Recounting

I've been seeing lots of "currently" posts, which I plan to do one later, but for now I'm looking back on the past 6 months and all that I've been and done. Making this list makes me feel accomplished.

While Rich was deployed I:

Shared 3 boxes of Girl Scout cookies with Ariana

Bought a Ukelele

Sought out news about military in Afghanistan

Avoided news about military in Afghanistan

Celebrated Ariana's 3rd Birthday

Celebrated Halloween

Cooked my own turkey for Thanksgiving

Played Santa

Rang in 2012, on my couch

Celebrated Valentine's with a burger and a shake

Read 9 books

Paid off 2 small credit cards

Went to Paris with my Aunt

Aged 186 days

Did 60+ loads of laundry

Had 5 different house guests

Created a new savings plan

Had trouble sleeping

Slept like a baby

Was thankful for 70 little things

Painted 4 paintings

Called 10 German preschools

Offered support to friends

Took myself on a date at the bookstore

Achieved personal goals

Made mistakes

Danced around my house

Cried over Germany

Laughed over Germany

Laughed so hard I cried

Cried so hard I hyperventilated

Played in the snow

Cried when I found this article

Broke my macro lens

Sat while my car was fixed for 5 hours

Handled a German satellite company, oil company, and repair man.

Discovered new yummy recipes

Rediscovered my love for certain foods

Made crafts with Ariana

Watered our baby snails everyday

Disposed of 2 dead mice

Worried at night

Daydreamed about future vacations during the day

Fell in love with bacon

Sent sympathy cards

Sent thinking of you cards

Sent birthday cards

Sent thank you cards

Woke up from nightmares I couldn't remember

Made new friends

Ran into old friends

Watched girly movies as much as I wanted

Drove to the Frankfurt airport 6 times.

Drove to Heidelberg at least 5 times

Had a love affair with Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1, and the soundtrack

Bought new nail polish

Wrote love letters

Wrote music

Fell in love with Gluhwein and Christmas Markets

Had a mini breakdown

Ran late

Arrived early

Blogged a lot

Abandoned my blog

Ate lots of chocolate

Drank lots of wine

Cried to friends

Said I could handle it

Took thousands of photos

Enrolled Ariana in preschool

Lost 10 pounds

Took lots of videos of Ariana

Bought 3 new house plants

Spent hours talking to friends on the phone

Learned a lot about myself and others

While Rich was gone I grew as a person, parent, and military wife. I learned I'm stronger than some people give me credit for and weaker than I like to admit at times. I discovered that time moves slow and fast at the same time but it's always moving forward.

While Rich was deployed, I did a lot.

Let's Be Honest

via

:: deep breath ::

You may have noticed I haven't really been around my blog much lately.

A lot of things play into this: I had my family here visiting so I was busy with them, Ariana has kept me busy with preschool and gymnastics, and I've started going to the gym with my friend.

And I had a panic attack.

:: deep breath ::

Yep, a panic attack. At least I think it was a panic attack, shaking, couldn't breathe, those kinds of things. I've never had one before so it totally freaked me out. Luckily, I had a dear friend who talked me through it and made sure I was okay. This happened on Black Friday and I don't think I've been the same since. I'm a little more timid in certain situations.

I debated whether or not to share this information, but after reading a friends post who had been going through some of the same things I was, I thought it was time to open up. I could use a little support right now and hopefully can offer support to some of you as well.

So here I go with my honesty.

With my husband deployed it's been hard on me. He's been gone over 4 months and still has 2 more to go. I've come a long way but still some days are harder than others. Having to be a "single mom", living in a foreign country with only a handful of friends, having to explain to my 3 year old why her Daddy is away for so long, tantrums, German preschool rules, landlord issues, language barrier, car issues, my best friend being hospitalized, the death of a pet, being away from family, the depressing German weather. It's all added up over time.

I've also had some personal issues I've been dealing with. It's been an especially rough time lately. But, I've tried to keep it together and trudge on. It's hard to learn to deal with issues you have no control over. But I'm learning to let them go and find my inner peace.

Today, I feel stronger. 

Today, I'm feeling less worn down and more empowered. 

Today, I'm feeling the love.

It may not last long, but I'm holding onto that feeling while I can. 

:: deep breath ::

baby news

Remember our snails Sheldon and Essie? Well they had babies!

Here's how the story goes in case you don't remember. For Letter S week Ariana and I found 2 LARGE snails in the woods by our house and made them a terrarium and kept them as pets for a while. It was great fun and we learned about them and she loved watching and holding them. 

Before our trip to the states we let the snails go back where we found them. Oh, did I forget to mention that while we had them we saw them mating? Well, we did and we researched how long it takes before the snails lay the eggs and we thought we were safe. Guess again. 

