I vow to help you love life, to always hold you with tenderness and to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed and to share the silence when they are not and to live within the warmth of your heart and always call it home.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

DIY Chalkboard

I bought a cheap frame from a flea market, chalkboard paint from Lowe's, paintbrush, and a piece of plywood to nail to the back of the frame.



For the mounting strap on the back of the frame, I hit up Hobby Lobby and for $1 they put one on there in 5 minutes. Yes please!

Next apply 3 coats of paint to your board.


Let it dry very well. Then nail it or glue it to your frame. Total this probably weighed 20-30lbs so I put an anchor in the wall to hold it better.


 Then tada! DIY cute chalkboard. In a store this would have run me about $75-$150.

Frame - $20
Paint  - $13 (have plenty left for more projects)
Plywood - $8
Brush - $2
Nails - $0 (had lying around)

Total = $43 That's why I chose to make it instead of buying it!

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Looking Back on 2012

Since 2013 is peeking around the corner at me, I wanted to take a post to reflect on the last year and all it held for me and my family. I feel like it's necessary for one to pause, remember, and take note on how the last year changed you. Time changes us all in one form or another. We can choose to become jaded with our experiences or be grateful for what we went through. I know I didn't love every minute of 2012, and I'm sure there are minutes, hours or even days that I would choose to never re-live again. But I... learned to love new people, appreciated the hell out of my family, and I really used this year to get to know myself. Truly valuable.

Kit and I started this year off with our 2nd wedding anniversary! We were pretty poor at the time and living with his parents so we made our gifts to each other! Cheesecake and a "56 Things I Love About You" book made from a deck of cards. Best anniversary gifts yet.


On Jan 6th I turned 24! We had the most awesome time celebrating with our best friends Brie and Shawn in OKC Downtown.


Also in January my husband became an EMT. He worked so hard for it, very proud of him!



The second piece of excitement came in Feb when we finally received confirmation that the AF still wanted us. After an 11 month break, we were finally going to live lives outside of college. We were ready to turn the page together and start our adventure.


Before we left for Texas we lived up our last couple months stress-free in Sulphur, OK.




In April we celebrated my husband hitting the big 25! We went to a baseball game and I flooded his room with 25 balloons with 25 different memories from his family that morning. A great way to start your 25th year.




On April 15th we loaded, packed and loaded up our life into two trucks and began heading south to San Angelo TX!


April - November we lived in TX and made SO many memories. Kit was in and out most of the time for training in OK but when he was gone I had friends and plenty of work to keep me busy. I came away with two amazing girlfriends, Alex and Kate, that have changed my life forever. I believe things happen for a reason and it was meant to be that we all were in the same class, prevailed together through the hardest educational course we'd ever been through and made some amazing memories that I'll treasure for a lifetime. With my husband often gone, these girls were there for me, thick and thin. I don't think I'll ever be able to repay them, but then again they wouldn't let me even if I could :). These are some highlights of our time there.


First Day of Work

State Park

Lake House fun


Visiting a winery

4th of July in Austin, TX

Bestie visited

Parents visited


Celebrating our new assignments in Austin, TX

Drop Night - Tyndall AFB, FL

Local brewery trip 

Climbed Enchanted Rock
 h
Class trip to Big Bend National Park

We snuck out to NYC for a wedding in May

Starne's Wedding-NYC


Finally after 5 years had to say farewell to the Celica


Kit's parents visited us with the pups

Tough Mudder in Austin TX


Then came time for November..the month I had been dreading. I had to say good-bye to my husband for his year long deployment. The hardest goodbye I'd ever given, and away he went.


Graduation and moving in November, two positive things for me to focus on!

Graduation with my girls

Blessed to have family there
Third place to call home this year....Panama City, Florida. I was very lucky to move solo with a dog, 2 cats and a snake with no issues!

Our home in Florida
Luckily we ended this year together. Kit caught a break and his unit allowed him a pass to come HOME for a few days over Christmas. I could care less about tangible gifts this year...all I wanted was my love. Ask and you shall receive! We spent our first Christmas by ourselves and in our new house together. Couldn't ask for anything more.



