Thursday Thoughts {Vol. 22}

This weeks post might be all over the place, because I just have so many random things I want to blog about!

Up first is the fact that my left ring finger is currently naked and will be for two freaking weeks! :( I went to Kay Jewelers yesterday for my 6 month cleaning/inspection and was told that my center stone was extremely loose and needed to be sent in. I am thankful that the stone didn't fall out, but I'm still so sad that I don't have my ring. I feel like a piece of me is missing and I keep giving myself mini heart attacks when I realize it isn't on my finger. Maybe I'll get it back before the estimated return date?! One can only hope!

Speaking of yesterday- It was such a great day and I want to document it. I had the day off so I got to spend the day with my grandma. We went shopping, out to lunch, and had so much fun together. We talked, laughed, and just enjoyed each others company. I am so grateful to get this precious time with her and hope that we have a lot more days like this one!

One of the things I picked up while I was out shopping with grams was the new Sacrifice Pandora charm. I may not be an Army wife anymore, but I am the wife of a Veteran and the military will always be apart of us. I was even wearing my new WWP shirt that says "the greatest casualty is being forgotten."

My new hair dryer is the bomb.com! I mentioned in my last post that I've been wearing my hair down a lot more frequently and it's all due to this guy. It took me months to finally bite the bullet, it isn't cheap {I paid $150 on Amazon}, but I'm so glad I did! It completely dries my extremely thick hair in 8 minutes and my hair feels so soft/frizz free afterwards! Next up on my list is learning how to use my curling iron. Baby steps people...

Another thing I'm going to try out is self tanning, because my legs are beyond ghostly white, I'm pretty sure they could be considered see through, and it finally warming up here in the mitten! This set was only $20 during the Sephora sale so I snagged it up. I am a little lot intimidated though.. I've never fake-tanned before! Any tips?!

It's FINALLY warm enough to take Duke on long walks again! It amazes me how much the weather impacts my mood, but I've been so happy ever since Spring made it's presence in Michigan! My fanny pack cracks me up :) Haha

Dog walking season also means that it's Ritters season! Best frozen custard hands down! I could eat it every single day and not get sick of it. Next time I go I'm going to buy the gallon size to keep at home :)

The last thing I'm going to ramble about is the fact that we need a second dresser. We were blessed with a massive closet at our last apartment so we didn't think it was necessary to buy the 7 drawer chest that went with our bedroom set. Fast forward a year and we just don't have enough room. Half of our clothes are in boxes downstairs, some are in the spare bedroom closet, some are under the bed in storage bags, ect. I finally convinced Thomas that it'd be a good purchase to make with some of our tax return. Now we're just waiting for a good sale to come along!

And there are all the things I've wanted to blog about this week, but don't warrant a post of their own! What random things do you want to ramble about?

Chicago Recap

Long time no blog post... and to think I said I was going to write more. There are no excuses, just that I need to be more efficient with my free time. Anywho, I'm going focus on getting caught up this week so be prepared for a few recaps :)

First up is our trip to Chicago. We went to the Windy City with NINE of our friends for the Kings of Leon concert. The concert was on a Saturday night so we decided to make a weekend trip out of it. We boarded the Amtrak train at 7:15pm on Friday night expecting to have a great time and to get our drink on. That didn't quite happen and here is why-
1. The train was PACKED meaning we couldn't all sit together
2. Some passengers were complete party poopers {but refused to move to the quite car}
and best of all...
3. My husband started violently throwing up about half-way into the ride

At first we thought he was suffering from motion sickness, but that was odd considering he didn't get sick once on our honeymoon cruise. So then we thought it was food poisoning, but he had eaten the same food as I had that day. Either way the poor guy was completely miserable and SO disappointed. He'd been SO excited for this trip. We made it to our hotel without any trouble {La Quinta Inn Downtown- HIGHLY recommend this hotel!}, but the rest of the night was a complete bust :(

Saturday morning T still didn't feel great, but was feeling better so we braved it and ventured over to Shedd Aquarium. NEVER make the mistake we did and not reserve your tickets ahead of time- we stood in line outside in 20 degree temps for roughly 1.5 hours!!! It was brutal and made the overall experience less enjoyable, but we still had a decent time. After the aquarium we headed to Giordano's for some deep dish pizza. It was delicious, but so filling!

