Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Better Late Than Never

Well this week has actually been rather eventful, shocking I know! School started on Monday and I think this semester it's actually a good thing that it did. It has managed to keep me super busy the past few days which helps keep my mind off of not having my mom around. I love my classes so far and am so thankful that they aren't going to be too stressful :) 

I also went to a social last night to check out the OSC (Officers Spouses Club). I had heard good and bad things about it, but was pleasantly surprised. I met some really great girls and had a blast talking and getting to know them better! I was amazed at how many women were there and I couldn't help but think, "where in the heck did all these people come from?". You literally never see ANYONE out and about here except for the men in uniform so I was shocked to see how many spouses there really were here at Laughlin. I think because of the heat people really do never leave their house. They don't go to the gym, they dont' go for walks, and they certainly don't do any type of activity that means they will be outside for more than 1.5 seconds total. I still haven't officially "joined" the OSC but am seriously considering it. They mainly have functions every month where the spouses can get together and they do volunteer work and fundraising for the local community and base. I also joined the Christmas Party Committee earlier this week (I know I thought it seemed a little early too be thinking about Christmas, but these ladies are serious about their committees here)!

 All in all it's been a pretty good week so far. Saturday is the first football game of the season (GO DAWGS) and Mitchell and I plan to spend the entire day getting ready for the game, aka cooking alllllll day, and watching the game from our home. We both wish we could head to Atlanta for the game, or at least get some Chick Fil A for it since it is being hosted by them, but we are just happy that it's being broadcasted here in Texas :) Sunday we are going out to Lake Amistad with some friends to celebrate Labor Day and get some sun which I'm really looking forward too since we didn't get to go out last weekend! Sorry to bore everyone with all the little details of my week so far but I'm just really excited to finally have something to report on!


On a side note here are some photos of master bath! We went to Wal-Mart this weekend and bought a nice "over the toilet" storage thing since we didn't have anywhere to put our things and it also made it feel a lot less bare! 

The cabinet made the bathroom SOOO much more homey,
that is, if a bathroom can be homey?

This side is still a little bare... I'm waiting on prints
from the photographer from our shoot to
put in the frame on the wall.

Some artwork that Mitchell got me for
Christmas last year! I think it's adorable
and a daily reminder to be optimistic
about each day ahead!

The second part of the art work in the bathroom :)


Finally, Mitchell and I decided that we are heading to Mississippi/Louisiana for the Ole Miss vs UGA game in September and couldn't be more excited to see family while we are there! It will be the only UGA game that we actually get to attend this year (sadly we can't go to any home games) and I'm really looking forward to seeing Oxford and spending some time with the "Louisiana Crowd" as we like to call them! That's really all for now, and thanks again for bearing with me through this exhaustively long post!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Pretty Pretty Pictures

As many of you know we had to throw our wedding together in time span of about 24 hours due to my sweet mother's passing. Because of this, we didn't get to use really any of our vendors that I had worked tirelessly with for over a year. The one vendor that I was most disappointed about not working with was our photographer Heidi from Our Labor of Love, who was based out of Atlanta and couldn't make it to Macon on such short notice. However, being the sweet and wonderful person that she is, she volunteered to do a "post-wedding" photo shoot with us after the honeymoon so we could still get some lovely shots from her! So two weeks after we returned from our honeymoon we headed up to Atlanta and did a wonderful photo shoot with her in some nifty modern lofts! I'm not going to lie, as wonderful and heartfelt as our wedding was it was still surrounded by the loss of my mother, and as much as Mitchell and I both wanted to enjoy the day as much as possible it was still a very physically and emotionally hard day for us both. This photo shoot really allowed us to re-invent the day by dressing back up in our wedding day attire and we really got to relish in the fact that we were finally, actually, and really married :) It was just the two of us laughing and enjoying ourselves for the first time in weeks and it was truly something special. Anyways, enough of my babbling, here are some of the photos from the shoot. I'll post more of them on Facebook later and if you follow my hyperlink above and scroll down you will see Heidi's post on her blog with more photos...





