5 Things Friday

1. Uhhhhh I'm watching The Bachelorette. I hate it but I can't stop. It is the most dramatic kind of train wreck.

Scout does not enjoy it.

2.  I created a bucket list of TV shows I must watch/catch-up on this summer. Talk about dreaming big.

3. Scout had a birthday this week.

4. Yesterday we had a nasty hailstorm.

5. Yesterday was also our 7 year anniversary. Other anniversary posts can be seen here. SEVEN YEARS!

I like that there's no guesswork. It's always tulips that arrive on the doorstep. 

And Scout is looking at the hail and not comprehending that that is why we can't go for a walk. 

5 whole years

4 states. Pennsylvania, Alaska, Missouri, and now Colorado.

4 houses. 4 different addresses.

4 Army moves. 

2 deployments.  Me in Alaska, him in Afghanistan.

2 puppies. 

2 teaching positions for me. 4th grade in Alaska, 2nd grade in Missouri.

1 Masters degree for him. Environmental Engineering.

Today is 5 years of marriage.  I think we've accomplished a lot, wouldn't you say?  

Date Night in State College, PA

In September of 2008, we had our first date at Mad Mex in State College.  It was really good.  We had wings, guacamole, margaritas, etc.

Each time we come home to visit, we usually try to stop there because they do have some of the best margaritas.  Had, anyway.

We went there the other day and the margarita was kind of sour (more than it's supposed to be) and there were fruit flies around.  

The guacamole was bland, the slices of avocado were brownish, cucumbers were old, the steak was undercooked and tasted old too.  That was just my food.  Scott's rice and beans had clearly been under the heat lamp all day.  

Maybe I've just gotten better at Mexican food at home?  Maybe I've set the bar too high?  Maybe…Mad Mex is just really really really bad now.  

Anyway, we won't be going back.  What a waste.

Then we tried to go to Dunkin Donuts.  It was closed at 8pm.  

I said, "Let's go to Target, kill time before the movie, and get Starbucks."  Because every Target in the history of the modern world has a Starbucks and a set-up that is just designed to suck you in and empty your wallet.  Not this one.  It was the old Target set-up (circa 2001) with a snack bar instead of a Starbucks.  For shame, State College, for shame.

Do you remember these old Targets?  I barely do.

We walked next door to the "nice" grocery store because in my (apparently delusional) world nice grocery stores have coffee shops.  It didn't.

We went to Sheetz for our coffee.  It was awful.  First of all, we used the made-to-order "espresso" bar and it took longer than a 7:30am stop at the Starbucks drive-thru.  Scott's cup was half-full and not what he ordered.  My non-fat caramel latte tasted like bitter sugar water.

Onto the movie theater… we went to see American Hustle.  As soon as we sat down in the empty theater, two guys came in and sat right in front of me.  We moved.  The movie theater screen was showing commercials without actually showing them (just sound), so we figured the next logical step would be for the movie to malfunction and we wouldn't get to see it after all.  

It did function, however, and we were treated to American Hustle.  Good movie, but long movie.  I was getting completely irritated by the end because I was so uncomfortable.  Anyway..it was okay.  I didn't love it but I didn't hate it.  I liked Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence together in movie again (she'll get a nomination of some sort, I'm sure), but Amy Adams was kind of annoying.  Silver Linings Playbook was much better when we saw it last year.  

I usually make it a point to see all the Best Picture nominees and I'm sure this will be in the running.

See any good movies lately?  We used to go to the movies once a week in Alaska.  Now the theater in our town is less than desirable…We've only been once and that was to see Catching Fire.  

I can't believe it's been a year

Scott came back from Afghanistan one year ago.

The first time time he's left since then, for more than a couple of days, was this past week when he went on a hunting trip.  He took the dog too, so I was alone for the first time in...a very long time.

It was different.

I ate quesadillas for dinner.  I went to work.  I went to the gym.  I spent the weekend shopping, crafting, and reading.  All by myself.  I didn't have a whole lot of human interaction and it reminded me of something...

Oh, right.  It reminded me of 2012.

I had no responsibilities.  The house got awfully messy.

