The Jeannets

Veteran's Day

2011-11-10T22:20:00.000-05:00

I hate to admit it, but growing up (despite the fact that I had veterans in my family), I never truly paid much attention to Veteran's Day other than the fact that it was a day off from school. I can remember discussions of my grandfather attending Veteran's Day festivities in town and stories of reunions with his fellow comrades from WWII at various points in his life, but I honestly never understood the magnitude of it all and what a blessing veterans are to this nation until I started dating Sayre and got a tiny glimpse of what the military life is like.

I'll never know what it's truly like to go through the trials and tribulations of military training. I'll never understand the bond shared by the men and women who serve this country together. I'll never know what it's like to be deployed on land or at sea thousands and thousands of miles away from everything you've ever known all while trying to stay out of harm's way. I'll never experience the heartache of loosing a best friend fighting beside me on the front lines. All I do know is that I am forever and eternally grateful for not only my husband, but all the men and women who have answered that call to serve... who have left behind families that love them... who have selflessly given up many of the things we take for granted here... who have given it their all even when their tired and worn out boots don't want to carry them any further... who have given it all so that we can be free.

If you know a veteran or meet one on the street, just remember to say "thanks." They don't do it for the glory. They don't do it for the attention. They do it selflessly for the love of their country. A simple "thank you" and a smile will go a long way. So here's a humble "thank you" from me to all of my friends, family members, neighbors, and strangers who have served and are serving and to those that have gone before us. God bless you all.

What we've been up to lately:

2011-09-24T22:37:00.000-04:00

1) Shared snowballs after a fun morning adventure.

2) That early morning adventure began with tubing down the Ichetucknee Springs.

3) Watched a little LSU football with some good friends - first time all 6 of us were together in one place this year.

4) Waited for the Brad Paisley concert to begin on base after battling our through the crowds to get a seat.

5) Brad Paisley put on an awesome concert at Mayport.

6) Made fondant covered, wedding cake flavored cupcakes for Katharine's birthday and realized although it's a lot of fun, fondant is also a lot of work :)

7) Painted pottery with some lovely ladies for Katharine's bday.

8) Went kayaking for a very windy, but fun date.

Back into the swing of things

2011-08-22T22:08:00.000-04:00

Gosh, it's so hard to believe Sayre's only been back for only 3 weeks now! Never in my life did I think I'd say this, but it doesn't even feel like he ever left. Those 7 long months just seemed to vanish as soon as he set foot back on the pier. Don't get me wrong, that in NO WAY means I'm ready for him to leave again (please oh please go away hurricane, Irene!) but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm very happy to report that we just stepped right back into life together without even skipping a beat :)

Since his return, we've had a little bit of time to do some fun things around Jacksonville - the first of which was a very nice dinner date at The Chart House to begin to make up for 7 months of missed dates, anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays followed by a lovely little Segway ride on Amelia Island, 4 movie dates, cooking meals together at home, and a little bit of beach time. We've managed to stay busy since his return, but we've also allotted for plenty of time for relaxing too - afterall, the poor guy did just spend a little over half the year chasing pirates and keeping the seas safe ;) he deserves a little rest and relaxation too!

We made it... 7 months of growth, wisdom, and connection

2011-08-04T09:43:00.001-04:00

On January 2, 2011 I stood pier-side in Mayport, Florida as I watched my husband set sail for his very first deployment. I don't think words can really do justice to describe the wave of emotions I felt. When I returned home after watching his ship disappear into the horizon, I let myself completely fall apart - but only for that day. I made a promise to myself that the very next day I would get ready for work and step out into the world with a constant and deliberate forward motion. The idea of spending the next seven months in my own realm of self-pity was so completely unappealing to me and I knew it would serve no purpose. I needed to be strong not only for myself, but also for my husband who needed to focus upon his mission at hand and rest soundly in the knowledge that I was safe, happy, and supporting him with all my heart. Now, don't get me wrong... I am human afterall, and I did have days where I wanted nothing more than to shut the rest of the world out and feel sorry for myself, but I never let that be my focus. Instead, I set goals and activities for myself each month as distractions - for me, it was the only way to survive.

Reflecting back upon the first seven months of 2011, I cannot believe how quickly it all seemed to go by! I never ever imagined I'd feel that way, but I have so many things and people to thank for that... but most of all I know with all of my heart that God was behind it all. Because of Him I was able to not only make it through Sayre's deployment, but also use it as a time to grow in wisdom and in relationship with Him. When you strip away the rules, the religion, the human nature of things and just focus on our Creator and sit in awe of Him and the incredible life He has laid before us all, it's hard not to want to grow deeper in relationship with Him and I know that He used this time to draw me closer. It's no question that God is the reason why Sayre and I are even together in the first place and He is what has made our relationship so incredible. I just can't wait to see what He has in store for us next and to see how He used Sayre's deployment to help us grow individually so that we can be even stronger together.

Returning to that pier on August 3rd to anxiously await the return of the ship to its home port brought about another full range of emotions - pride, love, joy, a sense of accomplishment, and complete thankfulness. My friends and I joked about how we might just start attending random homecomings in the future, but honestly if you ever have an opportunity to experience one (even if you don't know any of the servicemembers returning home) I highly highly recommend it. I'll never ever forget my first homecoming experience watching their husbands come home last year either - I left that day with such a new-found respect, love, and admiration for our country and yesterday was certainly no different. I am SO proud to be Sayre's wife and so proud to be a part of this military community. A simple "thank you" to Katharine & Brittany and everyone else that supported us both near and far doesn't seem like enough, but I hope you all know how much all of your love and support has meant to us. We love you all so much and are happy to report that HE'S HOME!!!

It's the Final Countdown!!

2011-08-02T23:55:00.001-04:00

Time-lapse video of the final 30 day countdown I made at work to mark Sayre's return! Just a few more hours left!! (And, in case you've been living under a rock for the past 20+ years, that cute little green guy eating all of those coins is Yoshi from the Super Mario Brothers series)

Happy Independence Day!

2011-07-02T14:21:00.000-04:00

Totally Groovy

2011-06-24T18:49:00.001-04:00

This is yet another reason why I love my job. Some of the girls and I made tie-dye tshirts during lunch time on Thursday and then wore them on Friday :) Yep... pretty much the best job ever!

Daddy-daughter time

2011-06-23T21:59:00.002-04:00

Dad came to visit last weekend for Father's Day while mom went off with some of her friends to a wedding up north. It was so great to have some daddy-daughter time together! He arrived Thursday evening, so I picked him up after work and he hung out at the apartment most of the day on Friday while I was working. He did get to meet me for lunch that day though, which was great because it gave him an opportunity to finally see my office! Needless to say, I think his favorite part (understandably) was our awesome Super Mario Brothers themed wall in our design area ;)

On Saturday we ventured down to Cape Canaveral to check out the Kennedy Space Center. We got up bright and early for our 2 & 1/2 hour drive, got there around 9:30, and spent the entire day absorbing the sights & sounds of NASA. Cool factor of the day: the Space Shuttle Atlantis was sitting on the launch pad in preparation for its July 8th launch so we were able to view it from the observation tower and snap some awesome photos (thanks to our new 28mm-300mm zoom lens)! What a neat experience! I'd absolutely love to see a shuttle launch someday, but actually seeing it on the launch pad was pretty neat too!! Anyway, we had a great day! We were pretty tired by the time we got home though!

On Sunday, Father's Day, we enjoyed some time relaxing for a bit before heading out to Mayport to see the next ship Sayre will report to in the fall. Yes, for those that haven't heard already, we will be staying in Mayport for Sayre's next sea tour!! Anyway, it was pretty exciting to see his new ship. Granted, it's not like it's new to Mayport or anything... I mean heck, I'm sure I've unknowingly laid my eyes upon it many times before, but the fact that Sayre will soon be on it kind of shed a new light on that old chunk of metal ;) Anyway, later on we celebrated Father's Day with a delicious meal at PF Chang's and perused Barnes & Noble for a little while - another great day!

Unfortunately his time here came & went too quickly, just as it always does, but hopefully he & mom will be back to visit soon! Sayre and I always enjoy having company around!! (hint, hint to anyone thinking of coming to Jacksonville ;) )

Just keep swimming...

2011-06-12T20:57:00.000-04:00

Guess who's a brand new Open Water NAUI Certified Diver?

Yep, that's me!!!

I had a fantastic time up at a lake in Bloomingdale, GA over the weekend getting certified through Atlantic Pro Divers here in Jacksonville. Their instructor was phenomenal - so patient and thorough in his teaching style. He made everyone feel so comfortable in the water and our entire class of 12 passed with flying colors! It was such a neat set-up too. They had one platform sunk in the lake at 10' for the pool phase of the certification and another one sunk in the lake at 20' for the open water phase, which enabled us to complete the course in just one weekend. We all had to complete the classroom material and take the test prior to showing up Saturday morning. Now I just can't wait for Sayre and I to be able to dive all over the place together! (He's already certified) And who knows, maybe we'll work on some more advanced certifications together in the future!

By the way...

2011-06-08T20:53:00.000-04:00

THIS made me really happy over the weekend:

Isn't the world wide web amazing? :) Yay for a long-overdue video chat with a very cute hubby!

Bayou Country Superfest

2011-06-07T19:50:00.003-04:00

I took a trip back to Baton Rouge over the Memorial Day weekend to visit with family and check out the Bayou Country Superfest. I had a blast but, as always, the time flew by way too quickly!

Highlights from the BCS included performances by Josh Thompson, Luke Bryan, & Trace Adkins to start with followed by an awesomely fun performance by Sugarland and then Time McGraw. The event itself was held in Tiger Stadium on Saturday afternoon - needless to say it was a tad bit hot out there, but fortunately our seats were on the west side of the stadium so we were in the shade. I went with my mom, Aunt Debra, cousin Jill, & my aunt's neighbor and had a chance to make some rounds to see some friends.

On Sunday mom & dad had a little bar-b-que to get the family together while I was in town. Because it's summertime, it's hard to round up the whole gang, but it was still really nice to see everyone that was able to come. Unfortunately, time really did fly on by too quickly and before I knew it, it was time to head on back to Jacksonville. It sure was a nice little getaway though!

First 5k - Done!

2011-06-02T21:35:00.000-04:00

I'm a little behind on my posts these days because I've been a bit busy, but I'm going to try to play catch-up!

On May 21st I ran in and completed my first 5k race! My timing was horrible and it was hotter than ever that day, but I finished and that's all that matters :) It really was such a great experience... over 6,000 people participated! The only downside to having over 6,000 people packed at the starting line of a race on the beach in 90+ degree weather is that the body heat combined with the scorching sun made for a rather unpleasantly sweltering start, but once the race did actually start and we all fanned out, it was great to feel that ocean breeze.

When the race was over, participants were treated to free smoothies, chocolate covered strawberries, & some other tasty treats as well as some really cute sea turtle necklaces for the girls and nice running watching for the guys. They also had a big beach fest to accompany the race, which made for a really fun day.

One of the neatest things about it though, in my opinion, was that since the race was called the "Never Quit Beach Fest" you could write on your runner's bib who you would never quit for :) No real surprise here, but I happily scrawled Sayre's name across my bib before I took off to achieve my goal of finishing and "never quitting."

Military Spouse Appreciation Day

2011-05-06T22:53:00.002-04:00

In honor of Military Spouse Appreciation Day, I wanted to share a piece of my heart and discuss something I rarely mention here on my little piece of the world wide web.

Growing up, I always felt a special sense of patriotism instilled in me at a young age from my family. My grandfather was a World War II Veteran whose home was always adorned with flags both in the front yard and in the back yard waving proudly in the breeze perched atop its pole nestled on the pier that he built by hand. He had such an infectious personality - it was impossible to be around him without being touched in some way by his wonderful spirit, which I'm sure played a key role in the sense of American pride our entire family always felt. In every memory I have of him, he always had a flag pin attached to the lapel of whatever it was he was wearing - whether he was in his coveralls working in his garden or he was dressed up in a suit. The love he had for the nation he fought so bravely for wasn't dependent upon who was in office at the time, the current state of worldly affairs, or whether or not it was even "popular" to be a proud American - his love for America was rooted in the principals that this nation was founded upon and it didn't matter whether those flags he so proudly displayed were visible or not... his patriotism always shone through.

Now that I, myself, am a military wife and proudly and humbly stand among the thousands upon thousands of other military wives and husbands out there, I have a much deeper understanding of those emotions my grandfather felt regarding this great nation and the people that serve it as well as their families. Although I was young when he passed away, I wish that I had discussed his experiences with him and asked him questions about his time serving in the Navy during World War II... and more than anything, I wish that my husband had been given the opportunity to meet him, but I know that Granddad is smiling down upon both of us as we experience the trials of military life that he and NaNa experienced way-back-when. I have been truly blessed to be able to have these discussions with NaNa, though, and she has offered me such incredible insight to their lives as young newlyweds who faced the uncertainties of war and distance. So many of these stories that she has shared with me I can now relate to, but so many make me marvel at how brave they were back then! When we take a step back and realize the blessings of technology and communication now, I am just in awe of their relentless spirit and courage back then when all they relied upon was the postal service to deliver their letters to one another. Weeks may have gone by without a single letter, and then all of a sudden a whole bundle would arrive - but they never lost hope. NaNa always knew that he would return to her... and a year later he did. What an incredible story of love, hope, and endurance!

So today, on Military Spouse Appreciation Day, I just want to take a moment to honor all of the brave men and women before us who have patiently waited for their loved ones to return - always keeping a smile on their faces, hope in their hearts, and courage to carry on. They, and their servicemembers, are such an inspiration to me and make it possible for me to "keep calm and carry on." I am so incredibly honored to walk among them and now call myself a military spouse as well. And to my incredible husband that God so graciously blessed me with: thank you for everything that you do not only for me, but for this country. I am so proud of you and honored to be your wife. Thank you for choosing me :) I love you.

My First Craft Fair!

2011-05-03T21:12:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in some previous posts, I set up my very first booth ever for my HeartAdrift products at the Naval Officers Spouse Association Craft Fair on Saturday. The set up time was from 6:30am-8:30am and then the fair began at 9. Since this was my first one, I really wasn't sure how much time it would take me to set up my booth, so I arrived promptly at 6:30 and began unloading my car. Ultimately it only took about an hour to set up, but that left me with plenty of time to check out some of the other vendors and chat with some incredibly sweet ladies who were running the show.

I think my favorite part of this whole experience was getting to talk to the shoppers who came by and hear their stories. Since the craft fair itself took place very close to the gates of the Mayport Naval Station, most of the shoppers who came by were military families and spouses. It was so interesting getting to chat with them and find out how long they've been in the military, where they've lived, and what their experiences have been. It just encourages me so much to hear about their lives :) Anyway, this experience also honestly filled me with so much confidence. Growing up I always absolutely loved going to craft shows with my mom... heck, I still love going to them now too! I never really imagined I'd ever have a booth of my own at one some day, and although this was a relatively small craft show, I felt such a sense of accomplishment just simply from setting a goal to participate, preparing for it weeks in advance, and ultimately finding success in the end.

When it was all said and done, I was exhausted! I was really thankful that it was only for a day ;) I think that was a great way to "get my feet wet" in the world of craft shows... I can't imagine how truly exhausted I would have been if it had lasted for two days! Heck, I went home and was completely crashed in bed by 6:30pm that night!! It was completely worth it though and I do hope to do it again in the future!

Guest Post

2011-05-02T22:40:00.002-04:00

Howdy there! Just wanted to pop in and say hello and let y'all know that I have a guest blog post up! Check it out over at the Homefront Team Blog!

Stay tuned for a re-cap of my very experience as a vendor at the Mayport NOSA USO Craft Fair over the weekend! It was so much fun!!

"Ooooh we're halfway there!!...

2011-04-19T21:46:00.001-04:00

Ooooh livin' on a prayer!"

Ok... now that I've gotten that out of my system :) ... The last two weeks since my last post remained gloriously busy! My parents came in town to help celebrate another year of my life on this earth and we really had a great time! We were able to head down to Disney World for the weekend and enjoy some beautiful spring weather in all the parks. Mom & Dad even braved some of the "scarier" rides with me... I was so proud ;) And we may have snapped some pictures with a character or two, because you're never too old for that! I'm really so glad they were able to come into town - they made my birthday week so much fun!

I was really truly spoiled all week. First of all, my co-workers are ridiculously awesomely sweet and, despite my best efforts to prevent them from doing so, they totally decked out my cubicle and showered me with love. Even some of my Florida Gator loving co-workers got their hands dirty with hanging purple & gold balloons for me. It was shockingly sweet ;) Then, later that evening when I got home from work, an awesome & delicious Edible Arrangement from a very sweet husband of mine was waiting for me! Also, this past weekend, as a part of an extended celebration, my favorite fellow Navy wives surprised me with an outing to "Yes You Canvas" here in Jax where we painted, sipped some wine, ate some snacks, & learned that despite what the instructor may tell you, the fine detail brush causes fewer headaches than the angled brush ;)

I'm truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life and I'm looking forward to all the things I have going on in the weeks to come!

Spring is here!

2011-04-02T10:26:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it's already April!? Man oh man is time flying by! I'm certainly not complaining though! I'm absolutely loving the gorgeous spring weather that finally made its appearance yesterday after hiding behind some nasty rain clouds all week. I just hope spring time sticks around for awhile before the summer heat really settles in.

Life has been nice & busy as usual over the past few weeks. I've been crafting like crazy to get ready for a craft fair that I decided to participate in with my HeartAdrift shop at the end of April. I'm really excited about it! I've always looooved going craft fairs, but I never imagined I'd have a booth at one someday :) It should certainly be a fun experience! It's already been pretty fun throwing myself into my work and coming up with new items to make and sell. (Like those fun coffee coozies I made in the picture) This particular craft fair is a rather small one, but it'll be a great opportunity to get my feet wet and see what it's all about from a seller's perspective! Who knows were it will lead!

It's been really interesting to look back on the past 3 months and realize the personal growth I've gone through. Sometimes I feel like I'm watching someone else's life play out before my eyes. It's so strange. Do you ever feel that way? It's not necessarily a bad thing by any means - it's just a bit surreal. I guess I'm just growing up ;)

I've also met some personal goals recently that have made me pretty happy :) I finally shed some of those "newlywed" pounds that I put on after we got married haha so I'm definitely happy about that. I feel a lot better now and have a lot more energy. I'm even training for a 5k at the end of May! There's this great little "Couch to 5k" app on my iPhone that I've been using since the end of January and I'm currently running a little over 2 miles a day three to four times a week. I should be up to 3 miles in like a week and a half... yikes! ;) It's been great though!

Things I'm currently looking forward to this month: a new Bible study beginning, Disney World with mom & dad, some sort of secret plans my friends have in the works, and the craft fair!

Getting a little preachy...

2011-03-20T10:04:00.000-04:00

Have you ever been in a room full of people and felt completely alone? Have you ever experienced something that you felt was so awfully wrong, only to realize that no one else around you seemed phased by the circumstances surrounding them? Maybe I'm just getting old, maybe some would consider me to be a "prude," or maybe some would consider my thoughts to be "close-minded," but is it so bad to want so much more for myself than worldly notions of "happiness"? Doesn't anyone else realize that the idea of experiencing things in the moment that "feel good," regardless of their long-term consequences, can ultimately change your life forever - usually for the worse?

I'm not really sure when people stopped respecting and loving themselves enough to want more from life than just a temporary high through selfish gain and immoral acts, but I'm just so sick of seeing my generation self-destruct. We can continue to feed ourselves the falsehoods that sex, drugs, and alcohol are out there for the taking - meant to be experienced as a part of life's wonders - or we can open our eyes, take a good look around, and see the devastation it sets in motion for the future. Very few people are willing to admit how being casually physically intimate with someone can cause some serious emotional turmoil later down the line because, quite frankly, people just don't want to hear it and it's not a popular things to say. If you've somehow managed to find a way to separate sex from any feelings whatsoever then, by all means, please share that secret with the rest of the world, but I'm here to tell you that you're telling yourself a bold-faced-lie and you know it. Who are you even trying to kid!? I've seen one too many friends get too physically intimate in relationships, the relationship fails, and then they're left to pick up the pieces. Yes, an end to a relationship will always be difficult, but I guarantee you that it's probably at least 10 times harder when physical intimacy was involved.

My heart is just so broken for my generation. I'm so tired of seeing people wind up so messed up and hurting and wondering what went wrong. Well I can tell you what went wrong - this whole WORLD has gone wrong!! If we ever needed God's loving hand on the world, it's now... but even that is an unpopular statement to make in today's society! Goodness gracious... when did we become so self-righteous that it became "politically-incorrect" to even mention God's name??? I've finally gotten to the point where I'm tired of keeping my mouth shut. I'm tired of just watching people crumble. I'm tired of being silent, because within that silence some may find acceptance - and I certainly do not accept people just settling for these crazy messed up paths that they've found themselves on. I'm happy to go against the grain and I'm on fire now! I want everything from my life that God has in store for me, but I know that I cannot obtain that if I let myself or these worldly things get in my way... and I want everyone else to see and experience what God has in store for them too! So how do I go about tearing down these destructive paths that they have set themselves on? By allowing this fire that God has set ablaze in my heart to burn down those paths and light the way for them towards true happiness - pure happiness - complete happiness in God our Father.

Monday Meetups

2011-03-14T09:05:00.001-04:00

Time for another Monday Meetup via the Homefront Team! These occur the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month :) This week's questions are from the owner of the Etsy shop called Florida Scarf.

(New Navy Reversible Purse in my HeartAdrift shop!)

1. What song is your personal anthem? If you don't have an anthem a favorite song will do.

Currently, I'd say it would be "Paris (Oh la la)" by Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. That catchy little tune gets stuck in my head all the time these days!

2. What is your favorite ride at an amusement park?

I looooove the Everest roller coaster in Disney World... oh and also the Rockin' Roller Coaster!

3. What was your favorite restaurant at any of your past/present duty stations?

The Chart House in Annapolis, MD and Gumbo Ya Ya's in Jacksonville, FL (near Mayport).

4. Where is your favorite place to go for supplies?
I love pretty much any and every craft store I stumble upon haha. They all make me happy!

March Get-Together

2011-03-13T23:20:00.000-04:00

Once again I find myself feeling very thankful for this unique community that Sayre's job has placed us in. Although it seems like new friends are constantly coming and going due to the nature of the military, one thing remains constant: support. I know that in some cases it can be rare for a wardroom to be so active, so I am especially thankful for these ladies for making a sincere effort to get together at least once a month. It's just one more wonderful thing that seems to help the time go by faster :)

Surprise, Surprise!

2011-03-10T07:21:00.000-05:00

Although President's Day weekend didn't quite go according to plan, it was still a weekend to remember! The original plan was to fly to Dallas Saturday morning to attend a friend's wedding and then fly out that night, but due to a flight cancellation Saturday morning I completely missed the wedding. The second part of my weekend still went off without a hitch though, and proved to be exciting for all involved!

Mom's birthday was February 22nd, so dad and I concocted a plan to take her by surprise! Had the Dallas part of my trip worked out, I would have flown out after the wedding and headed to Baton Rouge that evening but, since it didn't, I ended up in Baton Rouge a little earlier than expected on Saturday. Anyway, my aunt & uncle picked me up and brought me back to their house where my mom was lured over and quite shocked when she discovered me there too! Honestly, I thought I had blown my cover earlier in the day, but fortunately my mom is a very trusting person and believed my lies haha.

Because it was President's Day weekend, I already had Monday off of work and decided to take an additional day to stay through Tuesday. Although I had a few extra days than normal, time still seemed to fly by, but we crammed in as much as we could! Hikes through a new park, crawfish, king cake, birthday celebrations, time with friends I haven't seen in far too long, and good times all around!

Monday Meetups - Valentine's Additon

2011-02-14T17:17:00.002-05:00

Time for another Monday Meetup via the Homefront Team! This week is, appropriately enough, a Valentine's addition and the questions were actually submitted to the blog by me :) so yay!! Ok... here goes...

1. Do you like to celebrate Valentine's Day or do you cringe at the thought of Cupid?
Well, I think we should express our love to each other on a daily basis, but I tend to enjoy and participate in all holidays :) so Valentine's Day is usually pretty fun - especially this year with super sweet co-workers and a super sweet hubby :)

2. Are you a flowers or candy kind of person? Or do you prefer something handmade?It really doesn't take much to make me happy... honestly the simplest things make me smile!

3. What's your most memorable Valentine's Day story?
Although years past have been very memorable & sweet, I was shocked by the events that unfolded this year. I got several incredibly sweet surprises from Sayre that were completely unexpected but very much appreciated. I also had lots of fun making cupcakes for the office. Mid-morning I was surprised once again with beautiful flowers from Sayre as well as from some really sweet co-workers.

Girl Time

2011-02-13T00:57:00.001-05:00

I absolutely love spending time with my dear-sweet-husband, but this past month and a half has offered quite a few opportunities for lots of fun times with girl friends. It's reminded me how important it is to have good female companions around to share giggles, tears, and stories with. I've been so blessed to have found some pretty awesome girls here in Jacksonville without whom I couldn't have made it this far. Being away from friends and family back home is rough, but these women have made life so much fun!

Last weekend, Katharine, Brittany, and I had quite-possibly the girliest Super Bowl party ever complete with yummy pigs in a blanket, scrumptious wontons, pasta salad, very addicting bread & cucumbers with deliciousness sandwiched in between, and a super moist yummy cake! We each supported our favorite respective NFL teams despite the fact that neither team was in the Super Bowl ;) What a fun night!

I mentioned previously one awesome co-worker who I experienced my very first (and rather interesting) Renaissance fair with. My job is full of awesome people! I've had the opportunity to spend some time outside of work recently with two other great girls as well. Their shenanigans definitely had me laughing my head off :) I am a very lucky girl who has stumbled upon some pretty awesome people in my lifetime.

January Wrap Up - 1 Month Down!

2011-02-04T23:28:00.000-05:00

I've been so busy since my last little post on here that it's hard to know where to begin! January 20th through the 26th, mom and NaNa were in town visiting which was tons of fun! On the days that I had work, I'd come home to a yummy meal that they prepared and then we'd enjoy the evening spending time together - NaNa even learned to do bowling on the Wii and beat me twice! (She's 90 years old!!) On the weekend we spent some time showing NaNa around Jacksonville and Mayport... she even got to see some of St. Augustine too! Speaking of St. Augustine, we actually met up with Aunt Gayle & Uncle Wayne one evening down there as well because they were also in town visiting some dear friends. What perfect timing!

Certainly one of the highlights of their visit here was getting to take them to the Barry Manilow concert one evening :) Mom always was a "Fanilow," so when I heard that he was going to be in town while they were here I just knew we'd have a blast going to see him! He really put on a great show - complete with a full orchestra and everything.

Friday night after they left, I went to another concert with my co-worker and her sister. We went to see George Strait & Reba McEntire! Once again, another fantastic show!! Those two are such country super-stars... I really am so glad we went. I had seen Reba in concert twice when I was around 10 years old and even back then I can remember her performance bringing tears to my eyes. 14 years later, and she is still just as incredible, if not even more so, than she was before! George did a fantastic job too - in fact, they both played and performed for so long that we actually just couldn't sit in the arena any longer so we left after about 4 hours... I think George still had 2 or 3 songs left! It was amazing!

Saturday night I had a lovely dinner with some of the fellow officers' wives whose husbands are also on Sayre's ship at a restaurant in town before meeting up with my other two awesome Navy wife friends whom I had really been looking forward to spending some time with. A night at the Wine Bar down by the beach was just what the three of us needed :) I wrapped up that epic week with a trip to the Renaissance Fair down in Gainesville with another co-worker. The weather was absolutely perfect - clear blue skies and crisp, cool air. It was great! People-watching at a Renaissance Fair is awesome haha. You see all sorts of sights & sounds! We really had a great time :)

Monday Meetups

2011-01-24T11:58:00.000-05:00

Since venturing out on my new adventures in the world of Etsy, I've joined a wonderful team called the Homefront team - a group of lovely ladies who also have military ties.

The 2nd and 4th (sometimes 5th) Monday of every month, watch the Homefront Team Blog for a few questions that you can take, post, and answer on your own blog & then link back to them so that everyone can take a peak & visit! Even if you aren't a member of the Homefront Team Blog you can still participate - just be sure that your post truly pertains to the set of questions.

It's... Where You Are Deployment Clock

Alright, here goes nothing...

1 - Are you a night owl or early bird?

I tend to be a night owl, unless Sayre is around reminding me that sleep is a necessary part of life ;) I can't help it though... especially when I'm crafting! If I get an idea in my head of something I want to create, I just have to get it done, even if that means staying up too late!

2 - Share one thing on your bucket list.

I've alwaaaaaays wanted to travel to Italy to fulfill my desires to experience its historical architecture and culture. The hardest part of planning a trip like that would be narrowing down everything I want to see into a feasible list.

3 - What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

Hmm... Favorite thing about myself??... I guess I like the fact that I don't really mind embarrassing myself (or sometimes, my husband) :) I find great joy in being a complete and total goofball!

Winter Jam

2011-01-16T21:56:00.000-05:00

Since I last wrote, I have been pretty busy and this past week seemed to fly by (which is always a good thing). Last weekend the ladies of the wardroom got together for a little potluck dinner at the Captain's wife's house. It was really nice to see everyone and catch up a bit because it's been awhile since we've all gotten together. I'm realizing more & more each day just how lucky I am to be a part of an active and sincere wardroom. They're all very sweet women who have really been very supportive of each other.

I've also realized in the past two weeks how blessed I am to have so many other support systems looking out for me both near and far. This may sound canned or corny, but it truly does continue to amaze me how God seems to put people in your life who are exactly what you need. It's almost dumbfounding how they seem to swoop in and pick you up exactly when you need it the most without even realizing that even just a smile or sweet gesture can completely save your day when it seems to be falling down. It's pretty awesome and I'm a pretty lucky girl... just sayin'. :)

Anyway, Friday night I actually went to a concert called Winter Jam with one of my co-workers. It featured 10 Christian bands like Newsboys, David Crowder Band, Newsong, Kutless, Chris Sligh, etc. The tickets were only $10 and it was general admission seating, so we figured we'd be up in the arena since we headed over there after work, but we really didn't mind. We were, however, very wrong haha because somehow or another we ended up in the front row! It was so much fun!

Next up on the concert list: Reba McEntire & George Strait at the end of the month! Also, I just have to mention the fact that I got tickets this weekend to see New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys in Orlando this summer! It's gonna be awesoooome! I know... I know... It's not *NSYNC... but I'm pretty sure this is the closest I will ever get to an *NSYNC reunion lol so I'll take it! Plus, who am I kidding here? We all know that even if I refused to admit it in highschool because I was so loyal to my beloved *NSYNC, I was still totally a closet BSB fan :) Ooh if you could have seen Katharine and I as we waited for 10am to roll around on Saturday morning to buy our tickets. We were so nervous haha and then we we finally got them we squealed like we were 16 all over again! I absolutely cannot wait for that concert!

Heart Adrift

2011-01-08T17:02:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure if you noticed or not, but I added a new little bar to the right side of the blog. It's a link to my brand new Etsy store called Heart Adrift! If you haven't heard of Etsy before, it's basically an online community of crafters selling their handmade goods. I decided to pursue this new little hobby of mine after I made a necklace for myself with an anchor charm, heart charm, and hand-beaded charm. That little necklace inspired the name Heart Adrift, and thus my new store was born :) Who knows if I will make any sales or not, but I already consider it to be a success because it has served its one true purpose for me as something to focus on and pass the time :) Check it out if you're interested at heartadrift.etsy.com

New Kitchen Toys

2011-01-05T21:55:00.000-05:00

In addition to getting some time off before Christmas to go to Alaska, my office was also closed between Christmas Eve and New Year's, so once we got home from our trip I had an entire week off to run errands, get things done that I had been putting off, and play with some of my new fun kitchen gadgets that I got for Christmas like my new Crockpot and my new Cricut Cake :) I also had a chance to cook up some meals that usually are too time-consuming to make when I get home from work. It was really nice to have that week to spend some time with Sayre and take care of all of those little things that had accumulated on my to-do list.

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T22:32:00.000-05:00

I've started writing this post several times, only to wind up getting frustrated with my words and ultimately deleting the post altogether. Now that I've had some time to let the "new car scent" of a new year full of uncertainties fade a bit, I think I can finally publish this post.

The second day of 2011 left me feeling as though my world was crumbling around me. My eyes burned from tears shed, my throat ached from gasps of air, and my head yearned to seek the comfort of my pillow. When I finally laid down to take a nap, I prayed that I wouldn't wake up until the year was almost over. Just two days into the new year, I had already given up on 2011. The afternoon passed and turned into evening. I laid down once again to sleep and vowed to wake up on Monday morning with a better outlook and renewed confidence.

Although I still felt the waves of aftershock in the morning, I forced a smile upon my face and stepped back out into the world. Slowly, as the hours passed, I realized that life was going to move at the same speed as it always had before despite my heart's wishes for time to bend to my own terms. Focusing on each day and remaining in the present moment is the only way to survive - if I look too far ahead to the future, I'll just continue to stumble and fall from blindly running along. I am a strong, confident, and very blessed woman. My new year's resolution is to simply remember those three truths. With God, my family, and friends by my side, I'll be just fine. I can now say I welcome the new year with joy.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-28T22:53:00.001-05:00

Sayre and I just got back from our awesome Christmas vacation during which we got to spend lots of quality time with our entire Alaskan family :) Yep, that's right, everyone was in town to celebrate! What a rare and fantastic treat!

We jam-packed the week with family, friends, and adventures. When we arrived in town Saturday morning we hit the ground running - fortunately we managed to get a fair amount of sleep during our evening flights so we were ready to play as soon as we landed in Fairbanks. The temperatures never really seemed too bad to me... I suppose my fingers and toes felt frozen at one point or another ;) but I think I was a little more prepared this time for the frigid air. (Plus, my wonderful in-laws always find new ways to bundle me up) Anyway, our adventures ranged from taking over coffee shops with family & friends, chasing away a pesky moose who was trying to steal hay, snowmachinging, sledding, and hanging out in hot springs just to name a few.

I think my favorite day, for more reasons than just the obvious, was Christmas day. Even though it was our last day to spend in Alaska, we managed to stretch it out and enjoy every little last bit of holiday cheer that we could. We lounged around in our pjs for awhile, had breakfast, opened presents, had loads of fun outside (it even warmed up to 0!!), and had a delicious Christmas dinner. We spent the evening getting in as much time with family as we could and then ultimately had to say our goodbyes - Sayre had to report back to the ship Monday morning so to make it back in time we had to leave Alaska at 1:30am Sunday morning. Although it's hard to believe Christmas is already over, we really enjoyed our time up there. It was so hard to leave, but we were so happy knowing we had taken advantage of each day.

As 2011 draws near with each passing day, Sayre and I continue to appreciate the moments we have together. The new year is sure to bring about many new adventures for us... we're just looking forward to all of the new experiences and lessons we will learn. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, & God Bless!

Disney & Diving

2010-12-10T21:38:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we finally took advantage of the Disney World passes that were so generously given to me at work a few months back. We purposefully waited for the weather around here to cool down to use them, and we couldn't have picked a more perfect weekend - the weather was soooo nice! After Sayre's Warfare pinning, we went and ran some errands (mostly to stock up on uniform items for him) and then drove on down to Orlando and arrived just in time to spend the evening in Epcot to enjoy the beautiful Christmas lights.

Before setting out on our Disney adventure, we new it was going to be epic :) We planned to squeeze in all 4 of the Disney parks in just one weekend! Anyway, on Saturday we woke up early to get to the Animal Kingdom before it opened to be sure we were able to ride our favorite ride, the Expedition Everest, and we were so glad we did because we got to ride it 3 times :) We hung around there all morning, left the park to grab lunch, & then spent the rest of the afternoon in the Magic Kingdom. It was soooo much more crowded there than we anticipated, but we still had a lot of fun and actually got to see them filming some concerts for the Disney Christmas Day parade, so that was pretty neat. On Sunday we spent the morning at MGM (or Hollywood Studios as it's known now - although I'll probably always call it MGM) riding our favorite rides there, taking pictures with characters, and eating some yummy treats.

We left MGM around lunch time and headed out to our last adventure for the weekend: Indoor Skydiving! Yep... that's right! It was sort of a spur-of-the-moment decision, but we're so glad we did it! We had an absolute blast and would highly recommend it to anyone :) It's like skydiving without any of the real risks - you're just basically in a giant wind tunnel floating around. Overall, it was a fantastic & very memorable weekend and a great way to begin the holiday celebrations!

Warfare Pinning

2010-12-07T13:10:00.000-05:00

This past Friday Sayre received his Naval Warfare pin which is a pretty big milestone in his Naval career. Fortunately I had the opportunity to go out to his ship for the ceremony and actually pin him. It was a really special moment for both of us. I'm such a proud wife :)

Plaaaaaaay tiiiiiiiiiime!

2010-12-02T07:30:00.000-05:00

Following Thanksgiving week, I went on a very quick business trip with some co-workers to one of our manufacturers. It was so awesome to be able to see the manufacturing process take place - especially getting to watch the rotationally molded plastics machines work their magic! I may be a huge dork, but learning about how things are made truly fascinates me :) And I can't even begin to describe how cool it was for me to be able to see all of the components in-person... I'm so used to just seeing these things in AutoCAD on my computer screen that sometimes it's easy to forget that my drawings & renderings do eventually turn into real playgrounds.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-29T07:30:00.000-05:00

This year, since we weren't able to go visit my family for Thanksgiving, my parents drove over to visit us instead. It was so nice having them here with us for a week. We really do enjoy having visitors come & stay with us :) It gives us an excuse to make the apartment look all nice & pretty & it's always fun coming up with new things to cook and desserts to bake.

Unfortunately Sayre was on duty on Thanksgiving day, so we had our nice big turkey dinner on Friday instead. On Thursday, since Sayre had to be there anyway, I took my parents on base so that he could give them a tour of the ship. The ship is always seemingly impressive to outsiders, but trust me, I don't think anyone that's had to stay on that thing for more than a day finds it to be like a floating mansion by any means haha.

On Friday we drove around a bit - I tried to give my parents a tour of my office but failed to obtain a working key to the exterior door.. oops! Eventually we ended up back home and enjoyed our delicious Thanksgiving dinner :) thanks to mom & dad who brought pretty much everything... I only made pumpkin pie & sweet potato casserole - they brought everything else. Oh & since we won't be heading to Louisiana for Christmas this year, we also managed to squeeze in a little Christmas celebration as well and swapped presents. Anyway, it was a very enjoyable, but much-too-short visit.

Halloween

2010-11-16T19:58:00.002-05:00

For Halloween this year, Sayre and I unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to participate in "Trunk-or-Treat" at church like we did last year because he was in Rhode Island for SWO school up until the night of the event. I did, however, still have a lot of fun this year :) I managed to get some of my fellow co-workers to dress up for the occasion with me, which of course made the Friday before Halloween that much more entertaining - especially since I, of course, took the opportunity to continue the friendly feud of LSU vs Florida. I dressed up as "Tiger Bait" and wore a Florida tshirt that I tore on the back to look like a tiger paw had gotten to it & iron on the words "Tiger Bait" to the back. It took a little while for my co-workers to get it (I guess it makes more sense to LSU fans who yell "Tiger Bait" at the opposing teams). I was still proud of myself though ;) Overall, it was a really fun day in the office. When Sayre got home later, we had fun carving our little pumpkin and then I roasted up the seeds :) mmmm yummy! I love fall!

An Emotional Return

2010-11-15T21:46:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of experiencing the homecoming of the USS Taylor. My friend's husband and another friend's fiancée were aboard the frigate for a 6 month deployment and returned home on October 23rd. I tagged along with the girls to photograph the incredibly emotional and heartwarming day.

It's really hard to put into words the range of emotions I felt that day. At times, I felt almost as nervous as the girls did because I began to realize the enormity of the day and I could only just begin to imagine what it must feel like to be reunited with your loved one after they have been serving our country overseas. All too often we take these things for granted - heck, even despite being a Navy wife myself, the fact that every single day people are separated from the ones they love who are defending our country isn't always in the forefront of my mind, but experiencing this homecoming helped me to gain a much better appreciation for the sacrifices that these men, women, & their families make for our freedom. No matter who is in office at any given time and no matter what state of affairs our country may be in, the fact of the matter still remains - these men and women put themselves at risk every single day for the truths & principals upon which our forefathers founded this great nation.

I just beamed with pride as tears welled up in my eyes watching these sweet amazing girls that I have gotten the privilege of getting to know be reunited with their men. I am honored that they let me be a part of that amazing day. Honestly, it was such a privilege for me just to be able to experience something like that too so that I will know what to expect someday after Sayre returns from a deployment.

GEAUX TIGERS

2010-10-23T16:16:00.000-04:00

As most people know, ever since I began working here in sunny Florida, I've had an on-going rivalry with my co-workers who are avid Florida Gator fans. A few weeks ago, LSU played and successfully defeated them in a notorious nail-biter game. It was glorious :) All week leading up to the game I proudly displayed my abundance of LSU gear around the office and wound up making a bet with the VP of our company (which he obviously lost) leading to an amazing day the following week during which he had to wear an LSU shirt of my choosing :) Anyway, Sayre and I actually got to go down to Gainesville for the game, and I'm sooooo glad that we did! Aside from experiencing the thrill of the game, we also got to reunite with one of our fellow NYLFers, Erik, that we met all those years ago in San Jose as well has his fiance. They were great hosts and we had such a great time tailgating with them!

The following weekend (last weekend, actually) I flew over to Baton Rouge for a whirlwind trip to visit with family and friends since we won't get a chance to go there for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. Time flew by waaaaay too quickly, but it's always a treat to go home. I hadn't been to an LSU game in Tiger Stadium in 2 years, so I was so glad to have an opportunity to be there. I know it's hard for people that didn't grow up around the SEC to understand why everyone is sooooo football crazy in the south ;) but I guess for us, it's more than just a game - it's a community experience & an all-day event. Even if the game doesn't start until 7pm, everyone goes out to campus that morning to tailgate & catch up with old friends. It doesn't matter who you are - if you walk around campus for just a little while on game day you're bound to run into people that you know. It was just so much fun tailgating with Stacie & her friends & seeing old familiar faces. It brought back such great memories from my precious days at LSU. :) Anyway, as game time approached, I met up with my mom and off into the stadium we went. That was the first LSU game she had been to since before I was born! We had great seats (thank yooooou once again stubhub.com) & a great time. We got home a little late since it tends to take awhile to move around the city once the game is over and 92,000+ fans are trying to leave, but when we got home dad was still awake so the three of us spent some quality time chatting about the game and looking at pictures before heading off to bed. Sunday came & went with a little more time spent visiting with family & then I was right back on the plane headed back to Jacksonville. Like I said before - it was truly a whirlwind trip, but I'm so glad I got the chance to go!

So, what's next for us? Well, Sayre's wrapping up SWO school next week, we're going to try to use our passes to Disney World sometime in November, Thanksgiving & Christmas will be here before we know it, and then a new year will be upon us bringing about all sorts of new adventures! It's crazy... I know I say it all the time, but I just don't know where the time goes.

Alaska & Sea World Adventures

2010-09-30T22:49:00.000-04:00

Where, oh where, has the time gone? Tomorrow is October 1st! Oh my gosh, this year has flown by! Well, once again I've been a blogging slacker, but this past month was a rather busy one to say the least. I don't even quite know where to begin...

Well, let's see... at the very end of August I went down to Orlando with two other coworkers to take a class on Playground Safety for my job. On the third day, I took an exam to become a CPSI (Certified Playground Safety Inspector) and just last week I found out that I passed - yay!! Basically having that certification will just verify to our customers and installers that yes, I do know what I'm doing when I design these playgrounds and no, kids will not be in danger when they play on them :) The test was actually rather intense, believe-it-or-not, but I'm thankful that it's over and that I passed.

During Labor Day week we finally got to take our Alaskan summer vacation that had been postponed. Although it rained a bit while we were up there, we still had a blast! We spent our time segwaying, hiking, eating salmon, celebrating Kennan's birthday zebra-style, and enjoying some quality time up there :) It was wonderful! Annnnd we even had the opportunity to go down to Yakima, Washington at the end of our trip to visit Aly & Pat, see their new home, and celebrate Aly's white coat ceremony. Even though our trip occurred later than we had originally planned, it all worked out rather nicely.

To wrap things up in September, we decided to go on a spontaneous trip down to Sea World last Saturday. Neither one of us had been there before and we had a great time! The roller coasters were probably the highlight of the trip for us ;) but the shows there are really neat as well. We lucked out with some great weather despite the threat of rain and the temperature even seemed to drop a bit... hooray for the onset of fall! Now we just need to plan our Disney trip before the holiday season rolls around and the crowds get crazy ;)

As for the month ahead, we find ourselves once again with a busy schedule. Personally, I'm just looking forward to proudly and obnoxiously support my Tigers in the office next week because the LSU vs. Florida game will finally be upon us. They've been giving me a hard time about having graduated from LSU ever since I even interviewed there (that's to be expected though, I mean I am living in stinky old "Gator Country" now). During my first week I brought in my LSU flag and a few LSU accessories... but next week... it's ON! :)

To Infinity, And Beyond

2010-09-03T19:29:00.001-04:00

Once again, it's hard to believe that so much time has passed since I've last updated. It seems like summer has slipped through our fingers so quickly... although, we're still definitely feeling the Florida heat! Anyway, August brought us a few more adventures including a weekend getaway to Cape Canaveral to visit the Kennedy Space Center. We figured as long as we're living down here in Jacksonville we better take advantage of all of the fun activities around us! Anyway, above are some pictures from that adventure. We had both been their previously when we were younger but neither one of us remembered just how much there was to see there! I think they've added a few buildings & exhibits in the past few years. We spent the whole day taking it all in and we even got to see the last piece of the space shuttle that they're getting ready to bring up there. Pretty cool stuff. Also, below are some pictures from when we visited one of the very first little playgrounds that I designed when I first started working :) I happened to notice that it was built one day when I was driving home, so Sayre and I decided to go get a closer look.

Inspections, and Disney, and Planning... oh my!

2010-07-31T11:07:00.001-04:00

It's hard to believe that July is almost over. I find myself, once again, wondering where in the world the time has gone! Sayre's been very busy lately with life on the ship... long hours and weekend workdays have kept him going non-stop, but he's been a really good sport about it. We're just keeping our fingers crossed that once they pass this beast-of-an-inspection that they have coming up, things will start to calm down a bit.

My job has kept my very occupied lately as well, but I find myself loving it more and more every day (which, for me, is hard to believe). Just this past week I was surprised and very touched to be given the first "Beyond Your Ordinary Employee" award from my bosses. Honestly, when they began saying very sweet things about the recipient of the award I never imagined they were talking about me, but then they passed the certificate my way and handed an accompanying pair of tickets to Disney World to me :) They sure do know the way to my heart! I'm so blessed to have found such an inspiring, fun, and unique place to work with such fun-loving & incredible people. Now the pressure's on to keep cranking out some fun playground designs and begin preparing for my CPSI exam at the end of August (Certification for Playground Safety Inspectors).

For now, our main focus is just making it through Sayre's ship's inspection. Unfortunately that seems to be the one thing that has been dictating our lives lately, but that's just the "Navy way." It'll all be over soon, thankfully :) and then maybe, at last, we'll be able to make our trip up to Alaska... I'm not getting my hopes up anytime soon though. If there's one thing I've learned in the past year as a military wife, it's that nothing is ever certain and flexibility is key to maintaining your sanity :) Keep your expectations low, rejoice when things work out the way you hoped, and just let it go & move on when things fall through.

The Fourth Times Two

2010-07-08T07:34:00.000-04:00

Sunday night we celebrated the Fourth of July all over again... this time with Sayre! He's been working very long hours lately, but I guess since it was Independence Day his captain decided to have mercy on them all and gave them the day off. When he came home verrrrrry early Sunday morning after standing watch I was still half asleep as I asked him if he had gotten the day off and then subsequently told him something along the lines of, "Oh. Good. Well, Katharine & I are going to see some more fireworks tonight so you can come, but only if you want to." Hehe I'm not sure if he appreciated that at the time or not, but at least I invited him, right? Anyway, the three of us ended up having an all-American celebration complete with bar-b-qued hamburgers and some delicious lemon squares that Katharine made & a little patriotic dessert that I made as well.

After eating, we headed out to the beach to watch some fireworks. The beach was pretty packed and to our surprise (and slight horror) we found that they actually let you shoot your own fireworks right there on the beach despite the fact that it was packed with people as you wait for the real fireworks show to begin. There's no way that this is even a remotely good idea but we just made sure to duck when they were getting to close for comfort. Danger aside, we had a good time and the fireworks were, once again, a beautiful sight to see on such a wonderful holiday.

Continuing the Celebration

2010-07-03T11:06:00.000-04:00

Ok, so maybe not everything went according to plan for my 4th of July holiday, but I'm making the most of the situation and celebrating in true patriotic-style :) Who knows... more fireworks may be in my future for the weekend too. After all, it's still only Saturday!

Happy Independence Day!

2010-07-01T19:14:00.000-04:00

So, technically it's only July 1st, but for some reason this year (despite obvious downsides - see post below) I'm really excited about July 4th coming up! So much so, in fact, that I made these little cupcakes and brought them to work today in anticipation of Sunday and to celebrate my co-worker's birthday :) Tomorrow night = fireworks show with my neighbor!

The Ebb & Flow of Military Life

2010-06-27T19:49:00.000-04:00

Flexibility has become one of life's greatest virtues in the past year. Great excitement and great disappointment are just a part of every day life whether you are in the military or not. Even when you think you've crossed all your t's and dotted all your i's, things don't always go according to plan. Sadly, we're having to post-pone our much anticipated trip to visit family in Alaska because of reasons we cannot control. It's utterly heartbreaking when you've done everything right to make such a trip occur, only to get it taken away from you at the drop of a hat... but, duty calls. I just pray that we can reschedule it for sometime in the near future. So goes the ebb & flow of military life.

1 Year Down... Many More to Come!

2010-06-17T07:28:00.002-04:00

Sayre and I just celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary on Sunday. On one hand, it's so hard to believe that an entire year has already passed since we exchanged vows, but on the other hand it feels like we've been together for a lifetime. The transition into married life, for us, just seemed so natural. At the risk of sounding cheesy or cliche, marriage has solidified the fact that we really and truly were made for each other. It's been so interesting to see just how alike we are in so many ways. I guess that's part of what has made things seem like a breeze for us.

When Sayre first moved in with me after we returned from our honeymoon, I have to admit I was a little nervous about living with him. Sure, we loved each other and got along perfectly, but you always hear stories about new couples learning about each others little quirks and I just wasn't quite sure how things would be for us. Fortunately, we seem to have all the same quirks ;) such as the way we hang the toilet paper roll, preferring a tidy house, the way we put away dishes, etc. The only main thing we differed in was placement of dishes in the dishwasher, but Sayre has since reformed to my ways ;)

Overall, I think it's safe to say that married life suits us well. We've experienced so many things together in the past year like our first Navy move, trips to Disney World, Aly & Pat's wedding (it's still hard to believe there were 2 Jeannet weddings in one year... wow!), and so many other fun adventures. On Sunday evening we went to the Melting Pot for our little anniversary dinner. It was delicious and, just like always (because we're both photo nerds), there are some pictures below :) So here's to many more years of laughter, joy, love, and photography!

Oh, I forgot to mention, as tradition goes we removed our wedding cake top from the freezer to eat it as a part of our anniversary celebration. It turns out that 1 year old wedding cake that's been sitting in the freezer wrapped in saran wrap really isn't all that great... it wasn't that bad, but it just wasn't good either. Oh well... at least we can say we tried it (albeit a very tiny bite) and then promptly threw the rest away.

May, where did you go?

2010-06-03T19:23:00.002-04:00

Is it really June already? How in the world did that happen? Time is just zooooooming on by! Last weekend (Memorial Day Weekend) we had the pleasure of visiting Pensacola, where a bunch of the good old USNA gang is currently living. It was great to see everyone, catch up a bit, and tour around everyone's new places. Unfortunately it rained the whole time we were there, and we only stayed through Sunday, but it was still a good trip overall. I think it was especially great for Sayre since he missed seeing everyone at Brandon & Ginny's wedding. Pensacola is only about 5 hours away from us, so I'm sure we'll make our way over there to see everyone again sometime in the future.

Say Cheese!

2010-05-20T07:43:00.001-04:00

For his birthday this year, I asked Sayre what kind of cake he would like for me to make for him. When he happily replied, "CHEEEEEESECAKE!!!" I cringed ever-so-slightly inside. You see, despite having received a spring-form pan over a year ago from Rachael at my Bridal Shower, I had still not made a cheesecake. Somehow I had convinced myself that eating cheesecake was far simpler and way more satisfying than attempting to bake a cheesecake. I just knew that when I pulled the thing out of the oven it would immediately laugh in my face and then collapse. I'm still not sure how I came to this conclusion, but I accepted it as truth and tucked the spring-form pan into my cabinets. I knew, however, that this was Sayre's one real birthday wish - to have a cheesecake all of his own - and I had to step up to the challenge!

The first hurdle I had to jump was finding a good recipe. I know that cheesecake is about as far from being healthy as you can get, but I was determined to find a "guilt-free" recipe. After some extensive research, I found one that used fat-free cream cheese and totaled in only 2 grams of fat and 44 calories per serving! Yesssss! Amazing, huh? Anyway, on the eve of the anniversary of Sayre's birth I set out on the daunting task. I pulled out the spring-form pan from its hiding spot, gave it a good pep-talk, and started mixing up my ingredients. About 45 minutes later, it was done... the timer on the stove was beeping... this was going to be the moment of truth. I carefully walked over to the kitchen, so as not to shake the ground beneath me resulting in cheesecake catastrophe, carefully removed it from the oven, and ever-so-gingerly placed it on the stove top to cool... then I warned Sayre that he better not go clomping near the thing for fear of his life! :) To my great surprise, the cheesecake survived, it was a tasty success, and Sayre was a very happy birthday boy the next day! I just wish I would have let go of my fears and given it a try a long time ago... I have a feeling that the formlery dreaded spring-form pan is about to get a lot of use!

Alligator Pie

2010-05-19T07:40:00.002-04:00

To celebrate Sayre's birthday this weekend, we packed up the Escape and headed north about an hour and a half to Folkston, Georgia - home to a grand total of 3 stop lights, a train-watching platform, and an entrance to the Okefenokee Swamp! We went to a place called Okefenokee Adventures where we decided to rent a kayak for the morning. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day! The weather was perfect, although we're glad that we got a very early morning start because by noon it was pretty hot and we were starving :) so we headed back in for a little lunch at the boat house there. While kayaking in the swamp through the little canals we saw soooo many pretty lily pads in full bloom complete with sunbathing gators - and lots of them! I was surprised at how they didn't seem to be bothered by us in the least bit... just as long as we didn't accidentally whack them with our paddles! It was such a neat experience to be so up close and personal with them. I'm just glad it wasn't dinner time!

After we were done kayaking for the day, we did a little more sight-seeing at the Okefenokee Adventures place and then went over to the bed & breakfast where we were staying to get checked in. A few hours of kayaking are a lot more tiring when you haven't done it in awhile ;) so we decided to take a nap before going back out to the swamp again for our sunset tour. Surprisingly, there were only two other people on that tour with us. I'm not sure why more people didn't sign up for it - it was fantastic! Our tour guide absolutely loves his job, which of course benefited us greatly because he was so knowledgeable about the land, and he ended up keeping us out there on the boat for a lot longer than what we expected. The sunset was just stunning and it was such a thrill to do some "gator shining" when the sun went down. Seeing those beady little red eyes lit up against the black of the night was kind of creepy, but really cool!

The next day we went up to Waycross, Georgia where there was another entrance to the swamp that Sayre & his family had actually visited during their travels many years ago. There they had many more exhibits and places to walk around. Of course, Sayre had to do some investigating to see if everything was just the same as he remembered ;) They even had a very zoo-like train that you could ride around their property to see little exhibits they had set up in a Disney-esque fashion. After wandering around there a bit, we left to head back to Jacksonville to relax for the rest of the afternoon before starting another week. I'm so glad we had the chance to go up there though. It's such a fun place and Sayre had a great time doing some adventurous activities for his birthday :)

You can see more pictures of our adventures here.

A Fun Visit

2010-05-06T20:08:00.000-04:00

Last week, my parents came in town for a visit to keep me company while Sayre was away on the great blue sea. I was so glad they were able to come in for a few days! My only regret was not being able to take off some time from work to have more time to play with them. We did manage to fit in quite a few fun activities despite that though.

In the evenings, we tried to squeeze in a few things like a trip down to the beach to watch the sun set and walk along the fishing pier - which, by the way, I had never been on/knew about before! What a great new discovery! Sayre and I will surely have to go down there now that I have a new fishing pole too! We also hit up the Town Center one evening (a definite must for avid shoppers such as my mom ;)) and we spent some time just hanging out. It was so nice.

The other musts for the weekend while they were here included checking out St. Augustine to show them where I work and explore the city. While there we found another great fishing spot and beachy area that I had never seen before - once again, some great discoveries! Although I'm not necessarily looking forward to the hot weather to come this summer, I am looking forward to getting out and enjoying the plethora of beaches around us! Also, on Sunday, I took them on their very first Segway tour :) I'm pleased to announce that they did an excellent job on their first ride and had a great time! All-in-all, I had a wonderful visit with them and I am so thankful that they came! (And they replenished my supply of Louisiana goodies - crawfish (yep, that's right!), pepper jelly, red beans & rice (which, I can surprisingly still get here in Jax), & some boudin sausage. Yum!

Savannah Sunrise

2010-04-24T15:53:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, last weekend Sayre and I had a belated birthday celebration for me since he was out of town on the actual day. We headed north about 2 &1/2 hours to beautiful Savannah, Georgia where the flowers were in full bloom and the hints of summertime were abundant. It truly is such a beautiful city sprinkled with history and quaint parks all throughout. We had a great time exploring all of Savannah's little treasures!

Our adventures began on Saturday with a Paula Deen Trolley Tour! That's right... you heard me... a Paula Deen Trolley Tour. You see, this sweet southern gal has made quite a name for herself, but many years ago she had very humble beginnings in Savannah. In fact, that's where her restaurant called The Lady & Sons is located. Anyway, because Sayre is such a great sport (and a wonderful husband... I mean really... what normal guy would actually agree to take his wife on a Paula Deen Trolley Tour!? I am defintiely spoiled by him), we hopped on the trolley around 10am and rode all around Savannah hearing about its history as well as the life & times of good 'ole Paula. The tour wrapped up at her brother's restaurant called Uncle Bubba's Oyster House where we were able to sample some of his great food buffet style. It was wonderful! We were quite pleasantly full by the end of that adventure. In fact, someone even unintentionally took a little siesta on the ride back to the trolley station because he was rather comatose ;) Before returning to the trolley station, our tour guide held a drawing for a Paula Deen gift bag and yours truly won! I got a bag full of great little goodies including a signed recipe journal, a signed photo, and an awesome tote bag. Yay! Anyway, we spent the rest of the day just walking around the city on foot and popping in & out of the cute little shops along River Street. It was a perfect spring day that left us full and satisfied!

On Sunday we woke up and headed back into town to resume our explorations. The main event for the day once again included a plate full of goodies, but this time it was at The Lady & Sons! Since we had ridden on the trolley tour, we were able to make reservations ahead of time. Thaaaaaank goodness for that! Honestly, that little perk alone made the tour worth it because at 9am there was already a line wrapped around the building just for people to put their names on the list for when the restaurant opened at 11! Craaaaziness! The food really is that good though. I can see why people would wait there for so long just to get a tiny morsel of Paula's famous fried chicken, pulled pork, mac-n-cheese, or creamy mashed potatoes to name a few. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.... MmmMmmm! Once again, after that experience, we were feeling just a weeee bit full ;) so we decided to head back to Jacksonville to catch up on life before Monday rolled back around. All-in-all, it was a perfect weekend and a wonderful birthday celebration. If anyone is anywhere near Savannah at any point in their travels, I highly recommend checking it out. You won't be disappointed!

Weddings and Birthdays and Crawfish, oh my!

2010-04-14T21:21:00.002-04:00

Last week I went back to Louisiana for a few days for my birthday while Sayre was on yet another underway. I know, I know... it was terrible for me not to mention that I was going to be there before, but I was in town for such a short amount of time that I decided just to lay low and spend some time with my parents. I had actually planned this trip before I got my new job after hearing that Wicked was playing in New Orleans. I'm so glad they let me take a few days off since I had already gotten my airline tickets as well as tickets to see the play. It was such a whirlwind trip, but I managed to get my hands on some crawfish, a delicious cookie cake, and see the azaleas all over town in full-bloom all before heading back to Jacksonville and then up to Georgia for Brandon & Ginny's wedding!
(See more pictures I took in Louisiana here.)

Their wedding day could not have been more perfect - clear blue skies, a crisp breeze, and a lovely crowd of friends and family to celebrate the happy occasion. Sadly, because Sayre's ship schedule changed, he had to miss the wedding. He was so heartbroken and felt so bad because he had to also relinquish his duties as best man, but I was glad that I was still able to go to witness Brandon & Ginny exchanging their vows. Fortunately, Paul and Abby generously offered to give me a ride to the wedding so I got to spend some time catching up with those two as well as a bunch of other great guys and gals from Sayre's Naval Academy days. It was so nice to see everyone again, but the weekend just went by too quickly! I guess we'll just have to try to make a trip over to Pensacola sometime soon because it seems as though quite a few people have ended up down there.
(See more pictures I took at their wedding here.)

Sayre returned home on Monday, but we still haven't had a chance to celebrate my birthday together. We've got a few ideas for some fun adventures to remedy that this weekend though :) I'm looking forward to it!

Hippity Hoppity...

2010-04-02T20:38:00.001-04:00

Can you believe that Easter is this weekend??? I sure can't! Where did the time go? This year is just flying by! Anyway, last weekend Sayre and I spent some time at the Big Bunny Party. It was a great event, similar to the Trunk-or-Treat party that we volunteered for during Halloween. We heard that about 4,000 people showed up! Out of those 4,000, I'm pretty sure I painted at least 3,000 faces ;) I was amaaaaaazed by how many people wanted their faces painted... oh my gosh! After it was over, I was exhausted, but I had a great time! Fortunately, Sayre walked around a bit with our camera and took some pictures of some of the other activities going on because I didn't get a chance to go and see anything else. They had a "Big Bunny" performance complete with an awesome balloon backdrop, tons of inflatable bounce houses, egg drops, egg hunts, etc. There are some more pictures in our picasa webalbum if you want to take a look.

Last weekend we also had an opportunity to see Memaw and Jack. Memaw is the sweet mother of Karine - Sayre's "sponsor mom" from the Naval Academy. It was so wonderful to catch up with them while they were in town visiting some family! We definitely need to make it back up to Annapolis sometime in the future to see everyone. We sure do miss our Naptown friends and family!

Well aside from "Big Bunnies," we've been keeping ourselves busy lately mostly with work. Sayre was gone for awhile with his ship. He's back for now, but he'll be off on some more adventures here and there soon. Now we're just looking forward to some new springtime adventures that the warmer weather coming our way will bring. Happy Easter everyone!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2010-03-16T20:52:00.001-04:00

Sayre will be returning from his voyage on Saturday (yaaaaay!) only to leave again on Monday (boooo). While he's been gone, I've been so very thankful to have my new job to keep me busy... otherwise, who knows what kind of trouble I could have gotten myself into! I'd probably be buried up to my neck in completed crafts by now ;) Heck, even while working full time I've still managed to bake a bit more often than I usually do just to help the time pass by at night. Fortunately, rather than keeping the sweet confections for myself, I've shared them at work. Since tomorrow is St. Patrick's day, I made some chocolate cupcakes with green frosting tonight :) I have a sinking feeling that Sayre will be sad when he hears about all of this... poor thing... normally I try to put a limit on the number of sweets we have around the house (mostly because I will eat it all).

In addition to baking and working, I also kept myself busy this weekend playing around with some other lovely Navy wives whose husbands are also on Sayre's ship. On Saturday, I went to the Town Center here in Jacksonville with Jeanet and her sweet little baby girl Aliea. On Sunday, I met up with them again as well as another wife named Laura who has a precious 7 year old son. Y'all, he is seriously the sweetest and most well-mannered little boy I have ever met in my life! He's awesome! He would run to open the doors for us, was super-eager to push Aliea's stroller, and was so sweet & friendly. I told Laura she should write a book on parenting. Anyway, it was a great weekend. Hanging out with the girls certainly helped to pass the time. As sad as it sounds, by the end of the weekend, I was actually pretty tired. I guess I still need to get used to working full time again and having a social life.

Whistle While You Work

2010-03-03T19:36:00.003-05:00

Since starting my new job, I feel like I've been neglecting the blogging world so much! Gone are the days when I used to sit around reading blogs all day, searching for new crafts and recipes to pass the time. Now, I find myself busily working away on playground designs and renderings as the day seemingly flies by! It's great! My co-workers are incredibly friendly, the office environment is fast-paced but laid back (yes, somehow, it's possible), and I love what I'm doing :)

The only thing I'm struggling with is adjusting to working hours again. For the 6 months it took me to find a job, I got used to being able to experiment with recipes, craft til my heart was content, and run around town completing various errands. It's not bad... I just got spoiled, that's all ;) Thankfully, though, getting up and heading off to work is actually a joy for me, and it couldn't have come at a more perfect time.

Oh, and I suppose the only other drawback is that I work with a bunch of Gator fans... but, don't worry... I'm slowly integrating LSU into my workspace... and I'm very anxiously awaiting football season in the fall!

It's too quiet around here now...

2010-02-25T20:03:00.001-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I said my farewells to Sayre's mom & dad. They had been here visiting us for a little over a week and we had such a wonderful time with them! Although I started work on their first day here, I was fortunate enough to be able to just work for half-days while they were here so that I could play with them in the afternoon :) It was perfect! I think it's safe to say, that the unanimous vote for the favorite activity of the week was our Segway tour on the beach. If you know Sayre and I fairly well, then you know how much we love technology and the joys we get from playing around with techie geek toys. We were just so happy that they enjoyed riding on the Segways as much as we did!

When they left, Sayre also took off for just a few days on his ship for some training exercises (I think... I'm never entirely certain of just exactly what they do on that ship). Things around here are just too quiet now! Who wants to visit us next? :)

Being able to spend some time with our families as they have come to visit us these past few weeks has reminded me of how truly blessed we are to have such amazing people in our lives. We are constantly surrounded by the love and support they all share with us, whether they are near or far away. Looking back on the past few years, I'm still baffled by how God brought us together, but there's no question that He did. We're just so lucky that He equipped us with such wonderful families that continue to love us and support us as we continue on this new journey of marriage.

Cookie Monster

2010-02-19T14:02:00.000-05:00

There seems to be an epidimic going on in my apartment. Cookies are disappearing left and right! It's a tragedy, I tell you!! But, fear not... I think I may have just gotten to the root of the problem. You see, there's someone else lurking around here. Someone who has an affinity for all things sweet. Someone who claims that I no longer bake things just for him now that we're married like I once did when we were dating. The married life can be so rough on a guy sometimes. ;)

The Gauthier Girls

2010-02-13T12:25:00.000-05:00

This past week Sayre and I had the pleasure of hosting my mom, Aunt Debra, & Aunt Gayle here in Jacksonville. They decided to swing on over here and visit for a few days while I still had some time to play before starting my job next week :) We had a blast!

I tried to show them the sights and sounds of Jax that we've discovered so far like the Town Center, Jax Beach, the Mayport Naval Base, Talbot Island, and St. Augustine. It was so nice to just have them here to spend some time with all of them. Probably one of the best new discoveries that we made while they were here was a huge outlet mall near my new job! Oooh it's glorious :) They have so many shops and so many great prices... just the right combination for us girls. We had a great time shopping and seeing the sights. Unfortunately, Sayre had to work and didn't get to spend as much time playing around town with us as he would have liked, but in the evenings we all enjoyed dinner together and spent some time just visitng in the living room. I'm so glad they had a chance to come here before my new job starts! They left this morning, so now I'm getting some domestic-y things done before Sayre's parents come to visit us for a week starting Wednesday :)

LOSSSSSST

2010-02-03T11:30:00.001-05:00

Just over a year ago, when Sayre and I were visiting Alaska for Christmas in 2008, we were introduced to the world of LOST. In case you've been living under a rock for the past 6 years, it's a widely popular television show about a bunch of people that crashed onto an island... but, really, it's sooooo much more than that. Anyway, during our 2 week visit that Christmas, we watched almost the entire first season. After that, we were hooked and officially became "LOSTies" allowing the show to consume us as we proceeded to watch seasons 1 through 5 within a year in order to prepare ourselves for the final 6th season, which just so happened to begin last night! To celebrate such an exciting occaison, I cooked up a delicious recipe for Cajun Pasta that I found on The Pioneer Woman's website. She made hers with chicken, but I made mine with ground beef instead. Sayre and I both loved this recipe! I also made some little cupcakes for dessert :) I was planning on something much more elaborate and LOST-related; however, since it was just the two of us and we didn't have a LOST party, I decided to just make some simple cupcakes, and then later proceeded to have a photoshoot with them :)

Talbot Island

2010-01-31T23:06:00.002-05:00

Sayre and I went on an unplanned adventure yesterday, which if you know us, is very uncharacteristic of us. Usually, if we're going to do something, we're going to plan it to the fullest extent. When we woke up Saturday morning, it was a dreary and overcast day. We had wanted to go to a swamp that's about 2 hours from here and take a boat tour, but the looming clouds ahead told us that the swamp wasn't the greatest idea for the day. Having spent most of the week inside I was just itching to get out, so Sayre suggested that we drive over to the ferry and take it across the river and then just see where the day takes us. Desperate to be outside, I happily agreed and off we went.

Honestly, we did look online to try to see what activities we could possibly do once we got across the river, but according to the google map, it didn't look like there was a whole lot going on over there. Oh well, that didn't matter. We decided we would just go for a nice drive over there anyway. We just barely missed the ferry by about 2 minutes (it runs every half hour) so we just waited until it came back around again. Once we made it across we were pretty excited when we found a park where we could drive around on the beach. They had campsites there as well as quite a few covered pavillions for picnicing. Conveniently enough, just before we left, I made some sandwiches for us to take along in the car since we didn't really know what we were doing, soooo we stopped at one of the pavillions and had our own little picnic. When we were finished, Sayre gathered up all of our trash and brought it over to the garbage can. As he dropped the trash in, he jumped backwards about 10 feet while I sat there staring at him wondering what was going on. Apparently our trash landed on top of a very unhappy little opossum who must have been rummaging around in there for some food... oops! I'm not sure who was more surprised - that poor little guy or Sayre ;) Anyway, after that adventure we continued driving around the island and stumbled upon quite a few more parks, fishing areas, and kyak rental shops before we decided to head back home. It's always exciting to find new places to explore!

Puppies-N-Things

2010-01-27T14:38:00.002-05:00

There's a store here at the Jacksonville Avenue Mall called Puppies-N-Things. We first heard about it from another couple here in Jacksonville who went there once while they were out and about and told us that it was a fun place to go browsing around and play with adorable pups. The first time we went (a few months ago) they had some very cute puppies there; however, none of them were little dachshunds so we were spared from any impulsive desire to snatch a puppy up for ourselves. This past weekend, it was a different story.

It was a Saturday afternoon, we had just gone to lunch with our friends Abby and Paul, ran some errands, and we were looking for something else to do before returning to our apartment. I happily suggested going to visit the pet store since we hadn't been in awhile because, well, how can you visit a pet store and not leave with a huge smile on your face? :) I assumed that since they didn't have any dachshunds there last time, surely they wouldn't have any things time... wrong! As soon as we stepped foot into the back area where they keep the pups, my eyes locked in on an adorable little dachshund girl. Y'all, it was love-at-first-sight! And she was on sale... if you know me, then you know that one of the things that I surely inherited from my mother is a passion for finding things on sale. Ooooh my goodness, it took everything in me to be rational and convince myself of the truth: we don't need a dog right now. Over and over again, I repeated that phrase. In fact, it became my montra for the day.

Sayre, God bless him, is really too good of a husband. He saw the look on my face as I held that little puppy in my arms and asked the most dangerous question he's probably ever asked in his life (aside from proposing ;) just kidding!) He said, "Do you want her?" I looked at him, blinked my eyes a few times, and said, "YES, of course I want her! But no... not now... we can't." Then he told me, "I'll get her for you if you really want her." Oooh just tug on my heart-strings some more! I honestly have no idea where the will-power came from that I managed to muster up, but I knew deep down that now is not the time for a puppy. We walked out the store and vowed that someday we would have our very own little dachshund. As we drove back I fantisized about stumbling upon a wild pack of little dachshunds, capturing them, and taking them home with me. Maybe that's where life will lead us someday... to have our own herd of dachshunds. Or maybe not. Just one would do quite nicely :)

Mardi Gras Mambo

2010-01-22T17:10:00.004-05:00

It's that time of year again! Mardi Gras is very quickly approaching (February 16th, to be exact), and I have been desperately craving some good old fashioned King Cake, which is a customary treat that goes along with all of the other Mardi Gras traditions. Now, I'm not someone that really condones or appreciates the things that are typically associated with Mardi Gras a-la Burbon Street; however, the fun family-friendly parades and festivities along with the overall happy and uplifting spirit of the season are what I enjoy the most! Since I was recently telling my mom (ok, maybe more like whining to her ;)) about the fact that I can't find a decent King Cake anywhere around here in Jacksonville, she and my dad sent not just one but TWO King Cakes to Sayre and I! Sweet! Unfortunately, they are no longer in existance because Sayre and I have enourmous sweet teeth, but to be honest, they actually lasted a little longer than I thought they would. To the left is one of the King Cakes in all its glory packed up perfectly enabling it to miraculously avoid destruction in its journey here to Jacksonville.

Yes, that is a Manny Randazzo King Cake :) Arguably one of the best King Cakes around! If you're new to this whole Mardi Gras business and want to know more about it, here's a link to the Wikipedia page explaining more of its history. Read the top paragraph and then scroll down near the bottom to read the paragraph under the "United States" heading.

Rehearsal Dinner Slideshow & Wedding Slideshow

2010-01-19T15:10:00.004-05:00

This is the slideshow that we made for our rehearsal dinner before our wedding on June 13, 2009. I've been meaning to upload it to youtube, but I kept forgetting about it until now :) As customary with these sorts of things, it has some cute/embarrassing/funny pictures of us growing up and us together as a couple.

The video below is a slideshow of our favorite photos that photographer Kim Ashford took.

Cricut Crazy

2010-01-14T12:02:00.003-05:00

For Christmas this year, I was shocked/happy/so-excited when Sayre got me a Cricut. It's basically like a printer, but instead of printing ink onto the paper it will cut paper, vinyl, cloth, and other similar materials. You can buy cartridges for it that are already pre-loaded with lots of cute desings and letters or you can also hook it up to your computer and design your own! There's no limit to what this thing can do!

This week I've gone a little Cricut crazy. I got some sticky-backed vinyl that I've used to cut out stencils to use for etching glass with some glass etching cream. I've pretty much glass etched anything I could get my hands on these past two days haha it's pretty sad. Below are two of my creations :)

It's all in a name...

2010-01-11T11:04:00.003-05:00

So last week I went to Kinko's to get some brochures I made for my business printed. When I walked up to the counter, the clerk asked me for my name so I began to spell it out for her. After she finished typing, she repeated it back to me to make sure she had it right. She said, "L-E-E-S-L-E?" and, of course, I said, "No. It's L-E-S-L-I-E." She corrected it then went on to spell my last name back to me. "J-E-A-N-E-T-T-E?" I guess she didn't hear me correctly at all the first time I spelled my name out to her, so once again, I said "No" and told her that the correct spelling is "J-E-A-N-N-E-T." (Now, here comes the kicker... get ready for this...) She then, straight-faced, said to me, "Well, are you sure that's correct? I've never seen it spelled like that before. I thought it was J-E-A-N-E-T-T-E." I tried to hold back the laughter as I told her that although there are many ways to spell Jeannet, the spelling that I gave her was, in fact, correct, and that yes, I do know how to spell my own last name even though it's still fairly new to me.

Christmas Re-cap

2010-01-08T21:49:00.004-05:00

It's taken me a little while to get around to writing about our Christmas vacation. I'm not really sure why... I haven't been particularly busy by any means, but I just haven't gotten around to blogging. Although I've been glued to the computer most of the day working away on my business site, I thought I'd take a little break from that to write up a re-cap of our adventures.

Sayre and I drove to Baton Rouge the Saturday before Christmas and spent 10 wonderful days there visiting with family and friends and relaxing. It really was nice just to get away from daily life in Jacksonville for a little while. We went ice skating in downtown Baton Rouge, saw a few movies (Avatar and The Chipmunks movie ;)), shopped, ate, visited with people, and ate some more. Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas.

Most of my extended family was in town, so on Christmas Eve we all got together just like we always have at NaNa's house, ate lots of delicious food, and played the present swap game. That evening we went to Church, and then Christmas morning we enjoyed a long lazy morning opening gifts and playing with all of our new gadgets and toys before eating a great meal once again. (I swear, every time I go home I feel like all I do is eat.)

It was so nice to have some time to reconnect with old friends while we were in town. Some I had seen just a few months prior, but others I hadn't seen in years. You know, we all have grown up quite a bit and experienced lots of things, but generally speaking, we're the same old girls we were back in high school and I'm so happy about that! I don't think I've laughed that hard in a very long time while just swapping stories both old and new!

As always, the end of our trip seemed to creep up on us and come too soon, but now we're settled back in Jacksonville and looking forward to what 2010 has to offer us. Since returning here, I've been focusing on launching my business. It's exciting but pretty nerve-wracking at the same time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Anyway, here's a link to some more pictures from Christmas week.

Ahoy there mateys!

2009-12-18T13:34:00.004-05:00

Sayre and I survived his first "underway" this week! His ship took off very early Monday morning to spend the week on the high seas doing training maneuvers. Despite bad weather, rough seas, and a bit of sea sickness as a result, Sayre seemed to really enjoy his time out there! Even though he was only gone for a few short days, the idea of him being gone and how unpleasant that was going to be finally snuck up on me late Sunday night before he departed. I knew that it was only going to be for five days, and I was very well aware of the fact that I could handle it knowing that in the future he'll be gone for much longer, but still something just came over me in that moment and I lost it. I became consumed by this overwhelming realization of the future and what's to come for us when he does actually have to deploy for upwards of six months at a time. I wondered, "How will I cope with him being gone? What will I do when I can't talk to him for days, weeks, and months at a time? Will simple emails be enough?"

Fortunately, Sayre had a better grip on things than I did at that moment, and he was able to calm me down and remind me that we don't have to worry about his deployment for a very long time (Thank you, God!). Once Monday morning rolled around and he took off, I was much more relaxed. By Thursday I was actually really proud of myself for the things that I had accomplished while he was gone and happy about the time I had to get to know another officer's wife while our husbands were gone. It was even kind of fun at times anticipating the next email I'd receive from him on the ship :) It reminded me of our courtship (I know that makes me sound so old-fashioned ;) ) and the times we spent getting to know each other's hearts more deeply through written correspondance. Then to my great surprise and shock, shortly after I got home from visiting with that wife Thursday afternoon, Sayre showed up on our doorstep with beautiful tulips in hand! His ship had returned a day early because they couldn't complete any more of their training missions since the weather had gotten so bad (the entire crew got sea sick at one point or another... not fun). Although being apart from one another is never fun, I think that this underway was good for both of us. It made me realize that although the future will certainly not be easy, I'll be able to handle it and cherish the moments that I do have with him.

Christmas Blessings

2009-12-14T13:24:00.005-05:00

As the holidays are quickly approaching, I want to take a few moments to reflect upon how abundantly God has blessed us over these past few months and years. We are in good health, have incredibly supportive and loving families, and wonderful friends all around the world. We truly could not ask for more.

Being a new Navy wife, it's hard to ignore the sense of pride and admiration I have for all those serving our country and their families. Sayre and I are so blessed because it will be awhile before he has to deploy; however, there are so many others out there right now who will not be able to spend this holiday season with the ones they love. Since I have not yet experienced a deployment firsthand, I can only imagine how hard and painful it must be at times only relying upon those precious moments when contact is possible to get through those long months apart from one another. My prayer this Christmas is that those brave men and women out there who won't have the privilege of being home this year can come to realize how truly grateful we are to all of them for giving us the best present one could possibly give: the gift of freedom. May God always watch over this beautiful country and protect it from those who seek to break apart the basic morals, principals, and ideals that our great forefathers established it upon.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

2009-12-12T12:12:00.002-05:00

Here comes Santa Clause

2009-12-12T11:54:00.004-05:00

Time seems to be flyyyyyying by these days! I can't believe that Christmas is just 2 weeks away! Yaaaaaay!! Sayre and I have been getting into the Christmas spirit recently with a few fun activities. Last Thursday night we went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas concert. It was sooo awesome! Their stage is an amazing array of lights, moving parts, and lasers... combine that with their rockin' renditions of classic Christmas songs and you're in store for a very memorable evening! We had a great time!

To top off last weekend, we made another trip to Disney World to make use of the last few days on our military passes before they expire at the end of the month. Once again, we had an amazing time, despite a little bit of rainy weather. This time we went to MGM Studios (now referred to as Holywood Studios) on Saturday which included the Rockin' Roller Coaster, the Tower of Terror, and Lights Motors Action Show to name a few. That night we went to the Magic Kingdom to see all of the pretty Christmas lights as well as the fireworks display. We were also thrilled to get the chance to ride the newly refurbished Space Mountain while we waited to see the fireworks! On Sunday we went to the Animal Kingdom. The main attraction there, and our absolute favorite ride: Expedition Everest! Also, before leaving, we tried out the Rapids ride even though we knew were going to get soaked... and we did! It's ok though because we were about to leave to drive back to Jacksonville and we had a change of clothes in the car. Overall, it was another great weekend!

Now we're eagerly awaiting the start of the Army/Navy game! Sayre invited a few guys from his ship over to watch it, so it should be a good time. Go Navy!!

Click here to see some more of our Disney trip pictures.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-03T12:24:00.001-05:00

Sayre and I had a wonderful time visiting my family in Louisiana for Thanksgiving. I wish that we could have stayed longer, but we'll be back very very soon for Christmas festivities! Although I really wanted to spend some time visiting with my friends while we were there, we just didn't have enough time to try to round up the troops this time around, so instead we spent those few days gobbling down some turkey with family and enjoying the great outdoors since the weather was so incredible.

On Thanksgiving day, we went to my cousin Elke's house. It was so nice to be able to actually sit down and chat with everyone. Last time we were in Louisiana, we were in the midst of Hurricane Wedding and our heads were spinning in too many different directions to be able to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the good company of family and friends. The food, of course, was scrumptious! Oooh I can't even begin to tell you how long I had been dreaming of turkey and stuffing before Thanksgiving finally arrived :) We were both gloriously full once the day was over!

Aside from stuffing our faces with food, we spent a lot of time fishing in the lake in my parents' backyard. Sayre's really been missing that lately, so he was happy to be able to cast a bit out there. Unfortunately, the only two fish that were caught the whole time were tiny little brim fish that my mom happened to reel in. Regardless, we still enjoyed ourselves relaxing by the water. Dad also took us out to a shooting range one day which was pretty fun. We shot his .22 shotgun as well as my grandfather's old handgun from WWII. Well, technically the boys shot the handgun... mom and I just stuck with the shotgun :) Handguns scare me. Anyway, overall, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Palin Palooza

2009-11-24T10:59:00.002-05:00

Today Sarah Palin is doing a book signing at the Orange Park Mall which is about 30 minutes away from here. For the past two weeks, since hearing about the event, I've been planning to go get my copy of her new book Going Rogue signed... that is, until, my dreams got squashed last night while watching the 10 o'clock news. Sarah's book has already become such a success that people had begun lining up on SUNDAY morning for the book signing which took place today at 9am on Wednesday! Even if I had gone out there at 6am this morning as I had planned, it would have been to no avail. Yesterday afternoon they handed out 500 wrist bracelets gauranteeing those people to get her signature. I had no idea it was going to be that crazy! Granted, I'm happy for her that so many people are still supporting her, but at the same time I'm a little bummed that I didn't get to meet her.

Disney World!!!

2009-11-18T11:07:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned in the last post, over the weekend Sayre and I went to Disney World and oh what a bast we had! We drove down to Orlando on Friday night after another one of Sayre's ship's Hail & Farewell parties, got a good night's sleep, & then woke up bright and early to begin our adventures in the Magic Kingdom. The park didn't open until 9am, but we got there at 8am to be the first ones in line. Somehow or another (I won't reveal our secrets here ;) ) we managed to actually get into the park before it opened to the general public, so we got some great pictures of the castle & various places without anyone else in them! The rides themselves didn't open up until 9, but that was perfectly fine because we were still the very first ones on Splash Mountain... and when I say "the very first ones," I do indeed mean the very first ones. That's both a blessing and a curse because... well... you see... we got soaked. Lesson learned: even if they tell you to ride in the first row, ask them if you can sit in the back! Regardless, it was still awesomely fun and we eventually dried off.

Unbeknown to us, we picked the perfect weekend to go to Disney World. The crowds were almost non-existent. In all my past Disney experiences, it was just expected that for most rides you'd have to wait at least 30 minutes or so in line to ride a ride (and even that was pretty short!); however, this weekend, we were able to literally hop off and hop right back on to most rides. I was dumbfounded. Case-in-point: we rode Thunder Mountain four times in a row. It took us longer to wind through the path up to the ride than it actually did to get on the ride. Now, granted, as it got later in the day the crowds did pick up a little bit and Fantasy Land in the Magic Kingdom was probably the most crowded area (that's the best place for mammas & daddies to take the little ones), but it still wasn't bad at all! We had sooo much fun!! Usually, because you spend most of your day just standing around in lines, you're able to stay in the park late into the evening without being too tired... well, since we spent all day hopping on & off rides time & time again, by around 4pm we were utterly exhausted! Although we would have liked to have seen the fireworks that night, we decided to conserve our energy for the next day, so we left around 5 and headed over to the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney for dinner. Yum!

On Sunday we decided to go to Epcot before heading back to Jacksonville in the afternoon. Once again, we arrived at the park at 8am even though it didn't open until 9am hoping that we could get in early like we had done in the Magic Kingdom the day before. Unfortunately, that didn't work out so well for us, but we were still happy to be there bright & early & first in line to get in! Once again, there weren't any waits for the rides... I felt like I was living in the twighlight zone! It was fantastic! We rode the Test Track 3 times in a row before deciding that we should probably move on to other things since we were planning to leave the park around 2. When talking with some of the Disney workers during the day, they told us why they thought the parks were so empty this particular weekend: it was the weekend right after the Epcot Food & Wine Festival ended and it was also the weekend right before the crazy Thanksgiving crowds were going to show up. Bingo! That made a lot of sense to us! Anyway, Epcot proved to be tons of fun as well! We were sad to leave, but we're hoping to go one more weekend before Christmas (and after Thanksgiving) before our nice little military discounted tickets expire. We were told that they're not going to renew the offer next year, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it isn't true. We'll just have to see!

Click here to see more of our pictures & videos from the weekend.

Casting Crowns Concert

2009-11-13T10:08:00.004-05:00

Last night Sayre and I went to see Casting Crowns in concert at the Jacksonville Arena. I had seen them a few years ago in Baton Rouge, and once again they put on a great show! What I love about Christian concerts is that you get more than just a musical experience when you go... there's such a positive and uplifting message to all of the songs. It's not even about the fact that you're seeing a well-known artist perform, it's that the message their music brings is one that you don't find in secular music. Maybe I'm just getting old, but often times I find myself disgusted with some of the songs I hear on the radio. With Casting Crowns and other Christian artists like them, you leave their concert feeling empowered and refreshed. Now, don't get me wrong, I still enjoy catchy pop and rock tunes, but it's nice to balance out the dark messages the world gives us with the simple love and praise of God.

Ok, I'm getting off my soap box now ;) and heading out to Disney World tonight! Of course, a blog post will surely follow once we return!

Pepper Spray Sympathy

2009-11-06T17:16:00.004-05:00

Today my poor sweet husband got sprayed with OC (military strength pepper spray) as a part of his training. Pretty much everyone has to go through it, but I still felt pretty bad for him. An hour after it happened they let him drive home, but it was very evident that he was still in a lot of pain. When he got home, we tried to look up some home remedies, but unfortunately the concoction we tried seemed to only make matters worse... especially when he had to wash it off. Rinsing water over the affected skin only seems to make it feel worse because the OC is oil based. Fortunately, we eventually figured out that putting a fan on his face and lightly patting it with a wet, cold cloth made things much better.

In the meantime, I knew of only one thing for sure that would eventually make him feel better: sweets! One of my favorite baking blogs called "Bake at 350" featured a caramel brownie recipe today that looked too amazing not to try! You start with a cake batter based brownie recipe, cook half of it for about 6 minutes, spread chocolate chips and melted caramel on top of that, plop the other half of the batter on that, and then bake for another 16 minutes. They aren't the most presentation-friendly brownies because they're ooey & gooey & fall apart, but that's what makes them sooooo amazing :) and they go great with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream! Needless to say, this made Sayre feel quite a bit better.

Trunk-or-Treat

2009-11-02T16:00:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, Sayre and I volunteered for "Trunk-or-Treat" at the Pumpkin Patch Party at Christ's Church here in Jacksonville. It was a fun family-friendly Halloween alternative for families to come and enjoy. They had food vendors, 100 "Trunk-or-Treat" cars, games, & inflatables (slides, bounce houses, etc.). It was such a fun event to be a part of! We chose the theme of "The Wizard of Oz" and decorated our trunk and ourselves as ;) I made a Dorothy apron to wear and threw together a little costume to make Sayre look like the Scarecrow. There were so many cute and creative trunks out there & the kids seemed to have a lot of fun :) It was estimated that over 6,500 people showed up for the event!

Click here to see more pictures that we took!

Pumpkin Mousse Pie

2009-11-02T14:03:00.003-05:00

My dear sweet husband has a mouth full of sweet teeth (ok... maybe we both do). One of his favorite holiday treats is pumpkin pie, so when I saw a recipe for Pumpkin Mousse Pie on the back of a graham cracker pie label I knew I had to try it! I'm personally not a huge fan of pumpkin pie, so I was hoping that this would be a creamier, lighter alternative. The results were fantastic! Needless to say, the two pies that this recipe yielded were gone in just a matter of days! (Fortunately for our waistline, each piece of pie has only 3.5 grams of fat & no sugar!)

Here's the Recipe from Keebler Ready Crust:
1 1/4 cups Fat-free Milk
1 pkg (4-serving size) Vanilla fat-free sugar free instant pudding
1 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 cup Canned Pumpkin
2 tubs (8oz) Fat Free Cool Whip
2 Keebler Graham Cracker Reduced Fat Pie Crusts

Beat milk, pudding mix, & spice for 1 1/2 minutes then whisk in pumpkin.
Fold in Half a tub of whipped topping.
Spread into pie crusts.
(The original recipe claims to only make one pie, but it definitely left me with enough filling for 2, so unless you want an over-flowing pie, I suggest making 2 or cutting the recipe in half!)
Top with whipped topping.

Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. It's hard to serve this pie b/c it's very moist & gooey (& yummy!), so I also suggest maybe popping it in the freezer for a few minutes before cutting into it.

Costume Contest Winners!!

2009-10-30T14:29:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago www.thenest.com was hosting a couple's Halloween costume contest, so I decided to submit a picture of Sayre & I dressed up as Peanut Butter & Jelly from last year just on a whim... I didn't think we'd get chosen, but I thought our costume was cute so I sent it in. Welllllll, today when I was browsing the website I fould this:

http://ideas.thenest.com/love-and-sex-advice/real-couples/Slideshows/couple-halloween-costumes-2009.aspx?page=6

Woohoo!! We made it! :) It's slightly cheesy, but it makes me happy ;) Happy Halloween, everyone! We're volunteering at the "Pumpkin Patch Party" at Christ's Church tonight as "Trunk-or-Treat" volunteers, so I'll probably be posting pictures of that soon. I love fall :) there's always so many fun things going on this time of year!

Alaskan Wedding

2009-10-28T18:41:00.005-04:00

No, we didn't get married again ;) but we did just get back from a whirlwind trip up to Alaska for Aly & Pat's wedding! Our only regret was not being able to stay up there longer, but we were very happy that Sayre was at least able to get off for a few days. The ceremony, reception, and super fun Alaskan family clan sleepover was held at the beautiful Black Rapids Lodge, which is about 2 & 1/2 hours away from Fairbanks. (We all said our prayers as the wedding cakes made their way that distance!) The lodge is so unique and has so much character and detail to it! The owners are so incredibly sweet and did absolutely everything they could to help everything go off without a hitch!

Anyway, I'm still not quite sure how they pulled it off in 2 months, but Aly & Pat had such a beautiful wedding weekend & ceremony! I'm so happy that we were able to be a part of it and spend some more time with everyone up there :) Hopefully next time we go. we'll get to spend more time than just a weekend. Here's a link to some more pictures highlighting the weekend: http://picasaweb.google.com/lljeannet/AlyPatSWedding

Who would have ever thought that within just 4 & 1/2 months I would go from being an only child to having 3 new sisters-in-law and a new brother-in-law!? I'm one lucky girl!! Too bad Sayre didn't hit jackpot like I did ;) but at least he's added another boy to the force... God knows he could use some more boy-power with all that girl-power floating around!

Oh, I also wanted to send a little shout-out to my new blogging buddy Margo! :) Thanks for reading our little blog! Can't wait to hang out with you and everyone else some more in the future! You should totally start a blog... it could be about those new cute pups you're going to be getting! ;)

Continuing to Enjoy the Weather

2009-10-18T16:48:00.003-04:00

The weather today was picture-perfect once again. I can't even begin to describe how happy beautifully cool fall & spring days make me :) Anyway, we took advantage of it again today by taking a stroll downtown after we went to church & grabbed some sushi (that has become our Sunday routine). Downtown Jacksonville has this great eating & shopping area called Jacksonville Landing full of little shops and tons of restaurants. In the middle of it is a pavilion where they have free concerts every Friday & Saturday night. We haven't experience that yet, but it was nice to go down there and check things out. There were a lot of people out there enjoying the wonderful day. It's also very close to the Jacksonville Jaguars stadium, so as we were parking we saw a funny little grill someone made out of a beer keg... hence the picture in the collage. Anyway, it was another amazingly cool & relaxing day!

Fall is Here!!

2009-10-17T16:33:00.004-04:00

Fall has finally made its grand appearance here in Jacksonville and we couldn't be any happier! All week I prayed for rain as I watched the looming clouds overhead, only to be disappointed day after day when the rain just wouldn't fall. It wasn't until late Friday afternoon that we felt the first few drops fall from the sky. Sayre marveled at my glee over the rain, but since he did not grow up in the south, he didn't know that rainy weather in the fall usually means that cooler weather is to come... and boy was I right!! Thank you, God!

Last night we had a wonderful evening at "Date Night" at one of the churches we attend here. I had almost forgotten about it, but luckily Sayre remembered! Anyway, they had a really nice catered meal of prime rib, green beans, potatoes, and "shrimp creole" (or an attempt at shrimp etouffee... it was alright ;)) It was really nice though because they had large tables set up everywhere which gave us a chance to meet a few new couples and spend some time getting to know them as we ate before going and listening to a wonderful orchestral concert. Listening to the musicians perform made me think about my days in band in elementary and junior high school and how enthralled I was by music back then. I really miss playing an intstrument. There's just so much peace and beauty to be found in music like that.

Today when we woke up and turned on the weather channel I squealed when I heard it was only 53 degrees outside and the high was only going to be in the 60s! Sayre laughed at me, but I know that deep down he was happy too. We decided to take full advantage of the beautiful day by taking a trip to the Jacksonville Zoo! It was a little crowded (probably because everyone else had the same idea as we did), but I was really impressed by the zoo facilities. It was really big (especially compared to the Baton Rouge Zoo) and they had some beautiful gardens and grounds to walk around. We took our time strolling around, riding the train, and seeing all of the things that the zoo had to offer. They even had a great pier that you could walk down to enjoy the water. We spent about 2 & 1/2 hours there and then grabbed an early dinner at CiCi's pizza before coming back to our apartment to enjoy the remainder of the afternoon soaking up the breeze on our balcony. Currently Sayre is reading a C.S. Lewis book as I sit here and blog :) Yes, we know, we are such an old married couple already haha but we wouldn't want it any other way!!

Click here to see more pictures from the zoo!

Busy October

2009-10-07T15:58:00.002-04:00

Whew... this month has already been busy and we're only 7 days into it! This past Friday, Sayre's XO had a little luau at his house to honor the officers leaving the ship and to welcome aboard the new ones (such as Sayre). They asked for everyone to bring something, so I made a yummy fruit dip that Julina had made once for us in college and also a pina colada cake. The cake wasn't quite as pina colada-ish as I had hoped, but it still tasted like a very moist coconut cake so I was happy and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Next time I'll puree some more pineapple and add that to the batter.

Saturday evening we had the pleasure of watching the Navy vs. Airforce and LSU vs. Georgia games with Abby & Paul. We were so glad that Paul was in town & that they were both able to come & spend some time with us watching two awesome and action-packed games! Abby made some awesome Mexican dip to snack on and during half time Sayre cooked up some great steaks for us too! Overall it was a great weekend with great friends.

Right now I'm writing this blog live from my parents' computer room ;) Sayre let my dad borrow me for a few days to surprise my mom with a little visit. She's been missing me quite a lot lately (for some reason it didn't sink in for her until long after the wedding that I'm gone... before that I think she was too distracted by the wedding among other things). It's really nice to be back home spending some time with them, but I do also really miss my hubby. We've gotten very used to always being together now, and it's hard to be apart knowing that sometime in the future he'll be deployed for long periods of time, but I cooked up a few extra meals for him before I left to at least keep his tummy happy :) Before you know it, I'll be back over in Jacksonville (I return on Saturday actually) and then we'll be heading up to Alaska soon for Aly & Patt's wedding!! We can't wait!!

St. Augustine

2009-09-29T17:58:00.006-04:00

Even before we officially moved to Jacksonville, we were told by many people that we should take some time to explore St. Augustine once we got settled into Floridian life, so we decided to do just that over the weekend. After spending some time researching different things to do there, we were excited to see how much history is packed into the city! In grade school I remembered learning about all the great Spanish explorers to the New World like Ponce de Leon and Christopher Columbus; however, I had forgotten that during one of his many quests, Ponce de Leon found himself in St. Augustine searching for the Fountain of Youth. That, of course, was the first of many stops along our day trip to St. Augustine! There they had a 16 acres of grounds to explore as well as a few buildings with exhibits about Ponce de Leon and of course the famed "Fountain of Youth." The spring from which the Native Americans told him to drink from to gain eternal life is still there today, but it is now filtered. Unfortunately, shortly after his voyage to St. Augustine, he died of injuries on an island in the Carribean.

Our next stop after the Fountain of Youth was the Castillo de San Marcos. This was an old Spanish fort near the Fountain of Youth that was eventually captured by the British. Today you can walk around the fort to see various exhibits and watch reinactors dressed up in British military uniforms and fire their replica guns. This was also a neat site to visit, but the rising temperatures of the day seemed to make us zip through it a bit faster than we probably normally would have in order to seek shelter in the A.C. at the Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum. Before we headed over there, though, we checked out some cute shops that were built to resemble an old historic downtown area. I was quite amused when we found a store there called "Junk." :) Anyway, after we did that and then went to the Ripley's Museum, we grabbed some yummy seafood at Barnacle Bill's and then headed back to Jacksonville. St. Augustine proved to be a city full of little treasures to visit! We'll definitely be heading back there some time to explore some more fun activities!

To see more of our pictures from the weekend, click here.

Another week

2009-09-24T16:27:00.003-04:00

This week has been a rather slow week. I've continued the search for a job, but I still haven't really found anything. I'm still waiting to hear back from that one place I interviewed with though. Sayre is wrapping up his class tomorrow which is exciting. This weekend we're going to head over to St. Augustine to check out the Fountain of Youth and a couple of other historical sites around there. We're looking forward to getting out a bit and exploring :) It's hard to believe it's almost October!

LSU Cookies

2009-09-19T20:27:00.003-04:00

For the past week or so, I've been dying to make some cutesy sugar cookies after being inspired by a blog called Whimsy Cookie Company. The woman who runs this blog makes absolutely adorable sugar cookies and she had some LSU ones featured so, of course, I decided that I just had to try to make some too! Once again, however, I realized after making them that they are quite a bit more time consuming than they appear to be. Regardless, I still had fun making them :)

Steaks!

2009-09-18T20:25:00.005-04:00

As mentioned in the previous post, we got our grill set up and ready to go on our little porch, so tonight we put it to use! I found a great steak marinade online so we let them soak in that for a few hours and then Sayre put them on the grill and we had a great feast! I think it's safe to say that we will be getting A LOT of use out of this new grill :)

New Grill!

2009-09-18T11:00:00.006-04:00

Yesterday our brand new Weber Grill arrived! We ordered it about 2 weeks ago using some generous Bed Bath & Beyond gift cards we had received for the wedding. The nice little UPS man delivered it yesterday morning and, since our internet wasn't working at the time and I had nothing else to do, I decided to assemble it all before Sayre got home to surprise him. Fortunately, I only had one fixable mishap while assembling it :) I would have taken a photo of it yesterday, but the weather was kind of icky. Today's slightly less gloomy weather provided more optimal photography conditions :) Anyway, without further ado, here is the new grill! We can't wait to try it out!

Chicken & Stuffing & Brownies... oh my!

2009-09-17T19:48:00.004-04:00

Tonight I tried another fun slow cooker recipe. I wasn't too sure how it was going to turn out, but I was thrilled with the results! The recipe called for you to coat some chicken breasts in a mixture of flower and seasoning and then brown it in a skillet before placing it in the slow cooker. Once in the cooker, you cover it with low fat cream of mushroom soup and stuffing and then allow it to cook on high for 3 hours. It sounded great, but I honestly thought it would turn to mush by the time it was done. Fortunately I was wrong! It was sooo good and sooo filling! The chicken was incredibly tender. I made some deviled eggs, a little fruit salad, and some green beans to go along with it.

In the meantime, I finally let Sayre bake us some dessert. He's notorious for having a mouth full of sweet teeth (ok... I admit it... so do I), so he's always trying to sneak into the pantry to bake a cake or two, but usually I cut him off and stop him lol. We've been eating way too many sweets lately... we don't need one every single night! Anyway, I finally let him make something tonight. We have a ton of chocolate cake mixes, but no brownie mixes, which is of course what he wanted. Instead he decided to improvise... He looked up "cake mix brownies" online and the results were fantastic! Seriously, from now on, when we want brownies, I think this is the way to go. The brownies are now like the perfect balance between cakieness and brownieness! Mmmm perfectly moist and chocolately! Instead of following the instructions on the cake box, you just add 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of oil. The dough is very thick, so you then spread it yourself in a pan and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350. Needless to say, we are very well fed tonight. Now it's time to watch the season premier of Bones!

One Down...

2009-09-16T19:46:00.002-04:00

I landed an interview this week! Actually, it was this afternoon and it seemed to go really well :) the only downside is that it's almost 2 hours away from here. The firm is absolutely amazing though and the experiences I would gain would probably make the commute worthwhile. Now I just need to way out the pros & cons and wait for them to get back to me in the next few weeks. Overall, even just the interview was a good experience, so I chalk it up as a win overall.

In other news, this past weekend we had two of Sayre's former classmates over for dinner. They're some great girls and we really enjoyed their company. We turned on the Navy football game (it wasn't on basic cable, but my techno-savvy hubby found it online :)) and I cooked up some ribs in the slow cooker, corn, and a green bean casserole. Abby also made some deee-lish cookie bars! It was so nice and so fun to finally have our first little mini dinner party at our new place.

This week has seemed to fly by... probably because I spent the first part of it really preparing for this interview. The rest of the week I'm going to try to continue looking around for some more firms while finishing up some of my own random projects around the apartment (like scrapbooking the wedding). By the end of the week our new bar-b-que pit should arrive :) We can't wait to cook up some great steaks!

Crocheting

2009-09-10T16:34:00.007-04:00

Sometimes I swear I'm really a 70 year old woman trapped inside a 23 year old body. Case in point: this week, among other things, I decided that I wanted to teach myself how to crochet. Never before have I ever had so much appreciation for yarn crafts. It takes so much patience! My poor little fingertips are aching, but yet I haven't even completed one full project. After teaching myself some of the basic stitches, I started making a scarf. I disillusioned myself by thinking I could complete that in a day... it's been 2 days now and I only have a few inches of it complete. What I really wanted to do was start making cute little animals :) so I put the scarf on hold for now, got some new yarn, and started making a little white bunny. Again, I was hoping to finish it in a day, but my fingers aren't having it. What's pictured is what I've completed so far. It doesn't look like much right now, but mark my words, it will be a bunny! (someday at least ;))

On a completely random note, we've now officially been in Jacksonville for one month! It's hard to believe that it's only been just one month... it feels like we've been here forever! It probably feels that way though because we've done oh-so-very-much during that short amount of time. Oh, and apparently all the cook kids around here call this place "Jax." Random fun facts about "Jax": it is the largest city in the U.S. (as far as land-mass goes) with a total of 874.3 square miles and it is only 25 miles away from the Georgia state line.

Labor Day Weekend Part 2

2009-09-07T19:46:00.002-04:00

Today we decided to go to Bed Bath & Beyond to use our last few gift cards to order a new grill! Although it would have been nice to have had it today to grill up some juicy burgers, it's nice knowing it's at least on its way to us. Woohoo! Anyway, after that we headed over to Sears to use our gift cards there too. We were very pleasantly surprised when we found the perfect little table & chairs for our patio there... and they were on sale! Even better! We came back to our apartment and cooked some burgers on our George Forman grill later in the evening and enjoyed them outside on the patio with our new furniture :)

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-05T18:35:00.003-04:00

This morning I woke up to some wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. When I walked into the living room I found Sayre whipping up a yummy breakfast for us consisting of blueberry waffles and biscuits! What a pleasant way to start Saturday morning! After we ate, I looked outside our window and saw a bunch of cute little ducks swimming around in the lake, so we grabbed some bread and went outside to feed them. A curious egret was nearby and decided to get closer to see what I was giving the ducks. He seemed to have no interest in the bread, but I was surprised that he got so close.

Anyway, this afternoon we headed out to the park on Fort George Island to ride some segways! Yes, that's right... we went on ANOTHER Segway tour! This one was a bit different than the one we did in Annapolis because this time we went off-roading :) Bigger wheels, more power, and more precise turning. Honestly, there wasn't quite as much to see on this tour as the one in Annapolis because basically we just went riding down this nature trail through the woods in the park, but it gave us a chance to play on the Segways some more. The "grand stopping point" was just a view that looked out over the marsh... It was pretty & all, but not great. The best part was just riding along the trail :) Ok... so we're big nerds, but we're quite happy with that. Overall, it was a fun day!

Yummy!

2009-09-03T19:35:00.006-04:00

Since getting married, I've had so much fun trying to cook and bake new things. Before, when I lived in an apartment by myself, it never seemed worth it to me to cook big meals or try new recipes because I was only cooking for myself. Left-overs are only good for so long. Now that I have a hungry little hubby to feed (and impress), I'm a lot more inclined to spend some extra time in the kitchen. I've found some great recipes in some handy cookbooks, websites, and from my very experienced and reliable mom :)

So far, some favorites have been: honey bar-b-que ribs (cooked in the slow-cooker) with macaroni and green beans, chicken enchiladas with mexican corn, good old hamburgers, baked bar-b-que chicken, and jambalaya just to name a few. Tonight I decided to try an intriguing dessert recipe that I found on blog called picky-plate.com. They're chocolate chip cookie pies :) and they were goooooood! Basically you just put cookie dough in the middle of little mini pie crusts. She specifically said not to over-stuff the pie crusts because they will ooze out as they bake, but I didn't think that the amount of cookie dough I put in was too much. Apparently I was wrong! As they baked, they started taking on a life of their own and oozed out a bit... it was pretty funny actually lol. BUT once I took them out and put some powdered sugar on them, they looked pretty good... amost like a little cookie dough benigt. Yum!! Don't worry... Sayre and I didn't eat them all in one sitting... Ok, so we each had 2, but at least we didn't eat the whole plate of them! Anyway, this recipe is highly recommended :) And it's pretty easy to make... especially if you buy pre-made pie crust & the mini break & bake cookie dough from Tollhouse.

Portfolio Packets

2009-09-02T10:00:00.005-04:00

Well, I finally finished putting my resume and portfolio sample together. I always have a lot of fun trying to put together something like that. Yes, it's a little nerve-wracking, but it's exciting at the same time. I've done some research and narrowed down the firms I want to apply to. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some positive feedback :) Some have expressed that they're not necessarily hiring right now, but they always accept resumes and if someone really catches their eye, then they might consider it. We'll just have to wait & see! I'll probably go and personally deliver them sometime today or tomorrow.

Insomnia

2009-08-31T22:59:00.002-04:00

The past 2 nights in a row I've had pretty bad insomnia and it's getting quite annoying! Sayre wakes up around 5:30am to get up & get ready for work. Although he's very quite and very sweet about trying not to wake me up, I usually wake up anyway. The problem is that although we're usually in bed by at least 9:30pm (yes, I know... we're already like an old married couple), last night I didn't fall asleep until sometime after 12:30am only to wake up again at 5:30am... not good! This happened a few times last week as well *sigh*.

The root of the problem didn't dawn on me until tonight. You see, we live dangerously close to Walmart. And by "dangerously close," I mean that it is about a 1 minute drive from our apartment. This Walmart has a McDonald's inside. For those of you who don't know, McDonald's is currently running a drink special where any size drink is only $1. Normally, I don't drink Coke or anything with caffeine in it; however, since this $1 drink special is going on Sayre and I have frequented the McDonalds a few times when making trips to Walmart. *Lightbulb moment* Yesterday afternoon and this afternoon we went there and I got a large Coke, which for me, probably contains enough caffeine to keep my mind ticking for days on end despite my poor body being exhausted. Moral of the story: No more $1 large Cokes for me!

I realize what a pointless post this is :) but it just passed a few minutes for me as I await the darn caffeine to wear off. The sad part is that I had the culprit beverage around 4pm... it's now 11pm... Yeah, I told you I don't drink caffeine all that often.

My new website

2009-08-29T11:24:00.004-04:00

I finished re-designing my digital portfolio on Friday. Here's the link:

Leslie Jeannet Design

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with it. I spent some time teaching myself some very basic flash for the new intro. Although it's pretty simple, it still makes me happy ;) I'm a nerd like that though hehe I've always entertained myself by figuring out new design software.

Getting Settled

2009-08-27T08:15:00.005-04:00

Well, we're all moved down to Jacksonville now. Although we miss Annapolis, we are absolutely in LOVE with our new apartment! Going from a tiny studio apartment to a brand new 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment overlooking a lake would make anyone happy I suppose. During our first two weeks here, it seemed like we never stopped going (that seems to be a theme in our lives). Before our furniture even arrived, we found a 2006 F-150 for Sayre, started finding our way around the city, AND found an amazing snowball stand!! Woohoo! I actually found it online via the wonders of google... and yes, I know... looking something like that up on google is a sure sign of snowball addiction, but the first step is admitting to the problem, right? :)

Anyway, we drove down on a Saturday & our things finally arrived the following Friday. After sleeping on air mattresses in the living room for a few days we were starting to go crazy, so when our stuff arrived it was very exciting... and it came just in time! By the end of the day we had everything unpacked and in place, then the following evening my parents arrived to bring us a kitchen table (yay!) and all of our wedding gifts (double yay!). It was so great getting to spend some time with them and show them around the city (well, the parts of the city that we had explored thus-far at least :))

Sayre reported to the Halyburton on Monday and so far everything is going smoothly for him. Seeing him get up so early every morning to get to work has inspired me to get to work on updating my portfolio and website so (hopefully) I can find a job soon. My plan is to finish that up this week and then drop off my resume to some firms around here. Sayre helped me to do some research and we were happy with what we found. There seem to be a lot of firms here, and of those, seven really caught my eye. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The Whirlwind Never Ends

2009-07-28T16:40:00.006-04:00

We've been married for over a month and a half now, but things have certainly not slowed down since the wedding! Following the ceremony (which was everything I had ever dreamed of and so much more), we enjoyed a relaxing a beautiful honeymoon in Barbados. The food was incredible, the people were so friendly, and the scenery was gorgeous. After a week of breakfast served to us on our front porch every morning and days spent in the crystal clear water, we were sad to come back to the realities of life.

We were back in Annapolis for only about 2 weeks when Sayre received his official orders telling us that we would have to move to Florida in August. It's quite a bit sooner than we had originally thought it was going to be (we initially thought it wouldn't happen until October), but we've already found a place down there and we'll be moving in about a week & a half! Craziness... I know... but it's exciting! Actually, it's kind of bitter-sweet. I've really grown found of Annapolis during this past year and I was so fortunate to have found such a great job up here. It's sad to leave that all behind, but I have no doubts that Florida will offer us new and exciting adventures (and Disney World too, of course!)

Sayre is currently in San Diego preparing with his team to compete with their underwater robot in the AUVSI competition. I'm heading over there on Thursday to meet up with him for the actual competition itself which is being held this weekend. It's exciting! He & his team have worked so hard this year perfecting their robot... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all of their hard work & dedication will pay off! I can't wait to go!

Once we return to Annapolis, we'll be packing up the last few things in our apartment & then heading down to Florida! Life is moving full-speed ahead, but we truly couldn't be happier. We're so blessed with such supportive family & friends :) We're so glad we got to see everyone at the wedding and we're looking forward to the next time we get to see everyone again!