A White Christmas

Christmas at home with my family was exactly what I needed to end this year on the best possible note.  Travis and I headed home on the 21st and spent the whole week up in Salt Lake City.  The drive felt long and it was so nice to make it home and just be able to relax.  I had planned to go out and do all these crazy things while we were in SLC, but instead, we were sort of just home bodies and spent some much needed time lounging around the house and playing with my niece.

Travis helped out with the Advent Calendar, we wrapped presents, did some Christmas shopping, played The Game of Life a thousand and one times, played Monopoly, and basically did what you're supposed to at Christmas time.

On Christmas morning, my sister brought over her daughter and the rest of her family so we could do the Christmas thing out our house.  This year's Christmas was so different than last year.  While she still doesn't understand Santa, she knew the second that they walked in that all the present in that part of the room where hers. It was so much fun to see how excited she got when she saw all of her new stuff.  Obviously, she's a little spoiled, but we didn't really care. 

 

It started to snow right as we started opening gifts.  It really couldn't have been more perfect.

 

Travis and I also sorta made out like bandits.  For one of my Christmas gifts to my family, I started working on a scrap book.  So many of our picutres just sit on social media and it's not nearly as fun to flip through the photos on your phone as it is in a carefully made scrap books with hand written notes and sweet memories attatched.  I got really lucky and my family got me a whole bunch of materials to work on the book.  I'm basically set for a long time...It was an expensive hobby to just pick up with ZERO supplies on hand, so it's so great to have all these gifts to jump into this big picture project. 

 

Of course, my family also set Travis up with some cool gifts.  My dad got him a buck knife and made him a hoster for one of the hand guns he inheritted.  I got him a tent so that we can go out camping when it warms up, my mom made him his very own wooby (a blanky to love forever), and my sisters got him ties. He said the ties might be his favorite out of all the gifts...

 

Overall, it was a great Christmas spend with all of the people that I love most.  I can't wait for many more years to come.  Of course, it's always hard saying goodbye, but I'm ready for the New Year, a new semester, and many more adventures in this awesome life I'm living.

 

How was your Christmas? Does your family have any cool traditions? Did you get any Christmas snow?



 

Up In The Sky

First of all...Yeah, sorry I've been a little bit absent.  I've been busy doing some scrapbooking, working, getting together all the Christmas presents and of course, I went home for Christmas, so there was also the travelling and the packing and all that jazz.

But today, I'm back and I've got lots planned for the new year.  I can't wait to share it with you.  Here's a little bit about what I've been up to for the past couple of weeks.

Giving gifts to grandparents is hard.  They have everything that they need.  They have lived there life and there isn't much they haven't done.  Well, Travis and I decided to give them an experience they hadn't ever had before. 

On The Strip in the area called the Quad between the Linq and the Flamingo, there's a big huge Ferris Wheel thing that was built last year.  From far away, you can't even tell it's moving because the big bulbs creep around the wheel so slow it takes 30 minutes to go all the way around. It takes you up over 500 feet and you can see the whole city all lit up on either side.

We didn't tell them what we were doing...We just took them out to dinner then headed towards the city.  It was a big surprise and such a cool experience to watch them enjoy it. 

 

 

We took a lot of pictures.  We even got lucky enough to get a whole little bulb thingy all to ourselves. His grandma was taking pictures on her flip phone and could not get over how beautiful it was.  We even got to see the Belagio fountain show from up in the sky.  It was incredible.  

When you're inside the bulb the lights on the wheel are constantly changing colors so it's hard to get really good picutres inside.  It kept throwing funny colors on us.  We mostly looked blue, but we did end up with a few good ones.

 

 

When we got near the top, we gave them a present.  Trav didn't even know about it, but I framed a photo of Travis in the Cessna and tied a bow on it with the cards that I made for our families for Christmas.  Needless to say, it was a prefect night.  It could not have gone any better.

I really think that this was the best gift that we could have given them. I sure hope that they agree.

 

Flying Solo

Oh. My. Heavens. 