I went to Target and I spent probably an hour just browsing and, I'll have you know, I have no particular attachment to that store other than it was the place I used to go to make myself feel better.  Before 2012, I never went to Target for much of anything.  It became my oasis.  My happy place.  I would always leave there feeling a little better than when I arrived.

Now, obviously, I had to spend money there on Satruday.  I started my Christmas shopping.  I bought stuff for school.  And food too.  And a dog toy.  And really now, who knows when I'll get a chance to go back, so pretty much everything I picked up went into my cart.

Anyway, it was a good weekend.  It was nice to be by myself, but it was even better to know that I'd have my family back by the time the weekend was over.

I got all hopped up on moscato and candy corn and started crafting.

I monogrammed a fake pumpkin with felt.

I also started making some Christmas decorations.

I bought a turkey for $8.  He was on sale.

A new wreath (wrapped with yarn by my mom)

...to go with the one I made last year

And it was beautiful weather all weekend long!

Thank goodness it's Friday again.

An 18 hour trip

I had a great title for this post:  "Ohio: The land that time forgot".  Because I thought we were going to Ohio on Saturday.  We ended just stopping just short of the border and spending a few hours in Richmond, Indiana.

(Doesn't it seem like minutes become hours, hours become days, and days become..you know, years when you're traveling through the great state of Ohio?)

We left at 5am and made it to Richmond by 1:30pm. I think.  There was a time change. It was confusing.

Coincidentally, Indiana is Scout's ancestral home.  He was excited.

We made this trip because ever since we bought a new truck, we've had the older one sitting in our driveway.  We don't have a very big driveway.  We decided to drive up there, pass it off to Scott's dad who'd meet us halfway, and drive back.  We got home at 11pm-ish. It was a long day.

This event, to me, was really the conclusion of our trip from Alaska.  We drove that truck from Alaska to Missouri with the intention of buying a new one when we got here, fixing up the old one, and sending it off to Pennsylvania (its ancestral home...after Japan).

Scott bought this 1999 Nissan truck in October 2008, about a month after we started dating.  I talked him into it.  It was perfect.  He desperately needed a truck and this was the best used one we came across.  The mileage was low, the price was about $9,000.

At this point, he was in ROTC and I was substitute teaching.  Neither of us had any money really, let alone $9,000.  This truck was a true investment.

He financed it, and brought it home (and it was paid off within a year or so).  Three weeks later, he hit a deer with it and the poor truck spent nearly a month in a body shop.  So it goes.

In April of 2009, we drove the truck to Oklahoma, where he was starting training.  He drove it back to Pennsylvania in September of that year for our wedding.  A week later, we loaded it onto a U-Haul trailer and it traveled to Alaska.

This is where it became our truck.  I left my car in Pennsylvania because we could only take one vehicle.  When he deployed 4 weeks later, it was my truck.  It got me through the Alaskan winter.  I cleaned snow and ice off of it countless times. The 4-wheel drive was my lifeline, as I navigated my way through Anchorage, heading to substitute-teaching jobs.

When Scott came back in February 2010, we bought a Hyundai Sonata.  It became mine and  he still drove that truck.  It's been all over the state of Alaska!  He was always doing repair work, making sure it ran at its best.

Here it is, photo-bombing a picture in Delta Junction.

And then an actual picture...

For deployment #2, it was my extra vehicle.  I drove it when the snow was too deep for my car.  My car had studs on the tires, but 4-wheel drive made me feel better when I saw the snow coming down in sheets outside my classroom window.  Knowing it'd get me up the hill to our house made me feel better about my commute home.  Though, I still remember the really cold days when I'd have to let it run every day for 30 minutes or so because we couldn't fit it in the garage.  If the battery died, that would be an inconvenience I really didn't need.

We talked about buying another truck in Alaska.  We really should have because there's no taxes there. We just kind of ran out of time.  It seems like a dumb excuse, but moving/PCSing is no joke.  We truly didn't have a second to spare on car-shopping.  So we attached a trailer to the Nissan and drove it to Missouri.
There was a moment in South Dakota where it started to overheat, but luckily that was our only issue.  I can't believe it made the trip.  It's a 1999 Frontier with waaaay too many miles on it.  Scott's taken amazing care of it.