I know this year will be emotionally, the most challenging Kit and I have/will ever face. I have no doubt we will conquer it and come out stronger because of it. My wonderful husband has 6  "benchmarks" for me to look forward to throughout the year to get me through as painless as possible. Sort of like when you want to lose 40 lbs, so you set small goals first that will add up to the big overall goal at the end. That's what our benchmarks are (he's so clever). #1 - January I'll spend the month at Hurlburt Field for training, #2 - Home for a week in February, #3 - Family visiting for SB in March, #4 - Mom visiting in May and the in-laws, #5 - Bestie visiting for 4th of July, #6 - Taking a week to hit Seattle to see the other bestie and cousin in August.  Looking forward, 2013 might not be one of my most favorite years to come...but it's only temporary (as my positive MIL always tells me) and it too shall pass.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

3 Days of Heaven


My husband was granted a pass to come home over Christmas this year. At this point he's been gone for about two months. We've gone longer apart but this two months apart was different. Many emotions and changes happened during this time which made it feel just centuries longer. He arrived home late Saturday night and I whisked him away to see our new home for the first time!


On Day 1, I played tour guide and showed him around town. First we had to hit Waffle House for breakfast, and this is a big deal for us since it's the first time living in a town with one. We drove out to Pier Park (Outdoor mall in my previous post) in PCB and went Christmas shopping for each other. It was so much fun spotting him all over the mall, making eye contact from yards away and just smiling like goofy teens. Then lunch on the beach and a fancy dress-up dinner date night to top it off.


Day 2, Christmas Eve! We trekked out to the beach with Zeus during a rainstorm, got soaked to the bone, but couldn't stop smiling/laughing the entire time. We spent most of the day snuggled down at home due to the rain and watched Christmas movies/The Office all day. Also the first fire in our home was built!





Day 3, Christmas Day. We slept in, made a feast for breakfast (eggs, REAL bacon and bubble bread) and opened gifts from each other and all that our family has been sending the past weeks. Who doesn't love opening presents?! Then came time for Christmas lunch/dinner. Kit wanted to start cooking at noon so we could just eat on it all day. Fine with me! We made brown-sugared ham, green bean casserole, crescent rolls, sweet potato casserole, cheesy hash brown bake (MIL's secret recipe) and pecan pie. And like every Christmas Day we had to finish the night off with a trip to the theater! DJango was so good! We really missed family this year. It was our first Christmas since we've been married that we weren't in OK, but we couldn't help to be so grateful that at least we all had each other on this special holiday.



When I say, "Three days isn't enough time" my wise husband always replies, "It'll never be enough time. If the Army would've of given us a month, it still wouldn't' have been enough." How wise he is. I have learned it's never enough time. Time with our loved ones is so immensely precious. I have learned to treasure it the most over the last couple of years above all else.

My goal was to give my husband a wonderful new memory of what home here will be like when he returns. A memory so luscious, so wonderful that during dark times all he would need to do was hold it up to his ear like a sea shell, close his eyes and just listen and remember. I think I did that. I've never seen him smile so much in such a short period of time. I hope I gave him a glimpse of what we WILL have WHEN he returns to me. Life will be wonderful, and our family will thrive. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and treasured loved ones and the time spent!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Exploring Panama City

I've lived here almost a month and I'm just now getting out to explore. Sad, yes I know. It's been hard going about life solo. Especially doing things that I really enjoyed with my husband like going out to eat (which actually is saving us a lot of money now that it doesn't happen often) and exploring our surroundings. When we lived in Texas we made it our mission to experience everything San Angelo had to offer. We did and it was so incredibly awesome.

So here are a few gems that you'll have the pleasure of seeing WHEN you visit us!


Pier Park is a huge outdoor mall right off the beach! My favorite places are Marshalls and Margaritaville!




The next place I explored I took Zeus. We hit the Conservation Park in Panama City Beach. The vegetation is so different then what I've experienced in other parks in Sulphur OK and San Angelo TX. The trees are twice as tall, but only have branches at the very top. There are lots of low-lying tropical plants and many butterflies. This park has trails ranging from 1 mile to 11 miles long.

Lastly I finally made it to Panama City Beach's beach. It's about a 30 minute drive from our house, but as you can see it's totally worth it. Can't wait to take our visitors here!