snickerdoodling

oooh, i'm in love! i am a big fan of my most recently discovered blog, smitten kitchen. Deb's fun and new perspective on cooking is bringing me endless joy! i just popped some of her snickerdoodles into the oven, and discovered really quickly that i'm no pastry chef. after getting all worked up and flustered over the cinnamon burn-off, i forgot that i had turned off the oven, thinking i had killed the cookies. it was 10 long minutes of wondering why the cookies weren't baking before i realized what i'd done. sigh...i'm sure they will still be delicious, but i am a little bummed that no matter how inspired i get by these incredible recipes and artful food-geniuses, it's just not my forte. ah, well, more practice maybe?

the goal...

the final product...

not too shabby, huh? :)

holy moly!

talk about an after-the-fact post!
what a whirlwind the last few weeks (almost month!) have been. we are moved in and settled in our new desert hideaway and i'm beginning to get used to the heat...kind of.
puppy Wilson made it home and got comfortable really quickly:) he's getting so big already! he's just over 3 months old, and is chewing on EVERYTHING! he's so much fun though, and keeps me company when P is out in the field all week (which is practically all the time).
we have had some friends of ours staying with us since last week, Gina and her little baby Taylor have been here since last tuesday, waiting for Papa Joel (P's best friend and old roommate) to come home from his tour in Jordan. they flew all the way from Minnesota to surprise him when he got off the bus early early in the morning. he was totally blindsided, and it was lovely to see their little family back together again. They'll be headed back to Minny on Friday.
Patrick has been in the field since monday, and spent most of this week there last week too. They're getting really busy with training in preparation for deployment, so i don't see much of him, but it's amazing to be so close (finally!)
i'm finding it hard to catch up on endless days of excitement, so i'll let the photos and videos speak for themselves:)
mid-year-resolution: blog more!

Our neighborhood at the base of the mountains

My first attempt at a berry pie--no one said it had to be pretty!

Snuggled up with Dad, looking more like a teddy bear than a puppy

Naptime

Sushi with my beautiful friends!

It really doesn't get any cuter...

A blast from the past--Gina found this on her phone. Joel & P's love-bird picture from almost 2 years ago!

:)

Cleaning out the stickers...

Pals

A true fan

He found the gnome...

Pool time!

Helping the hubby with his promotion packet at work...

On our way home from Palm Springs--too hot!

Wilson's new favorite sleeping position

On our evening walk

Desert sunset

Trotting along

More naptime

Reunited at last!

Taylor and Joel

new things

Well, it sounds like I've found myself a job! I will be working from home as a Book Creator and Editor for BiblioLabs, a publishing company whose goal is to renovate and republish public domain and historic texts to make them accessible to a 21st century audience. I will be given the opportunity to create series of books relevant to whichever subjects I find interesting in the seemingly endless knowledge buried within the public domain and submit them for publishing. The books created within this program are sold on Amazon, and make up quite a unique and eclectic variety of informative texts.
No matter which way you look at it, the job is a great first step--a foot in the door. Working from home will be a huge blessing, considering our unpredictable and constantly changing military schedule.

In other news, Patrick is spending his week at Camp Pendleton this week, going through what sounds like a really interesting exercise: Infantry Immersion Trainer. Created to simulate a Middle Eastern town, the compound gives the marines a hands on chance to engage in situations they can except to encounter in country. However frustrating, exhausting, and difficult the commentary from my husband has made the ordeal sound, all in all, it sounds like a pretty important part of their training cycle.

In even BETTER news, we have one (and a half!) more days until we're finally together again! I keep repeating to P how thrilled I am that "see you on Thursday" doesn't also mean "but only until Sunday afternoon when we have to say goodbye again." For the first time in 2 years, I'll get to see him off to work in the morning and still be there when he gets home:) As wonderful as this new chapter is going to be, I think we're both ready to get past the next 4 or 5 days. Between graduation, packing, moving, unpacking, puppy-hunting, and now both of us getting ready to start work after a long week, I think we'll be ready for a normal, less stressful week.

