This is Home

So a few of you may remember when I was on Twitter asking about places in SC that you would recommend to live in, and what other states you might consider? Well, Eric and I had talked about moving within the next 1-2 years.. but then people were getting murdered, riots and of course extreme weather issues happened. 

We talked then, and still talk now, about the pros and cons to living in North Dakota as a long term possibility. I definitely didn’t see myself staying here long term, but the more I look at the rest of the world, the more I really don’t want to leave. 

I grew up knowing the following:

-Real friends are few and far between. 

-Most people just want you to do things for them and have a one sided friendship. 

-It is better to be a loner. 

Guess whose parents were wrong?! Mine. 

Moving here was definitely an eye opener. For starters, most of the people here are genuine. Seriously! Second, I’ve never had people offer to help me with so much before. When I had to unexpectedly move out of my first apartment here, my friend of less than 5 months was eager to help me move! That’s insane, usually I have to bribe people, but here its just something people do. I’m not saying everyone is like this, but  a lot of people are. 

Now the other good things about ND? 

-Close to Eric’s family. 

-Good school system. 

-It has jobs, lots of them, and that’s awesome. 

-The Northern plains bubble, it’s a thing. 

Not so good things? 

-Cold. I was raised in AZ and the coldest place I’d been to before this was up in the mountains of AZ or OR.. which doesn’t even compare to this place. 

-Long distances from city to city. 

-The closest Ikea, “big” Sephora and Cheese Cake Factory is 4 hours away. 

Granted some of the not-so-great things are things that are sometimes seen as a good thing. Do I like long car rides? HECK YES! In fact, I like driving in general so maybe that’s not too bad.. the whole Ikea thing? It’s a treat to go to the cities and see friends which makes it that much better. 

I guess in all, what I’m trying to say is: This is home. 

This is where we will probably get married and someday, God willing, have children. 

Intermission

Sorry for not being as active but, I've been incredibly too busy enjoying a vacation with Eric and his parents! I will resume regular blogging when I return. Hope your February has started off as amazingly as mine. 

Where'd ya go?

So it's been awhile, again. I know this isn't very surprising, but I have made a goal to blog more and to take advantage of this being one of my creative outlets. This last year had been an interesting one where I just had to deal with a lot of stress. 
I guess I should start with what the heck has been going on the last few months. I got a seasonal promotion at work that went bust because of a lack of permanent positions. Between then and now I went home for the first time in almost 7 years, but I'll dedicate a post to that in a few weeks. When I came home my apartment was trashed. I mean there was trash, dirty dishes, clothing and just... ugh... so many things. I know you're all wondering why, well I'd asked Mike to move in repeatedly since August because he didn't have a bed or a place to live.. he also didn't really have the funds to do anything. I felt bad and I made a bad decision. I broke up with him and it was nice.. it felt like we were able to be friends. 
Around this time I started to hang out with my co-workers more, we had a weekly dinner at a local place called Rhombus Guys (delicious) where we would draw inappropriate things on the table and just hang out. It was after our first dinner that Eric and I decided to not go our separate ways and hang out for the rest of the night (11/28). After a fun night of talking and listening to music while driving all over the Grand Forks I went home where I thought about Eric, a lot. We have a lot in common and I just kind of sat around for the next week doing my hair, wearing makeup and enjoying the crush that I had discovered. I didn't realize that Eric was in the same boat -we had one thing that we didn't see eye-to-eye on- and the next weekend when we all went out to dinner our mutual friend Amy kept asking why we wouldn't just "date" among other ideas that she had for me. But when they all left for the night Eric and I went around and chatted about our wants in life, what we want to do, where to go etc... and it was around 530 in the morning that we decided that we were a "thing" now and, I quote, "this is happening, huh?" 
So on 12/6/14 Eric and I decided to date.. and for the last month + has been pretty freaking amazing. But now I'll leave you with a pretty sweet picture and the promise to post more in the very near future!

PS this is us at a UND (Sioux) game last night (1/9/15) where I actually watched, and enjoyed with my sweet hunky man. 

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 26!