One of my favorites! Signifies two very
special days, Mitchell's graduation and our wedding :)









Our wedding suite including our
Save the Date on bottom right :)





Wedding bands!

I think he's pretty darn cute ;)
There aren't really any life updates for this week. Wine and Tees was a ton of fun on Tuesday (the spouses social)  and it was just really nice to get out of the house for a little bit! Mitchell and I have started a new lifestyle food wise I guess you could say. After eating fried and greasy food for 3 months straight while at home, and abroad on our honeymoon, we noticed our tummies getting a little wider and that we just weren't feeling all that great in general. Therefore, we decided to try and eat a little healthier and get on a pretty strict workout plan. After a trip to GNC while in San Antonio last weekend and ridding our house of most of the "bad" food we started eating better and working out pretty much every day! I'm hoping this new kick we are on really does continue to last! Although it means eating fat free and cutting most sweets out of my diet I think in the long run I'll be happy with the results ;) Mitchell found me this workout plan by Jaime Eason and I love it so far! It's pretty intense but I can already feel the results! As far as the weekend goes we don't really have too much planned, mainly just hanging out at home and maybe heading out to the lake! I'm hoping that we can also make a trip to get some paint for the house! That's all for now :)

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Back To Civilization

First off, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to blog again! I would love to say it's because I've just been so busy that I haven't had time. However, it's more like I haven't done anything eventful enough in the past week or so to blog about! We were lucky enough to be able to get out of Del Rio (aka Mexico) and head up to San Antonio this past Saturday. Despite the scorching heat we actually had a really great time! The base here is pretty great about scheduling free transportation outside of Del Rio, so we took one of their sponsored trips and got to go up there for FREE! They dropped us off at the River Walk and we got to see The Alamo and also go to the River Center Mall, which I was most excited about! It was so nice to just get out of our little Podunk town and actually get near some civilization with good food and shopping! We ate at Casa Rio since my wonderful friend, and Texas native, Elyssa recommended it :) It was delicious and honestly it was just nice to get out of the heat for a bit! They also had a Mariachi Band, which I loved. There are also other really great, and more famous, restaurants like the Rainforest Cafe (an all time favorite of mine) and even a Hard Rock Cafe. We also had to visit the Life Is Good Store as it's one of Mitchell's favorites! After a long day we finally boarded the bus and headed back to good ole Del Rio. Sunday afternoon we helped volunteer at the church on base at the chapel fair and then took the boat out to Lake Amistad with some friends after lunch. All in all it was a really fun and eventful weekend, something we aren't really used to here in Del Rio. Here are some pictures we took while in San Antonio...



Outside The Alamo! It was a lot smaller than
we were expecting, but still really neat!

The yard around The Alamo was beautiful! 


On the River Walk


They really love Davy Crockett around here

Outside of Casa Rio where we ate dinner!


On another note, I went and saw "The Help" yesterday! I was really excited that some of the ladies on base put a private showing together since it was going to only be in Del Rio for one week and I knew Mitchell wouldn't be too thrilled about being dragged to see it. I had read the book and it was amazing, and I was pleasantly surprised that even though the movie wasn't exactly like the book it was still really good! The acting was wonderful, even though I thought some of the southern accents were a little off, or not quite strong enough, for the movie being set in Jackson, Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement. I would highly recommend it to anyone though and would also recommend reading the book as well! I personally love any book about the south, but I think it's a book that anyone would enjoy as it's well written and has a great plot.


