Now Dating a College Freshman

We had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate the last day before classes started at our friend, Jeff's birthday.  A delicious BBQ, yummy birthday cake, and some brew with friends were perfect ways to top off the day.  We ran through a rainstorm with heavy winds (yikes) with our friends Hannah and Anthony.  Ryan was upset to have left the party early, so I was really glad that our friend Troy invited him over to continue the end-of-the-summer festivities.

Ryan was really excited to meet other Wisconsinites at the party.  That's one really great aspect of military life- seeing other people from your home state. I get excited when I meet people from Wisconsin or even Minnesota and a Wisconsin license plate makes my heart go all a'flutter.

 The next day was the first day of classes for a lot of students, whether it be Kindergarten or the start to a college degree.  Although I was content with sleeping in the next morning, I definitely wanted to snap some pictures of the new college freshman in our household...my husband!
Also take note that he's rocking a Badger tee, even though he's going to school in Montana.
#bleedredandwhite

 After four years in the Marine Corps, Ryan is taking advantage of the G.I. Bill and going to school in the town that we now live in.  I think he's interested in becoming a high school teacher, but for now he's tackling his gen eds.  I'm particularly excited about his creative writing class and how it's focusing a lot on poetry.  Maybe I'll get some love poems out of this gig ;)

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My anniversary is coming up

Our second year anniversary is rapidly approaching and if you don't know I have a mad love the Ellen DeGeneres Show.  Neil Patrick Harris, one of my favorite actors, was recently on and shared his 40th birthday experience, albeit a few months early.

  The gears in my head started to turn and all the creative juices started working. Originally Ryan and I were happy with settling for dinner at home and we're doing a joint gift of getting a new TV, but it definitely doesn't hurt to be a little creative with love. Our budget is pretty tight with paying car loans and my students loans, but I think it's a welcome challenge to work with a budget.  I could put together a scavenger hunt but I also don't have a ton of cash.  Any ideas?

For those who are married or dating, what did you do to celebrate your second anniversary or any anniversary?

Ryan's Birthday Shenanigans

Omg does this not remind you of Gatsby? I lurve to design graphics :)

My wonderful husband had his birthday last week and it's his first one back in the states.  Last year he spent his 21st in Afghanistan, so I tried my best to make it a little bit more special.  That's easier said than done with two very different schedules, but we were fortunate to have it all work and enjoy dinner out together.  My favorite was being able to snuggle up on the couch and watch my favorite movie, Django Unchained and also watch for the first time, Gangster's Squad.  

 Beer tasting kit that was available at Target! So much fun!

 Beer Coasters

 Hand-painted present bags

 

I put different presents in each bag that I made, include a copy of Django Unchained.

How do you like to celebrate your significant others' birthday?

2013 Valentine's Day Presents for the Hubs

Ryan is weird about surprises.
By weird, I mean he ruins theme epically ;)
I'm just kidding, well sort of.  I ordered him a new phone case that he's had his eye on for quite some time and of course, Amazon packaged it with a book I had ordered.  So although I was trying to be subtle with a box that was supposed to be "empty," Ryan grabbed as soon as he got a glimpse of this mysterious thing in the box.  So with that, he ruined one of his first surprises so in suit, I told him what his second surprise was as well.

The second surprise was one that had continually been bugging me and this was Ryan's wedding band.  When we got married, we didn't have very much money.  So Ryan purchased both of them, just plain bands.  While he was deployed, I saved up some money and had a custom ring made for him.

Johan from Jewelry by Johan on Etsy

It was absolutely stunning, made out of metal and wood by the Etsy shop, Jewelry by Johan.  Of course, I didn't know Ryan's ring size and it wasn't exactly convenient to have his finger sized while defending our country in Afghanistan.  I did a little detective work and with the help of Kay's Jewelers was able to find his ring size.  I really do applaud them though because I didn't know for sure where Ryan purchased our bands, so I couldn't even give them a city.  All I could say is where he was currently stationed in California and the surrounding cities.  This was all through e-mail and a couple of days later, I received an e-mail back with ring size.  I was so delighted.  I even found a handmade heart-shaped wood box, where the lid slides perfectly into place, and I kept the ring there until he returned from his deployment.

