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

Good morning everyone!

I hope at least one of you is enjoying some sunshine somewhere in this world.  Let's just say, the weather here is BLAHHHHHHH!  It's been cold and the forecast for today was rain/snow mix and then turning into snow (6-8") tonight.  Well, to my surprise, I woke up to about 2-3 inches on the ground this morning.  Thus, making me very nervous to leave the house.  And, for those of you who know me well, I HATE being inside all day.  I got all pumped up last night when I planned some new workouts and now I can't even start them today.  Ugh.... I'm also supposed to go to a lunch w/ some girls from our new town but I'm not sure if I'll make it.  I'm also supposed to have a doctors appointment today in the city but I'm not sure if I'll make that either!  For those of you from the south who, like me, have grown up thinking snow is awesome.... yeah, not so much.  I just keep thinking, "only about a month and a half left of this junk"!  Then, I'll be super happy with the flowers blooming, leaves popping out and the northeast summers with little humidity!

So, I mentioned in the last paragraph that I am planning on going to lunch with some girls from our new town today.  Well, this got arranged when I contacted the president of the "Moorestown Newcomers".  It's a social group in Moorestown for new folks in town and it sounds like so much fun.  They have cocktail parties, progressive dinners, lunch outings, golf outings for the guys, etc, etc, etc.  So, some of the ladies are having a lunch today and they invited me so I could check out a few people from the group.  It seems to be families of all age ranges; newly weds, young children all the way up to empty nesters.  So, I think we'll try it out.  I have to tell ya, the people in New Jersey are so dag-gum nice!  Maybe it's just our little town but I swear, it's crazy!  Christian and I walked into town from our house yesterday afternoon and people were passing us on the sidewalk and they'd say "hello, how ya doin'".  I'm just not used to that stuff anymore!  I LOVE it!  I also found out (not sure if I've told you guys this) that Moorestown was rated the number one town to live in in the U.S. in 2005 by Money Magazine!  How cool is that?  And, we get to live here!  I couldn't be happier about where we're living right now.  Christian says I get my hopes up too much but I can't help it.  It's such a change from the "stick-up-your-ass" place that we just moved from!  Plus, we have no association rules at our new house!  I can put up a wind chime and my cute little red birdhouse and not have to worry about hearing crap from the crazy strict homeowners association!  Happy happy happy.  The people we're renting from are really great too.  Shirley and John are the owners and I could see us hanging out with them quite a bit.  We're actually going to dinner with them and another couple this Saturday here in town.  They live about a mile from us and they're a young-ish couple who seem to have the same age difference as Christian and I do.  Shirley and I went to lunch together last week and it was fun.  She grew up around here so she was SUPER helpful with giving me suggestions for doctors, dentists, restaurants, wine shops, and she told me about the Moorestown Newcomers group.  John plays golf and was here at the house when we were moving stuff into the garage and saw that we had golf clubs so I'm sure he and Christian will be playing quite a but once it warms up some.

So, enough about all of that.  I actually made a list of things I wanted to blog about today and I've covered a few of them so far.  So now, I want to talk a little about the State of the Union Address, new books, my 2011 Bucket List, and the Oscar Nominations!

So, first, the State of the Union Address.  I'll admit, I did NOT watch the address.  I have become so annoyed with politics within the past year or so and I have now become so uninformed that I assumed it would make zero sense to me so I refrained from watching.  However, I've been listening to my normal talk radio all morning here on the computer and I've heard some pretty good reviews.  I also like the fact that the members of Congress didn't keep their normal partisan seating chart!  I love that they all mingled in with one another.  That's refreshing.... I keep thinking "Can't we all just get along"!?  I may get a wild hair and google some parts of the speech.  But, don't hold your breath.  haha

Next topic: new books.  Every once and a while I'll be reading a magazine or internet article that strikes my fancy regarding a new book.  The one I'm very interested in right now is Bluebird: Women and the new psychology of happiness.  If you don't know, I'm obsessed with being happy.  I think happiness is a choice and I'm very intrigued with the title of this book- especially the "psychology" part.  So, I'm going to pick that one up this week and check it out.  Right now, I'm trying to get into the book "Freedom".  It was an Oprah's Bookclub choice this past year but I'm not one for fictional books so it's not really grabbing my attention.  I prefer those that I can learn or be a little more enlightened from.  One of my favorite books I read last year was The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  I love how funny and honest it was and it really made you think about the choices you can make in your life to be happier!  So, Bluebird seems to be the one that is tugging at my purse strings right now!  I'll let you know how it is once I start it.