There had been a 24 hour period where we thought one of the snails had escaped but it turned out that she had just been hiding/laying eggs somewhere in the terrarium. Thanks mama.

Our house sat empty for a few weeks while Ariana and I were in Florida and Rich was in Washington for training and then visiting us in Florida. I say empty but baby snails were silently taking over the terrarium and waiting for our return.

When Ariana and I returned home a month later I saw a speck on the wall of the terrarium and went to investigate. Is that a tiny shell? Wait, is that another. Oh-my-GOD-there-are-babies-in-there.

So far, I've counted 37. 

THIRTY SEVEN BABY SNAILS!

How do you care for baby snails?

It's actually easy. We mist their terrarium a few times a day and give them cut up vegetables to eat.

We thought their favorite was zuchinni until we discovered them devouring some cucumber one night.

They sleep most of the day - like most babies - and don't really get active until night.

Aww he's got a little bit of zucchini on his mouth!

Here is one of the babies on a quarter to show the size. And that's Ariana's little 2 year old finger.

 Teeny tiny.

As a reminder here is a photo of the mama snail - over 3 inches long!

So, what's our plan?

Well so far some of them have doubled in size - piggies. We've enjoyed having the babies in our house. What can I say, we're animal lovers, even if they are slimy. We're going to slowly release them back into the woods a few at a time where hopefully they will live out their lives in the brush by the little creek and grow big like their parents. We've debated keeping 1 because snails are hermaphrodites and keeping 2 would mean more babies in our future and we're not ready for that yet!

xo's

Cat

Seven Years Ago

Seven years ago today I married my best friend in a small outdoor ceremony by a waterfall in Texas. We celebrated with my Mom, family friend Lori and highschool friend Mark with small wedding cake and a bottle of champagne. I was 19, he was 20. We were madly in love.

The week before, he was an airman in training for the Air Force in Texas. I was a student and dog groomer in Georgia. We had been engaged for a year but were waiting until he got done with training before we got married. Suddenly, he got orders to England and wanted me to come to Texas and marry him right then. Within a few days I had quit my job, packed up all my belongings and drove half way across the country to get married and start our life together. People told us we were too young. We just followed our hearts.

Seven years later he's away in DC for training for the Air Force. I'm visiting family in Florida with our daughter. We've lived in Texas, England, Nebraska and Germany.

We've spent months sleeping on an air matress on the floor, kissed at the top of the Effiel Tower, walked the floors of the Coliseum, celebrated St. Patty's in Dublin, gazed at the Mona Lisa together, swam in a blue lagoon in Malta, snowboarded on the Austrian Alps, admired Stonehenge at sunset, partied at Oktoberfest, sunbathed in Spain, and survived a deployment.

We've spent holidays, birthday's and anniversaries apart. We've joked, hugged, fought, made up, laughed, cried, kissed, loved and enjoyed each other's company. Life is an adventure and I'm so glad we have each other to spend it with. Over these past 7 years I wouldn't change a thing and I know I've found my forever love. Even if he does hate that I squeeze the toothpaste in the middle.

To my muffin, happy anniversary babe. Love forever, your cupcake.

Bittersweet Vacation

Our tickets have been bought! 

This time next week Ariana and I will be making the 10 hour flight from Germany to Miami, Florida to visit with my family! Richard will be following a few days after but he's going to D.C. for a week of pre-deployment training. Then he's joining us in Florida before it's back to Germany for more paperwork and processing and then BACK to the states for more training. It's such a screwy schedule.

So, while I'm excited to be going back to the states to visit my Mom and sister (and see the new Harry Potter!), it's just one step closer to that dreaded deployment.

We're going to try to enjoy our last little bit of time together though. Good old fashioned family time and sunny sandy beaches are good for the soul. Right?

Deep breaths, I can do this.

Picture source. 

It's beach glass. I'm kinda obsessed with it and hope I can find some!

Summer Photo Checklist, Summer Sale (and other stuff)

I found this fun summer photo checklist. It's great to go through and get some inspiration even if you don't follow the entire list. For me, it was a great little boast for my creative juices.

Source: simple as that blog

If you follow my facebook fan page you probably already know I'm having an Etsy sale.

I'm closing my shop on July 4th for a month long (maybe longer) summer vacation. Before I close up shop though, I'm offering a whopping 30% off everything in the shop with the code SUMMERVACAY30. If you've had your eye on something, nows the best time to shop. I won't be having anymore discounts in my shop for a while. Think of it as a Christmas in June/July sale.

Also I wanted to share some good news. First my husband got me a new computer. I love it. I've been having to get used to switching from a PC to a Mac. So far so good.

