Chatty Cathy Today

Welp, it's Friday morning, and for the first time in a long time, I had nothing previously planned for this post and am flying by the seat of my pants.

Today, I just feel "chatty", so let's chat. Shall we?

First off...Do you remember these?

Source: google.com via Carissa on Pinterest

I wish I still had mine, and it also reminds me of this:

Source: google.com via Janna on Pinterest

Which leads me to thoughts of Christmas.
{Yes, I know that I have a strange thought path}
I always love the holidays, but this might be the best Christmas EVER, because I will have my lover and we will be home with our whole family! I can't believe that all the "Fowler" kids will be home at one time. This hasn't happened in fifteen plus years, and definitely not with spouses and grandkids in tow. This makes me so excited that I might burst.

Source: rockefellercenter.com via Theresa on Pinterest

Have you ever been to NYC at Christmas time?
If not, put it on your bucketlist. It is like no other...

The other trip I'm looking forward too is Baltimore in October! Flights are officially booked, and I'm giving you all fair warning now in case any of you lovely bloggers want to meet up. I will be in DC and Baltimore, so let's make it happen. I promise we have fun. See here.

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Have you seen Snow White And The Huntsman?

Source: via Dani on Pinterest

Not only was it predictable, it was too dark, and the ending was LAME.
I'm not a Kristen Stewart fan (sue me), so I had a feeling that I wouldn't like it. I made it through to the dwarfs (the part I was looking forward to the most) and then things just got worse.
I KNEW we should have watched We Bought A Zoo, instead.

I can't complain too much, though. I was watching it while eating steak and veggies fresh off the grill at my friend's house. The food was DEFINITELY worth sitting through the movie.

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The best part of my week?
I was off on Wednesday, and it was one of those chilly, rainy, wonderfully relaxing days.
I absolutely love snuggling in my bed, watching Murder She Wrote all day, and blogging.
Sounds like a weird combo, but I never claimed to be normal!

Source: Uploaded by user via Mary on Pinterest

So let's recap:
+ Christmas is just around the corner.
+ Let's meet up in Baltimore.
+ We Bought A Zoo = Waaaay better than Snow White And The Huntsman.
+ I'm obviously ready for Fall.

  Now it's time for the freakin' weekend, so party on people!!

I Own My Own Ass...

If you follow me on Instagram and Twitter, then you might have seen a few photos from when my girlfriend Jenna was in town. I got to play tour guide and show her around, which is my favorite thang. Here is our little tour of Springs in a day...

I had a Living Social for the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, so we hit that up before it got crowded.

Then it was lunch and shopping in Manitou Springs, which just happens to be one of my favorite places in the US. Tucked away and untouched. Full of characters too...

But we weren't done yet...If you've ever heard about Colorado Springs, you have probably heard about the Garden Of The Gods. It is amazing and so accessible!

Welcome to my 'hood'.
Can you believe that I get to live here?

Not only was it a fun day, I got to catch up with this wonderful girl that I will always hold a place in my heart for, and we had some amazing experiences, including getting schooled by a vet.

"I don't own much, but I own my own ass AND my own time..."

We could have walked right passed him, but we didn't. We gave a man a voice on a random afternoon, and truly listened to his rants and advice. I have revisited his words several times since, as has Jenna, and we wouldn't have those pearls of wisdom if we hadn't have taken the time. Remember that you can learn from everyone you cross paths with, and that your elders deserve your respect and an ear to listen. Just make sure you listen with your heart.

I particularly thought that his above statement was my favorite. I think that too many people are "owned" by their materialistic things and the societal obligations, but I am happy to say that I strive to live off very little, and I am very good at owning my ass and managing my own time.

I will never forget him, and I will most certainly never forget that!

Anyone wanna come visit? I'll be happy to introduce you!

Define Your Own Perception, Part VII

Can I just say...You all rocked my world yesterday!
I was cracking up at all the comments and emails, which made me feel much better about the situation. How is it possible that I love you all so much, and for the majority...I haven't even met you! Gotta love it <3

What else do I love?



The Perception Is Everything Series, of course!

Today we have Jade from An Organized Mess, and I have a total blog crush on her.
Not only does she have a great blog, she is super cute, and jumped at the chance to indulge this little project of mine. That is a direct route to my heart.

