A Perfect Thanksgiving

Last year, I spent Thanksgiving alone eating Cheez-Its, and Will spent it in Afghanistan. Obviously, you can put that in the "worst" Thanksgiving category.

This year? We made up for lost time. We didn't travel, we didn't go out for a fancy dinner, and we didn't celebrate with the masses. Instead, we spent the whole day together, gathered wood to get us through until we move, had a movie marathon, and filled our kitchen with more yummy food than we knew what to do with.

*Side note: Mix Apple Cider with your red wine for the holidays. Hello.

Would we have loved to spend the day with our families? Yes, but we have our own {albeit little} family now, and it is more than enough. It's funny how this man who used to be a stranger, is now the most precious member of my family, and after five years... that still has me in awe. The simple fact that I get to share Thanksgiving with him, is all that this girl truly needs to make it perfect. I hope you all had a great and meaningful Day of Thanks. We need to be thankful everyday, of course, but I'm happy that we have a reminder every year, and that we get to kick off the holiday season with thanks and blessings. 

Now, you are probably getting your Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping on, while I will be slangin' wangs. I asked off for the long weekend, but duty calls and I can't say no. At least I'll be making money instead of spending it. I say bring on the holiday tips, and I wish you amazing deals without any physical altercations. 

~UPDATE~

If you want a chance to WIN stuff from the safety of your own home, then you should go visit Chantal @ Scattered Seashells. You will find yours truly helping to give away some swag, so get'on'it.

Seven Minutes In Heaven

Hello Tuesday,

I haven't blogged on you in quite some time. Don't worry, it's not you, it's me...

We randomly decided to go to Breckenridge this weekend, and didn't get back until yesterday. I didn't feel like blogging have time to blog, but of course, Will chastised me for not posting yesterday. I told him that I would make up for it today if I had time, so now that I have a spare seven minutes before I leave for work, I'll say wasssssuuuuuupppp? How was everyone's weekend?

Why yes, I did put two number four's...That's what happens at 6AM.

1. We had our first real snow of the season!

We are going on four days of no sun, so hopefully the sun will come out and play today. We boast over 300 days of sun/year, so folks around here can't take more than 2-4 days of gloom. Like seriously...people get angry.

2.  Hubby made Crockpot Beeftips and it was AWESOME.

Super easy too. Just beef, veggies, low sodium gravy packet, and water.

4. I may have added to one of my tattoos this weekend ;)

Nothing major, but MAJOR meaning. I was going to share pictures today, but that would take more than seven minutes. If y'all even want to see...

4. One of the rare occasions you find us in a 'club'.

When in Rome Breckenridge...

Aight...Seven minutes is up, so hope you enjoyed. I must say it's quite invigorating to not spend an hour on a post. I am all about quality over quantity, but sometimes you just gotta run with it.

Let's Talk Emotions...Heavy Heart Today

While I was perusing one of my favorite blogs, I saw that Shanna was talking emotions on the blog and it inspired me. Thank goodness that we can find inspiration in each other, because the snow we are getting right now makes me want to snuggle under the covers, and then go make friends with Frosty The Snowman.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Astonished, that people keep asking me to take their Holiday photos, and they are actually offering me cold hard cash. What?! Not that I'm complaining, but definitely surprised.

Here's how the last conversation about a photo session went:

Her: Do you want to shoot ours???  I've seen pictures you've snapped, and they're great! I just want something simple and easy...

Me: Sure. I'm easy, and I have a camera.

Wait...that came out wrong!

Eager to get our own Christmas cards back! I ALWAYS wait until I find a good deal {because who the heck wants to pay full price for those things?}, and this year I saved $100 bucks. Go check out this deal and don't waste all your shopping money!

Overjoyed that it's my favorite time of year! I was debating about decorating with the impending move, but I have a feeling that I will be 'decking the halls' within the next week ;)

Nervous about the move. I've moved seven times in the last ten years, but it still doesn't get any easier! Other than deployments, moving is my least favorite part of military life.

Confused about what to do {career wise} for the rest of my life. Not like this is a new problem, but confusing all the same. I need to grow up!