Ryan loved the ring, but it was a little too bulky for his taste.  The ring he had worn for the past year was very slim and this one was significantly wider.  So sad to say, he rarely wore this new ring.  I was disappointed and ultimately a little pissed off.  I became determined to find him a better alternative, one that he would actually wear.

If you've been to my blog before, you're familiar with my hometown being in Wisconsin.  That's where Ryan and I grew up, where we met, where we had the opportunity to date and ultimately I'm a proud Sconnie.  I was browsing Etsy pages and I came across a Wisconsin ring designed by Nicholas at The Ring Tree.  I became completely enamored with the idea of having that be the new band for Ryan.  So I ruined the surprise by showing him the sample ring on the site and he loved it.  It was the perfect solution because the ring is so symbolic of who we are and where our families are from.

The Ring Tree by Nicholas on Etsy

Isn't it a handsome ring?  Nicholas was wonderful to work with and we ended up getting it as a silver coin option since my husband wears it on a daily basis.  Nick actually suggested it and the ring has such great craftmanship.  He had pictures up as soon as he received the coin and kept in touch with us throughout the entire process.

Ryan received the ring the other day and he now wears his new wedding band daily.  It makes me so happy and I love the ring, it just looks so sharp! 

With two surprises down, I still have the tradition of the two cards and I may have a couple tricks up my sleeve.  

Maybe this bartending kit?  Ryan loves to make mixed drinks now.

 

 or a few books?

 

Admittedly, I picked this one up for myself since my husband read it on deployment.  I swear, Ryan is one of the hardest people to shop for.  I think I've found myself something awesome and he's already purchased it for himself or he's already read it.  Oy vay.

What are you getting your honey buns for Valentine's Day? :)

Thanks for Reading!

You'll be seeing a lot more of Autumn from "The Unreal Life" on my blog, so make sure to check out her page!

Looooong Distance

Photo Credit: Images by Jaimie

My best-friend and I have been in a long distance relationship for over two years.

My husband is my best-friend and "best-friend" as in soul-mate because let's face it, Ryan would rather stick a pencil in his eye than stand in line at Victoria's Secret or see a new Broadway Show.  However he is my absolute best-friend and I love him for many reasons, but you'll find out one of those many reasons with this post.

  

This past week has been challenging.  Scratch that, the past two weeks.  It's just one of those times when things just aren't going your way.  To give you an idea of what my job is without getting into details, here's kind of what I do:

 

So to say the least, it requires a lot of time studying and 100% perfection.

It's stressful and I have spent a lot of time focusing on that.

Things weren't going my way the past two weeks, no matter how much time I was putting in and it was frustrating.  I started feeling down on myself and my confidence was severely lacking after awhile.  My husband spent our entire Thanksgiving break motivating me.  I know it sounds silly but he would occasionally remind me of my past accomplishments and just give me affirmations.  He put so much energy into making sure that I felt better and today went off without a problem.  I had to re-take a test and although it wasn't flawless, I got through.  

I also took a quiz on new material and got 100%

BOOYAH

My husband couldn't have been happier.  It's absolutely wonderful to be able to share in that type of happiness with someone.  It wasn't a fake or planned type of happiness, he's genuinely happy that I'm so excited. So to say the least, I have an amazing husband (yes, I'm bragging) but he's also a wonderful partner.  We aren't without our occasional fights, arguments, and moments of deep loathing stares, but we work through all of it.

We're a mil-to-mil couple, meaning that we're both in the military.

He's in the Marine Corps and I'm in the Air Force, and if you know anything about the different branches sometimes working together, the Marine Corps and Air Force don't overlap.

So Ryan is stationed in one place and I'm somewhere else.

This is where you can insert the whole, "well that totally sucks."

Why yes, yes it does.

It's been like this for two years.  I'm either in school and he's stationed at a USMC base, or when I became active duty, we're at two different locations.

It's not like this was some kind of surprise...

If the military wanted you to have a spouse, they would have issued you one.

It comes with the territory.  You could both be in the same branch and never be at the same base.  It all just depends. We're actually incredibly fortunate for multiple reasons but Ryan and I did plan on when/how we got married due to our military lifestyle. 

However, the good news is that Ryan is almost done!!

We're fortunate to be stationed fairly close to each other so that we can visit twice a month.

Thanksgiving was a treat because we had four days together.

Soon, we'll get to be together fo-eva.