Some of LiCrew!

Then it was time to head over to the United Center for the concert. KOL puts on an amazing show and I was even surprised by how much fun I had {despite the 14 year old teenager in front of us sexting her boyfriend while sitting next to her mother}! T was on the mend and had a great time at the concert as well. Once the concert was over everyone {except me} had the bright idea to walk 3.7 miles back to our hotel, I have never had frozen toes like that before.

 The entire group! Really regretting not asking a fellow concert goer to take a picture- UGH one day I'll get better :(

I posted a few videos on my Instagram if anyone is interested

Half of the group left early Sunday, but those of us who stayed headed to Chinatown! We ate lunch at a delicious Chinese restaurant and wandered around the little shops before it was time to head back to the train station.

As soon as we walked into the train station I knew that something wasn't right with my stomach and as soon as we boarded the train I b-lined it to the bathroom where I proceeded to vomit and did again 9 other times {I am so sorry to those other poor passengers}. T didn't have motion sickness or food poisoning.... he had the flu! It was a miserable 5 hours back home and I have never been more relieved to see my own toilet. Thankfully it was only a 24 hour bug and by Tuesday I was back to normal.

So as you can see it was the trip we had planned, but thankfully everyone enjoyed the concert and that was the main reason we went! T and I are heading back to Chi-Town in June for a weekend getaway so we'll be able to do more touristy things and I can take my good camera for pictures :)

Looking Ahead

I've mentioned here before that I always go into a funk around January/February and this year was definitely no exception. This winter has been brutal. The Associate Press published that Detroit has been the worst hit city so far this season- with 6.5 feet of snow fall and over 100 days of below freezing temperatures! And it doesn't look like it'll be warming up anytime soon. I'm certain we'll be running our St. Patty's Day 5k on ice.

The only and I really mean ONLY thing getting me through this funk is planning fun, outdoor activities for this spring/summer. My husband thinks I'm being a little ridiculous, but I need things to look forward to/daydream about. So here's what I'm looking forward to-

Chicago Trip/KOL Concert which is this weekend! A group of 11 of us are taking the train to Chicago, staying two nights, and seeing KOL play at the United Center. The forecast is looking up, so hopefully that'll help calm my nerves a little about this "spontaneous" trip.

Skydiving! Thomas has been wanting to skydive for years and we've finally put the plan into action! If the weather cooperates we'll be jumping out of a plane one Sunday in April.

A trip to the Columbus Zoo and camping over Memorial Day weekend in May! We loved the zoo so much last year that we can't wait to go back and T camps every Memorial Day weekend with his cousins & their friends. I'm joining them for the first time this year... lord help me.

Weekend trip to Chicago. T and I will be heading back to the Windy City again in June. My grandparents bought us citypasses and it wasn't going to work using them next weekend while we are there so we're going to go back once the weather is warmer and more things are open.

I'm really looking forward to our anniversary trip to Gatlinburg in mid-July! There are only a few things I love more than traveling.

And the thing I'm looking forward to the most will happen in August- moving! We don't know where we'll be going yet {and still have a while to wait boo} but we'll be back on our own by the end of August!

See! I have all of these awesome things to look forward to, but the 5+ inches of snow STILL outside are making it difficult to really get excited for all of these awesome outdoor activities.

What is something that you're looking forward to?

A Case of the Winter Blues

There's no doubt about it... I'm "suffering" from the winter blues. I haven't seen grass in over a month, it hasn't gone over 30 degrees in weeks, and I'm loosing my damn mind. It is near impossible to find enough indoor activities for 4 days a week for weeks on end. Then there's the 5k T and I are "training" for and we can't run outside without seriously injuring ourselves. Poor Duke hasn't gone for a walk in so long because there's no way to walk over the MOUNDS of snow. I've always hated winter, but this year that hatred has amplified by at least 50%.

