Date Jar

I came across another blog of a newlywed couple that wanted to change-up date night to do things other than the typical dinner & a movie. Our date nights are usually just dinner & a movie as well and for a while now I have wanted to do other things but could never really come up with things to do around town. Several months back I had thought of getting 2 jars, one for fast food and the other for restaurants, so whenever we went to dinner & movie or wanted to pick up something quick, we could just draw the name of the place we would eat at. This blog has TONS of ideas to use for date nights. I'm excited to get the tools to make a Date Jar and discuss the different dates with Scott to see which ones he likes and if he has any to add to it. We will probably use this more next year when he's *hopefully* back home for good. I like her idea of putting them on popsicle sticks inside a mason jar. I think I may do a Restaurant Jar as well so when we do go out to dinner, we can try someplace new instead of always going to the same places.

Date Jar

Date Night Ideas

New Year. New Life. ♥

So far this year I have been good about sticking to my resolutions. I started attending NewSpring, which is a local SC church that is growing in leaps every week. Every week the sermon has hit home and I feel motivated and encouraged to change my marriage. The sermons are opening my eyes to the problems in my life and my marriage and giving me tips to start the healing process. Every week I have a newfound hope that I CAN fix this and things CAN and WILL get back to the way they were. Luckily the service streams live online throughout the day so Scott has been able to watch them and we can discuss afterward about things that God has touched our hearts about. I am so excited for what God has in store for us this year! It's going to be life changing.

Last week we started a series called Love Revolution and this past Sunday the subject was "It's Not About Me." Wow. He started off by saying that every person is born with a selfish mentality and society encourages it. His example, if a group photo is taken, who is the first person you look at when reviewing it? Yourself. He encouraged us to use the "It's Not About Me" phrase in all parts of our lives. The 4 main ones he focused on were Marriage, Finances, Career, and your Connection With God. The marriage and finances are what really stuck out to me but I do know my career and my walk with God can be improved. One comment he made that really stuck with me was when he said that marriages don't have married problems, they have selfish single person problems that we each bring into the marriage. Wow. I will be the first to admit that I have noticed how selfish I've become in my marriage and I look foward to applying that phrase and see how God changes my life. This year is going to be great!

For anyone interested in watching live or watching sermons from prior series, this is the site: www.newspring.cc

New Year's Eve 2012

Quick update: Thanksgiving was spent in Indiana with the in-laws. It's always so great to see them. Not much happened between then and Christmas. Christmas kinda came too quickly. I loved all the time with family but something was different & it didn't feel like Christmas.

This New Year's Eve I wanted to do something different & go out & have a great time. Every year I've spent NYE with my parents/family watching Dick Clark's Rocking NYE & the infamous ball drop followed by a toast. I heard about the Famously Hot New Year celebration downtown. It's supposed to be Times Square meets Southern Hospitality. So we bought tickets and went. It was SO much fun. We may do it every NYE now. We started with a 5-course dinner at the Capital City Club then drinks courtesy of Ciroc in the lounge section where the band was playing. I even got a Ciroc tiara to wear! lol. We stayed there for a bit before heading outside where the bands were playing. The stage was setup in front of the Capital building & it was all lit up. So we danced, sang along, & rang in 2013 with confetti, a champagne toast, a kiss, & awesome fireworks behind the Capital. It was an amazing night!

NYE Eve I found out something that completely broke my heart and opened my eyes to a much-needed change in my marriage. That is one of my many resolutions this year.

2013 Resolutions:
- read the Bible in a year
- get back in the habit of going to the gym
- enjoy every moment & don't sweat the small stuff
- be happier
- stay calm during arguments
- be a better wife & treat my husband like a person & with respect like he deserves
- thoroughly clean the house & keep it that way (I plan to deeply clean & declutter one room a week & hope to be done by end of Jan or mid-Feb)
- keep up with the New Year Jar

Newest Addition ♥

Quick update: nothing much has gone on in our household. We are officially back to doing the long-distance thing for a little bit. It hasn't been too bad so far. The SC State Fair came mid-Oct and we just got back last night from our trip to Indiana for Thanksgiving. The reason for this post, for almost 3.5 weeks now we've had a kitten. :) We weren't planning on anymore pets since we have a cat and a dog but while accompanying a friend to a local shelter, I fell in love. lol. This is Callie:

I have several photos of her but they're all on my phone and I haven't uploaded them to Facebook yet. She was 7 weeks when we got her so she's now almost 10 1/2 weeks. It only took a few days for both Mya and Sally to warm up to her and she is a handful! She is all over the place and gets into anything possible. I can already tell how she's grown in the short time we've had her. Before long she'll be full-grown. I'm still not sure whether she'll be smaller, bigger, or the same size as Mya. At first I thought she'd be smaller, but she seems bigger than Mya was at 10 1/2 weeks. Who knows! This is our newest furbaby.

