Christmas Cards!!!!!

*not my kids

This is my first Christmas as a married woman! Hawk and I weren't able to celebrate Christmas together last year, as he was deployed, but this year we intend to go ALL OUT! On the top of my to-do list is getting personalized Christmas cards. We send out cards every year, but this time we plan on sending Shutterfly Photo Cards! This is something I've always wanted to do, they're beautiful!

They have a lot of choices , and I'm having trouble deciding which one I like best. They have all kinds of designs I think we'll go with a black and white picture, with some simple trim. Maybe this one or this retro one

Shutterfly is the only picture printing company I've ever used, and they came out so beautiful, I was beyond satisfied. I just found out that they also sell calendars





that you can personalize with pics of the cute babies or soldier in your life!

Not a wedding post unfortunately

I was all set to write my wedding & honeymoon posts, when I got an insane Trojan from MY SCHOOL'S WEBSITE. So my computer got the blue screen of death and I had to wipe my hard drive. I lost all my pictures, but my husband has them on his portable hard drive. He just happens to be out of town doing Army stuff. So, they are coming (@Becky ;)but it'll be a few more days. Since I have no pics, and need to get back in the swing of things, I thought I'd do one of those "getting to know me" posts:




I am : a bibliophile.


I know : I'm going to kick ass at whatever job it is I end up in after college, even if I can't be a Librarian anymore

I have : a husband, little debt, my own house and a car with no payments

I wish : I wish I was carefree and less serious all the time

I hate : lies and fakeness

I miss : my Mom

I fear : nothing. I'm over fear!

I hear : travel shows that I dvr'd

I smell : apple cinnamon air freshener

I crave : an adventure!

I search : for farmhouses we could potentially buy in the next couple of years

I wonder : why everyone sucks so much, sometimes.

I regret : ever letting fear stop me from ANYTHING

I love : possibilities

I ache : well, my heart does when I see a Victorian house I can't own & lovingly restore

I am not : good at defining myself

I believe : Mumford & Sons music changed my life. Maybe I'll explain why soon

I dance : when I'm drinking, which is so rare

I sing : all day, every day.


I fight : for what I believe in

I win : trivial pursuit like a BOSS

I lose : everything smaller than my hand

I never : eat meat?

I always : start a book and am consumed for 5 hours

I confuse : myself 100% when any math harder than algebra is involved!

I listen : to mournful music all the time.

I can usually be found : reading cooking or exercising

I am scared : of house fires.

I need : new running shoes

I am happy about : my upcoming adventures



That was hard, actually.


Tell me something about YOU that I didn’t know!

Bad Blogger :(

I can't believe I haven't blogged in over a month. I have a lot to say! It'll have to wait though.





I got married yesterday.


And I'm leaving for Ireland shortly, so when I get back I'll do some real posts :)

On the pursuit of happiness...

My passport finally came today!

For as long as I can remember, I've been just a little obsessed with my Irish heritage. I know, millions of Americans claim Irish ancestry, much to the chagrin of actual Irish people. However my maternal Grandfather came here on a ship (as an orphan, no less) and my paternal Grandmother was 1st generation American. I feel this is enough genetic material to back my Irish claims ;)

I read about Ireland as a kid and dreamed of cottages, falling down castles and the Blarney stone. I grew up devouring any information, news and stories I could from the Emerald Isle. Hell, my dog's name is Guinness. There's much more but you get the picture! And, you know, I never actually thought I'd get to go there.

However the past 4 years have changed my life so much. I've been through a lot, lost some precious people and things, but in experiencing that, I found myself. I thought I wanted a certain kind of life, but my fiance and the Army changed my mind. And I couldn't be happier with the direction I'm headed in now. I've seen good friends get stuck in situations they never wanted to be in. Toxic relationships, unexpected pregnancies, poor job & school choices. I'm lucky that my eye has always been on the future. I'm reliable and responsible, so that's just how its been.

Now that I have my future pretty well mapped out, well...it's time to live in the moment for the first time in my life.

So we're going to Ireland next month.

I'm already planning future trips around the world, and I'm (for the first time in years) optimistic about my life, and my chances of being truly happy. I think what held me back before was fear. But I'm learning that I have full control over my happiness and I intend to take every advantage I can find.

Patriot Day

When 9-11 happened, I was 15 years old, 2 weeks into my Sophomore year, sitting in Math class. My teacher was crying, and wouldn't say why. She was a tough old broad and we knew something serious was wrong. When she said a plane hit the WTC we were like, wow how could a pilot not see such a big building. The internet was locked and TVs were removed from classrooms too. We pretty much just sat around talking until the end of that class period.