As soon as we arrived here, we bought a new truck- the first new vehicle for either of us, ever.  I guess we're grown-ups?

Coincidentally, Saturday was also the anniversary of the day we met and today is the anniversary of our first date.  Five long years ago.  Next week is our wedding anniversary. Four whole years.  We say the contract is up at five. (kidding)

Sharing at Mingle Monday

Happy

So many of you said how happy Scott and I looked in the picture I posted on Monday.

And it's true.

Not often is it that he'll pose for a picture.  Much less a picture a friend of his is being coerced into taking for the blog us.  Heck, I'm just now at the point where I'll say, "Can we do a picture?" and Scott will take one of me on the deck.  More often than not, it's just me and the self-timer.

Anyway, we were happy because we'd both just had a week off of work.

Happy because we had two more days off to look forward to.

Happy because we didn't feel like we were being crushed by his job...by my job (not that my job is very crushing..but it does tend to put me in a "mood").

When you stay away from work for long enough, you forget the problems that go along with it.

Obviously that agreed with us.

This is further proof that the military life is a hard one.  The army has taken a toll on him in the same way Alaska has taken a toll on me.  Eventually, I'll elaborate on why his job is as difficult as it is, but it boils down to working with low-caliber people.  People with no morals. People who don't work toward bettering themselves, but instead work toward tearing others down.

We're not the same people we were 4 years ago, wide-eyed and newly-engaged.  But I like that.  We have experience!  We understand what it's like to fight (and yeah, we do).  What it's like to be separated.  What it's like to take care of one another when the one of us is essentially blind and just sits under a blanket all day.  The time we've spent living in Alaska has been invaluable to our relationship.

But this life, though it pays the bills and the student loans are gone, is not easy on us and our relationship.  That was completely evident to me when y'all said how happy we looked in that picture.  Of course we were happy!  We'd just had a week off of work!  I don't know how long we'll stay in the military.  I don't know where we'll live next.  As cheesy as it sounds, what we have learned in the last 2 weeks is that it REALLY doesn't matter.  The military has made us appreciate the fact that being together is actually what matters.

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Oh, my arctic tan does not make me happy.  The light was *just so* (I barely edited this) to make me invisible in this picture. Nice, right? However, it's not enough to drive me to the tanning beds again.  Predicaments, predicaments...

Scarf/sweater: Target // Jeans: Aerie // Boots: Steve Madden // Watch: Fossil

Sharing at Random Wednesday, Walkabout Wednesday, WIWW

Scott says...

My husband was kind enough to answer some questions for me.  It was a fun little Tuesday night activity for the two of us because our answers were vastly different.  It led to a lot of ....discussion.  He already knows that I have the better memory, so anyone reading this should probably believe me.

Scott's written responses are in quotation marks.   My comments are in parentheses. 

*Disclaimer: If my comments seem to be sarcastic, they kind of are.  I love my husband veryveryvery much.  That part is not sarcasm.*

How long have you been married? 

"3 years, 9 months"

(He's right.)

Where was your first date? 
"Alley Popper"

(No.  He met me at the Alley Popper, the bar where I worked. He came to see me there the day after we met, but I'd consider our first date to be when he invited me over to his house the day after that.)

Where was your first kiss?

"Holt Daddy"

(No. Our first kiss was at his house.  Not at some seedy bar we'd only been to once or twice.  Boys...)

Who first said, "I love you"? 

"Me"

(He is a man of few words.)

What were your wedding colors? 

"Brown/white"

(Mocha and fuchsia. My dress was white.  The flower girl's dress was white.  Maybe that's where he got "white" from.)

Who is her celebrity crush? 

"I don't know. Who do girls like? Matthew McConaughey?"

(No.)

 If she was ordering drinks for both of you what would you each get? 

"Coors Light/Margarita"

(I do like my tequila...)


What is the best meal she has ever cooked you? 

"Wow, too many to compare"

(Good answer.)

What is the worst meal she has ever cooked you? 

"???"

(Even better answer.)

