MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

Join in over at Wife of a Sailor!



1.What is your spouse’s best feature?
His arms. They're big and strong and I like it when he holds me in them.

2.Mild, Medium or Hot sauce?
Medium. I like things hot and spicy, but not too hot and spicy.

3.What is the worst uniform you had to wear for a job?
It wasn't really a uniform, but I worked in a factory making Air conditioners one summer and it was a very hot and dirty job. I wore jeans, steel-toed boots, a cut-off shirt and a bandanna everyday with safety glasses. Yeah...not hot.

4.You have invisible powers… where is the first place you would go?
The locker room of the Indianapolis Colts to get a peek of Peyton Manning. Ah..yeah!

5.What’s left on your “to do” list for this summer?
Go to London, work on some more of my editing and set up my Etsy shop.

Creative Juices

I'm in the process of setting up a shop on Etsy to sell my photographs. I'd like to have a cute name for my shop.

Ideally I'd like something cute, but that still says "Melissa" and who I am as a person and a photographer.

Any suggestions?

Halfway Through

My title refers to the fact we've already been in Italy for a little over a year and a half and if we truly PCS when we are supposed to, then we are already halfway through our time here.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. I love living in Europe most of the time. I love being able to see so many things that I always dreamed about seeing and read about in books. I love expanding my list of countries I've been to. I love the food and the wine.



I do not love not speaking the language fluently (which I realize is my own fault, but I'm still working on it) I don't like only having AFN, the crazy Italian drivers, no good Mexican food and no closets.

If Sean stays in the Army, we both agreed we wouldn't mind another overseas tour. We'd both love to be staioned in Japan or even in Europe again. I think we'd both like Germany next time instead of Italy.

I'm in the process right now of writing up an introduction to life in Italy for Army spouses. Once I get it done I'll make a link available somewhere on my blog so that anyone PCSing to Italy can get an idea of what to expect. I really wish the Army would do something like that, but the info I got before we moved here wasn't the sort of info I really needed to be able to adjust to life here.

Wish List!

Sean and I are trying to budget right now and add some padding to our savings account and of course I keep seeing tons of things I want to buy.

Here's my wish list right now:



I'm down to one bottle of perfume and I really would like another one. I've loved Vera Wang perfume for years, but have never bought it. Maybe next payday!



Cute, simple dress from Forever 21. What's not to love?



Sean and I have been talking about getting Boomer a "friend". We both want another Min-Pin, as we really like the breed. I don't want to make two dogs live in a small apartment though, so we've decided to shelve this idea until we get back to the States.



I LOVE this ring. I blame my love for Fleur de lis on living in Louisiana for a year. I found this ring on Etsy.

Question of the Day

How many of you use a sleep-mask?



I always wondered how people could sleep with something on their face, until I tried a sleep mask. Now I wear it almost every night.

I'm a really light sleeper, so it doesn't take much to wake me up. Especially any sort of light in my bedroom, so I really think that wearing a sleep mask helps me sleep a lot better.

If you don't use a sleep mask, what is something that helps you sleep better?

Celebrate Good Times...

Last night was a combined birthday party for myself and two of my friends. We had it at a local restaurant that we all love and I had such a good time.



Sean and I doing a mock wedding toast.



My "Why are you taking this picture?!" face



The two other birthday girls and me.



All of us girls. Only two of us looking at the right camera.



Our main course: Ostrich, chicken, peas and a few other things that I'm not sure about. Our full menu was: Salad with bacon fat (so tasty!) risotto with lemon, faggotini (pasta with pears inside with a cream sauce and ham) and birthday cake for dessert!



The cake that our friend Lindsey made for us. It had three separate layers with three different flavors.

Just another good memory I'll have of our time spent in Italy!

MilSpouse Friday Fill In and a Few Other Items of Interest

Ok, before I do the Friday Fill-In over at Wife of a Sailor, I wanted to mention two things.



1. A fellow Mil-Spouse blogger, The Thoughts of HouseHold Six, is having a Scentsy giveaway over at her blog. Click here to check it out.

2. Pioneer Woman is having a photography contest over at her blog and one of my photos got chosen for the first group. To say I'm excited is an understatement. The theme is water and this was my submission:



Ok, without further ado, my Friday Fill-In:

1.Besides the horizontal mambo, what do you miss most when your spouse is deployed?

