a little san fran

well, husband has been on orders for the past month...so i made a very last minute trip to see him for a full 24 hours. so thankful for summer time and the opportunity for spontaneous moments like these. 

since he is training in san francisco, we spent the majority of the day being the ultimate tourists...gazing at the skyline and enjoying the best of clam chowder bread bowls that pier 39 has to offer.

we walked up and then down the telegraph hill steps. 

and a few more miles of walking to find the most important destination...a little ghirardelli amazing'ness. later we caught a movie, got some delicious pho and then i was off for the drive home, in order to make it back for the manic monday c: the perfect trip to see my love. 

two weeks of life through instagram

and here's the recap...

{two weekends ago was the last time the boy could come home until the end of this month...sad but counting our blessings he has been able to come home at all during this training}

that weekend i was sick :c so i spent much of the time laying on the hammock trying to recoup for the upcoming week | we've been eating outside A LOT and i love it | made roasted tomatoes with shrimp and feta for dinner, it was delish | early sunday morning he was out luster`ing his boots, how do i not take a picture when he leaves everything oh so picture perfect c; | my massive rose in a little mason, made me smile | and i MAY have been back in the hammock while the boy was bqq`ing some dinner sunday evening

{lynnee has had a rough couple weeks}

 pretty sure she caught my cold because last week she has a raspy little meow, sneezing like crazy and would just look at me with sad eyes :c here she is after sneezing in her sleep seven times | she cuddled in bed with me with me as i read, apparently psalm 35 puts her to sleep | and this is her politely refusing some medicine, our ferocious kitty got in her first cat brawl the other night...told you it's been a rough two weeks

{student teaching, school, work, assignments, eat, sleep = the life of little ole' me lately}

wore new shoes on a fifteen hour day and no blisters...success! | living off cookies and a little bit of vino to get through my late night studies | brainstorming ideas for nightstands...and i believe i found a winner c:

...and in a blink those two weeks were gone. onward forward to what this next week brings c: be blessed and don't forget to pause, soak in and take a picture of little things in life <3

as always, thank you thank you Taingamala for bringing us all together c:

training, schooling and insta`tuesday

hello, hello and happy tuesday. our hectic summer is winding down and slowly transitioning into fall. here are a few updates on our lives...the boy received orders for six weeks of training with his unit {last minute as always}. luckily the station is only a couple hours away instead of across the country, so he'll be able to sneak home every now and then. for me, well student teaching has been well in gear for the past few weeks and my classes begin this week. on the beautiful bright side, by the end of this school year i will finally have, in hand, my credentials to teach moderate`severe special education as an inclusion specialist as well as several masters classes under my belt. let the studying begin.

<3  <3  <3

for those of you who were interested in my picture on wood from my last week's insta'tuesday post, i have written a tutorial for you c: find it HERE.

<3  <3  <3

here's my linkup for insta`tuesday and a glimpse into my week. 

chopping my pasta salad while getting my criminal minds fix | making my heart and nose oh so happy | my pink wine opener i was gifted on my twenty`first saw its last cork :c

{my evenings with the boy gone}

a pinterest inspiration | a morning fish bowl makeover

eating {pretend} sushi with high.ho.cherry.o buckets and glow sticks with my favorite God daughter peyton | lynnee waiting for best friend peyton to return with another brush to pet her with c:

yes and the boy had the weekend off, love having him home | the nights are cooling off and we've been spending them outside. oh and on this night i thought i taught miss peyton what a crescent moon was...turns out she now argues every night with her dad there's a crescent moon, oops.

join the link`up love over at Taingamala 

the boy is home

my boy is home...mustache and all. yup, apparently his whole unit decided to bring on the manly`ness during their few weeks of training. awww, but it's nice to have him home even if the mustache came with the package c; 

this weekend we have been giddy homeowners, the epitome of first time buyers. frequent trips to home depot, starting {key word} like eighteen projects only to move onto number nineteen and even mowing our poor DEAD lawn in 100 plus degree weather {he was pretty stoked about his new lawn mower}. my boy left just days after we officially moved into our home, so i've been doing all the unpacking by my lonesome. having him home just makes it feel so real...i love it. 

to do this week:

paint our mantle c: c:

unpack that last box i've been ignoring

organize the linen closet

make a bird feeder

finish the spare bedroom 

{in`laws are coming to town}

...and that's all i'm committing to for now.

happy sunday my friends!

reuniting

things i love thursday

being reunited with your love

today was the homecoming for the husband of my favorite friend

the next best thing to being reunited with your own boy

 is seeing someone else being reunited with theirs

ESPECIALLY these two. 

