Free Christmas Cards? Yes, please.

I have been known to spend way too much on Christmas cards. WAY too much. I think at the peak of my card sending, I had about 130 people on my card list. Excessive, perhaps? I try to cut my list shorter as the years go by, but I just really enjoy letting people know that I am thinking of them during the holiday season.  I also love receiving cards throughout the month and hearing from those that I may only hear from at Christmastime. Photo cards are great to see how people change and children grow year to year. This year, being a newly wed wife, I am eager to send cards to our friends and family from the two of us. When I saw that Shutterfly was offering 50 free cards to bloggers, I was thrilled and jumped on the opportunity. I love their photo cards (also look here) and think it will be perfect to send a picture of the new husband and me - especially to those who haven't met him, yet! Their calendars also make great gifts. I've created these for parents and grandparents many times.

So far, these are a few of my favorite card designs....

 

 

 The more I look, the more I find that I like! This will be a difficult decision...

The Silent Ranks

I'm so excited and proud to announce that I am a married woman! We got married in Hawaii somewhat spontaneously. Hopefully we'll have something more formal in a few months. It's been driving me nuts not to be able to tell the world, but now I can! I am officially an Army wife. Wow.

Dropping In and 100 Warm Feet Project

It's been over a month since I've posted...sorry! We don't have regular internet access here at home and we were in Hawaii for three weeks and I was just lazy about posting there! I obviously dropped the ball on the meme. Oh well! There will be other memes. I really don't have much time to post an update now (a big one is coming!), but I wanted to post a video that my blog and many other milspouse blogs were featured in! I teared up seeing it. It's a great video, great song and great project for our troops!! Check out the site, too.... Keep feet warm in Afghanistan!!  http://www.verseo.com/100-warmfeet-lp.html

Living With and Without Technology

Day Fifteen: Something you couldn't live without, because you've tried
Sounds lame, but the Internet. I hate not having immediate access to people, news, information, etc. With the Internet, you can lack cable, stereo or a phone if you have to, but still be able to watch TV and movies, listen to music and communicate with others. I'm able to make international calls for free. I can prove the Captain wrong at any time by looking up proof to my side of a debate. (That's pretty important, right?)



Day Sixteen: Something you can live without
While I prefer not to, I can live without cable. I can access shows online (as I already mentioned) and can pretty much keep up with any series I want to that way. I don't like to do it that way, but if I had to, I could do it.

Let Down

Day Fourteen: A hero who has let you down (a letter)
Dear Hero,
I've always looked up to you. I've always admired you. It was such a disappointment when I found out what you had done. You are better than that. I know you are. You may not think you are, but you're selling yourself short. I don't know if you consciously try to sabotage anything good that comes your way or if you just don't think before you act. I am so crestfallen when I hear about you making such poor decisions. I still love you and I still care about you and I will always be proud of you overcoming adversity, but I want to be able to trust you again. I want to trust you and have faith that you are trying to walk down the right path. I want to see you be the person you were meant to be and not someone who hurts the people that love you most.
Love,
Me

Playing Catch Up

Well I'm not doing very well at keeping up with my meme! I think I drew a bit of a blank on a few of the questions and I hate to post non-answers. I may have to though at some point. I'm just going to pick up where I left off and go from there! 
 
Day Twelve: Something you never get compliments on
This is kind of an odd question. Are we trying to focus on my imperfections, or what? I most certainly never get complimented on my rockin' body or perfect complexion. Thanks for reminding me!

 Day Thirteen: A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough-ass days (A letter)

Dear Dave (as in Matthews),
Thank you for writing music that I can listen to in almost any mood. You've gotten me through tough workouts. You've made me cry. You've made me think. You've kept me going on some pretty difficult days. You have a unique writing style that I love and the music itself it amazing.

Dear Alanis,
Thank you for writing angry white girl music. It is cathartic.

PS - Speaking of angry white girl, I confess I liked your music better when you were jaded and vengeful.

Days 10-11

Day Ten: Someone you need to let go or wish you didn't know

Hmmm. I've been procrastinating on this one because I'm not sure I have an answer. I have pretty much parted ways with most of the people who were toxic in my life. There are people I wish I had not known from my past, but no one in the present.

Day Eleven: Something people seem to compliment you on the most
Physically, either my hair or my eyes. Other than that, I am usually appreciated (would that be the same thing?) for caring about others and remembering birthdays. :)


I can't believe Vandy beat Ole Miss yesterday! Way to go, Dores!! Unfortunately, the Vols fell to the Gators. Yeah yeah yeah, it was expected. I was hopeful, though! They really did play a great game. Getting ready to watch my Titans in a couple of hours!! I love this time of year.

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Past Connections

This one is lengthy....