So, talking about books brings me to one of my next topics: my 2011 Bucket List.  Here it is in no particular order:

1. Start a family (ok, yes, this one is at the top for a reason)

2. Finish 12 books (I had the same goal last year and only got to 10)

3. Take the GRE (as I continue to marvel at getting a masters degree, I figure the first step is taking this dang test)

4. Take a real, romantic vacation for just us (done and done!  We're going to Vegas and the Grand Canyon for our anniversary!  Many of you may think this one is a bit ridiculous because of all the travel that we do but in reality, Christian and I have done VERY few trips where it's just the two of us.  So, needless to say, I'm PUMPED!)

5. Visit two new European locales: Rome & Paris (Rome is happening in March w/ my momma!  Paris is another story and still up in the air.  We usually go to Frankfurt, Germany in September and apparently, the train to Paris isn't too bad.  So, if we have time, we may be going to the City of Lights!)

6.  Blog at least once a week (this starts now)

7. Make a decision on a graduate program (obviously, this links to number 3 but it's a far more complicated feat.  The one I REALLY want is Family & Marriage counseling but, unfortunately, not all schools offer this program; especially since I really want the sex therapy track for this program.... which I've only found at two schools around here.  Also, we have to move again in two years so I'm not sure if I'll even realistically be able to start and finish here or even transfer somewhere else.  So, there I stand)

8. Do yoga once a week (luckily, our gym offers a wide range of classes and each time I do yoga, I feel so peaceful.  So, I am attempting to do yoga once a week now.)

There you have my 2011 bucket list!  I tried to make it to 10 items but I got stuck at eight.  I will keep all of you informed of how I'm tracking towards my goals as the year moves on.

And, on to my last topic: Oscar nominations!!  I LOVE this time of year because this is when those really great movies get their recognition and when I strive to see as many as I can get my hands on!  This year, I've seen four of the ten best picture nominees.  If you haven't heard, here are the 10 Best Pic nominees:

1. The Kids are Alright (haven't seen it but I definitely want to.  I think it's a brave story to tell and I love that something like this got credit)
2. Inception (interesting but weird and hard to follow)
3. Toy Story 3 (haven't seen it but I've heard all good things)
4. The Fighter (dying to see this!!!)
5. Black Swan (AMAZING movie!  It was so dark and twisted but I LOVED it)
6. The King's Speech (also dying to see this one)
7. The Social Network (Great movie.  It's a very interesting story and amazing how Facebook has taken on a life of it's own)
8. True Grit (Christian and I saw this the other night and I loved it!  I love anything that the Cohen brothers do.  I haven't seen the original but now I want to.  Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld are amazing.)
9. 127 Hours (I'm sure this is good but I truly don't have a desire to see this.  It seems too heartbreaking.)
10. Winter's Bones (I've never even heard of this one so I'll have to do some research)

So, I've seen Inception, Black Swan, The Social Network and True Grit and just based on those four, I'd say it's a tie between Black Swan and True Grit.  The movie I want to see the most out of all 10 would be The King's Speech.  It looks soooo good!

I hope you all have enjoyed my LONG blog today!  Hopefully it broke up some of the monotony of a typical Wednesday.  Also, just an update from the beginning of my blog: it's still snowing... hard.  Looks like I'm going to be stuck inside all day.  :-/

Have an awesome day!

xoxo,

Chrissi

Well, hello strangers!

