Greetings from Denver!!

I'm writing from Denver today. I've wrapped up day one of Pure Barre training and am relaxing in my hotel. Day two kicks off early tomorrow and then it's back home. It was a long day and I am sure I will be sore tomorrow, but overall I am having a great time. We learned a lot of material and it was definitely overwhelming in a sense, but not as bad as I had imagined. Best of all, I am handling the elevation difference without any problems. My biggest fear was feeling nauseous or faint - I survived without either of those feelings.

Outside of prepping for training I didn't make a lot of time for other things. The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of practicing, taking classes, working and finding time to sleep. I have a feeling this upcoming week will be the worst, but then it will be smooth sailing.

Of course, I am way behind on Christmas and holiday planning. I know there is still a decent amount of time left before Christmas, but I feel like the time is slipping by quickly. Maybe it's the 50* weather. Or the lack of mall shopping. I did get the inside of the house decorated. We're slacking on the outdoor lights, but maybe we will get them up soon. I was planning to upload some pictures of the tree, but I of course forgot the cord. I will try to remember to post a couple in the next couple of days.

Well, this post isn't as exciting as I had originally planned. I figured with some down time I would finally be able to put something together and fill you in on the latest news. However, I keep getting distracted and now I am getting tired. I will do better next time :)

Thankful

There is so much to be thankful for this year.
Just in the last couple of weeks we've celebrate a number of milestones. Drew reached 10 years in the military and last weekend was officially promoted to Captain. I had the honor of being a part of the ceremony by switching out his badge. Of course, his sisters attended the ceremony, as well as his two uncles whom Drew is close to and his two cousins.

 He was also surrounded by a number of soldiers who he has grown close to in and outside of the armory. Major Moore then gave him the rest of the drill day off to celebrate. Traveling Drew even made an appearance :)

It was a great way to enjoy the Sunday, especially with the number of days we will spend apart as the holiday season nears.

If you can believe it, Monday marked our sixth month anniversary! Six months already!? Time is flying. We are having a blast in the process and definitely staying busy. May 2013 will be here before we know it.

Speaking of busy, this week has been one of the most draining weeks at work. We are gearing up for two projects to go out on Monday and in the process I have been spending most, if not all of my time, researching for both projects. Add all of that on top of prepping for Thanksgiving and Wednesday felt like Friday. The good news is Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. We pulled through with a bit of teamwork and hosted our first Thanksgiving. Our two main priorities included recovering the dinning room chairs and the turkey. Holy cow did I not realize how long it would take to cover the chairs! My hand was raw from de-stapling them. Then, our staple gun wasn't strong enough. Luckily, I was able to borrow one from a friend. Needless to say, we got them done (recovered and re-paded) before guests arrive - even if it meant recovering chairs at 1am!

We both got up early to finish preparing. I worked on the turkey and Drew spent some time with his cousin and uncles at his uncle's farm. It was good for him to get out and enjoy the day without having to think about work at all.

Thankfully, all of our guests were willing to help in the food department - a big thanks to Mom, Dad, Matt, Kevin, Jill and Gayle! We had tons of side dishes and desserts to top off the turkey.

Overall, it was a fun and relaxing (yes, I said relaxing) day with family. The 60* weather didn't hurt either. Lexi spent nearly the entire day outside from greeting our guests to watching the neighbors.

Personal Artwork

As promised, here is the post on the homemade artwork I created Monday. I had hoped to create a second one this evening, but some other things came up that I needed to take care of ASAP.

I came up with the idea after seeing a post on another DIY blog. Not wanting to spend a lot of money, I figured I could create a similar art piece using burlap and stamps. Once I got to the craft stores I had difficulty finding the stamps I was imagining so I opted for stencils and fabric paint. Then, using a sponge brush I "stamped" the paint into the stencil. Of course, I messed up at the end so this is actually take two of my project. I'm sure you already guessed that the numbers are dates. Each one is special to us. (Our first date. Our engagement. Drew's return from Iraq. Wedding.) And, since 19 has turned into our special number I decided to highlight it in red. I should point out that I didn't have any intentions of showcasing one date per year. It just happened to turn out that we have had one very significant date each year since we've met. Of course, I could add buying the house to it, but I didn't want the numbers to get too squished.

I bought the frame a long time ago at Kroger for a couple of bucks. (*Yes, that is a price tag/sticker you see through the back of the burlap. The frame is two pieces of glass back to back - originally meant for a floating picture and the glass around the sides.) I need to find Drew's goo be gone to take the stickers off. Overall I think the entire project cost less than $10.

I still have a decent amount of burlap leftover so I am planning to do the same thing with a bible verse from our wedding and hang it in the bedroom. We desperately need some wall art in that room.

*Once again, I took a really good picture of this, but it keeps loading on to the site facing the wrong way. And, I too lazy/tired right now to go back downstairs and take another picture. So bear with the first shot with all of the TV wires and distractions in the background.