She has brought up a very touchy subject in the blog world, which is marriage/engagement.
Marriage itself isn't the touchy part, but the act of breaking off an engagement or the big "D" word, are. Everyone seems to have the perfect marriage in the blog world.
Guilty, but I'm sorry that I'm not sorry that our relationship is pretty damn near perfect. It helps that deployments allow us to keep our love in the right perspective.
And yet, even our "perfect" relationship has bumps. We actually just had our first "fight" of the deployment this week, and guess what? That's allowed.
We are allowed to have bumps in the road, we are allowed to make mistakes without being judged, and as Jade will show you, we are ALLOWED to take a step back and reevaluate.

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Finding the positive in the negative.

Wowzers.

It can be hard to do. 

Am I right, ladies?

We've all been through our fair share of tough times.

That's just a part of life.

You've got to take the good with the bad, the happy with the sad, 

& so on and so forth.

Today, I am honored to be a guest blogger for Janna. 

I love her blog title more than words can say.

Perception IS everything.

Think about it. 

It's the down right truth.

I want to share with you all a tough time that I have experienced recently...

On March 22, 2011 my boyfriend of 9 months proposed to me. 

I said yes & we lived happily ever after.

The End.

Just kidding.

He did propose, but the happily ever after? 

Eh, not so much.

I don't want to bother you all with the WHOLE story

 (if you want to read more on it be sure to go here or here or here)

 so I'll give you a brief summary...

Needless to say, life happened, things changed, & we called off our wedding on April 7, 2012. 

Our wedding was set for July 14, 2012. 

However, it wasn't your typical broken engagement.

You know the ones with the fighting, drama, name calling, & all that jazz.

Nope.

Not us.

You see, here's the thing...

We didn't end it 100%.

We both knew that we loved one another, but things had changed and we needed to work on getting 'us' back. 

We went from living together to living apart. 

I know, I know! 

Completely crazy. 

And I know most of you are thinking, "Whoa! How do you stay positive during such a difficult time?"

I'm not going to sugar coat it for you all & say that it's been sunshine & rainbows.

It hasn't! But, that's part of LIFE.

Sometimes LIFE just happens & you can either find the positive in the situation or dwell on the negative.

The two of us chose to focus on the positive. 

Of course no female in their right mind wants to call off an engagement. 

It's down right mortifying -- especially when you've pretty much got the whole thing planned out!

However, I have to say it has been the best thing for me & Dathan. 

I'm happy to say that nearly 5 months later, we are doing extremely well!

We've both focused on ourselves & gained back our happiness.

My life lesson for today is this:

Everything happens for a reason. 

Every day may not be good, BUT there is something good in EVERY day! 

....and since quotes are my all time favorite 'pick me up', 

here are a few to inspire the rest of you...

I hope I have inspired you to smile often & look at the positives in your life.

If you absolutely loved this post & want to see more of where this came from,

 feel free to check me out over at An Organized Mess.

I love making new friends...

Blog || Facebook
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I am SO happy that there is a good outcome of her situation and can't wait to see it unfold.
Just remember, the outcome may not always be good, but you can always learn from every experience. Thank so much girl! I am POSITIVE that you will inspire many today!

Juicy Gossip And A Surprise!

You know you better head over to Tabitha's blog to find yesterday's details! I'm not one to gossip, but BOY, did it feel G-O-O-D to get it off my chest.

What you didn't know, is that I have a surprise for you!

Have you heard of My Memories Suite?

Source: mymemories.com via Janna on Pinterest

I have actually been lusting over it for awhile, and then they contacted me about reviewing the software and giving YOU a chance to win your own!

I could barely contain my excitement after downloading it, and went to town.

It is fun, user friendly, and so inspirational! I used to scrapbook for real, but since I began blogging, I treat this blog as a big scrapbook. Now, with this scrapbook software, I can give it the feel of a scrapbook too! I could keep telling you how awesome it is, but instead I will show you my favorite new creation that literally took FIVE minutes to make with a simple FREE template.

It just makes my heart flutter, and this is only the beginning. I've barely gotten my feet wet.

So are you ready to win your own?

You have one week to enter, and you can tweet daily for extra entries!

{Sorry Tweeters who hate all the Twitter giveaway tweets. Teehee}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck to you all, and I'll see you tomorrow for the "Perception Is Everything" series! 

My favorite day of the week ;)