The BEST Cupcakes Ever

Since my parents are in Florida and my youngest sister is away at school getting smart, my middle sister came over for dinner and dessert. She's one heck of a baker and cook, and today she made the most amazing cupcakes I've ever had...like EVER! She found a recipe and thought I would be the perfect subject to try it out on. 

Chocolate Cupcakes with Carmel Filled Cadbury Eggs (baked in the center)...AMAZING!!

I've told my sister that she needs to start a food blog, and after much deliberation, laughing, and thinking of crazy weird names, we picked a keeper. Expect to see more of her delicious eats :) To top of the night, my sister stated that she has the "patience of a pea" as she was getting ready to leave. This was in response to my comment of having patience as she starts blogging (she's not a patient person :)). It was by far one of the funniest things she's said in a while, so I had to make note of it! Haha :)

Happy Easter to all my blog friends :)

Easter Blessings

My family celebrated Easter a few weeks ago since it was the best time for everyone to get together...but I wanted to re-cap Easter last year since my husband was home.

It was just a little windy :)

I sent my husband an Easter care package, and unfortunately it's taken much longer than any of the other boxes I've sent, so he doesn't have it in time for Easter. But given that today is Easter, I wanted to share the package I put together. It was filled with all kinds of Easter candy, and I covered the top with grass and plastic eggs (I'm sure he will love opening them as they scatter the floor!). 

One tip I have for anyone wanting to put pictures on the sides of the box is to use rubber cement. It's the only thing I've found that doesn't rip the pictures, and all you have to do is rub the glue off the back and the pictures are good as new. I've tried to use a glue stick, double sided tape, and rubber cement. I like to send my husband pictures he doesn't have, and this way he can keep them rather than have to throw them away because he can't get them off the box. 

Kali with her Easter bunny :)

My wonderful family :)

I hope everyone has a great Easter! I feel so very blessed and lucky to have all I've been given in life :)

Dinner & Drinks

Last night I met one of my sisters for dinner and had a good time catching up. She talked me into having a margarita, or two and I broke my diet for the day. We talked about everything under the sun, and I had revelation on what my sisters next job should be...a customer "service" phone operator (get my drift? mom and dad read this so I got to keep it PG :)). Haha! Sister wasn't too keen on the idea, but I'm sure she could make bank!

After dinner I headed to the store to get a few groceries and anything else that caught my eye. I always love walking through the kitchen gadgets, even though I don't cook or bake that often. Can you guess what I saw??!! My love...SodaStream :) If it had been on sale I may have snagged it (I want the nice one and it's a little too expensive for my blood right now...considering I just bought myself a MacBook), but I'm holding off until my birthday (hint hint to any member of my family that's reading this).

Since the weather has finally broke and it's nearly 60 degrees I'm planning an afternoon run. I need to get prepared for the run next weekend...I can't wait until my new shoes come in!! I hope everyone has a great Saturday and if you haven't already, grab my button on the right side of my page :)

New Running Shoes!!!

I'm in love with Brooks running shoes...I'm pretty sure it was love at first run. Ha, get it?! I was always an Asics shoe person, until my mom talked me into trying Brooks. I won't ever go back to any other shoe, they're just amazing!  

I was so excited when I heard they were coming out with a new shoe, and completely forgot the date was so soon. I was planning on buying them for myself for my birthday, until my mom text me today asking if I wanted a pair. Ummmm YES!! Mom ordered them today and they will be here Tuesday, just in time for our race next weekend at IU!

Can't wait to run in my new fancy colored shoes :)

Now if only it could warm up enough to run outside! Hopefully it will be warm enough to go for a long run this weekend :) I get so dang bored running on a treadmill...running anywhere outside and trail runs are my favorite. I always look forward to summertime at the lake so I can take Kali to the state park and we run the trails overlooking the lake. I hope someday we live somewhere I can run outside everyday, rather than just 8-9 months a year. What do you prefer...running on a treadmill or running outside?

