My Marine and Me Giveaway!!!

One of my favorite Bloggers, Allie, over at My Marine and Me is hosting a giveaway!

Now I am only posting this because I want the ship to shore dress super badly, not because I want a bunch of my followers to go enter and make me lose! haha. But I do want you to go follow Allie's blog. I promise you wont regret it she's fantastic!

Here's the link!

http://mymarineandme.blogspot.com/2012/05/eshakti-give-away.html

Stay in or get out?

Those of you who read this know that our minds have changed a million times on whether my husband should stay in the Marines or get out. For almost 6 months the decision has been getting out. Recently we changed our mind.

I say we because my husband is the sweetest man in the world and wont make this decision without me.

I'm not sure why, but my gut feeling is that my husband should stay in. I'm not sure if it's because I'm nervous for him to give up a steady paycheck in this economy. Or maybe because the military lifestyle has become our lifestyle and I'm scared of what life is like once we leave it.

I know that separations are horrible but getting 96's for major holidays are great. My husband having 30 days of leave a year to use is great. Not a lot of civilian jobs allow that.

For me, it comes down to my gut. I always try to listen to it and it's very strongly saying reenlist. Which is crazy I know. I mean what wife would chose deployments? Especially when we have a child. I have no idea. I guess I'm nuts.

Maybe it's the high paced life and adventure? I hate moving but the idea of getting to be in different parts of the country is pretty amazing.

Has anyone gone through this and can help us with a decision? I know my husband is struggling because he hates being away from us as much as we hate having him leave. But I know there is a part of him that wants to stay in. Any advice would be awesome.

Maybe one of your husbands was on the fence about reenlisting too and can help with feelings after choosing to reenlist? Or those who were on the fence and got out's feelings as well. I know it all comes down to whats best for us but we could use some experience.

My Pinterest Project

I have made countless recipes from Pinterest but I hadn't done an artsy craft yet. So I decided to paint my kitchen aid :-)

My step mom had given me her amazing Kitchen Aid before I moved to North Carolina. I have wanted one forever but they are so expensive! So needless to say I was overjoyed.

It worked beautifully and made my baking so much easier. There was only one problem with it. It matched all of the other appliances in my kitchen. And by that I mean it was white. I'm the kind of girl who likes color and my kitchen scheme is red so I decided it was time to beautify my favorite appliance.

Before it looked like this

(Sorry for the professional picture. I forgot to snap one before I took it apart). 

I took the top off and found all of these wires and such.

I had to completely take it apart because I have a drop bowl style and not the one where the head tilts. The arms on mine slide up and down which makes it hard to paint. So I decided to take all of the pieces out and paint them separately. It was hell. I used a cheap spray paint at first and it looked horrible. I told my husband and he came to my rescue. He bought a new spray paint and did the rest of the coats for me. We had to sand them down after my coat. Then we had to wash them because birds pooped on them. And then we had to sand them again. And finally we got a solid coat that was the right color and it turned out like this...

The color is PERFECT!! My kitchen scheme is red so she looks amazing and adds just the right amount of pop. 

Here she is complete with her bowl. I just love her to pieces!!

Holy Glimmer of Hope!!!

I am so extremely excited at this exact moment. My last post was me being super bummed about my diminishing possibility of becoming a medical sonographer. But this one is about my glimmer of hope!!

Cape Fear community college has an accredited program that I already meet 99.9% of the requirements for admission!! I would only have to take one or 2 classes and an assessment test and I could apply! Applications start in November so I could take those classes over the summer (maybe) and the assessment test is done right at the college so no biggy.

I already have the majority of the extra bonus points racked up I would just need to take some extra classes to boost my position. I am smiling from ear to ear right now.

But there is one huge problem. We have plans of moving to Charlotte, NC once Jon gets out. He is currently applying to their police academy so that's our plan. In order for me to apply and hopefully be accepted to this program we would have to stay around here for another 2 years until I completed it.

I want SOOOOO badly to do this. My heart and soul knows this is what I'm supposed to do and now I feel like it's almost in my grasp. I have to somehow convince Jon that we need to stay here so I can have a chance at this opportunity. But I feel selfish for even thinking that.

My heart is filled with hope and excitement but my mind is reminding me of the obstacle that is my husband's eas date and future career moves.

My backup plan is getting my MBA. I literally just applied for acceptance with my college for the MBA program online. I'm confident I could do both at the same time since my MBA would be online so scheduling wouldn't interfere. But I would put off my MBA if I got the opportunity to do the sonography program if I had to.

This day has been a roller coaster of emotions and plans. No matter what I do, I have to get the ball rolling asap.

