A little trip to chocolate land...

So hubs and I ran away to a land of deliciousness... not even kidding... once we drove into Hershey, PA we could literally SMELL chocolate!

Things we learned:

• Do not go to the theme park the last weekend it's open
• Do not go on the same day as a Nickelback concert
• Do get there early! (we had a few set-backs and didn't actually get to the park until 2pm)
• Waiting in long lines means great opportunities for people watching- if you've seen Date Night, how they make up stories for couples- we totally did that all day long!
• Hershey's Extra Dark Chocolate with blueberries, almonds, and cranberries= Uh-Freaking-AMAZING.

Now for some visuals:

Like walking into {chocolate} heaven.

Awesome vintage-esque signs.

Monday: Pick-Me-Up

The beautiful Ines over at "The Few, The Proud, The Wife" has tagged me... here are her questions:

1. What would be your dream vacation?
Since this is a "dream vacation" why not dream BIG!? I would love to be able to take a year, charter a yacht, and travel the world. Pulling into port whenever and where ever we desired. Living the leisurely life at sea!

2. What's your favorite book and why?
"Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara, the Civil War fascinates me for some reason. I think it was because so many family members ended up fighting on different sides and some even ate lunch or dinner with each other in between battles! It is interesting to see both sides to the story and what the "reasons" for fighting were. I am also in love with Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, his speech in this book is absolutely amazing. Since reading this book in high school and writing a report on it, I've re-read it multiple times and now own the pre/post books: "Gods and Generals" and "The Last Stand." I recommend for anyone into historical fiction!

3. Whats the one thing you could change about your life? (it can be little or small)
My worrying. I've come so far since meeting my husband... dating, being engaged, and now married to a Marine has greatly helped my issues with needing things planned out at all times. The military could care less about your future plans- I'm learning to be flexible. I guarantee I will never stop being a worry-wart, BUT I won't have a heart attack about things.

4. Whats your most secret pleasure? (ie: reading trashy gossip magazines)
When hubby is gone... a really nice dark chocolate bar, popcorn, or Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia and a nice chick-flick!!

5. Whats your favorite meal?
Oh my gosh... I love love love Mexican food, especially homemade! Chimichangas, flautas, and tamales top my list!

6. Did you like high school or hated it?
It was just school. That's that. I only have a couple friends I still keep in touch with, other than that... I did get a good education, good enough that my GPA was high enough for a free ride to college.

7. Whats your fashion sense/style?
Haha... fashion... me? You must have me confused with my fashionista sister! I'm pretty much the least fashionable person I know, if it's comfortable and functional that's usually what you'll find me in. However, I have recently begun to expand my wardrobe- I will be 24 soon and really should stop dressing like a college-bum! =)

8. Name on thing you can't live without that isn't your family or pet? (ie: your cellphone)
Oh man... this would HAVE to be chap stick! You'll find them in my purses, pockets, etc. Lately it's been Burt's Bees. I also have a really cool one called the Eosphere, it looks like a mini-egg and makes your lips so smooth, not to mention is SPF15!



I am supposed to make questions and tag people to play along... I am so overwhelmed with work and preparing for my parent's visit that I can't even begin to think about that right now. I really love these questions though... so if you'd like to play along why not answer these questions in the comments below!! =)

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Random thoughts:

• In 3ish months I will no longer live here.
• I need to start down-sizing (aka: send winter clothes home and make a goodwill box)
• My parents are coming to visit soon! Once they found out we were PCSing they figured they couldn't wait any longer to visit- only my dad has seen this house, and even then it was empty. Just a futon for him and a mattress for us! Haha.
• I love decorating for the holiday's, but it looks like Halloween will be the only one I get to decorate for this year... maybe Thanksgiving, depending on TMO. =/ I feel like my Christmas will resemble this (minus the kid):Only worse... there won't be any boxes because TMO will have taken everything already!
• I kind of feel like I'm in a time freeze- so much to do, don't know where/how to start, can't even get on the housing wait-list yet, and on and on...
• I want to bake, I want to participate in the fall favorites swap (at least I have until Tuesday to decide on that one!), I want to paint or make a mosaic... work is stealing all my time, being sick hasn't helped either.
  

On that note...

I must be getting better, although this afternoon I wouldn't have thought that was the case. Work let out early today, once home, I got my piglet out to let him have some "floor time" and in the process of him running around I drifted off to sleep laying on the carpet, Mr. Beans woke me up when he started licking my hands... at that point I took a quick shower and crawled into bed. 3.5hrs later I woke up to a husband and dinner.

