and a ceremony afterwards; I bought a luminary for Duke and it was put with many others at the courthouse steps in town. The Marine Corps birthday was also this week! :) I am very excited to see the photos of all of the Marine Corps balls that everyone went to.

Is everyone getting excited about the holidays? I am! :)

I'm Back!!!! :)

Hello there! I know I haven't blogged in the last couple of weeks....but I honestly had a horrible week last week dealing with this whole deployment thing. Yes, it got the better of me. But....good news.....this week I have a much better attitude! :) Haha. I have taken a couple of painting classes in the last week and had sooooo much fun. It really gets my mind off of things and I loooove it. But, I realized that I am spending all of my extra money on classes, which would be fine except I really need to start saving money for when Duke comes home because I will be moving and will really need to have some money saved. Sooooo....I went and bought my own paints and supplies and created this:

I love it. It was from a photo of Duke on our wedding day. (below)



{Andrea Mills Photography}



I hope everyone is doing GREAT and I look forward to catching up on some of my blog reading! :)

Thanks for reading! :)



It may be a little early...

...but I really want this for Christmas! I saw it today in my new issue of Martha Stewart Living. So cute. And I love the vintage-y looking photos that it takes. :)

{lomography.com}

I seriously want to take some photography classes soon.....

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On another note, my deployment "donut of misery" status says, "feeling like superwoman!!!!!!"

Not so much though....I feel like I have been a little frustrated over the last couple of days...

....but I'm hangin' in there! I feel the urge to paint today. I think I am going to go buy some supplies and attempt to paint outside of painting class! : D

I was thinking today about Duke and me. Is it crazy that we have only spent two and a half weeks together this year? (Sigh.) It may seem crazy, but it's true.

I love him sooo much. But, sometimes I feel like when he comes home, we will have to sort of "get to know each other" again. Is that weird? It seems strange to me, too. And it makes me nervous sometimes.

But, I'm excited about it. One of the few good things about having a long-distance relationship is getting those butterflies over and over again before we see each other. And we appreciate the time we have together. And we really "get to know one another" over and over.

Of course, I would trade all of that in a second to have him with me everyday! :)

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Thanks for reading.

Life is a gift and time is precious. Too many people take it for granted. Stop and think...and appreciate. :)



Fall Clothing Inspiration

I recently cleaned out my closet and donated a lot of clothes. But now when I look in my closet, pretty much all I have are jeans and tee shirts. Which is pretty much the only thing that I ever wear. I have been slowly trying to branch out over the last couple of years, but it is pretty hard for me. I think my problem is that jeans and tee shirts are the only thing that I really feel comfortable, and more importantly, confident, wearing.

But, I do have one weakness. Dresses. I looooove dresses. I would seriously wear a dress everyday if I could. I especially love vintage inspired dresses. :)

{theclothingmenu.com}

I think cowboy boots are suuuper cute with dresses, but I have never been brave enough to break out of my comfort zone to wear them like this. But, this Fall, I am sooo doing it!


{fhiky.com}

Love it. It's time...for me to branch out with my fashion. I might as well start while I'm still young...lol.

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I haven't heard from Duke in days. I last talked to him on Wednesday. I was on my way to donate blood for the first time. Eek! But, it actually went really well. It was a blood drive specifically for the troops overseas. How could I say no? And it felt really good at the end of the day to know that I did a good thing.

Check out this site if you are interested in donating. http://www.militaryblood.dod.mil/

Here is a super interesting and inspiring article about giving blood for this cause.

Thanks for reading! :)

More Painting! :)

Maybe I am getting carried away with these painting classes...but they are so much fun. And they keep me busy for a few hours. On Monday, I went to painting class with this photo of my dog......

...and I came home with this! She's the best dog ever. (I know, I am biased. Haha.)

And on Wednesday I painted this! This one is my favorite.

I hope everyone had a great week!

Thanks for looking. :)

Painting and Deployment Talk

Hello!!!! Here is a little update regarding my last post. My painting class was super awesome!!!!!!! I seriously had a fabulous time and it was great to be 100% focused on something other than life for two and a half hours. :) Here is my finished product.

My teacher was obviously super great. :)

I kind of feel like I have been in a "funk" this week, so I have been trying to stay really busy. I have actually signed up for another painting class on Monday and my BFF is coming to visit me tomorrow!!! Heeheeeeee!