{RECAP}

two years ago i walked into sign language and nicole was wearing a jeremy camp shirt

i always thought she was the 'cool' girl in class and that day i made my move

i asked, 'do you love jesus?'

she replied, 'yes'

that class we were let out early, so we went for a bite to eat and kill time till our next class

we ended up talking through nicole's lecture...oops!

just so happened we both loved jesus as well as 

her boyfriend {at the time} was looking into national guard reserves 

and my husband was investigating coast guard

....hmmm kawinkydink...i think not...JESUS.

since the moment our friendship blossomed 

she married that boy and together we got through

two sets of boot camp, almost two sets of a-school {one more day for me}

and for my dear friend survived one very very long deployment

which i believe gets a round of applause..so go ahead and clap away :)

happy reuniting mr. and mrs.

i am so proud and thankful for all you have done. 

visiting virginia

{so the trip was about four weeks ago...better late than never}

leaving

begins thursday when i completed my exam on direct instruction. seconds after handing in my essay and shutting the classroom door, i did the biggest happy dance known to man in the hallway and preceded to skip to my parking spot with the most goofiest smile on my face :) i flew from sunset to sunrise and made it to virginia mid morning.

 day one with my boy

the boy was still in class when i checked into the hotel so i attempted to get a nap in...but as you can guess my excitement got the best of me and the nap barely happened. then finally three o'clock came. that same goofy smile took me all the way to base where i picked up my boy. it was a little too perfect, i waited for him to by the rental car while blake shelton's honey bee played on the radio...cheesy i know, but i was eaten it up! then i saw him...best feeling ever. we spent the rest of the day just hanging out...so amazing to just hang out with no time line just us. my treat {besides me being there} was no pictures the first day...he was pretty happy :) on our way to the hotel we stopped by hardee's...just to make sure it tasted like our carl's jr. later on we drove to williamsburg on search for the perfect dinner. after about an hour we settled upon new york deli and pizza {recommended by his advisor} and it was DELICIOUS. it was a perfect pizza date. we demolished our food, sipped on beer and eavesdropped on people's conversations, he teased me and i missed it. during this time the biggest spider i've every seen in real life came creeping into the deli...GROSS to say the least, i mean it was thumb to index finger circle big. by the time i was able to get the words..ummmm spider spider huge out of my mouth the boy had already accidentally smashed it with his sandal. phew crisis averted.

day two with my best friend

time for busch gardens with the beautiful military discount...aka FREE. we spent our day riding roller coasters, eating overpriced food and lots and lots of laughing. we purchased a locker for my purse and camera so i could ride the coasters carefree. however we didn't get back to the locker until dusk. we quickly grabbed the camera, found someone to take our picture and posed a few times....but then when i went to check the pictures i realized that none of them saved because i forgot the memory card :( i tried so hard to not be super bummed, but i was so BUMMED. then after one of our rides i saw a photo booth...gave the boy  my best please eyes and he agreed to fork out the five dollars and sit in a little booth...something that is not typically his cup of tea...he's so good to me! we waited for a bunch of pre-teens to take their top model pursed lips pictures. then they were done, took a good look at us and told the boy 'you guys look sooooo cute together' ... are you imagining the valley girl accent?? any who we took  the compliment :) and we stepped into that germ infested photo booth and took our...just 'us' pictures. ha then i was being miss know it all and thought i could handle the selection of boarders and accidentally selected our bff background...sorry love you were right 'enter' is different than 'back' oops. after we rode the coasters til fifteen after close we made our way back to the car and the drive back. but before we crashed at the hotel we picked up some taco bell...because what would a late night be without taco bell??

day three with hubby

lazy perfect morning...then went to virginia beach for the day. first virginia aquaruim...my new favorite place! ohmygoodness those turtles, hearing kids yell 'look look it's dora', the scary sharks about to pound through the glass and eat me, those stinkin' otters and seriously cuttlefish rock my world! i stared at them for ever waiting for my fav little guy to change colors...and he did :) AND the boy's new mission was to look up cool cuttlefish youtube videos for me all day...have i mentioned he's the best? yup, the cuttlefish is my new favorite animal/mammal/fish.

after we got our marine animal fix...we headed over to the beach and found a yummy out door, by the beach, happy hour, did i mention super yummy food restaurant?? we hung out, goofed off, filled up on seafood appetizers and beer. then grabbed our sweatshirts from the car and took walk on the beautiful east coast beach. 