Wordless Wednesday

My LOVE/HATE Relationship w/the Military

I've known since my husband left that he was going to get a break in his deployment where I could "possibly" see him. Emphasis on the "possibly" because we all know how the military can be...one minute they decide this and the next thing you know it's not even an option. With work, school, and the price of tickets for me to fly overseas and meet him in a foreign country was less than appealing to me, but I would do just about anything to see him even for a day. A few weeks ago he told me he was going to come home for a week, so here I get all excited, plan to take time off work, and count down the days to when I think he will be home. Today he tells me he's not coming home and I will have to wait many more months until he gets to come back to the states. I rarely get my hopes up on anything like this because I always get let down and disappointed. I found myself devastated when he told me nobody was allowed to come stateside...except the Officers. Now that really got me ticked off! They expect everyone to follow the policies set forth, but the Officers are exempt...how the heck does that add up? Riddle me that!!

I could care less what the military decides to do, but when they tell those serving they have leave and can do whatever they want, but regulate whether they can return home to see loved ones just isn't cool. My husband has missed so much already, but nothing will compare to missing our wedding anniversary. I can celebrate my birthday, holidays, and special occasions with my family, but our wedding anniversary is what I want to share most with my husband.

We have a small group of friends, mostly because many don't understand the life of the military and the many demands that come with it. It's not something that can easily be explained, and the time it takes to explain it is just exhausting. I've found comfort in blogging and connecting with so many other military wives and girlfriends, and the funniest thing about it all is I've never even met, let alone "talk" to any of them (except one :)). I feel so very thankful to have such a great group of blog friends...so thank you, especially my dedicated followers (you know who you are)! :)

I hope everyone had a great Wednesday...the week is half over! :)

Where are you Summertime?!!

Winter has seemed to ddrrraaaaagggg on this year, and I'm getting real tired of waking up and having to shovel out of my driveway. They kept talking about a "bad" snowstorm we were supposed to get this past week, and it never seemed to come...until late last night. I went to bed thinking, there's no way it's going to snow, it's almost April for goodness sake. And what do ya know...I wake up to nearly 6 inches of snow. Not cool Mother Nature, not cool! So my day began with shoveling, freezing fingers, and driving 20mph to work. When will winter ever end?! Oh, and my parents are in Florida...so jealous! Have fun mom and dad...bottle some of that Florida sun for me!! :)

Spring Cleaning

After my shopping adventure yesterday with my mom and sister, my first thought when I got home was "where in the heck am I going to put all this stuff."

Source of the problem (my youngest sister) :) 

When I moved out of my parents house, I took most of my clothes, and left what I didn't wear. Our closet is not as big as I would like but, big it's plenty big for two people (90% of the closet is my stuff...big shock).

Kali had to make an appearance in the picture for approval

My husbands side...so sad

Another one of my goals while my husband is deployed is to go through all of my clothes, and take out what I haven't worn in the past year (which sadly is a lot). I wear mostly the same thing to work, so I don't really rotate my clothes, but now that I have plenty of new options I'm going to make it a priority to wear new things. With as many clothes as I have and as much as clothes cost, I don't like giving away half my wardrobe. And if you're like me, most everything you own has some significance to it...like you wore a certain shirt the night you were proposed to or something (I can't tell you what I wore, so that's a bad example, but you get the picture). My sister told me that once you wear something you turn the hanger the other way and then you can periodically see what clothes you've worn and what you haven't. I'm thinking of trying this since I have no clue what I have and haven't worn. 

My husband kindly reminded me today that I already had enough clothes, and am running out of room to put everything. I then had a brilliant idea to take all his stuff out of the closet and moving it to another one so I could keep all my clothes and have more room. He didn't like that idea, but it was a good attempt to gain a little more space. Looks like I have my work cut out for me :)

How do you keep track and know when it's time to toss something you haven't worn in a while? I hope everyone had a great weekend!! :)

What to Wear?

I have so much stuff, so there's not really anything I need...except for jeans and style. I dress nice every day for work, so on weekends I dress for comfort (usually consisting of running pants and whatever shirt I choose). My sisters always dress in style, and after I told my youngest sister and mom that I haven't bought jeans since 2005 (yes, I haven't bought jeans for nearly 8 years) they decided we were going on a mission to find me some jeans. I not only found 1 pair, but I found 5 and a pair of capris (I don't own capris so this is a new one for me). Oh all the many options I have to wear now! Yippee :)

Now that I have jeans and some new clothes, I just need to force myself to wear them! 

Weekend Adventures

After I brought Kali home from the vet, I drove back to town to meet my mom, sisters, and aunt for lunch. My aunt surprised us by bringing her mom...she's one of the sweetest ladies you'll ever meet! I was only planning on staying for lunch...but it turned into a day of shopping (big surprise there :)).

