Tuesday, October 18, 2011

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.....

~ ~ ~

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! :)

~ ~ ~

Thanks for reading.

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



Sunday, October 16, 2011

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.

~~~~~~~~~~

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! :)



Saturday, October 15, 2011

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. :)

Friday, October 7, 2011

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!

~~~~~~~~~

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.


Monday, October 3, 2011

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! :)