This last week has been so beyond crazy.  I thought it was going to be a rough one with finals and all, but it ended up being just the opposite.  I got through my finals week with out dying, did a lot of studying, completed my assignments and my brain didn't explode, so I think I'll call that a win. 

I think it also helped that I ended up spending quite a bit of time with Travis.  It wasn't the plan.  I planned to actually restrict our time together, but it just didn't work out that way.  On Tuesday, Travis hit a huge mile stone in his aviation career. 

He got to fly solo. 

He's the little dark spot fueling up the plane.

That's him up there in that little Cessna, looking a bit like this:

(You can follow him on instagram to see his awesome pictures and videos all the time @in.thrust.we.trust.  Class name, I know.)

It was such a cool experience to be able to be there and watch it from the observation deck.  I stood their with his Grandparents and his Grandma said all these sweet things about him and I pretty much almost cried I was so proud of him and all the hard work that he has done. I can't even imagine how it felt for him to be up there in the sky all by himself having worked so hard.  I have learned so much about aviation because the guy is always studying.  In fact, I'm interested enough that I might go and get a private pilot license...

Also this week, I was lucky enough to meet up with another blogger!  Laura from Life with Lolo.  She was in Vegas for the week for a work convention so we planned a day to go eat at the Hash House A-Go-Go.  Amazing food by the way...If you're looking for fantastic breakfast place in Vegas, that's the place to go. 

Finals are over.  Travis is flying solo.  It's almost Christmas.  I have a place to live while I'm on my break from school.  I get to sleep in a bed that isn't a twin and ridiculously uncomfortable, and I got to meet an awesome fellow blogger.

Life is good 

Getting My Life Together

I love to give gifts as you can probably tell from my gift guide.  Well, as a blogger, my favorite gift to receive  is the gift of organization.   A planner.   I did a lot of planner shopping last year before I decided on my Plum Paper Designs planner.  I looked at Whitney English's Day Designer, I bought one from Target, and I drooled over some Erin Condern for a while.  When my friend Heather told me about Plum Paper around this same time last year, I looked up their shop on Etsy and I was hooked and I knew that was exactly what I wanted.     You can choose from 3 different organizers and tons of personalized covers. Each one comes with plastic protector sheets over the front and back covers, 12 months, note pages, full calendars, a holiday page, and tabs for each month.  You can get them personalized, purchase a monthly budget tracker, a meal planner, a student planner, basically anything you could possibly need.   I used mine to plan my studying, classes, work schedule, and my blogging.  I chose to get the format where the days are separated by Morning, Afternoon, and Evening.  It worked really well and really helped me keep track of my life.    Having a planner is really important to me.  I tried to manage my time using my phone, but it simply did not work for me.  This planner was the answer to all my organizational issues.  Sometimes I even have to pencil in my adorable boyfriend to makes sure I've got time for him...   As a lovely Christmas treat Plum Paper has given me a 10% off coupon code to share with you. Use code CHALK10 at check out ot recieve your 10% off.

Gift Giving Queen

Recently, I became the queen of gift giving.  I don't know how it happened, but all of a sudden, I just figured out how to give a gift that people really love. It's a pretty useful skill, if you ask me.    Today I've decicded to share this gift with you and provide you with a handy dandy gift guide ranging from gifts for you little sister to gifts for your significant other. I hope that my idea might help you all in your Christmas Shopping endeavors.  

For the women in your life.

Origami Owl Living Lockets.

I gave one to all the women in my family after I won a locket in a blogger giveaway.  They were a huge hit and fairly inexpensive. Totally worth it! $$

