Unpacking= Mission Impossible

I'm pretty sure these packing boxes are breeding. 

 It seems that every time I feel that I'm making progress with unpacking, I find another brown box that hasn't been unpacked yet or a suitcase magically still full of clothes.  It's exhausting.  Once I finally exterminate all of these brown boxes... I don't want to see another one for quite some time!

Thankfully I was able to squeeze in a week of unpacking before I headed back to Florida for my sister's graduation.  Juggling work in the chaos of the trip wasn't easy, but I made it happen!  The first couple of days I spent scrambling to get stuff ready for Kaitlyn's graduation.  :'(  I still can't believe my baby sister graduated high school!  After graduation was over, I enjoyed catching up with friends, movie nights, dancing, Sunday brunch, and even *gasp* a trip to the beach.

                            

Unfortunately my skin no longer appreciates time spent in the sun. I left with funky tan lines and some pretty sweet lobster red skin.  However, it it a step in the right direction (a normal skin tone.)

While in Florida I turned 27!  I don't feel old, but with all these kids I used to babysit graduating high school... it serves as a great reminder that the days of gray hair are getting closer ;)  I'm also reminded that  tomorrow is never guaranteed, and  you have to live life to the absolute fullest!  

                                               

                                         I paid off my car loan!

I've been throwing money at that loan like no one's business since last fall.   I was on track to wrap up 2014 by paying it off, but since we opted not to buy a home, we went ahead and took care of the loan. I am happy that I can start putting my paycheck toward better things like retirement and maybe some new clothes. (my summer wardrobe needs some serious updating) 

Being back in California with my husband and the fur babies has been great.  Speaking of the fur babies... Begley and I are loving living right by a park!  Hannah gets time in her "fun run" in the backyard while Begley and I go for a stroll.  It's glorious! (Minus some bad timing and getting attacked by the park's sprinklers.)

                                 

So back to these breeding boxes... 

We had three people stop by last week to "pick up all of the boxes" and we somehow still have boxes left.  It's ridiculous.  We are now looking at a trip to the recycling center so we can rid our home of the empty boxes.  However, even after that is done, I still have boxes to unpack :(  This weekend we are taking a break and heading over the fairgrounds (conveniently located right up the road) to look at some motorcycles :D  I'm excited!

If you have visited/lived in Northern CA, what do you recommend to go do/see?  My next project is making our CA bucket list!

Farewell Dover!

Our time in Dover has finally come to an end!  

As fun as our time has been in Dover, I am ready to say adios!  Over the past few months we have survived every possible type of neighbor (or so it seems.)  We have had the couple that argues at 4 AM and plenty of families with kids who cry late into the night (or scream their little heads off).  There have also been the smokers,the snorers, the early birds and the late nighters. I am more than ready to settle in a home in California and cocoon myself in the amazing sound of silence (at least that is how I imagine it will be!)

Since arriving in Dover, I have learned to appreciate the simplest of household goods.   Like having a garlic press.Chunky garlic in food is no bueno. I have been longing for our blender so I can make a smoothie. You name it and I'm probably missing it right now.   I am beyond ready to have my car back!  I'm not a morning person, so I was only able to escape the TLF when John had classes that started in the afternoon. 

During our cross county trip last year I took up knitting. Knitting  been a lesson in patience and perseverance. I had to restart a hat when I was halfway through due to a stitch miscalculation. I learned that black yarn is the hardest thing to work with.  And now there are these fingerless gloves I've been working on. *sigh*  If I ever end up in the ER... it will probably be due to an accident involving  double pointed needles. Just sayin'! I can't bring myself to start the second glove and part of me is praying that wearing a single glove will magically become a fashion trend.  

John and I were able to sneak away to DC for the weekend. It was a much needed break from being stuck in a TLF studying/working.  Much to our surprise- it was the weekend for the Cherry Blossom Festival! Museums were packed, but we managed to accomplish a lot during our brief stay.  The weather was fabulous!  My body is apparently super deprived of Vitamin D.  Normally I would burn if I spent two days of trekking around DC, but I only ended up with a little sun on my shoulders. 

It disappeared within two days! :)

What's next for us?.

Another weekend getaway! :)  I haven't been to Boston since I was a kid, so I'm super pumped to go back and do some sightseeing! After Boston, we begin the nice long road trip back south to collect our furbabies! Our parents have been so gracious to watch them for us the past few months. Life hasn't been the same without our goofballs Begley and Hannah :)  I don't know how we would make it to California without Hannah providing her expert navigation skills! ;)

Our visit in the south will be brief, but I will be back at the end of May for my sister's high school graduation! (Holy cow, I can't believe that she is graduating high school! Wasn't she 5 years old yesterday??) 

