One WHOLE year

One year ago today, May 21st, 2011, I said "I do" to my best friend in the whole wide world. It's so hard to believe it's been a whole year since our fabulous wedding already.

Some days, I feel like it was just yesterday that we were planning and getting ready for our wedding. I can still feel the hot Bahamian sun like we went on our honeymoon yesterday. Some days it's weird to think of myself as someone's wife and to call him my husband. But then some days it feels like we've already been married a million years. It's hard to remember what it was like not being married.

I won't lie. It hasn't been an easy year. We've struggled being a young couple, trying to find our way. I'd be lying if I said we've done that. We're still working on finding where we both belong individually and together. Like one of my favorite movie quotes says above, "it isn't easy," marriage takes a lot of work. But that's the beauty in marrying your best friend. You can talk about everything and anything. My other half makes everything more fun. He never fails to make me laugh(even if it is just because he's trying to hard, and i'm laughing AT him ;) (Just kidding!)

I find myself looking over at him and Natty cuddled up at night and thinking I'm so blessed. God has given me much more than I deserve and I am so grateful. I love being able to say I married my best friend. He has my back and I have his. He is always trying to make me happy, and I hope I can do the same for him.

Not only am I so grateful for such a wonderful husband, but I am so blessed to have so many other wonderful people in my life. I'm so grateful to my parents for alway loving and supporting me. Without them I wouldn't have been blessed to have the wedding I dreamed of my whole life last year. Especially my wonderful mom, she really made my dream wedding possible.

We're both blessed with wonderful families and friends that love and support us unconditionally. I smile when I think of our incredible wedding party that stood up on the altar with us last year. All of our friends and family gathered just to celebrate us and our love this time last year and that had to be the best part of the whole experience!

To celebrate we're heading to the beach tomorrow night to have dinner at Hemingway's, the restaurant on Pensacola Beach where we were married last year. After dinner we're spending the night at the beach in the same hotel where we were engaged 2 years ago.(You can read both our engagement and wedding stories by clicking on the "Our Story" tab above!) I can't wait to cut into our cake topper we saved and toast with a little champagne and just enjoy a little fun in the sun all day Tuesday with my wonderful hubs!

I promise to be a better blogger from here on out and not disappear for months at a time. I'll actually take pictures to share here when we get back from our 2 days at the beach.

In the mean time here are some pictures from our wonderful wedding and our first year as a married couple!

Fail: I know I haven't been here

FAIL FAIL FAIL!

I know I said I would be back this week with more fun recipes and updates, but I am a failure. I haven't been around.

I do have those recipes on the back burner and I will post them for you to try because they were all to die for delish!

But today I'm a day late and a dollar short to tell you that I was actually around the blogger universe yesterday!

I had the immense pleasure of guest blogging for one of my favorite bloggers, Married My Airman. I know I'm late posting this, but you can still go check me out over there!

What are you waiting for? Go, go!!

Life is a funny thing..

I guess it's not so much life that's so funny as it is God has a sense of humor. I've said before, and I'll keep saying it because He just keeps proving it to be true, this year God is really teaching me to be patient. Besides patience, He's showing me who is really the boss around here.(Don't tell my husband though because I have him convinced I'm the boss!)

But anyway.. its funny how much has changed so quickly. Not noticeably really, its all been subtle. Stephen got a new job(civilian). He's now working at a golf course as the head of lawn equipment maintenance. (The same guy who couldn't fix my lawn mower last summer.. I know, weird.) After some adjustment he's really starting to like it. He's learning the ins and outs pretty quickly and he's taking advantage of the golfing perks. He's been hitting balls at the driving range on the course almost every day after work. Can't hate on that!

We've pretty much established that active duty isn't in the cards for us right now. Hubs had some old credit card debt from when he was 18 that he would have to pay off completely before he could switch, and we don't have the extra money for that right now. So looks like we're in Florida for now! I know God knows what He's doing. I was disappointed at first, but I'm kinda glad we'll be close to our families and the weather lately has reminded me how much I love it here! Beach days in February? Can't beat that!

Since we're staying I went back on the job hunt. My patience for waiting tables is wearing thin and it's the off season at the sports bar so the money isn't where I need it to be. I actually had an interview last Friday for a job I would love to get, and got a call back a few hours later for a 2nd interview!(Hoping that's a good sign) My 2nd interview is tomorrow morning, so fingers crossed and extra prayers please!