Indecisive over when I should actually put in my two weeks at work. I would like to work through the holidays, I should work through January, but I would be ecstatic to walk out the next time someone pisses me off. I think you might say my give-a-damn is busted, and my new motto is "not my problem".
Mourning the loss of Lauren six months ago today.

Every time I click on a picture that she has commented on or scroll past her number in my phone, I am sick to my stomach. She's the only person I know that has been taken by Cancer far too young... We miss you Lolo, but you will NEVER be forgotten.
Grateful that Will is NOT going to be deploying again in January. Anytime that I can keep him home safe is a blessing to me. I'm not ready for another deployment.

One last question, does anyone have Shopkick? I just downloaded the free app because Dave Ramsey told me to, and want to hear what stores you have gotten paid to shop at! I really do think this will be awesome to have for the holiday season, but don't know what stores I need to be targeting.

Have a great weekend, all!

Restore Your Faith In Humanity Real Quick, Pensacola Recap

I took a picture of this while home because it obviously rang true. If you ever get a chance to go to Jerry's then you will understand. Now, I would like to just talk about how you can count on Pensacola in general. Allow me to explain...

Almost ten years ago, there were two twin boys trying to pull a friend's truck out of a sandpit. In a freak accident, Blake's leg was wrapped in the wench cord, and well...the outcome was not good. He went from a happy-go-lucky, almost privileged life, to facing one of the hardest things one can imagine. Cue to now, and I guess he married the right girl. She started this fund to raise $17,000 for his first new prosthetic, and they BEAT that goal.

The craziest part is that Pensacolians came together and it was raised in three short days. Just another reason that my hometown will always be the best in my eyes. I mean...it couldn't just be the beautiful beaches or delicious seafood...

Oh, but then there's that baby...the one baby in the world that steals my heart because she's my niece. {Disclaimer: This doesn't mean your babies aren't cute. I'm sure they would steal my heart if I got to hold them.} That's right, y'all. I FINALLY got to hold her, and you better bet that I took a million photos to commemorate the occasion.

Be still my heart...

Only two and half more months until I get to snuggle her again, and the whole family as a matter of fact! Just the thought of living less than three hours from 'home' has us both feeling giddy. Beaches, cheap beer, good food, Southern Hospitality...I could go on an on.

For now, this trip has me fulfilled so that I can make it through the last two and a half months until we move. Well, that, and having Will home. He's kind of special too!

PS. Offiicially 30 days until Santa! Woohoo!

Do I Have A Style? Seriously...

It is Monday, but the weekend isn't over in the Bogert house. We still have one more glorious day together, and I'm hoping it will never end. I know I'm stating the obvious, but why can't weekends be longer than weekdays? I seriously think we have our priorities backwards.

Thus far, we made some awesome Sangria and Elk sausages, caught up on some Netflix, overworked ourselves in the gym, and hit up Boulder for the first time!

It is quite an interesting little city, and I could probably shop there for days. Basically, they have all of my favorite stores within a three block radius. I can't believe that I didn't buy a single thing. I must have been sleepy from getting up at 5:45 on a Sunday.

Will was actually the one we ventured up there for. We sold the motorcycle because he wants a new one, and we got a new scope for his rifle like he needs one that shoots 500 yards, but I enticed him to meeting up with Sami Girl by offering him beer. We've had this Brewery Passport with free beers for awhile, so we met up with our blog love at the Royal Hilltop Tap Room and killed two birds with one stone. Don't let him fool you, though...he's now a pro at "Blating".

As I look at my 'OOTD' from Sunday, I ponder how I made this choice. How did a skeleton shirt even end up in my closet? I obviously like it, but it seems out of the norm. I've been sharing outfits lately when I participated in the #LIYLookOfTheDay, and it has me wondering...What is my style? I'm not sure if I even have a 'style', but if you can detect one, what would it be?

All I can tell you, is that I choose classic over popular, but if I'm intrigued by a trend, I will try anything that strikes my fancy. I just try to go for things that flatter my  frame, and I definitely go for comfort.  I remember thinking as a youngster that I needed to form an identity through my attire, but now I wonder if my identity is what creates my style? Does one have to fit into a category? Or should you create your own category?

C'mon fashionistas, what do you think?

He Tricked Me, And He's HOME!

Well, good morning!