Wedding Fun!

My BFF's wedding was this past Saturday. I can't believe she's married now! It seems like just yesterday was January when she got engaged and asked me to be her Matron of Honor. It's crazy how time flies. She had her rehearsal Friday evening and we got to see all of her decorations. Her aunt was in charge and everything was homemade and looked amazing! All the flowers were made by her using coffee filters. Even our bouquets! They were gorgeous. It was a beautiful ceremony, the decorations were amazing, her cake was beautiful, and the food was yummy. I really hope it was the wedding she's always dreamed of. :) I left my camera so I don't have any pics until people upload them to Facebook. So I'll have to share later. Sorry. lol. I think the photographer got some good shots so I can't wait to see them.

Carowinds, Concerts, & 2nd homes :)

Several weeks back, before Scott's birthday, I bought 2 tickets for Christian Music Day at Carowinds. Living in the Carolinas I've been to Carowinds several times but Scott had never been. So I thought this would make for a fun day: amusement park and concerts. It was this past Saturday and it was definitely awesome. Several church youth groups were there in matching neon shirts so lines were long. We rode a few things before gates opened at 3:30. I noticed a few rides were given new paint colors and new names. They even had a new one, The Intimidator. The longer I waited in line, the more nervous I got. The first hill was super high at 211 feet and you're dropped practically straight down. We finally get in our seats and the lapbar was very different from other rides I've been on so I was unsure how safe I'd be going down the face-first hill. I had planned to have a death grip on the handles the entire ride. After the first drop, my hands stayed in the air! For those that know me, I don't raise my hands. So that tells you how awesome this was. It was so smooth and not jerky like most rollercoasters. It was definitely worth the wait and I wish we had rode again before leaving. (link: http://intimidator.carowinds.com/) Someone tossed up a few coins while going down one hill so I caught a quarter. lol.

When it came time for the concerts, they started out kinda slow. The first 2 bands (Manafest & Icon for Hire) were more of the hardcore, screaming type. I wasn't into it but Scott was. The last 2 bands were the best! Casting Crowns & TobyMac. They are awesome in concert! Scott really enjoyed it and I'm glad I could give him this "first". The concert was done a little after 10pm so we headed to our hotel. We would've headed home, but we decided to stay the night and use Sunday to look for an apartment in NC. We got a great deal on our hotel room and it was super cute! Slept really well, too.

Sunday we slept in and Scott brought up breakfast from the lobby. We checked out and started our journey. I had researched apartments online on Friday. I tried to look at the cheaper ones, but they required longer travel to his unit in NC. Scott has a truck so we narrowed it down to 2 that are 7 miles from his unit and not too pricey. We already had an idea which one we'd pick but we chose to check out both. Over the phone we were quoted same rent prices for both. Once we got there, our favorite was $10 more than quoted while the other one was $50 more in rent plus several fees other than utilities. We chose our favorite one, the one we thought we'd get. The layout is open and just enough space for just him. Fewer fees upfront, fitness center, pool, laundry faciility, free DVD rentals, free wi-fi in the clubhouse and around the pool. It's also a small complex (200 rooms max) and the landlord and mainetance guys live on site. So quick response if anything goes wrong. He's also half a mile from a strip mall that has almost every store type imaginable. I'm very excited! I wish I could move with him but we have a home here in SC. Plus he will, hopefully, only be there a year and can come home. Now we have to get electric, gas, & internet set up. Also buying items he'll need while there (ie: microwave) that we don't already have extra of (ie: towels). I'm excited!