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I don't really talk about what is going on in my personal life at work unless people ask me. I definitely don't want anyone to feel sorry for me while Duke is gone. I feel very lucky to be married to such an amazing guy and no one should feel any pity towards me at all. I'm not the one overseas working 36 hour shifts. He is. They are...

I have had some pretty interesting conversations at work this week. It cracks me up what some people say.

I got pretty upset at work because I missed a phone call from Duke while I was in an exam room. The doctor that I was working with said, "oh...can't you just call him back?"

------(me) "ummm....not really......."

Another girl was asking me how Duke was and she asked me how often I get to talk to him on the phone. I told her about twice weekly. She said, "but he has a cell phone and you can call him anytime, right?"

------(me) "ummmm.....nooooooo....and if I miss his call, that's it for a few days."

She seemed so surprised.

And then, someone that I work with is about to go to Mexico for one week with her husband for their one year wedding anniversary and she said that she was dreading spending the whole week with him and hoped that he would sleep late in the mornings so she could wake up and go for a run by herself. Wow. And she tells me all the time that my relationship is an ideal one because we never get to see each other and she would just love that. Oh, really!?

I just can't believe it sometimes. I have to go in the bathroom and calm myself down. It's crazy. I would give anything to go somewhere right now with my husband for one whole week. Silly people.

* * * * *

It's the ten year anniversary of the war in Afghanistan and it is very  important to remember the sacrifices that all of our troops have made for this wonderful country.



New Outlook, Awesome Weekend.

So, I have pretty much decided that I am going to stop stressing out about my future career and stop pressuring myself to figure out what I want to do with my life. I tend to stress about this a lot, especially lately. I recently got married, I am 23 years old, and I have pretty much changed my mind about a million times about what I want to do. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy my job now, but it's not exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life. But I want to do something that I really love. And right now, I am just not sure what that is. So, I have decided that I am going to stop freaking out about it and just enjoy life as it comes along.

And I totally signed up for a painting class on Wednesday. Sounds fun, right? I am soo flipping excited about it. I feel like I have been doing great with this deployment, but the last couple of days have gotten the better of me and I need to get out of the house and do something new. Yayyyy! Hurry up, Wednesday!

Speaking of the deployment, I saw this today and liked it.

Cute. And very true.

I got to talk to Duke for about 15 minutes on Saturday (exciting!). I think I am starting to have a hard time because I only get to talk to him twice a week (although, I know I am lucky, it could be wayyy worse). He says that his guys are working 36 hours shifts (crazy!) and he only gets a 12 hour break in between to sleep and usually ends up working most of that, too. I feel sooo bad. Poor guy. He is definitely not one to complain though. At all. He is one tough cookie and an awesome Marine.

I live in a pretty small town and we had our annual Fall Festival over the weekend. This is probably the only year that I have gotten super excited about it. My BFF, Brittney, and her husband, Nathan (a veteran), came into town and it was sooo good to see them. Brittney is pretty much the most awesome person ever. And I met up with Duke's little brother and hung out with him, too. This is us on the Ferris wheel. He pretty much made me ride it. But it was fun.

The weekend was just the kind of thing that I needed.

For makeup junkies like me:

So, on a completely different note, I was thinking yesterday that I am so much more girlie than I ever have been before. I loove makeup and girlie things. I really love Benefit makeup. It is my favorite. It's the cutest ever and all of their stuff is great.

They have a new mascara that I have been dying to try, but I was waiting for my Diorshow to get used up first. So, I decided it was finally time to get it. Best. Mascara. Ever.  

You won't be disappointed. I wore it all weekend and it was awesome and lasted all day.

Anyway, this has kind of been a random post, so thanks for reading! :)

A Good Read

I finished a really great book a few days ago called The Five People You Meet in Heaven. It's written by Mitch Albom, also the author of Tuesdays with Morrie (another fantastic read, by the way). :)

I cannot say or write enough good things about this book. It's a must read. I read it in one day. Here are a few memorable quotes...

"Dying? Not the end of everything. We think it is. But what happens on Earth is only the beginning."

~

"Lost love is still love, Eddie. It takes a different form, that's all. You can't see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken, another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it."

~

"Life has to end," she said. "Love doesn't."

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On another note, I had a pretty good day today. I had to take Breena to work with me so she could get her Rabies vaccine and she had a small growth removed from her face. She was soo sweet today. Here is a photo of her from last night.