We're actually looking into buying a house here now too. Well not as so much as my grandparents buying a rental/investment property that we'll live in and upkeep. Can't think of better "landlords"! It would be nice to be able to settle in somewhere we could live long term and get comfortable in, but only time will tell. Stephen also seems to have caught a case of baby fever and wants to put a date on "starting to try". I think I can thank my sweet Trae baby for rubbing off on "Uncle Tephen". :) It won't be too soon, but the fact that Stephen jumped on board is a step in the right direction! He keeps reminding me to make a doctor's appointment to move in that direction. But that's a story for another day, one thing at a time right now. I'll hopefully have more of an update on all of these changes sometime next week(especially  my new job!).

(How could you not want one of him?!?!)

Last weekend was another epic one(I had barely recovered from mardi gras!) We ran the McGuire's 5K on Saturday morning. Well Stephen ran, I walked and drank beer with Bryan. After lunch(and more beer) at one of our favorite restaurant's downtown, Hopjack's, we headed home to shower and nap. Then it was off to Orange Beach to see the Brantley Gilbert/Eric Church concert at the wharf!

They were amazing live. We had a blast tailgating and going to the show. After the show we were all wearing down so we ended up staying at a hotel over there. We stopped for some of the best BBQ ever. I wish I had a picture of the place, I can't even remember the name of it!

We all crashed pretty quickly even though there were 5 of us in one room. We slept in the next day, but still managed to wake up with pretty wicked hangovers. I think we can blame that on the dehydration. Woof! We were all starving and thirsty so where better to go to nurse a hangover than Lambert's in Foley! After lunch, a pit stop at the Mossy Oak and Coleman outdoors outlets, we headed home.(I need to find some more girl friends so I don't always have to be the only girl on these excursions!)Hint hint: guys get girlfriends! :P

It took all of Sunday and half of Monday, but I'm feeling a million times better today! I had the day off so I turned into a bit of a domestic goddess. Laundry all done and put away, house cleaned really well, gym time, trip to the commissary for about a month's worth of groceries, and then cleaned both cars inside and out. Go me! :) Stephen even voluntarily went for a walk with me after I was done with the cars, and it was his idea!

My energy just kept up as I went on a cooking spree in the kitchen. I'm on another pinterest kick. I have two weeks worth of dinners and snacks planned based on things I've seen. So tonight I let the hubby picked and we ended up trying out the chipotle chicken burritos. They were delicious, but a little messy. They worked much better as a dip with tortilla chips. DELISH!

From this pin:

Source: jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com via Lauren on Pinterest

I also attempted to back some banana chips. Those weren't as big of a success. The ones that came out right are delicious! Over half the pan burnt though. I know for next time not to leave them in so long. Luckily I only used 2 of the 5 bananas on the first go so I'll see if I can't perfect it on the next round!

From this pin:

Source: marthastewart.com via Lauren on Pinterest

My favorite of my cooking marathon if you can call it "cooking" is the spinach feta hummus. Again, not the most beautiful looking dish, but OH MY WORD! SOOOO delicious! I think I will be making this consistently so I never have to do without. (I'm back on a healthy eating and working out routine so I'm trying to branch out to more healthy snacks and meals.)

From this pin:

Source: tastykitchen.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Whew! That's enough for today! My burst of energy is quickly waning. If you stuck it out with me through this ridiculous post I appreciate you reading my novel and hope you try one of those yummy recipes!(Thank the Lord for pinterest!) I'll be back again this week I promise! Hopefully with more updates and yummy recipes! Happy Tuesday y'all!

Patience grasshopper

2012 has proven to be an epic battle between my head and heart. I am trying my darndest to just be patient and see where life takes us, but let me tell you... patience is not this chick's strong suit!



Source: dropdeadchris.tumblr.com via Kristen on Pinterest

That about sums it up really. I just thought after graduating and getting married we were supposed to go into this magical state of togetherness. As in, we have all of our shiz togetherness.

Sadly, not the case. I have yet to figure out "what I want to be when I grow up." Or even what I would like to do to make money in the mean time, because this girl is TIRED of waiting tables! Hubs, bless his heart, is in the same boat.

Unlike me, he at least found a good job in the mean time that he's actually starting to like more and more.(Praise the Good Lord for that blessing!) He loves being in the Air Force and if you've been following our blog you know we've been trying to no avail for him to cross over from reserves to active duty. Initially the recruiter made it sound as if this would happen quickly and painlessly. I quit looking for jobs in our area, stopped decorating our current home, and braced our families for what seemed like the inevitability of an impending move in our near future. After what was supposed to be a "quick" transition has already turned into over 3 months of waiting, waiting, waiting, we are throwing in the towel to this last obstacle.

