"Country Roads, Take me Home"

Hello my peeps.  Sorry for the lack of blogging lately....Ive been on the road a lot lately and just plain busy with work and life.



Two weekends ago I spent the weekend in West Virginia visiting my aunts and cousins. Its not a trip I make as frequently as I should but its always a wonderful and "soul cleansing" vist. WV is my foundation...the opening chapters of my life. I was born in a small town in between Beckley and Charleston...my parents were childhood sweethearts who grew up two doors down from each other. When I was 4 my Dad joined the Navy and we moved to San Deigo but my foundation had been laid. It was foundation of spending summer evenings chasing "lightening bugs" while the grownups drank sweet tea out of mason jars on the porch, before mason jars were dubbed "redneck wine glasses" It was a foundation of Sunday service followed by dinners at my Great Mamaw Renes where all the men sat watching football while the women sat in the kitchen cooking and gossiping......a foundation of swimming in rivers and being petrified as my uncle told tales of catfish big enough to swallow a volkswagon beetle (SERIOUSLY...I believed him)



Kanawha River



Gorgeous Fall Sunrise off Midway Trail


 

I could go on for hours, the first memories of my life in that small town are some of my most cherished. Even throughout all the moving as a Naval family I spent almost every summer of my childhood in WV literatly walking from one grandmothers house to another. As I've gotten older.....I've lost a lot of those family members that played so much into those memories...but those memories are precious and in keeping them it honors my family members that have gone home to the Lord.   Life keeps me from going up to WV as much as I did as child but I try to get up there twice a year.   Say what you wil and insert cliche WV "married to my cousin" joke here......it really is a beautiful place.  Enjoy the view...I grew up with them!










 


Last weekend we went to HowlOScream atBusch Gardens with our best friends Dan and Emily. We were beyond thrilled when the Frezzas joined us here in Virginia and love having them right up the road in Williamsburg. Jonathan, Dan and Emily have all been friends since their freshman year at Western Carolina Universtiy (before Jonathan and Em transferred to ECU) When Jonathan and I started dating I knew that Dan and Emily's approval of me was very important to Jonathan....they are like family to him and have become that way to me as well.....I passed!!!  We always have a good time together and HowloScream was no different.  The lines were awful of course but the rides and hautned houses were outstanding!



 Last week was diffcult on the "baby front"  A friend of mine had a miscarriage.  Under normal circumstances that would be sad but I find it even more difficult knowing and sharing her desire for a baby.  My heart is broken for her and I can empathasize with her pain.  When you are trying to have a baby it seems like everyone around you gets pregnant with no problem and has the easiest most complication free pregnancy ever and then something like this happens and shakes you to the core.  I have been in deep prayer and fasting for healing for her heart and body.  I  know that whatever God has in store for her, myself and any woman who's hearts desire is to become a mother is His plan.....even if we can't understand it His will above all else.

Psalm 139:13

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.



"I DIDNT READ THE BABY BOOKS"

So now that we are "working on it" (I WILL NOT be using the term "trying to conceive" or TTC ---its too clinical and it bothers me haha) I've begun to prepare both my body and my mind for pregnacy and WOW there is a lot of information out there.  My degree is in Health Education and Promotion so I have a pretty good foundation of knowledge in the pregnancy department but I still like to keep myself informed.  

I was at Barnes and Noble a few months ago and was absolutely amazed at how many "baby books" are out there.  As I was staring at the plethora of baby knowledge all I could think about was the scene from "Knocked Up" when Seth Rogen and Katharine Heigls characters were fighting about him not reading the "baby books" and he was freaking out saying

"I didn't read the baby books! What's gonna happen? How did anyone ever give birth without a baby book? That's right. The ancient Egyptians engraved What to Expect When You're Expecting on the pyramid walls!

I forgot about that!"

..and he has point. MILLIONS of women have given birth without the overload of information that American women in modern society have access to. So I've decided I want to keep my research to a minimum.  I dont want to read books that are going to be clinical and harp about all the things that are going to go wrong with my pregnancy and our baby. I want to read books that keep it real but are still witty and humorous because I have never been one to shy away from laughing at myself.  So on my way home from work tonight Im going to be picking up "Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth about Pregnancy and Childbirth" by Jenny McCarthy.  YES, singled-out, playmate, Jenny McCarthy.........like I said I want honesty, humor and entertainment.....not a textbookthat can rival an nursing students OBGYN book. I read an excerpt earlier and literatly laughed out loud reading the sample chapter so needless to say Im looking forward to it. I am a voracious reader so I fully anticipate finishing this book by Sunday! Anyone out there read it?