Weekend Adventures

So this past weekend was extremely busy but fun. Friday night started with the Spirit of America concert. It was awesome! They covered so much of American history with reenactments, singing, and even drill performances. They only perform in 2 cities every year since the performers are active duty soldiers in the same unit. I am so glad Scott and I were able to see them. The drill team was amazing and even made my heart stop when they were tossing up their rifles with bayonets. The US Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps performed as well and I felt honored to watch them because this was the same group that escorts the President. And the show was free! Can't beat that.

Saturday was Bachelor/Bachelorette Party night. My best friend is getting married in less than 2 weeks. Her fiancé and his friends went to Charlotte at an all-night laser arena. I took the Bachelorette and some friends out to dinner at California Dreaming then to Woody's in the Vista for drinks & dancing. I'd never been to that bar & grill before and I'd heard great things about it so I decided to try it out. While trying to find a parking spot in the Vista, I bumped the curb. We heard a loud metal noise so we both assumed I hit the frame. As I finish parking my low tire pressure light came on and I knew it wasn't good. So I got out to look and yep, flat tire. My first flat tire EVER in the 9 years I've been driving. And boy did I hit it good. lol. Unfortunately both of our guys (my husband, her fiancé) were out of town and couldn't come to our rescue. Luckily my friend's parents were home and her dad is a mechanic. So he came to the rescue and got my spare on. Luckily he also has his own floor jack and portable air compressor because my spare did not have enough air. That night with that situation definitely showed me how blessed we are and that God was watching out for us. The parking spot where I hit the curb was in front of a bank (hello security cameras!) which had a lit up drive-thru so my tire was changed with plenty of light. That's a big thing since we were downtown and had 2 cops drive by without stopping to help us. We were out there for about 30 minutes waiting for her dad. God was definitely watching out for us. When we finally got to the club we had a great time. We had free American Honey shots and a free shirt. They played a mixture of songs so it was a fun night. We stayed out late and since the guys were still in NC we decided to have a sleepover at my house. We were rather tired so we laid on the couch & loveseat and watched Once Upon a Time until we fell asleep. It was a great night! The guys got in around 6 am, stayed at the best man's house (he drove), and they came to my place around 10. We layed around most of the day watching movies and TV shows. It was a great weekend!

Scott has been on active duty orders since May and last Thursday his orders were cut. Which means no job yet again. I wasn't happy when he told me but I was faithful that God had a plan. Well, today was an answered prayer. Scott got his AGR orders today!! We finally have a date for when he reports to his new unit in NC. It's great news but now I have to face the reality of being apart for 1-3 years. We will definitely be living it up the next few weeks and making memories.

Life Update

Wow, I've been slack! There have been several times I've thought about a blog to post when I'm away from a computer, but I get home and I forget. I can't believe how much time has gone by since my last post. Guess I'll pick up where I last stopped.

We got the insurance money for Scott's truck but within a week or two his transmission went out. So guess where that money went? Yep, you got it. His transmission. So we searched around to find the cheapest one and it wound up being at a pull-a-part place. He decided to replace it after work one day. He said he'd be done around 7 or 7:30 so I decided to wait on him to eat dinner. 8 o'clock came around and he said he ran into some problems and would be a while longer. 9:30 came, same thing, more problems. 11 o'clock came and he was still finding new problems to fix. So I decided to go to bed thinking he'd be home soon. I woke up at 4 a.m. the next morning and he wasn't in bed. So I immediately sent him a text thinking the worst had happened, that he fell asleep behind the wheel and was in a ditch somewhere. Luckily he responded rather quickly saying he was almost done. Poor thing didn't get home until 6 a.m. and had to be back on post by 9:30. Luckily his sgt was understanding enough to let him come home to sleep for a little and allow him to come to work a little late.

We've also done some home improvement projects. Our front flower bed was nothing but sand and pine straw. So we made a trip to Lowe's to pick up border blocks, soil, mulch, different flower seeds, and of course solar lights! I cannot believe how much better it looks. I love it! A few days after we planted the seeds a few rainstorms hit and we learned that not having gutters on our house caused a puddle around one of the bushes we planted and would uproot it. So gutters were our next investment and they worked wonders. We also finally replaced our living room & master bedroom ceiling fans. We bought them back in February or March with our tax return and finally got around to doing it. See, I'm also a slacker in real life, not just blogging. I hate procrastinating and putting things off but I'm so good at it. lol