may my heart always be open

may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know
and if men should not hear them men are old

may my mind stroll about hungry
and fearless and thirsty and supple
and even if it's sunday may i be wrong
for whenever men are right they are not young

and may myself do nothing usefully
and love yourself so more than truly
there's never been quite such a fool who could fail
pulling all the sky over him with one smile

lists

One thing I have been wanting to do for some time now is make some lists. Yeah, yeah, I  make about 15 a day, but I  mean book lists. Read, reading, want to read, re-read, etc. This might sound like a simple task, however, many of the books I've read were borrowed and therefore cannot be quickly logged with a quick look to my bookshelf. On top of that, the few (many, many, many) running lists of want-to-reads are buried in at least 10 different notebooks, on the back of 4 or 5 graded and (hopefully) returned papers, on my calendar, in my phone, within letters upon letters from my sweet book-loving pen pals. Needless to say, it might be the first real chore I take on after I run out of interest in being lazy after graduation. I know there must be some fancy and fun way to start said lists on this site, but that in itself will take some time to figure out. :)

blessings

As May comes to a close along with the four year long, grueling, painful, difficult, challenging, but WONDERFUL phase of my life that was the journey towards a Bachelors Degree, I am finding all sorts of beautiful things (and people) to be grateful for. Each accomplishment, friendship, or relationship has required plenty of work and however stressful they may be at times (and however often I am convinced the strain might actually kill me), they are all (and will continue to be) worth it.

1. A B.A. in English. I cannot describe in a few sentences, and perhaps not even in a novel, what this stands for. However, in about a week, I'll at least have a furry little dude like this one who will remind me every day how hard I worked.

If he's still around a week from Monday, he's ours! :)

 2. A marriage, and an official certificate to prove it:) A symbol of some of the hardest work Patrick and I have ever put into something as well as a symbol for all of the growth and adventure we will experience together from here on out.

3. A home. Although moving has caused some of the most intense stress I've dealt with in awhile (this coming from a college student...yikes!), the boxes, the sticky packing tape, and the not being able to find a darn thing ANYWHERE (despite my incessant labeling), the payoff is going to be beyond worth it. Living with my husband, spending real, uninterrupted time together is by far one of the greatest gifts.

4. A Bronze Star with V for Valor, awarded to my courageous, hardworking, compassionate husband during a long deployment in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

5. Friends who are family. THIS little darling, Miss Taylor Rose Fadden, her beautiful Mama Gina, and her wonderful Daddy Joel. Gina and I married best friends and have found a way to build a very similar friendship from opposite sides of the country. So very lucky to have them in my life and so excited for all sorts of things to come ;)

The prettiest girl in Minnesota. And probably the world.

The prettiest parents, too!

6. People with big hearts who deserve big things. (i.e. Katy & the little Popcorn in her tummy)
7. Parents. Always.
8. Preschool pals & orange hand-me-downs that make Giants Baseball even more fun

home!

This time-between-posts business is killing me! But I really will have so.much.more.time after the next two weeks get moving.
but, SPEAKING OF MOVING! :) P and I and found a house! It's a very cute, perfectly sized 2 bedroom 1 bathroom home in Twentynine Palms. It was only the second place we looked at this weekend, and it was exactly what we were looking for! (Including a few fix-ups for Patrick's entertainment:)) We are still on to move in on the last weekend of the month, and I CANNOT wait! :)

LOVE IT! :)

front porch...

red garage:)

back porch

the husband enjoying our desert view:)

SHADE!!!

 Things have been pretty nuts around here for the last week or so, as I'm finishing my last few papers (EVER!) and prepping for finals, moving, graduation, etc, etc. It's been cloudy and gloomy the last few days, which has actually helped my motivation levels seeing as I have a painfully hard time staying in to study when it's 80* and gorgeous outside.
I took my final "trip" to 29 this weekend to house hunt and relax a little, and P and I had a lovely time. A BBQ with some friends on base, some really delicious pizza (Pie for the People), and a movie date were just what we both needed. One more weekend of our 7 hour distance (I'm afraid to ask how much we've spent on gas in the last 2 years :/) and until we're living happily in our new home (with a new puppy coming soon!)
Sending love,
-K