I know, I know... it's been quite a while since I've posted anything and there has been so much going on!  So, here's a rather lengthy update about the Jenkins' (new) household!

First thing's first- our new house is amazing!  I'm so in love with it's character and charm.  I love the creaking of the hard wood floors, the plaster walls that are so friggin' hard to nail into, and the beautiful radiators in each room.  I've always wanted to live in a historic home and thanks to my amazing husband (since I'm not bringing in the bacon), that dream has come true.... at least for the next two years, anyway.

So, the house is great but the move sucked.  As you may have seen on my Facebook, moving large furniture up a stairwell of a house built in 1927 was a bit of a challenge.  Amazingly enough, though, Christian and I didn't have a single little argument during the move.  With as much crap as we had to deal with, I say that's a huge feat.  :)  We actually had fun and were high five-ing each other when we actually finished moving certain pieces of furniture.  There were three pieces that were major pains in the ass.  We had to move a VERY large dresser, a queen size box spring and a king size mattress all upstairs.  Man, it was a site to be seen.  But, we made it in!  And now, I'm working on unpacking and organizing each room.    I swear, the packing and unpacking are by far the worst parts of moving!

The move has been occupying most of our time so there's not much more of a recap to give.  Christian left Monday for a trip and he'll be back Friday.  It was somewhat of a inopportune time for him to take a trip but somebody's gotta make the money around here, huh?  haha

We're getting back into our traveling lifestyle soon.  Christian and I will celebrate our first wedding anniversary next month and we're going to be taking a trip to VEGAS baby!  While we're out there, we'll also spend a night at the Grand Canyon!  I'm soooo excited to take this trip to celebrate a WONDERFUL year of marriage!  It will be a blast.  So, that trip is in February and then in March, mom and I are going to ITALY!  We're so excited about that trip too!  That's going to be a trip of a lifetime!  Christian will actually be in Sicily for 30 days starting in March so he may be able to fly to Rome for a day to meet up with me and mom.  I hope that happens!  Once Christian gets back home from Sicily, we're taking a trip to Key West with Christian's brother and his wife and our friends Ron & Ashley and possibly some more folks that Christian grew up with.  That will be so much fun too!  I'm hoping to make it back to Pcola in April for a friend's wedding and to see the newest addition to our family, Ali & Ben's little baby boy!  Christian and I will both be back in Pcola in June for my friend Jenna's wedding.  At that point, the year is practically half-way through!  That's nuts!

I'm hoping some of you can make a trip up this way sometime this year!  We love having visitors and we don't have near enough!  So, anytime any of you want to come up, let me know!!

Just a couple more things: today I went to Ikea for the first time ever and I am officially in love w/ how cheap that place is!  It's INSANE!  Their stuff is sooo neat too.  So, that was a successful and frugal shopping trip!  I also had to take Christian's truck back to base and pick up my car since we switches cars last week.  Well, because of all this crappy snow and freezing rain we've been having, my car was frozen SOLID!  There was a 1/2 inch thing coating of ice literally covering every inch of my car.  So, it took me about 15 minutes to get all the ice off (while standing in the freezing rain) so I could get into my car.  It's times like these when I don't like being a Navy wife left to fend for myself.  Another entertaining bout I had with winter weather today was shoveling the ice and snow off of my driveway.  Mind you, our new driveway is at about a 30 degree angle.  So, I was slipping and sliding and almost busted my butt a few times but luckily I was able to catch myself on the door handle of the truck, the bumper, the wheels, and the rear windshield wiper.  haha  I told Christian is was definitely a show for our new neighbors.  hahaha  Needless to say, I wish I was in Florida weather right now.  Oh well, I guess I gotta get used to it!

Well, I was going to get into recent news stories but I'm getting tired of typing on a laptop so I'll do another post later!  :)  I hope you're all having a wonderful week!  I'll chat soon!

xoxo,

Chrissi

Baby it's cold outside!

