An End

Blogging is weird.  I was just thinking about all the things that share here and how I try very hard to be as genuine as possible.  I want to show you who I really am through my writing and the things that I share, however I also think it's important to keep some things private.  So...That would explain this next bit of news being a bit of a surprise to you.

 

Over the past few weeks, I started to feel less than happy in my relationship.  Travis is great. He's an amazing person with incredible and big dreams.  But we could not stop arguing.  It was like neither of us could do anything right.  It was getting to the point where I was thinking more negative thoughts about our relationship that positive ones. I wasn't talking about my problems and I was honestly just feeling like we weren't fitting together like we did when we first met.  The big thing for me was I felt like our personalities were clashing in a way that was not likely to ever change...

 

So we broke up. 

 

And I'm sad.  Even though it was pretty much my idea...It's hard to walk away from someone that you really care for, but I truly think this will be best for both of us.  We had so much fun together over the past six months and went through a whole lot more than I ever thought possible, but I suppose we just have to look at it as a learning experience.  I learned so much from Travis and I'm so happy to have met him.  I hope that he feels the same way...It's truly too bad that it didn't work out.

 

I just hope that he will find it in his heart not to be mad and just realize that we'll both be better off this way...

6 Ways to Show Your Love

Valentines Day is coming up and everyone is all a buzz with what they're going to be doing and all that fun stuff.  Well, I still have no idea what Trav and I are going to be doing, but to me all that matters is showing him how much I love him.  Some people have a hard time showing affection.  Well, allow me to help.  These are the things that I Travis and I frequently do to show our love for each other.  

1.  We give each other compliments. Travis always notices when I'm wearing my hair different or I put on a special outfit.  He's sure to let me know that I look especially pretty or that I did something well.   2.  We support each others hopes and dreams.  On Tuesday, Travis had a check ride and I wasn't busy, so I went to the airport (it's a small airport with an observation deck) and hung out in the terminal for several hours to watch him fly.  It can be a little bit boring for me sometimes...I've spent hours waiting in that terminal, but I try to show him that I care about what he's up to.  The airport is becoming one of my favorite places to read.  3.  We help each other study.  This might seem silly, but we both have a lot of work to do with school.  So I let Trav teach me about critical engines and he helps me when I forget the Order of Operations.  Consequently, I've learned a lot about aviation.  Doing this is showing that it doesn't matter how we spend our time together, just as long as it's together.  4.  We don't skimp on the hugs and kisses and cuddles.  I never realized how important it can be to just hold each other tight.  Sometimes I'll get frustrated with Travis or I'll randomly be mad because that's what women do and he'll give me a big, tight squeeze and the anger just melts away.  Sometimes all I need is cuddling on the couch to know exactly how much I'm loved.  5.  I give gifts.  So...I'm a gifter.  I just love to give things.  I love surprises and I'm a huge fan of having a present behind my back to give to Trav.  It's not always something big (or really ever) but by giving Travis something like a couple packets of tabs for his books is showing him that I was listening when he said for the 10th time he needed to tab out his book, so I bought him some tabs and you would have thought I'd given him a gold watch.  It's the little things.  6.  We say it.  I tell Trav I love him every day.  Literally every day at least one time.  I'm not worried that he'll forget.  I know that he knows.  But sometimes you just need to say it.  It just feels good to hear it and good to say it.   It isn't hard to show your love.  Sometimes all it takes is a little squeeze of the knee or a reassuring look.  It's an important part of every relationship and I hope that this Valentines day you'll all do well to remember that. 

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?

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?

You're Telling Me...What?

I shared an article the other day about how fast love moves in the modern relationship.  It was basically saying that part of why they move faster these days is because technology and more constant contact with whoever you're dating at the time.  It's only natural that a relationship might progress a little fast.  The article, though, was saying you may want to slow things down.   I see a lot of articles on my news feed about relationships, marriages, dating etc. Prior to being in a relationship, I typically passed over them.  I didn't really care what they had to say about my non-existent relationship.  But since starting to exclusively date my adorable man, I glance at them.  I liked the one linked above.  I think it had some good things to say about a relationship and how if you can help it, get to know someone very well before you tie the knot.  I liked the article and it had some good things to say about a relationship in general But here's the thing: 