  Little Seasons Watercolors. This particular one is Shannon's from The Hallway.  Her sister-in-law does the portraits and they would be an amazing gift for a newly wed, a momma or really anyone! check out her site to see what she can do for you. $$   For the Men in your life. ManCrates are an amazing idea.  They are premade gifts that have "manly" products inside.  You can get whiskey glasses personalized and they come with things like pistachios and spherical ice-molds. The photo above is the Hickory Grilling Crate  $$$   The Dollar Shave Club  This could work for a man or a woman! Sign someone up for The Dollar Shave club.  Inexpensive razors ship directly to your home! They even have other products that have great reviews like their Shave Butter if you'd rather get something a little simpler.  After further investigation, I also found these great gift cards that you could give to your friends and family! Such a thoughtful gift that anyone could enjoy. $   Hobby/Lifestyle Gifts This is more of a tip than a particular item.  I like to pay attention to the little things that Travis says and shows me so that I can surprise him with little presents.  For example, he's pretty into aviation, so I got him this little patch thing having to do with it.  I'm also thinking about getting him these coaster that have the "six pack" (basically gauges for pilots) on them. That sort of stuff.  I shop at stores like the Army Navy Surplus Store for my dad and uncles! $/$$/$$$   As for the sisters/cousins/bestfriends in your life.   The Gunnysack has a bunch of great ideas for gifts in a jar! She even has printables to make it easy for you to creat the jars.  (photo was borrowed from her page with permission Along with this, she also has a few additional ideas for jar gifts.  They're simple and you can make them as personal as you'd like creating the perfect jar for whoever you'd like.  These could double as neighbor gifts as well! $/$$     Well, that's all I've got for you today! I may do another one of these later this week after I'm finished with all my Christmas shopping, but I'm pretty positive my family will peak...And I'm not about to let them know what I got for their Christmas gifts. I'm way too into surprises!   Merry Christmas and Happy Shopping!

The Realization that Christmas Cards are Not Lame

The topic of discussion today is Christmas Cards.  I've never sent one out before. Not even with my family.  In fact, prior to this year, I kind of thought that Christmas Cards were kind of silly.    To me it was like you were saying "Hey, look at how cute we are!"  And there was really no other point to them.  However, as I've gotten older I've seen how important it is to have pictures and fun memorabilia.  I also think it's kind of cool to see how families have grown or changed over the years.  We always enjoyed receiving Christmas Cards and sticking them around the door frame each year.   So, Travis and I are going to send out a Christmas Card.   I shopped a few designers such as the amazing Jess Kastler Design Studio, and other awesome stationary sites mostly via Etsy.  They were all so beautiful and I really wanted to use them, but then I remember that I'm in college and both Travis and I are living on little to zero income.  So...I started looking into some awesome DIY options.    Walmart has a really easy-to-use site where you can use their pre-loaded cards, add your own photo and they look really nice and they're $0.28 a print.  Super easy and very inexpensive for the poor and starving college student like me. 

   Now, the only thing I don't like about the Walmart option is that the cards are all done for you.  I'm a little bit more creative and I'd rather not have a card that someone else could have as well.  So instead of using Walmart.com I used Picmonkey to create a card. 

Now that the card is done, all I have to do is load it onto my flash drive, take it to Walmart and print it out on awesome glossy photo paper, stick em in some envelopes, and send them out to our closest friends and family.       I've also considered scrapbooking a few cards that are all unique with adorable hand-written notes in them...but I'm not sure that I'm that crafty.  We'll see! I'm excited to send out our card this year and I promise, I'll never make fun of family Christmas cards again.   

Are you sending out a Christmas Card?  Did you make it yourself?  Did you have an awesome designer create you a master piece?

A Different Situation

December 1st.     Today is my blog's birthday!

What? I cannot believe that a year has gone by since I created this new blog and turned over a new leaf for my life.. A lot has changed in 12 months...12 months ago today, I wrote this post.  I let you know that I'm that girl.  For the most part I still am.  But I think a few things have changed.  Okay...a lot of things have changed.  At this time last year, I was leaving school because I was broke and I was pretty sad about it.  I'd just quit the first job I'd ever had and I was feeling somewhat defeated.   Today I'm back at that job that I quit (it's still boring, but I have a new perspective...a job is a job is a job).  I am enrolled for next semester and I'm finally going to be able to take advantage of some of the tuition assistance the Army has to offer.  I'm in an amazing relationship with a man who respects me, has ambitious goals, and wants me to have my dreams as well.  And I'm not living at home! I hate the dorms, but it's a place to live and I don't have to worry too much about things like rent and groceries...so that's pretty alright I guess.     Overall, this past year of blogging (and honestly not being very consistent at it...) has been pretty great.  This "new" blog has been a great thing and I'm excited to see it grow and get ever better as time passes.   In store for the next few weeks?   1. New blog design 2. New Guest Posters 3. Basically a whole new blog concept.    I've been working really hard on a bunch of new posts and new stuff for the next year.  I hope that you'll enjoy!

