Spreading the Love!

I feel so loved today! I'm usually horrible at reposting awards that have been given to me, but I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and show my appreciation!

Tori (who I'm pretty sure I was seperated at birth from) gave me the "best part of waking up" award  : )

Rules are:
The guidelines are: "The best part of waking up..." award is awarded to the 5 bloggers that you're most excited to see have posted when you log into your dashboard/google reader/ whatever. Yes, only 5! If you're always checking someone's blog to see if they've posted, they deserve this award!"

This is such a flattering award to receive... it means at least one person out there REALLY looks forward to see what's going on in my life! Thanks dear!
It will be hard to choose, but here we go..

Expat Girl @ The Sand is Different Here. I love reading about her pregnancy, visa getting, deployment hating adventures!
Jennifer @ Real Love Stories Have No Endings. She is one of my IRL friends and we are about to be reunited! I love hearing about her life in my future home town. I'm not yet convinced that she is not Super Woman, between her full time job, being an awesome FRG volunteer, and being a rock star of a wife... I can't wait to take up more of her life when I get there!
Kimberley @ A Life Less Ordinary. Ahhh my cousin, Kimberley. She has a great sense of humor and I love reading her blog posts. Now if I could just get her to blog more than once a week! I think she does it on purpose...you know... hold off on the posts so I'm even more excited to see them. Uhh huh.. I'm on to you!
Ashleigh @ The Storey Family. Another one of my IRL friends... I love feeling like I'm getting a little piece of home when I read her posts. She's at such an exicting time in her life between getting her Masters, loving on her awesome husband in their amazing home, and prepping herself for starting a family this summer!!
Heather @ ...and Now I'm a Grown-up. I love me some Heather! One of my original bloggy buddies, I feel like she has been there through everything! She never fails to make me laugh with her animal loving and taking in ways, or smile because I see her blog title coming true. I've seen her change (in the best way possible) and grow so so much over the past year and it really does make my heart smile : )

I received the next award this morning from A Marine's Wife @ Flip Flops and Combat Boots. I've just discovered her blog.. like literally.. this morning and I'm so glad I did! She gave me the "You're Really Going Places" Award.

With this award, I'm supposed to share where I think I'll be 10 years from now and pass on to 10 people. I'm going to skip passing this one on, seriously, I think I was the last to receive it. If you want to share where you think you'll be in 10 years, I'd love to see it, go for it!
Hmmm in 10 years....
I will be 37 years old - YIKES!
I will have a 10 year old child!! That is insane to me.
I hope to have at least one more child that will maybe be 7 or 8 and possible one other kid.
I hope to be even more in love with my husband than I am today.
I have no idea if he will still be in the Army, but if we are, I hope we are close to our families so they can see their grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins often!
I will be working part-time in some cute little book store/ pottery painting/ candle selling shop, but be home in time to pick my kids up from school, fix them an afternoon snack, tote them around to various sporting or dancing/gymnastic classes, help with homework, and have dinner ready for my handsome soldier when he trots through the door.
I will be physically fit enough to run around with my kids and do lots of outdoor activities with my whole family on the weekends.
I'll be just as much *or even more* of a pro in the garden as my mum is now. I'll have beautiful flowers everywhere and my family will eat my homegrown, hand picked veggies and they'll all praise me endlessly telling me how much more delicious my fruit and veggies are than the ones that their friends moms buy at the Commissary or Walmart ; )

See - I really don't ask for much, right?!
*Ahhhh.. I'm using the new posting layout and I can't find the spell check!! I can't be held accountable, please no judging until I find my safety net*

Spreading the Love

I am usually the worst ever at accepting these awards. I'm really not even doing that well this time. It takes me forever to post if I ever do at all. My actions don't coincide with my feelings though, I pinky swear promise. I received this award 3 times last week and I really did mean to post it up, but when I got it again today, it gave me that extra push. You girls are the best and make me feel SO loved!

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the person(s) who gave it to you

2. List 5 things that make you happy.

3. Pass it along to 5 blogs that bring sunshine to your day.

So thank you Jaci, for my latest award! Don't hate me, but I can remember who else I got this from :( Can I use pregnancy brain as an excuse??

Okay... 5 things that make me happy:

• seeing my little bump growing slowly and knowing it's only going to get bigger
• planning a trip home in just a few months!!
• my husbands big bear hugs
• reading a good book
• warm weather

To continue on further with my horrible award acceptance posts, I'm not going to pass this one on. I've seen it sooooo many times over the past two weeks that I feel like I'll giving it to someone who's already received it. Plus, I'd have a really hard time just picking 5 of you!