Day Eight: Someone who made your life hell
 I've already mentioned one person, but who wants to talk about him again? The one who really pops into mind that treated me terribly was my first "real" boyfriend. I was in high school and was definitely young and stupid. I knew I shouldn't have dated this guy, but frankly, I was tired of him bothering me about it so I said yes.  I suppose his stalkerish behaviors prior to dating should have warned me, and I guess they did because I didn't want to be alone with him at first, but like I said - young and stupid. For awhile, it was okay. I liked the attention and the serious relationship was something new to me. There were a lot of things I didn't like about him and at times I found him to be pretty scary. The honeymoon was over after about six months. He was very possessive. I "had" to break ties with most of my friends, especially the male friends. I did things I did not want to do just to keep the peace between us. He threatened me. He threatened my family. He blamed me for everything (really? it's my fault you got caught speeding?). He cheated on me. He wouldn't "allow" me to break up with him. He insulted me. He convinced me that I wasn't worthy of anyone and that I was lucky to have him. He told everyone else I was worthless. This went on for two years. I tried to end things and he'd threaten things that scared me to death, so I stayed. My friends were concerned for me. My parents hated him. I never told anyone about the way he really was because I was afraid of retaliation. And my teenage pride wouldn't allow me to admit that my parents were right. He ended up breaking with me and oddly enough, I was devastated. My psyche was so screwed up at that point that I didn't know what I would do without him, even if I was miserable. Of course, this misery didn't last long. I realized I was so much happier without him and I could have fun again. He continued to make my life hell, though. He threatened the guys I dated afterward, he stalked me, he said horrible things about me to get people not to ask me out and taunted me every now and then. This would go on until well after I graduated high school and until I finally moved out of the town we lived in. While this happened a million years ago, I can see where it shaped a lot of my personality and attitude today. I still avoid conflict in order to keep things peaceful. I still have very low self-worth. I still feel like everything bad that happens is my fault. It set me up to accept a lot of crap from relationships in the years following. But in some ways, I wonder if it made me stronger. I can take a lot. That doesn't mean I should, but when I have to, I can. I wish I would have never given in to dating him, but I can certainly say I learned a lot.  

Day Nine: Someone you didn't want to let go, but just drifted
This is actually something that has been bothering me for a few months. My senior year of high school, I ran around with a group of four other girls. I had been friends with all of them for years, but we just bonded and stuck together that year for some reason. There was one in particular that I was closest to. I think we may have had the most in common and we had the same mindset at time when the rest of the group didn't. When we all went on vacations, she and I would split off sometimes and do our own thing. She was a great friend and we had a lot of fun. She and two of the other girls went to a different college than I did. Friendships wavered, relationships waned, that's just how things go after high school. She and I stayed in touch, though. My sophomore year of college, I had to have brain surgery. She drove the almost two hours to come see me in the hospital, which meant so much to me. I didn't have many visitors and I felt like my local friends were too busy to deal with me. I was really touched that she took the time to see me. We were pretty close through college. I went to her graduation. Then we ended up living in the same city and we worked in the same field. We even worked for the same company once. The last few years, she pretty much stopped talking to me. At first she said she was just dealing with a lot - and she was - and was self-isolating. But more time went on and it was obvious I was cut out of her life. It really hurt and I didn't understand it. Well she joined up on Facebook recently and I friended her...and she denied me. She's friends with just about everyone else from our high school, but she won't connect with me. I still don't understand. To absolutely want nothing to do with me, I feel like I had to have done something to offend her. For the life of me, I cannot come up with anything. There was never a falling out and I can't think of anything malicious I did. Drifting apart happens, but to sever ties completely is something else. I'd love to be able to share my life with her right now and I'd love to hear about her marriage and her children. I treasured her as a friend and it hurts to not have her in my life. It hurts even more because I don't know why.

Living Life

Day Seven: Someone who makes your life worth living
I think the way that this is worded might be a little dramatic. Life is worth living because, well, its my life. It's a gift. What I can say is that the Captain makes my life more enjoyable and more worthwhile. He actually makes feel alive. While I wasn't really looking for someone when we started dating (frankly, I had probably given up on the notion that I would find someone I was happy with), I see now that I was feeling very empty. My life wasn't all that fulfilling. I had my work, my family, my friends, my sorority activities...but there was definitely something missing. There was a void I had ignored. There was certainly no adventure. In some ways, I really wasn't feeling anything. I was just going through the motions of life. The last 19-20 months have brought me back to feeling alive, though. I have the full range of emotions that I should have and I feel so many things that I'm not sure I've ever truly felt. I definitely have more adventure. I feel more of a sense of purpose. I have a clear vision of what I want in life, what is important, what is not and what I value. He has made my life better in so many ways and I now feel like I am truly living.

Hope and Plans

Day Five: Something you hope to do in your life
 I want to be a wife and a mother. I want to travel extensively.  I'd like to visit every continent (yes, even Antarctica).

Day Six: Something you hope you never have to do
Survive my children. Become a Gold Star wife.

The Captain talked to someone at Branch yesterday and it looks like we'll be moving to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in a few months. He should have orders by the end of the month.  It's not where we wanted to go, but it's only a year and we're both excited about moving back to the US. I'm also glad to know where we are going and start planning!

Image via Wikipedia