Thoughts From the Bus Stop

Nick and I live in a neighborhood full of million dollar homes, and we're just the little military family renting someone else's half million dollar home.

We're like little fish in a sea of sharks...at least that's what it feels like sometimes when I look out my backyard and see the giant house that was just built and sold for almost 2 million dollars.

Nick and I always joke that we live in the "poor" part of the neighborhood, when in reality, no one in this entire neighborhood is "poor".

Dannika's bus stop is one street over on a street lined with giant multimillion dollar homes.

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little intimidated walking her to her bus stop on the first day.

I pictured a bunch of rich, snobby moms turning their noses up at me in disgust...especially after they would find out we're just a "lowly" military family (maybe I was exaggerating the situation a little in my head).

And the reality....

There's maybe one mom and one dad who kind of make me feel uncomfortable...like they don't "socialize" with me.

I can't help but feel like they think I'm not on "their level"...at least that's how they make me feel.

I think I'm a pretty good judge of character and can read people's facial expressions pretty well, so that's the vibe I'm getting.

As for the rest of the "bus stop parents" (as I call them), they're the nicest group of people I've ever met.

This one lady in particular started crying when she found out Nick and I were both Marines, and profusely thanked us for our service....not gonna lie...when people thank us for our service...its suuuuper awkward.

We chose to be Marines because it's what we wanted to do, and we both enjoyed it (or still enjoying it in Nick's case)...but ANYWAY....that's a whole another post.

Back to the bus stop.

This morning, this lady (the same one that cried), told me how she wished she could be 30 again.

She said, "You're all so beautiful, and you have your perfect little family with your son in his stroller every morning, and your handsome husband! Forty's gonna sneak up on ya!"

I've been thinking about that comment all day.

She's an extremely kind and beautiful lady with 3 beautiful children. 

I envy her life (not in a bad way), but she's in her 40's and lives in a gorgeous home with her husband and 3 beautiful children (between the ages of 8-13).

Her children are the sweetest kids ever, too!

When I'm 40, I don't want to wish I was 30 again.

I plan on being one of those women who will proudly tell you I'm 40, while swiftly running ahead of the 20 year olds.

I plan on being 40, and in better shape than I've ever been.

Frankly, at 30, I'm in better shape than I was between the ages of 15-25.

At 40, I'm still going to be jammin' to Iggy Azalea way too loud in my car (or whoever the next big thing is then). 

Most importantly, at 40, I hope to be living a life God intended for me with my cute little family.

I feel like at 29, something just "registered" in my brain, and I suddenly had a whole different outlook on life, and it made turning 30 FABULOUS!

I have friends that are under the age of 25, and there are times when I look at the things they are doing or saying and just smile...even though sometimes they frustrate me.

I smile because I know that one day, they'll have that same "aha" moment that I did, and it's actually kind of neat to watch them navigate through life the way I did at their age.

So to the kind lady at the bus stop...

Thank you for complimenting my family, and boosting my ego by telling me I was beautiful this morning (with my no make up face, hat, and workout gear on).

But honestly, I envy you, and I hope that 10 years from now, I'll have grown children as beautiful and kind as yours and a life in a beautiful home just like yours.

Fingers crossed that Nick decides to retire within the next 10 years, of course...

On the way to the bus stop this morning...

I LOVE this outfit! Everything from H&M, shoes Sperry Topsider, & flower headband from "Tarjais"

And because I can't let you go without a few photos of my son...

When he wakes up from his nap, I like to talk to him through the baby monitor and confuse him.

It's pretty hilarious to watch him try and figure out where my voice is coming from! haha!

Sequence of events...

"Can you open this bag of coffee beans for me, mom?"

 "No, son. put it back."

 "You're the worst mom ever!"

Oh, you know...just unloading the dishwasher for me...

Just Another Day...

As I sit here in front of my computer today, I reflect on our family's last 13 years.

Obviously, Nick and I have not been together 13 years, but 13 years ago was a moment the redefined our lives until today.

I spent 10 years in the Marine Corps never knowing what a "peace time Marine Corps" is like.

I pray that, at the least, Nick gets to experience a "peace time Marine Corps" before he retires.

Can you imagine spending 20+ years in an organization that has constantly been at war?

I can't imagine it, but watching the news, it seems like it could very possibly be a reality for our family.

For some families, like my "soul sister" London, September 11th is the reason her brother Vincent went to war in Afghanistan one year, and came home in a flag draped casket.

Almost a decade after the initial attacks...

I can't imagine how a day like today must feel like for her and her family.

I know it's taken several years for Nick to finally be able to grieve and mourn the loss of his friend and brother.

So today, I lived my day like I would any other day.

I packed my daughter's lunch, dropped her off at the bus stop, came home, and played with my son.

I went to the gym, and when I felt like my knees were going to give out on me, I thought about Vince, and I kept going.

I posted on my Instagram this photo today...

With this quote...

