Cha-cha-changes!

Hello, friends! It's been a while, eh. Ha, who am I kidding -- it's always 'a while' nowadays! I have been so busy these last few weeks and finally have something substantial to write about. So, last time I posted, I was unsure of so many things -- where I'd be living, if I was staying here or moving to PA or to SC, what I was going to do. Talk about stress!! Well, I am happy to say that for now, I am staying in Maryland. In fact, my honey and I have recently moved in together and it has been so wonderful! 

Also, I've just returned from Maryland after 12 days of 'vacation'. Well, technically, only 5 of those days were vacation. I flew to Florida to go to Disney World with my mom, sister, her girlfriend and my super adorable 4 year old niece!! It was so much fun but omg it was HOT! I'm clearly not used to that kind of weather anymore. I went over to Cocoa Beach one afternoon and dipped my toes into the ocean, which was warm like bath water and it was almost enough to make me want to live somewhere that's got almost year-round beach weather. 

After the Disney part of the vacation, I rode back to SC with the family and spent a week there. It was a nice and relaxing few days. I did a lot of browsing at the local antique malls, went to t-ball practice, had lunch and dinner with some old friends and just generally relaxed!! It was so nice to not worry about moving or where I was going to live or even dealing with Etsy for a few days. 

Now I'm back in Maryland, thankfully, and need to finish moving my stuff, unpacking my luggage and about a gazillion boxes from the move, get settled in the new place. I started to move on a Thursday and then left for vacation the following Tuesday so as you might imagine, my house is in total disarray right now and it's driving me NUTS! My office is mostly put together so that helps but I still don't have internet at the new place so I have to keep coming back to my old house to do work which is very time consuming! 

So, we're renting an apartment, which as you might remember from my posts months ago, I was rather adamant that I didn't want to live in but as time grew nearer to the departure date of my ex-h, it became increasingly obvious that I would have to move into an apartment or either move back home. When faced with those two options, apartment living didn't seem so terrible. Plus, the apartment feels pretty spacious, even with my enormous stack of boxes and other miscellaneous crap that needs to be put away. It'll definitely work for the next 12 months and it allows us to save up money and either rent a house or eventually buy our own place. It's temporary and I know I can do anything for a year, as evidenced by the absolute HELL I've gone through the last 12 months. 

Speaking of the last year, although it's been the most stressful time of my life, it's also been the best year EVER. A year ago, I was freaking out about turning 30. I thought my life was over and I was damn near having a panic attack right up until my birthday!! I don't know why I was so upset -- maybe because I was turning a new decade and I was miserable and unhappy with my life. I felt like I'd wasted away and just become so unhappy with who I was. I knew I wanted more out of life -- I used to love going out dancing and I never did that anymore, I loved going sightseeing and I never did that anymore. I had completely morphed into this person I didn't even recognize and I hated myself for it. I was always so worried about my ex whoring around on me (and with good reason) and I was always the one compromising and trying to be a people pleaser and in the end, all it did was ruin my self esteem. It's been a year since I decided that I was done with that nonsense. I made the decision last May that I needed more out of life and that I DESERVED more out of life. I deserved to have a man that was faithful, that I could trust, that I knew would be there for me when the shit really got tough. I deserved to be happy and not always be the one compromising and breaking my back to please someone when the same was never returned to me. What good is a marriage if it's always one person giving 150% while the other does whatever the hell they want with no regard to the other person or their vows?? I was miserable and I'd rather be miserable alone than with someone I couldn't trust. 

The last year has been so hard. Not because I was second guessing my decision but with the whole having to live together thing. I was called horrible names, repeatedly, because that's what he does. He wants to control me/women by verbally abusing them. I rarely let it get to me but on occasion, I did have my moments of breaking down. It was particularly bad last August, when I seriously thought I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I went to SC for a few weeks and came back with clarity and renewed sense of hope. 

Anyway, so yeah, the last year has been so wonderful, despite the hell. I've never been happier. I started to take care of ME and the rest fell into place. I've found the person that I truly feel God wanted me to be with -- someone that's kind, someone that I can trust with my whole heart, someone that appreciates me and makes me feel loved and cherished. Of course it's not always sunshine and rainbows -- we've gone through our share of hard times but that's what a relationship is about -- weathering the storms TOGETHER and coming out the other side stronger as a couple. I love this man in a way I've never loved anyone. It's amazing how your heart can heal and renew itself and be free to give again when you find someone that you can trust. I thank God every single day for bringing this wonderful man into my life at a time when I needed him most. 