Well, folks, I am officially back in Pennsylvania!  And, boy, was it one hell of a trip back.... I'll get to that a little later.  Christian FINALLY comes home tomorrow night and I'm so excited!  But, I'm also kind of bummed because he'll only be here three days and then leaves again Sunday for another week.  Oh well, at least I get to see him!  I'm also a little nervous to have him back home.  I think this a feeling many people get when their spouse is gone for a while.  I'm nervous the house won't be in order, something won't be "just right", and there's also the slight awkwardness that's there when we haven't seen each other in forever.    I know everything will be fine but I'm weird about making sure everything is perfect when he gets home!  I don't want anything to mess up our time together!

So anyway, I'm back home from my five weeks in Florida for the holidays and I couldn't be happier to be sleeping in my own bed!  I had wonderful accommodations in Florida (thanks to Dad, Mom and even Karyn!) and I had a great time seeing my family and friends.  I'm blessed to be in the situation where I could leave home for that long and come see everyone.  Shoot, I even got a job while I was there.... ok, just for three days, but it counts!  It was fun to catch up with old work friends and even do some actual work!

Christmas was wonderful and all my gifts from my parents were great!  Mom got me an awesome antique map of Philadelphia framed in a really neat frame so I can put in my new house!  It has a copyright date of 1885 and 1903 on it.  I LOVE it!!!  Then, Dad got me some Ugg boots which have shown their worth the past three or four days!  Those were my two favorite gifts!  But, of course, the best gift was just being able to be around my parents for those several weeks.  That time is certainly treasured!

So, after the long visit, it was time for me to make my trek up the east coast back to good ol' PA.  So, I originally planned on leaving Monday, the 27th after the HSG procedure I was going to have.  Well, I ended up canceling the procedure b/c the timing just wasn't right.  So, I ended up leaving the 26th.  Boy, was that a mistake!  The first snow I hit was south of Montgomery, AL.  And, as you southerners know, we don't really know what this snow crap is all about.  And we damn sure don't know what to do to the roads when it snows!  So, I was stuck in traffic for about an hour and a half in Alabama because the roads had ice all over them.  By the time I got to Tennessee, I saw about 10 different accidents because of the ice/snow.  So, needless to say, my nerves got a very good workout early in the trip.  After I got through Alabama, the trip was going pretty easy.  Roads were clear, not a whole lot of snow, etc.  Well, then I hit the Virginia/West Virginia area.  (Mind you, I was going to my father-in-law's in western Maryland... not going to Philly yet)  Oh, man... I can easily say that I have never been more terrified in my life.  My stomach was in knots, my shoulders and neck kept cramping and I was just a ball of nerves.  So, after about 13 hours in the car and my amazing dad staying on the phone with me for the majority of the bad areas, I needed to stop and stretch my legs.  Well, when I got out of the car at that point, there was no way in hell I was getting back on the interstate.  So, luckily the exit I got off on had a nice hotel so I stopped for the night and rested until the next morning.  The next morning I had two more hours to go to make it to my FIL's house for breakfast.  I made it there with no problem and had breakfast with him and my brother-in-law and his wife.  Then, I was just itching to get home so I got back in the car and drove another four hours  to my house!  Ahhh.... home sweet home!

And, here's what I drove home to!  This was actually taken the day after I got home after my driveway and the streets had been cleared.  The day I got home, my driveway and the roads were still covered in snow and ice.

It was soooo cold too!  But, it's refreshing and pretty and neat because it's something different to me.  So, I've just been going about my regular daily routine... just a little more bundled up now!  

Other than Christian getting home, we have the move to look forward to!  We're now moving January 20th which is way earlier than we expected but that's just how the chips fell.  So, hopefully the snow will hold out and make our move easy.  I'm definitely not looking forward to the act of moving but I'm really excited to get in the new house!  I started packing up some stuff today and I'll have all next week to get a lot done too.  

Anyway, now I'm starving so I better go eat some of my left-over chili (perfect cold weather food)!  I love y'all and hope everyone has a wonderful New Years!!!

xoxo, 

Chrissi