"We Marines are truly blessed. We get to enjoy the sweet taste of freedom because we know its' price." -Marine veteran and NY fireman John Chipura

And really, it's not just Marines...it's every service member.

 It was a quote by a Marine, and I thought it was fitting for us because we're a Marine family.

Honestly, I talk to London pretty regularly and we always end up talking about Vince.

Every time Mattis does something crazy, I text her to ask her, "is this something Vince would do?! I'm pretty sure Vince is channeling himself through our son!!! poor me!"

So today was no different than any other day.

I thought about London, her family, and Vince...just like I do every day....every day when I look at my son....

I hope that one day, we can sit down and talk about the tragic events of 9/11 with Mattis.

I hope that one day, Nick will take Mattis hunting and tell him happy stories about Vince.

And I hope that we can raise our son to be just as brave and courageous as Vince was...

Home Buying...again.

 When we moved to Massachusetts, we chose against buying a house because most of the houses out here are SO OLD, and the newer ones are like a million dollars...(totally not joking or exaggerating!).

We chose to rent, and although we have been blessed to have a home in an AMAZING neighborhood (that we could never afford to BUY in)....

Renting a home sucks....bottom line.

I just feel like I'm throwing my money away every month, and it sucks not to be able to really make the house feel like a home.

I feel like anything I want to do to make it MY home, I have to get permission from the landlord, or I'm tip toeing around our rental agreement.

I also realized that we don't take as great care of the home as we would if it were our own.

Not saying we are treating the house like crap, but little things that we would pay special attention to in a home that we own don't get much love in our rental.

When we found out we were moving to Texas for a few years, there was no doubt in our minds that we would be purchasing our second home there.

With our PCS coming up in the next month, we've been house hunting via Facetime with our realtor (and a little help from some friends!).

I forgot how stressful house hunting can be...especially not being able to see the house in person and having 100% faith in your realtor.

People think we're crazy for buying a house "site unseen".

For some reason, I'm not really freaked out.

I guess being a military family, I've know many families who buy homes before they PCS somewhere new without actually SEEING the home in person.

But then again, when has military life seemed normal to ANY civilian?!

 

Currently, we have an offer in on a home that we are moving forward on.

It's actually the third time we've put in an offer on two different homes.

The first time, our offer wasn't accepted, so we moved onto another house.

Our offer was accepted on the second house, but I had my heart really set on the first one.

I had already fallen in love with it, and even though we were moving forward on another home, I kept hoping the first one would become available again.

Lo and behold!! Our realtor called us to let us know that the original house we wanted was back on the market.

We backed out of our second contract, and went back to the first one.

So here we are...just hoping everything moves smoothly until closing, and keeping our fingers crossed for nothing crazy to happen.

 

I just can't wait to move, and be in our own home again!

And neither can this girl!

 

Have you ever bought a home "site unseen"?

 

 

Meet Me In St. Louie, Louie...

I realized when I logged into the blog that I haven't blogged since Tuesday!

Unheard of...for me at least...

I have no excuses!

Sorry.

This last weekend, Nick and I attended a wedding in St. Louis, MO...SANS KIDDOS!!

Yep...we left the kids to fend for themselves with Lt. Brown (who drove up from CT) and Miss Emiliee (our house guest from the beginning of the summer) at our home.

They were in excellent hands, and it gave Nick and I peace of mind knowing that we could relax and enjoy our weekend without worrying about our kids...too much.

One of my best friends, Becca and her husband (who was stationed with Nick and deployed to Afghanistan together twice), is from St. Louis originally, and through them, we met the bride and groom, Jen and Charlie (who was also stationed on Camp Pendleton when we all met).

Charlie eventually finished active duty and joined the reserves, and moved out to South Carolina where he found a job, and Jen followed him across the country.

Obviously, they eventually got engaged which brought us to our weekend in St. Louis.

I'll sum up our weekend in photos...

Of course, Becca picked us up from the airport!

And of course she came bearing fresh homemade "Sarah's Brownies" (as we named them).

These caramel filled brownies became a famous and popular staple at all of our BBQ's when we all lived in California.

They're named "Sarah's Brownies", because she was the first to make them and bring them to a BBQ.

Rehearsal Dinner pics.

It's seriously been like 3 years since we've seen each other in person, but it was like we had never been separated!

We're not drunk in this photo either!!!!!!! 

We seriously can laugh for days together!

Nick, the groom, and the groom's friend whom Nick and I decided to nickname "the Wolverine".

Leaving the hotel for the wedding...gorgeous day!

Nick was asked to be part of the sword arch.

Of course being the only drill instructor of the bunch, he dusted off the old drill manual to execute a flawless sword arch detail.

Here's the video of the official sword arch.

Absolutely gorgeous church.

Nick and Becca's husband drinking a beer before the wedding outside the church...

yep...check that one off the bucket list...drink beer outside of catholic church...CHECK!

They were so happy to be able to hang out again together after being apart for so long.