I'm also heading to a spouses social tonight that's being hosted on base which I'm really looking forward too! We are going to be able to get a few golfing tips from the pro here on base and have some wine and cheese afterwards. I'm horrible at golf, but it will be nice to have something to do while Mitchell is at work and also meet up with a few girls that I've met over the past few weeks! Mitchell and I went to church last week here on base and weren't exactly in love with it sadly. It was a little too traditional for our tastes. We are going to try and head to a church off base this coming Sunday, so hopefully that will go a little better! We're both anxious to find a church that we fit in with around here. That's all for now!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Happy Tummies

Since we don't really have any great restaurants in Del Rio (and we never really leave base) we have been cooking A LOT at home. Personally, I love it! I had gotten sick of eating out all summer and am more than happy to eat and cook at home! That being said, I have been bored out of my mind since we got here which has led me to do a large amount of baking and cooking when Mitchell is off working every day from 7 to 7.  Last week I made chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream from scratch, and if I do say so myself it was simply amazing. If you've never had homemade ice cream (like me) then I highly suggest going out and getting an ice cream maker and making your own. You won't regret it! I even made the cookie dough batter from scratch, which was super easy and delicious all on it's own!

Mitchell ordered the Ben and Jerry's cookbook from Amazon
earlier this summer! I highly recommend it for those of you that
want to make your own ice cream at home :)

Mitchell helped a ton a little when he came home
on his lunch break

Mixing the cream! Yummmmmm
Other than making ice cream last week I also made some Red Velvet Chocolate Cake Balls. These have always been one of my favorites and I hadn't made them in a while, so I thought why not?! The bad part is, I usually have to end up eating them myself or giving half of them away since Mitchell doesn't eat red velvet OR chocolate (I know, he's a little odd if you ask me, I mean who doesn't like chocolate?). Mitchell also cooked up some burgers on Saturday night and added some new ingredients. He put some uncooked bacon in the patties before grilling them, and it was delicious!! The bacon cooks while it's in the burger on the grill and makes for a scrumptious meal :)

Best burger we've made to date! We also put
shredded cheese in the ground beef
before making the patties and then topped
them off with a fried egg.

To say the least, we have done a lot of eating this past week. Tonight I'm trying a new recipe, I know scary, for chicken lasagna that I found on Pintrest. I'm really excited about it since we rarely try new things :) It's hard finding things that are yummy and fit into Mitchell's limited pallet; meat and cheese only. Off the topic of food, this past week was rather uneventful. We are still trying to get the house in order and spending a lot of time cleaning the house and spending quality time with one another. I went to another spouses social on Thursday which was a scrap booking class. It was fun and I met another girl that seemed rather nice! Meeting people has still been pretty hard. It seems most people here aren't very interested in making new friends. I'm hoping that once Mitchell starts UPT though that we will be able to find a group of friends that we fit in with :)  Mitchell started his casual job (meaning his job until he starts pilot training) this past week. He's not ecstatic about it as it's 10 hour days, when most of this friends either didn't get assigned a job at all or only work 4-6 hours a week total. He pretty much sits in an office and is a glorified secretary for one of the colonel's on base. Sounds like a total blast doesn't it?! However, he does get to come home for an hour each day for lunch since we live on base which is wonderful! This weekend we are going to San Antonio on a base sponsored trip to the River Walk and surrounding area! I'm really really really looking forward to it and will certainly make a post about that next week! That's all for now!


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Home Is Where The Heart Is

For all of you who have been waiting oh so patiently for more pictures of the house, today is your lucky day :) Although I'm personally not very satisfied with the guest bathroom at this point (it seems VERY bare and boring if you ask me) I thought I might as well go ahead and post some photos. I'm hoping to slap some paint on the walls in this room at some point and definitely get a new rug for the floor. Anyways, here you go....

These bare white walls are killing me


The shower room that connects the master
bath and the guest bath


One of my favorite decorative items
we bought before we left Macon

All in all this week has been rather uneventful for Mitchell and I. He started his casual job today and is finally done with in-processing. I went to the Newcomers Coffee Orientation on Monday, and it went pretty well. It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me, especially when the conversation steered towards "when mom's visit". It was hard knowing that my mom will never in fact come visit me. I always get super nervous when meeting new people so that also took an emotional toll on me. So far it's still been really hard for me to meet people here, but again, I'm hoping that with time and a lot of prayer I'll be able to find at least one good friend here at Laughlin :) On another note, our child (aka Winston) decided he wanted to take a stroll OUTSIDE of the yard today. Yes, he ran away. Mitchell left the back gate open when he was changing out the sprinkler early this morning and Winston decided he would take advantage off his new found freedom. After frantically driving all over the neighborhood and only thinking the worst, here he came literally flying down the street about 30 minutes later! I have never been so scared in my life, but I was so relieved that he was ok. Lets just say that both the hubs and I will be checking to make sure the gate is securely closed every time we let him out!