  

i love the beach...both of us grew up living only miles away from it and its so nice to see no matter the coast :) we then drove back to newport news, picking up some cold stone on the way. we had a coupon for buy one get one, so the boy thought it would be a great idea for both of us to get the 'i gotta have it' size...getting the most out of our money {duh}, insisting that he would finish mine...which i did all by myself mind you! we took our dripping ice cream back to the hotel, got tummy aches and watched all the episodes we were behind on for the office. pretty perfect day huh?

day four with him

well it was monday...so we woke up early, ate our complementary breakfast and i dropped him off at school. i went back to bed for a few hours and caught up on my missed sleep from the flight over. then i got up and ventured over to yorktown for the day. so so beautiful! i love the historical'ness...i love the water...i love the bricks and ships and i love the old people holding hands...oh man just soaked it all up with my coffee in hand. it was just peaceful...i sat on a bench on the waterside for about an hour just being still. watching all the old couples holding hands, thinking how amazing it's going to be when we are old, still goofy in love and holding hands...that's going to be pretty stinkin' cool :) i finished my coffee and found myself at 'stars and stripes' the souvenir and very VERY conservative shop. ha...for example one of the buttons said 'republican hottie'. i decided to buy an ornament to represent the trip, we did the same thing for when he graduated boot camp. then when purchasing it i chatted up the owner and compared cat stories with him for about twenty minutes. well three o'clock came around again and it was time to go pick up the boy from school :) :) we drove over to fort eustis because i had never been on an army base before and had my absolute love...salted caramel hot chocolate with extra 

goodness at the base's starbucks. YUM. we drank the yummy'ness and drove around base. then we got some shopping done for him and went out dinner. the boy and i headed back to the hotel and packed up his stuff...spent a few more hours together..but then it was elevenish...time to take him back. he had class in the morning and i had a six am flight to catch. it was hard saying goodbye...as usual. but different hard this time around, usually he's the one leaving me,and for the first time i left him. but it was all worth it. we had so much fun and it was just the break i needed from school and life. because as we all know, life is harder and just not as fun when your boys gone. we are actually now at a ten day count down til he graduates and comes home...almost there :) then we will be done with him leaving...for a while at least. he will have a few weeks year of training, then deployment is looking about two years out. but right now i'm focused ten days...ten days and he's home:)

back to reality.

i'm back.

back from my break from life

where i spent three and a half amazing days with my boy

escaping the reality of homework, work and school

being with my best friend

it was perfection.

but the second i missed my connecting flight home

i realized i was back to reality.

playing catch up at work and continuing on with the craziness of school.

my trip was refreshing

seeing that boy was so encouraging.

plus he has finally convinced me to drop a case at work

which means about an extra seven hours to my week :)

devote a little more 'me' time to my schedule.

so near future blogging will include

my trip

new crafties

transition from summer to fall decor

{yes my house is still full of patriotic summerness}

those seven hours will go towards all my pinterest loves

until next time after my case gets covered :)

happy friday

so spoiled. so stoked!

so originally the plan was to visit the boy half way through training

but then the craziness of my new program was added to my work schedule and it looked near to impossible

not to mention it would cost a pretty penny to go visit him for such a short period

...but then we found out we got separation pay...
{you can tell we're newbies huh?}

 so we prayed
and i had a mini meltdown on skype
so we prayed some more

the next morning i re-looked into the possibility of going..

there were better flight options

professors pushed backed assignments 

and

some of my cases at work didn't have enough hours for october
aka..i am obligated to take time off

so i think it's a little obvious...but i'll go ahead and state the obvious

i'm going to see my boy!


i feel incredibly blessed to have this opportunity. i know a deployment is in our future...so i am going to take full advantage of him being away from me in the states and having the freedom to just hop on a plane to see him.

so spoiled to have such an amazing husband.
so spoiled to have god help path a way for this trip.
so SO stoked to see my boy!

