I'm moving....and so is my blog

For a while now I've been wanting to change the title of my blog (since it's no longer a recipe blog the title doesn't really make sense)....and now I finally have - yay!! So, starting tomorrow I will be blogging from Our Dolce Vita I'm pretty excited about it!! Hopefully everyone will be automatically redirected there tomorrow....if I entered all the info correctly - lol!! :)

I've really missed reading all of your wonderful blogs and can't wait to jump back in!

It's been such an amazing summer (huge post coming)! I am happy to report that Kevin and I are happily settling into our new home and are really loving it here on the East Coast.

Happy Monday Everyone!!!

Taking a Little Blogging Vacay

I'm so sad to say that I think I'm going to take a bit of a blog break.  I keep thinking that "tomorrow" I will start blogging again but, it's been about a month and it still hasn't happened - so, I decided I should probably take a break.  

I've really missed reading everyone's blogs - we just have so much going on these days that I simply haven't had a chance.  

Once we move and get settled, I fully intend to pick back up.  I hope everyone has a wonderful summer - please know that I will be praying for all my wonderful blog friends!!

Happy Summer!!!

what I've been up to.....

Happy Friday Blog Friends!!!

When I graduated nursing school I envisioned my summer would be filled with long, leisurely days poolside with a cool drink in one hand and a good book in the other...well, I was a bit off. Mostly because the weather is sooooo not cooperating - at all! Today forecast has a high of 71 and all day rain is predicted - in the middle of June?!?! On the bright side, it is leaving plenty of time for preparing for our upcoming PCS/move - yay!

Lately, I've been....

Online house hunting. Surprisingly is proving to be more time consuming than I ever imagined it would be. I'm willing to be patient though, I'm completely convinced that Kevin and I will be blessed in finding an adorable little place. :)

Ah, the job search.....actually, this has been the most frustrating thing I've been doing lately. I can't seem to find a nursing job that doesn't require experience, and since I'm a new grad, I don't really have any experience.

***While we are on this topic, if any of my wonderful blog friends know of a place (in the Columbia, MD area - any place) that would like to hire a friendly, out-going, hardworking, quick learning new RN grad please let me know. :) ***

Did I add enough glowing adjectives to describe myself??? Lol!

Ahhhh, the Red Box. I honestly don't know how I ever lived with out this wonderful invention. I may never step foot in another Blockbuster!! Last week, Kevin and I rented two movies and watched them both Saturday afternoon...yeah, it was awesome!! It's really the little things in life that make me happy.

Yay for catching up with friends!! There is very little that beats catching up with a friend over a yummy cup of coffee...especially friends with babies!!! Seriously, it seem like all of my friends are having (or just had) babies - soooo fun!!

Visiting the Spa, one of my most favorite things to do!! Last week my estician told me that she and her husband were moving to California and that she had just put in her notice - tear! But....since I'm leaving too I guess we would be parting ways anyways and I know they will have an absolutely blast in California. She has come to be a great friend and I will miss her. It's times like these that I'm super thankful for facebook!!

Well, I'm off for another fun-filled day of internet hunting!! Happy Friday everyone!!

Today my little brother left for boot camp.....

I bet he will be doing lots of these.....

I can't believe my brother is left for boot camp today!!! He joined the National Guard on his 17th birthday ( - I was surprised to learn that one is able to join the Guard when one is ONLY 17!!) and has been drilling with his unit for the past six months. Luckily, there are 4 other people in his unit going to boot camp with him. I'm soooo very proud of him!! I cannot express how much he has grown (spirituality and mentally) in the past few years. I would so appreciate it if you all lifted him up in your prayers......and maybe his older sister (me) who is experiencing some pretty intense bittersweet emotions ;) Well, I will leave you with some pictures of my "little" brother

Hmmm....I guess he was in a serious mood.....so not like him - he's always smiling :)

Don't mind my Mom's yellow Bug in the background - lol! ;)

Heading to DC

I'm offically on my way to Washington DC where I will be spending the week with my Aunt - yippee!!

I must say though, even though I'm only 2 hours into my trip, I already miss my boys - terribly. They have lots of "guy" stuff planned and I know they will have an absolute blast with whatever they end up doing!!!

Happy Wednesday!! Hope everyones week is going well!!!

It's Officially Summer!!!

Ok, so I realize that June 21st is still a few weeks away but, after this weekend's activities I definitely feel as though summer is here....or at least my summer. ;)

Friday night - My husband often has to stand alert....which means that he is "here" but, he can't leave base, which I totally prefer to him being gone completely since I am able to visit him (yay!). So, Friday night I packed a little dinner, grab a movie and headed off to see him. Since I'm still very much playing "catch -up" when it comes to movie watching I rented Underworld, Rise of the Lycans. Side note: I rented it from a "Red Box" - what an amazing creation!! I'm an instant fan!! Yes, I have been living under a rock for the past few years ;) Also, I think I have seen more movies in the past three weeks than I have in the past two years - lol!