(Becca and Steve are now stationed in Alabama)

The boys in the limo on the way to church.

The gorgeous bride and her dad walking down the aisle.

The happy groom waiting on his bride :)

So after the wedding, the bride and groom had a trolley (in true St. Louis fashion) drive the wedding party around St. Louis to take photos in front of some of the famous landmarks around town.

I was actually hoping that I'd get to see the famous Arch before leaving St. Louis, so I'm SO glad that we got to see it!

It's bigger in person!

Trolley ride.

And because we're in St. Louis, we had to drink their native beer...

I absolutely love this photo!

It's St. Louis' 250th birthday, and to commemorate the occasion, the city put out 250 of these these giant random cakes throughout the city!

And of course the wedding reception...

I don't know why Charlie looks so disgusted to have two beautiful women kissing him on the cheeks!

Always so serious, these two...

So we got to our table at the reception, and I was thinking, "why isn't anyone sitting down?"

And in true gentlemen fashion, these fine Marines told me that they were waiting on the ladies to sit down first...I forgot that we had left Massachusetts and were in the friendly midwest :)

Post wedding fun and dancing.

The gorgeous bride and I.

I sure do miss our wine nights at Becca's house in San Diego, and hanging out with all of our friends!

And this lovely gal...

I sure do miss wine nights at YOUR house when our guys were deployed, and ALL the BBQ's you used to host.

I miss your comfy guest room bed, and home made cinnamon rolls for breakfast in the mornings at your house! 

Maybe we'll be stationed together again one day and resume our regular BBQ's!

The wedding was beautiful, St. Louis was a blast, and Nick and I soaked up every minute of being "kid free" for an entire weekend.

By Sunday morning, I was exhausted beyond words, but I couldn't get to the airport fast enough to be home with my babies again.

A Slice of My Thoughts

Oh, where to start.

I haven't blogged the past few days because my thoughts have been a jumbled blob.

It finally feels like summer...the heat...the humidity....except it's September.

Not only is it September, but pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks, and as much as I hate cooler weather and Fall time, I welcome PSL's with open arms.

 I had to get it iced cause it was too hot to have it hot.

So...way to go New England...your summer is like 2 months late!

This is weather I wanted like in July and August...NOT September. 

I ran in this humid weather, and what started off as a 7 mile run, turned into 4.

My body is just not acclimatized to the humidity yet.

Also, I'm not a super long distance runner.

I've told y'all, my knees can't handle the half and full marathon distances anymore.

I choose to keep my runs short and work on speed.

 Once I realized that I wasn't gonna make it 7 miles (which was at mile 1), I picked up the pace.

If I'm gonna run short, I'm gonna make up for the lost miles in speed!

I was pretty pumped that I averaged under 7 minutes a mile for 4 miles...humidity and all!

If I would have been half as dedicated as I am now back in high school cross country, I woulda been a hell of a lot better...oh well...live and learn.

Nick and I don't eat a lot of red meat, but we realized we had not grilled steaks all summer (BLASPHEMY!).

I bought these two gorgeous grass fed ribeyes from Whole Foods, and we are now "converts" to the grass fed meat movement.

The meat was so tender, and just genuinely more delicious.

An art project...

I don't consider myself a great artist...but I'm pretty proud of how this is turning out.

This will probably end up in Mattis' room.

Mattis and I are enjoying our quiet mornings together once Dannika gets on the bus for school.

We work out (by "we", I mean I work out, and he plays in the gym daycare).

We come home, he goes down for his nap, and I have two glorious hours of pure peace.

Remember how I was freaking out last week about Dannika getting off at the wrong bus stop?

We went over a dozen times this weekend where she needs to get off the bus at.

Once I dropped her off this morning on the bus, I started feeling anxious.

Even though we had talked all weekend long about what to do in case she accidentally got off at the wrong stop, I was worried.

I worried all day.

Nick came home from work just in time to go to the bus stop with me, because if she just happened to not get off, I would have freaked out.

He's the calm one.

And thankfully...

 SHE GOT OFF AT THE RIGHT STOP!

I've never put Marine Corps stickers on my car.

It was just personal preference when I was active duty.

I didn't need the world to know that I was affiliated with the Marine Corps by a sticker on my car.

That, and for you young Marines out there (yeah...I'm talking to you, boot)...the salty Marines make fun of you.

I told myself, I'd get myself one once I became an official veteran.

So for the last two years, I've been searching for the perfect one.

I didn't want the typical Marine Corps "flair" that most Marines put on their vehicles.

It only took two years, but I finally found one that screamed my name...

It's got two things I love...Texas and the United States Marine Corps...all in one.

:)

OH, and ONE LAST THING...

We officially have web orders, and have to be in Texas NO LATER THAN Oct 15th, which means we would probably PCS around the end of THIS MONTH!

Did I mention how thrilled I am to be finally leaving this place?!?!

So there you go!

A little slice of my thoughts...