Omigosh. So cute.

I missed a phone call from Duke while I was in an exam room though and it made me so sad. I held my phone for the rest of the day hoping he could call back. I hate that feeling, but it is bound to happen sometimes.

Thanks for reading.


Phone Call :)

Woo-hoo! I got a phone call from Duke last night. Yayyy. We talked on the phone for 5 minutes and 22 seconds and then he had to go. Hearing his voice was so nice. I sent him a care package yesterday, and it's a bummer that it will likely take a month or so the get there because I want him to have it TODAY! Haha.

I think he would be super proud of me. I feel like I'm doing pretty good (with the deployment) so far.

It seems like I have been spending wayyy too much time on the computer lately. But, I am trying to save money and if I go out, I know I will want to buy something. Ha. So here I am. Yesterday, I went to VS to pay my bill and was standing in line behind another girl. She and the cashier were chatting it up about having military pride and whatnot and I wasn't really paying attention. (I usually keep conversations like this to myself unless someone personally asks about Duke or my opinion). Anyway, the girl in front of me grabbed her purchases and said goodbye, and as I approached the counter, the sales associate said, "she just got back from Afghanistan, can you believe that?" And then I said, "well---actually, my husband is there right now." She couldn't believe it. I think her exact words were, "wow, two people that have some kind of experience like that were just here together." I don't know why she was so surprised. Military, Veterans, and military families are everywhere. It's not something that everyone talks about all the time because for some people, it's just everyday life. But I feel like it is important to be thankful and appreciative. I am so, so glad to live here in America. And I am very thankful for what all of our troops do.

Thanks for reading.

Cali Trip

My memory seems to really be failing me lately, so I wanted to sort of keep a record of what me and the husband did on my trip to Cali to see him off. We took these photos before the camera died. So here it goes....

Hello, San Diego! :)

Duke! I miss that guy.

I thought this was cool...

The last time I went to Cali, we had zero photos of us together. So this time I snapped this one in the truck first thing! :) Kind of scary...I know...lol.

We ate here the first night. It's just a T.G.I. Friday's, but I thought it looked cool.

Duke found seaweed on the beach.

...and decided to wear it. Haha. He's so silly.

Opposites attract. Haha.

San Diego Padres game!!!! We loove baseball.

I love Yoo-Hoo. He loves Coke. Always.

Wait---what?

Wild buffalo!

We rode a train!!!

Horse racing in Del Mar. Awesome.

Jelly Cable...the horse that I wanted to bet on. Yup, he came in last place. Haha. But, he was the prettiest.

South Coast Winery!

My man.

Other cool things we did together:

We ate the best grilled cheese sandwich ever.

Paid a guy to pull us around in a cart with a bicycle. Haha. Priceless.

Duke watched me eat a lot of cotton candy. I mean a lot. Ha.

Duke took me to the biggest tack store ever and bought me a new pair of boots!

We went on a trail ride at the barn on base. Soo fun.

We saw a couple of movies!

We visited the animal shelter on base and saw the cuties. He wanted one.

We saw a full rainbow.

We rode a Harley. Around a mountain. I was scared.

We had fun.



I love Cali. And I miss Duke.

Thanks for reading.

New camera, hubby gone.

This blog is going to turn into my latest project. My husband (as you know) is in the United States Marine Corps and is deployed. I took a trip to California to see him off and my camera sadly died. He was sweet enough to buy me a Nikon D5100 as kind of an early Christmas present. So I am going to make good use of it by posting photographs for him to see while he is gone.

This was one of the first photos I took with my new camera. I had a layover flight in Atlanta and it was so dreary there. I was already pretty sad about saying goodbye to my husband, and then a flight attendant was being sassy at me for not putting my suitcase in the overhead bin the correct way --- very rude, too. I was about to cry and started to pray. And when the plane took off I saw this. I'll take it as a sign. Thank you, God, for letting me know that everything is going to be okay.

Wow.

My sweet little dog.

Took this of my horse, Cory, at a horse show recently.

A color sketch photo, a cool effect on my camera.

Henry.

Another color sketch photo.

A pasture close to where I live in NC.

This one is my favorite.

My mom snapped this photo of me and Cory.

Breena.

This is a vintage camera box that I found in an antique store. I thought it looked cool and it looks great on my bookshelf. It was also fun to photograph. :)

Thanks for looking. :)