I had a post scheduled, but now it doesn't seem appropriate, and let me tell you why...

Yesterday, I had anxiety to the max.
Only one day until Will would be home, and a million things I wanted to accomplish. I needed to detox after eating like crap while home hello bloat, the sheets needed to be changed, there was laundry to be done, I hadn't gone to the grocery store since he left, and the beer wasn't even in the fridge yet! Then, I got off work late because I was managing, and Buck was bugging me about meeting him at the house under the ruse he had left something there. I told him I had to go to Wally World, so then he said we should grab dinner at Applebee's (of all places), since it's right there. I would have said no, but didn't feel like figuring out dinner with everything going on and headed there first.

As I walked up, I saw Buck through the window and wondered why he was waiting. It was a Thursday night, so why would he have to wait for a table? Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Will walk around the corner. My heart stopped, and my jaw dropped...was I seeing what I thought I was seeing? I, of course, ran and jumped on him, and the people sitting by the window must have gotten a good show. The tears were flowing, and my heart was full. My soldier was home, and had completely tricked me!

Guess what? None of the stuff I thought I 'just had to do' before he came home mattered. We had a few drinks at dinner, we changed the sheets together, the last thing on our minds was the groceries, and he didn't think I looked bloated at all.

He is home, we are happy, and life is grand.

Happy weekend, all! I know ours will be <3

I'm So Grounded

I'm beginning to think that I'm way too easily amused, and for some reason, it always ends up with me telling people that I am/want to have children. This also tends to happen only when I'm bored and Will is away. Moral of the story, I need to stop tricking my mom, and Will needs to stay home ;)

At first it was all fun and games and no one believed me, but then...

{Rita is my mommy, Marc is my lil bro, and Sanquinetta is my big sissy, fyi}

Mom, you may get your wish...Here was Will's response:

Other than the boredom and getting myself into trouble, I tend to be a tidge bit of a mess when Will is gone, so I thought I would try to keep my sadness at bay this time. I've accomplished that thus far, and one of the ways is watching all my favorite lovey dovey movies. Today, I thought we'd share those.

I actually got the idea from this article boasting the 10 Greatest Feel Good Movies Of All Time. I agreed with movies like The Sound Of Music and Love Actually, but Shawshank Redemption? Yes, it's a great movie, but watching a guy falsely imprisoned, beaten, and almost...well, you know...is NOT my idea of a spirit lifter. Check the following out to see if I got it right:

Love Actually
Life As We Know It

Crash

The Flower Drum Song

The Three Men And A Baby, Series

What Women Want

PS I Love You

The Proposal

The Sound Of Music

Sleepless In Seattle

How To Train Your Dragon

The Blind Side

Juno

Any Shirley Temple movie

Any Disney movie pre- 2000...the new ones are hit or miss.

Any Christmas movie

Any 80's movie

Did I miss any of your favorites? I'm on the way home and have two nights to kill. Other than Modern Family and Nashville, I'll need a movie or two before my soldier  gets off the bus!! After that, I think he'll be keeping me busy this weekend ;) BowChickaWowWow. We may go to Denver or Castlerock as a heads up to bloggers that want to meet up, but that won't be until Sunday. 

PS. These posts have been brought to you via my cellular device, so don't judge me! Using my phone for blogging is such a new concept. I'm SO behind the times, I know.
Wish me a safe flight! Xoxo

Happy Veteran's Day!

Guess who's been sick all weekend? 

Yep, yours truly has a full blown cold, which means zero baby time thus far. I'm sure you can imagine my dismay at seeing my beautiful niece, but not getting to snuggle.

Just look:

My SIL brought her over in this, and I almost died. How freakin' cute?! 

I love you too, dear-sweet-Maddie-girl!

Other than that, I just wish I were with my soldier.

For two years in a row he has missed out on Veteran's Day, so I just hope he can feel the virtual love. I sent him a card through the Wounded Warrior Project on the back of a ketchup bottle, which was cool, and now I dedicate today's post to him. I am so incredibly proud of his dedication, and will always stand by his side. I try to tell him this on a regular basis, but I feel like it's never enough. Until they ALL come home... It's never enough.