Side note: I rented it from a "Red Box" - what an amazing creation!! I'm an instant fan!! Yes, I have been living under a rock for the past few years ;) Also, I think I have seen more movies in the past three weeks than I have in the past two years - lol!

Saturday - Kevin's "office" had a family visitor day - I felt quite privileged to see where my husband works. We even got a tour of the jet, yay!! After the visitor day, we headed to the base pool with our buddies the DeHart's. As a former Army brat I spent many a hot summer day at the base pool and wow, I definitely had some flashbacks!! Not a whole lot has changed in the world of base pools. :)

Here's my husband playing in the pool

Lindsay & I relaxin' poolside

After an afternoon at the pool, Lindsay and I headed to Stella's to grab some burgers for dinner. Stella's is an awesome little burger place - definitely one of those "best kept secret" type of places, their food is super yummy!!

Stella's!!

After dinner, I made my way to my friend Heather's bachelorette party. She is one of my good friend's from nursing school and I'm soooo happy for her and her fiance. The are the cutest couple and are getting married in the Rivera Maya next week - soooo wish we could go!!

Heather & I at dinner

Some of the CSM girls - love these ladies!!

Sunday - I am so happy to report that I spent the whole day at the Lake!! Woo Hoo!! Which is the reason for this post's title - after a day of lake activities I can officially say it's Summer!! Some of our friends have a cute little place on the lake, we had such a great time and they have the most adorable little ones ever!! After my day at the Lake, I did head to the base to spend some QT with the hubs though - I wouldn't have totally blow off my husband for a day at the lake. ;)

The Lake!!!

The little ones....so cute!!

I had such a great, jam-packed weekend!! I hope everyone else had a great time this weekend!!!

My little bro is flies in today.....he is spending the week with us before he takes off for boot camp next week. I'm soooo super excited he will be here!!! Well, I'm off to get him!! Have a good day blog friends!!!

Something's missing.....

I'm looking for a few good books to add to my summer reading list...any ideas???

Farewell Offutt.....

I can't believe Kevin just had his Farewell!!! The whole time I just kept thinking, "Has it really been 3 years???" Here's a pic of us at his Farewell -

Us at the Farewell

Three years really doesn't seem like that long but, oh my goodness - soooo much has changed over these past three years. In fact, three years ago, I hadn't even met Kevin yet - which I find just crazy! In the span of three years I - met Kevin, moved away from my home in Oklahoma to move to Omaha, got engaged, started nursing school, got married and graduated from nursing school. I guess it's true what they say - time flies when you're havin' fun!

Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited about our upcoming move but, there are definitely quite a few people and places around the Omaha area that I will miss tremdously!

....where do I even begin

Oh my goodness, I've been such a bad blogger - I feel as though I have lots of backtracking to do. I guess I should probably start with finals week....here it goes (hope this doesn't get too boring)-

Finals Week - definitely a crazy week! I completely sequestered myself in the library - all week long. Everyday it was me, my iPod and my books for hours upon hours. Happily, all that studying paid off - which meant that I was all set to graduate!! Woo hoo!! In addition to finals I also had a presentation on Aquapheresis that week....have I mentioned it was a long week, lol! Here's a picture of awesome Aquapheresis poster
And, here's a picture of me and one of my wonderful friend's from nursing school - it was taken the day after we found out we passed, we were soooo incredibly happy!!
Graduation - The thing about graduation is that I wasn't even really planning on going. Since I have already done the graduation thing once, complete with a party, I didn't feel I should really make a big deal about this one. When some of my friends found out, they were determined to get me to attend my graduation. I walked out of my baccalaureate mass to find my best friend (who has a newborn and lives 8 hours away) waiting for me.....Um yeah, there were most definitely tears - lots of them! Lol ;) She spent the whole weekend with us, it was great! My Aunt also came up for the weekend....with my Aunt, best friend and my husband (who was actually not on TDY and in town - YAY!) I was in Heaven. I truly wish I could relive that weekend over and over. Here are some pictures from that weekend -

Me right after graduation, that smile means "stop taking pictures!!" Lol! :)

All of us at brunch - yum!!!

And, of course, my Aunt and I found time to cook ;)

My trip home - The day after graduation my Aunt and I jumped in the car and made our way down to Oklahoma. It's about an 8 hour drive so I was soooo excited to have a driving companion - not to mention that my Aunt and I are super close and I always enjoy spending time with her! :) While down in OKC, I stayed with my amazing friend, Heidi. She is such a wonderful person and I feel so incredibly blessed with her friendship. I love sightseeing in my hometown!! Here are lots of random pictures of my trip to good ole Oklahoma -

Memorial Day Weekend - Saturday Kevin and I spent aaalllll day just hanging out. Since Kevin is away ALOT it was really great to be able to spend a relaxing Saturday with my husband. Late Saturday afternoon, we headed out to my friend Laurie's wedding. Laurie is one of my friend's from nursing school and I was just so excited I could be there for her big day - she looked absolutely gorgeous!!