Stress Vent

Why, at 17 or 18 years old, are we given the responsibility of choosing a career path? Just last year, 21, I decided what I really wanted to do as a profession and now it seems impossible.

Maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration. The real complication is that I chose the wrong degree path and now that's proving to be a huge complication in my plans of becoming a diagnostic medical sonographer. I have been looking up the requirements for admissions into the program out in Charlotte and my jaw hasn't come off the floor since.

I have my bachelor's degree, or at least in 2 weeks I will, so I have a lot of the prerequisite courses completed, but not all. I would still have to take basic anatomy and a physiology class. On top of that I have to take the TEAS exam, be certified in a patient care related field (such as an EMT or nursing), and complete a sonography shadowing class. On top of that they give out extra brownie points for applicants that have completed diagnostic medical sonography one and two and Pathophysiology. 30 pts for an A, 20 pts for a B and 10 pts for a C. Then extra 10 pts for people who have completed 6 months in a paid patient health field.

So yea, that's a lot to complete before applying. The application dead line for Fall 2013 is January 31, 2013. So basically I wouldn't be able to apply in time since there is no possible way I can complete those extra courses, get certified for emt or other related field (unless cpr counts because I've already got that), and take the TEAS before January 31. Not to mention pack and move while trying to find a job in Charlotte. It's all so heavy.

If I had just realized that this was what I wanted to do 4 years ago I would have started college in a health field instead of business and I would be set. Now with the amount of requirements, which in reality are totally doable just not in the allotted amount of time, I'm afraid it's going to take me forever if possible at all.

I know I can't really complain. It's not like I'm uneducated. I have completed my bachelor's degree which is great. I'm just really bummed that I can't do what I know I would love.

If I didn't feel like I had to work in order to make our family comfortable then I would be applying to take those classes already. But unfortunately in this economy it's important that both my husband and I work so that we can afford to purchase a house at the end of this year and move out to Charlotte.

I'll figure this out though. I am not giving up. Just jumping repetitive hurdles.

Happy Mother's Day

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I can't help but get all emotional.

I am blessed to have a handful of wonderful moms in my life. My mother is one of the most compassionate, loving people I have ever met and I wouldn't be who I am today without her. She always pushed me to be who I am and say how I feel and I owe my self esteem to her.

I was lucky enough to marry an incredible man with an incredible mom. My mother in law is my daily inspiration and strength. Every day I am getting a little more patient, a little more loving, and becoming a much better person. All because I want to live my life as beautifully as my mother in law lives hers.

My parents are divorced which statistics show is not a positive circumstance, especially for the children. But in my case I have been blessed with an incredible step mother. She opened her heart to me and really helped define my character. She's an incredible role model and one of the reasons I push myself so hard with my education.

I also need to mention my grandmother, Ooma. I have the best grandmother in the entire world. A lot of people don't understand her but I do because we are one in the same. We're hard headed and opinionated but that's not a bad thing. She will be the first to give you the shirt off her back and shoes off her feet if you needed them. I hate living so far away from her because if I could I would hang out with her all day long even if we just sat there discussing the weather. I love my Ooma with a huge part of my heart.

It really takes having a child and becoming a mother to truly understand how a mother feels. Just the thought of my daughter brings a smile to my face. My day isn't complete until I've kissed her a million times. My heart swells into my throat when I try to explain how much I love this little girl. I would do absolutely anything for her. She is my whole world and with that thought I realize why I have such amazing moms and grandmoms, they would all do absolutely anything for the ones they love. It's a mom thing.

Thank you Facebook

It's been quite obvious that I hate Facebook. It's an addiction and makes me waste my time. BUT today Facebook might have just solved one of my problems.

Almost 2 years ago I got a new cell phone number. Ever since then and even recently as in today, I have been getting texts and calls asking for Jake. Today I got a pic text of a magazine subscription. Really? You haven't talked to Jake in 2 years and that's the first thing you send?

Anyways, my husband had a brilliant idea. He thought that maybe my number was linked to Jake's facebook page. So I check it out and BAM!! It was!!

I was staring at Jake's FB page. Really strange to finally put a face to the name I've been accused of being for almost 2 years.

Any who, I messaged him asking him to take my number off of his account. With any luck he will be a gentleman and do it. If not then I can play dirty too Dolphin lover!! (His work says he's a dolphin trainer at sea world"). Yea, facebook makes people creepy.

I guess if facebook didn't exist though then I wouldn't have had this problem in the first place. So I still stand by my statement of hating facebook. Even though I'm addicted, yet slowly quitting I might add!