Before and After

Most of the rooms in our house are painted. We kept the remaining rooms white as a way to save ourselves time and work when we have to leave base housing. (We'll have to paint every room back to white.) One of the rooms that we left white is our bathroom. 

In some ways I regret not painting it back when we first moved in. It's definitely way too late to start now because we really have no idea how much longer we'll be here. Why paint if we could be out of here next month?

To compensate, I tried my best to spruce up the bare walls with color. I'm not sure if it was today's sunshine- after weeks and weeks of rain/ fog/ mist/ clouds- that inspired a change, or if the bathroom's previous decor just got to me. Either way it's proof that $15 bucks and recycling a few your own pieces can brighten up a room... and your day.

Before: 

After: 

I love how the tangerine shower curtain brightens everything up. I also love the way the orange, green and chocolate brown compliment each other. I wish I could post the smell from the new candles- all three create a tropical scent that linger down the hall. 

Our living room has a new addition as well. We've had blue and white plaid couches since we were engaged. They were handed down to us by D's family, and have been through a few newlyweds before us. Although comfortable, our previous couches were not...er... our taste.

 We've mulled over buying new couches for a long time but just haven't decided on when the best time would be. Fortunately, our friend, J, is getting ready to move across the country and offered her three-piece sectional to us. We ab-sol-ute-ly love the new couch. D and I can actually sit together and cuddle. (Cuddle!) Our old couches weren't the best for that. 

Today I picked up a couple of new accents pillows.

Iceberg

Over the last few days I've been stalking reading other blogs as they do their last post/ recap of 2010. It got me thinking about what I would post if I were to follow suit. 

Obviously I made a decision on the "if" part since I am currently typing this up.

A few select people know that I don't blog about e-ver-y-thing. I'm not that blog that boasts heart-on-her-sleeve posts. I so admire those that do and often times I've considered turning that way. I guess I cannot because it's not who I really am. This blog is intended to keep family and friends updated on the doing's of the D & Wifey household. It's strictly the tip of the iceberg.  

2010's tip-of-the-iceberg included: 
- Maintaining new friendships
- Going out to lunch and dinner... a lot
- Exploring the area we live
- Adding a new member to our family (Ruca-roo) 
- Traveling to and hosting family and friends
- Getting settled a little more in our branch. (And a new calling, too!) 
- Cooking, baking, crafting, crocheting, and all things creative
- Rooting for the Packers games 
- D going surfing... a LOT! 
- Crazy, crazy, crazy weather

Etc, etc, etc. 

As mentioned above- there are a lot of things that I do not blog about. Things that are very personal and what I would consider beneath the surface. Many- if not all- will be listed in a very, very vague way, but I'm writing them as a way for me to remember all that happened if I ever decide to look back on this blog. 

2010's beneath the surface: 
- Faced two of my biggest fears
- Learned that family (in another state) will literally drop what they're doing to be with me 
- Watched more marriages end than begin
- Has never been more grateful for amazing health insurance
- Found out that I have friends that are willing to let me be crazy
- Certain shots still make me black out but others do not
- Found those who have walked the same path that I'm just starting on
- Was reminded just HOW strong my marriage to D is 
- Unwillingly joined two statistics for women... and will always be apart of them
- Out of those two statistics I'm a "rare" one
- Side effects suck
- Every day can be a complete struggle 
- Watched D tell me serious news that I never wanted to hear... and thought he was joking. 

Yes, 2010 was a tough, tough year. Here's hoping that 2011 holds more up's than down's, more waves for D to surf, more Mexican food than I know what to do with, and laughs and good times with our family and friends. 

Hostess With The Mostest

Today is our last day with D's family in town. What a crazy, fun week it's been! I feel like eating and playing Rock Band endlessly are about the only things we've accomplished. Fortunately the weather has cooperated a bit, and have allowed the boys to go fishing and shooting. 

