Everybody's working for the weekend...

First of all, can I just say that I've NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY FOR THE WEEKEND?!

I'm ready for this week to be well gone! We found out about our car, and we have to replace the engine. So not happy. It's going to be 6700-7800 depending on what engine we get, and we don't qualify for any type of aid since Mark only has a little over a year before his enlistment is up. He's planning on re-enlisting, but he can't re-enlist until he has 12 or fewer months in, and that's not until November. So I'm not sure what we're going to do yet. All I know is if I can't drive myself anywhere soon, I'm going to go crazy.

Anyway, on to more positive things.

This was Mark's last full week of ALS, thank goodness, so he's almost done! Yay! He's doing extremely well, and I couldn't be prouder of him. It's been stressful taking care of all the car details alone, however, so I'll be glad when he's back to work and can help. Plus, he's getting really tired of not having any free time whatsoever, especially with the weather getting nicer.

I'm not sure where a lot of you ladies are, but in Oklahoma, fall is my second favorite season. It's all about football season and pumpkins (I lovelovelove pumpkins) and getting ready for the holidays.  It's still pretty warm here, but the mornings are definitely getting cooler, and I'm seeing more fog in the mornings when I wake up, which I love. 

I'm most looking forward to the holidays, though. From October-December 31st. As you guys know, Mark deployed last year in early November, so we didn't get to celebrate any of our first holidays together, which crushed me. However, not only is he going to be here this year, but we have a beautiful house to decorate! I'M SO EXCITED. I'm crazy crazy crazy about decorating for the holidays, so it's going to be amazing. I know it's just barely September now, but I'm already planning out where I want the tree, what color lights I want outside.. Yeah. I'm THAT person. (but don't worry, I don't listen to Christmas music until I'm on the way to family at Thanksgiving. ;) )

While Mark was deployed, I was so busy taking care of his christmas care packages and decorating and baking with my parents tha tI didn't post up as many tutorials as I wanted, but this year, I will have buckets and buckets of time, so get ready! I'll be making several wreaths as well, both as gifts and to decorate around here with, my mom and I are going to make garlands together like the ones we had when I was little, and lots of baking recipes! I hope you're all getting as excited as I am! 

In the mean time, though, I suppose I have to settle for celebrating Mark's ALS graduation, his birthday, then the ball. sigh. ;) It's going to be a very exciting several months, so keep watching for more!

-KJ

Feels like I've been running a marathon

This week has been chaos.

Not all bad, but definitely chaotic.

I don't feel like going into complete detail on what all's happened, but long story short, my phone vanished, we still haven't gotten to the car to the garage (Mark keeps getting released too late to make it there), and I had to change dresses for the ball. The last one isn't a big deal, but at the same time, it is. I'm just so thankful it's the WEEKEND.

I'm ready for Mark to be out of ALS too. I realize that, as a military spouse, there are always certain things that I'm always going to have to do alone, but trying to juggle car repairs without a phone by myself is just too much, haha. I'll be glad when he's graduated. I had to find a dress for his graduation as well, but thankfully my mom brought down all my formal dresses from home last week when they visited, so I have the perfect dress. It's a little longer than knee length, black (classic LBD anyone?), with a cream band just below the bust. Super classic and it's one of my favorite dresses. The dress I'm now wearing to the ball is the same one I wore last year, which is just fine with me, since it's probably one of the most beautiful dresses I have. I'll add a picture of both dresses, I'd love to get y'alls input. :) let me know what you think, and if you have any questions about ALS or graduation attire. :)

This is the dress for ALS graduation. It's a semi-formal event, but I'm going more towards the formal side. You should always reflect positively on your husband, especially at events like this. :)

This is the dress I wore to the ball last year, and I'll be wearing it again this year! It's very, very flowy, almost  ethereal in style. Mark loves this dress, and I aim to please. :)

Let me know what y'all think about the dresses, and if you have any questions!

-KJ

So much to be thankful for

As a lot of you know, this last month has been absolute chaos. Our car threw a rod, my husband started ALS, so I've had to be taking care of everything myself, and with a few other things, it's been just crazy. We're hopefully getting the car fixed in the next week or so, and then hopefully things will start to slow down.

On to some better news. I'm very happy to say my husband made Staff Sgt! I'm so proud of him! A couple of our friends, Daniel and Jeff, made it as well, so a shout out to both of them and a congrats! We have a group of friends over at the moment to celebrate with Mark, and my parents took us out to eat earlier today, it's just been a really relaxing day, which was much needed.

Also, i got my dress for the ball today! My sweet momma brought it to me along with some other dresses for Mark's ALS graduation, Christmas party, etc, and it's gorgeous! I'm going to try and lose a little more weight before then, but I love it! I'm just so at ease for the first time in almost a month. I'm so thankful for such an amazing support system that I have, with the friends we have here at Tinker, from my hometown, and our amazing families.
I keep forgetting to, but I'm going to try and post up before pictures when I go to the gym Monday. I'm going to try and do pictures an dmeasurments weekly and what I'm doing. I tarted the thirty day shred with a friend last week, along with the blogilates workouts I'm already doing for the 90 day challenge, so we'll see if I get the results I want. I'm pretty excited to get this dress to fit perfectly, so I can't wait to share the journey with you guys!