I know, it sounds like the lyrics to a bad love song, but I am sooo excited.

We finally get to be together and just be married.

One of the most challenging aspects of being married and long distance would be the  

constant pick-up of where we last left off.

It's easier to get into petty arguments because you're not used to the way someone does something,

but on the flip side, it can be easier to ignore certain things because you don't want to waste the time you have together with fighting.

It'll be an adjustment, but something that I'm definitely looking forward to and quite possibly the best birthday/Christmas present I could get :)

\\\in other news///

 

I just saw Lawless and it was intense.  I don't do well with graphic violence/blood and there was lots of it.  The movie is dark and covers a family who sells their own batch of moonshine during Prohibition.  There were many parts where my roommate let me know when it was okay to look at the screen again.  

Despite all of the violence, Tom Hardy was in it and I adore him.

Did I ever tell you guys about when I met him?

They were doing premieres on military bases for the movie, Warrior, and he 

literally sat right next to me in the theater.

We were c-h-a-t-t-i-ng. I was probably 50 shades of red (haha get it) and the man is gorgeous and his accent, whoa man.  But anyways, I'm a huge fan and The Dark Knight Rises comes out on December 4th!  Oh hello Bain.

x-o-x-o

Gifts for the Stud Muffin In Your Life

People know me for my exuberant smile

Smiling's my favorite- Elf

I couldn't come up with a better lead-in for a holiday post than recognizing one of my all-time favorite holiday films.  Therefore I'm breaking the ice on my holiday-themed blogging.

Ta-DA

I love Christmas.

Always have, always will.

However, this is the first Christmas that my husband and I will actually be in the same country and conveniently, it's our second Christmas being married.

Oh murr-age

In the magical land of Target commercials and Macy's ads, 

I would be the perfect spouse with stationary containing 

the most perfect ideas on what to get my husband for Christmas.

Truth be told, I have no clue.

Last year I got him numerous gifts throughout his deployment but focusing on Christmas,

I got him Walking Dead: Season 1, an iPod Touch and I'm sure other things.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, please refer to my care package blog post.

It all started to blend after awhile.

So I went straight to the source.

Kim: Babe, what do you want for Christmas?

Ryan: I just want to be with you (he's finishing up his USMC contract).

Kim: Well that's swell but seriously, what do you want?

...crickets

Ryan: oh idk

That's a text message, my husband doesn't verbalize text-lingo acronyms.

But you see my problem.

I went straight to the source with no results.

It's like shopping for my parents.

C'mon people, cut me some slack.

I think people like to challenge me but really, if you want something, just let me know.

He's been wanting a new computer since he'll soon be a new college student (yay academia!)

We're Mac people so I was going to get him a Macbook Pro but I already have one and so we could share for now but that's always a strong contender.

What about other ideas or the ever looming "stocking stuffer."

My mom Santa would leave adorable VS underwear and Bath and Body Works products in my stocking. 

Now thinking about it, I shouldn't have crossed out "mom." The thought of an old dude putting panties into a stocking for a high school girl is really not quite right.

So I could get my husband some new boxer briefs and socks.

Did anyone see the new issues of Cosmo and Glamour?

Dawson said that guys love receiving that kind of stuff so that they don't have to buy that themselves.

Gawrsh, I'm lost...help :/

Maybe I'll put together a great montage of gifts for newlyweds :)

xoxo

Show & Tell: How I Met My Husband

How I met Your Father My Husband

1. Tell us about how and when you met your love and what attracted you most to him.

I met Ryan while on a marketing class trip during high school.  We went to the Wisconsin Dells together.  We dated for like two weeks and we parted ways.  Staying friends, we ended up going through our separate journeys but staying in touch.  While I was in college, Ryan was finishing his first deployment with the Marine Corps.  He started chatting me up on Facebook while he was gone and we ended up hanging out all of my winter break and he took me to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball that year.  He's really fun and incredibly attractive.  I just like being goofy around him and although sometimes we fight, I'm still crazy about him.