My 31st birthday is this weekend and cannot wait to celebrate and I thank the Lord for another year on this planet. Last year, I was at such a dark and terrible place and looking back, the year was the best one ever. I found myself, found my life partner, found new reasons to wake up with a smile on my face and in my heart. I cannot wait to see how wonderful this next year is going to be!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Hey guys - today is my 30th birthday. You know, the one I've been dreading for the last year. I thought for sure that I would spontaneously combust at midnight but so far, so good!! Unfortunately, I'm spending my birthday quite depressed. You guys, so much has happened in the last month & I just can't get into it right now but I'm dealing with lots of life changes & it sucks spending your birthday all sad and confused.

 Some random pictures from last week while the family visited - like this one from the air show on Friday!

The whole month hasn't been completely terrible though. My sister, mom and niece came to visit me last week. We had a great time together and it was so nice for them to come here instead of me having to go there!! We went to the big air show down at Andrews AFB, to Pennsylvania Dutch country, thrifting! My sister and I went out dancing last Saturday night & had a great time. We used to go out dancing 2-3 days a week when we were younger but after we both got married and I moved away, things changed.

Aren't we cute? I don't think we look anything alike though! No one ever believes that we're sisters!!

Will started his new job on Wednesday - the drive from here in Baltimore to down to the Pentagon is proving to be even longer & more ridiculous than his previous commute to Andrews. He starts his crazy shifts on Monday so that will take some getting used to I'm sure. He did have the first 18 days of May off though and he spent them finishing off some projects around the house, traveling to VA Beach to see his mom and to WV to see the rest of his family. I'm glad he was able to go & visit everyone before starting his new job since he won't have any vacation time for the next year!! Still no follow-on orders but he may decide to try to stay in the DC area. I don't know how that's going to work out yet.

 (I love the Blue Angels - it's my favorite part of any air show. Shhh! I like them even more than I like the Thunderbirds - sorry AF,  but the Navy's show is so much better!!)

Oh, and I've been trying to find a "real" job for the last few weeks. I've thoroughly enjoyed being the stay-at-home wife over the last 7 years but it's time to get a j.o.b. that will allow me to support myself. The whole Etsy business isn't going to provide that so I have to get serious & find something that will afford me to actually live and not just provide some fun money

My silly niece looking out my sunroof while watching the Blue Angels

So, I'm going out dancing tonight to celebrate my birthday. Well, that's kind of a lie because for the last few months, I've gone out every Saturday night. I don't know what happened but one weekend while I was sitting at home - again - I decided that I felt like the life was just being sucked right out of me. I'm not a homebody by any stretch of the imagination and for the last few years, I've just been I dunno, complacent?! and given up all of the things I enjoy doing (besides thrifting!) and I just felt this urge to make some changes. So, I started to go out on Saturday nights. And you know what?? It's done amazing things for my self-esteem!!

 

Aren't goats adorable? We visited this Petting Zoo while in PA and the goats were so friendly!

I'm really hoping that this funk I've been in the last few weeks passes quickly and that this year will be amazing. I'm sure it will be. I've lost over 20 lbs in the last 3 weeks from being all depressed (yay!!) and I want to join a gym & start getting back into working out on a regular basis. I know once I start doing things to improve myself, my depression will go away. I guess I could just as easily go to the dr & get some medication for this but I don't think I need that. I just had to have the courage to do some really difficult things and realize that it's going to suck for a while because change is always hard but in the end, I'll be so much happier!! Right?! Hope you all have been doing well - I need to go around & visit my bloggy friends soon!! Maybe tomorrow while I'm recovering from a well-deserved hangover! haha

More Snow? For Reals?

What's up peeps? I was sitting here at my desk, minding my own business, listening to Run DMC and reading some blogs when my weather.com add-on thing alerted me to the fact that we're under a Winter Storm Watch until Friday morning. So, being the little investigator that I am, I turn to my favorite source for accurate weather information (ahem, not weather.com because they are ALWAYS wrong!). A few weeks ago I found the most helpful, albeit kind of confusing at first weather forums over at Accuweather.com. All their talk about this model and that model...pffft...whatev - I totally don't understand all that mess but they have been almost completely 100% accurate about predicting the last 2 storms. And lets just say that some of the people on there are calling for more than 5" of snow. I'm going to have to keep checking back to see what they think will happen here in MD.



So, yeah. More snow is on the way and I'd be surprised if it were only 5 inches! I was just commenting early today that we needed some fresh snow to cover up the ugly grassy patches that are showing up near our walkway! Woohoo!! And, this time, if a blizzard decides to drop 4 more feet of snow, Will IS HOME. Thank the good Lord! It might be nice to be snowed in with him for a week! It could also turn out to be a week in Hell if we were snowed in together. We have the tendency to get on each others nerves if we're around each other constantly for more than like 72 hours! I'm going to attribute that to the fact that for our entire marriage, he's had jobs which kept him from home for at least a few days a month so we really don't know what it's like to be around each other constantly. Better get used to that though considering this next job will have him home every night. Oh boy.