So I recently turned 26.. I had this list of 26 things I wanted to do before I turned 26, but not all of it got done. The past 8/9 months have taught me a lot about myself, others and my inability to stop drinking coffee.. I have a serious problem. 
So my birthday was pretty fantastic, I was surrounded by friends who are like family and my fantastic boyfriend who went above and beyond to make me feel special. He brought me flowers at work and my dearest BFF Tresa said "awwwwww" super loud, I was a little embarrassed in a cute way. Mike loved it. 

Also I got this fantastic egg filled with wonderful things from my coworker Amy, and the story behind this is.. I give eggs filled with random things I find in the office to my managers so Amy got me one and to her it was "the best 45 minutes ever!" 

After work my wonderful group of friends went to Sakura in Grand Forks and celebrated. I love that my friends all took turns to take sake to the mouth, can we say num nuns? The chef was super funny too and I got sushi which was delicious.  
Below is a bunch of pictures for you to enjoy and possibly giggle at. Yes I am wearing a dragon hat, I did want to steal it and I did walk around the restaurant with it on. 

The only "decent" picture of us, haha.. I'm a terrible person for making so many faces.

Meet my BFF Tresa, this is a totally normal face, we both make similar faces. 

Also I want to give a shout out to my friend Laura who drew me this beautiful picture of Brutus. Honestly, this is was one of the most amazing gifts I've ever received she made me tear up! 

Aside from all of the fun I had with my friends, I was also surprised with a new MacBook Air from my amazing beau Mike.. I think this is going to be a good year, a blessed year and I'm lucky that i have such an amazing group of friends and boyfriend to spend it with. 

and our new base is.....

Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota! 

Was this our first choice? No, was it even on the list? NOPE! But it is where we are being placed and it is where we will call home for three years come August.  

What do I know about this place? 

It floods and its cold.

2/3 of the time its snowing in the winter.

It gets in the negatives. 

Its close to Canada. 

I know this isn't a place that we were hoping for, I know that we are moving to a place close to Minneapolis and that we're putting in to possibly swap to a different base. 

I wont lie when I say I'm nervous, scared and possibly going to freeze my butt off. I'm excited too.. we're going to be away from family, and we'll be going on many adventures. I'll be possibly starting school there, maybe buying a house? I don't know! But whatever it is, we will figure it out. 

But until we know for sure (orders are printed) we will assume this is our new home. 

-Acacia 

Military | A's Bronze Star

This last Friday I was able to watch A be awarded his bronze star. Its been almost a year and a half since the Major he worked with in his last deployment awarded it to him, the reason it took so long is because this award came from the Army and had to go through the Air Force. I was a little teary eyed when he was being promoted, especially when they listed out why he was awarded this medal, and that he was awarded by someone who was with him on that deployment was just amazing to me. 

In 2011 A was deployed with the 3rd Batalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team for his support and performance in Panjwai, AFG. 

A says its a team effort, he's right, it comes from the guys on the ground to the guys in the air.. its all of the branches and gratitude is given to any and all who were with A on that deployment.. I know how hard it was for him, I know that watching your friends pass or be injured isn't easy and I think the thing that stuck out most was when the Col said 

"in his job *insert A's rank/name here* saved 200 lives, 200 people are celebrating holidays today with their families."

Two-hundred ... and you know what A said when a reporter asked him how he felt? 

Humbled, he was just doing what every other JTAC has done for years, he was just recognized for it. 

A has never been one to be proud of himself and he is far to humble about the situation.. and I think its funny when people say "you should be proud of him" oh man, you all have no idea how proud I am. 

In the last three years I have watched this man walk away to war every year and for the last three years I have waited for him to come home, and I have been very lucky to welcome him home every time I've sent him off... I have heard the difficulties, seen him age 10 years because of the stress and listened to the stories when they get together.. you never really know until they speak about it.. things are different from when we first met.. we are his family and that is an amazing feeling. Everyday I am proud of him, every minute he's here with me I am proud and every time I watch him walk away to get on a plane to Afghanistan I am proud. But to hear the way his superiors and the men he supported while on his last deployment speak about him makes me swell with pride.

