Momma on the Run

Our Story {Valentines Day Link Up}

2012-02-09T17:57:00.006-06:00

I saw this fun Valentine survey on Blue Eyed Bride and just had to link up! From Mrs to Mama is hosting "What's Your Love Story" and it's open for linking until Valentine's Day...let me know if you link up!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

{prom 2001}

High school sweeties:-) We started dating September 5, 2000 and were married September 6, 2009 (yeah I know - the dang church was taken on our nine year anniversary!) We've been together for 11.5 years.

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

We met in 4th grade. I loved him. I wrote his name all over my binders. He had no idea who I was. Reads like a romance novel, don't it?

3. If married, how long have you been married?

We've been married for 2.5 years!

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?

We had a pretty big wedding because {Husband} has a large family. He was living in Tennessee, I was living in Texas, and we planned a wedding in Virginia. How's that for complicated?!? We were married in an old downtown church and had our reception at a historic site also downtown.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

I could NEVER say most of the nicknames I have for {Husband} or he would probably burn my blog but we call each other "Boo" and he calls me "Monk" and "Alice."

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

1. He is such a manly man - I love his big shoulders and manly hands.

{Mine's on the right. It's OK to look:-)}

2. He is a great leader and a man with amazing character. He makes me want to be a better person every day.

3. He is hilarious - not just to me but he is often the life of the party and I love how he makes me laugh.

7. Tell us how he proposed?

We went for a walk in the snow and he asked me standing on the edge of Lake Geneva.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

He is way more romantic than me. I would love a theme park adventure and dinner at a steakhouse (which he would too) but he also loves the romantic candlelit things that I am not as into...

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

Both! We pretty much have fun doing anything but since we live together now and get to relax on the couch often - I'd say I'm a dinner on the beach gal.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

I'd go back to our honeymoon in California and Mexico. We had such a great time. It was a combination of crazy adventures, romantic dinners, and relaxing days on the beach. Heaven.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

The movers are showing up to pack/move us to our new house on post in Alabama. So romantical. I know.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

I asked for a chocolate. Momma needs to feed her curvers. Holler.

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Two things:

1. Communicate your feelings. He truly can't read your mind...when you're about to lose your sh*t that he threw his wet towel on the bed AGAIN he probably has no clue it bothers you.

2. JUST DO IT. It's OK to not be all romantical all the time - at three in the afternoon you can say "hey let's go get it on" and it's totally fine. What's important is that you're doing it. (Just keepin' it real!)

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

Test test

2012-02-05T07:36:00.001-06:00

The Blogpress app has been a total pain in my backside lately! (DONT BUY IT!!)

With a toddler I can't get out my computer most days so I've relied on my iPhone. I have spent lots of time pecking away at this phone only to have my posts lost or my "network not ready for posting" so this is a little test post:-)

**tap tap tap** is this thing on?!?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Military Family {Link Up}

2012-01-13T04:18:00.016-06:00

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner today.

My name is Alison and I'm an Army wife!

I'm a nurse one day a week and the rest of the time I'm a full time momma to a 16 month old crazy baby girl:-)

{Husband} (as he is known here) was my high school sweetheart and we were married September 6, 2009.

At the time I was an active duty nurse in the Air Force so after our honeymoon I went back to my job in Texas and {Husband} went back to his in Tennessee. Three months later, on December 6, 2008, he deployed to Iraq for his second tour.

On January 1, 2009 we got a surprise we had not planned on!

Yup, I spent an entire pregnancy work nights in the operating room while {Husband} was deployed. Thank you, Lord for email and Skype! On August 21, 2010 our sweet girl Rowan Elisabeth was born.

{Husband} missed her birth by 28 hours (he was in Kuwait on his way home for R&R.) Many people think this is just unbelievable - my husband didn't see me pregnant a single day and missed his baby's birth but for military wives/families it's very typical. Most of my Army girlfriends have similar stories.