Thank you to all who serve and have served. This day is for you, even though you deserve way more than just one day of accolade. You are the real life heros that we are blessed to have walk among us. Happy Veteran's Day to all! Xoxo

Just Add Photographer To My Resume And I Need Your Help!

A few weeks ago, my girlfriend was brave enough asked me to take their Christmas card photos. At first I thought it would be a breeze because I'm always the go-to when it comes to bringing my camera to functions and such, but when it came to it, I was downright nervous! Between their original outfits not arriving in time, the sunlight hiding from us, and my lack of experience with child models, I knew that I had my work cut out for me. All I kept thinking, is "Don't screw up their family photos!"

Have I mentioned that I don't even have Photoshop? Considering this, I think I did pretty well, and I was pleased with the outcome. Plus, my services only cost $Free.99, so beggars can't be choosers. {Teehee, LOVE ya gurl}  They are definitely a cute little family and we shot at one of the best Colorado secrets, and my personal favorite, The Broadmoor. 

So for the real reason for this post; It's Christmas card time for us too!

Feel free to vote for your fave(s), and help a sistah out.

...1...

...2...

...3...

...4...

We even have throwbacks from our Pre-Deployment photos that I could use. 

Like this one {that I love}.

...5...

Now, only one day stands between Pensacola and I!

I'm actually feeling a little sniffly, so let's pray that it's allergies. The ONE reason I'm going home is to see my niece, and if I can't hold her because I'm sick...HEADS WILL ROLL. So that's it, vote and pray. Thank'ye, thank'ye.

Not Your Average All Hallow's Eve!

Welcome to one of the best Halloweens ever!
I went to work and found Birthday notes, co-workers that came into work on their day off to make my life easier, and a relaxed atmosphere that we have been missing lately.

Can you believe I wore all pink? Me neither.

I'm going to go ahead and make the claim that our costumes were THE best. I realized after the fact that I mostly forgot to wear my pig nose, but EVERYONE guessed that I was a Piggy Bank and that made my day. Especially since my piggy bank brought me an extra $150. Whoop whoop. My plan totally worked, because yes, money was the mission.

Then, right as I was about to leave for the day, this arrangeent showed up! Will may not have been allowed to call, but he made sure to get me a message. I had made him promise that he would stop sending me flowers because the price these days is ridic for something that dies, but I guess I can't hold him to it in this instance ;)

Thanks for the photobomb dude. Cool bro. J/K I'm not mad

At this point, I didn't know who was going out, I didn't know where we were going to dinner, I didn't know how we were getting downtown, and we didn't even have tickets to get into downtown! As a planner, I would have normally been wiggin' out, but somehow I knew it would all workout.

Even though I didn't plan on drinking, we left nothing to chance, and my friend Anthony drove Buck and I to Jack Quinn's to carb load for the evening. We had Boxty's, I played a mean cowbell in the band, and my balloon man friend hooked it up!

From there, I got a call from my regular Tony, and we were escorted into the clubs. Yep, no tickets, no dinero. I can't believe that I NEVER go downtown here, and I can still manage to get in. It's not what you know, it's who you know.

I'm not gonna lie, I saw some of the best costumes this Halloween! I was happier with my costume(s) than I have ever been, and I was SO happy to be completely covered. I was mostly warm, and feel like I cut down on the unwanted attention from wearing the "usual" costumes I saw down there.

I took these for Will, because he loves Wilfred, and I just can't say no to pictures of American flags.

And I just couldn't get over these:
1 | RonMcDon is getting it.
2 | ZigZag is so creative! The beard totally makes it.
3 | Can you tell which head is real?
I don't even like clowns, but that was the BEST EVER.

Like I said, it was the first Birthday without any drama, and the ONLY thing that could have made it better was if Will was home. Thank you to all of my friends that made it special {I'm not gonna lie, I didn't realize that I had acquired so many good friends here}, and thank all of YOU for the birthday comments, emails, texts, and calls! Everyone made me feel extremely blessed <3

Did you post about your costume?
Comment with a link! I wanna see!

Pictures Are Practically Currency In Blogging

I can't even explain to you how happy I am that I'm only working four days this week, and I am back to four days because I leave for Pensacola Saturday! Of course, I have nine million things to do before then including finding someone to take care of Weiser, but at least it will make the week fly by! Then next week will fly by while I'm home, and get me closer to having Will home. Win/win.

