New Year New Happenings

It has been a while since I last did a blog post but I plan on doing better this coming year with monthly or bi-monthly updates!! I wrote this when we got back to El Paso after Christmas but I forgot to post it but here you go! 

This holiday season was quite different for both Eric and me. We had Thanksgiving plans to visit my cousins in Dallas and had a great weekend planned, but we found out last minute that travel paperwork was not properly filed and so technically we didn’t have permission to leave town.  So in one day I set up and created a Thanksgiving meal for Eric, our friend Bob, and myself! It ended up being a great day with great food, football, and the most wonderful holiday movie, Christmas Vacation!!

Our Christmas plans did not work out exactly like we hoped either. We had planned to head to Denver for a friend’s wedding then home to Alabama for a couple of weeks. Well Eric’s leave started later than we thought so making the wedding was out, so we decided to drive, YES DRIVE, across Texas to Alabama! It was a 1500 mile drive from El Paso to Bama. 850 of it was in Texas. WOW!  We thought that state was never going to end! Once we were home we were very excited to see all/most of our family and friends! Also once we were home we were able to pick up a new addition to the Norwood family - Stone.  Stone is a male Boxer which we have named Capstone Button Norwood. The name Capstone after the University of Alabama and the name Button after Benjamin Button - when he was the little old wrinkly man-baby. He is absolutely precious and couldn’t be more snuggly! Ella loved him at first, but after the first night she didn’t understand why he was staying, especially why he was sleeping in her old kennel! Ha! After a few rebellious days, she warmed up to him, and they now love to play together and sometimes nap together! I was dreading the two day trip back to Texas, knowing we would have to stop every couple of hours, and I didn’t know if he would start getting upset being in his kennel that long. To my surprise the trip back across the Southeastern US was easy breezy! Stone and Ella slept most of the time or entertained themselves.   Thank goodness!! Let’s just hope next years’ trip is just as easy with a 60-70 pound dog. 

Now that it is January, oh wait February, and we are settled back in Texas, we have just moved once again.  This move was much easier since we only moved across town and most boxes were still packed from when we arrive here in October. We are very excited to have received a house on Fort Bliss and cannot wait to have visitors come and actually have a room for them!  We hope to see many of y’all over the next few years here in El Paso!! There is a lot to do indoors and outdoors here!

Eric officially has a title at work after a couple of months of in-processing and field time. Eric is now the FDO (Fire Direction Officer) of Alpha Battery 4-27 FA! In garrison, he has many different things he does. Out in the field he has more specific fire direction duties.  In not too many Army terms, he basically makes sure all of the howitzers in his platoon fire safely into the safety boundaries he creates.  

C.Dot Designs is taking off and I am super excited for what I already have booked for this year! If you would like any type of custom invitations, cards, calligraphy, hand-lettering please contact me about anything you would like! You can find me on Facebook  and Etsy  ! 

Furniture Distressing

Distressing Real Wood Furniture

**Disclaimer** This is not going to be one of those blog how to's that goes into a personal story for every step... just as simple as can be =)

    I recently refinished our living room coffee table and end tables and had a few friends and family members ask how did you do that?! Well, first I have spent the last few months looking through Pinterest blog posts for the easiest, cheap way to do it. I did not find one blog that I liked so I took a gamble and combined a few and got this! 

I purchased everything I needed from Lowes:: $46.76 

and remember 10% military discount

Paint Brush 2"(for painting wood)...$7.98

Paint Brush Short Stiff Bristle (for applying stain at end)... $1.15

Foam Brush (for applying stain to top)... $2.44

Dark Wood Stain... Minwax Polyshades Half Pint... $7.97 

Indoor Paint...Valspar Signature 1-Quart Satin Paint + Primer... $15.28

                      ... color Malted Milk 

Sand Paper (220 and 60 grain)... $5.97 each 

Hand Sander... $5.97

I had these items around the house::

Old rag (used at end for sixth step)

Old sheets (for protection, you’re welcome mom!)

Hammer  

First::  I beat up the edges and legs with a hammer just sporadically no certain way.

Second::  I had Eric, my husband, sand the entire top portion which I wanted to just be stained not painted.

Third:: I took off the shelf and painted it and the remainder of the table a cream color.

Fourth:: Eric applied 2-3 coats of stain to the top of the tables. We let it all dry over night

Fifth:: I hand sanded (not with the tool) all the corners and sides of the table to my liking.