After finding Winston, he immediately passed
out on the floor. Poor guy was
tuckered out from running away ;)


Sunday, August 7, 2011

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Well, we were intending on going to the chapel on base today, however, I woke up pretty sick this morning. Therefore, we ended up spending the entire day cooped up at home minus the trip to Wal Mart for medicine :( I was really looking forward to meeting some people at church this morning, so that was rather disappointing. So far it's been really rough trying to meet people here in Del Rio compared to some of my other friends at other pilot training bases. I'm hoping though that, as the weeks go on I'll meet some people and things will get easier here. I'm going to a welcome coffee tomorrow which sounds promising, so I'll get back to everyone on updates on how that goes soon! On another note, my lovely friend Christina introduced me to this AMAZING website this week called "Pintrest"and let me just say, I'm in love! This website has some awesome design ideas that I'm head over heels for! I've yet to explore the recipe portion of the website, but I've heard it's pretty great as well! If you love this kind of stuff this site is quite a find! Here are some of my personal favorites from the site....

I love this idea for get togethers! 

These handkerchief curtains are to die for!
 I also love the kitchen table.

Great way to display pictures!

I love this color scheme!

I will post more pictures of the house later this week (I know, I'm really slacking in that department)! We finally cleaned out the "we don't know what to do with this junk" room that we stuffed everything in, so now that we have gone through everything and it's in it's place pictures will be coming soon!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Introducing....the Kitchen

I have decided to release one room at a time of the house as we get them "finished", or as close to finished as they will be for now. Anyways, I would like to officially introduce everyone to our kitchen :) It's a little colorless for my taste, but I'm hoping to get some paint on the walls in the next month or so once we have some extra money in the budget! I was thinking a pretty yellow to liven up the surgical white walls. Other than that though we really like the kitchen! It's super roomy and there is TONS of storage as you can see from the pictures! It's still coming together and I'm rearranging things constantly, but all in all I really like it!  Without further ado.......


Mitchell and I both hate pots falling out of the cabinets
so we figured we would hang them above the sink!
I think it turned our rather nicely. Let's also notice where
the Dish guy put the satellite right outside the window...
brilliant right?


One of my favorite parts of the kitchen! A wedding gift from the
Fickling's and a little piece of Macon in our home :)

Another special part of the kitchen, the oh so
wonderful "Ice" Kitchen Aid!
(This one is especially for Christina)

Random photo of the washer and dryer?! I think not!
 It's actually in the kitchen to the right of where I was
 standing when I took the first photo above in the kitchen.
Love these things!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Redneck Yacht Club

Our first trip to the lake here in Del Rio!
Besides unpacking ALL week, and this weekend, we took Mitchell's boat out to the lake on Saturday to get a break from it all. We figured since his brother and dad were kind enough to head out this way with us and help us move in, it was the least we could do ;)  Now, we had heard fairly great things about Lake Amistad, which is only about 25 minutes from our front door. Upon arrival though I was rather shocked. I'm used to the beautiful trees and homes of Lake Oconee and Lake Gaston in NC, which Mitchell's grandparents live on. Instead, all you can see on the edge of the lake here is rock, rock, and more rock, with not a single home in sight! However, the lake is HUGE, and I mean MASSIVE!  Mitchell was super excited that we can actually just cruise on over to Mexico if we really wanted to even though he's not really allowed to since part of the lake is on the other side of the border. So all in all we are very thankful that we have at least some form of recreation here in Del Rio and are hoping to spend a good amount of time out there before Mitchell starts pilot training!


Baby Winston has been in a similar state the
 whole time we have been here...passed out!