Since we've been stuck in doors so much I've been reading a lot {I've finished 3 books-The Letter by Marie Tillman, The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult, and Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah} and we've been watching a lot of television. So I'd say that 65' TV wasn't a bad purchase after all ;) We're caught up on The Following and are watching it live now, I finished Army Wives and now I'm so bummed they cancelled it {especially since they finally brought up real military issues!}, and we started Dexter on Netflix, which I'm really enjoying. On the nights that we don't have any shows we watch the Olympics. I prefer the summer Olympics, but they're still fun to watch.

Another thing we've been doing lately is cooking new recipes together which has been a lot of fun! This past week we made French Onion Soup and Stuffed Peppers! Both were delicious :)

So as you can see there isn't much that worth mentioning here on the blog and that's why I've been a little absent. At least that's the excuse I'm giving right now... hopefully I can get out of this funk ASAP!

Grad School Update

I've been meaning to post about my grad school application process has been going for weeks now. Better late than never right?

For a little background information- I graduated from Western Michigan University this past April with a Bachelors degree in Speech-Language Pathology. In order to work in this field you need a Masters degree. Last year I only applied to one school and got rejected. I decided that taking a year off was in my best interest anyway and I'm so glad I did. Now it's time to apply again.

This time I'm applying to five schools- Eastern Michigan, Wayne State, Grand Valley, Michigan State, and Western Michigan. I honestly don't have a preferred school, I just want to get in somewhere. SLP is an extremely competitive and rigorous program so I'm not being picky.

I mentioned that I took the GRE in October and did well enough {in my opinion}, I have 3 outstanding references {one of my SLP professors, my clinic supervisor, and the SLP I shadow/volunteer with every week}, and now I'm filing out these applications. Which means entering every single class I've ever taken, all the volunteering I've done, ect. It isn't hard work, it's just tedious and time consuming. I'm 95% done with this proportion and next up is writing my personal statements and academic statement. I am draggggging with this part of the application process. But I'll get it done within the next week. My goal is to have all applications submitted around December 15th even though they aren't due until the middle of January/beginning of February.

I'm just ready for the process to be over. I'm ready to know if I'm supposed to be a speech-language pathologist or not. I'm ready to pay for these applications so that the fees aren't hanging over my head anymore {goodbye $800}. I'm ready to find out where we're moving to next. Waiting for the decisions is going to be the hardest part, because it might not be until August! Oh boy, I sure hope that isn't the case.

So there's where I'm at with my applications and what's ahead. I'd appreciate any good thoughts sent my way!

Thankful

I just wanted to pop in and say Happy Thanksgiving to all of my wonderful blog friends :)

2013 has been a pretty rough year for me, but I still have SO much to be thankful for!

These two boys who have my heart. T is the best husband I could ever ask for and Duke is my best bud. I can't imagine my life without them and they make everyday the best day.

I may be biased, but I believe they are the absolute best family. They're my number one supporters and have never given up on me. My brother is one of my best friends and my grandparents are my angels. I'm also extremely thankful to have such great in-laws too! They'd do anything for T & I and I've never felt like I didn't belong or fit in with them.

Our friends are the best group around. Both T and I have known our best friends since Elementary school and we're all still together! We always have a great time together :)

I'm also thankful for our jobs, having a comfortable place to call home, and to live in a country that is free! I hope everyone enjoys their families and a lot of yummy food!

In Need of Some Changes

Today's post is a little deeper than my usual posts, but I feel like I just need to get these feelings out and I'm posting them here to keep myself accountable. I've been pretty unhappy lately- a little bit about our current situation, but mostly with myself. I feel gross on the inside, I feel that I look gross on the outside, and now I know that it is up to me to make these changes.