Sister and I at lunch :)

My lovely sisters :)

My Aunt, her mom, youngest sister, me, and mom (middle sister is taking the picture)

DELICIOUS :)

Love this sign...so fitting for our house!

Kali with her new toys...she loves them! 

(I'm sure my husband is grinning as he sees Kali has 2 new toys...mom bought 1 so it makes it okay) 

And we finished the night with our favorite food...Mexican! 

Crazy For You

I meant to post this a few weeks ago, and just realized I had forgotten about it. I sent this box to my husband a few weeks ago, so he should get it this weekend. I'm hoping it comes before he snoops and sees the picture on my blog. I filled the box with all his favorite things, and covered the top with drink mixes which I'm pretty sure I should start to buy some stock in. I cut out the two monsters on top to put on the outside of the box. I always love taking the boxes to the post office to see the reaction I get from the mail clerk. 

I themed the box "crazy for you" which I felt was so fitting since virtually every picture we take isn't normal. In nearly every picture, my husband is either making a funny face or he says something to make me laugh.

Having my husband around to make me laugh is one of the things I miss most about him being gone. We are almost another month down on the deployment!! I've found this ten times better than keeping a countdown calendar, which for me would be pointless since I don't know when my husband will even be home. How do you keep track of deployments and how long your loved one is gone?

I'm Still Here :)

This week has been super hectic, and I haven't been blogging like I wanted to. I barely had time to get home and eat before I fell asleep, let alone turn on my computer to catch up on the blogging world. My mom wanted me to remind all my followers that I'm still alive, so here I am...no worries :)

Last night my parents and middle sister planned to come over for pizza, and just as we sat down to eat the doorbell rang. Nobody comes to visit besides my family, so we all looked at each other wondering who it could be. We don't have a peephole in our door, so I have to peek through the blinds in our front room...and who do I see???!! My youngest sister! She drove up from IU at the last minute to surprise the whole family. If you occasionally read my blog, you know my family is super close. It's always nice when we can all get together. 

This morning Kali had a visit to the vet, and surprisingly she loves going. She gets tons of attention, people ask to pet her, and she gets treats just for sitting on the scale long enough to get her weight. If she had it her way, I'm sure she would want to go more often. And her favorite part of the vet, is going to the pet store after to pick out a toy (and yes, she needs another toy). 

One of my goals while the hubby is gone is to print and frame a few of our wedding pictures to hang around the house. I don't like 99.99% of our wedding pictures, so it's tough to pick ones I want to spend the big bucks on to get framed. This is one I've decided on, so now I just need to figure out where I want to hang it (I'm thinking in the front hallway of the house).

Well, I'm off to lunch with my mom and sisters. Have a great Saturday :)

5K Kilt Run

The race we ran Saturday is put on by the fire department and the weather is always unpredictable for this time of year. Last year my mom, dad, my husband, and I ran and it was super humid. This year they were calling for freezing rain, and thankfully it didn't, but it was still a little too cold. And yes, one of my sisters ran in a skirt...she's always hot. Here are some pictures my mom sent me...enjoy :)

St. Patty's Day 5k Kilt Run

Sisters :)

The whole family!

Sister, Dad, and I

 

Family :)

Happy St. Patty's Day (a day late I know)!

USMC Pride

Even though my husband is deployed, he usually gets his weekends off to go exploring. He is one of the few men I know that has as high of a level of pride, dedication, and commitment to both the military and what he does. This is one of the pictures I got this weekend from him, and it nearly made me cry when I saw it. Bless all the men and women that defend our country :)

Easter Sunday...a few weeks early

This week has been super busy with working late and finishing papers for my last week of classes, so I haven't had much time to post. We celebrated Easter early since my youngest sister was home from school, and since she rarely comes home she talked me into staying at my parents last night (it doesn't take much to get me to say yes, especially since I get to make pop with my sisters SodaStream). Here's a few pics from this weekend (no race photos yet):

Kali always gets to play when we go to my parents and she gets spoiled as usual :)

Delicious desserts...the number one way to my heart :)

Carrot Cake M&M's (surprisingly they were pretty good)

Easter basket! I pretty much have my lunch packed for tomorrow :)

Sisters :)

Kali with her toys...she got a few more this weekend (a pig and two rabbits)!

Hope everyone had a good weekend :)