Every Thing Comes with Change

With moving for anyone many things change and adjustments are made. You have to get used to your new surroundings, new neighbors, finding your way around town, places to eat, new date night places, new job, house, friends, traffic, weather, style, country living vs. city living. I mean the list goes on and on. One of the things that I didn't think would be a huge change or adjustment for me has been one of the biggest adjustments. I've never been that person that loves loves to go grocery shopping but I certainly did not mind it either. When we lived in Hawaii the hubbs and I always went together. I wouldn't of had it any other way. It was my first time ever grocery shopping for my family (even if it was just the two of us, so it was a bit intimidating.) Once we PCSed to a The South 90% of the time I had to go by myself because of the hubbs job and life on the trail he was always working weekends and not able to go. I got used to it and frankly ended up liking it better that way. You see it saved us a TON of money. I'm one that has a list, a strict list and I stick to my list. If it's not on the list I do NOT get it. There's not if ands or buts. I prioritize our income and budget out everything, (of course that's a personal choice we choice) it's worked out really well for us. But when the hubbs would come along we would get extras here and there and they add up, quickly might I add. So I learned a routine to shop on my own and it worked. I enjoyed it. We've always shopping at the commissary on post, its easy convenient and makes much more sense when you think about the prices at local or big name stores. Even now living off post in TN I still shop at the commissary here but boy has that been the biggest headache ever. The first time we went in was when we came up and signed on our house to. So it was a quick in and out. It felt overwhelming because it was so much bigger. I felt out of place because it wasn't "my commissary" were I shopped regularly. I know it would become "mine" over time but goodness I didn't expect it to take this long. I could go in to the commissary at Jackson or even the one on Schofield and go right to what I needed but here nope not happening. I've already been multiple times and I still hate that place. Its so big, its set up completely different and so backwards. They have household items spread all through out the store instead of having them in one section together. The refrigerated stuff and freeze stuff is completely separated and spread apart. As well as the lunch meat, bacon, and breakfast items. Then through in the pet stuff smack in the middle of a random aisle and the cleaning stuff no, lets not put it all together on one aisle we will take up two that aren't even side by side. The bread section is again split in to two areas and is right in the front of the store, its almost as it your walking out to go back to the bread section before checking out. On and don't get me started on the people here at the commissary. I though it was bad shopping with all of the elderly retired service members at Jackson. Shoot here lets just stop in the middles of the aisle and walk back and forth until I find what I need. No reason to push my cart to the side out of the way. I passed one girl in there the other day with headphones on and she said as I passed her "OMG, you scared the crap out of me." Well maybe you should take your jam session some were else because there's people here trying got shop and avoid your dance party in the aisle. Another couple stops in front of the can goods and decides to have a make out session. Another has her entire family, husband and three kids two carts completely full and walks side by side down the aisles while they allow their children to help pick the items off the shelf. Don't get me wrong I"m all about letting the kids help but stick to one side. I seriously HATE that commissary and don't know if I'll ever get used to it. I still don't know my way around it. At Jackson I knew what aisles I didn't have to go down because I didn't need anything on it. Here NOPE, I find myself back tracking several times trying to make sure I got everything on my list. Its so so so annoying, I try to be quick about it, in and out but that just doesn't happen. I never though I'd get so frustrated shopping at the commissary. I avoid going on payday or even the day after so that I don't have to deal with that made rush so its not even that. I know its a new store, new lay out and its just going to take time but holy crap how much time. On the plus side I have our shopping trips down to once a month. Have you ever had problems or difficulties learning your way around a new commissary? Just one of the joys about moving I suppose, life as a milispouse right!!! 

Back on the Streets

After what seemed like a eternity I finally slipped back into my running shoes at the beginning of the month. I took 4 months or so off with the move, stress of finding a new job and finding my grove in TN. Now that things have finally settled down, I've been hitting the pavement regularly and I feel so good about it. I started off short and slow and have built back up slowly. I wake up pack my bag and I don't even think twice about it. Most day's that is. I have been running on my lunch from work and this past week the weather has been pretty great. Not to hot, Not to cold. But the weeks before that its been horrifying hot. I'm trying not to push myself to hard but knowing what I have accomplished in the past makes me want to get back to that point. Sooner rather than Later ideally. One day at a time, One step at a time. I don't want to hurt myself again, training for my half I pulled a ten-dent in my leg which was awful. Friday I pushed through 5 miles straight, of course my time wasn't were it was at my last 10K race but I was pretty pumped with my end results. I've been helping a co-worker / friend over the last few weeks with running. She started off walking a few miles on her lunch, and slowly started running. Started at .5 miles and now she's up to 3.5 miles not straight only stopping once or twice but she's doing fabulous and to know that I've helped her get to were she is makes it all that much more worth it. Running has been a huge stress reliever for me and has helped me in so many ways, starting with feeling better about myself. B (friend from wrk) and I signed up for our first 5K. It'll be my first of the year and her first ever!!! It's not till October, we couldn't find anything sooner in our area. But we are still looking. I'm excited to get back in to racing, no I'll never win top in my age group or anything like that but I love the rush you get from it. And the since of pride from accomplishing each run and race. 

