Hump Day Happiness

25 Apr By

I think I have said this in almost every “Hump Day Happiness” post, but I’ll say it again. I cannot believe how fast time is going in 2012. It’s the last week of April already!

Here’s a few things bringing me happiness on this Wednesday, I hope they bring you some too!

I had to get up extra early today to get back to the doctor before work. I wasn’t too pleased about it since I am the world’s worst morning person. When I arrived at the Naval Health Clinic, which is beautifully situated on a hill overlooking the Severn River in Annapolis, I was greeted by the most beautiful morning. I couldn’t help but feel happy.

***

via

I love this sweet little saying because it reminds me that even though time is flying, and so many wonderful things have already come and gone, there are even better things on the horizon. The pretty handwriting and lovely blue color make this the perfect print to put on my desk.

***

via

via 

Since the hubs is away again for a while, I am focusing on things I can do with my “me time.” I’ve got these two projects in mind. Can’t wait to report back on how they both turn out!

  1. Being a military wife, I love to show off my patriotism.  This DIY yarn wreath is perfect for the summer season.
  2. I’ve been lusting after necklaces like this all year and this simple DIY one only costs $25 to make!

 

Don’t miss the great at-home workouts featured in this week’s Workout Wenesday!

Filed Under: Beauty, Fabulousness, Gettin' Crafty, Style Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

4 Comments

Get Me Out of Here

9 Apr By

I have been lucky enough to travel to many places. I’ve been all over the US including San Diego, Miami, Chicago, Boston, and NYC (just to name some of the big ones). I’ve seen the ancient ruins of the Acropolis in Athens, the Globe Theater in London, and the canals of Venice. I studied abroad in Rome and soaked up every second of living in Italy.

I love to travel and experience new places, but I’ve also always loved coming home to good ol’ Maryland afterwards. That is, until I went to New Orleans. I know, I know, I’ve talked endlessly about that trip, but I can’t help it, the excitement to go was so great and the trip itself didn’t disappoint.  Something changed during that trip, something I haven’t ever really felt before. I dreaded coming home and suddenly felt confined by my all-too familiar surroundings. I want to get out! I want to not just travel somewhere new, but move somewhere new. It’s time and I know Maryland will be waiting for me when I am ready to settle and re-grow my roots.

Yup, I've got it...

via

It also doesn’t help that some of the blogs I read, especially the ones written by other military spouses living overseas, have given me the expat bug. I dream of living in another country! Shouldn’t we do it while we can, while the Navy will pay for our move and guarantee at least one of us a job? Shouldn’t we do it before we have kids and want to be near family? Shouldn’t we do it for the adventure and so we can look back on our lives, when we’re 80, and say “remember that time we lived in Italy/England/Germany/Japan? That was awesome!”

It's a wide open world out there

via

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a foreign country, I think I could be happy going across the country to San Diego, Hawaii or Washington State. We still have two years left in the DC-area, and available job’s in B’s field will play a huge part in where we end up, but a girl can dream, plan, and over-analyze, right?

Stuck where you are? Live vicariously through these ladies:

Amanda is a Marine wife, who lives in Okinawa, Japan

Ashley is a Navy wife, who lives is Sicily

Jessica is an Air Force wife who lives in Italy

I know it won’t be easy and at times I may think “why the hell are we here??” But I know I want to give it a shot.

Do you dream of moving somewhere?

Filed Under: Fabulousness Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

14 Comments

Murphy’s Law

26 Mar By

I don’t know who Murphy was or why he gets a law, but he’s a jerk.

How is it that when the hubs goes beyond a 1,000 mile radius, things start to fall apart?

The closet door fell off, the car is making a crazy vibrating noise and I can’t find some important paperwork. Let me just call B up and ask him where it is…oh, right, I have no way to reach him!

No joke during one deployment the dishwasher broke, the furnace stopped working (in the middle of winter), the car suddenly wouldn’t start, and the roof started leaking.

Timeout, I’ve just taken five minutes to Google the origin of Murphy’s Law. Surprise, surprise it has a military origin! According to Murphy’s Law Site (yes, there is a whole website dedicated to it), Murphy’s Law (“If anything can go wrong, it will”) was born at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949 and was named after Capt. Edward A. Murphy, an engineer who was working on a problem-ridden Air Force project. You learn something new every day…

Military or not, I’m guessing a lot of people have seen Murphy’s Law rear its ugly head when a spouse or significant other goes away. It’s not fun, but sometimes you just have to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all and look on the bright side…

via

Ok, enough ranting, back to my regularly scheduled positive thinking!

