A House, A Home

So the Third.Big.Thing.

Life has been madness lately. But a good madness. The crazy that makes you sleep so hard each night and then make up dreams with sirens and alarms in the morning because you are still so tired that you incorporated your alarm sound into your dreams. It has been nuts, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

KGK and I just moved into our first house! We could not be more excited. Apartment living definitely has its perks, and we were happy to be in an apartment until the right house came along, and it did! We are thrilled.

So now, the packing, unpacking crazy cycle is in full swing. We have everything moved in and we are now trying to find everything. We went a few days already with just the basics. Food was scarce. We have been living off of hot dogs and left over pizza because we are still digging through our mounds of stuff and need to find our pots, pans, plates, etc. It is amazing how much stuff you can acquire in so much time and how much you actually use your stuff. So now we get to figure out where everything is going and where everything is hiding.

A few things I am especially excited about now that we are in a house:

*Having a garden.*

*Salvaging some of our older furniture, nicknacks, and other decor that have been in boxes and try giving them fresh paint, and giving 'em new life.*

*Making my own curtains*

*Finding a spot for everything and keep it clean and neat *

So these are just a few of my hopes for this new house of ours. I look forward to making this house of ours a home we can be in for a long, long time.

Stay tuned!

~AMK

Second Big Thing

Sunshine and butterflies. That is how things are right now. The sun is out (I thought it was suppose to rain all day??), spring and summer are in the air and it is glorious. I am loving this nice weather and wishing I was back on vacation. 

Oh, yeah. I went on vacation:)  KGK and I went on our honeymoon! That was the second big thing of the few exciting happenings this start to summer. 

Post-Grad life is Good :)

  

Back in the fall when we got hitched, we decided to take a shorter honeymoon (our “mini-moon”) because I was in school and we wanted to be able to take a longer trip with vaca time reset for work. We also wanted to use our big trip as a way to celebrate me being done with school too. So, last week, we had our honeymoon. We rented a beach house, which was just perfect. We went surf fishing almost every day of the trip, morning and then back again just after dinner. Our trip started off with some rain, but it didn’t stop us. We still went out and battled the chilly drizzle to try and catch some fishies. As the week progressed, the weather got warmer and sunnier and was awesome. We ended up catching several fish, but they were fairly small, so we decided to let them go and fatten up for the next time they get caught:) However, we did catch one “keeper”. 

Our one "keeper". Sheepshead

This is a sheepshead fish. KGK reeled this bad boy in. The skin on this sucker was crazy tough so we decided to freeze it and clean it once we got back so we wouldn't make too big a mess at the rental. Looks like we have a project to do now that we are home. We hear these are fairly hard to catch but that they are great eating, so we are excited about that.

Perfect evening on the beach.

We also went out to eat a few times to some yummy spots. There was this one restaurant that looked over the ocean where we could watch fishermen on the pier or surfers in the waves. It was great. And to top it off, they had some of the best fried shrimp either of us have ever had. YUM.

Needless to say, the trip was awesome. A much needed time for the two of us to get away from the normal routines and enjoy fishing, getting some sun, and relaxing.  It was glorious and I am ready to go back, like, right now. Who wouldn't with sites like these to enjoy...

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Some more vacation fun:

Fishing boat docked right outside our window as we had lunch.

Slightly inappropriate holding of the fishing pole (wasn't intentional, promise!) :)

Lots of reading happened on this chair.

And Lots of Rummy and Uno!

Needless to say, vacation was wonderful!

~AMK

Dear Future Self: WE did it!

Dear Future Self,

I want you to remember today. This moment. This last night. You have been working so hard to get this degree finished, and you are here. You have made it. You just have one presentation left, and you have your Master's degree...GO YOU!

