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. 

Holiday Recap

So my holidays were kind of boring, one may even say a tad depressing, buuuut I enjoyed them! First off, I want to say thank you to everyone who participated in the snowflake swap, you guys made this amazing and I was blown away with seeing all the goodies.. I however, am a terrible blogger and while I've been sick have left taking pictures and such to the birds. BUT I did get an adorable box full of goodies including hairties -because I always lose them! - and the cutest little penguin bubble bath (love) hooray! 

Now you read before that I was sick, that I was, but those pictures from above are basically the only "holiday" type pictures I have. 

So as far as my holiday, the first half of Christmas was spent in urgent care where the doc was like "your lungs sound gross" to which I was all "oh good!" he mandated 2 days off which I was extremely thankful for because I felt like poop. Bronchitis is a no fun way to start your holiday! So I am just kinda sitting here now.. after roommate Christmas going "wow I am lucky" I have some amazing friends and lovely people who have been great guidances to me. I got a really sweet cross made from a tree in Oregon, by a guy in Oregon.. so its pretty freakin special now. 

Also I want to just say thank you to everyone whose commented and shown lots of love for the breakup. A and I are still friends, better as that than anything and I am glad that through all of this I don't lose someone who really is apart of my odd little family. Bru will continue to be "my" dog and I will always love him, but he will stay with A. Lots of love guys! 

North Dakota Living

In case you didn't know I live in North Dakota now... its a very cold place, where the buffalo roam.. more like where the oil workers roam! Seriously this was never on the "top 10 for Acacia to live" in fact when I thought of the Dakota's I thought of Mt. Rushmore, cows, cowboys and cold. 

But here I am two months in and I kind of like it here... 

I know, slap me! 

I am the girl from Arizona, the one who hates cold and wants to permanently never wear shoes, likes North Dakota.. #smh -I like to use hashtags.. it makes me sound ridiculous- 

Now before we all get bent out of shape I can easily list the reasons I like this place: 

1. Its small! I was not meant for HUGE cities and I kind of like that it only takes me 10-15 minutes to get anywhere.. including another state. 

2. We live right next door to Minnesota, over the river -literally- to cabellas we go. 

3. My dog likes it. He is a fan of cold weather. 

4. Like minded people. I am conservative, but in a weirdly liberal way.. I like my Jesus to be talked about and not looked down on for it, but I also support marriage equality... nothing wrong with love in my book. 

5. I finally feel less judged for wearing leggings as pants. Stupid reason? NOT! You know how much it blows being looked at like a common whore -I said it- because Acacia was too lazy to put on pants? NO because here, people don't care, they are like "I like wearing leggings as pants, because they are pants" YAY! 

Do I fit in? Probably not.

Is my redneck showing? YES... incredible amounts of real tree and duck/deer meat have been blessing my home. 

Does A like it? I think so.. we both miss small things about "city living" but in all.. this would be a place to raise any sort of family.

How does my family feel? They laugh uncontrolably when I tell them about the weather. In fact my dad said he could never again tell me I'd never experienced a "real" winter. Win. 

So here it is.. my redneck, starbucks loving, boot wearing, leggings are pants declaration to my love of North Dakota... but I am extremely excited about going to Washington in Feb!
-Acacia

I moved..

Well we both moved.. technically three of us.

We moved across country to North Dakota.

Our last picture in front of our first house together. It was bitter sweet, I left my sister and some pretty amazing friends. I feel as if I'll never meet their dopple gangers in North Dakota, but we'll see. 

We hoped in our cars on August 25th and went to Montana that night. We decided after that initial night out that we would go camping so we found a place about six hours away and drove about six hours. Boulder River in MT.. its a little north of Yellowstone. 

Our family picture after Brutus dug out about twenty rocks from the creek. 

We managed to drive through to Miles City the next day -after a short stop in Billings, MT- and then to Fargo, ND

It was a weird feeling when we finally crossed the boarder to North Dakota. I was really doing this, moving with A and we were going to figure it out as we go along. Then again .. I have this crazy guy who I'm lucky to call mine (my boyfriend and my best friend) and while a lot of crazy things have happened.. I am comfortable saying that this is going to work out no matter what. 

Our first night in North Dakota we realized that 1. we left Bru's favorite toy in Miles City (moms bad) and 2. that this place isn't nearly as bad as everyone said. We went to Granite City Brewery and they were so gracious to allow us to come in a few minutes before the kitchen closed, but it was worth it! Delicious flat bread pizza, great beer sampler and a brucheta chicken salad. If you're ever in Fargo.. GO THERE! 

The next day we go to Grand Forks, we get in and literally start looking at houses.. see the tricky think about this city is that they aren't too keen on big dogs and you all know we have a 95lb bundle of love. We had discussed buying a house when we found out about the house situation, but didn't expect for things to move so quickly... I got a job Labor Day weekend and A bought a house.. yeah in one weekend. 

Oh well this is a little update and we hope to be getting into the swing of things in the near future, maybe a give away from my work and of course letting you all know how the move goes! 

I do hope that Oct 10th gets here soon.. our king sized bed and my FULL closet is calling my name. 

-Acacia 

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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

My beautiful boy

I remember when A said we were getting a puppy, and by we.. I mean he, and I was utterly terrified. A dog, insanity! But here you are, almost one year later from your 'gotcha' date (I'm borrowing the term from legitimate adoption) and you're one! A whole year, I know its been tough on you, you've had to watch daddy go off to war and have been my best friend for the last few months.. and even though you ate my boot and chewed on the table AND learned how to open the baby gate with your mouth.. I still love you. You're the best dog anyone could ask for, and I am so lucky that you are apart of our family. 

Brutus, my love, my genius and the light of our life.. heres to you! 

I can't believe how big you are! :) 

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 

Oh heyyyyy

HEEEEY GIRL! 

ok.. its been awhile.. and I'm a terrible blogger and life seems to have gotten the better of me.. we finally had some sunshine, I went on my bosses boat which was pretty exciting! I saw Rainier in a whole new manner.. in the middle of a freaking lake. 

I went on a cleaning/decorating spree with my house, though we'll only be here for another year (maybe) or so. I've finally started putting pictures up, and ordering some sweet home state prints for A & myself. Obviously AZ & OR, but with WA in the middle with "where it all began" its kind of a surprise for A when he gets back, speaking of, we're OVER A MONTH DOWN WOOOOOOFREAKINGHOOOOOOOO! This deployment is going quickly, A is busy and so am I... which makes for mundane conversations, but at least I'm that much closer to being with him again.

My dad is coming to town in a few weeks for my twenty-fourth birthday, yeah buddy! Mr. Dad and & I go way back.. like to conception.. and we're pretty much the same -just ask mom- so I'm excited to introduce him to some of my favorite Washington haunts and some of the people in this world of mine. 

Bru baby is doing well, at 8 months he's just over 100lbs and standing at my hips, well his head is. My Brutus is such a big guy :) and he melts my heart a lot.. except when he digs, that gets under my skin.

I hope at some point (probably September) I'll be able to start making picture posts and what not, being that I have a "desk top" laptop kinda makes it difficult to want to come into this office.. maybe if I decorate it?? I guess I could start.

-Acacia