Oh this is so easy. His cooking. Sean is the best cook and I really miss his cooking when he's gone.

2.What do you miss least?

A few others have said the same thing, but I do not miss the mess. There is ten times more laundry and dishes whenever he is around.

3.You only get three crayons to finish your picture… which three do you choose and why?

Pink, turquoise and yellow. Because they make any picture happy!

4.If you could have your own fragrance, what would it be called?

I'd call it Bubbly. Because I feel like I have a positive, bubbly personality. I'd want it to be a fun and fresh scent.

5.If the shoes make the man (or woman), what do your shoes say about you right now?

Well, I wore peep-toe stilettos to the airport earlier to pick Sean up, so at that point I believe they were saying I was a woman on a mission. ;)

Here's Your Sign

I put this on my FB page, but I thought I'd put it over here as well.

I went to the pool today on-post and this is the sign that greeted me:

"Pool is closed today until 2pm. Thank you for your patients."

Ahem..how did someone NOT see that misspelling?

I wanted to stick around and ask, but I wasn't waiting 2 hours for the pool to open and decided I'd be snarky about it online instead.

If only I'd had my camera!

One of Those Days

I'm in a funk today. It's one of those days.

You know, the days where nothing attracts your attention and you just want to sit and be mad?

I don't feel like editing pictures or reading or scrapbooking or cleaning house or anything. I HATE days like that.

I even got out of the house today and went to Villa Capra aka The Rotunda, on which Thomas Jefferson based the design of his house Monticello on.



There has been one bright spot to my day. I ordered my sewing machine. I'm really looking forward to learning to sew and hopefully making some cute stuff with it.

This is what I got:



Perhaps some episodes of Designing Women will help my funk!

Favorite Movie Moments

Here are some of my favorite movie moments, the ones that always give me goosebumps.



Tiny Dancer scene in Almost Famous



Proposal scene in Walk the Line



You've Lost that Loving Feelin' scene from Top Gun

What are some of your favorite scenes?

Monday Musings

1. Last week I booked my trip to London. I'm going for five days, four nights in August. To say I'm excited is an understatement. *squee*

I want a picture with one of these guys:



2. I'm watching a Dr.Phil episode that has Kelly Osbourne as a guest. She's actually making some really good points. To say I'm surprised is an understatement.

3. I'm tired of our gym canceling classes because the A/C is out. Currently it's been a week at the gym without A/C. How is this possible? I was so jazzed to go to spin class today and when I got there it was canceled. So...I did my own spin class instead.

4. I'm in a retail therapy mood, but I know better then to even look at Forever 21 or Old Navy right now. I did find an awesome website though for clothing. www.modcloth.com. Some of the dresses are a little pricier than I usually spend, but they are so cute!

I Just Had to Share

One of my goals this year was to work out 5 days a week and for the first five months I was doing really awesome. Since Sean has been back and after my trips with my family, I haven't been doing as well. I'm lucky if I get to the gym 3 times a week.

So...after glancing at the scale last week and noticing an increase in the number, I vowed to get back to the gym regularly and also tame down my eating.

This is one of my guilty pleasures. I've started eating them ALL.THE.TIME.



They're so delish though that it's hard not to!

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I talked about starting meal planning and now that I'm looking for healthy meals I ran across this website.

Now, I don't necessarily follow Weight Watchers, but I feel like the recipes on this site are healthy and have what I need for a good eating plan. There's even a recipe for a 2 point Mojito. What's not to love?!

Sean should get back later this week so the meal plan won't be put into effect until next week, but I'm thinking it's going to go well.

Tip of the Day

Don't drink wine while scrapbooking...take it from me!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

Join in over at Wife of a Sailor!



1.What food reminds you of your spouse?

Steak and baked potatoes. Sean makes this on most Friday nights for our meals. He is a phenomenal cook too!

2.Who would you rather sit next to in a cross-country plane ride: an irritating non-stop talker, or a quiet stare-er?

A quiet stare-er. I'll be honest. I don't feel comfortable chatting with people I don't know, so I like to be left alone.

3.What are your best tips on how to save money?