I'll be blogging our road trip adventure! We are adding a trailer so the pets have more room in the jeep and this will be the ultimate test of my driving skills so be sure to check back! (Prayers are also much appreciated!)

Sweet Home Alabama (and Florida!)

It's always a good day when you are in the south! Thunderstorms, sweet tea, southern accents, and southern charm- I have definitely missed it!

We had a great time spending Christmas in Alabama!

We got to shoot air rifles on base :D It was a ton of fun! In high school I wasn't the best at archery, but air rifles... better watch your back! ;)

John spent some time with his dad and the Mills family working on his C5 plane.

 

The finished product looks awesome and John can't wait to add it to his collection! 

Then there was our time in Florida!

We kicked it off spending New Years Eve in downtown Pensacola! We had a great night of shopping, people watching, and hanging out with friends and family.

  

We also made a trip out to see the Christmas lights at Bellingrath Gardens. Poor John thought it was something we could drive around and see. Nope! Instead we had a nice romantic walk around the park.      Oh darn ;)

At one point during our walk, a kid starts walking beside us rattling on about how he wanted to go visit the north pole.  He finally asked "Can we go to the North Pole??"  I had to break to it to him that he wasn't with us, so I didn't really know.  The kid had no clue who he was walking beside.  He stopped in his tracks and goes running in the other direction! 

At this point, Hannah had been with my family for over a week.  I think she is having a rough time adjusting. She hates my guts, and I think she is experiencing sensory overload.  Too much going on and too many new animals that want to play with her.  I did cherish the times she let me hold her (even if I was having to hold her down)

 The BSC Championship game had my family yelling at the tv for hours. My loving sister (photo below) stole my phone a couple of times and made me look like an Auburn fan! >.<

 I also got to spend some time with my new cousin :)  She is so stinkin cute!  I tried to teach her how to blow raspberries.  She was starting to get it!  Unfortunately she was a little cranky my last day in Florida.  I think it may have been a poopy diaper.  I'll never know.. she got passed to grandma. Let's face it- grandma's have WAY more experience with this stuff than I ever will!

Our time down in the south flew by in the blink of an eye!  We enjoyed getting to spend time with family and  friends.  If we ever don't see you while we are in town- it's not intentional. There are just so many people to see and unfortunately the trips tend to be short.  Best part is, we are back in the Lower 48 so that means cheaper plane tickets and hopefully not being gone for over a year!

So if we missed you this trip- let's make some plans for May!  

We made it!!!

After an exhausting trip, we are finally in the south!!

Since I can never make it out of bed in time to catch the continental  breakfast- breakfast becomes a brownie that we bought back in Utah (it was a moment of weakness and we were starving).  I woke up with a sore throat, so getting cough drops was a definite to do for today!

It was wonderful getting to drive through Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, to Alabama.  It was between 35-40 degrees, the grass was somewhat green, and there was no snow!

We made a gas stop in Mississippi and I found the cutest dog!! He was so small and would have been the perfect addition to our fur baby family!! Unfortunately, John kept saying no :(  I'm sure Begley would have loved another friend to play with!  I guess I'll have to wait until we get to California and see what other dog we can get ;)

We made a stop in Milton, FL to have dinner with the family.  Due to some hectic work schedules we were having Christmas dinner a little early!  I was super excited because I got to meet my cousin- Morgan!  She is absolutely adorable <3

I was really sad to leave Hannah behind.  She'll be staying with my parents while we are in Dover.  Apparently last night my family was having to deal with a stand off with the cats.  Today the cats were eating each other's food- Hopefully they'll become friends soon.

So now we are spending some time in Alabama with John's family.  Begley is enjoying having another dog to play with and John and I are enjoying the warm weather!

I hope you and your family have a wonferful and blessed Christmas!  

Fall is in the Air!

I've been meaning to wrap up this post all week and now that I finally have the time- it's snowing. Go figure.

Having grown up in Florida, I remember experiencing about three days of fall each year. Three days of perfect crisp weather.  I loved wearing flip flops 9 months out of the year, but I didn't realize what I was missing out on until I moved to Alaska- true fall weather and snow :D

Fall last longer than three days... It's amazing. The backyard is full of color and it will only get better!

My days are filled with Pumpkin Spice Lattes and crisp weather.  My nights are filled with the fireplace going, the smell of cinnamon scented candles, and apple cider (courtesy of my husband).  :)  The sweaters, scarves, and boots are slowly beginning to make appearances. Soon there will be pumpkin carving! The best part about pumpkin carving- if we have a repeat of last year, you might find pumpkins still on our porch come December 1st.  :)

Termination dust- the sign that colder things are to come (little did I know how soon)

The mountains are absolutely gorgeous 

Last  week, Fairbanks got their first day of snow. I was beginning to count the days until snow hit Anchorage.  I didn't have to count for long! This morning I woke up and thought it was raining at first, but soon realized that it was snowing.  :) Hannah has been watching the snow all morning. 