Sixth:: This is the somewhat difficult part. For this step I used the same stain from before, a stiff bristel brush, cloth, and damp paper towel. I lightly dip the brush into the stain, dabbed on to the cloth until there was hardly any showing, then lightly coated the sides and edges to make where I sanded pop.  Use the damp paper towel to smooth out where you applied too much stain or edges are not smooth.

Last:: Wait until it is not tacky anymore and you are finished!!  It was that easy peasy!!   

  Hope this helps you out and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask! If you arein the El Paso area and would like me to redo some of your furniture or back home in Alabama ..it will have to wait until Christmas time....I would love to! Just contact me and ask! 

Newlywed Life vs. Field Artillery BOLC

If you are wanting your other half to have a 9-5 job, military is not the job for them. Military of any kind is definitely not just a job but a LIFESTYLE for the entire family. Whether in schools, doing day-to-day jobs, being deployed overseas, moving every few years, or traveling across the world just to visit with family and friends; military life will never be a 9-5 Monday-Friday job. Growing up as an Army brat verses now being an Army spouse it is a bit more intense than before. It has always and will always be an adventure and hopefully soon after we move to our next post and feel settled, as settled as active military can be, I can start my own adventures in my career path.

Newlywed life as an Army spouse has taught me many things already and it has been GREAT, except for Eric being in schooling still. Military schooling is not exciting at all for newlyweds. To me, it sometimes feels like he is back in high school with a master’s degree level of studying. He leaves the house around 5 am for PT, does not get out of class until 5 or 6pm, eats dinner, does homework 6 out of 7 nights a week, heads to bed, and then starts the day all over again. Who wants that as a newlywed? (sad face) At least when Eric has had a bad day for whatever reason, he loves coming home to an overly exciting puppy baby Ella, and smiling wife that has a homemade dinner on the table. Yes, I can now cook!! I do have to say no matter how bored or terrible my day has been it is magically wonderful once Eric walks in the front door! (Even though I know I have his undivided attention for only a few minutes while we eat). At this point in time we both have to be grateful that he is coming home every night and not in the field for weeks at a time or deployed overseas. 

Finally, Eric has finished Officer Bullock for Field Artillery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. No more schooling for a while!! Now, we will head off to our first official duty station in October for the next few years. A recap of Eric's military career to date....

* He was selected to be active military heading to OCS to become an officer in January 2012.

* He started basic training last July 2012 in Fort Benning, GA.

* Once his 10 week basic training was up he immediately started OCS, Office Candidate School at Fort Benning as well.

* He selected Field Artillery as his top branch choice, and as top of his class he was also selected by the military to be in Field Artillery (ARMY BID-DAY)

* He left for Fort Sill, Oklahoma to start Field Artillery Bullock in late February and will do a small Joint Fire Observer two week course next before heading to our first Duty Station!

Eric being in school means we are only in Oklahoma for a short period of time before heading to our next post. In turn, means I, the wife/other half, have no time to find a job and actually work long enough to count for something. Especially since I came along only after we were married late May. With not working and being a summer house wife means I can only do so much each day and in turn I become bored sometimes. Yes, family and friends back home ask me what I am doing with ALLL my free time since I am not working. My answer is usually "Oh you know, keeping the house clean, taking care of our puppy who sleeps 20 hours a day, and anything else I can come up with to do on a day to day basis." haha! Such a hard summer for myself ;) ;) I am however learning to cook and planning our monthly budgets!! Yay! for becoming a grownup! Yet, once I had unpacked, redecorated the apartment a few times, read a couple of books, laid by the pool whenever it is not raining, and met up with other wives every Thursday for coffee, I now have only official orders to look forward to. Once we have our official orders I can start looking for a job in our NEW hometown.

 Moving every few years was not in my original plan for my design career, but since it is what God has put into the works for me, I am currently still figuring out what to do as a job/career/something I love for the next 20+ years before we retire from the military. 

For now, to fill up some of my spare time, I have started a small online based calligraphy, hand lettering, digital media business, C.Dot Designs! I have a Facebook page with some examples and a business shop page on etsy.com –cdotdesigns. Check me out!! I love to do custom work and I can do just about any type of lettering you need!   

****As of last week we received our orders and we are moving to Fort Bliss, Texas in October. Moving to El Paso, Texas also means I am going to be learning Spanish since we are on the US/Mexico border. That will be a fun adventure and makes me question my four years of Latin in High School! ha

Norwood-Vest Wedding ;) Best Weekend Ever!!!!