We also found out the first week of August that Scott was selected for AGR (Active Guard & Reserve). This is a blessing and an answer to a prayer. He applied Feb 2011 and he received an email stating there were openings at Fort Jackson. So he applied and the next day we learn that those slots were quickly taken and the closest one is Indianapolis. What really upset me was Scott's CO told him he either needed to take the slot in Indiana or he would cut Scott's orders. (Scott has been on active duty orders since May so he goes on post Mon-Fri in his ACUs like he's active duty, but his orders are only 2 weeks at a time. So if orders stop, no more working on post daily and back to his civilian job.) So his CO was making us choose between living 13 hours apart for who knows how long or Scott going back to his civilian job where he didn't make enough for ends to meet. I was so upset and angry. I couldn't help but cry, even at work. Once I calmed down and decided we could make things work out with IN, I told Scott to get more info. Turns out they still had his home of record as IN, so they changed it to SC. They also have my raynaud's on record which requires us to stay in warmer climates (according to them). So they found a closer slot in NC that's only 3-4 hours away. That's doable! The kicker: he has to be there for 3 years. :( We're hoping after a year he'll be able to come back, but we'll see. The 2nd kicker: he reports to the new unit Labor Day weekend. That gave us a month to enjoy time together before being apart for up to 3 years. Wow. A week later the date changed to mid-Sept, then Oct, and now it's Nov. So who knows when he'll actually leave but we're trying to enjoy our time together.

We've also been able to spend a lot of time with family recently. Our weekends have been busy the past few weeks. We spent Labor Day weekend camping at the lake in our new tent. I love spending time with my whole family. We're always laughing and having a good time. We've had birthday celebrations for Scott, myself, and my younger brother. Last weekend Scott's grandmother and aunt came down from Indiana to visit for a few days. They were heading to Florida to visit family there as well and decided to make a few stops along the way. One of the most exciting things, to me anyway, was receiving some of my grandmother's china. I really liked the set she had in her china cabinet but those belonged to my uncle. Little did I know that she had a very similar, not-as-fancy-but-still-really-nice set. My mom asked if I was interested and of course I said yes! I have nice china! I felt one step closer to being an adult. lol. Since she had 24+ place settings both me and my SIL split them. So now that I have china I needed a china cabinet. Scott's aunt and I went to a large neighborhood sale this past Saturday in hopes of finding one, but no luck. All I bought were 2 books. (I am my mother's daughter - she loves books!) Afterward a friend of mine sent me a link on Craigslist of the perfect one! It was the right size (not too big), right color, amazing price, and looked to be in excellent condition. I replied to the seller and she told me it may have already sold but she'd keep in touch if it was still available. Well, I decided to release it and if it was meant to be, it was meant to be. On Sunday we were at a family reunion and I get an email, the sale didn't go through! The cabinet could be mine! So we went by to look at it and I fell in love. It was perfect. I don't know how old it is but it belonged to the husband's father and had a matching bookcase at one time. It's solid wood, looks almost brand new, the doors are still tight, and it only cost $80! Amazing!! So now it's in my dining room awaiting china. My goal this weekend is to clean them and place them in the cabinet.

Freak Accident

So this past Tuesday afternoon I get back from my lunch break and Scott calls me. The first thing out of his mouth is "I'm just calling to let you know that I'm heading home because I just left the hospital." That's all he said!! So I'm freaking out and asked what happened. Basically, a ratchet strap that's under a lot of pressure came loose and flew back at Scott and sliced his arm. The cut is about 2-3 inches long and cut through to the bone. Scott says he didn't feel anything. Everyone was asking if he was ok and he said he was fine. Someone else grabbed his arm and raised it above his head, told him to apply pressure, and took Scott to the hospital. This happened at 9:30 that morning and he wasn't seen for about 3 hours. They gave him 5 stitches and he was put on profile for the day (which means he can't work) and on light duty for 2 weeks. The doctor said the ratchet barely missed slicing his tendon. If that had happened Scott would have lost motion in his thumb, index, and middle fingers. Crazy! I'm so thankful that didn't happen and that he's ok. He was checked recently to make sure he's healing properly, which he is, and sometime next week the stitches will be removed.