This weekend flew by too. Saturday morning we went to the Air Force/Army game, and it was SO fun. We had to get up super early, which was a bad idea since I had to close the store Saturday night, but still totally worth it.

Sunburned and starving, I made it to work on time, and pulled out my camera to show someone the Halloween pictures. I turned it on, and got some evil message telling me that I had to reformat my memory card or I would lose my photos. I obviously clicked 'okay' even though I knew I was probably going to lose them either way, and my biggest fear came true when 'There are no images to be viewed on this device' flashed in my face. Faaaack.

I was too tired to freak out, so I conversed with my friend Matt about the problem. He gave me the idea that I should try the SD card reader on my laptop. I did, which didn't magically unveil them like I had hoped, but I wasn't going to give up. I began googling my issue, and found the CardRecovery.com site! It allowed me to use a trial version to check and see if the files were even still on the card, and then once I had found the files, I purchased the software for $34.95!

Before you yell at me, I already had almost all of the low-res files saved on my laptop, so it wouldn't have been the end of the world, but I still wanted the option to save the 3,000 Raw files to my external hard drive. Plus, now I have the capability to recover anything, including stuff that has been deleted accidentally or intentionally from my camera, memory cards, phone, AND my flash drives.

 *Recover deleted photos from memory cards

* Recover lost photos and videos from memory cards

 *Recover photos from formatted memory cards

 *Recover photos from damaged, unreadable or defective memory cards

 *Recover pictures from removable storage including flash drives

* Recover images, video files from mobile phones

I'm not even getting compensated to tell you all of this. I just thought I should spread the word, because I know we ALL have problems like this. Pictures are practically currency in blogging, so none of us can afford to lose them. Am I right, or am I right?

Did anyone watch the Air Force/ Army game? The ESPNU camera was on us several times, so I'm curious as to whether we made it on TV ;)

The Richest Birthday Present

First off, let me say that my birthday went off without a hitch. In fact, I think it was the FIRST time that zero drama occurred, and that's a feat. The bad part was getting a frantic phone call at 8AM from the newest manager on our team. Her key wasn't working for the door, and the GM said he couldn't come because he lives 30 minutes from our store. Um...SO DO I, and last time I checked...I'm not on salary, AND not the one responsible in times like this. Lily was going to drive all the way to my house to get the key, but that didn't make sense in the grand scheme of things.

So what did I do? I rushed right up there and we busted our butts setting up the kitchen to open on time. Only, that wasn't the only issue. We were short TWO cooks, we had three trainees scheduled and only two trainers, Murphy's Law made sure that customers were pouring in, and then the worst part...I had a guy PUKE in my section. He then proceeded to pay in exact change. Homeboy is NEVER sitting in my section again.

The day didn't exactly get better from there, but I did make the executive decision that everyone needed a pizza party, so I ordered up enough food for the whole staff. I'm pretty sure that is the only thing that got us through the shift. Pizza for the win! The GM sure wasn't appreciative of what we went through, but I thanked all of my peeps, and they seemed extra appreciative of me. It's a good thing that I bend over backwards form my love bugs, and not someone that has less compassion than a zombie.

When I was finally able to flee the scene, I rushed home to the puppy, and practically fell onto the bed. At about 9PM, I decided to check my FB messages {that I am really bad at checking}, and within seconds, my heart skipped a beat. I saw the 4th Brigade avatar, and remembered that I had messaged them with a request for a picture of Will for my birthday. You see, they take pictures and videos to share with families during the training, but they are pretty random and I knew that finding one soldier out of 2,500 is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

 I tried not to get my hopes up, but when I saw that tiny little avatar, I KNEW I got my wish! Who knew that a cardboard message could be the richest birthday present in the world?

Perhaps the most surprising to me, is that this person running the FB site thanked ME for being a supportive Army wife. I requested a picture of my soldier, which seemed selfish to me, and here was this unnamed soldier thanking me. I've sat here for about an hour, and I'm still reeling from this simple gesture. I remind myself that no matter what, I have everything I could need in life. I miss my lover, but he is a part of me and never truly gone. Halfway there, and he'll be home for the holidays <3