Semi Interesting ~

I received an award the other day from Ginger at The Neff Family! She is one of my new favorite bloggers :) She is seriously just so sweet and has the cutest family. They are another Army family, have an adorable little girl and another little boy on the way!

Rules are to list 10 interesting things about yourself and tag 7 other friends. I don't know if I'll be able to think of 10 different things, but I'll give it a shot...

1. I've been thinking about going back to school for a while now. I haven't yet because I couldn't decide what to get my degree in. I'm pretty sure I've decided on Social Work. I want to do something in the adoption process. I would love to help families out who are looking to adopt.

2. Speaking of families - I want a baby.. like NOW. I suddenly have baby fever that's crept over me in the last couple of weeks. So we may or may not be TALKING about it. No need for any mothers out there to get excited just yet.

3. I've started reading in my Bible every day. I printed out a guide online that gets you through the entire Bible in a year. I've been doing this only since Nov. 2 and it's already changed me. We're trying a new church this Sunday and I'm pretty excited.

4. I have the widest taste in music ever known to man. For example: my two favorites are The Fray and Lil Wayne, but my all time two favorite songs ever are I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me

and Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole


5. I'm really a HUGE nerd at heart. If reading didn't make me sleepy, I would read all day long. And I'm the master at Sudoku. The regular 9x9 grid bores me. I need the big one that mixes 5 grids together.

6. I'm really excited about the whole moving around the world aspect of the Army. I realize this may change after the 700th move, but for right now, I'm soaking it up. The thought of living in another country thrills me. But I'll be devastated if none of my family ever visits me.

7. I have incredibly unruly hair. I have to straighten it every day now that it's short so in order to even leave the house on a daily basis it takes me at least an hour to get ready including shower. Yuck.

8. I've had the horrible habit of nail biting since I came out of the womb. People say it's disgusting with good reason, but it really doesn't gross me out. I know.. it should...

That's all I have. I'm spending way too much time thinking about this!

Brandi at Excess Baggage
Jenn at First Comes Love Than Comes Marriage
High Heels at High Heels and Combat Boots
Katie at Loves of Life
New Girl at New Girl on Post

That's all I have time for *that takes a lot time to do!!* I'm just breaking all the rules today..

Feelin the Love!

I'm so so late in posting this, but I've gotten another award - you girls are too much! LAUREN (now that we know her real name) @ Dreams take flight passed this on to me last week... thanks bud!

The rules for this one are simple; just share five things you are obsessed with, and then pass the award on to five of the most fabulous blogs you read!

Here are my latest obsessions:

1. Starbucks - I've always had a little soft spot for this place, but since I've moved to Lawton it's been my saving grace. An expensive obsession? Maybe, but I love going there to meet up with a friend, hang out with hubs (yes, I was blessed with a husband who likes coffee and coffee shops even more so than I), or just to go by myself to get out of the house with a book.

2. Lists - I've turned into a compulsive list maker over the past two weeks. I get so much more done and get it done one thing at a time when I have my lists. I think it's curing my little case of ADD actually. It makes me feel like I'm accomplishing stuff during my days and the feeling I get when I cross stuff off the list - Priceless!

3. My camera - it's nothing too fancy, and I am by no means a pro (or anywhere near it), but I've been taking pictures of everything out here. I love showing people back home what I'm doing out here. Which reminds me - I have a post to do about the hiking we did over the weekend. Pics to come tomorrow hopefully.

4. My laptop - I'm stretching to find 5 things I'm obsessive with but this is always one of them. More specifically the internet I guess. Allows me to keep in touch with so many people that I normally wouldn't just by phone. Between facebook, blogging, and plain ol' email - I think we're all set!

5. The Gym - I live for my gym time in the mornings now. I didn't go but once last week and I'm pretty sure that's what caused the slight funk I was in (of which I don't think I blogged about). I'm back to it this week and feel great! It's the one thing I know I'll be able to do every day for myself.

Passing this one on to:

Jessica at The Dent's Deal. Another one of my IRL friends that just started up a blog. She's only done one post, but I know it'll be just as fabulous as she is :)

Beth at Just Ask Beth, High Heels and Combat Boots (did you go private? I can't get on your blog all of a sudden), Jennifer at Crazy Shananigens, and Steph at Watching Airplanes

And the award goes to...

Kate over at Sometimes Life is Messy tagged me with the Kreativ Blogger award last week :) Kate's such an amazing person and I've LOVED getting to know her! If you haven't already, go on over and check out her blog. (along with the other amazing people I tag at the end)

Here are the rules:

1.You Can Only Use One Word.
2. Pass this along to 6 of your favorite bloggers

I'll try my best to use only one!!