If that wasn't bad enough, Scott's water pump in his truck cracked Thursday when he was leaving work. We both knew it needed to be replaced but we didn't have the money at the time so Scott checked the water level every day before leaving to go anywhere. When he left post he was full, got a few miles down the interstate and his dash told him the truck was overheating so he pulled over and heard the water pump go out. Luckily a friend of his was nearby and picked him up and let him borrow one of his cars for the night. We bought a new water pump and the plan was to have a friend tow the truck on post Friday morning. Scott got to his truck a little after 9am yesterday to learn that between 6 and 9am someone broke his passenger window and stole several items. His ipod, radio, tools, knives, flashlights, and the box of blankets he had under his seat. Craziness!!! Bad things really do happen in 3's. He called the cops and our insurance to file a claim. We're waiting until Monday for his truck to be investigated and then we can get his window and motor fixed. It's been a stressful week. lol

Road Trip

Sorry I've been slack at updating. I'm not on my laptop a lot and now that I have an iPhone, I'm on even less. lol. Ever since the hubs & I moved to SC 2 years ago, we try to go visit his family in Indiana every July 4th and either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Since July 4th was a Wednesday this year we both took off the 5th & 6th as well so that we could have a nice long weekend vacation. I was able to convince my parents to come up with us. They've never been to Indiana and I really wanted to show them where Scott's from. My mom is a teacher so she was already off for the summer but my dad is an accountant so he worked hard to be able to take off some days. It was also the first time in a very long time that my dad was not in charge of driving. lol. So it was interesting to see what he'd do during the trip to entertain himself. It's a 10-11 hour trip usually. My dad booked us a hotel on the way up so we left Tuesday night, drove about 4 hours, stopped outside of Knoxville for the night, and continued the trip Wednesday morning. We got to Scott's hometown around 4pm. Scott's dad was on his 3-week vacation so he was able to spend a lot of time with us. His mom had asked off but it was denied. We had a great time up there! It's the most relaxed I've ever seen my dad. He works late hours at work and when he gets home, he's usually still stressing or busy doing something. So it was really nice to see him relax. We had hoped to flee the 100 degree weather of SC but it was just as hot in Indiana. In fact, I had my first nosebleed EVER while up there. It was Thursday around lunchtime and I felt like my nose was running, I wiped at it and saw blood. I was instructed to pinch my nose right above the bump and luckily it worked. It didn't last very long but man it felt weird. lol.

Then Friday night was the big cook-out and fireworks that we do every year. His dad invited a lot of people. Only about half showed due to the heat. The food was great and the fireworks were awesome. We were all sitting around the front yard while the fireworks were shot off across the street by his dad's polebarn. Someone had bought 3 of those boxed fireworks that each have 20+ containers that go off one after the other. Well, the first one went crazy. One shot across the street at us and hit the light pole and got the side of someone's head. One shot into the polebarn and went off. Another one shot back at us and went on the porch and exploded. By then we were all up and moving to find safety. lol. Needless to say, we didn't set off the other 2 boxes. I always love seeing the fireworks because growing up we only bought the cheap ones. These fireworks are the expensive, big, beautiful ones! So I got some great photos.

Saturday was the only day his mom was off while we were there (other than the 4th) so that was the day we were finally able to go off and see some things. So we went to historic Vincennes, which is the closest "big" city to Scott's hometown and it's 30 minutes away. lol. We went to the George Rogers Clark Memorial. It was beautiful and so interesting. We watched the short video about George Rogers Clark. I love learning about history, even if I can't always remember it. I picked up some souvenirs to remember it by. And of course, I took pictures. lol. We also walked to Illinois since the memorial is right by the bridge over Wabash River that separates the states. So it's fun to be able to say "I walked to Illinois" and also add another state to the list of new states my parents have been to. We then went to the nearby catholic church. I've never been in one so it was amazing to see all the stained glass windows and the huge pipe organ. It was a fun, hot day.

We left Sunday morning to come back home. Due to road work on i75S our trip turned into 14 hours. We were so ready to get home. We left Indiana around 9:45-10 expecting to be home by 8 or 9. Nope. We got home at midnight. And then to add to it, while we were gone Scott had received a phone call from his Sgt saying that instead of leaving mid-July for a few weeks in Texas, he was leaving Monday morning. Once we got home Scott had to unpack and re-pack. He was up until 1am packing just to get to his unit Monday morning to find out his CO wasn't aware Scott was going and he needed Scott here since he was one of the top 2 hardest-working people in the unit. So luckily Scott didn't have to leave.