What is the most-played song on her iPod? 

"Something country. Jason Aldean."

(I don't really listen to music. Honestly. He picked the last album he bought and heard me say "Oh, I like that", which I did, but that was awhile ago.)

What would she say is your most annoying habit? 

"My messiness"

(Every day is a battle...)

What is the last thing she does before she goes to bed? 

"Looks at her iPad. Tells me she loves me."

(He usually falls asleep first while I browse Pinterest and watch the news.)

What would you say is your favorite thing about her? 

"How nice and caring she is even when I'm acting like a d***.  Always supports me, no questions asked."

(He's so sweet.)

What's her go-to drink at Starbucks? 

"White Chocolate Macchiato"

(That's not a thing.  It's a "White Chocolate Mocha, non-fat, no whip".)

What's her blog's name?

"Kristin's kNook"

(Yeah, okay.)

I borrowed this questionnaire from Angi.  Feel free to try it out on your own significant other!

Sharing at YOLO Monday and Mingle Monday

Sour Green Monster (and how I met my husband)

Months ago, I told you that I had written up a simply brilliant post about how Scott and I met.  And then Blogger ate it (via my iPad as Macs cannot be trusted apparently).

Because drinking out of a mason jar is classy

So.  Here we go.

I was inspired to re-write the story, albeit condensed, simply because I was inspired by this lady to create an alcoholic beverage.  How are these two things related?

I met my husband in a bar.

I was the bartender.  He was the customer.  I was a certified (jobless) elementary teacher.  He was an ROTC-ing engineering student in his last semester of college.

On the particular night he came into the bar it was a band night, so it was CRAY-zy.  The special was $1 Yuengling bottles until midnight.  (Suck on that Alaska.  You and your $9 beers mean very little to me.)  Scott walked in at 11:55pm.  He and his two friends ordered 3 of the $1 bottles, drank them before I handed back the change,  and asked for 3 more.

Thrifty college students they were.  I was intrigued.  To say I lived/worked/grew-up-in a small town is an understatement.  In fact, the bar ran specials like $1 bottles often, but no one ever ordered them because they were all set in their "I'll-have-a-Bud-light-can" ways.  

So Scott was worth taking a second look at. 

He was impressed that I was a teacher, that I didn't smoke like so many of the girls in the bar did, and seemed to like the idea that I was willing to run with him (yeah, okay, Scott*).

I found it interesting that he was in there at all because, usually, all I saw were the morons I went to high school with.  Not everyone there was bad; I had a lot of acquaintances/friends at that job.  However, once I started subbing in the elementary schools full-time, a bartender's schedule was not conducive and I quit the bar/restaurant job after 3 1/2 years.

I put my number into his cell phone when he wasn't really paying attention.  Then I asked him for his number.  I sent him a text message the next day that started with, "You probably don't remember me..."

And that was that. 

Anyway, after working at a bar for so long, I had become pretty well-versed in drink creation.

That vodka is leftover from our wedding...in 2009.  

Here's what I came up with on a random Saturday night.  I originally used 1 shot of vodka.  It was way too strong.  I have some vodka sensitivities after a crazy night of cheap cranberry and vodkas back in '08.  Meaning, idon'tdrinkitanymoreevereverever.  You can use a whole 2 oz. shot if you want.  Good luck with that headache the next day. 

Sour Green Monster
 makes one drink

6 oz. sour mix (3/4 cup)
1/2 shot vodka (1 oz.)
1 shot melon liqueur (Midori, if you're not cheap.  I'm cheap.)
Squirt of fresh lime juice
2 maraschino cherries

In a martini shaker filled with ice, shake the sour mix, vodka, and melon liqueur.  I used my classy Shake Blender.
Fill a glass with ice and strain in the drink.  Top with lime and cherries. 

*I'm really bad at running.

Story of Us: Memorial Day 2009

In honor of our three-year anniversary (which was Saturday)...

...so Scott and I got engaged 5 months after we met.  As I said, people from my town just don't "up-and-get-married".  I'm pretty sure some people thought I was pregnant.

Ha.