Filed Under: Fabulousness Tagged With: , , , ,

2 Comments

La Vita e Bella

12 Mar By

It’s monday, time to get up to the sound of a blaring alarm and get back to the grind. It’s not my favorite day of the week by any stretch of the imagination, but today I am giddy. I had another amazing weekend and I’m all hopped up on life. No, I’m not starting up a new venture, I haven’t won the lottery, and I’m not pregnant. No, I’m just deliriously happy with plain old life. After 8 months, I’ve settled into my  job and for the first time, in a long time, I’m not planning a wedding, buying a house, gearing up for a deployment, in a deployment, or in a reintegration phase. Life is just settled, and it’s fabulous.

As I’ve mentioned before (and your probably tired of hearing me say), this year already feels like its going to be my best yet. I’ve had so much fun, been given great opportunities, and had my hubs by my side for all of it.

As we prepare to celebrate B’s first St. Patty’s day in the states in 3 years (get out the green beer, it’s going to be epic!),  I’m taking the time to be extra thankful for every little moment 2012 has already bestowed upon us. The times we’ve spent just hanging at home with a new bottle of wine and some classic rock. The times we’ve had date nights out on the town. The times we’ve spent traveling. The times we’ve spent with our dearest family and friends. They have all been wonderful.

A little recap of my fabulously, fun weekend…

This weekend I had Friday off and got some much-needed house cleaning, laundry, and organization done. A late lunch with my sis and some speed shopping capped of the day. The evening was spent with pizza, cocktails, and a movie. I’m still in awe of just how much fun I can have sitting on the couch with my husband!

Showing off my new stripes from J. Crew, the makings for some yummy cocktails (if it has pomegranate juice then it's healthy right?)!

Saturday I enjoyed some overdue girl time with my bestie, Hayley, and was treated to a mani/pedi! In order to show off my gorgeous new nails I made B take me on a date night to my new fave place, Paladar.  A little Starbucks (who doesn’t love a latte for dessert?!) and a little window shopping rounded out the night.

Shiny new mani (the same color I wore on my wedding day!!), one of my fave scarves (perfect for date night)

Sunday we went to my parent’s house to celebrate my beautiful mother’s birthday. As always, it was great to see my family and spend some QT together. We were finally reunited with little Penny, who has been staying with her “grandparents” while we went to NOLA. We were hoping she wouldn’t hold a grudge and would be excited to see us and she didn’t disappoint!

A little wine, Mom's birthday cake, reunited with Penny (notice the little fat rolls from lots of extra treats from Gram and Poppy)!

Thank you God, Karma, The stars, the moon, fate, my husband for giving me 9 great weeks in 2012. Here’s to 43 more of the same!!

I hope you all had amazing weekends too!

Filed Under: Fabulousness Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

13 Comments

10 Things I’d Rather Do Besides Chores (Listable Life)

17 Jan By

*Thanks to Moments That Define Life for starting this Listable Life link up*

I’m actually one of those people who doesn’t mind cleaning. It makes me feel productive, accomplished, and I find it to be incredibly stress relieving. I tend to relate a lot of  cleaning with happy events, and the excitement I feel in the anticipation of, and preparation for, those events. The best example I can use is the hubs returning from deployment. Each time, I would scrub the house till it was spotless and organize everything till it was in its proper place. No speck of dust was safe…and I loved it, because it meant he was almost home.

Now, this doesn’t mean I always love cleaning or always want to be doing it. There are plenty of things I would rather be doing.

Here’s 10 of them:

1. Lie on a beach – this is probably how I would define my heaven. I grew up a beach bunny and the love has never left me. Just give me a lounge chair, a towel, a little sunscreen (I rarely burn), and a good book. Welcome to paradise.

2. Go for a walk – when the weather is nice there are few things I enjoy more than throwing on a pair of running shoes and taking a long walk. This past summer, the hubs and I made it a point to walk the 3+ mile loop around our neighborhood every Sunday. It was a great way to be together without any distractions. Whether we talked, or just walked side by side in easy silence, it was wonderful.