1. Where is your cell phone? close
2. Your hair? shorter
3. Your mother? thoughtful

4. Your father? hysterical

5. Your favorite food? junk

6. Your dream last night? better
7. Your favorite drink? choc milk

8. Your dream/goal? mother
9. What room are you in? Living

10. Your hobby? blogging/pictures/reading

11. Your fear? alone
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
13. Where were you last night? home

14. Something that you aren't? normal ;)
15. Muffins? yes
16. Wish list item? coffee maker

17. Where did you grow up? Mass./SC

18. Last thing you did? clean

19. What are you wearing? clothes
20. Your TV? on

21. Your pets? none

22. Friends? thankful

23. Your life? unpredictable
24. Your mood? calm
25. Missing someone? everyday
26. Vehicle? dirty

27. Something you're not wearing? jacket
28. Your favorite store? hobbylobby (like how I made that into one word?)
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When was the last time you laughed? seconds

31. Last time you cried? last friday
32. Your best friend? trey

33. One place that I go to over and over? walmart
34. One person who emails me regularly? dad
35. Favorite place to eat? lots

Now I get to pass the on... lucky girls!

Ashleigh at The Storey Family: Please go check her blog out.. one of my IRL good good friends. She's honest. Writes about the bad along with the good. Which I love. Our lives aren't always rainbows and butterflies and I love that she puts her heart into it all.

Kim at A Life Less Ordinary: My cousin! Semi-new to the blogging world. She has a way of writing about day to day everythings and making it VERY entertaining!

L at Dreams Take Flight: I'm a new reader of hers. I LOVE her blog! I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her and reading about her weekend visits with her boyfriend.. they are so cute and always seem to have a great time together.

Katie at Loves of Life: I love her outlook on everything. Very uplifting and has a positive way of looking at everything ~ and taught me how to wear a scarf :) She's going through such an exciting time in her life right now!

SCH at Uncommon Life, Uncommon Joy: I'm a somewhat new reader of hers and have been loving every minute. She's such a sweet girl and has a great outlook on life.

JG at Perpetual Newlyweds: She's been great with giving me little tips in settling in in Oklahoma. Her and her husband are BRAND NEW into the military life ~ I'm sure she'll have lots of adventures to write about. Hopefully I'll be meeting her IRL soon!

Off to Oklahoma City for the day :)

Perfect Timing

I got tagged with an award today and it could not have come at a better time.

Honestly, I have just been in a bad place. I have so much going on inside my head right now. I've been neglecting this little blog of mine because I feel like I can't make any sense of all the jumbled thoughts that have been completely consuming me. So really, it's just been easier not to write at all then to tackle that mess!

So when I was pretty excited when I was tagged with this today from Meg over at Adapting to Change. Perfect because I needed something to pretty much tell me what to write! Plus, I love a little Q&A about myself *and love seeing other people's responses*

1. Who is the hottest Movie Star? I love me some Jake Gyllenhaal. Yum. 'Nuf said. And because I'm not afraid to embrace my girl crushin tendencies I'm going with Kate Hudson as well.
2. Apart from your house and car, what is the most expensive item you have ever bought: I'm really a big cheap ass so this is a hard question. I don't remember how much our living room furniture was, but I'm sure that was it.
3. What is your most treasured memory? wow... most treasured memory ever? Hard question again... Let's go with huge family vacations at Garden City for the first couple of years we moved down here. My wedding weekend/ honeymoon. I remember looking around the night before I got married at all of my family and friends who had all come together just for Trey and I *and a slammin party* and it just took my breath away. The RV parked in my driveway is what really put me over the edge though. Sitting with my grandmother while she rubbed my back a couple weeks ago would be my most recent one. Seems simple, but she just doesn't do that kind of affectionate stuff. Ever.
4. What was the best gift you ever received as a child: Grrrr.. I thought this was going to be easy and thoughtless. Another tuffy. I loved the bike my Aunt Kathy got me one year for my birthday I think. We'll go with that one.
5. What is the biggest mistake you have ever made? ha! we don't have all night do we? Sometimes I feel like I'm a walking mistake, but these quotes pretty much sum up how I feel about that (stolen from my FB page):
"I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions"~Augusten Burroughs
"... i am the author of my life ...unfortunately im writing in pen and can`t erase my mistakes "
I try...
6. 4 words to describe yourself: optimistic (although you can't tell that lately), passionate, sarcastic, fickle
7. What was your highlight or low light of 2008? I don't even remember last week!
8. Favorite Film? can't pick just one. Love Actually. Cold Mountain. Crash. Christmas Vacation.
9. Tell me one thing I don’t know about you. I have a deep love for rap music. I'm secretly pretty gangster
10. If you were a comic book/strip or cartoon character, who would you be? eechhh.. I don't know!