The thought of me taking care of a child at age 23 makes me laugh out loud.  We haven't even tried taking care of a dog yet...


Anyway, clearly we proved those people wrong (I just love proving people wrong) and made it evident that we did, in fact, marry for love.

Imagine that, central Pennsylvania, imagine that.

Regardless, we started planning our wedding for September 2009, but then on Easter weekend 2009 things changed.

Scott told me that he had taken an opportunity.  The opportunity was to go to Alaska instead of Missouri.  The job he was supposed to have after his training was completed was not one he really wanted.  The job he wanted was in Alaska and another soldier wanted to trade to get out of going to Alaska.  Imagine.  Get out of Alaska.  (That was a smart soldier.  He listened to his wife.)

I let Scott make the call on this one.  It was our life, but it was his career.  Alaska wouldn't be permanent.  And I knew that if he hated Missouri (and having spent some time there, he kinda did), it'd be a sucky time for all involved.  Plus, even though I kinda dislike Alaska, Alaska gave me a job.  Something PA or MO never offered.  We figured we'd do Alaska first, while we were young and adventurous, and we could always settle closer to home later on. 

So after we decided that we'd be going to Alaska instead of Missouri, Scott was still at training and I was still in PA.  We knew we had to be in Alaska by the first week of October.  And if we didn't get married until September, I wouldn't be allowed to go on his military orders.  Alaska is considered an overseas duty station.  So there was lots of paperwork that would take months to process.  I can't even really remember the specifics.  I just remember that it was kind of stressful.

 It was during this time that I phone-interviewed with the Anchorage School District...(and received rejection email #1.)

Scott had arranged to come home for Memorial Day weekend.  He had jokingly said that we should take advantage of being together and get married that weekend.  I thought he was crazy.  We laughed about it, and the conversation ended there.

I drove to Harrisburg to pick him up at the airport late Friday night on Memorial Day weekend.  We went to one of Carlisle's awesome all-night diners (I had an omelet.  Food first, dear readers), spent the night at his mom's house, told a few people his hare-brained idea to get married early, laughed some more, and then headed back to good old Osceola Mills for the weekend. 

It was then that it really started to sink in that we needed to make this thing legal.  The army doesn't care about weddings.  The army cares about legal.  Our wedding was already bought and paid for.  But it was 3 months away.

We talked to my parents.  They thought we were legitimately insane.  His mom told us to do what we believe is right.  While it did feel awfully rushed and unplanned, we had to.  The alternative would be us getting married in Missouri in July.  But I still wanted a wedding!  So I wanted the pastor of my church to marry us for real, so he could fake marry us again later.  I had looked up some information about courthouses, but I didn't really want to get married in a courthouse.  It seemed too impersonal.  Plus, I didn't want our pastor to back out after he found out we were already married.

So on Memorial Day, I called the pastor.  He said, "If you can get a marriage license tomorrow, I'll marry you.  Just call to let me know." 

My condition was that we tell NO ONE, because then they won't take our actual wedding seriously.  I didn't want some random May anniversary.  I wanted the date we had planned on.


Then I realized that this meant I got TWO anniversaries.  Yes.  TWO.  (Um, sure, darling.  I'll marry you twice.)

My parents, the pastor, the pastor's wife, and my cousin/MOH were the only ones in attendance.  To say it was a hurried affair is quite the understatement.  Scott had to be at the airport (3 hours away) to catch a 1:30pm flight back to training in Missouri.  We rushed to the local courthouse to be there when they opened at 8am.  We got our license.  We got a waiver because we needed to get married THAT day (in Pennsylvania, there's a 3 day wait period).  We rushed to the church.  The pastor met us there and married us.  Just like that.  Like I said, crazyfast.

And then I drove Scott to the airport, in the rain, me pretty much in tears because I didn't want him to leave again.  It was only for a few weeks and then I was flying to Missouri to meet him, but that's not the point.  It was our "wedding day" for crying out loud.

Anyway, he ate at McDonald's at the airport, but I wasn't hungry.  I don't remember eating them but, according to the receipt, I ordered chicken selects and bottled water. 

Don't think for a second that I didn't save the receipt.  I keep it in one of our Bibles.