This year has flown by- October is right around the corner! Hopefully fall will stick around a little while longer.  I'm not quite ready for waking up extra early to scrape snow off my windshield. ;)

What is your favorite thing about fall?

How a minivan almost ended my wedding day... and other stories about the weeks leading to "I Do"

It's hard to believe the wedding has already come and gone!  Over a year of planning and it was over in the blink of an eye.  I really didn't think I was going to make it the last three weeks.  Poor John... He put up with so much. I remember sitting on the couch crying telling him I could barely tolerate myself and I didn't know how he put up with me.  I'll admit it.... I had been a grouch.  I was overwhelmed with work projects, and with the wedding coming up, my brain was overloaded.  Wedding brain... not as bad a pregnancy brain (so I've heard), but still pretty bad.

I was scrambling to finish stuff the week before we left for Florida. I took off of work early two days before we left.  My goal was to come home and finish a whole bunch of wedding stuff. LOL!  Silly me. My Silhouette cutter kept jamming and the printer was putting lines in all the photos I was attempting to print. Thankfully John managed to fix the Silhouette. The photos simply had to wait.

 This was our forecast for the week.  

Yes, we ended up stocking up on umbrellas for the big day.

After we arrived in Florida, we shopped, did printing for the wedding, put together favor bags, and ran a whole bunch of errands.  All that in between hanging out with the family.  Wednesday night was when I realized that the folder on my desktop that I had zipped and emailed myself didn't have the photos that I had painstakingly sorted and renamed for a wedding reception project. So I had to track down the original emails with the files, re download,  re sort and THEN begin printing. Three hours and many frazzled nerves later, I was done. *Whew*

I think the highlight of the week was applying for our marriage license. Not that the process was that exciting; but how many people can say they applied for their marriage license at the Mental Health Counter? Yep, way to go Escambia County, FL!

 

Friday was a hectic day.  One of my "other mothers", Vickie Mullins, was having her retirement reception that afternoon. So after getting my nails done and picking up the dress, we rushed over to visit and share stories of how she has impacted so many lives.  I'm a little sad over the fact that she is leaving  Santa Rosa UF/IFAS Extension, but she has definitely earned her retirement!

Fast forward to the rehearsal... nothing too crazy.  During the rehearsal I realized that I walk WAY too fast. What can I say? I'm a woman on a mission ;)  It was great being able to take the time to catch up with everyone at the rehearsal dinner. 

After the rehearsal dinner I got to spend some time with all of my bridesmaids back at the hotel.  It was wonderful just to sit and chill for a while.  Well, I say chill...I realized that I needed a different size photo for my guest photo frame.  Thankfully I had an amazing engagement photographer who was able to work some magic and send me a link so I could download pics to have printed. My sister crashed in my room the night before the wedding.  Which wasn't so bad... until I woke up to her laughing in her sleep. That was a little creepy.

So on to the big day... I was a bundle of nerves. I wasn't nervous about getting married.... I was nervous about everything turning out OK.  The event planner part of my brain would not shut down if my life depended on it.  I woke up on the big day and it was raining, go figure.  I went over all my checklists for the reception and relaxed a little before having my hair done by the amazing Amanda Hicks.  After that it was put on my face and grab my bags!

We were finally ready to load the cars and head over to the church!  I was heading over to my twin/bestfriend/MOH, Kaitlin's car when she saved me. A guy was backing out in his minivan and apparently didn't see us behind him.  I just froze. I saw the van backing up toward us and  I couldn't get anything to come out of my mouth. Suddenly Kaitlin starts yelling at the driver to watch where he was going. That was our first close call.

Our second close call was on the way to the church.  I didn't know what side of the church the Pfeiffer house was on, so we had to circle the block again.  Kaitlin forgot that the street was a two way street, not a one way. So I'm on my phone texting someone and I happen to glance up.  I spot a truck waiting patiently at a four way stop for Kaitlin to get on the right side of the street. So I start shouting "Wrong side!! Wrong side!!" and Kaitlin quickly swerves to the correct side of the road. Thankfully, we were able to laugh about it.  :)

The wedding was AWESOME!  I'll never forget making that  turn to walk down the aisle and I hear my friend David whisper "Breathe!!" I almost started crying during the ceremony, but made myself suck it up when I realized that no one had tissues.  I'm so thankful that John got all of his ear scratching out of the way before the ceremony (groomsmen joke).  I am forever thankful that John and I were able to spend our special day with such great friends and family. Looking back, I'm glad I had such a nice gap between the ceremony and reception.  Granted, I thought pictures would take a bit longer than they actually did.... but since pictures ended early (I hired the most AMAZING photographer) the bridal party was able to snag a beer at the Pensacola Bay Brewery which was right across the street from the church.