Future Self, I want you to remember what this feels like. The excitement, the anticipation, the I-CAN'T-BELIEVE-I-MADE-IT feeling. It has been a hard couple years. There has been less sleep, more stress, lots of reading and writing, too much snacking (which in turn lead to gaining the grad school 15...yeah don't be fooled...it is not limited to college freshmen...UNFORTUNATELY!), and not enough exercising. But, it is worth it! You made it. You got through working full time, starting to date your now-husband, got married, had a mini-moon (our short honeymoon because of being in the middle of the semester), and many fun events having to be turned down because I had homework to do. No more turning down working out, or going out with friends, or watching a moving with the hubs. I get to be a normal adult! Well, let's be honest. Normal will never be a word that accurately describes me, but I can at least attempt to be normal:)

I can't believe I made it and I now need to do a round of thanks...picture it like at the grammy's or another award show, except I am sitting at home, in PJ's and the audience I currently have is my dog watching to see if I drop a morsel of a snack to him. But I really am grateful for all the support my friends and family have given me during this time. SO here it goes:

First.....KGK...well, you rock! You met me just a couple weeks before I started this graduate school journey and you have been with me through it all. You have only known me to be a grad student. I am excited to show you who I am without homework and other school stuff to do. I can't wait to have more time for us.  I am glad I can now pull my own weight when it comes to normal life stuff like cleaning and errands.  During this whole process, you would walk the dog, do errands or chores, or just sit there and tell me I could do it when I needed to hear it most. You are the most supportive person I have ever met, and I am so grateful for you. :)

And to my friends...thank you for not giving up on me with all my "I can't hang out" or cutting fun short because I had to do more homework. Thanks for still being my friend even though I was so busy and I didn't give you a lot of my time. Well now, I have more time! Let's celebrate! :) Beer? wings? let's make it happen.

And to my family, y'all have been awesome. Listening to my rants and raves, and ups and downs about my various classes, scheduling issues, and whatever else it was at the time. You listened. I talked. and talked. But you still listened. You had no idea what I was talking about, but you still listened. So thank you for that! :)

So future self, as life gets busy with other things, because we know it will, just remember this moment just before the finish. Remember how it feels to have 2+ years of late evenings, lots of papers and group projects, and all that hard work paying off. And remember that you didn't do it without the support of your family and friends. They made it happen as much as you did sitting doing those assignments....

So basically....

CONGRATS Y'ALL. We made it!

:)

I'm off to do my last presentation of grad school...here goes nothing EVERYTHING! :)

~AMK

ABC...easy as 123!

Yes, I am currently rocking out to this gem...

I THINK I LOVE YA!...

yes...this is happening:)

Well, here is why...I am helping plan my S.I.L's baby shower, and I have been deemed the game/activity planner for the shower. And for those of you who know me, I like to try and find something a little different than the norm if I can. So, I found a really cool idea for a craft (THANK YOU PINTEREST!) that we can do that will also make another useful gift for the soon-to-be parents. Don't worry, I'm not spoiling anything...she knows about this:)   We are going to make felt/fabric, magnetic letters to go on a frig or a chalkboard. Cue the baby being occupied while she is doing stuff in the kitchen, and the babe is learning all at the same time!...woot woot!

Here's what I mean:

Got the idea from here. 

When I was looking for a craft, I wanted to have something that any size crowd could do. They seem pretty straightforward to make, so I am excited to try these out at home first, that way I know how to instruct the crowd, but also so I know how long it takes and have a sample for everyone to see. I will share how they turned out after the shower!!

So back to my groove and rocking to an oldie but a goodie....

Happy Hump Day!

Our First Christmas

KGK and I had our first Christmas as a married couple this year. Everything was going so wonderfully until an hour before his entire family was to arrive at our house for Christmas dinner. Cue the vomiting...  No, seriously. Let me explain...

The weekend before Christmas, KGK and I enjoyed a relaxing weekend, did some cleaning and organizing, and we were anxiously anticipating having our first Christmas Eve and Christmas as hitched folk. We also were excited to host his family on Christmas day for dinner (pot-luck style...took the pressure off!). Needless to say, everything was going perfectly. We decided to start a tradition to open 1 gift on Christmas Eve, have a stay-in dinner of wings and beer (we are classy), and watch a movie. Perfect if you ask me. So we went about our first Christmas Eve traditions and woke up to a fantastic Christmas morning. Gifts were opened, Skype calls to family that lived away from us occurred, and we began the cooking for the evening meal.

Now, about 2 hours before his family was scheduled to arrive, I started to feel sick to my stomach. I thought it was from a richer breakfast than I was used to, but it wouldn't go away. It only escalated into more pain and nausea. It is now 1 hour before family is to arrive and I cannot stand up long enough to make my last few menu items. I wore a mask in case I was getting sick and tried to complete the last few projects. Then, it happened. I am standing there preparing the stuffing and I have to run to the bathroom. The time is around 3pm and I had my first vom session. Sorry, that's gross. But well, it was.