If you are counting on an article on the internet to tell you where your relationship should be you might have bigger things to worry about. Sure you can read 10 articles with titles like "12 ways to please you man" or "15 ways to tell your relationship is on the right track" but if you're depending on some random article to tell you how you should be feeling or what you should do...doesn't that sound like it might be...well, wrong? 
I'm not saying that there is no way you can get good advice from something you read on the internet.  I read stuff all the time that reminds me to be nicer or give me some money tips that help me better handle my finances, but when it comes to my man, I think I'd like to leave the learning to experience.  If anything, I think reading these articles and blog posts make me feel less secure in my relationship that is going really well...therefore, I have no reason to feel anything but secure.
What do you think? Can something someone else wrote determine where your relationship should be?  Do you worry if yours isn't like the articles say? Should we pay any attention to all those articles we see on our news feeds and Pinterest?  Is it any different than chatting with your girlfriends and having them tell you where your relationship should be?  

The Red Bull Air Race

Oh my gosh.  If you ever have the chance to go to an air race, freaking go.  It cost Trav and I $58 total for two days worth of tickets to the race and it was so freaking awesome to watch.  Here we are at the entrance of the race.  It was a really hot, sunny day in the grand stands, but still so worth it. 

Before going to this race, I was totally confused about how we were going to watch an air race and a NASCAR speedway.  It didn't matter that Travis had explained it to me multiple times, I still couldn't quite wrap my head around the idea.  Once we got there and I actually saw it, though, I felt stupid for not getting it in the first place. 
They have these big pylons set up up and the planes have to fly a certain way around or through them.  They also have other rules regarding how how they can fly in certain places, how much smoke their plane has to emit (I'm assuming it's just for aesthetics), and of course, they have to do it all very fast.  It's very hard to see in the pictures where the planes are.  The camera just couldn't quite capture the magic,  Luckily though, like I said in my last post, Travis is in flight school...the plans were in a hangar at his air port.  We just got to walk right in and check out all the planes for ourselves. 

I didn't fully understand how cool it was to be able to do this until the race on Saturday.  I'd imagine people paid some serious money to go check out those planes and we did it just passing by the air port.  Too cool. 
Here's a couple pictures of the race its self. Again, sorry for the photo quality.  One, we were watching the race more than taking pictures.  Two, those planes fly fast...

Overall, it wasn't a bad day! We cooked in the grandstands and Travis ate a very overprices hot dog.  After the race, we went out to Metro Pizza and discovered that the individual size would have been plenty.  If you ask me, it was a pretty great weekend. I hope this isn't the last air race I ever get to see. 

The Important Things in Life

A few wonderful things happened this weekend.  Let's start with the most important one:

photo cred

Gilmore Girls is on Netflix.  Don't panic.  Just go to the nearest smart TV, computer, laptop, tablet, etc...and watch until you feel like you can't take any more quick-witted humor and Emily Gilmore.

Okay so maybe that isn't the most important thing ever, however, my life is about to get very hermit-like because of that fact, so it's at least a little important. 

Also this weekend Trav and I went out to First Friday.  It's on Fremont street.  Basically they hold this thing on the first Friday of each month. We honestly weren't all that impressed. It was basically normal Fremont Street except you had to be 21 to enjoy.  You also had to wait in line to get in. They do have bands and such playing on the street, but they do that every weekend...so we didn't really get it.  

Instead of spending a lot of time out there at "First Friday" we decided to go grab some food and listen to an awesome little one man band.  I even brought my real camera. There is a noticeable difference in the pictures we took...

You don't even know how hard it is for us to make normal faces, but somehow, we pulled it off.  Honestly, Container Park might be my favorite part of downtown.  It might be totally new, but it's such a great addition to the area. We at the barbecue place and listened to the music while little kids (and adults) played with giant Legos and ran all over the play area.

The next morning a few of us from ROTC did some volunteering at Shade Tree.  It's a homeless/domestic violence shelter for Women.  Some of us helped organize their supply room with their clothing and toiletries, other served lunch, some did laundry...It was an overall, very rewarding day that I'm really glad I got to be a part of. But I think we need to talk to the guy on the end about looking like he's having a good time...

Well, I've got to get over to Travis's to go make some pumpkin cookies.  I've been craving them for a week, and although I'm not much of a baker, I think I can pull this off.