The Comfy Cow

Hubs & I have been traveling far & wide (wide?) visiting family & friends. We made a stop in Louisville, KY to catch up with his sister and our nephew, we ended up getting dessert at "The Comfy Cow!" I'm blogging from my phone so the pictures aren't top quality... I may do a trip re-cap once we're back in the Land of Aloha but for now check out how cute this place is and how delicious my Scooter Ice Cream Pie (mint/fudge) looks! I highly recommend this place for the treats and atmosphere, if you're headed to Louisville it is located in the Clifton Neighborhood.

Pretty Prize

Allie over at My Marine and Me hosted a contest for a super cute Marine's bracelet featuring a heart that says "half my heart is deployed." My husband just returned from his 7mo deployment in the middle of June, and his name is still on the deployment roster for the unit leaving in approximately 2mo... so I thought I might as well enter, and what do you know, I won!

If my hubby deploys again I am planning on keeping it to wear while he's gone, if not I will probably give it to a friend who is struggling with her husbands deployment, in 2mo she'll be halfway thru and it would be the perfect time to gift it.

So thanks Allie for hosting the giveaway, 

thanks Suzanne for providing the bracelet!

Win a "Date Night Package!"

Did you read my review on "Marriage Retreat?" No, well click here...

Anna contacted me once again to let me in on their current giveaway and asked me to share it with all of my readers!

Hopefully you have Facebook, to enter this giveaway head on over to their Facebook Page!

Review: "Marriage Retreat"

Roughly 2.5wks ago I was contacted by the lovely Anna Zielinsky regarding a movie that she not only stars in but helped write, produce, and (obviously) market! Once I learned that the movie was inspired by her personal marriage struggles and had Biblical backing I was ready to watch it! It also came at a perfect time for us since our church is hosting a marriage conference, but due to military obligations my husband and I will not be able to attend.

http://marriageretreatmovie.com/

I will not lie to you, this is not like the movie "Couples Retreat" and I don't believe it's meant to be. "Marriage Retreat" is a Christian film, scripture is sprinkled throughout the movie, the Bible is read aloud, the couples pray... but, it doesn't lack comedy. Especially since the comedic scenes are extremely relatable to everyday situations. I found myself laughing at things in the movie simply because I know my husband and I do them! Many of us unwillingly drag baggage into our marriages, our jobs take over our lives, priorities change over time, and on, and on... this movie follows three couples through these struggles. Each couple's struggle is different but if it didn't relate directly to me, it was still a good learning tool and I know some friends that could benefit from watching. The antics of the Marriage Counselor's are often quite blunt and in your face, but they seem to work, even if it takes some time for the concepts to sink in for the couples.

I will highly recommend that my Christian friends watch this movie with their spouse (mine thought some of the things were a bit "cheesy"-but he still said it was good overall). I also feel like it would be a great movie for non-Christians to view, even if they don't believe in God, there are many nuggets of wisdom that can be taken away from this film. As far as the military goes, I think the Chaplains should get together and host a viewing night in the Base Chapel, or at the very least the CREDO retreats should feature snippets from this film!

If you are interested in learning more about the movie please check out the Marriage Retreat Website, you can purchase the film at any Wal*Mart or Christian book store. If you are on leadership for a church and would like to host a viewing party, click here for more information. They also offer a free guide to use after watching the film featuring three themes of a successful marriage which allows for easy discussion with your spouse about your feelings.



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*The views and opinions of this review are my own. They in no way reflect the opinion of the United States Marine Corps or any other branch of the US Military. I received a copy of the movie as compensation for my time.

Up and broke myself...

Okay so I didn't "break" anything... but I did manage a major strain/minor tear my pectoral muscle, let me tell you friends, it is no fun.

How did I do it? Some combination of me "pushing thru the pain" while doing my cardio yoga workouts and weight training sets, followed up by stand up paddle boarding and surfing. In the words of the doctor: "you just can't do it all at once!" (aka: you are no longer a teenager and your body is not invincible!).

Now I'm in a sling for 2wks until my follow-up appointment, then no upper body work for a month following that. I'm definitely going to need to hit up the gym for the stationary bike and stair climber since I can't run outside (too much jarring) to keep up with cardio...

I'm praying it heals quickly but most importantly, correctly so I can start re-building my strength! My little piggie decided he wanted to wiggle his way into my sling which was quite interesting to watch since he now weighs 2lbs and is 1ft long when he stretches out:

Look at that cute little nose!

I think the biggest blow was the fact I can't use my DSLR, so my budding photography business seems to have been put on the back burner. I'm choosing to remain positive- working on finalizing contracts & finding a suitable web host/domain. 

What is the most recent injury you've had?

What did you do to keep your spirits up?

Recovery tips?

Friday?

T.G.I.F. Right?
Except in our house it's more like... great, it's Friday evening and we've both had stressful days and all we want to do is absolutely nothing at all.

Which is lame. Really lame.
We live in Hawaii for crying out loud!
We should be going out and enjoying this wonderful place before that whole PCS shenanigan sneaks up on us.

I technically work for myself. However, being a "contract employee" I do what I have to do in order to keep hours/clients. My two main clients are realtors here in my town, their open day is always Friday so I spend 5-6hrs working in their office on marketing items. Within the past month things there have seriously been wearing me down. Last week there was a verbal confrontation with another contract employee that was very uncomfortable to witness. Today I had to address their mail-outs in cursive...um, I honestly don't think I've written in cursive since I was 12, I had to re-do the first 10! One of them is pretty Type A, so everything has to be done specifically step 1, 2, 3. It's not terrible, I make money and get to do all the other work via internet, but some days I feel like my patience and kindness is stretched to it's limit with all of the tiny intricate "this is how is must be done, there is absolutely no other way."

Hubby is still getting thrown around the battalion. Right now they want him to teach, which is fine he is instructor certified but he hasn't taught since we PCS'd here which is 1yr+ ago, not to mention a deployment thrown in there that didn't deal with what they are requiring him to teach, so he feels very unprepared and down on himself. We still haven't gotten post-deployment leave, so no plane tickets have been purchase. We haven't seen his parents since Christmas 2010, his sister since Thanksgiving 2010, and he hasn't seen mine since early last fall. Not to mention the fact that his name is still on the deploying roster for this fall...
*le sigh*

Hoping to bring you some lighthearted stuff soon!