Just a bit of running selfie over load!!! 

Just a little bit of Life Lately!

* When we lived in the South I went home every day for lunch just about. Here in Music City State its not exactly convenient for me to go home for my lunch. I found a great lunch spot down the street from were I work. Its called Dunbar Cave Park. 

There's picnic tables surrounding the lake, a couple different walking / running trails, and some old Caves with lots of wild life full of nature. Makes for some relaxing lunch breaks. 

I've managed to take a couple run's through the trails on my lunch which is the perfect way to clear my head. 

     

*Hubbs and I went for a random date night drive a couple weeks ago. We kept driving North towards Kentucky and eventually crossed the boarder. Hey who am I kidding we live like 15 minutes away from the state line. Hubbs said he figured we'd head this way and check out the area to see what we could find. Let me tell you we found a pretty darn fabulous Mexican joint. We left stuffed to pieces!! So Bueno!!!! 

*We found a local German Bakery / Deli near down town and decided to stop and check it out one afternoon. We picked up a couple different loafs of bread and made a few delicious bites with them. One of our favorites was Bruschetta. This was a first for me, making homemade bruschetta but it turned out fabulous and we finished the whole loaf off in one night. Not to worry we turned it in to our dinner and I ended up not cooking that night. 

*I made a pit stop on my way home the other evening when I got a FaceTime call from these two beauties!!! I was so excited to see them and talk to them both. Sweet Little Lu is getting so big and really starting to talk so well. Its crazy that she was so tiny when she started in my class almost two years ago now. There may be miles upon miles between us now but I'll always love them to pieces!!! 

*I start most my mornings here before heading to work. I generally get up, get ready, make some toast or a bowl of cereal and enjoy it out on our back deck with the pups. Watching the sun coming up, the birds chirping and the pups running around the yard. Its my "ME" time before my day really gets started away from everything just out our back door. I can't wait to add more flowers, outdoor decor and seating to spice up the deck. Its one of my favorite parts about our new home. 

Happy Birthday 'Merica

Just a little fun art we did at school last week during class. We talked about Independence day, learned the Pledge of Allegiance, had a Picnic outside for Lunch and even read books on Fireworks. 

The kiddo's really seemed to enjoy all different fun activities we had planed for them and the best part about the whole thing was…..it was a 4 day school week!!! Holla!!!! 

We had a low key celebration this year, we talked about going to a few different Fire Work shows in the area, even down in Nashville but we really didn't want to have to deal with the after math of the traffic getting home. So we opted to stay home and do a little grilling on the patio. Earlier that day we went out and did a little shopping for some things around the house. We also checked out the local mall here, it actually wasn't to bad for such a small country area. A few store defiantly worth going back for. After a quick lunch we headed back home to start on dinner.

 It was just going to be the two of us, I had invited a couple people from work over but they had other things going on. Our friends B & C were outta town and so it was just going to be the two of us. After I got to cooking and putting everything together I realized we had a lot of food for just the two of us. That tends to happen every so often. lol Lucky we had been out chatting with our neighbors earlier and they had mentioned they were grilling out as well. I decided to go over and see if they'd want to join us instead. They so kindly took us up on our offer and joined us for dinner. 

We spent the next 4+ hours outside on our patio enjoying their company, getting to know them better and watching the fireworks through the tree line behind our house. We eventually carried the conversations inside, were we spent the next 2 hours chatting away. It was a great evening and it couldn't have worked out better. Simple, relaxing with great company and yummy food. Who could of asked for a better way to celebrate America's Independence!!! 

I didn't take to many picture but we did have quite the feast: Grilled Chicken & Bison Kabobs, Grilled Veggie Kabobs, Twice Baked Potatoes, Roasted Corn and Homemade Strawberry Coconut Cake with Homemade Buttercream Icing.