A after he was awarded, I may post more pictures when I get them from the professional photographer who was there. 

A, you have amazed me for three years and I know you will continue to do so for hopefully the rest of our lives. I love you. 

-Acacia

Christmas tree time

So A and I went to Schilter Farms  in Olympia to get our Christmas tree this year. This place is awesome, though I think we got there after all the fun festivities of the day were over but it was still fun. Its one of those things where you can walk around and find your perfect tree, cut it down and then have someone take it up to the front for you.. because you are much too lazy to lug the 12' tree that A cut down allllll the way to the front office area.. yeah.. that's right, 12' and he cut off about 4' to get it to fit in our house.. 

Our finished tree

We're keeping a tradition that we both picked up from families which is to only get an ornament each every year. So far 90% of my ornaments are from Pottery Barn after holiday sales, so we get some BEAUTIFUL ones for super cheap. 

A&A this ornament I made last year

 I love this VERY simple initial wing ornament, just follow the design and use your initial as the wing :) 

 We got some snow! It lasted for a day, but obviously our Bru bear loved it. 

Cutting down the tree time! 

So obviously we had a blast, A was excited to use his saw.. that dork. I definitely recommend these farms, ALL of their douglas firs were $25 so we were able to find the perfect tree and then trim it down to size. The staff was amazingly helpful, and are very much about making you feel welcome. Thank you guys for making our last holiday in the Pacific Northwest -living at least- a great one.. even though I have to wait till December 28th to open ANY presents because I have to work and A is at his parents... we are truly excited/happy about it though. 

Have a great day! 

Photo dump and...

So for starters, sorry I've not been around! I know people may have thought I died.. okay you probably just thought I'd stopped blogging completely, but I didn't.  Instead I have somewhat of a photo dump so you guys just buckle up and be prepared for the amazing-ness that shall follow! 

So first off look at me and my boy! Remember when I went camping (uh I posted about it on twitter) well Bru & I were all sorts of "white trash" that day. I mean.. I was wearing cut offs with my PINK sweater and brown bear claw boots. Basically went against anything that normal people would wear. It was fun. 

Bru & I are pretty much BFFs and we like to have moments.. constantly. 

So this is my work BFF named Brett, he's amazing and loves musicals, acting and going to cheese fries and totally mess up my diet!! But its okay, though now we don't get to spend our lunches together I still get to sit across from him and tell him when people hit on me or he ever so nicely stays an extra 30 minutes after his schedule when I get a HORRIBLE customer on the phone. Seriously, you guys need to treat cust care with respect.. cause otherwise you wont get what you want! 

So my sister and her boyfriend Dave were staying with me and I inherited a bajillion scarves. THANK YOU SEESTER! 

This is from my Oregon trip with Bru & my dad.. whoops.. I need to definitely upload those pictures up. 

So about a week and a half before A got home I got a really bad flu, the flu turned into a cough and I bruised ribs (which are still bruised ALL over my ribcage) and one night after work I'd had enough, so my sister (in the back) and Dave took me to urgent care. Thank you! Diagnosed with an upper resp infection -duh?- and give codine -thank you?- but yeah.. this mask made me feel like I was a zombie.

And then....

A CAME HOME!!!!!!!!! 

Having my boys together for the first time in MONTHS was amazing, Bru was so excited! He has been attached to A's hip since he got home and its pretty adorable -also takes a load off of me- another great thing is that A is on leave for a good long while so I have gotten a GREAT break :) thank you A! Though I don't enjoy having Bru jump up in our bed, he never does that and all of a sudden when A got home it was all I'm gonna be in the bed now! Dork. 

My handsome :) 

A brought me the American flag that he carried with him in Afghanistan. Its pretty fantastic and I can't wait to put it in a shadow box and get a plaque for it.. this is such an amazing gift because its from his last deployment as a TACP. More on that later, but oh my, I am excited. 