I still have a cough and runny nose, but I am not exhausted anymore. It's midnight here though, so I am going to go lay down and read. I don't want to push this sickness thing, we had a fun weekend planned-we'll see how we both feel tomorrow though!

Tonight!!!

I am so excited.
Tonight is the return of...
NCIS!


This is the only show I've watched EVERY season of...
I lose interest in TV often.
Not this show though.

It's spin-off NCIS:LA is good too!

Seriously though...
Besides Tuesday nights, unless I'm watching sports, I don't follow any other series... I'll catch an episode of something here or there, but NCIS is my guilty TV pleasure. So... don't bug me on Tuesday nights unless you're coming over to watch with me =)

What is/are your must see show(s)?

Monday: Pick-Me-Up

So hubs got sick last week... I worked four 12hr days... add that to being around him/taking care of him and doing all the chores/errands while he was sick=

I now have his cold.
LAME.
I'm so glad I have today off work...

But I did enjoyed my weekend... went to a friend's bridal shower and came home with these pretties :I know a lot of people that don't like carnations, they think they are cheap, a lame substitute for roses, or just really hate them because in high school they never got handed one on Valentine's day. *Newsflash: it was high-school, get over it! I never got them either, and look at me now... married to a hot marine who is more of a man than most of the guys I knew in high school will ever be.

But I think they are pretty.

"What is delicate, durable, and delightful all in one? The carnation, scientifically known as Dianthus caryophyllus, is a historically rich and meaningful flower choice. With its scientific name dianthus roughly translating to "flower of love" or "flower of the gods", depending on the source, this flower is one that has been revered for centuries."

Read all the history here.

As icky as I feel today,
Eating my breakfast with
these flowers on the table
made me feel just a bit better.
=)

Changing it up!

I don't know about you, but I like to change things up- I'm talking decorating here. I love love love decorating for holidays! However there is one thing I wish I could change more often... my bedroom. I have a modern bedding set right now, but I think it would be cool to be able to change my bedding to match the seasons! (lack of money...)

This one for fall would be nice.

Or this one for spring!

Do any of you have multiple sets of bedding for your room? Do you have any ideas for me? Our bedroom furniture is all Ikea black-brown.

I hope you enjoy your weekend!! =)

Before the sun rises & after it sets

Hey everyone...
Did you miss me? Yes. Awesome! No. Don't tell me.

I've been C-R-A-Z-Y busy with this new job of mine, I am up and on the road before the sun rises (around 4:30am) and then multiple days I don't get home until after the sun sets (8pm). Oh Mr. Sun how I miss you, your warmth, your Vitamin D, your non-flourescentness... I am so tired all the time now... =/

Anyway, I thought I would do a quick picture review of my sister's visit here...

AZ Girls! At the WWII Monument/Memorial.
Washington, DC

Jumping for joy in front of the Lincoln Memorial
Washington,DC

Monday: Pick-Me-Up

On September 11th, we took my sister into DC since she only had the weekend in town... There was a lot going on: A food & art festival, a worship service in the amphitheater near the Washington Monument, and a tea party rally on the lawn. It was a beautiful sunny day and all the flags were flown at half-mast around the city- even at the other countries embassy's.

We got to the Vietnam Memorial and this note about made me lose it...
It was so beautiful!

[Click to view full size]

Sister!

My sister is coming to town!!

Granted I'll only get to spend Friday evening-Sunday night with her (and really only part since she'll be celebrating her b-day with her best friend who attends the Naval Academy) because of work tomorrow and Monday.

It'll be fun though, I haven't seen her since the beginning of JANUARY!

I hope you all have a nice weekend =)

5:45am -- 8:00pm

Oh. My. Gosh.

*pre-face: I got the job, they are letting me temp through November! =)
The job is for a school/sports portrait company.

I woke up at 4:30am.
[[did I mention I'm NOT a morning person?]]
I left my house at 5:25am...
I got to the office at 5:45am.
We left for our first photo shoot @ 6am.
It was a 2hr drive, thankfully I rode as a passenger...
I didn't get compensated for mileage (100mi!)
BUT I got a reduced hourly pay for taking (much needed) cat naps!
We arrived at the school at 8am.
Took photos until 1pm.

Went out to lunch.
Went to second shoot, arrived at 4pm.
Sports teams are hard to organize!
We left at 7:15pm.
Got back to the office at 8pm.
I got home at 8:20pm.

