Olivia Eileen

Today's post is featured on one of my dear friend's blog! I was honored she asked me to contribute!!! She's been blogging about her experiences as a fellow Army spouse and her fabulous opinions on all things related to military, politics, movies, their two precious pups, Disney, and so much more quite a bit longer than me! Her blog is awesome.  Check her out at Me and My SoldierMan , oh, and read my guest post, Faith and Fitness !

Today's post is featured on one of my dear friend's blog! I was honored she asked me to contribute!!! She's been blogging about her experiences as a fellow Army spouse and her fabulous opinions on all things related to military, politics, movies, their two precious pups, Disney, and so much more quite a bit longer than me! Her blog is awesome.  Check her out at Me and My SoldierMan , oh, and read my guest post, Faith and Fitness !

While this first deployment was a long time coming the last three or so months have been quite the whirlwind. One of the privileges we have with being stationed at Ft. Bragg is that my husband has learned how to do things the "right" way in the Army (or maybe it's just the Bragg way...). Anyway, what I mean by this is that hubby didn't get a nice break or many shortened workdays leading up to this deployment (except for Christmas block leave). So, right when you've got to finalize your personal and family life in preparation for a deployment, my husband was working from before sunrise to well after sunset nearly each and every workday. In all the hubbub and emotions whirling around I had this grand idea that I wanted to pursue one of my personal dreams and compete in my first Ironman while my husband is off pursuing one of his dream.  It only seemed "fair" that I get to "do" something I'm passionate about too... Well, that idea sounded real...

While this first deployment was a long time coming the last three or so months have been quite the whirlwind. One of the privileges we have with being stationed at Ft. Bragg is that my husband has learned how to do things the "right" way in the Army (or maybe it's just the Bragg way...). Anyway, what I mean by this is that hubby didn't get a nice break or many shortened workdays leading up to this deployment (except for Christmas block leave). So, right when you've got to finalize your personal and family life in preparation for a deployment, my husband was working from before sunrise to well after sunset nearly each and every workday. In all the hubbub and emotions whirling around I had this grand idea that I wanted to pursue one of my personal dreams and compete in my first Ironman while my husband is off pursuing one of his dream.  It only seemed "fair" that I get to "do" something I'm passionate about too...

I'm pushing my luck starting this blog because my little sugar bean has been down for a nap since 12:30pm...and it's 2:22pm! But here I am with my coffee hoping to get this blog updated. I wont be too sad if she wakes up though, because I have been productive in other areas of my life so far today: swam about 2200 meters, made dinner (in the crock pot), sent out FRG e-mails, paid a bill I forgot about (BUMMER!) blah blah blah :) Unfortunately, blogging has had to take the back burner the last month. I mean, we did move into a new house and sent my husband off on his first deployment this month... Two TOTALLY normal life activities occurring nearly simultaneously, right? Only if your military! But my husband is off and sugar bean and I are about one week into holding up our home front.  Last week I was very intentional about getting to the gym. I knew that if I did not make the childcare reservations for the entire week ahead of time I would not have been getting out of bed ver...

I'm pushing my luck starting this blog because my little sugar bean has been down for a nap since 12:30pm...and it's 2:22pm! But here I am with my coffee hoping to get this blog updated. I wont be too sad if she wakes up though, because I have been productive in other areas of my life so far today: swam about 2200 meters, made dinner (in the crock pot), sent out FRG e-mails, paid a bill I forgot about (BUMMER!) blah blah blah :) Unfortunately, blogging has had to take the back burner the last month. I mean, we did move into a new house and sent my husband off on his first deployment this month... Two TOTALLY normal life activities occurring nearly simultaneously, right? Only if your military! But my husband is off and sugar bean and I are about one week into holding up our home front.  Last week I was very intentional about getting to the gym. I knew that if I did not make the childcare reservations for the entire week ahead of time I would not have been getting ...

Changing from a PB&J, french baguette and cheese, and dairy lover to a fruit, nuts, veggies, and lean meat lover took some time and a ton of work.  But if I can give up my side of an entire baguette with a glass of wine, you can kick your gluten love affair too!!! If I'm not cooking out of Sarah Fragoso's cookbook, Everyday Paleo , for my little family of three, I'm taking my favorite recipes and turning them "Paleo" . Yesterday, my newest issue of Real Simple arrived in the mail. In it contained a section of "One Dish Dinners" with a simplified rendition of Shepherds Pie. I LOVE Shepherds pie. But between the peas, corn, and white potatoes it's definitely not Paleo . But after reading the recipe, it can easily be converted and I can't wait to try it out...possibly this weekend! Real Simple's Cottage Pie Recipe 3 pounds new potatoes kosher salt and black pepper 1 cup whole milk 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 pound...

Changing from a PB&J, french baguette and cheese, and dairy lover to a fruit, nuts, veggies, and lean meat lover took some time and a ton of work.  But if I can give up my side of an entire baguette with a glass of wine, you can kick your gluten love affair too!!! If I'm not cooking out of Sarah Fragoso's cookbook, Everyday Paleo , for my little family of three, I'm taking my favorite recipes and turning them "Paleo" . Yesterday, my newest issue of Real Simple arrived in the mail. In it contained a section of "One Dish Dinners" with a simplified rendition of Shepherds Pie. I LOVE Shepherds pie. But between the peas, corn, and white potatoes it's definitely not Paleo . But after reading the recipe, it can easily be converted and I can't wait to try it out...possibly this weekend!

WHEW!!!  Or as my daughter and I like to say as I'm pushing her up a steep hill in the BOB:  "OOH WHEE!" After one solid week of packing, cleaning, and painting our old place; one solid weekend of unloading a 26 foot U-Haul (TWICE); one solid week of UNpacking, cleaning, and organizing our new place...we are feeling a bit settled :)  AND, I never want to move again! A great time to purge your belongings is right after you've moved your entire household, yourself. Because you're still pretty angry at that super heavy box of unknown "stuff" (that hasn't been opened since your last move) you had to remove from your old attic, put into the U-Haul, then removed from the U-Haul, only to put into your new attic... or better yet, the donation pile!!! Believe it or not I haven't actually taken any pictures of our new house. Been kinda busy nesting! BUT my extremely helpful mother in law did!!! She was a huge help over moving weekend. Whether it was simply...

WHEW!!!  Or as my daughter and I like to say as I'm pushing her up a steep hill in the BOB:  "OOH WHEE!" After one solid week of packing, cleaning, and painting our old place; one solid weekend of unloading a 26 foot U-Haul (TWICE); one solid week of UNpacking, cleaning, and organizing our new place...we are feeling a bit settled :)  AND, I never want to move again! A great time to purge your belongings is right after you've moved your entire household, yourself. Because you're still pretty angry at that super heavy box of unknown "stuff" (that hasn't been opened since your last move) you had to remove from your old attic, put into the U-Haul, then removed from the U-Haul, only to put into your new attic... or better yet, the donation pile!!! Believe it or not I haven't actually taken any pictures of our new house. Been kinda busy nesting! BUT my extremely helpful mother in law did!!! She was a huge help over moving weekend. Wh...