After our daughter's birth and my husband traveled back to Iraq and I stayed alone with Rowan in Texas for 4 months. These months were ROUGH but again, kind of typical for a military mom - family is not often close, in laws can't come to give a break, grandma can't stop in when you're having a bad day. Luckily, I had great friends and a ton of cell phone minutes to get me through! On October 11, 2010 (the day is burned in my brain!) I fulfilled my commitment to the Air Force and separated from active duty.

Baby Rowan and I moved to Tennessee to welcome home {Husband} that December. Finally! For the first time since we were married we were living in the same house:-)

The last year was beautiful and fun and hard and everything else that goes into reintegration/learning to live together/learning to be parents. But omg I wouldn't change any of it!

My blog is a personal journal of sorts. I love to cook and read cookbooks. I'm obsessed with pinterest and allrecipes dot com. I have run 8 half marathons and countless other small races...I don't even actually like running but I love the accomplishment of finishing a race.

We are getting ready to PCS (to Podunk) so I'll probably be complaining...errr, blogging...about that a lot. I post about my favorite products, love to meet new friends through the internet, and most recently have found a hobby in couponing! I have also recently re-joined Weight Watchers because I gained a monstrous amount of weight while I was pregnant and haven't had an easy time getting rid of it.

So now you know a little (OK a lot:-) about me leave a comment and I'd love to read about you. I'm a serial follower so let me know and I'll follow you back!

Talk to you later!

Murphy's Law {Poo-pocalypse 2012)

2012-01-12T10:35:00.006-06:00

This morning was supposed to be the perfect morning. It turned out being the perfect example of Murphy's Law: if something can go wrong, it will!

I woke up at 6, which is normal for me, but instead of walking around in my jams, drinking coffee, and procrastinating on my computer - I got dressed, washed my face and put on real clothes (ie not yoga pants) and jewelry. Even my hair was curled. As my coffee brewed I emptied and reloaded the dishwasher. I got everything ready for Rowan to go to preschool and set out things to make her breakfast when she woke.

Feeling ready for the day I decided to do some internet research on homemaking/schedules/organizing and even found a really cool iphone app (more on that in another post) to help me organize and take care of our house. I was feeling SO GOOD about the day and really proud of myself for being proactive.

And then the baby woke up.

I noticed a certain smell even from the hall outside Rowan's room and when I stepped inside it was magnified. "Oh, she must have pooped in the night." No, this was not just a "poop in the night" what I was smelling was a full fledged diaper EXPLOSION. At first I thought I had fallen prey to the dread Toddler Poo Painting I've heard so much about but I immediately noticed there was nothing on her hands. She turned around and I could see everything tumbling out of her pants from waist up to her neck. Gross. She had literally exploded. Ugh.

I was talking myself down from a ledge, "you're a nurse, you've seen worse," when she started dancing in her bed and fell backward smearing two of her stuff animals.

Omg, ya'll this was BAD. She had a bath at 8 in the morning and I lysoled/cloroxed her entire room making us late for preschool. Even her Teddy Ruxpin (a talking bear that I don't know his name but I always wanted a Teddy Ruxpin so I named him that) that you can't take the battery pack out of is in a hot water cycle with industrial strength detergent plused up with baking soda. I took the batteries out and I'm really hoping it still works....

Anway, I really couldn't take pictures, I didn't want others to puke but here's a picture of my (clean) baby eating her breakfast:-)

The Best Show of All Time {like, ever.}

2012-01-11T07:18:00.003-06:00

If yall haven't seen The Good Wife on CBS - you need to get on it!!!

Normally I like to watch cooking shows because they are something {Husband} and I agree on but there are a few "normal" shows that I like to watch myself. The Good Wife is my most favorite of all of them. Every Tuesday WITHOUT FAIL I eat my lunch and watch it on DVR from the Sunday before. It's literally the only television show that I sit and watch in it's entirety - no phone, no checking email, nothing. IT'S SO GOOD! It's got relationships, drama, crime, investigating - everything. You gotta watch. Promise you'll love it.