Oh yeah- THIS WAS MY 1st DAY!

I. Am. wiped.

4 more yrs aka: Re-enlistment

To add to our recently insane lives, hubs had has his Reenlistment Ceremony last week... we like to shake it up right and keep ourselves on edge, kidding *sigh*. Anyway...

So not only did my husband have his marine buddies there , all the "higher-ups" of the command attended his reenlistment as well! They even recognized me... me, of all people.

I had a GySGT, Msgt, MGySgt, SgtMaj, and a Capt all come up to me individually, introduce themselves, shake my hand, and thank me for supporting my husband through everything and basically sacrificing any "normalcy" others have in marriage.

The one story that struck was from the MGySgt, he said it wasn't until he achieved GySgt that he realized how much he had put his wife on the back-burner in their relationship for his career. They had to sit down and have a serious talk and it was in that moment he realized what a sacrifice she had made for him.

During the ceremony the command completely surprised me by calling me up in front of the entire group of marines and announced me by reading the following:

"The United States Marine Corps would like to recognized Mrs. [enter my name here], on the occasion of the reenlistment of your husband. Your unfailing support and understanding helped make possible your husband's decision to make the Marine Corps his career. You have earned the Corps' grateful appreciation for your unselfish, faithful, and devoted service."

Question- is this normal? Or is it just something our current command does?

I thought it was really neat, despite my surprise and totally not knowing where I was supposed to stand, thus throwing the whole presentation off for 15 (very uneasy) seconds until the Capt motioned I was to stand directly in front of him... I had absolutely no idea I was going to be called up!

End of Season Sales!!

I normally try to keep my consultant business off the blog... you can click the link to the right if you really wanna know more =)

Anyway... this was too good not to share!

Please remember when ordering to add 200-13 in the Coupon Code box and click apply so can I receive my commission and you can receive your discount of the day =)

Sample of the deals:

Close-out prices on purses that normally retail at $39.99-59.99!

For these purses (and 7 more!) CLICK HERE. Make sure you click on the actual product before you add it to the cart (instead of adding from the entire list) in order to customize the name tape to your branch.

Clothing sale on items normally priced between $16.99-$17.99!

For the individual branches:

• Marine Corps Clothing
• Navy Clothing
• Air Force Clothing
• Army Clothing
• Coast Guard Clothing *So excited we just got this line in!
  

The new line of shirts will be on top (which are AWESOME, I've already ordered 2!) so to view the sale items scroll down...

Don't forget to check out the candles as well, all of the new fall scents have arrived!

Once again...
Please remember when ordering to add 200-13 in the Coupon Code box and click apply so I can receive my commission and you can receive your discount of the day =)

Please e-mail me your order # as well, so I can track them for you-mediate any issues with the company!

CSN *Winner!!*

There were 26 comments....
so I used Random.org to arrive at the winner...

Comment #9 was...


Congratulations to MrsMike from "The Year After," you will be receiving an e-mail from me shortly (if you haven't already) once you reply to that, I will send your electronic certificate ASAP!

Thanks to all those who participated!

I hope you come back for more giveaways in the future =)

Orders

So on Monday I promised everyone I would share our news...

1. Thankfully we got the orders pushed back 3ish months! Instead of October we are looking at December/January.
   
   
2. I have a final job interview with the photography company today - cool thing, I already told them about the upcoming move and my last date available to work and they were very positive about it. ...so we'll see.
   
   
3. I'm still not sure about the guinea pigs, I know we can fly them on Delta. However they aren't suppose to fly animals at 20* or under, needless to say... we were rocked by blizzards and 9-17* temperatures last winter =/ If we can't drive them to AZ to fly out from my parent's house- we may have to adopt the cuties out here... *tears*
   
   
4. Driving out brings up the fact that I have to figure out what to do with my amazing car... hasn't even hit 40,000mi but it's the older car of the two and TMO only ships one... we can't exactly drive across the ocean either. So... drive to my parents or sell. Decisions, decisions.
   
   
5. My sister will be visiting soon and we are sending all of our snow clothes home with her for storage. Super nice (although our last month here might be a tad cold...).
   
   
6. We've been talking to friends out there about housing options, unfortunately it seems like the area surrounding the Marine Corps base is prime property... we would like to live off base for family/friends visits. Also, because here we got so involved with our church we couldn't imagine the headache it would have been inviting large groups of people over if we had lived on base...

So that's our life update at the moment... so many changes happening so quickly!