As February comes to a close....

Hey y'all!

Since one of my 2011 Bucket List items was to blog once every week, I guess it's that time again to update everyone on what has been going on in our life.

As you saw from my last post, Christian and I celebrated our first anniversary last Sunday and it was a great day!  We had breakfast at home, went to the gym together (which we rarely get to do) and then we decided to venture out to the Jersey shore.  We went to Seaside Heights, NJ which is about an hour from us and it's also the place that the horribly awful show, Jersey Shore, was filmed.  It was interesting, for sure!  It's actually not as ugly as I expected or as everyone up here made it out to be (since they know I'm from Florida).  Here are a couple pictures of our day out there.

This is one part of the Boardwalk.  During the
summertime, I'm sure this place is PACKED!

Christian playing pinball.  He's ridiculously good.

A ridiculous outfit that was actually for sale.....
God help the poor soul who buys such clothing.  EWWW.

So, we had a good time.  As you can see from the picture where Christian's playing pinball, we stopped into an arcade and played a few games of pinball and air hockey.  It was so much fun!

On the way back from the beach (or should I say "shore"), we stopped at a couple antique stores and I found a medium-sized bread bowl for $8.50 and Christian got a miniature cast iron stove and all it's little parts.  He saw one when we were in New Hampshire and loved it but it was over $100 so we found this one for about $40!  This place was really cheap!

That night, we went to a place called The Little Tuna in Haddonfield, NJ.  When we came up here last January to look for houses, this was the place for our first "date" in the northeast.  So, we decided to go back.  :)

Needless to say, we had a fun little anniversary day!  And, to make it even better, we're leaving Monday for our anniversary cruise to the Bahamas!  I can't wait!!!  I'm so ready for some warm weather and this white girls needs a tan, BAD!

Speaking of traveling, the flights and hotel are booked for mine & mom's trip to ROME!!!  I'm soooo excited!  Actually, I just realized, we leave a month from tomorrow!  Woooo hooo!  We're going to have so much fun, so much food and so much good wine!  What an experience this will be.

Christian leaves March 12th for about 40 days which totally sucks but I'll be keeping myself plenty busy w/ the trip to Rome and then going home to Florida in April.

The weather up here has been really wishy-washy all week.  It's freezing one day, raining the next, snowing the next and then 65 degrees one day.  I'm so ready for Spring!  I can't wait to put flowers out on the porch, open the windows and grill out!

In other news, we finally went to a doctor Thursday to talk about us not getting pregnant.  We've been actively trying for right at a year but the doctor brought up the fact that we've been together three years w/ no major contraceptive (TMI, I know- sorry haha) and never got pregnant.  That was a little shocking to me just b/c I had never really looked at it that way.  So, we're now on the road to testing.  All of that starts the week we get back from the Bahamas.  Hopefully we'll know something sooner rather than later!  So, keep us in your thoughts/prayers on that note.

Other than all of that, I'm about to get ready for a girls night over at Shannon's house (she's the wife of another pilot in Christian's squadron).  Hopefully we'll have some fun!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

xoxo,

Chrissi

Happy Anniversary to US!

Well, yes, I'm two days early but I probably won't be spending time blogging this weekend since I'm going to be celebrating a wonderful first year of marriage this weekend (once my husband gets home tomorrow)!

I can't believe it's been a year.  Is some ways it feels like yesterday was our wedding day but then again, it feels like Christian and I have been married forever.  I must say, I am so ridiculously in love with this man.  He's so amazing and I'm so lucky.  Not only is he a hottie with a body (haha), he's my absolute best friend.  He knows everything about me and we talk about everything together.  I love our life together and really couldn't be happier with our relationship.  Here's to celebrating every year for the rest of our lives (please hold your wine glasses up with me).

I'd like to dedicate this blog post to the most amazing first year of marriage possible by reminding myself of some great memories Christian and I have made over the last twelve months.


Our beautiful wedding day- 2/20/10:  this was obviously one of the best days of my life.  Just over two years since we started "dating", we got to call each other husband and wife.  If I had a checklist of everything I could ever want or need from a man, all my items would be checked because of this stud muffin here.