{seriously i haven't stopped smiling since last night when i booked the flight}

:)

framing a letter

frame letter project...finished. 

{picking up from my previous letters post}

bought a frame from the dollar tree.

grabbed some leftover fabric and turned it around so it looked a little faded.

stitched 'p.s. i love you' (drew with a pencil first of course!).

found my favorite section from one of the letters from boot camp. 

folded it up and stitched the letter on the fabric.

hot glued a couple of rosettes. 

sorry there aren't any full pictures...i would have been in big trouble if the boy saw i broadcasted his letter :)

i'm so happy with how it turned out! 

now i just have to figure out where to put it...

letters

SOMETHING that's been in the back of my mind.

And I REALLY want to do. 

Flamingo Toes Blog

I love the idea, definitely want to make one for Valentine's Day.

However, for now I was thinking of something super basic and I'm sure already done in many homes. What if I put one of the boy's letters he wrote me in boot camp. Find my favorite lovey dovey part and put it in a frame by my bedside. An extra reminder every morning I wake up alone and night I fall asleep how much he loves me. AND how much better a-school is than boot camp...communication wise at least! :)

I grabbed my box full of memories and began to read. 

A letter every day. 

I knew our love was strong, but after you put a marriage through boot camp..you really discovery the strength of  love.  

LOVE that boy.

Hmm...well I ended up doing a little more reading than crafting...but it's just what I needed. The letter was picked and the frame crafting will have to wait.

overdue package

I was overdue for sending the boy a package. I wanted to get one ready the day I got home from taking him to the airport..but decided that would be a little too soon :) So I decided to wait a week, then all of a sudden school, work and student teaching kicked into gear. Though I think about my boy every hour...I totally forgot my package plan. Last week I set the studies aside, and put a little something together for him.

-IN THIS PACKAGE-

A white board with magnet strips on the back to hang in his locker. 

Colored markers in case he felt like decorating...ha!

A couple sprays of my perfume on a pink sticky note.

Fruit gum I saw the other day while waiting in the grocery line...made me think oh him.

A handwritten love note...brought me back to the boot camp days...definitely don't miss those!

A cord he had requested...come to find out I sent the wrong one...oops! Well I guess that's an excuse to send another package! 

A new recipe I found pinned by my beautiful friend on pinterest. Peanut butter and chocolate chip pretzel cookies with sea salt...YUM! Here's the recipe. The second time I made them I added more chocolate chips and pretzels. And made sure to hand stir them in, so the pretzels could be seen like in her picture.  

I sent the white board because before boy got his fancy phone, he use to write his ToDo List on our white board under the calender. Here's how I made it...like usual..super easy. 

I bought a white board from the dollar tree and hot glued the hemp around the edges, originally it had a weird blue trim...not so cute.  

Then I used my hot glue gun again to attach three wine corks. 

The pictures were the most expensive (three dollars) because I printed them out in wallet size, but on the bright side I have three sets of each picture left to put in school binders and send to family. We took these pictures the day before I sent him off. 

Well there it is...first package send off and arrived. Boy and roommate loved the cookies and he was excited about the gum :) Success...now planning for the next package, which the correct cord of course :)

gift in an email

What a week. School is kicking my butt.

For my own sanity I'm taking a break. One hour free from textbooks, work, reorganizing my schedule and the messy kitchen. An hour to enjoy a glass of merlot, cuddle with the Lynnee and catch up on blog world. 

..................................................

The other day I got an email  from Amazon....instantly got a yucky feeling because I was waiting for a textbook to arrive and thought it was another message delaying its arrival.. Instead the subject said, " a gift from 'the boy' ". Hmmmmm.

I opened the email and it was the MP3 of the Limbs And Branches tracks by Jon Foreman and a very VERY sweet message from my boy. 

My favorite song on the CD.

Your Love is Strong has been on repeat in my car, on my phone and in my house. It has been lifting me up on a daily basis and gotten me through this past week. So simple, so perfect and I love scripture in songs. 

THANK YOU boy for my perfect gift.