Anyhow, no more snow talk until I see some flakes falling! Promise!

Will emailed 'the powers that be' the other night with our list of base choices. The first 4 were in Colorado, then Spokane, Anchorage, a base in Idaho and finally, a base in Massachusetts. Will thinks we should know by Christmas where we'll be heading next summer. It's both exciting and scary!



And yesterday was the monthly reminder that my 30th birthday is fast approaching. Only 3 more months. Ack! I really need to get busy planning some sort of vacation! I would love, LOVE to go to Scotland for my 30th but I don't see that happening. We're going to have to take whatever vacation I decide on before my birthday anyhow because Will's job will start on the 18th. Think he'd mind if I took a solo trip to Scotland and the UK? That would be so amazing! I'm not sure I'd want to come back though. Well, I'd come back long enough to pack my house up, grab Will and the puppies and contact the post office with my new forwarding address! I'm not sure why we didn't put England on our list of places we'd like to get orders. That was kind of dumb!



Anyhow...it's time to relax, catch up on some blogs & stalk the accuweather.com forums for the latest info on the impending storm. If you don't see me again for a few days, please send out the search & rescue party. I've sworn off chocolate for Lent so it's going to be challenging around here if I'm snowed in for any length of time! lol

PS- aren't my flowers gorgeous? These are the ones Will sent to me for Valentines Day. They are holding up quite well, don't you think?

Photographic Evidence

Hey guys! I'm back and feeling 1000% better. Finally!! My mom came up last week and spent a few days here and that was fabulous! We did lots of thrift and antique store shopping and I found so many new goodies! Here are some pictures of my latest finds:

Lots of great vintage invitations-








Lots of great vintage flash cards-

German-French cards:



French-English cards:



Some HUGE food flash cards:







A few weeks ago I found a ton of these vintage floral pictures that were once in National Geographic magazines. I must have 30 of these!



So, as you can clearly see, I've been busy doing lots of thrifting & lots of Etsying too! I have so many items I've yet to take pictures of but I'll hopefully get around to that today or tomorrow!

In other news, I turned 29 last Friday. I simply cannot believe I'm 29! It's going to come as a huge shock next year when I turn 30. lol I'll have to start checking a whole new age bracket on surveys. Will was gone for my actual birthday but I still had a great day. It was very low-key and I really enjoyed it!

On Monday, my Mom and I made one last run to a thrift store as she was on her way out of town and I totally scored! The store was having a huge sale & everything was 50% off. YAY! Later that afternoon, Will and I went into Baltimore proper & watched the Orioles game. It was a nice time. Well, until it started pouring rain anyhow. Note to self: don't wear a white shirt to a baseball game. At least not if rain is in the forecast! Oopsie

So, that's about it from here in my cute (yet very messy) office! I need to get off of the computer, package up some items, go to the Post Office and then come home and organize this room! I hope you all are doing great & having a fabulous day!!

Birthday Parties (and other fun stuff)

So, our doggy turned 9 on Sunday. Well, we're guessing he's 9- we honestly don't know because he was homeless before the rescue group we adopted him from picked him up on the streets of Columbia, SC. The rescue guestimated him to be 3 when we adopted him in 2003, so we're assuming he's 9. Either way, we celebrate his birthday on 17 May, which is the day we adopted him. So, we did a little doggy party for him on Sunday, complete with ice cream and a new toy! I made him a little party hat but it looks more like a dunce cap than a party hat. lol He quite enjoyed his ice cream! Here's a picture of my favorite boy in the whole world.



And I'm celebrating my 29th birthday on Friday. Ack! I can't believe I'm turning 29. That seems so old. I mean didn't I *just* turn 18 like last month?? Geez. One more year before I enter a whole new decade. And as my luck would have it, Will is gone for the entire week. Fabulous. But, my mom is coming up tomorrow to spend a few days and I am SO freaking excited!! She's coming up ALONE! We haven't spent any alone time together in over 3 years so I'm so looking forward to this week/weekend!! Will comes back from eastern Europe on Saturday morning so we'll celebrate my birthday then I suppose.

I have a busy, busy day ahead of me. I have to ship off some items from my Etsy shop, refill Marty's medicine, drive the 80+ miles round trip down to Base & pick up Will's truck since my friend is supposed to move into her new condo tomorrow and we need to get her crap loaded up tonight. I still need to do some cleaning before my mom gets here tomorrow, too. Did I mention I've been terribly sick with a sinus infection? lol Good times!! I'd really love to sleep all day but we all know that it's impossible to do that and not feel guilty so I'm pushing on!