-KJ

Goodbye, July!

I can't believe July is already over! Feels like it just started! With the end of July comes the beginning of my favorite and busiest time of year: fall. I know it doesn't start for a while still on the calendar, but August = school = fall to me. Always has!

August in particular will be hectic! My hubby finds out whether he made Staff Sergeant or not. I have the utmost confidence in him! He also starts ALS,or Airman Leadership School, later this week, so we'll both be pretty busy!

Along with that business, a friend from college and I decided to do a weight loss program together starting August 1, though im really starting today. It's the 90 Day Challenge from Blogilates. She gives you everything you need, fan entire meal plan, and workout schedule. The meal plan is extremely strict, so I decided I'm going to alter it slightly because I've come to a decision. I don't want to get to my next goal weight by using all meal replacements or crazy strict diets. I want to be able to have a realistic meal plan that I can follow all the time, not just for 90 days. I'll do her meal plan for probably the first half, then gradually add back in whole grains, more fruits, things like that.I'll wait to post the before pictures until she actually starts too, but I can't wait to see the results we achieve! And this is perfect timing! I was wanting to try and get at least part of my goal before the Air Force Ball in September, and I'm positive that I will with this plan! The best part is, you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for it or expensive products because you're just eating clean foods. Don't get me wrong, I love my It Works protein shake, but I know some of you are moms, and I know he start of school is always a tighter time of year for the budget.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

-KJ

Another Day, another workout, another TDY

Monday.

It just SOUNDS unpleasant. I've never been a fan of Mondays. Especially not this one, where I had to wake up unbelievably early to drop hubs off at the squadron for his TDY. Hated being up early, and haaaattteeee it when he leaves. It is part of the life, however, so I'll just push on as always.

I'm about to go do Pilates. As y'all know, I'm a big fan of Pop Pilates. If you haven't heard if them before, search on YouTube. They're an amazing workout. The shorter ones are great to do throughout the day if you don't have a lot of time, but I adore the longer ones. I have a goal in mind, ands good timeframe to achieve it, so we'll see if I actually can!

Something I wanted to mention. I went for a jog the other day after work, and saw something funny; this woman was 'running', but stopped literally every few feet to fix her hair and adjust her top.

1. Always wear something you don't have to fiddle with while you're working out.

2. If you're thinking about your hair, your not focusing in your workout/form, and could more easily trip and fall. Which she almost did.
And besides..

Quick review/update

Sorry it's been so long since I've written a post! Things have been kind of cwazy! We've been busy unpacking, hubby tested for SSgt, and he's fixing to leave in a TDY right before ALS! And to top it all off, I got a job at te flower shop here on base! Those of you who know me know how much I adore flowers, and I'm very excited to have the opportunity to learn to do arrangements! I've been working out some where I can, but this week starts back into the grind. I'll be attending Zumba again, and hopefully getting plenty of walking and running in as well!

As y'all know, summers in Oklahoma are miserable. It's hot and windy, or hot with no wind, windy and humid.. It just goes on, and when you're a woman who wears makeup, forget it. It melts off your face after maybe an hour or two. It's frustrating, and after living here for almost 21 years now, I accepted that I would never be able to wear foundation in the summer, and that I was destined to look blotchy forever.

Wrong-o.

Garnier released a product right before hubs came home from the sand box, called Garnier Skin Renew Miracle skin perfector B.B. cream. I thought I'd give it a try.

Oh my lanta.
I am addicted. It works just like a cream foundation, but it's not heavy or cakey, it covers up all my redness and blemishes, and it does miracles for under eye shadows! This is all I wear. No foundation, no powder, just this, eyeliner, and mascara. I'll post up a before and after picture tomorrow, but it's amazing, and it's a huge time saver! It's all steps in one: moisturizer, SPF, foundation, everything. And a little goes a long way so it's very cost effective, especially at $6! It comes in light/medium or dark, and I use the light/medium one. If you're still searching for something like his, especially for summer, though I'll be using this ALL year, I highly recommend it!

I'll do another post tomorrow with the picture, and also with what my workout tomorrow consists of! Please keep emailing and commenting if you have anything you want me to discuss!

-KJ

New house, new life!

So, I know in my last post before we moved I said that I was extremely excited.

Boy, was that an understatement. This may be dramatic, but I feel like we're ten times better off here. I'll post up a few pictures tonight of the new house, and I'll get one tomorrow of the exterior. It's perfect, and we're getting our washer and drier tomorrow, so double yay!

Another thing I mentioned in my last blog was how excited I was about trying the Zumba class here on base. Well, last week, I went to my first one with my friend Tawney, and I LOVED IT! Probably one of the best workouts I've ever done (not to mention the AC broke so we were sweating double!) but I definitely felt it the next day, and I love that. I will definitely be going back! I think I'll add swimming to my routine as well, and once I get my home gym/office set up, I can do my Pilates and yoga at home if I can't make it to a class. I'm excited to see what results I can get from the Zumba class. Next Monday(the week after the 4th of July,after things calm down a little), I will be posting up a new before picture. Which is scary, but I really want to see how I change throughout the classes and all the other things I'll be doing! I'll keep you all posted!

Here are the promised pictures! Have a good evening!