This was the second time we've hosted Christmas at our house. (Last year being the first) But this was my VERY first year hosting AND cooking Christmas dinner. With a little help from D's mom I was able to pull it off. The only thing I managed to burn was a potholder. (After accidently touching it to the oven coil. No biggie!) 

Up until Christmas day I had been trying to fight some sort of illness. At first I thought it was the flu but it turned out to be a combination of side effects, sleep deprivation, sinus infection and 9 combined hours of singing to Rock Band. Lots of caffiene and Mucinex kept me going, but I ended up completely losing my voice a few hours before Christmas dinner. 

We feasted on glazed ham, salad, green bean casserole, funeral potato casserole, and rolls. 

 The gang minus three

 After dinner we enjoyed a very competitive game of Cranium. 

All in all, Santa was extremely good to Hubs and Wifey this year. Actually, I got really spoiled by D Santa by receiving a brand new camera....Merry Christmas to me!

 I'm extremely excited to take better pictures on a camera with a way better zoom lense. And I plan on taking better care of this camera since we beat the crap out of our old one. One day (waaaaay in the future) I will have my SLR camera that I've been dreaming of. 

To demonstrate better zoom/ quality- I took this picture yesterday standing in my kitchen (yes- inside, but obviously, zooming in) facing the backyard where this little island resides. 

(Insert Wifey's happy dance here) 

Although It's Been Said

Many times, many ways.

Decked

I finally finished decking our halls with Christmas decor. I anxiously counted down the minutes until Thanksgiving was over so I could pull out our holiday decorations with an giddy smile on my face began putting everything up the day after Thanksgiving. 

I tried my best to wait until December 1st but that didn't work out. 

However- we did wait until December to get our tree. 

 D wanted a picture of the tree. It's a LOT heavier than I expected.

 Why would D help when he could take pictures of me struggling to hold it up? (While laughing)

2010's Christmas tree is a lot taller and fatter than 2009's. I had to buy two extra strands of lights! (I really should have purchased at least one more. I cheated to save $6.99) 

The tree sat with just lights only for about a week. I was too tired to put the ornaments on after getting it set up. 

 Ta-da! Our fatty tree complete with lights and ornaments 

(Flash is on)

 Ta-da! Again... but my flash is off this time. 

I love our house when it's decorated for Christmas. This year we added a lot more since (1) we can afford to, and (2) because we have family coming. Some snapshots... 

 Our living room

 Entry way

Front door 

Can't forget pictures of our Christmas lights. Total, we have approximately 34 boxes (strands) of lights. Over 22 of those are on our garage alone. D and friend did the garage and our little tree. Today I braved the elements (including, but not limited to: rain, 25 mph winds, cold, and electricution) to finish the top of our house and the backyard fence. 

The backyard fence looks better in person. Blue lights on one side and multi-colored on the other. 

Now if I could only finish my handmade gifts and Christmas shopping... 

The Weekend of Thanks

D had to work on Thanksgiving. We planned on attending the station's luncheon but D was called to a search-and-rescue case. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see him on Thanksgiving. That night I spent dinner with my neighbors and their two kiddos. We both cooked half of the dinner which was probably the best food ever. 
The weekend after Thanksgiving we spent most of our time with our other family, M & E. E and I decided to cook Thanksgiving dinner for D and M since we felt terrible they didn't have a proper holiday meal. 

 D waiting for me to put down the camera so we can eat.

 Our festive table

 E and D diggin' in.

 M dishing up 

The day before we had dinner all four of us drove to south to check out the Seaside Aquarium. Apparently it's the oldest aquarium and one of the first to breed a specific seal in captivity. 

What we didn't know is that it's expensive, tiny, freezing cold, and, on a whole, not that great. It does have a couple cool things: feeding the seals and an octopus. 

 D is excited to feed the seals

M + D + E

 Each seal has a name, their own personality, and does tricks to gain attention. We found one named Wyatt!

 Most of the tanks were similar to this one.

 An ugly little feller

 An octopus!

 Checking out the touch pools.