The Big Move:  Less than a month after we got married, Christian and I left my home town of Pensacola, Florida to head towards the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Christian and I moved to a suburban community about 25 miles north of Philly in March of 2010.  Initially, there was a small bit of culture shock on my part but we settled in pretty well!  After about 10 months, we ended up moving to Moorestown, NJ.  The base Christian was initially station at will be closing soon and he will be moving to McGuire AFB in New Jersey.  So, we moved and we LOVE our new house and new town!!!  Here are a few pictures of our last days in Pensacola & our first house in Philly and our new house in NJ.

Us at the McGuire's St. Patty's 5k the weekend before we moved

Our farewell dinner @ McGuire's

This was at my Granny & PawPaw's for our going-away get together

Our first house up here.... lived there for about 10 months

The living room of our new house in Jersey.
Sorry I don't have any pics of the outside yet!

Our new life began:  As we began to settle into the Northeast, Christian's work trips began to pick up and we figured out that he was gone about 50% of the time in 2010.  It was definitely something to get used to, especially since I was in a town where I didn't know a single soul, had no friends, and had to use my GPS to find the grocery store.  But, we found our own pace for life and everything fell into place really well.  I made friends, Christian enjoys flying his new aircraft (C-130) and we LOVE it up here!!!  Here are a few pictures of us living life in Philly and the surrounding areas:

The famous LOVE sign at Love Park in Center City

Great pic we took of Philly from the steps
of the Art Museum.  I absolutely love this city.

Here we are in Times Square w/ Christian's friend
Eric and one of his lady friends

Out on the boat in Baltimore

Here's Christian w/ the Philadelphia Eagle's Head coach, Andy Reid,
on a military appreciation day the Eagles had during their training camp.
 So neat!  He even met Hank, Kendra Wilkinson's husband (haha, sadly,
 this is what I was most excited about)!

Our travels:  Christian did quite a bit more traveling that I did simply because of his job.  He was able to fly to countries he had never been to before and he really enjoys that.  I did a little traveling of my own.  I visited a great friend in Virginia, went home a couple times to Florida and even snuck in a trip to my favorite place on earth, New Orleans.  But, we did quite a bit of traveling together too!  We went to Jacksonville for a friend's wedding, New Hampshire for a friend's going away party, the Pocono Mountains for my 25th birthday and countless trips to Western Maryland to visit Christian's dad's side of the family.  Also, thanks to Christian's job and "detachments" (a nice word for a short deployment), I was able to visit him in Sicily and then he took leave so we could travel through Austria & Germany and see his mom's side of the family.  We had such an amazing time!!!  I'm soooo glad I married a man who has the travel bug like I do!  We LOVE seeing the world and learning about new cultures!  Here are some pictures of our travels in no particular order...

On the island of Vulcano in
the Aioli Islands off of Sicily

At a bar/restaurant on top of the Austrian
Alps about 30 minutes outside Salzburg, Austria
with Christian's grandparents

Here we are kayaking down the Deleware River
in the Pocono Mountains for my 25th birthday

Alison, Laura & me in New Orleans in August

At a bar at the tip-top of Taormina, Italy (in Sicily)...
absolutely gorgeous!

Me & my Philly girls in Atlantic City,
otherwise known as "AC"

In Salzburg, Austria

This is at the New Germany State Park
near Christian's dad's house.  

At Steve's wedding reception in Jacksonville

Christian and I after a hike in the Alps in Austria

Us on the front porch of the B&B we
stayed in for my b-day

At a Jacksonville Jaguars pre-season
game in Jacksonville

At a NASCAR race at the Pocono Speedway (for the record, I
will NEVER go to another Nascar Race again... ewww)

In State College, PA (Penn State University) for July 4th

In VA Beach w/ Christina for a girls' night!

Our Love:  For those of you who really know Christian and me, you know that we have a very fun relationship.  We're both very happy people and we try to make the most out of every situation we're faced with.  We have so much fun together.  We also have our own little riffs every now and then.  No couple is immune from a little arguing.  I think arguing is healthy.   We each have our own little personality traits that annoy the shit out of each other.  He's just about the least emotional person I've ever met and I'm the girl who refuses to lower expectations or standards for anything in life.... but we make it work.   I'm definitely the communicator in our marriage.  Sometimes, I have to PRY things out of Christian but in the end, everything is out on the table and we never go to bed mad.  Communication is absolutely KEY!

I must commend him.  He's probably the only man in my life who has really, truly been able to handle my personality (other than my dad).  I'm not the easiest person in the world to get along with.  I'm stubborn, kind of selfish and I'm somewhat of a ball-buster.  But we make it work and we have a blast.  We laugh every day.  And, I must say, this first year of marriage blows our dating years out of the water.  Marriage has been extremely good to us.  

