Wife of a Sailor has changed this to a monthly thing. Instead of being every Friday, it will be the first Friday of every month! So look forward to it! And don’t forget to check out all the other amazing MilSpouses! Here.

1. What is your favorite winter memory?

Being snowed in at a cabin in Gatlinburg with my husband for our anniversary during his R&R. It was amazing. We were in a beautiful cabin together and had beautiful views of snow covered mountains. Gorgeous!

2. What is your current favorite TV show?

Once Upon A Time! I’ve always loved fairy tales and this show just adds to all my favorite stories. It’s awesome!

3. What was your favorite thing that happened in January?

Well, we went back to Gatlinburg again (3rd time in a year!) to celebrate our anniversary and attend a marriage retreat. GORGEOUS resort. We had a blast!

4. What is the best sound in the world to you?

The sound of my husband sleeping peacefully next to me. After going through a year long deployment, I savor every moment with him. (Even when he bugs me!!)

5. What is the biggest lesson you have learned as a MilSpouse (or significant other)?

Hurry Up And Wait! I’ve learned that I can’t make solid plans for anything because SOMETHING ALWAYS CHANGES!!! My family is always asking me if we can do stuff weeks or months down the road and I tell them, I won’t know until a few days before!

This past weekend we got to go to an amazing resort in Gatlinburg! Yes, this was the 3rd trip we’ve taken there in the past year. But we love Gatlinburg!

We went for the Strong Bonds Marriage Retreat. We had SO much fun! For the retreat, we went through the 5 Love Languages book and videos. I really enjoyed that. We learned a lot about each other and us together. We also got to watch some videos from Mark Gungor. He is HILARIOUS! I want to see the rest of the videos!

The resort we stayed at was like a giant log cabin community! Gorgeous. I thought we would be staying in a normal hotel room, since the Army was paying for it. (The last retreat we went to, we had a room with two double beds! Not the best for a marriage retreat!) We were pleasantly surprised! We had a one bedroom suite! There was a living room/kitchenette, a bedroom with a KING size bed, and an amazing bathroom with a huge shower and a washer/dryer combo, as in ONE MACHINE! It was pretty impressive.

We also had the chance to do some more letterboxing! All in all it was a fantastic weekend!

We didn’t take too many pictures this trip, but here are the ones we did take! Enjoy!

This past Monday, my sweetheart and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary. It was a wonderful day! We planned a day full of letterboxing!

We started out by planting 3 letterboxes. We have done a series called Tour of Clarksville and we added one box to that series and then a bonus box! I’m quite proud of both of these. (I carve all the stamps we use) Then we headed to Hopkinsville to plant the first letterbox in the town! (that we know of) We planted this one at a really cool park called Round Stone Literary Park. We just had to take pictures!

Matthew had to try to pull the sword out of the stone. Hehe.

The Round Table. It was HUGE! This picture doesn’t really do it justice.

We had fun.

After that we headed to Paducah where we tried to find several letterboxes, but it was getting dark and we were unsuccessful. But we still had fun!

When I had been planning out trip out I saw how close Illinois was to Paducah. So I insisted that we go, just so I could add another state to my list of states I’ve been to! After doing our circles (which we do on EVERY trip!) we ended up in Metropolis Illinois. It is the “home” of Superman! They even have a celebration every year! We are planning on going back for that!

After we left Metropolis, we headed back to Paducah and had dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was yummy. Then we headed home and spent the night watching a movie and relaxing. It was a fantastic day!

Stay tuned for pictures from our trip to Gatlinburg, which we are on right now! We are attending the Strong Bonds Marriage Retreat that the Army does. We’re having a blast! Well, I gotta go so we can go find some more letterboxes!

This week has been pretty good. I haven’t started doing my pilates videos, but I have been exercising. Squats and walking, etc. My legs hurt! I kinda want to get some hand weights so I can work on my arms too. Maybe soon.

I have also been working on my projects. They are coming along quite nicely, however I have started another one! I’m trying to keep my focus on the two original projects though.

As for getting the apartment back together, it is getting there. We are moving our coffee table to my parents house so we can have more room in the living room. I’m excited about that! We have an awesome ottoman to use in the living room. My office is almost completely back to normal and I just have a few more things in the dining room. I still need to work on our bedroom but I have a couple more weeks to do that. Yay!

I hope everyone is working on their goals. Don’t forget to link up! (Click on the image above)

I have always loved anything formal. It comes down to the whole Cinderella – Gone With The Wind – Princess thing. What girl doesn’t want to dress up and feel like a princess?! Since I never had a prom I just assumed my wedding would be the only time I could dress up that formal. Well, I’m getting another chance!

We found out yesterday that sometime this spring/early summer there is going to be an Army Ball that my husband’s unit is going to! I’m so excited! Even my husband hasn’t been to an Army Ball. So now I’m looking up dresses and etiquette on military formals. Granted the formal etiquette isn’t nearly as strict as it used to be, I’m a southern girl. I want to be my best!

My husband just asked me if I was done looking at dresses, since we’re getting ready for our date night. I laughed and said “I’ll be looking at dresses for months!” I apologize in advance for the multitude of mentions about dresses, military formals, etiquette, etc that are sure to be on my blog for the next few months! To say I’m excited is a bit of an understatement.

If you or anyone you know has had any experience with military formals, I’d love to know more!

I’ve seen several bloggers posting about a specific word to inspire their goals for this year. I thought that was pretty brilliant so I decided to join in. My word for 2012 is Prosper.

pros·per/ˈpräspər/

Verb:   1. Succeed in material terms; be financially successful: “his business prospered”.
2. Flourish physically; grow strong and healthy.

I love the definitions of this word. It is perfect for my goals for this year. Especially since my biggest goals are to lose weight and getting our finances in order. Pretty fitting, huh.

I plan on blogging more about my goals throughout the year. What they are (since I’m still coming up with them!) and how I am in my progress. I am also doing the 3 in 30 challenge so I will be working on specific goals each month.

I’m really determined to keep up with my goals this year. I’m hoping the 3 in 30 challenge will help with accountability. Of course it would also help if my husband would remind me! Haha! I’m sure he will. It is much easier to work on your goals, or heck anything, when you have someone to help you and encourage you through it.

I would love to know what some of your goals are! And if anyone is interested in having an accountability partner, I’m open for that!

My goals for this month are simple. I need them to be, otherwise they won’t get done!

1. Exercise at least 3 days a week. I got some Pilates videos for Christmas and I am looking forward to trying them out!

2. Get the apartment back to normal. My 2 stepdaughters were here for two weeks and since it’s a fairly small apartment, things kinda got messy. So I’m working on cleaning and decluttering a little bit every day.

3. Finish my 2 craft projects. I am crocheting one and cross stitching the other. They are gifts so I can’t really say what they are. I will take pictures and post after they are received!

If you have your own goals, consider joining the 3 in 30 Challenge. (Click on the image above) And don’t forget to link up!

My time as an active duty army wife is quickly coming to an end. This is my last year! My husband is set to retire in November 2012. Now I’ve only been an army wife for 2 years. And half of that my husband was deployed while I lived an hour away from post. So now I want to get as much experience as I can this year while we still live close to post.

My FRG (Family Readiness Group for you civilians!) hardly did anything during deployment, even though we had more wives! We wanted to have get togethers and events. Even though I lived an hour away I wanted to be involved. However, we did nothing. I only went to one of the TWO Battalion FRG meetings during the whole year. Our unit’s FRG never had a meeting. It was very disappointing.

A couple of weeks ago we had a unit Christmas party. It was the first one the unit has had since my husband has been here. They announced that the FRG is going to start doing more things soon. I’m so excited!! Maybe now I can be more involved. (At least until we move!)

I also joined the Enlisted Spouses’ Club. We have one event per month. Last month was a holiday party, the month before was a pottery painting party. This month is a wine tasting at our local winery! I’m excited about that! We also make a home cooked meal once a month for the Fisher House on post, which is where families of wounded soldiers can stay while their soldiers are in the hospital. We also help out the Officers Spouses’ Club every once in a while. Last month I got to volunteer for their Tour of Homes. It was amazing!!

So that is one of my goals for this year. Call me Super Army Wife! HOOAH!

I pray you all have a very blessed day and new year!

Santa came to see us! And he brought lots of goodies! See the big one? It was from my sister. The label said it was for my stepdaughter. She opened the box to find another wrapped box and a small bag. The bag was for her, the box was for my other stepdaughter. So she opened that box and found ANOTHER box and a small bag. This kept going until we all had opened a box and had a small bag. Nine people all together with one last small box. (Which was for my aunt’s roommate’s granddaughter.) We all opened our bags together and found crocheted scarves in each person’s favorite color!! My sister had been working on this since the beginning of November. She’s brilliant.

Here are my other gifts!

Santa was very good to me this year! And so were all of my awesome family members. I think my favorite gifts would have to be the chocolate pearls from my husband, my waffle maker from my husband and stepdaughters, my scarf from my sister (obviously!!) and the cookbooks from my parents.

My stepdaughters had a good Christmas too. They were both so thrilled to have so many gifts to open! It was fun to watch them open their gifts!

It was a great day. The best part of my day was watching everyone else open their gifts. I love seeing their faces. I surprised my sweetheart with a US Marine Corps NCO Sword. He wanted one for retirement but I surprised him.

Also, my husband and I, my sister and my mom surprised my dad with a share of the Green Bay Packers. He has wanted that for a long time. He is so proud to be an Owner of the Green Bay Packers.

And here is my favorite picture of the day! My sister always does this. I love her!