Ha! I'm not the best person to ask about this. I'm struggling with our budget right now. Get back to me in a few months and maybe I'll have something to say.

4.What is your favorite summer memory?

I have many fond summer memories of inviting friends out to our pool and us having diving and crazy jumping in the pool contests.

5.Do you believe in ghosts?

I'm not sure I believe in ghosts. I do believe there are good and bad spirits out there. Such as angels and demons.

Question of the Day

A bit of a random question, but I thought of this driving to post this morning.

Do you take off your wedding ring/jewelry you always wear for certain activities? Or do you never remove it?



I ask this, because I went swimming with a bunch of ladies and all of them wore their wedding rings in the water to swim. I don't. In fact, I take my wedding ring off when I do dishes, shower and pretty much whenever I get home because I don't want to hit it on something.

Sushi Boat!

Thanks to everyone who left me birthday wishes yesterday! I really do appreciate it and I feel so loved. :)



This picture is from last night. We decided on a sushi boat, filled with different kinds of sushi and sashimi. It was delish! I even had Nutella sushi for dessert.

Bittersweet Birthday

Today is my 27th birthday. It hardly seems real when I look at the number.

How is it possible that I'm 27 years old?!



Anyway, so far today has been...bittersweet.

I dropped Sean off this morning to catch a flight to the States, as he is serving as a representative of his company at the funeral of one of his friends. I actually attended the memorial service on-post today, hence why this birthday has been bittersweet.

Of course I would prefer my husband to spend my birthday with me, but when I thought about this year and the deployment, I didn't even expect to have him here at all, so it doesn't bother me as much as it might have in the past. The fact is that I have him alive and well when there are lots of women out there that don't. So..for that I am grateful.

Anywho...I'm celebrating tonight with a few friends at our favorite sushi place and I'm sure I'll have a glass (or two) of sake. Other than that I have no birthday plans, but I'm ok with that. I'm not as excited about my birthdays as I used to be.

Also I'd like to say Happy Birthday to a fellow mil-spouse blogger MTM over at MTM-To-Be. I had no idea until today we shared a birthday.

What Are You Reading?

I'm midway through summer and needing some books to add to my reading list. So I thought I'd ask you, my readers, what you are currently reading.

I'm currently reading this:



I'm a sucker for biographies and I do like this book. I'm seeing the Kennedy family in a whole different light though, I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

So tell me, what are you reading?

Snapshot Saturday

Santorini, Greece (Fira)

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

Join in at Wife of a Sailor!



1. What is your favorite household chore?

Um...I don't really like to clean, but when I do clean I prefer to do laundry. It pretty much takes care of itself with minimal effort from me!

2. What is your favorite childhood memory?
Hmm..I have a lot. I grew up in the country and I love memories of helping out in our garden or all the pool parties that I had growing up. Also going to the library in the summer and stocking up on books is another favorite memory.

3. What is your most embarrassing moment?
We had a Bowl for Kid's Sake event in high school and I'm a horrible bowler. I went up to bowl, swung my arm back and the ball came flying off my fingers and back into the crowd. It was awful.

4. What uniform of your spouse’s is your favorite?
I love my husband in his ACU's. I like his Class A's, but I'm not a fan of Class A's with jump boots.

5. What canceled TV show do you miss the most?
I was really into Samantha Who and then they canceled it. What gives ABC?!

Unusual Perfume

A few weeks ago MSN or Yahoo ( I can't remember which) had a story on their page about unusual perfumes, naturally I had to click it and check it out. Several of the perfumes listed were from Demeter.

Now, I've bought Demeter before, once when I was in college I bought their Fresh-Cut Grass scent, to spray around my dorm room. Anywho, I didn't really think that particular scent smelled all that much like grass, but I have smelled other products of theirs that did smell remarkably like what they were modeled after.

On the list of unsual perfumes were two very odd choices: Funeral Home and Earthworm. I do realize funeral home has a distinct smell, but earthworm? And why would you want to smell like either one of those things?



Since that article I've been browsing around the Demeter website and have found a lot of scents that I'm curious about smelling.

Such as:

Christmas in New York
Bonfire
Dirt
Laundromat
Thunderstorm
Salt Air
Tomato
Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Anyone ever buy Demeter scents? If so, do you think they smell like what they are supposed to smell like?