On Sunday, we woke up early, went to the early service and then headed off for a day of hiking at Indian Cave State Park. Despite a few sprinkles we had a great time!

Monday morning we woke up early again (....kinda odd, I know but since Kevin and I don't get a ton of couple time, when he's home we like to make the most out of the time we have.....yeah, not really sure why I felt the need to justify why we got up early), strapped on our running shoes and headed off to the park for a jog. Afterwards, we were able to meet up with our buddies, the DeHart's, who just returned from their honeymoon in Europe. We met them for lunch and they brought lots of fun pictures of all their fun European adventures - and since they flew "Space A" (space available) I would definitely say it was quite the adventure!! After lunch we all headed off to see The Terminator - woo hoo!!

This week - my agenda included an NCLEX (the nursing board exam) review, it was at my school so I definitely felt as though I was back at school - "just when I thought I was out...they pull me back." Sometimes you just gotta throw in a Godfather quote for good measure. ;)

Well, I think that just about catches me up. Now, I'm going to have to catch up on all of your blogs - woo hoo! I *heart* reading all of your blogs!!! :)

Happy Memorial Day

Hello blogger friends!!

I'm back, safe and sound, from my little adventure home (to Oklahoma - woo hoo!). I wish all of you a happy, safe and blessed Memorial Day Weekend!!! I can't wait to hear everyone spent their weekend!

.....if you need Kevin or I, we will be by our pool. ;)

Getting back into the swing of things....

Hello wonderful blog friends!!

I can't believe it's been soooo loonngg since my last post. I never intended to be away for so long. I just got so caught up with my finals and end of the semester projects - and then graduation - and the day after graduation I packed some things and headed down to OKC for some much needed time home with my friends and family.....which is where I am now (huge YAY!!). But....I really intend on getting back in the "blogger" swing of things, I have soooo many of your blogs to catch up on. I have really missed reading them!

My new favorite wedding picture

Every now and then I choose a new wedding picture for my computer's desktop background and yesterday when I was looking for a new one, I came across this one:

I LOVE it!! Love the angle...love the memory of that moment....just LOVE it!!

Even though Kevin and I have been married now for 8 months and have looked through my pictures hundreds of times, I feel as though I've never seen this one before - crazy, huh?!?

Just thought I'd share. ;)

Our Rainy Weekend

I don't know about you but we had some pretty rainy weather. At first I was pretty bummed that after a few days of beyond gorgeous weather our weekend was going to be gloomy....BUT it actually turned out to be a good thing.

Friday Night we had our own little date night in partly because of the weather and partly because we are trying to save money. For our dinner I made the Pioneer Woman's famous Asian Noodle Salad - and btw, it was A-MAZING!! Now, I luuuvvv her recipes and have made quite a few but seriously, I might have a new favorite!!! Huge bonus - Kevin loved it too! Yay! While we scarfed down our salads we watched Traitor.

It's an international conspiracy thriller type of movie....so I was thinking it would be "Bourne Identity"-ish well...it wasn't. It was ok, I'm not sure I recommend it though.

Saturday, because of the rain, we just kinda hung out for the majority of the day. We made it to Saturday evening mass and then did a bit of shopping after - we even bought our Mom's and Grandma's their Mother's Day presents - yay!!

Sunday morning we slept in - how great is sleeping in?!? When we finally rolled out of bed I made us the perfect (perfect for us anyway) Sunday morning breakfast - pancakes & coffee. By Sunday afternoon it was back to reality for me...I had homework, studying and a group meeting - ugh!

All in all, I'm kinda glad it ended up being a rainy weekend - it definitely gave Kevin and I some really good down time. Don't get me wrong though....I'm ready for some sunny poolside summer days!

Hope you all had a good weekend too!!

Happy Arbor Day!

In honor of Arbor day I thought I'd make my blog green...or at least make the font green. ;) Until I moved here, I had no idea Arbor day started in Nebraska City, Nebraska.

Here's a little history of Arbor Day for ya -

The first Arbor Day took place on April 10, 1872 in Nebraska. It was the brainchild of Julius Sterling Morton (1832-1902), a Nebraska journalist and politician. In the years following that first Arbor Day, Morton's idea spread beyond Nebraska with Kansas, Tennessee, Minnesota and Ohio all proclaiming their own Arbor Days. In 1970, President Richard Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day. Which brings us to today....

Here in Nebraska, there are tons of celebrations and activities going on today....yay! Growing up my family would always plant a new tree (usually a fruit tree) on arbor day. I love this tradition, it's one Kevin and I know we want to carry on when we get settled somewhere.

Happy Friday & Happy Arbor Day!!