3. Internet shop – I love to browse the internet to find hidden treasures and great deals. I can spend hours sitting on my couch, coffee in hand, looking at the enviable craftiness of Etsy sellers.

4. Watch a reality TV marathon – yes, one of my biggest guilty pleasures in life is reality TV (specifically anything on Bravo). The perfect pairing to one of those lazy days when I don’t want to leave my couch (or my bed) is a non-stop showing of one of the Real Housewives franchises.

5. Go to the gym – I really love to workout. It’s my biggest hobby and I often wonder if thinking of it that way is what makes it so enjoyable to me. The gym is a place where I feel really good about myself. I’m strong, accomplished, and stress-free after my nearly daily trip.

6. Drink wine – I know this sounds funny coming after number 5, but I love wine. Give me some time catching up with my girlfriends, and a glass of wine, and I am happy as a clam.

7. Read – my love of reading started at an early age and before I was 10 I had made it through all 100+ Nancy Drew mysteries (little known fact: I wrote one of my college admission essays on Nancy Drew). These days, it feels like such a luxury to tune everything out and just immerse myself in a good book. I just started the Hunger Games and I already can’t put it down.

8. Paint my nails – I consider painting my nails one of my other hobbies. I love doing it. I love the look of a fresh manicure. I love how a simple outfit just seems a little more put together when you add the perfect shade of polish.

9. Do Crosswords – my dad gave me the crossword bug. He does the Sunday crossword from the Washington Post, to completion, religiously. While I’m not nearly as diligent about finishing them, I can’t resist starting a puzzle up whenever I come across one.

10. Go out to dinner – since we don’t have kids (yet!), the hubs and I are lucky enough to be able to go out to dinner once or twice a week. I never tire of the opportunity to put on a nice outfit, slick on some lip gloss, and let someone else do the cooking. It’s a nice way to connect with the hubs away from our couch and TV.

What would you rather be doing?

Filed Under: Fabulousness Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

15 Comments

Waiting for Me When I Got Home…

10 Jan By

There are few things I enjoy coming home to more than an excited little dog, the hubs (especially when he is doing housework!), and packages from an internet shopping spree. Last night, I came home to all three!

1. My little dog, Penny, is always so happy to see me every day when I walk through the door. She runs down the stairs, jumps around and twirls at my feet. Her little spirit never falters and during those long months, when the hubs was deployed, it meant so much to have her waiting at home for me.

Me and my girl!

Reindeer Penny (Yes, I am one of those people who dresses up their dog. No, I am not ashamed.)

2. We ordered a bunch of new house stuff from Restoration Hardware (they were having a mega clearance!) including a new bed and new curtain rods. The curtain rods were delivered today and when I came home, the hubs was already installing them! I’ll post pics of the finished product soon.

3a. I told you in a previous post that I love to get samples of beauty products. I signed up for Birchbox, soon after writing that, and today my first box came! For those of you who don’t know, for only $10 a month Birchbox will send you 4-5 deluxe sample of high-end beauty products. It’s like a magazine subscription, but better! They include a menu card that gives you the details of each product and it’s a great way to try a lot of different brands, and goodies, without spending a fortune on the full size. It’s a fun surprise since you never know what you’re going to get!

The outer (Birch)box

The inner (Birch)box

This month I opened my box to find…

Everything was so cutely wrapped!

The menu

  • Zoya nail polish in Megan – a cute pastel lavender (score! Purple is my favorite color!)
  • VMV Hypoallergenics Re-Everything Eye serum – this is a BIG sample and after years of over-exposing my skin to the sun I am a big fan of anything anti-aging
  • Juicy Couture Signature Fragrance – I love this smell and since I wear perfume everyday, without fail, the more the merrier
  • Miracle Skin Transformer Concealer  - not as big a sample as the eye serum, but this concealer supposedly treats dark spots and imperfections, and protects your skin from future problems, all while it covers (I love multitasking!)
  • Wichcraft Granola – this was kind of a random find, but it’s from Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio’s company, so it must be good!

3b. As if all this wasn’t exciting enough, also waiting for me were some new shoes I ordered online (they were on super-post-holiday-sale). They’re from Nine West and still available here. I think these pointy-toe, black suede wedges are going to become a staple in my winter wardrobe! The perfect alternative to flats without having to rock a high heel.

Did you come home to anything exciting recently??

Filed Under: Beauty, Fabulousness, Style Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

8 Comments