The Last Few Weeks- in Pictures

Spent a few days at the beach in Connecticut, checking another state of my list.

And seeing purple sand and a very important spot.

Beach time with some beautiful people

While my family takes a little South Carolina vacation-- Miss you guys! You can't tell my brother and father are related at all, right?!

Love to see what new positions Lily comes up with!

Lastly, spent the 4th of July with some American Soldiers ;)

My Father

A day late in blog world, but it would just be wrong if I didn't honor my dad here. Happy Father's Day Dad. In our close to 28 years together we've been through a lot! :)

Thank you for always teaching me, being as patient as possible, and listening to me and my long-winded stories.

Thanks for telling me you understand me when I know people think I'm crazy.

Thanks for allowing me to become (and continue becoming) who I am meant to be with your character and integrity as my guide.

Thanks for being calm and collected- it shows me that I have it in me, I just need to channel it more.

Thank you for always giving me exactly what I need and loving me as no one else on this earth can.

You're the best, I mean it. Love you Dad!

Wiener Dog Races and Some Boating

We had an absolutely fantastic Saturday! We have been very busy the last couple weeks and had zero plans this weekend except keeping our schedules open and going with the flow. The weather was great and Saturday morning there was an event called "Paws on Poyntz" where our city shut down a main street for wiener dog races, canine couture fashion show and local vendors. One of the local restaurant's even offered their patio to customers who may want to eat with their pooch. Bowls of doggie water were available everywhere.  We took Lil and went to check it out!

Later in the day, we decided we needed some boat time. Unfortunately our boat is still being "tuned up"- they've had it for a month- we are less than thrilled with their service.

We have a couple good friends who just bought a boat and they invited us to tag along. It was SO NICE to relax and be on the water and get some sunshine. I hadn't been to this lake yet- it was huge. We met up with another friend who has an amazing boat, and spent the day tubing, and skiing and just sunning with some fun people! 

I made this one extra large because how amazing is that boat!? It has a speaker system and a bathroom! A boat to aspire to own!! :)

The weekend was refreshing and relaxing and I'm glad we had a little time to decompress. This week is about to get pretty busy! 

Hope you had a great weekend too!

Authentic Appreciation

I've been playing around with the blog- have you seen the few background changes? I can't decide what I like so I'm just dabbling a bit in some different things. As I've been back through a year or so of posts I have noticed a few things and mostly the blog has been pretty chaotic. Obviously the original purpose, circa post one and two, were to keep track of the second half of a deployment. From there we all know life took quite a dramatic shift and as I navigated through the ins and outs of that, the blog was simply a representation of my feelings and where I was. It often helped me "get it out" and then process and identify with others who were, or have been in the same place.

As I seem to have identity crises, so follows my little blog. In the last year I have been growing and learning and changing, as we all do. I have tried to convey feelings here and within the last year I have had so many positive things happen-- but reading back through the blog makes me feel mostly gray. Please don't think I live in the depths of depression consistently.  I recognize that when I feel my strongest emotions are when I like to write them down, and I guess this year, minus the wedding posts, those are the feelings I've been identifying with. 

A lot of great things are going on in life right now, and sometimes I catch myself remembering that I never thought I'd be back here. I can't scream loud enough how lucky I feel to be where I am and have the perspective I have. All I've ever wanted (I'm talking EVER, since like kid-hood) was to be happy. To figure out how to take things in stride, appreciate what's worth it in life, and smile and laugh more than I cry and complain- that's my dream. 

Great things are happening- I have amazing friends, who are now starting to have amazing BABIES :) I have probably the best dog on the face of the planet. My husband lets me be me even when it drives him up the wall! I am starting school again on Monday and that mean's I'm one day closer to doing what I would really love to do everyday.  I have a job that I can totally handle, and get to see people every day who make me smile in their own quirky ways. This is what it's about- and shifting my focus is where I am at. Authentic appreciation, not perfection. Happiness and joy- this is what I'm striving for.

Apache Troop Commader

A lot of things have been happening: A trip home to see some family, following twitter all day yesterday to hear about the birth of a new baby boy, and today Nick took command. Here's a little photo from today -so proud of him!

Remember.

photo from here

I'd like to think I do a post about this every year, but at the very least I can remember doing one on the memorial day after Mike was killed. What's the meaning? Where did it come from? My history-buff and West Point educated husband is probably a wealth of information on exactly where it comes from, but I don't know quite as much. I had read it was originally Decoration Day and is a day to remember those who have died in service to our nation. I've been reading up the last few days and if you're interested, feel free to click on any of the collection of links below. 


USMemorialDay.org told me: To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to Taps." (p.s. How hard is it to listen to Taps!?!)


Written during World War I, In Flander's Field  is a poem often referenced on Memorial Day. 


What's going on this Memorial Day 2012 in DC?


* My thoughts and prayers are with the many, many women I know who have personally felt the meaning of Memorial Day in the loss of their spouse. As always, I am so thankful that there is an organization out there to connect us all--the American Widow Project!

Thursday Morning Pick-me-up!

You may have seen this on pinterest lately. I had a friend pin it earlier in the week and I feel like it's necessary to share it here- in honor of the blog's name! 

Don't stop!