      Eric and my wedding was beyond one of the best day of our lives!! We already wish we could relive it again every weekend! We loved every single thing about it! Even the unplanned “hick-ups” that came along with the wedding process! Eric, of course being the man, did not have to be involved in every aspect of the wedding planning, but luckily for him; he was also in Georgia and Oklahoma the entire time so he just got phone calls and texts when I needed his input. Now with him being military, we struggled on when to pick a weekend that he could actually attend his own wedding. So we decided on Memorial Day weekend with hopes that he would have that Friday and Monday off.  The entire engagement year I would just joke that I would be fine with having a laptop on a stand and Facetime him during the ceremony, but a wedding and reception was happening with or without a groom physically present…ha!  We did not know until May 13th-ish that Eric would actually be able to come home for the wedding and I would pick him up Friday morning before the wedding at Birmingham Airport! YAY!!! What a relief!

       Friday went by so fast, with having to pick Eric up in Birmingham, get our marriage license, transfer our cell phone accounts to our own, decorate for the rehearsal, and get dressed for rehearsal, meet out-of-towners at the hotel for check-in, and not be overwhelmed!...  Just breath, just  breath, just breath…. Rehearsal was fun and quick but rehearsal dinner was the highlight of the day!! OMG the food was amazing! A family friend, Dana McCutcheon, had a fried tomato bar ready for us when we arrived. It was amazing!! I do not prefer fried tomatoes but the way they were cooked and the sides to go on the mini buns were delish and could have some right now!  Dinner was beautiful and loved all the courses! I even asked for a to-go box and Eric asked me to get the dessert recipe! After dinner it was just casual with getting to talk to everyone and catch up with everyone that does not live near! Then my girls gave me a photo book with a photo of every girl and behind it a letter they had written me… Yep I started crying just looking at the pictures and waited until I was home that night to read the letters! They were all amazing and I am soooo blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life! 

 

      Saturday was the best day of my life so far! I woke up and for the first time in a long time and it felt like any other day.  I was not stressed at all and I did not have a million things going through my mind of what to do.  Once getting to the hair salon, I gave all my girls a letter I had written them over the past few months about how my life would not be the same without them and some favorite memories. I tried not to make them to sappy, because I knew it was going to be a tearful day with those girls. Well, the tears started rolling immediately and even Sarah had to go off to a corner on her own to compose herself-ha!  But no worries, while giving them the letters I also gave them a handkerchief – monogrammed with ‘No Ugly Crying’ and the wedding date.  They came in handy many times throughout the day!

       Just like having a first look with the groom I had a first look with all the girls! Once getting to the Magnolia Room, all the girls got dressed in the bathroom, and then lined up facing the wall in the reception room.  I got dressed in the bridal suite with my mother and then I came out and had all the girls turn around at the same time! Ohh it was sooo fun and a last minute idea the photographer came up with! Then we all headed to the Old Decatur Bank to have the first look with my groom! We had him stand at the end of the brick drive and I walked through the iron gate towards him and it was perfect--  except he didn’t cry… haha! Eric and I had a joke going on about how he had to cry on my prettiest day! Oh well typical guy! The pictures were amazing and so fun to do!! We could not have asked for better weather; not to hot and a bit breezy!

      Waiting for the wedding to get started we all were having some fun times down in the basement of the church just relaxing and getting excited.  Well there were some funny hick-ups while waiting that I found out about later. First, a pew broke, as in the legs snapped and was on the floor. Then two groomsmen hauled it outside. Second, we had chairs taken upstairs because I thought it was a packed house, which freaked mom out; but it ended up being because of the pew breaking. Third, before we knew it, it was time for the wedding.  As we were all starting to get lined up downstairs for the ceremony someone asked if Robbie, the pastor, was here…hummmm?  I had not been paying attention to it, just like everyone else had not noticed. A quick call later we found out he was still at home and had been thinking the ceremony started at 7pm not 6pm! Can you imagine if we went through the entire processional and had all the wedding party in place and only then realized no pastor!  Now that would have been a story! But Robbie lives close to the church and he was there in ten minutes and we still started on time. He did an amazing job just like we knew he would, and even got Eric teary eyed!

      The reception was amazing and everything went perfect! The food was delicious! The cakes were gorgeous and great tasting! My photographer even set up a preview of pictures from throughout the day on her ipad—I loved that! Eric and I had an amazing time dancing to our wonderful oldies band – The Sweet Yung’uns! So much fun!  AND we got to leave in an old red convertible, with an Alabama shaker walk-through! We even got to have an after party down the street at a local bar! Could not ask for a better day! I ended it with a crying session with some close life-long friends; who we have never been apart realizing --yep I’m moving to Oklahoma in a few hours! Wow, that snuck up on us quickly! All I have to say is having a wedding as a going away party is the best idea ever! All your close friends and family are there! What a better send off!