Here's my 4 lucky picks to pass this on to:
Teresa at Across the Ocean
Jessica at Home is Where the Army Sends Us
Shannon at Mr. and Mrs. In Training
Heather at ...And Now I'm a Grownup

Glistening?

Screw it ~ I'm sweating like a banchie. And I've honestly spent the whole night sobbing tearing up over it. I feel like this little thing called life is seriously ganging up on me. If you're in no mood for a pity party, the exit is to your upper right hand corner ;)

I woke up this morning with the vague feeling that I was a little more toasty than usual during the night. While straightening my hair and panting from heat exhaustion, I knew the worst had happened. My AC went out. Again. Got to work and called my little AC man and he said he'd be out to look at it late afternoon. I'm pretty sure I hit my breaking point tonight after getting home and realizing when I walked into the safari jungle that he never did make it out. And all I kept hearing in my head was him making the calculated guess that I'd probably have to replace it since it's so old. Really? We can't rig it for a bit and let it be someone else's problem? I joke. Kinda. Who has money sitting around to install a new AC??? Not I! I should though. Which brought on a whole new set of sobs. Trey's been gone since February. My main responsibilities were paying bills and building our savings up. I tried. I really did. But I swear it's just been one thing or another that has made me spend money in our savings right after I built it up. Every.Time. Add on the pressure of getting Daisy (I know.. my choice and I have no regrets), hoping and praying we sell our house and that we actually make money off of it, moving... Ahhhhh... I've been able to keep a pretty cool head.. but tonight it felt like the world was crashing on my shoulders and I could hardly stand to keep breathing.

I am a little more calm now though. Calm, not cool. It's still sweltering hot. For two reasons:

1. my realtor called to let me know she is showing my house to someone tomorrow that seams interested in renting it. Scary, but I'm a little bit okay with making some extra money every month.

2. AC man just called. Gotta love an AC man that calls at 9:45 at night to let you know how sorry he is and that he'll be there at 7:30. I'll love him even more if he doesn't make me buy a whole new unit.

Thank you so so so much for all of your comments on my last post. Y'all are seriously my backbone. I hope that's not very pathetic of me to say. Because it's true :) I'd probably be certifiably insane without y'all.

Trey is doing better. They did send him to HHC today but his spirits are way up. He read parts in the book of Job last night in the Bible... seriously?

P.S.

That's only a little something I've been praying for for years. We'll save that for another post though.

I'm gone until Monday!! Off to visit the fam in Massachusetts. Hopefully i'll be able to squash some of these worries of mine while i'm up there, but knowing me, doubtful. I know i'm usually very optimistic and to my defense a little PMS may or may not have something to do with this mental breakdown. We're all entitled to a few though right??

Ohhhhhh how could I forget??? One of my favorite bloggie buddies, Crazy Shenanigans, gave me this sweet sweet award today:

It made me smile through all those tears!! Thanks girl!

Uumm excuse me??

But don't I live in SC? Isn't one of the perks of that include staying warm? Our local weather man, Ben Tanner, emailed me today to every so brightly inform me that when I wake up Saturday morning it will be 10 degrees!!! No thank you! I know of one little household that will be sleeping in in their warm cozy bed as long as they can. Buutt he also did inform me that we may have snow flurries Sunday, which pleases me greatly. I guess I can't have the snow without the cold.. ehhh.



I have been meaning to come on here all week to thank KLC, over at Tales of a Northern Belle for the sweet award she gave me! (thanks girl!) But I have been so so so busy!!



This award states:

The award states: "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Please don't make me list 8 people!! Everyone deserves it, so if you'd like to post it.. it's yours :)

I am vvveeerrrryyy much ready for this weekend! Our company isn't closed Monday, but I took the day off since Trey has it. 3 day weekend!!! Tomorrow night we're having our friends, C & J, over. It will not be anywhere near as crazy as our trip to Manning though :) I'm making a yummy dinner in the crock-pot. Nothing special. It's my signature chicken dish bc I just couldn't think of anything original to make. But it's very delish and it will be nice and warm since it will be so cold out. We're also renting a couple movies and will watch them with our dinner and a nice fire going. Sounds just about perfect right now!! Saturday I'll be cleaning house and going to see Twilight once again with my MIL. I got her into the whole series and she's dying to see it.. I'm not complaining!!

Real quick Trey update: He went to the recruiting station twice this week, once to just fill out some paper work. Another time to take a drug test. Trust me.. he passed. The kids never touched anything in his life. Unless he sometimes counts "that one time he might have the green stuff but didn't know what he was doing so he doesn't think he did it" HA!!