Blogging Hiatus

Hi! Did you all think I fell off the face of the Earth? I put this blog on the back burner for awhile, because honestly I feel like there isn't anything exciting to tell you all. Life has settled into a nice routine here, and slowly but surely, it's starting to feel more like home! I find it odd that it's taken longer to feel more settled here than when we were in San Diego (which I find myself really missing at times, which I wasn't expecting).

Life here is mostly work, work and work. With Andy's odd schedule and my odd schedule, we don't get out much! Don't get me wrong though, I LOVE my job. But we're lucky if we both share a day off! I really want to explore downtown Chicago more, as well as the suburbs around us, so I'm hoping we can do more of that in the coming months.

I'm trying to think back over the past month and see if there's anything major to tell you folks. We didn't do a thing for Halloween, except hand out candy to the 25 kids that came to our door haha. I did have a quick weekend back in MN a few weeks ago to see my little brother's last high school fall play. Unfortunately it was about a 48 hour trip home, and Andy wasn't even able to go, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that we can be home over Christmas!

It's funny to think that last Thanksgiving was spent on the road moving to San Diego, and having "Thanksgiving dinner" at a Sonic drive in ha! This year, we have nothing to do because we won't be making it home. I wanted to do the local turkey trot 5k but it filled up so fast! We may catch a movie, but Andy may have 12 hours of duty on Thursday anyways...oh holidays for military familes :) Although, my in-laws and the hubby's grandparents will be here on Saturday for a belated Thanksgiving and a dose of family time!

And the biggest news of all: our darling puppy Layla turns 1 today! Her mom had the litter at a Tijuana rescue shelter and 3 months after we adopted our Mexican fur baby at an  rescue adoption fair! She's being treated like a princess today (although she's usually treated like that everyday) and will be having some doggie ice cream tonight :)

I will try my hardest to keep up with blogging from now on! Maybe I'll just start spouting little facts I'm learning here in Illinois! Here is one to start with: people here drive like crazy 15 year old girls who just got their learners permit. It gives me anxiety every single time I have to drive somewhere. The speeding, the tailing, the cutting off...you name it, they do it! But at least it's made me a very focused driver ;)

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving, filled with lots of food, family and friends! I will leave you with a few pictures as usual:

My darling cat of 14 years died a few weeks back. She's was at my mom's house so I missed out on giving her a last hug!

Our Halloween pumpkin display!

She was a baseball player for Halloween

Lovin' her new dog bed from Andy's parents!

Celebrations!

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all have a fun and/or relaxing weekend ahead of you!

A few weeks ago Andy had agreed to accept a position within the lab where his weekends would be thurs-fri and his work weeks would be sat-wed. It's really not too bad because it's rumored to be that weekends days are shorter, and Andy is happy to switch up his schedule a bit anyways! This position wasn't supposed to start for another month but Andy found out Wednesday that it starts this week, which is kind of a bummer since my darling hubby's birthday is TOMORROW! But, since we both had thurs/fri off this week, we've done some early celebrating :) We went to one of our favorite restaurants last night for a yummy birthday (and early anniversary) dinner! We discovered the place back when Andy was first stationed here and we LOVE IT, it's similar to Bennihanas but a million times better!

There were quite a few bday celebrations at our table! This was the bday crew...

Fuzzy picture but this was the best we got!

I gave Andy his present early, since it was a video game he's been dying to get and I figured he should enjoy it on his days off! I'm planning to wake up at 5:30AM with him tomorrow and make him a quick bday breakfast before work :) As for our anniversary on Monday, we both work, obviously, so I'm going to just make a dinner for us at home...with a nice big bottle of champagne of course!

It blows my mind that we've been married for a year (on Oct 1st). We were blessed with the most BEAUTIFUL and PERFECT fall wedding day last year, surrounded by all our family and close friends. If you were at our wedding, you'll know what I mean when I say that I crave our wedding food on a daily basis...gosh that meal was good! We had such a crazy first year of marriage: long distance marriage for 2 months, living in San Diego, adopting our puppy girl (aka our child basically), moving to Great Lakes and getting our first "house!" I'm thinking year #2 might be a bit calmer! I still can't believe that crazy, trouble maker, baseball player Andy Kurkowski kid I met at 15 is my husband! I never imagined I would have such a great husband, I am a lucky lady who's so excited to spend the rest of my life with my handsome stud of a hubby!

BEST DAY EVER

Re-creating our 2007 prom picture :)

And lastly, a picture of our fur child:

She looks so old in this I can't handle it....

Doggie Drama

Hi everyone! Hope all your Monday's went by smoothly!

I can't believe I actually am remembering to blog this week, hopefully I can keep this up. Well, for once there is big news to report that occurred last week. Unfortunately, our puppy Layla was attacked by another dog last week :( I was taking her on a walk through the neighborhood and another dog slipped out the door while it's owner was walking inside. The other dog went straight to Layla and immediately started attacking/biting her. After a lot of screaming, yelling and struggling to get Layla away and get the other dog off, I did manage to get a hold of it's collar and give it back to the owner. Poor Layla was left with about 15-20 puncture/bite wounds & scrapes, as well as had a chunk of her back leg ripped off. I thank God that none of her major arteries were affected and she didn't loose a lot of blood. She went to the animal ER that night where they cleaned her up, gave her some stitches and was prescribed pain meds/antibiotics.

Doesn't show all her wounds, but these are some of them

It was a long week getting all the legal things taken care of. But the county animal control is aware of the attack and will have it on record now. Layla is healing up well, her back leg seems much less tender/sore, all the wounds are scabbing up and her stitches come out Saturday. As for Andy and I, we're doin' okay as well. Layla is our baby and it was absolutely heartbreaking to see her so hurt. I know I will never get the images of another dog ripping up Layla's leg out of my head. But again, I just thank God that she'll heal up well and hopefully be good as new again! So if you read this and you live in our neighborhood, be careful!

Well in much happier news, it's basically fall!!!! I had a mini shopping spree for some fall decor for the house this weekend and the temperatures are dropping! We're supposed to get some rain here tonight and tomorrow and then it'll be in the 60s! YAY! While I do miss things about San Diego, I sure am happy we moved somewhere where I can enjoy the seasons. Andy's birthday and our 1st wedding anniversary are coming up in the next 2 weeks as well so it's just a fun time of year! Andy also has been playing for the hospital softball team a bit and he is loving that. There are also some AMAZING yoga workshops in Chicago that are coming up that I've been thinking of doing!

I know this was kind of a debbie downer post but I'll be back soon with more exciting updates :)

Ohhh Life!

Hey all! I know I'm not blogging as much as I used to but I figure as long as I'm still doing it occasionally, then it's fine :) I had all the time in the world while we were in San Diego to blog exciting things, but now I'm working again and Great Lakes doesn't provide me with much exciting blogging material!

We did manage to make a visit home to Minnesota over Labor Day weekend. It's always a breath of fresh air to spend some time at home! Fall in Minnesota is my favorite, so I've been missing good ol' MN. We hit up the MN state fair of course, where we all ate and drank way too much...but hey, that's just what you do there! The rest of the time at home we tried to lay low and relax with family :) But let me say, traffic on 94 in Wisconsin on the way home that Monday was a nightmare!

Last week was one of those crazy busy weeks, I feel like I blinked it was already Friday. Between my work schedule/errand running and Andy's work schedule last week, we only saw each other in 5 min chunks. By the time Friday came it was nice to actually see my hubby for once! Also, I taught 2 free yoga classes in-store at my work, Lucy, last week for Fashion Night Out. We had a smaller turnout than expected but it was a wonderful networking opportunity for me that I am BEYOND thankful for!

I'm hoping this week isn't such a crazy blur, so I can actually have time to get some stuff done (like an oil change for my car that's about 1,000 miles overdue, whoops!). The low 70s temps this weekend were AMAZING and I'm hoping they are here to stay, even though it's supposed to get back up to 80 this week, darn. Me and Layla did kick off our Monday with a bang by going to the vet so she could get a booster vaccine...which was shot up her nostrils, odd hahaha!

Also, I cannot believe my baby brother started his SENIOR YEAR of high school last week. What? I thought he was still that cute little stinker 5yr old running around! And the thought of my other brother already being over halfway through college is just not right. I know I'm not that old but thinking about this stuff sure makes me feel old!

Anywho, I hope you all have a fantastic week! Fall is basically here folks, enjoy it :)

Just shooting squirrels out of the kitchen window...typical MN!

We had to say goodbye to the motorcycle before leaving it in MN :(

I come home to this at night....

Catch Up

Hi friends! I know it's been awhile since I blogged but life has been busy and there isn't anything too exciting to report :)

Anywho, life is basically just work around here! Andy's almost done with his in-doc process for the command and then he'll start the real work. I am working a good amount as well, which is awesome. It feels SO GOOD to be working again, and I absolutely LOVE my job! Although, it's rough working at store where I literally want to buy everything....I've done good so far and only bought two things ;) I knew working at an athletic clothing store would have it perks and here is quite a big one: they've asked me to teach 2 in store yoga classes next week during our mall's "Fashion Night Out!" So, if you are reading this and  you are in the general Chicago area, make your way up to Northbrook next Thursday and join me!

Both Andy and I were lucky enough to get this Labor Day weekend off to head on home to Minnesota for some relaxation time! Andy is going to ride his motorcycle all the way home so we can store it at his parents and then hopefully sell it. Yes, we are going to sell the bike. It's just not as practical to have on the boring roads of Illinois and we sure could use the money from selling it! But the biggest excitement of this coming weekend....the Minnesota State Fair. It has been KILLING me to see people posting all these pictures of their beers and fabulous fair food. I'm so used to going more than once so I'm going to have to cram alllllll that food in my tummy in one day! Besides the fair, we don't plan on doing much and I'm so excited for that haha. Our visits home are always so packed running all over trying to see all our family members and friends that we end up leaving way more exhausted than we were when we got home!

With me working a lot of nights and weekends, we haven't had too many fun outings for me to tell you about! I did have my first Dave and Buster's experience....fun but a waste of money :) Well, that's really all I have to fill you all in on. I'll try and be a better blogger from now on!

Here are some pictures to leave you with:

The guest room futon is Layla's new hang spot....and I have no idea why she's laying in the position!

I did win enough tickets at Dave and Buster's to get some candy!

So precious! This is a nightly occurance :) my loves!

Better late than never!

Hi friends! Sorry my weekly post is a bit late this week...but hey, better late than never right?

As some of you may know, I got a job! I just had a feeling the whole job scene would work out here :) I'm working for lucy Activewear. I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to work for such a fun company that encourages healthy and happy lifestyles! The coworkers I have met so far are incredibly nice and we've had some awesome fitness/yoga/health discussions...so as you can tell, I'm a happy girl. I also met up with the owner of a gym/training center/chiropractic office to see if they want to add yoga for their clients. It's a wonderful company, but I'm just trying to decide if I would be the right type of teacher their looking for, because I think our views on the benefits and values of yoga may not be the same. But thankfully, my new lucy coworkers know I teach yoga and are giving me the details on more area studios!

My mom and one of my brothers paid us a visit last weekend! My brother had never been to Chicago before so we went into the city most days they were here. We had fun seeing some of the big things such as, Navy Pier, Millennium Park and the science museum (which rocks I might add, everyone should go there if you're ever in chitown!). Also, if you are ever in the Chicago area/suburbs...try and grab breakfast at Wildberry, so so yummy.

Besides our fun weekend, I don't have much else exciting to report! I am keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get work off so we can come home for the Minnesota State Fair (aka heaven) on Labor Day weekend. I haven't missed the fair ever in my 22 years and I really hope this year isn't the first!

Well I hope everyone is having a good hump day...we're almost to the weekend folks! I'll leave you with a couple pictures as usual:

Back at it

Hi friends! As promised, I am back up to my usual blogging schedule, yay! That means life has started to slow down a bit :)

I come with good news too: I have two interviews set up! One is tomorrow with Lucy Activewear and the other is next week. My sweet sweet next door neighbor knows I'm a yoga instructor and has hooked me up with a wonderful opportunity. She goes to a chiropractor that also has a personal training gym in it too. She told them she had a new yoga lovin' neighbor and they told her to have me contact them! Turns out, they are thinking of starting up a yoga program to offer to their clients, so if I was to be a good fit, I would be running my own little set of classes through them! I don't know many more details, or if they'll even want me but we are getting together next week to hash out ideas and chat.

I have looked into a few of the area yoga studios too (there aren't too many, sadly) and the one I've been taking a few classes at said they're always open to new teachers too! But, as I said, there are not many places to get my yoga on in a class setting around here. And being that we live fairly close to some rich areas, yoga here is PRICEY. Kinda a bummer but we're trying to figure out a way to work it into our budget :)

As for new and exciting things besides the interviews, I don't have much else to report! Andy is still getting adjusted to the command, and will be for about another 4 weeks. The area we live is similar to the MN suburbs we grew up in, so I'm finding it very easy to get around. It's definitely opposite of the bustling city of San Diego! But we are still finding ways to have fun :) We took Layla to a dog park for the first time a few days ago...safe to say she was in HEAVEN. This dog park is MASSIVE  and she had a blast chasing around other doggies and swimming. We had some friends over for dinner on Saturday and hit up a Sunday night movie with 2 other couples as well!

Also, I just have to ask: has anyone out there read the books Divergent and Insurgent? They're more written for young adults but wow am I flying through the first book! I cannot put it down. If you read the Hunger Games trilogy and are looking for books that are similar, check these out! And being that they are written for young adults, it's an easy and fast read :)

Anywho I will leave you all with a few snapshots of our new place, all put together! I didn't take a picture of every room because quite frankly it's still a little unorganized...oops!

My two little snuggle-buns! :)