I have always been a pretty fit. I played soccer for years, ran track and cross-country, and loved being active. But ever since college I've let fitness fall to the wayside. I've tried to change this numerous times over the past few years with no success. I am currently taking a Best Body Workout class once a week, but that isn't enough. I feel bloated almost all of the time, I haven't been sleeping good for weeks now, and I'm at my wits end. I need to start eating healthier, working out more, and drinking more water. I'm not lying when I say that I haven't had a sip of water all day today. I've never been a water drinker, but that has to change.

On top of feeling gross on the inside I'm feeling gross on the outside too. My nanny uniform consists of yoga pants, a top, my hair in a pony, and no makeup. After a few weeks of this you start to feel like a middle school aged girl. Not a 23 year old WIFE. My poor husband has heard me whine about this for months now. I just want to look cute. I'm not one of those girls who can just naturally look cute in that "uniform."

So after weeks of complaining and feel down about these things I had enough. No one is going to change these things for me, I need to change them myself! I make it a point to do my makeup at least 3 days a week, I'm currently looking for a new hair style that I want to try, and I've made myself a routine. One that includes beauty, fitness, and "chores." And I'm slowly adding these new "tasks" into everyday life. Like I mentioned in Thursday's post- once I've stuck to the routine for 3 weeks I'll post it as well as my progress. Does anyone have any advice on how to implement and stick to a routine? I'd love to hear it!

And as for the things I can't change I need to just let them go. Living with my in-laws is a huge blessing overall and I have absolutely not doubt that it'll be worth it in the end. August isn't too far away ;)  There's absolutely nothing that I can do about getting accepted into a grad program so why stress myself sick over it? I just need to keep telling myself that everything will work out in one way or another. 

Thanks for listening to me ramble... I'll try to keep my next few posts lighthearted!

Columbus Zoo

Yesterday we headed to the Columbus Zoo with two of our friends. Since it's a 3.5 hour drive from our place we hit the road bright and early {6:30am!!!} and got to the zoo around 10am.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect at 65 degrees and sunny. The animals were active and we didn't get too hot walking around. It also happened to be fall fest this past weekend so we got to see pumpkin carvings, special bands, ect.

 If this picture wasn't $13 for a 5x7 I would've definitely bought it!

We saw all of the animals within the main area of the zoo and got to see the Jack Hanna show!!

How adorable?!

Jack Hanna seemed like an incredibly nice guy and I'm glad we caught the show.

My favorite part was watching the Polar Bears get fed!

 It was definitely worth the 7 hour drive and we can't wait to go back next year once the Safari Africa opens!


Do you like visiting the zoo?
If so, what are your favorite animals?

Birthday Week Recap!

Since last week was my birthday I figured I'd recap the entire week today instead of just the weekend, because it was that good! ;) It was definitely one of my favorite birthdays to date!

I have always joked with T about wanting to celebrate the entire week leading up to the actual day and even though he thought it was absurd he actually went along with it this year! To celebrate I got a small ($25 or less) present everyday August 1st through the 7th (talk about spoiled).

We also went on extra date nights, I was allowed control over the remote, ect.

On my actual birthday we worked and then met our family (in-laws, grandparents, and brother) at Bahama Breeze for dinner, which was yummy and fun as always.

 I love these two boys more than anything in the world <3

And the reason I had to work was because I needed the next day off for the Backstreet Boys concert! AKA the second best (behind our wedding) night of my life. Words cannot describe how amazing the concert was, by far the best one I've ever been to and I've been wanting to see them in concert since I was 7 years old! A dream come true :)

There is a few videos on my Instagram if you'd like to hear little snippets and my terrible singing ;)

The amazing girls who went with me! We had such a great time!

And then we wrapped up the birthday celebrations Saturday night at Bar Louie with a group of 10 of my closest friends <3

 We sat outside on the patio at this amazing bar!

A delicious drink that I got! Unfortunately I forgot to ask the waitress to take a picture off all of us :(

And that is why this past week will go down in history as one of the best weeks of my life! I am so incredibly blessed and my heart is so full :)