Year One.

It has been quite a year.
365 Days ago from yesterday, I married a fantastic man. It was the scariest and most remarkable thing I have ever done. On the day I made the appointment for our marriage ceremony at the court house, I remember hanging up a few times before I let someone answer. Throughout my life I have made many hard decisions, but marrying Dugan wasn't one of them. I was scared because I didn't want to lose him. I didn't want to grow so close to someone I would ever lose. Marrying Dugan was scary, nerve racking, exciting, terrific. But marrying this boy was in no way a question in my mind. 

He is wonderful.
He tolerates my temper.
He kisses me when i'm sick.

He writes me love letters.

He makes me breakfast.

He loves my hobbies and hates my bad habits.

He supports me.

He makes me laugh.

He never makes me cry.

He holds my hand. All the time.

He tries each day to make me happy.

He's never afraid to tell me when I'm being silly or out of control.

He teaches me each day more about myself than I could ever do alone before. 

I hope this year is a sneak peak into the rest of our lives together.
I hope this past year has been a small preview into how happy we will be.
I hope this is one out of 60 incredible years together.

We woke up early 2 mornings ago and began our journey to NYC. I've been there a couple times before but I hadn't had to know my own way around before. Manhattan is a very busy, very tiring city. Yes, it was a very busy trip but we had a BLAST!

Started off with some pizza. It was nothing special, but the point is is that its from NYC.

Followed by a bit of site seeing and good ol fashion tourism.

Found the worlds coolest coffee shop in times square.

Saw some neat stuff like the Lego and Hersheys factory

We went to the Central Park Zoo which was surprisingly smaller than we expected so it took us an hour shorter to view everything than we planned so we had extra time to wander around central park and the city streets.

We passed by those discount ticket booths they have set up in times square as the sun was setting and decided to check it out. Thats where we got a sweet deal on some saweet seats to Marry Poppins.

Day 2 was a little bit more relaxed. less walking. More subways and sitting around longer. We were a little pooped from the day before. So, we lounged around the city like the lazy tourists we are.

You might not be able to tell, but I have rope burns on my collar bone from carrying around my camera the day before. Ouch!

Our anniversary was a success! The train ride home took forever, but we finally made it home. We had tons of fun in the city but it will probably be a long long time before we go back. It's a little too chaotic for our simple lives.

We celebrated our anniversary well, and I am so happy we chose to go to the city to do it. We don't often take trips just for pure luxury. It was nice getting away and having time to do what we wanted.

Love you, Buster. Happy anniversary! 

Here's to many more.

A Few of My Favorite Things...

I've been recently stumbling upon some very sweet deals and excellent little things in my life that make my day to day much better. These small things make me swoon and fall in love with spring all over again. I'm finding things in thrift stores. I'm running into my favorite flowers all over the grocery stores. And, what can I say, I'm a sucker for an online deal. Here are a few of my favorite things this spring that I have acquired recently.

   

Found this little beauty on Forever21.com I felt like a deserved a new red dress.
Also, lets not forget to mention the shoes. Yes times ten.

Found a couple irresistible pendants for cheap on Etsy. Oh, Etsy.

 

Got these puppies at the thrift store on base. American Eagle jeans for $5!!!

Can't forget the Tulips. Been blooming these for a little over 2 weeks. Can't get enough of em.

On a different note, 

Today marks the one year anniversary since Dugan and the rest of the Sapper 693rd co. returned home from Afghanistan. More on that later. Dugan and I will be heading to NYC early tomorrow morning to celebrate our first anniversary together and to view the city. 

I'll be back with pictures!

Just sittin' at the table...

Just sittin' at the table with my Dugan...

Ramona has done this a couple times and every time I try to get a picture of it she stops doing it. But I finally got it on camera!

Our First Easter

Normally, I wouldn't travel more than an hour and a half to somewhere I won't be visiting for more than a day, but I felt since it was Easter and I love the Catlin family that this Easter should be an exception. Honestly, I don't remember the last few Easters very well. I know last year it was a blurr because it was right after my sweet nephew Scott was born and the year before that Silas was in Afghanistan and I don't really remember anything from that year. I haven't had a big Easter celebration in quite sometime.

After calling my mom the day before Easter, I found myself in tears (the little ones, not the pitiful sobbing ones that I have perfected) because everyone in my family was together in Arizona having a picnic and I WANTED TO PICNIC TOO! It's a good thing I will be home in 3 WEEKS to spend all the time I want with my family and friends. The thought of that makes my tummy do cartwheels. Yippee!

All in all, my weekend was a big success. I worked a lot, but in between working, I had a great time eating(way too much), decorating eggs and cookie-pops, chatting and playing cards with my man. It was all good fun.

Elyse and I just couldn't get a good picture together. So you get this one.

Easter Babe? I think so.

I am thankful for the Catlins. Had it not been for their hospitalily, We probably would've sat around the house on Easter. I'm glad we had a family to spend Easter with, although it wasn't our own. 

This week, Dugan will be busy with his ACAP meetings which, for those of you who don't know, are meetings that go over the steps to leaving the army. Freedom from Fort Drum is so close, I can taste it! I will be spending the week working . For the time I am not at work, I will either be cleaning my house or working out.
Keeping busy to pass the time.

Friendly Friends

Things have been normal. Work. Work out. Sleep. Cook. Work. I had a nice break this weekend watching conference and lazy-ing around doing absolutely nothing. Had a friend come over to share my slothful adventures with me and she brought her pup. Which means Ramona had a friend to play with too! She has never been in contact with a dog before so it was interesting to see her reaction.

From the looks of it, it looks like she is either enjoying herself, or wants him out of her house. Either way it's adorable.

This week I have lots of work at Panera Bread ahead of me. That means Dugan and I will get slim to no time together. We've done it before. We can do it again.
We have officially booked train tickets to spend out Anniversary in NYC. Surely, that will be our last snag in our budget. Afterall, it is our ONE YEAR anniversary this month. What the what?!? How did this happen? More on that later.

I enjoyed conference this weekend and I enjoyed getting off my butt the few times I did to put in a work-out dvd and do something with my lazy self. It has not been easy. My self esteem sunk when I got weighed at the doctors last week, but my healthy eating and work outs have helped me boost that up a bit. Observe:

Peanut Butter and Banana Bagel with Flax Seed

 Wish me luck on this week of work work work.
Love and Peace, Friends!