AND last but not least......MY HUSBAND GOT PROMOTED TO TECH SERGEANT!!

This is a big deal! Only 20% of the people that tested for this rank got promoted, and he was one of them! I'm so super proud of him and when he came home last night and had Ariana hand me the Tech Sergeant stripes, I screamed, loudly! haha! It was a shock! 

The average time in service in the Air Force before making Tech Sergeant is usually 14 years. Rich made it in 8 years (that's how long he will have been in once he sews on) He won't actually sew on for another year, but still, how exciting! It's the hardest rank to make! So proud of my babe!

Our trip to Florence, Italy!

We were in Italy this past week for a few days. We flew to from Frankfurt to Pisa and then took an hour train to Florence. Florence was simply beautiful. I tried to capture our trip and the city through my photos. Let me show you what we saw!

All over the city were lilies. Yes, Fleur de Lis is their emblem. They were everywhere!

The first morning in Florence I woke up to this. Ariana fell out of her bed in the middle of the night so we let her sleep with us. Awww what a way to wake up!

Then it was off to explore the city. 

I made up a scavenger hunt for Rich for his birthday. Amazing Race style! He was checking the map to find his first clue! It was so much fun!

The sinks had foot petals instead of knobs.

A view down one of the streets, Italian flags everywhere!

We found this big beautiful magical carrousel!

There were some truly unique buildings!

This golden pig that is a mascot for Florence.

One of his clues was to find vespas in the colors of the Italian flag! He suceeded!

This is the Santa Maria Novella. It was right down from our hotel and we often stopped here to relax, let Ariana run around, eat Gelato, and watch the people.

It's also were I wrote most of my postcards to my pen pals! I was happily surprised at the great response I received!

Gelato is to die for! And it comes in the best flavors! Chocolate covered cookies and wine anyone!? Yum!!

The city has statues everywhere!

The Piazza della Signoria has many statues and even has a replica of David by Michelangelo.

This is NOT the real David, but it's the closest we got. The line for the museum where the real David is housed was 4 lines, each line stretching around buildings and in the blazing hot sun. We opted to skip that museum. This guy was were the David originally stood until he was moved into the museum for safe keeping.

David was sculpted by Michelangelo from 1501-1504.

Us in the Piazza della Signoria (see the David replica behind us)

Ariana tried her hardest to twirl her pasta like us.

Pinocchio was everywhere since the story is an Italian one.

We enjoyed strolling through the the Museo Galileo (a science museum). Outside on the sidewalk leading to the front door were the zodiac signs. If you're up for something gross, they have some of Galileo's fingers on display. Yup, eww.

Rich and I are Gemini and Leo!

Statues of Da Vinci and Michelangelo along with other famous artists. Both of these artists hail from Florence.

Grabbing a snack at a fruit stand. 

We celebrated his birthday! WHooooHOOO!!!

He enjoyed Steak Florentine, Beef Carpaccio and of course a yummy birthday dessert. I surpsied him by whipping a candle and lighter out of my purse and lighting it right as they placed the plate in front of him! Ha! 

You can see more of the pizza and pastas we enjoyed here! 

Lots of restaurants displayed their steak meat in the store windows like this.

The city definitely had a lot of character. Here are some of my favorite city scenes and tidbits. 

We went to see the Santa Maria de Fiore. It's dome was the largest in the world until St. Peter's Basilica in The Vatican was built!

The outside is made of green, red and white marble.

The floors inside the cathedral are ornate.

And so is the art inside the dome.

We checked out the oldest bridge in Florence. The Ponte Vecchio which literally means Old Bridge and seems to have been built before 996, no, that's not a typo! During WWII all the other bridges in Florence were destroyed except this one. Hilter gave orders to save it. History is amazing!

More strolling around finding random buildings and churches. 

The Jewish Synagogue. 

After a few days in Florence, we took a train back to Pisa. Unfortunately we weren't able to spend any good amount of time exploring Pisa because of our time restraints but we did get a quick glimpse of the Leaning Tower!

Can you find it in the photo taken from our plane???

Need help? It's in the top right section. This is zoomed in...

The tower is actually a free standing bell tower of a church! I only just found that out when researching for our trip!

I admit I've got the travel bug.

We've only been back home for a few days but I'm dying to plan another trip. It probably won't happen anytime soon though. There's SO MUCH we want to see before we have more kids and before our time here is up. It'll be gone in a blink of any eye and we know it! I'm going to enjoy as much as I can while we have the chance. We're so blessed to have this opportunity! I'm glad I can share my experiences with y'all and hope I'm not making you hate reading my blog with all my travel updates. :)

I'm working on making a video of our Scavenger Hunt (if I can pull it off) so that will be something exciting to share soon!

xo's

Cat