                   

"We are working on it"

What a lame blogger I have been, life got busy and I go slack. However, there are some changes taking place in our life and I have made a promise to myself that I will document them.  My blog is about to become a bit more like every other blog that women my age have. Ff you read one of my first posts I swore I wouldnt do this to you.......but I lied, and you can stop reading...I wont be offended.  Over the next months this blog will become more for me and less for my readers (all two of you ROCK). It will become a means for me to document the journey Jonathan and I are about to take, so I can look back and laugh and cry and smile. Most importantly it will be for our future children, so they know that their mommy and daddy wanted to remember EVERY second of the journey we took to have them in our life.  Yes world, we are officialy trying to have a baby! The name of my blog has a wee bit more symbolism now than it did 5 months ago.  My promise to my followers..I'll try to keep it funny, witty and dare to say things that no one tells you about becoming a mom without giving you TMI like so many blogs do. So now this annoucment is out there and I no longer have to smile and give a lame answer when people ask me when we are going to have a baby. Now my answer is..."we are working on it"   ---

1 Samuel 1:27–28"I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD."

Winter or Spring?

Here in Virginia Beach we are used to mild winters.  We rarely get snow and when we do its like Apocalypse Now! This winter has been abnormally warm, which is fine for my thin southern blood.  Today its supposed to be 70 degrees...on February 1st!  It got me thinking of Spring days and how much I love the season.  Its a time for new beginnings....everything is fresh and new.  Days like today make me wanna play hooky from work (yeah right, I have NEVER done that in my life) and go walk on the boardwalk.  Its a great time of year to enjoy to Va. Beach Oceanfront without feel like you are crammed onto the boardwalk like sardines.  I would give anything to be walking the beach with Jonathan and Cooper right now....salt in the air, toes in the sand, just enjoying God's Creation.   Of course a girl has gotta eat and there are tons of amazing restaurants on the oceanfront.  One my favorite indulgences is the Buffalo Shrimp at Mahi Mah's on 9th St.  They take jumbo shrimp, deep fry them then toss them in a SPICY buffalo sauce and serve them with a jalapeno and red pepper chutney and a creamy blue cheese dip to off-set the heat! That sounds like a great lunch to me, especially after walking the 4 mile boardwalk.  Sigh, I guess I'll go back to work now..............


Tell me, how do you like to spend the occasional spring day that happens the middle of winter?

Spring Fashion Preview

This past year has seen a HUGE change in my personal style!  The main reason being that I am now a stylist for Stella and Dot jewelry.  Prior my working as a stylist for Stella and Dot I was too lazy to care about what was in fashion, I wore "comfortable" Selling Stella and Dot has made me more aware of fashion.  Dont get me wrong, I wont wear something because its trendy or fashionable if it doesnt work for me.  But there are ways to incorporate the styles from fashion week into a normal daily wardrobe........so here is a little tidbit of what I'm hearing coming down all the fashion lines for Spring 2012.

TANGERINE AND NAVY BLUE COMBO IS IN!  Victoria Beckham (style genius--fierce fashionista with baby in tow and rocking Louboutin's) designed and wore this color blocked tangerine and navy dress that hit the market recently.  If the stripes are too much for you try a solid tangerine dress with cropped navy blazer or dark skinny jeans with a tangerine blouse and navy blue boyfriend blazer.  I love the combination of the two colors.......playful but refined at the same time.   Check out jewelry styling options below!  Bring on Spring!

Stella and Dot Millie Necklace $69 with Libby Gold Layering Necklace $69.

  Stella and Dot Serenity Small Stone Drops $34

Life right now

Wow!  I am packing my bags to head to Newport, Rhode Island very early Thursday morning to see Jonathan graduate from Naval Officer Development School.  The past five weeks seem to have flown by but the process of becoming a Navy Family has been a long one.  I know how to be a "navy brat", I have 20 years of experience with that (thanks for your time in, Dad) but a "navy wife" is a whole new experience to me.  Have the past five weeks been easy with my husband away?........yes and no.  Five weeks is NOTHING.......a mere blip of time in the world of a military spouse.  Have I missed Jonathan,  heck yeah, but I KNOW in the depths of my soul that this is what God has planned for our lives.  Im not naive enough to think that it will always be this easy.  There will come a day when Jonathan is out to sea for 9 months and I've got a teething 1 year old ,a dog ripping apart my couch,  a career to handle, and a home to keep in order all the while maintaing my sanity with my best friend and partner in crime gone and sometimes in danger.  You know what, hundreds of thousands and military spouses do it daily.......and I am humbled and honored to once again be in the ranks of a military family.  Words cannot express how proud I am of my husband.  Its been a tough road getting where we are, but we made it........lets start the next chaper!  HOOYAH!