I think tonight we finally reached the conclusion that it just doesn't seem to be in the cards for us right now. Everything paper work wise is good to go until the re ran his credit report.

When Stephen was 18 and moved out on his own he had two credit cards in his name that he maxed out and only made minimum payments on. When he was out of work for a while when he was in his earlier 20s he had just quit paying them all together and basically forgot about them.(Hello, it's been 7 years people!). Well the popped up on his credit report but appeared to be closed because so much time had elapsed so the AF wanted a letter from both companies saying the accounts were closed and an essay basically from Stephen explaining why he had accrued the debt in the first place.

He explained the actual situation to the recruiter and initially they said the only way they could take him is if he paid them off. Um ya, we don't have that kind of money right now. So then they decided he could still enlist and set up an 18 month payment plan with the companies to get it taken care of. The catch is that he would have to show that he made three months payments first before they could approve his paper work and move on to the next step in the process.

Fine, ok, whatever. We can do that. Except for the teeny tiny detail that one of the companies isn't interested in a payment plan. Both companies are passed the point of trying to collect since the debt has been out so long, but one is only willing to have the amount paid in full. Just for curiosity I asked the lady on the phone how much that would be- $2,400.02. Uhhh, ya. No. We don't have that kind of money to lay down in one lump payment, we do still have other bills to pay.

So basically, what I'm getting at is our final shot at AD was shot down today.

We're both kind of bummed. We were actually looking forward to moving and getting into new adventures. Hubby wanted to be able to use the skills he learned in tech full time and be around his plane more than one weekend a month.(That boy loves him some airplanes, I tell you what!)

I guess I'm coming to terms with the fact that it just isn't in the cards for us right now. I think I've mentioned before but I can tell God is teaching me patience in 2012 and this is just one of those things.

Source: images.google.com via Tracie on Pinterest

Stephen hasn't called his recruiter to tell him yet, so I'm holding on to a teeny tiny sliver of hope that maybe there's something else we can do. But I need to just just wrap my head around it and accept the change of plans.

Now... if only I could see what the real plan is if it's not ADAF!

Don't you wish you just had a crystal ball so you knew what direction to go in? Or at least that God would make his plan a littleeeee more obvious so even us exceptionally dense people could follow better. :)

Source: fromupnorth.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I guess it's back to the job hunt for me and more patience for the both of us as we continue to learn that getting your act together doesn't just happen over night. Prayers for patience and clarity are appreciated!

Happy Thursday(almost Friday!!) y'all!

Thursday 5.. 2 in a row!

 Yes I know, you're all shocked to see a Thursday 5 two weeks in a row! Not to mention a couple other posts in between. I'm working on gettin' my groove back people! Back to the point. Again, my favorite link up to one of my fav blogs! Go check out Nicole at Flip Flops and Combat Boots! While you're there go ahead and grab yo self this weeks words and link up! OutstandingRefreshingCheerful Memorable Cool 1) I had the most Outstanding weekend with all the guys this past weekend. I was pretty much the Mardi Gras princess in the group.  2) This weekend, we literally have NO plans other than my 6 hour shift on Saturday. I must say that after last weekend's ridiculousness, it's pretty Refreshing. I plan on getting a little extra sleep, cleaning, and finally getting to church on Sunday! 3) We've actually had kind of a tough week. Both of us were "sick" of some sort and we got more bad news today from the Active Duty recruiter. We're both trying our best to count our many blessings and stay Cheerful in spite of the bad news. Prayers are appreciated as we continue to hit our knees and pray for God to give us His direction. 4) Ok, this is a little silly, but does anyone else watch The Big Bang Theory on CBS? We're a little obsessed with it, and tonight's episode was definitely a Memorable one! I mean seriously, Sheldon playing the bongos?!? And his haircut.. I was dying!! 5) Tomorrow I'm subbing up at high school. Luckily it's all seniors and they're surprisingly small classes, but it never fails to make me laugh at how Cool high school kids think they are! Especially the older they get.. by Senior year, they think they rule the school. I can only hope I don't seem like such a snob when I was in high school! Happy Thursday y'all! We're less than 2 hours from Friday now.. YAY weekend!