I stopped at the mall on my way home.  I bought a few summery things at American Eagle.  (You all did that on your wedding day too, right?)

The next day, I went back to my job long-term substituting in a kindergarten classroom.  Yes, I did, in fact, have to take an unpaid day off to get married.

2 weeks later, I left to spend part of the summer with Scott in Ft. Leonard-Wood, Missouri.

Ft. L-W, July 2009

Story of Us: Engaged!

So, the Engaged! part of the story was to be prefaced with how we actually met.  As I said, Blogger ate it.  I'll write it up again soon, but you just really need to know that we met at a bar in August 2008 and I was the one who picked him up.  I'm pushy like that. 
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Scott and I decided, within weeks of meeting, that we'd get married.  We were both 22, soon to be 23.  He had a job lined up (the Army is a decent paycheck, I suppose).  I had my teaching certification, and was hoping to get a job anywhere we went.  

I remember insisting that we needed an engagement ring and real wedding plans in order for it to be taken seriously.  People in my town don't just Britney-Spears-it and run off to get married.  They date for 4-6 years (depending on when they met) and then spend another 2 years planning the wedding.

So Scott asked me what kind of ring I wanted.  I tried to describe with words and then it was decided that we should go look together.  We did.  At this point, I think Scott was just confused by the styles, cuts, and whatnot, so he let me pick it.  So I did.  Yes.  I picked out my own engagement ring.  And it was fun.  Normally, I like surprises, but this was just plain fun. (Princess-cut with a complete channel band in case you're curious.  I would be.)

We were dealing with Kranich's Jewelers in downtown State College because it was on the Penn State campus and he just happened to be there everyday.  Plus, we like to give money to small businesses versus large corporations.  Well, Scott does.  I'll shop wherever is cheapest 

The salesman at Kranich's would not let it go.  He called Scott at least once a week asking if he was ready to draw up the paperwork on the ring we had picked out.  It was a tricky situation as we were both semi-employed.  They really do give credit cards to anyone these days. 

And it's true that we liked this particular ring, but something didn't feel right about it, so a few weeks went by without the engagement plan really moving forward.

One day, I was walking by Kay Jewelers in the mall.  I went in and there it was:  the exact same ring, but it looked better.  How this is possible, I don't know.  But it looked so much better!  By better, I mean "more sparkly".

The best part?  It was a couple hundred dollars less.  That's a win for the big corporation in my book.

So at the beginning of November 2008, we went into Kay's, had my finger sized, and ordered the ring.  Scott made a down payment, and then used his brand-new Kay's card to pay for the rest (He really loved making that payment every month.)

I still didn't know when I was getting the ring.  Like I said, we did not live in a military community and dating/living together usually lasts half a dozen years in my hometown.  I knew it wouldn't be until well after Christmas.  We assumed he was going to training the next summer, so we'd probably just get engaged before he left.

In December, Scott said the ring had come in and he made the mistake of showing it to me.  It was oh-so-cleverly hidden in his desk drawer.  Therefore, every time I went to Scott's house from December to February, I pulled it out to look at.

We did things quite traditionally, as you can tell.

We then found out that training was to start in April, not August.  Now plans really needed to move forward.  He gave me the ring on Valentine's Day 2009 and we could officially announce that we were getting married.

SO.  Now that we had been dating for 5 1/2 months, we were engaged and planning a September 2009 wedding.  Why September?  Umm.. because he would have exactly 2 weeks off between graduating Officer Basic Course in Missouri and moving to Alaska by the 1st of October.  That's right, girls.  You don't even really get to pick your own wedding date when the military is involved. 

Oh!  But wait!  We still didn't know we were going to Alaska.  We thought we were going to be stationed at Ft. Leonard-Wood, Missouri for a few years.  (Alaska was a pleasant little....surprise).

Anyway, September 12th fell one week after OBC graduation, so that's what we were shooting for. 

Then, as they often do, plans went awry and we ended up getting married 2 1/2 months later.

Mansfield, Missouri, April 4, 2009 (I could never forget the exact day I got to tour Laura Ingalls Wilder's house.)