Fast forward about 2.5 hours, KGK has been entertaining family while I am violently sick in the back bedroom/bathroom. Then, he comes back. It is about 5:30pm. He feels it too. Vom session numero dos. For the next couple hours, both hosts are in the bedroom, quarantined from our guests. We appeared briefly to say we were done for the night and that they were welcome to use our living room for all the time they wanted.  His family is wonderful.  They picked up our living room, did a bunch of dishes and had an assortment of foods in foil in the frig for when we feel better and are ready to grub later on the Christmas feast.

The next 24 hours, after KGK came back into the bedroom (about 5:30pm), are a blur.  That was the worst stomach bug I have ever had. Ever. And man, is it going around! I wouldn't wish that upon anyone. It took me until New Years Day to feel like myself again. Needless to say, I got a lot of rest and caught up on several different shows that played in marathon fashion throughout those last days of 2012. I am ready for 2013 and no more bugs!

So that was our first Christmas together. Alternating turns in the bathroom. Lover-ly. But, as KGK said, at least we got to spend it together, even if it was back in the bedroom, miserable while the Christmas spirit lived on in the rest of our house.

So Happy 2013 everyone! I hope you escaped that nasty bug!

~AMK

Advent of Crazy?

Dear Future Self,

Today, I sit here at my computer feeling like the world is going so fast around me and I am in slow motion. You know that feeling, future self, don’t you?  The feeling that lines are blurring, and you standing there with your life circling around you, and it is going so fast you can hardly keep up. I think the Christmas season is like that for many of us. We have more gatherings, more cooking, more cleaning, and more crafting than we typically partake in for a whole year! The hustle and bustle is so fun, but it sure is overwhelming too.

For this year, our first year being married, we are taking in all things us. We are going to our friend’s parties, we are creating our own traditions, we are enjoying decorating our first place together and are doing our shopping and crafting and preparations with feelings of excitement and newness. Having our first Christmas as a hitched woman is starting off great so far this season. Loving that there is going to be so much time to spend with those we love and care for. And, we are missing all those that we are not able to be with too. But, we will be sending our love and hopefully doing some Skyping too J (Future self, do you still use skype or has teleportation become the latest and greatest?)

So while I am here at my computer, looking at my calendar that is quickly filling and my to-do list is growing with little being crossed off yet, I am trying to focus on how awesome this time of year is. How grateful I am for this holiday season and all the life it brings to us. It stretches us and makes us do more with what seems like less time. So I am getting my list-making skills at the ready because its gonna be a busy but fun ride!

Basking in the holiday cheer,

~AMK

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Swing of Things

Well, I now speak to you as a hitched woman! :) The BIG DAY has come and gone, and I wouldn't have traded any of it for anything. It was FABULOUS.

In my last post, I couldn't express enough all the thanks I had to those that helped prepare us for the big day and getting all those pesky little details worked out. And now, post-wedding, I AGAIN say THANK YOU. Everything wouldn't have been as wonderful as it was without ALL Y'ALL (I'm now officially southern because I've married into it!! WOOT WOOT!). :)

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Now, I want to delve into some recent ideas and ramblings in my head lately, now that I am getting back into the swing of things...

-I am thinking of doing a "review" type format to some posts.  They will be a review or my insight from some of my favorite blog posts I may read on other blogs I follow. Gives me a nice way to remember ones that have touched me or given me inspiration. Now I just need to come up with a catchy name for these, like with the "Dear Future Self" posts that occur every now and then....hmmm....ideas are welcome:)

-Fall has arrived and I want to embrace all things orange, yellow, warm, halloween-ish, and involve the GREAT outdoors as much as possible. A fall hike may be in my near future...:)

-I went grocery shopping and have some awesome recipes I am eager to try. I will document and share, promise. :) I even have a HORRIBLY FAILED recipe I tried. I'll share that too...gotta keep it real, yo.

-And last and MOST DEFINITELY not least...I love being married. :) KGK rocks:)


So TGIF y'all!! Weekending is upon us!

post-cake-in-da-face! 

~AMK