So, here's to a fabulous first year of marriage and even better years to come!  

xoxo, 

Chrissi

Life is short...

I really had all intentions of writing a great post today.  However, I received some sad news.  An old friend that I grew up right down the street from left this world this morning.  Nicole Langlois was found this morning by her dad.  I haven't hung out with Nicole in years but I know she was a person that was full of life.  I spoke with her a few months ago and she told me she was living back in Pensacola after living in California for a while.

I went to my first "big kid" party at Nicole's house and her house was the first place I played spin-the-bottle.  I remember jumping on the trampoline in her back yard and being envious of her tumbling abilities!  I remember her dad and brother.  They were always so nice.  I remember walking down to her house in middle school and then her and her friends driving past my house in high school honking their horns.  I remember Nicole and her friends always having my back when there was drama in high school.  She was a really neat person.... such a free spirit.

This news hit me hard; not only because I lost an old friend but also because I know how many great friends she had and I can't imaging having to hear the news that they had to hear this morning.

I just want to remind everyone that life is so short.  That was proven to me today when a 27-year-old beautiful girl passed away.  It shouldn't take things like this to slap us back into reality.  Be kind to one another and really take care of the relationships that you cherish.  Don't take anything or anyone for granted.

I just ask that everyone send some love/prayers to the friends and family of Nicole.  I know she will be missed like crazy.

xoxo,

Chrissi

Love, love, love this paragraph from the book I'm reading...

I'm currently reading "Bluebird: Women & the New Psychology of Happiness".  It's a very interesting book and it's one of those that I sit and read with a highlighter in my hand ready to run a bright yellow spotlight over every sentence that stands out to me.

I was reading this afternoon (as my sick husband watches some Sylvester Stalone movie) and came across this passage.  I love it so much....

"When Utah Phillips launched his radio program, Loafers Glory: Hobo Jungle of the Mind, I was a busy girl  It was the 1990s, and I was as ambitious as a morning glory, wary of the do-nothing slackers in my life.  But I was drawn to Phillip's sow, drawn to the concept of a loafer's glory, drawn to Gertrude Stein's words as well: "It takes a lot of loafing to write a book."  Here were two of the most productive geniuses of the twentieth century- Gertrude Stein and Utah Phillips- slackers by nobody's standards, and they both championed the art and discipline of loafing, of idling the time away.

As I wrote books and raised my daughter through seasons harsh & bountiful, I began to understand that both endeavors did somehow take a heap of loafing, but I learned, too, that loafing is different from slacking.  Loafing is an active, growing kind of time-out.  Loafing knows nothing about stagnation.  A loafer doesn't get stoned and watch TV every afternoon- that's what happens when we deny ourselves fair time to loaf until burnout and exhaustion take over and we collapse onto the couch.  A loafer paints her toenails and waits for the polish to dry, steps out into the world, and wanders here and there, in nature or through bookstores, looking for nothing in particular."

Here's to all of a us doing a little more loafing.  (I think I already do my fair share)  :)

I HAVE A TITLE AGAIN!

Remember when I posted something about no longer being able to add a title to my posts?  Well, not only was that months ago but I JUST NOW figured out why.  There is one little check-box in my set-up area that allows me to have a title.  Whoopeee!!!

Ok, as you were....

Greetings from Antarctica.  By "Antarctica", I mean Moorestown, NJ where we have a current wind chill of about 19.  The wind is blowing at about 20 miles per hour and it's FRIGID!  The past two days were amazing!  The highs were around 45 and, like I told my mom, it felt like a heat wave!  However, Jack Frost has waved his icy hands over the northeast once again.  But, good news... it's supposed to be sunny all week and next Monday's high is 49!

Anyway, I hope all of you had a great weekend and enjoyed the Super Bowl.  It was a pretty good game!  Our weekend was pretty fun.  Friday was actually VERY low-key.  I was in bed reading my new book by about 9 o'clock.  Saturday was a bit busier.  Vicki and I jumped out of our comfort zones and cashed in a LivingSocial.com deal for a "vertical fitness" class (i.e. Pole Dancing).  We had a blast and it was hilarious!  I've done one of these classes once before with a group of girls on a bachelorette party but this one was a lot more work-out intensive than the previous.  So, we had fun.  Then Saturday night, Vicki and her boyfriend, Matt, came over to our house for dinner.  Christian made an AWESOME lasagna for us.  Then, the four of us went downtown for the Junior League cocktail party that I mentioned in last week's post.  It was OK.  We really didn't know too many people there.  I think we were some of the only provisional (new) members there.  So, we stayed and had a few free drinks before heading home.  Sunday was of course Super Bowl Sunday so that morning was spent making meatballs, spinach dip and cupcakes.  We went to Jeff's house.  Jeff flies with Christian and invited the squadron over for the party.  It was a pretty good time.  I didn't really have a bias in the game.  I guess I was rooting for Pittsburg more than Green Bay though.... ya know, because of proximity and all.  But, Green Bay won and congrats to all Packers fans!  Another season of football comes to an end....

So, last week's post had a lot to do w/ fitness and eating well and all that jazz.  Well, I have to admit something: I'm addicted to Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Chocolate frosting.  I made those damn cupcakes for the Super Bowl party and now I can't stop eating this stuff!!!  It's literally sitting next to me on the desk with a spoon dipped in it as I type.  UGH!  Now, I just have to eat the rest of it so it will get the hell out of my house!  I don't know what is wrong with me lately but we usually NEVER have junk food in the house but I have chocolate and vanilla frosting and chocolate chip cookies.  Awful.

Oh well, I'll get back on track after this frosting is polished off.  :)

Speaking of last week's post... the information I was referencing was all from Dr. Oz.  Well, I recently learned of Vicki's crush on Dr. Oz so we were talking about possibly going to see his show soon.  To my surprise, Vicki called me this morning while I was at the gym to tell me that she got tickets for us to go see his show on March 9th in NYC!!!  I'm sooo excited!  I hope it's a really good episode!  Tickets were free so why the hell not, right!?  We'll have fun!  Plus, this is probably as close to Oprah as I will ever get (since Dr. Oz got his start from Oprah and all).  Yes, I'm still obsessed w/ Oprah.  Ain't no shame in this game.

As you know, Christian and I are planning on taking a trip at the end of this month to celebrate our first anniversary.  Well, we were planning on going to Vegas and the Grand Canyon but we've decided that the weather will be too cold out there and now we're either going on a cruise or going to Disney World.  I have my friend Maggie (a travel agent) working on some deals for us right now and hopefully we'll have the trip scheduled by the end of the week.  I'm really excited about going somewhere warm!!!

Oh, I almost forgot, we got our new Verizon iPhones yesterday!!!  It is sooo neat!  I love mine.  I really love it b/c it syncs up with my Mac desktop that I use for everything!  Now, I have my full calendar, email pictures, music and contacts all on my phone!  Love it!

Last week, I also mentioned a Dr.'s appointment that I had.  Well, I ended up canceling it.  It just didn't feel right.  So, we still have Christian's on the 24th (if we need it.... fingers crossed that we don't!).

Anyway, I don't have a whole lot to report this week.  Hope all of you have a wonderful week!

xoxo,

Chrissi

Good morning and welcome to the first day of February!

Can you believe it!?  I sure can't.  Where did January go?  Oh well... at least I know that Spring is just around the corner if the year continues to fly by!  Once again we have "blah" weather up here in Jersey.  It snowed just a smidge last night and we have freezing rain today.  I'm getting a little tired of the constant grey.  It was beautiful this past Saturday morning.  We had sunshine and it looked like it could actually be warm outside (Obviously it wasn't.  Stupid optical illusions...).  No wonder January is the most depressing month of the year, especially for the cold states!

Anyway, aside from the melancholy weather, we've been having a good time lately.  Last Saturday was Christian's birthday so we pretty much celebrated all weekend.  Friday night we just hung out here at the house and I made a yummy seared tuna dinner and we also had to prepare our breakfast for Saturday morning.  We made creme brulee french toast.  One word: AMAZING!  We had creme brulee french toast at a little bistro in Jacksonville and decided to try it out.  So, it has to sit for about 8 hours before baking.  Saturday morning we woke up early, popped it in the oven and 40 minutes later had one of the best homemade breakfasts ever!  haha  We ran some errands Saturday and then Saturday night we went over to Shirley and John's house for a couple drinks before the four of us and another couple from town walked to an Italian restaurant on Main Street.  We had a great time!  The food was great and apparently, I thought the wine was even better.  Let's just say I wasn't feeling 100 percent Sunday morning.  haha  Well, Sunday afternoon, we met Vicki and Matt at the Philadelphia International Auto Show and looked at all the new cars on the market.  It was so neat!  I got new car fever pretty bad and we saw some ridiculously expensive cars.  A $427,000 Bentley, just to name one.  It was crazy!  The show was at the Philly Convention Center which is right next to Chinatown so the four of us went and had some yummy Malaysian food at a truly authentic restaurant.  We had a great weekend!

Then, Monday rolled around and it's back to our regular weekday grind.  I spent a lot of my day yesterday dealing with Verizon.  Seriously, they are the bane of my existence.  Christian and I are old Alltel customers who got screwed over when Alltel and Verizon merged a couple years ago.  So, we're wanting to get the new iPhone this month but b/c we're old Alltel customers STILL on an Alltel plan, we had to update everything.  It's just been a pain in the rear end.

I also started a new workout regimen yesterday.  I found some new workouts on www.bodybuilding.com/fun/workouts and I've decided that I'm only going to do weight training Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Tuesdays are my long distance running days and Thursdays are my yoga days.  So, today is Tuesday and I already went to the gym and did my run.  It's refreshing but man, it's tough.  I still want to lose a little more fat and build more muscle (definitely don't want to get skinnier, though).  So, that was my reasoning for switching up my routine.  I was watching Dr. Oz yesterday and it was all about the correct times to eat, exercise and take supplements (if any).  The average american wakes up at 6:30 a.m.  The best time to weigh yourself is at 6:30 (or when you wake up).  The best time to work out is right after you wake up and before you eat breakfast.  He did a neat visual aid for this:  he had two frying pans set on high and had a two sticks of butter to represent the fat in your body.  He placed one stick of butter in a frying pan by itself and the butter immediately began melting.  Then, he placed the other stick of butter in the other frying pan but it was on top of a piece of bread.  The bread represented the breakfast that you eat before exercising.  So, essentially, if you eat breakfast before exercising, your body works to burn the breakfast you just ate before getting to the fat that you're really trying to burn.  Interesting, huh?  It totally makes sense but I loved the way he displayed it.  So, wake up, weigh yourself, workout, THEN eat breakfast at about 8:30.  Lunch is at noon (no surprise) and dinner should be at 6:30 or at least three hours before bedtime.  Also, the only supplement discussion that I heard was about fiber and he said you should take any fiber supplements 15 minutes before dinner.  I'm not a supplement person, though.

So, I usually eat breakfast before I work out but now I'm switching it up.  Another interesting tip he gave for people working out before eating breakfast is to drink a glass of super cold water before you work out.  This is because the cold water will kickstart your body's metabolism and force it to start trying to heat the water... in turn, burning calories.  Not sure if this stuff interests any of you but I find it very interesting... plus, I love Dr. Oz!

I have gotten into such a routine with my workouts and I'm very proud of myself for that.  Granted, I don't work so I have a lot of time to dedicate to it and I know it's easier for folks that don't work.  However, if you'll remember (those of you who have known me for a while), about three years ago, I was about 25 pounds heavier than I am now.  A lot of that is because of my lifestyle at that time but it's amazing how changing your lifestyle and making healthier choices (even without exercising) will make the pounds fall off!  I lost the majority of my weight while I was working full time and going to school!  So, it can be done!  Christian also had a LOT to do with my lifestyle change.  He's extremely healthy and as soon as we started dating and I was practically living at his house, we ate healthy dinners every night, I made better choices because I was conscious of my goal and I simply wanted to be healthy and look good (for me and him).  Having an extra person to hold you accountable for things really helps!  So, if any of you have goals of getting healthier and you want someone to stalk you about it, let me know and I'll gladly be that person!  haha

Well, this week is pretty low-key for us.  I finally have a doctor's appointment this Friday to start looking into this infertility crap.  Christian has his appointment later this month.  So, hopefully we'll have some more knowledge and direction after those appointments.  This Saturday, we're going to a Junior League cocktail party in the city.  I'm pretty excited about that!  And, then, the Super Bowl is Sunday.  I'm rooting for the Steelers strictly because I think their coach is better looking than the Packers' coach.  Haha!  I could care less about any NFL team (except the Saints, of course).

I hope all of you have a WONDERFUL week!  Here's a funny little piece of art from one of my favorite artists (Brian Andreas on Storypeople.com).

xoxo, 

Chrissi