2. Show us the very first {or one of the first} pictures you guys ever took together. {Feel free to show us more than one}

2011 Marine Corps Birthday Ball in Las Vegas

3. Tell us some of your favorite memories that you two had together.

I went to my first Marine Corps Birthday Ball with him in Las Vegas, I braved a blizzard after my last set of first semester finals to see him after he came home from his first deployment, he said "I love you" for the first time in a phone call two seconds after he dropped me off at LAX- it went something along the lines of, "I forgot to say something..."
A lot of my favorite memories with him are really casual times when we're just having fun.  When we lived at Camp Pendleton, we swam in our local pool and we were so excited to have goggles to swim with and I'm pretty sure the little kids there loved us.  We're truly kids at heart.
 
4. Tell us your favorite qualities about this man, what makes him "the one." 

Ryan is so genuine and caring.  He cares for his family and friends so deeply.  He can be brutally honest, but you know that if something is horribly amiss, he'll definitely let you know.  Even though he's younger than me, he's definitely more mature.  I'm the dreamer and he's the realist.  He keeps me grounded and he really is my better half.  He always encourages me to cultivate new ideas but he's there to make sure they're realistic.  He's also really sexy and that is a definite plus ;)

5. Tell us what your "date nights" typically look like.
I like to go "all Pinterest" on him but they usually revolve around a lot of relaxing in pajama shorts and sweatpants, watching TV shows on Netflix, and occasionally going out to dinner.  Since we're often separated due to our military obligations, we just like spending time with each other and being goofy.
 

  

Friday Letters

I know, it's Saturday.

But I was busy, and by busy I found these awesome iPhone games and I just..

COULD.NOT.STOP.

Dear Diner Dash, Cooking Dash and Hotel Dash, your iPhone app trifecta is turning into a serious addiction.  This is not healthy.  I cooked up delicious virtual meals at a rapid speed until 3 am this morning...why dear god?  It must be in this need I have to be a people pleaser of customer service.  

Clearly my hotel service, virtual waitressing skillz, and culinary talents needed to be expressed.

Dear Neighborhood Swimming Pool,  Thank you for existing.  You are conveniently located right down the road and my husband and I have enjoyed some serious mawwaige time together while swimming.  We even bought goggles at the MCX today because clearly, diving for rings cannot be experienced properly without the use of sight underwater.

Dear Husband, You are super adorable.  Thank you for surprising me with a milkshake.  I seriously have loved our super affordable stay-at-home dates as of recently.

Dear F'real Milkshake, You are the best fast food invention of mankind.  All I have to do is insert my little milkshake cup of choice and from there I select of thickness of my soon-to-be shake.  It was scrumptious and I plan on purchasing more of you in the future.

Dear Florida Georgia Line, Thank you for making the song, "Cruise."  Both my mother and father, texted and Facebook messaged me with their insistence that I listen to the song and I love it! I plan on listening to it obsessively.

Dear Wisdom Teeth, We are not on speaking terms.  I will continually whatever the hell I want but I will just brush you on an obnoxious level.

Dear Daily's Beverages, You are like an adult Capri Sun.  A little sugary, but I've also bought a few different brand versions and I am excited to taste them all!  Ahh adulthood + marketing, you never fail me.

I hope y'all are enjoying your weekend.

Friday Letters #1

Ohmylanta, I've become addicted to link-ups

but let's be real, they're so much fun!

Dear Husband, I'm sorry I've been an Asian Tornado all week.  Thank you for being patient with me and being a wonderful husband.

Dear Holly, If you jump on that screen one more time you're going to get a spanking and no more Frosty Paws the rest of the weekend.  Now don't start crying little miss, no you may not go play with the neighbors' dogs.

Dear Neighbors, If you haven't been paying attention to the weather forecast, it's going to be a hot one today. Please pick up all of the poop that your three large dogs have left behind. It's starting to smell somethin' fierce.

Dear Lompoc Rentals, I'm not sure what y'all have in your water up there but this is the slowest service I have ever experienced in terms of trying to find a place to live.  Thank you for making this the most tedious week ever.  I also never want to rent a house that's not on a military base ever again.

Dear Ann & Angie, Thank you for making my week. Y'all are gems :)

Dear Mom, Thank you for always knowing what to say and just always making me feel special.

Dear MIL, Thank you for being so kind, despite my stupidity in sending two Amazon packages to my old school address, thus getting forwarded to you.  Your patience is greatly appreciated.

Dear Paint on the Walls, You were half-assed when they put you on the walls.  For that, I am sorry.

Dear Team USA, Nice job.