      Eric and I woke up Sunday as man and wife and headed back to Hartselle to finish packing up the car.  We headed out mid-day on our two day trip to Oklahoma to our new life in marriage and military! Best weekend of our lives!  Wooo hooo!!



Wedding Planning from a Southern-Over-Organized Girl

     Now having gone through the entire wedding process and having one of the best days of my life, I can give my helpful tips and thoughts!

1.       Do not have super high perfection expatiations for the planning process.  I am an over organized, over planned type of person. Knowing that, I went into the wedding planning process thinking NOTHING could go wrong –I was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!  I loved the planning process but having to work through all the little “hick-ups” that came along was disappointing.   No matter how organized you are, you cannot plan for others to be as organized (i.e.: vendors, shop owners, etc.). I had all my hick-ups before the big day and every time one happened I just kept telling myself “it is happening now because the big day will go smoothly” which it did!!! BUT here are some tips to help make sure your vendors are on top of their game…

a.       FIRST THINGS FIRST! Once engaged, figure out how big and who you could not have your big day without! Then once that has been decided give a max number to each party (bride, groom, brides’ parents, grooms’ parents) that way everyone is equal. Now when planning an over the top wedding this should not be a problem, but when wanting a more personal wedding and having a smaller church and reception venue, the issues of who not to invite comes up on every side.  

b.      Give yourself at least a year to plan the big event! We personally did not have a hard time finding a venue for the reception but I have close friends and family who are, and are over a year away and cannot find a thing…EEEEEE !

c.       After ordering items call that next week to make sure they ordered it correctly – extra items you added, correct color of dresses, correct sizes, etc. This may seem excessive but believe me when you go to pick up the Groom’s ring 5 months after ordering it and they have not even order it yet, because they wrote your number down wrong and had been trying to call you for an issue they came across, you don’t want the freak out I had-- with my migraine!   

d.      Pick vendors you have only heard great things about and once meeting them you have full confidence in them. Once meeting my wedding guru, Bruce Roy, who did our flowers, catering, and cakes, I knew he would do an amazing job and all I would have to do is show up and everything would be perfect – which it was! Now once meeting with the store owner who ordered the bridesmaid dresses – she seemed a bit scattered minded So I did call her to check on things often; and she still ended up getting a few things wrong.

e.      LAST …Do not freak out over things—small or big! Just keep calm and figure out how to fix it quickly. I had one freak out, but in my defense, it was just because a few “hick-ups” happened the same day and to top it off I had a migraine. At least that is what I am going to blame it on! ;) ;)  I have to say I do over-react most times when things do not go my way but with this process I surprised myself in staying quite calm and somewhat laughing it off from time to time. I do believe the phrase by the end we used was “Can’t win for losing”

Now how I stayed organized was this…

1.       Get a wedding notebook to keep everything in. Such as, contracts, business cards, bridesmaid dresses, groomsmen tuxes, notes, ideas. Etc.

2.       Find a check list online for wedding planning with timeline and tweak it for what you want.

3.       Set up a calendar schedule for when to do things and order items by.

4.       Pinterest is a great reference for ideas but you must stop looking once it’s only a few months away!

5.       Start a Facebook group for the wedding that way everyone gets the same info. Also I started a group message with just the girls because they have and do more during the wedding process than guys do.  

6.       Plan out how you want your day to go. Figure out what is important to you for the big day and how you want it to flow. Then talk with your photographer. My photography Ashley Victoria Photography was amazing to work with!! She took all the things I wanted to incorporate and then gave me a minute to minute timeline for the entire day including the photos of who, when, and what time!!

7.       Plan out your rehearsal the same way and/or talk with you planner on how you want it to look like at the church before you get there so it can go smoothly and quickly!

8.       Once it gets closer and closer, it will get a bit more stressful and just remember to keep calm and make sure all the small things get finished early and not to wait until the last minute.  If you think of things the week before the wedding just don’t do it. If you’re just then thinking of it, I promise you it will not matter after it is all said and done!

       Example: My mother and I had planned out months in advanced what we wanted to put on the entry table at the church, which included a burlap runner with a smaller lace runner placed over it.  The day of rehearsal my mother decided she wanted to thread a navy blue ribbon through the lace--yes it looked nice, but that is definitely one thing we did not need to be dealing with the day of the rehearsal!!! Believe me when I say the week of your wedding may seem like it is going by so slowly when you’re waiting for you big day; but once it is Thursday during wedding week you cannot believe the week flew by so fast! It is now just a blur and don’t even know what I did the week of the wedding!