That's all for now folks, thanks for hanging with my photo dump/A's home post.. I'll be trying to post a few more times this month AND I've put some great blog ideas on paper. :) 

lots of love

-Acacia

Lifestyle

My lifestyle is sorta weird, I'm not a spouse to an airman, I am just the girlfriend... I don't want my blog to be all military since it is my blog... but then I run across the fact that I am pretty freaking boring. I work, take care of Bru and the house and wait for my man to come home. I daydream at work about how it'll be to hold him in my arms again, and at the same time I kick butt and realize that my parents raised me right i.e. not lazy. 

After so long with someone whose job is so "high speed" you start to get tired of it, I'm tired of missing my best friend and of the SAT phone cutting off. I am tired of this lifestyle. I want a home, kids, decent sized yard and a detached barn style garage for portraits.. I want the mundaneness of A coming home day after day, tired and only wanting to hang out with the dog. I want to actually have time to plan out my life more than a month or week in advance..

I am proud of A, don't get me wrong, but A isn't everything.. do you know how hard it I just want to tell people he works in an office doing adjustments or something equally boring?? Everyday. I stopped even bringing up the fact that he's in the military, when people ask I always get the same question "so has he killed anyone?" Uh.. none of your business? The second someone finds out he's military its like my accomplishments don't matter, just that I've stood by his side.. well guess what, it isn't that hard to be there for someone, it probably harder on him to be there for me, than the other way around. In the last few years I've discovered the importance of being proud, but in a quiet manner. I no longer flaunt his job, his successes or the things that truly don't matter to him, instead I talk about him as a person. He's more than a uniform and this lifestyle is just a temporary speed bump in what we really want. 

Like I said, I am proud, A is my best friend and he does so much for this country by just being overseas.. without him someone else would have to be there.. and while it sucks, I would rather it be him than the guy with kids. But this "lifestyle" isn't ours, and the military can keep it...along with the rest of the crap we don't care about. 

-Acacia 

where have I been?!

I've been nannying, then I got let go, so now I'm ninja-ing. But really, I start training for a new job next Tuesday -wish me luck- and have been topsy turvy with everything else. 

The summer came and went, rather quickly, and fall is now upon us all. No getting kids to school, just getting myself ready for work. I bought heels.. that's a little short of a miracle for myself, I'm pretty much against being tall, I have an aversion towards it. But they were cute. 

Bru is turning ONE next month, A gets home somewhere around the start of all our festivities aka thanksgiving and Christmas. 

I learned a lot about myself, I've been thinking of going back to ombre hair, I used to have it.. then I was like "BLONDE" and now I'm all "CANT AFFORD!" So back to being cheap. 

I joined the Y just down the road, I'll be getting my workout on, lucky for me my schedule for the next 9 weeks puts me at work around 3 and off around 11pm (swing shift!) so I'll be able to workout in the mornings and still basically have a normal life.. when A gets home it'll be interesting, opposite schedules and all. 

I hope that this new shift allows me time to be on here, blogging and re-building a follower base. I am so sorry to have been gone. Life just gets in the way, all the darn time. 

-Acacia 

three years

Its hard to think that three years ago I met A and we bonded over a bottle of tequila, kings cup and our mutual love for his bed (sorry dad) 

2009, after we first met.

Its hard to believe that you've been my best friend, confidant and a huge motivator for me these last few years. Whenever I feel like I'm not good enough, or when I say I can't you bring up the fact that when I lost my job last December, I had an interview almost every week and got a new job in three weeks. 

After deployment #1 2010

The biggest achievement for us is probably having stayed together through thick and thin. We've had our ups and downs, we've had a breakup and we've also had to deal with incredibly silly drama.. throughout three deployments and on top of some of the hardest months of our lives. You've been my rock when things went down the tubes and I can only hope the same for you.  

Zoo lights, right before 2011

 And now that we're counting up the years together, we constantly get the "well when are you getting married?" question, and while I'm incredibly impatient, you're worth the wait, even if we're in our 30's.. though I hope you don't wait that long! 

Family pictures 2012

Happy three years babe, and here's to a few more years of us being incredible. 

ps: you kinda smell for deploying all the time.