Fashionably Surviving the Cold

It's cold in Las Vegas.   I hate to say those words so much.  I knew it was going to happen.  I knew that eventually, the cold would nip at my nose and would wish I had on a scarf.  And yet...I am still surprised that the cold has come.   Don't get me wrong, I love the boots, hats, and scaves just much as the next basic b*tch....But man, why does it have to be in the 40s?!  Las Vegas is supposed to be warm.  Yesterday morning when I left for work, the grass had frost on it.  FROST!  Later this week I'm going up to Salt Lake...I'm afraid to see what the weather is like up there, to be honest.   In light of the recent shift in the weather, I've put together a few of my favorite cold weather outfits.  It gets boring to always wear jeans just because it's cold out, so a couple years ago, I embraced the cold and thought of some ways to keep dressing cute and not freezing my bum off.
I learned to add tights, scarves, and hats to keep the cold away,  It also helps to wear dresses and jackets made from quality materials.     Recently, I was lucky enough to recieve a product from eShakti.    I don't know if you know this about me...but I'm kind of in love with 50s inspired fashion, and that is exactly what the eShakti store provides.  Not only that, you can get everything custom sized.  You can change the length, neck lines, and decide whether or not it has pockets.  Honestly, I should have gotten one that was a little smaller.  But you live and you learn!     Even if you aren't all that into 50s inspired style, there are plenty of options that look very modern and tasteful.  I'm in love and I can't wait to order my next dress.  

You can use the coupon code chalkituptobetterluckto get 10% OFF when you shop eShakti valid from 11/18/2014 – 12/18/2014 

Get a head start on that Christmas Dress shopping and head over to eShakti right now!

Hot Chocolate and Bubbly Bartenders

Last night there was a meteor shower!  Trav and I had plans to go to a museum last night, but shortly after discovering there was a meteor shower, plans changed.  We decided to take a drive up Mount Charleston and watch meteors from the bed of his truck. 

We knew that it was going to be cold.  But oh man...it was cold.  On the way up the mountain, we stopped in at the little lodge up Kyle Canyon.  It's a cute little place with a little pound out front that was nearly frozen over... We decided to go into the bar and hang out for a little bit before we braved the freezing cold out there.  

We ate some delicious chili and hot chocolate, Trav had a few drink, and we chatted with the bubbly bartenders.  We cuddled up next to the fire for a little bit.  On a relatively unrelated note, I also sat down at the piano and showed Trav that I have a random hidden talent and can poorly play the piano. 

Eventually, we sucked it up and headed out into the cold.  We drove down the road to Lee Canyon and pulled over at Robber's Roost.  It's amazing how we were less than an hour from the city and yet it was like we could see every star in the sky. 

As you can see, we were wearing basically all the cold weather clothes that we had, but the cold definitely found its way into our little cuddled up bundle.  Neither of us really had clothes for the cold...we moved to Vegas in the Summer! We thought of a few things that may have made it a little warmer a little too late, but we still had a great time out there.  It is truly so incredible to stare up at the vastness of outer-space and just...think about how freaking big it is.  We talked about how we feel so small and insignificant...and we talked about how we have to create our own significance...That we have to make our dash count for us...because the universe is indifferent. 

We obviously think a little too much.  But that was my Monday night with my man...I think I might be spoiled. 

We're Breakfast People

My little California Vacation, although it was prompted by a very sad thing, was actually kind of fun.  It was pretty great getting to see the place that Travis grew up. He took me out to breakfast at the Swing Inn in Old Town. Old Town is a really cool area with all kinds of different restaurants and neat buildings.  Even better, the Swing Inn is a place that Trav and his family used to go when he and his brother were kids.  It was perfect too.  Because we're Breakfast People
 
This is us outside of the restaurant.  Unfortunately, we always take picutres selfie style, so you can never actually see what fun adventure we're on.  Good thing I told you, huh?