Never a Dull Moment

I joke with Drew all the time that there is never a dull moment between the two of us, and today was one of those days. After what seemed like a week of things going against me - my face breaking out and me burning my forehead with my curling iron so bad I've been wearing hats - but things seem to be looking up. For nearly a year now I have been taking Pure Barre classes. It's a workout that mixes ballet and pilates. I started taking classes after buying a Groupon last December and have been hooked ever since. It's the only thing I've done consistently on my own. I was taking classes nearly everyday before the wedding and noticed big changes. right now I've cut back a little bit taking classes 3-4 times a week. My goal is always 5, but you know how life gets in the way. Well, a couple of months ago I asked the owner about the process of becoming an instructor. At the time she didn't need one, but was glad we talked for future openings. See, each owner pays for the training of all his/her instructors so it's a big investment. Fast forward to today and I am signed up to get trained! Yes, the owner of the local studio and I talked today and everything seems to be aligning. One of the instructors is moving on and has created an opening. Plus, all PB instructors must get trained at the corporate headquarters in Denver and there just happens to be a training session next month for Pure Barre 1 certification.

Lea, the local owner, and I will continue to meet over the next couple of weeks to prepare me for training, but I am overly excited about this opportunity.

I know I promised a homemade art project, but if you don't mind I will post it tomorrow! 

Gobble Gobble

I have been feeling quite crafty over the last week and couldn't wait for the weekend to arrive to get started on a project - which first meant a trip to Hobby Lobby and Michaels since I do not have a lot of items at the house. I really am a novice at DIYing, but my recent  interest in Pinterest and DIY blogs has me wanting to try. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I have so many ideas that it was hard to decided where to start. I opted to begin with a Thanksgiving themed project. As I wrote last month, I didn't have a lot of inspiration for a Halloween wreath, nor did I see one I cared to buy. Originally, I planned to update the R for Christmas and or make a similar one. Well, I was inspired to create a special one for Thanksgiving, especially since we will be hosting family at our house this year. (*More on that later.) After a bit of tulle, yarn, styraphome and paint and I came up with this:

 

Mr. Turkey is now hanging outside our front door. And, despite all the rain and wind we've had over the last 24 hours, all of his feathers are still intact :) I have to say, while parts of the process were tedious, I had a lot of fun creating the wreath. It turned out just as I had hoped and it adds a bit of color to the front.

My second project from this weekend is currently drying. Once I put it together I'll take a picture and share it. I'm really happy with how it turned out and may even do another version. I really should be focusing on covering the chairs in the dining room since they really need to get done before Thanksgiving, but I am having a lot of trouble finding the right fabric. The current fabric is cream with TONS of gross stains. Drew got the table set from one of his mom's neighbors back in the day. I'm pretty sure the fabric has never been changed out. I'll also probably need to add new padding as well. Needless to say, the seats should probably be a priority, but there are so many other fun things I want to work on in the meantime that it is hard to focus.

Thank You Veterans

A big thank you to all of our veterans and service members supporting our wonderful country. I know I've learned a lot through Drew's involvement in the military and deployment to Iraq. I am so proud to call him my husband. I think the hardest thing about being an "Army wife" or a family member of a service member is never being able to fully understand the things Drew goes through, and or does for our freedom. I will never be able to relate to boot camp or his time overseas, or ever fully imagine the people he worked with and or met during his deployment. But, I do know I can make up for that through showing my support and willingness to try and understand. And, speaking of Drew, it's hard to believe, but as of the 9th, he has been in the military for 10 years! What an accomplishment. Other than school, I have never been a part of something for 10 years. I know I talked about it months ago, but next weekend he will officially be a Captain. His promotion ceremony is set for Saturday! This will be my first promotion to attend, so I'll give you an update next weekend.

Red, White and Waiting

I have been stalking news sites all day, anxiously waiting for preliminary results. I think it's the news junkie in me. Although, it is nice not to have the stress of producing a show on my shoulders. (This is also the first time in the last 8 years I have not been a part of the media. In 2004 I was writing for the school newspaper and in 2008 I was working at an ABC affiliate in Washington.) While election newscasts tend to write themselves, they are extremely stressful given how quickly result percentages can change. I do not envy my news friends in that regard. I do envy their ability to get the information first.

I think we are going to be waiting longer than usual to learn who will be the (next) President of the United States. My guess is that the results will be close and therefore there will be numerous re-counts, etc. Not to mention candidates/parties proclaiming voter fraud due to the "inaccuracy" of some of the voting methods - email (in places Hurricane Sandy hit hard), electronic, mail-in, etc.


This election year has been an interesting one, to say the least. I will not miss the commercials (TV or radio) mail fliers, or people knocking on our door, but it is exciting to read and hear about how many people are utilizing their right to vote. Maybe this will be one for the record books. In Northern Kentucky, voting locations are running out of ballots. I've read comments to articles and Facebook of older adults suggesting this is the most important election of their lifetime. I read another story about a pregnant Illinois woman whose water broke early this morning, but she waited to go to the hospital after the polls opened so she could stop and vote first.While I am not suggesting anyone give birth at the polls I find it unfortunate that people have not always taken advantage of their right to vote.

I will end my election day rant post with a funny story from my voting experience today. As the lady handed me my ballot she got extremely excited as my ballot was number 21, meaning I was the 21 person from our precinct to vote. Her excitement was due to the fact that she assumed I was also 21 years old, and this may have possibly been my first election. Unfortunately, I had to burst her bubble as she was off quite a few years. She and her worker friend seemed slightly stunned and responded that I must get carded often.