9.   Add little things that makes the big day reflect you and him! Eric and I had funny childhood pictures on the bathroom door at the rehearsal dinner. Then at the wedding we had pictures of ourselves and couple pictures on the tables. We also had a framed timeline of our relationship, a reminder about staying around until our send-off at 10, and personalized mints to go with our Wounded Warrior cards.

10.  Have the time of your life!!!

The Official Start of Army Life & Firsts

    The OCS Graduation and Ball were firsts for Eric and myself.  I somewhat knew what to expect for the Ball since my parents and brother have been to MANY over the years! 
    The best part of any Ball is of course getting "all prettied up" and wearing a fancy dress!! After a long, four hour drive to Columbus, GA, Eric and I changed and got all pretty for the evening events. First there was a cocktail hour, where I got to meet most of Eric's good friends from the course.  They ALL were fascinated by my Southern accent and kept asking me questions so I would keep talking.  After the cocktail hour there was a receiving line, where the commander and his wife, their guests, and guest of honor and his wife all greet you formally to the event.  After walking through the line we were escorted to our table where we had a series of toasts and an amazing meal, then the guest speaker spoke. After all the formally planned events, the dance floor was open and the rest of the night was laid back! Cannot wait for our next one! 

    Two days later was OCS Graduation and Eric's Commissioning Ceremony.  It went smoothly just like any other graduation ceremony but the crying babies were OOC (out of control)!!  Given there will be children at every military event you attend; but I felt like every crying child in the room was sitting all around me and no parent decided to carry them out of the room.  Needless to say I did not hear or know what the guest speaker was talking about during the graduation ceremony or what was exactly going on. =)  

     Eric then was able to come home for two weeks and work at the local recruiting office before he had to report to Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  While home in Hartselle, we packed up and moved all of our belongings!!! And yes we did have our first casualty of the moving process... I had a gorgeous elephant shaped bottle of Italian wine (for decor use only), fall in slow motion to the ground and shatter in front of my eyes.  Yes, I did shed a tear! If ever we find another bottle like it, I will never let it out of my personal reach again!  After arriving in Fort Sill, Eric found us a townhouse to call home for a few months, unpacked all of our lovely moving boxes, and now says he will never be doing that again on his own. "It's to overwhelming!" HA! Eric and I will be doing a ROAD TRIP back to Fort Sill after the wedding and I then get to join him in all our crazy military adventures yet to come!! 

HO HO HOOAH!!!

Eric and I had our first taste of a Military Holiday this year as a couple.  I, coming from a military family where no one lived in the same town as us, to a family now that one side lives in the same town and the other two hours away, have been used to having to travel on and around holidays. Eric, coming from a family where everyone lives in the same town, is not; so this year was a bit different for him and will be from now on..... 

In a span of 48 hours we attended 2 dinners each with a present session, one early morning Christmas with presents and breakfast, one 4 hour round trip for a quick 2 hour lunch, and one late night stocking present session. That equals FIVE Christmas' in TWO days!! WOOOO lets just say it was a long-fun-family filled two days with tons of laughs (and for me lots of mini naps).

Not only is our norm of traditions now changed forever when it comes to Christmas.. so is our families. A lot of people do not realize that when active in the military it changes/touches everyone lives who is your family and close friends, not just the couple who has joined. This year ran very smooth and since we are not married yet and still stay at our own families houses nothing dramatically changed. But once we are married and once both of my parents retire and move out of Hartselle things will most likely dramatically change at least on mine and Eric's end. I see in our future a late Christmas Eve in Hartselle and a long/early drive to wherever my parents retire to so we can be there on Christmas morning for presents with my family....  And we will love every minuet of it! 

Hopefully we will never have to do what my brother and sister-in-law, Lauren, are doing this holiday. The 20th of December movers came to move them out of Fort Bragg, NC and they then moved (most things went with the Army movers, some came with them) with two cars, two dogs, a U-Haul, and all the families Christmas presents in tote to Hartselle/Gadsden/B'ham/Arkansas for Christmas and report for move-in at Fort Polk, LA after the New Year! OH WHAT FUN!! 

With only 132 days until our wedding (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Things are coming full circle in the planning phase... We sent out our Save-the-dates just yesterday, a month late but they are finally out and in the mail!!!! This coming weekend most of the bridesmaids are coming into town to be fitted for their dresses and I am super excited to see them!!!!! As of right now I do believe the only things we have left to plan / schedule is the wedding invitations themselves, hotel rooms, and mother dresses... WOO HOO!!! Now if Pinterest could quit showing me cute wedding ideas we would be as good as gold!!!!