The reception was legendary! 

  

Such an awesome group of people (and an awesome DJ).  I bawled my eyes out during toasts. All the dancing... and the singing...the reception flew by in the blink of an eye!  At one point I ended up with champagne down my dress, and my bustle came undone so I ended up toting my train around (what an arm work out!).  By the end of the night my feet hurt so much from all the dancing and walking around.   

The rain did let up long enough for John and I to get a few pictures outside.  

We even had a wedding rainbow :D

All in all it was an amazing day, and despite all the craziness I wouldn't trade it for anything. Oh yes... in the midst of all the wedding prep- two days before the wedding, we found out we'll be moving to California in the spring!  John and I are super stoked. Now to figure out how to get out of Alaska with two pets and two vehicles in the middle of an Alaskan winter!

If you are planning a wedding in the Pensacola area- I would definitely recommend these additional vendors that made our day so awesome:

Day of Coordinator- Legacy Event Design

Caterer- Culinary Productions

Bartender- Richey's East

Cake- JB's Cakery & Confections

Going Bridezilla!

Just kidding! 


Almost.

I'm finally a month out from going "Miss" to "Mrs". It's exciting and nerve wracking all at once. I'm excited to begin this next chapter in my life, but I sometimes worry that John will get tired of me testing the fire alarm when I cook dinner. ;)  Planning our wedding has been the most exciting, frustrating, time consuming thing I have ever done. Part of me understands why some women go all "Bridezilla".

Growing up I never spent a lot of time envisioning my future wedding. All I knew was that I wanted a small intimate wedding on the beach. Fast forward a decade and I'm looking at a large wedding in a church. Not entirely too sure how that happened, but I can't complain since I get to marry the man of my dreams :)

Went dress shopping with some friends last August.  It was a blast!

Throughout all the Pinteresting and wedding website lurking I have learned one thing- weddings can make women develop a case of the crazies. If you've ever watched the show Bridezillas, you know how bad some of these women can get. If you haven't watched it- check out this Bridezillas clip.  Seriously, these women need help.  Early on in the planning process, John made the mistake of referring to me as a Bridezilla. I wasn't being one, and now he occasionally gets to watch the show with me to remind him how good he has it. :)  If there is anything that I've learned from Bridezillas, it's how not to act when planning a wedding.  When things have started to fall apart, I do my best to keep myself composed.  Truthfully... this is what I look like on the inside. 

I remember the day I realized that the address that is on the invitations was not the actual address of the church. Yeah... what church buries their physical address in a contract? My church does :)  I cried a lot that day.  Thankfully I was able to laugh about it the next day, and just kept laughing as other things fell apart and I attempted to put them back together.

Truth be told.... I could try on wedding dresses all day.  If only just to mock myself in them.

Planning a Florida wedding from Alaska hasn't been a cake walk by any means.  Looking back, I'm thankful that all the "big" contracts fell into place fairly quickly.  Note to any business owners out there... if someone asks you to not call before a certain time, please don't.  I scratched a handful of vendors off my list because I was receiving phone calls at 4:30 in the morning.  In the end it has been the "little things" that seem to have taken up the most of my time. It shouldn't be that hard  to decide on a hair piece. Well, Google provides over 9 million links when you google "White flower hair clip". Who has time for that????? Don't get me started on programs. Uggg... I don't want to admit how many hours I've spent looking at them. Part of me is tempted to cough up more money and just order some instead of DIY. 

Since I started working, I have done a lot of event planning/coordination.  When I'm planning for someone else, I get my panties in a wad if anything goes wrong.  For myself? I'm a roll with the punches type of person.  Address wrong on the invites? Meh, we'll make phone calls and update everyone. Bridesmaids dresses arriving in different shades of "Tea Rose"? Hey, I get to have a popular ombre themed bridal party! If it rains on my wedding day, you might just find me outside dancing in it. Seriously, I just want August 17th to get here already.

At the end of the day, as long as I'm getting enjoy dinner, drinks, and dancing with the ones that I love- that's all I need.  Despite all the stress of wedding planning, maybe I won't go all Bridezilla after all. Just don't hold me to that day before my wedding, lol.  If you see my eye twitching though, please pass me a drink!