As I walked into my next class(JROTC)still on a media lockout, nobody knew it was intentional. In our innocent teenage minds, how could we fathom a terrorist attack?? None of the teachers were telling us anything, but slowly we started to get news reports (over our PAGERS) It had to be about 10 a.m. then and it was choatic.

My dad came to the school to get me and I missed the next day too. I've never felt so unstable in my city, in this country. I honestly felt like the world as I knew it was ending. I though a war was coming to our streets, our city. I know I'm not the only one. I used to hang out on top of my garage (yes I was a weird kid) and on that Tuesday I took up a shortwave radio and sat there for 5 hours listening to news reports from all over the world. That day was the first time of only 2, I ever saw my mom drunk.

Everyone was petrified.

3 years later I met a man who had enlisted in the Army a week before Christmas 2000.

He was deployed to Iraq in March of 2003 when the first American Troops arrived in Iraq. He'd been home for 9 months when we met.

That soldier, now my Fiance, has been to war twice. 2 year-long deployments. This last deployment, I went through too. I could never have guessed in a million years that, that warm sunny Tuesday, when I was 15 would map out the rest of my life. As an Army wife,(soon enough) I know the price Americans have paid, and continue to pay. In casualties, and in men and women forever changed by war.

9-11 is the root of this war.

This seemingly never ending war.

We remember this day each year. The lives that were lost and the changes that were made to our country and our lives, forever.

But to military families, EVERY day is Patriot Day. The shock-waves from those attacks are still felt by almost 150,000 American and Allied troops that are STILL in Iraq and Afghanistan TODAY, the Veterans of OIF and OEF and also, their families.

Thank you Troops!

Spotlight on : Our Caffeinated Life

My real life best friend and deployment buddy Bexxx has started sharing her experiences as an Army Wife and the after effects of deployment on a family. Please check out her blog, Our Caffeinated Life.






bexxx and I on our soldier's homecoming day!

Alternatives to chemicals

I was raised by hippies. There I said it. This most likely conjures up images of flowing skirts, long hair, a VW beetle perhaps? Yep, my mom was all that and more. (in fact I have a 1968 Beetle in my garage that belonged to my Mama :) She was an advocate for peace, made all my baby clothes and was a serious animal lover. On top of that she was cheap. My Great-Grandma raised her and her 5 siblings while her mom was working long hours as a waitress. My Great-Grandma came to Ohio from South Carolina when she was 14. She grew up on an Indian Reservation and there weren't many jobs down there. Back in the early 1900's to about the 1970's, Ohio was the rubber capital of the world. Jobs were plentiful and they paid decent wages. They offered benefits and it seemed like a great opportunity for her, as it was for so many.

(nobody is still reading, I know!)

So she brought my mom up, very frugally. All those siblings, they had to stretch things. They usually knew natural ways to clean, fertilize gardens, repel bugs, etc. She was green before there was such a thing as being green! Anyhow, I personally still feel the effects of this. Apart from laundry powder,dish soap, and comet cleanser, I don't buy commercial cleaners. I didn't grow up with them, so they're pretty foreign to me. One of the things that was always around, that I had actually forgotten about until recently, was: 20 Mule Team Borax.



I live in a Township, in a kind of rural place so we have well water. I HATE it! I was having trouble getting my laundry really clean. I was going through 6 boxes of Arm & Hammer baking soda a month. Then it occurred to me that my Mom used something different, Borax. Even though growing up, we had city water, not well. It is a natural water softener, they mine it out of mountains apparently!

SO I went down to Wal-Mart and bought a box (they changed the old fashioned packaging, boo!! End of an era) but they didn't change anything else!

If you have never had to deal with well-water, you won't understand how awful it can be. But let me tell you, I've done 3 loads of laundry and Borax is my New (old) Best Friend. It's multi-purpose and I can't stop using it. It doesn't have any fumes and actually leaves your hands super soft. It's safe around babies, even on their clothes. It gets pet stains and smells out of anything! (I have 3 dogs, they make mistakes sometimes ha)

Obviously I'm a weirdo since I did a whole post about it, but the water situation here had me really depressed. My clothes were dingy all the time, and had a metallic smell from the minerals. All this is GONE! I know there are fancier brands than 20 Mule Team, but you don't need to pay for a name. The huge box from Wal-Mart was $3. It'll do at least 5-6 dozen loads of laundry as well as various other household tasks. I can't stand the thought of using dangerous chemicals, and this is the perfect alternative! I couldn't be happier!



btw obviously I'm not being compensated, my blog is small time. I'm just really happy my awesome, well-loved clothes are finally really clean.