Couponing {any advice?}

2012-01-07T07:30:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, Tater Tots and Jello posted this video from Momumental Savings and it inspired me to start again for the new year.

I've been dabbling in couponing for about a year now but now I'm trying to get more serious. I don't want to be "Extreme" like the ladies on TV. I don't need 40 stockpiled detergents on a shelf next to 33 bottles of ketchup BUT I know there are ways to save money. I want to learn to piece my coupons together with sales and knock some money off our grocery bill.

Things I'm working on:

- Organization. I say I "dabbled" in coupons because I got very overwhelmed and quit over the holidays. My problem was I was doing the binder method and it was taking too much time. I was cutting most every coupon (because omg I might want 3 free toilet cleaners!) and then getting bogged down in organizing them. After watching that video I've decided to organize inserts by week and see how it goes.

- Taking a few minutes to make list. I ADORE menu planning and grocery list making but I need to take time to surf the coupon blogs and make a list of the great deals so I don't miss them. An example I read recently when something like this:

Your family really loves cereal bars which are $3/box and every week you buy a box - thats $12/month in cereal bars.

BUT if you see a great sale one month that puts the bars at $2.50/box and you have a coupon for $1.50 off -

that means if you buy 4 boxes (using 4 coupons) you will be paying $1 per box of bars.

Doesn't that sound nice?

$4/month instead of $12?!?!

Helpful Sites:

It's Hip 2 Save (my favorite)

Faithful Provisions

Southern Savers

The Krazy Coupon Lady

Anyone have any advice or great sites?

Moving!

2012-01-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

{Husband} got orders! We're moving to Alabama for about 9 months in February. Woot! I love trying new houses and places!

Where we're going still doesn't have my "hometown necessities" (read: Target, Costco, and Panera Bread) BUT it is within a 2 hour drive of Destin/Fort Walton, Florida. I'm also positive they have a Crossfit and a great preschool for Baby Row.

{this picture has nothing to do with this post but

I think it's hilarious that Rowan takes my cell phone

and sits on the dog bed to watch "sow" (shows)}

More than anything I'm looking forward to {Husband} working in a job that doesn't keep him gone from 5:30am to 7:30pm...did someone say "family dinner?!?" holler. I know moving is hard work, annoying, expensive, and frustrating - I'm not ignoring that - but I'm definitely finding some silver linings:-)

Home Again, Home Again {jiggity jog}

2012-01-03T20:33:00.001-06:00

Finally. We are home. Just finished a 12.5 hour drive from Virginia.

Gotta get into bed because the Baby Wildebeest does NOT sleep in after long trips:-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Our Christmas Scrapbook {and Rowan visit Santa Claus}

2011-12-23T22:37:00.001-06:00

Last year, around this time, a friend was selling all of her Creative Memories stock at a discount (moving sale basically) and I noticed a special Christmas album. I bought it without really having a plan.

{similar to this but with holly}

I used to adore scrapbooking but now I find myself just getting completely overwhelmed with all the pictures/papers/stickers/choices. I decided on making a book that was dedicated solely to our Christmas card and Row's Santa picture every year. I think it will be fun to be able to flip through and see how we've changed every year.

Here's a crappy picture of last years Christmas scrapbook page:

{you can see it's very simple}

Here is this year's card:

{We had 2 year anniversary/1st birthday pictures taken on vacation this year}

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand (drumroll please) here is the Santa picture from this year:

We knew she would cry (She loves to point him out and say "ho ho ho!" But she gets crazy tense and tries to climb over my shoulder every time we are near a man dressed up like him) but I really wanted the picture for my book...So, as punishment for me being selfish and forcing my baby to see Santa for the sake of my Christmas book - I had to sit with him. In a summer tank top. Sans make-up. In a picture that will be in our family album forever. (A lesson for me in thinking things through ahead of time.)

As evidenced by the next picture on her favorite helicopter ride, she wasn't too scarred by the event. She was frolicing happily towards the mall rides within seconds of leaving Santa's chair.