Also, I got to give Travis a gift I have been dying to give him.  When my family visited two weeks ago, my dad brought down the holster that he made for Trav.  He totally knew he was going to get it.  That sort of made me sad, I love surprises. But he was definitely not disappointed.

 

While we were there we went out to dinner and spent some much-needed time out together.  It's hard when you're stuck in all that grief.  It was nice to get out and just be silly for a little bit. We're drinking a milkshake at Red Robin.  It was supposed to have alcohol in it, but I saw how much baileys she put in it...so much for an "Adult" shake... :P

 

We decided to take advantage of our nice clothes and took a few pictures together.  I don't know if you can see it on my face, but oh man...I'm so in love. I know I loved being single, but I love being loved more.  I guess I was just waiting around for the right one to come along...and here he is. All perfect in his Ray Bans and tie that he had to YouTube to tie...And even then it was all wrong. Don't tell him, but I think he's kind of got a hold on me..

And just for fun...While we were doing some work getting things cleaned out and business taken care of, we found all kinds of Trav's old stuff.  Sports jerseys, baby clothes, picutres, and this gold right here.  This is his Indiana Jones hat from Disneyland and his boyscout uniform from when he was 9.  If you have liked my page on facebook you may have already seen this gem.

 

Yeah...I fit into a 9 year old boy's shirt.  A little sad and a little happy at the same time. Kind of like the entire time I was there...It's hard.  We're working through it all, but it's hard.  I'm just glad that we got to spend a lot of time together and I was able to go down there and be able to stand by Trav's side while he goes through this incredibly hard thing. He's kind o fmy hero right now...I suppose it just takes time.

 

How was your weekend? Do anything fun?

Lorrie

Over the past 5 days, I've been in Murrieta, California with Travis. His mom passed away a week ago today...That's the reason that I've been all about living life to the fullest.  You just never know when it could be rapidly taken from you.  It has also taught me not to take the people who are in my life for granted. 

 

All too quickly, it can just be over...I only met his mom Lorrie one time.  I met her when Trav and I had only known each other for a a little over a week...Looking back, I'm so glad that I met her.  It's after going to her service, I know what a truly amazing person she was and I can only hope to learn from her example.  I think the most amazing thing that I learned about her in the time that I spent there with Trav and his family was that she saved everything.  She has pictures, her kids old sports jerseys, paper work, old family trinkets, things for her childhood...everything.  It has inspired me to make plans to go home and get together all of my random junk that I've kept throughout the years like bagage claim tickets and receipts from the big things I've bought and actually do something with it all. That may seem silly, but because she kept all that stuff, she has some amazing keepsakes for Trav and his brother.  She was also really organized.  I could learn a lot from her.    At her funeral, the city that she worked in gave her a proclomation.  This was probably the most inspiring part of it all. Residents of the city were calling the city insisting that they do something to honor her memory. As the marketing director at Chick Fil-a she created relationships with her customers.  I was completely blown away by the number of people who came up to Travis and shook his hand and said "I was a customer at Chick Fil-A."   That is the kind of person I want to be.  Some who leaves such an impression on other that it actually does make the world a better place. With that being said, a Go Fund Me account has been set up for donations to help the family...my family with the cost of her services. If you feel like living by Lorrie's example, please click the link and donate what you can.  It means more to Lorrie's family than you can possibly imagine.    If you live in the Murrieta/Temecula/Riverside ish area, there will be a fundraiser on Novebember 20th at Chick Fil-A in Murrieta where Lorrie worked. A portion of the entire day's profits will go to family.   We'll miss you, Lorrie...I wish I could have had the chance to get to know you better.

When Things Go Right

After I wrote all those goals and my little list of things that I'll be working in the next little while, I wasted no time in getting to work.  It is so satisfying to get down to business and acutally do what I tell myself I'm going to.   For example, last night, I told myself I was going to wake up a little bit early before class to do laundry and clean today.  Usually I go to bed knowing that I'm kidding myself with those thoughts.  I was up late FaceTiming with Travis and was pretty sure that thought was a complete lie to myself.   But wouldn't you know it, this morning when my alarm went off at 05:30 I got out of bed, did my hair, got my clothes together to wash, cleaned my room, and changed the wash to the dryer on my way out the door.  Not only that, I got home from class in time to shower and blow dry my hair.  I even had some time to put way all the clothes I washed and get my next load ready to toss in the washer.  When I walked out the door, my room was clean, my bed was made and I was early to work.   I think that when you work on certain aspects of your life and improve yourself, other parts of your life just sort of tend to follow suit.   I got my butt into the gym two days in a row.  I have been drinking a ridiculous amount of water, and I'm finally not behind in my classes.  I'm actually right where I should be.  It's amazing...Maybe it's just this full moon...It'll probably all disappear next week and I'll be back to being an unorganized mess.   I have more to say, but I'm not sure how to organize it all into a real life blog post.  I am currently working on creating posts for...wait for it...the entire year of 2015.  It's not going as well as I hoped and my cutesy blogging ideas are just not working like I want them to.  So forgive me.  My brain is blog-fried.  Hopefully I've got some good things for you in the coming year!   Here's to fresh starts!

A Collections of Moments

Life is fragile.  
I think sometimes we forget that. We act like this day we're living right now isn't even going to be a memory a few months from now.  Sometimes, that may be true.  It's not likely I'm going to remember wanting to pull my hair out over studying for all my tests, but I'll probably remember the A that I get on the test.  Moments are fleeting but it's a collections of moments that make up your entire life.  I don't know about you, but I think I want my moments that I string together and look back on to be some good ones. 
 In an effort to improve the quality of my collections of moments I made a list... I kinda love lists. And this one is mine.  It consists of the things that I'd like to complete in the near future. Near can be interpreted as anywhere from a week from now to 5 years from now. 
1) Toss out the clothes & shoes that I've had since the 8th grade and buy adult clothes 2) Pass this semester
3) Be a good blogger.  Not because I wanna be blog-famous.   4) Read books just for fun.
5) Embrace my natural hair color and quit dying it. 6) See more live music. 
7)  Volunteer.  Love.  Give. Share.
8) Stop eating pizza Lunchable and Bagel Bites. 
9) Take care of my body. 
10) Start a collection so that when I'm old I have something of virtually zero value to pass onto my children.  
11) Write some music 
12)  Get married and have some kids (kids can come later than the "near future" timeline...)
13)  Let go of the things that don't enhance my life in any way.
14)  Spend more time without my phone in my hands. 
15) Don't just write lists like these. Actually do the stuff I put on it. 
Right now my life is sort of crazy and I'm not exactly sure what to do with everything that's happening.  I'm trying to just take this lesson with me.  I'm not going to be on this Earth for forever.  I have to make every single day and every moment that passes by count for something.  
What does your string of moments look like?

November At a Glance

This awesome thing just happened where I completed my homework for the entire week (and the beginning of next week) And I feel so good. I updated my "November-at-a-glance" calendar and It hurt my heart.  Ouch.  Gonna be a rough month.  However, it really helps to stay organized.  I had a little lapse there earlier in the semester...But I'm back on track and keeping my grades exactly where they should be.  Now that I have a pre-loaded excuse for being a the worst 5-days-a-week blogger ever, you don't have to be shocked when you see that I haven't posted in a while.  With that being said...I've got some November goals.  

 

My goals aren't that specific, but I think that for this month I need a broad target.  Hopefully I can stay on top of all my goals and see how things go!

 

Making It

Well, I'm not sure if I was ever all that clear about this, but I've returned to work.   My schedule for the past week has been pretty dang crazy.  It's like I haven't had time to do much of anything at all.  That's part of why I got stuck on a little Travis Hiatus. I'm not allowed to see the boyfriend all week unless I complete everything on my to-do list...   Scary right? I don't know if I got behind or if my teachers are just sadistic and tried to make this happen to me. Regardless...Dis is ma lyfe.   However, it feels good to be back at work. I'm working with the same company where I started my first job:  CaptionCall.  It's a pretty awesome company that works to caption phone calls for those who have a hard time hearing.  The only reason I really left was, well, boredom.  But it feels pretty great to be back. I'm surprised how much I actually missed working for them!   Balancing work, school, boyfriend, and the band is going to get increasingly difficult.  I already registered for my classes next semester and I can feel the head ache setting in.  I just keep telling myself that all of this is an investment in my future and worth it.  All the time and money spent on this little life of mine...it's worth it.   Do you have anything you tell yourself that gets you through the day? I have a few little mantras that I say that help me succeed.

The Midterm Blues

Right now, my brain is so fried from writing an essay (that still isn't done, in case you were wondering...Due in exactly 24 hours) that I simply had to take a break.  I had to write something that isn't horribly labored. Maybe blogging a little will help the creative juices flow and make it easier to crank out a stupid "evaluation essay".
That whole intro was basically just me trying to convince myself that this procrastinating is necessary for my mental health.  It's most likely a lie I generated to make me feel better, but...maybe it will work. 
This is the part of the semester were everything sort of...seems to fall apart.  On Saturday, I cleaned my room down to organizing my drawers to avoid working on this paper that has been giving me so much trouble.  If you know how I am about cleaning, that should be a pretty impressive thing.  I guess I should hand it to myself, at least I'm being a productive procrastinator.  I don't only not do what I need to, I complete something else that I was putting off. 
However, Travisland is still fantastic. 

On Sunday, he stopped by my weekly gig at the Arts Factory. After that, we went out for pizza at the Four Queens hotel on Fremont Street.  Let me tell you something about this pizza...It was freaking amazing.  It cost about $18 for a 16 inch pizza that we demolished...The coolest thing about our little pizza excursion, is that the place is really quite unsuspecting.  You wouldn't even really think to order pizza at the restaurant.  Luckily, we know a pizza connoisseur that sent us to the right place.   

Well, now that I have stayed up too late and made some progress on my paper, this blog post can come to a close.  I hope that you all have a wonderful rest of your week. 

When We Make Plans

October is a big month for me.  It marks an anniversary that sometimes I want to forget altogether...But other times, I remember as being a huge life changing event that sent me on a path I wouldn't have picked.  And it's better than the one I did.
In October of 2011, I was preparing to leave for Marine Corps Boot Camp.  I was so ready.  I was going to make it.  I wasn't scared.  I knew I was doing the right thing for me.  Unfortunately, I made the decision to go for a little bike ride.  That little bike ride down a mountainside completely changed my fate for the rest of my life.  At that point in time, my plan was as follows:   Marine-->Wife-->War-->Mommy etc.  
Well, it has been three years now and I'm none of those things and I don't think I could be any happier that my plans didn't quite work out.  Sure, sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to be an active duty Marine, but I found something else.  I created a new career for myself.  One that I'm almost definitely better off in.  Not only that, I was inspired to go to college after my little break from life.  Part of the reason I chose to join the military was that I wasn't ready to go to college.  Breaking my arm gave me some time to grow up and get ready for it. 
I didn't end up marrying that boy and living with him happily ever after.  Again, sometimes I wonder what it would have been like...but where I sit right now, I'm happy that we didn't stay together.  We probably would have had a few months of wedded bliss before the realization that a mistake had been made... Right now, my injury is a faint scar and a distant memory.  Sometimes my fingers go numb or my arm tingles...but I don't really notice any limitations. My plans that didn't work out are lessons that I've learned.  Life is amazing for me.  I don't think I have ever been so happy.  If I could go back, the only thing I would do is hit myself on the head.  The bike ride was a pretty stupid idea.  But hey...shit happens.  I suppose this is where I say that I'll chalk it up to better luck. 
I suppose the only thing that's left to do...is ride a bike.  I haven't in three years.  If I ever do that again, I'll let you know how it goes.