He always seems to know just what I need.

boy oh boy

I miss that boy.

I'm thankful it's only fourteen weeks, I'm thankful there's only a country instead of an ocean in between us and I'm very thankful he's safe. I know that other wives and families have it worse right now. I also know that we have a deployment in our future, so right now is the easier time. 

But I still miss him. 

Life is getting busier. Days are jam packed with student teaching, attending night classes, work...so my days fly by. My days flying cause my weeks to fly by which feels like the date of seeing that amazing boy of mine comes sooner.

But with that time flying perk comes with con's.

Typical days go from very early mornings to sometimes very late evenings...add in a time difference of three hours and there is limited opportunities for phone, skype and even instant message dates. 

Life just gets lonely without the boy.

When your use to having your best friend, your love, the one who can always make you laugh, the one who knows you best, encourages you, comforts you...when you're use to having them in person to kiss and love and talk to face to face everyday, then it turns into five minutes on the phone here and there...its kind of super extremely lame...the say the least. 

Some days are easier than others, some hours are harder than others. And during the hard and easy minutes, I think about the fact that I wouldn't trade it for anything. Several days ago God reminded me of that...I was having one of those missed calls kind of days, and became a little teary-eyed so I asked for a little strength. I was filled with memories, my life since I met that boy, everything we have over come, our friendship and how much I am in cheesy sappy love with him :) It was a tad overwhelming but so humbling. I wouldn't trade any of the struggles and hardships for what we have.

So thankful for God's gentle reminders. So thankful for our fourteen weeks. So thankful for the life my boy and I share.

call me a crazy cat lady

I had mentioned to the boy about the possibility of bringing a kitty into our life, but with our apartment life style it just didn't look like it would be in the near future. THEN we learned Coast Guard was the route God's plan. 

About a few weeks after we had made decision, I had a minor meltdown. It was nearly midnight and I was just starting a paper (the joy of working full time and taking too many units). I put down my computer, dropped to the floor and said,

"I'm done, absolutely done. I'm tired, this assignment is pointless and I just want to spend time with you". 
The boy says, "Okay, I know. Take like a ten minute break and I'll work on it with you". 

He grabbed my computer and started dinking around. I'm not going to lie, I was a little disappointed he wasn't joining my pity party on the kitchen floor but I was exhausted and enjoyed my little break.

Ten minutes had past and the boy asked me to join him at the computer. I whined and resisted a little, thinking it was paper writing time but when I plopped myself beside my boy I saw something much much different.

The screen was full of kitten pictures. My boy explains to me that he's been thinking. Thinking about him leaving and having to leave more in the future. He wanted me to have someone to come home to, talk to and just be with when he couldn't be. NOW THERE WERE TWO CONDITIONS...I had to finish my paper and we got the kitty soon, so boy wouldn't miss the "cute stage".

Well needless to say after my hugs and happy dance, I hopped back to that paper with a huge smile on my face. The soonest available day...okay half day...we both had off we drove to the local animal shelter and fell in love with Lynnee.

This was the first day we brought her home..poor thing we followed her around the little apartment..taking pictures every five seconds.

She always laid by my side when it was time to write the boy in boot camp. 

She tries to conversations with us...on a daily basis.
She LOVES banana peels. That's right, not the actually banana...only the peel.

She will watch the occasional tv show, thinks the dvd player lights are fascinating but her favorite is laying on my lap and watching the bubble screen saver on my computer.

She loves spooning and is a great traveler.

And she is amazing at finding verses...I was doing devotionals the other day and Lynnee started flipping through the pages of my Bible.

ALRIGHT now as you can probably guess I have MANY other pictures of her...so you're lucky I'm not sharing the whole family album :)

Now I hope I've illustrated how much that little girl means to me.

When the boy's gone, the days are a little harder to get through.

BUT when I pull into my parking spot Lynnee is up at the window waiting for me.

She follows me into every room of our little apartment. Even if I get up for a glass of chocolate milk...I have a little shadow following me for my three minute kitchen field trip.

She is always doing the most random things and making little messes...she keeps me amused and very busy. 

AND I always have someone to sleep with.

Now you can call  me a crazy cat lady...but I'm so thankful (yes and a little obsessed) for our Lynnee.