Something Has to Change {Part 3 & Rejoining Weight Watchers}

2011-12-23T12:01:00.000-06:00

(You can read {Part 1} and {Part 2} here and here.)

After realizing how easily overwhelmed I am and how being overwhelmed makes me a serial quitter I decided I needed to make some changes:

1. First, I quit the marathon. This seems a bit counterintuitive but hear me out....I was completely in over my head with this race. Sure, I was getting better. I was running longer and (sometimes) faster but I was in no way ready to run 26.2 miles. The long runs were hard but the short runs were still really hard as well. Every time I wanted to do another form of exercise I had the marathon as an excuse - can't have sore legs! need my energy for a long run! don't want to be tired!

2. I joined a gym. I actually get excited to go there and use the cardio cinema or take a class (all the things I avoided because I thought they would interfere with my running I was trying again.) True, it's not Crossfit but it's not sitting on my duff watching DVR either! I was running before but besides getting to chat with my running buddy - I enjoyed no part of it. There's a season for everything and maybe I'll love running again but right now I'm enjoying some good old fashioned gym sweat a couple days a week.

3. Lastly, the biggest change I've made: I rejoined Weight Watchers. The realization hit me when I was home on Thanksgiving that I needed "professional help." I had been tracking my calories via MyFitnessPal and lost about 4 pounds in 17 days. Not bad! But knowing myself I knew I needed to be monetarily accountable for taking care of myself or I would just jump right off the deep end ~~into Christmas cookies and fudge.~~ Tracking my calories and weighing in at home made it too easy for me to cheat. I needed to know that I was going to pay good money to get on a scale in front of someone who could see my entire progress and know how I did that week.

I left my mom's house in Virginia at 3am on November 30 and despite being so tired I couldn't see straight - I literally got off the plane and went directly to a Weight Watchers meeting. I could not have picked a better day - being the first meeting after Thanksgiving everyone was filled with stories of the holiday and how they enjoyed but didn't overindulge. The leader was amazing. I purposefully suffer through meetings with a tired baby every Wednesday at 12:15 just because it's the only meeting she leads every week.

Since starting back with Weight Watchers on November 30 I have lost 7.8 pounds!

SEVENPOINTEIGHTPOUNDS!

Seven (point) eight pounds in three weeks.

Ha, can you see that I'm really proud of myself? You want to know the real kicker? I'm just really happy that I'm sticking with it. My clothes don't fit differently and I don't see any physical changes in myself....but it doesn't matter right now because I'm just giddy with myself for sticking with this.

Pant-less Monday Morning {no big deal}

2011-11-28T07:20:00.001-06:00

We experienced one of my least favorite wake ups this morning...the dreaded leaky-poo-dipe!
The worst part was I didn't realize it until she had gotten it on my bed (at my mom's house) as well.
Needless to say we have a crib without blankies, a bed without sheets, and a baby without pants this morning:-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T20:17:00.001-06:00

So very thankful to have my husband here this year.

Thankful for my sweet baby girl.

Thankful for my family. Thankful for all the blessings He has given us.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Flying to Virginia

2011-11-23T09:45:00.000-06:00

Saturday morning I woke at the ungodly hour of 2am (was supposed to be 3 but I got up to the bathroom and couldn't settle back down! Hate that!) I woke Rowan at 4am and our amazing friends took us to the airport. (Seriously, at 4 on a Saturday!)

I spent about 45 minutes wrangling Baby Destructica before our flight. Luckily we sat next to the most kind woman of all time that didn't mind (in fact really had a good time with) Rowan. Typically, I love the 6am flights because after our layover I am guaranteed a nap on the second flight. NOT SO ON THIS DAY. Rowan fell asleep on the way to the playground in Chicago.

Karmic payback for me being so cocky about her nap on the next plane. She charged her batteries just enough to. Make me feel that I was wrangling a rabid baby wildebeest all the way to Richmond. In hindsight, I suppose I expect too much from a 14 month old because everyone was praising her (and me, 'scuse me while I dust my shoulders off) for being such a good girl.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone