The Sarge and I have gotten out of the habit of cooking at home. We go back and forth with this bad habit. It’s hard to break! Today we decided to make a menu and go grocery shopping. We stopped at Wendy’s to grab a snack (I know, I know. Not helping!) before we headed to the store. It’s never good to go to the store while you’re hungry!

While we were eating our snack we quickly decided on a menu for the rest of the week. Here’s what we came up with.

• Dinner tonight: pizza from Walmart
• Lunch Thursday: sandwiches (or leftover pizza)
• Dinner Thursday: hamburgers, roasted potatoes, broccoli for The Sarge and zucchini for me.
• Lunch Friday: BLTs and chips & salsa
• Dinner Friday: whatever I want since The Sarge is working that night
• Lunch Saturday: Chicken salad sandwiches
• Dinner Saturday: Chicken pot pie.

I’m hoping we can go to see my family on Sunday since it’s Easter. Unfortunately The Sarge is scheduled to work at his part time job that day, since it’s a busy day for them. We’re both hoping someone will work for him. We’re also supposed to celebrate my birthday with my family on Sunday. We didn’t really get to this past Sunday (my birthday) because my dad went into the hospital. He’s home now so we’re hoping to actually be able to spend time together as a family! And hopefully my mom will make pot roast!

What yumminess are you eating this week?

Today I am the Birthday Princess! Oh yeah! I’m turning 27 today. Well, at 9:25 pm I will be 27. It’s still hard to believe!

Unfortunately I’m still fighting this cold/strep throat. I’m getting better but it’s still irritating to be under the weather on your birthday! Oh well. Story of my life.

The Sarge gave me an early gift a couple of weeks ago. It’s a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1! Love it!! It’s so similar to my phone that it’s super easy to use. It’s awesome. He also gave me a gift right after midnight last night. (officially my birthday!) It was a Miranda Lambert cd. He has some more stuff but I have to wait til later to get them! I’m ok with that. We are going to hang out with my family today so I’m excited! I miss them! Let the birthday celebration commence!

Lucky me! I have strep throat. Yup. I finally got so bad that I had to go to the urgent care clinic on post, for the second time! The first time I went, the clinic area was closed so we had to go to the emergency room to be seen. They didn’t do ANYTHING for me! I was so mad. 2 hours wasted. This time the clinic was open. I didn’t have to wait long because there was only one other person waiting. At that point I hadn’t been able to talk above a whisper for over 2 days. The guy that took my vitals was so nice. I felt bad for me. He did a strep test and apologized for it because it hurt me.

They gave me this stuff to gargle and swallow which helped my tonsils. It tasted HORRIBLE!! Oh my goodness. Hope I never have to do that again. Then they gave me a shot of penicillin. The gargle stuff was worse than the shot! Haha. I had to wait around for a while to make sure I didn’t have an allergic reaction to the shot. The Sarge went down to the pharmacy in the hospital to get a head start. It usually takes over an hour! He told me to wait for him in the clinic waiting room. I was there for about an hour and got tired of waiting in there. So I made my way down to the pharmacy. I found him and we were about 10 people away from being called. It went pretty quick after that. We got my medicine and then finally got out of there!

Last night I still had to sleep on the couch. I can’t lay down, even with pillows propping me up, because I cough so much. But sitting up on the couch I was able to sleep for 6 straight hours! Best sleep I’ve had all week!! I am feeling so much better today! I’m still coughing a bit and my nose is still stopped up. But so much better than the last few days! Thank God for penicillin! I’m praying I can breathe better by tomorrow. Since it will be my birthday!

Well, we’re off to get some food in our tummies! I hope you are all doing well!!!

My husband is so good to me. He got me a few gifts, but he also MADE me an amazing gift. This is just one reason why he is so good to me!

Oh how he loves me! Let me list the ways!

1. You have a great smile
2. You give the best hugs
3. You’re beautiful
4. You laugh at (most of) my jokes
5. You love me unconditionally
6. You’re a great cook
7. You’re great at bargain shopping
8. You’re a Godly woman
9. You’re an awesome sister
10. You’re an awesome daughter
11. You’re an awesome niece
12. You’re an awesome granddaughter
13. You’re my best friend
14. You’re my “Nerd Herd”
15. You’re very passionate
16. You have beautiful eyes
17. You share my love of music
18. You allow my love of Stryper
19. You love my daughters like your own
20. You keep me grounded
21. You’re learning to like sports
22. You’re a great stamp carver
23. You’re extremely smart
24. You’re sexy
25. You’re what I can’t wait to come home to every night
26. You’re very creative
27. You’re very loving
28. You’ve got a pocketful of sunshine
29. You’re my Disney Princess
30. You want to grow old with me
31. You’re my Proverbs 31 wife
32. You stole me from the nursing home
33. You light up my life
34. You make me want to be a better husband
35. You make me want to be a better father
36. You tickle my back
37. You’re a safe driver
38. You ARE an Army wife
39. You have an angelic voice
40. You want kids
41. You’re a great friend
42. You’re funny
43. Your gentle touch
44. You’re my better half
45. You make me wanna be your man
46. You love to Letterbox
47. You love to snuggle
48. You love to spend time with me
49. You like to drive
50. You LOVE Starbucks
51. You Complete Me
52. You said “YES!”

I am so blessed!

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!

The Sarge 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!

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 The Sarge 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!

The Sarge 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!

My time as an active duty army wife is quickly coming to an end. This is my last year! The Sarge is set to retire in November 2012. Now I’ve only been an army wife for 2 years. And half of that The Sarge 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. Maybe when The Sarge retires we can use his VA loan benefits and buy a house.

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!

Last year was incredibly hard on me. It was my first married Christmas and my husband was halfway around the world. I was extremely emotional. It wasn’t a very happy Christmas for me.

This year my wonderful husband is home! I am so thrilled for that. I’m happy that he’s home safe and that we get to spend the holidays together.

This Christmas is still going to be very difficult for me though. It will be the first Christmas without my grandparents. It will be so different. I have spent almost every Christmas in my life with my grandparents. I honestly don’t know how to have Christmas without them.

I really want to be happy for Christmas. My husband is home. We’ll have two of my stepdaughters here with us. And my aunt is coming down here for Christmas. I have so much to be happy about! But I’m also missing a huge part of my life.