Shoe Crazy

I don't know what it is about Fall, but around this time every year I become shoe obsessed.

I need-I want-I must have-kind of crazy.

Over the past few years, I haven't bought many pairs of shoes....and there are a few reasons to blame.

1.) I'm super duper picky. I mean really picky. If the heel is slightly too wide or the toe too round, it will completely ruin it for me.

2.) I have a hard time spending an absurd amount of money on one thing. And comfortable shoes that are made to last are expensive.

3.) I usually have an image in my head of something I want and will spend years trying to find it. Am I weird or what?

4.) COMFORT. Why in heaven's name would any company produce shoes that weren't comfortable? I just don't get it.

5.) Not only am I picky, but now that I'm a married woman, my husband usually gives me his input and he is even pickier! He actually usually dislikes most of the shoes I crave....which will probably include the ones below :)

This year I am turning over a new leaf and I am going to actually purchase shoes this year instead of just drooling over the choices. It's been too long and it's time to refresh my current shoe selection, they are looking pretty worn down actually. Here are a handful from the hundreds of beauties that I've got my eye on this year...

And they comes in this bright sky blue too...love it.




I love the black ones for riding the motorcycle and the yellow ones to match my purse. I'm obsessed with this burnt mustard yellow color lately.



Boots with a wedge, what a novel idea!



Ankle boots or aka "Booties".
I didn't like them last year, but they've grown on me I think. These peep-toe boots work in Savannah during the winter, but I don't think they'd be that practical if we lived in NY.


How killer would these look with a black skirt? Every outfit needs a pop of color...why not do it with your shoes?!

sources include: bakersshoes.com, ninewest.com, endless.com

Labor Day Weekend

Yes, it was alive and I only did it for Johnny. And that is a fact!

I spent this past weekend at my parents' home in Melbourne, FL. I am so lucky to have them within driving distance so I can get away for the weekend now and then. I know my parents probably never thought they would see their adult married daughter as much as they have this past year! They have been my main source of company and entertainment over the course of this deployment :)

This weekend however was different from most weekends; I was not able to be an "only child" as I normally am when I visit them since it is rare for any of my four sisters to be there on the weekends. My younger sister and her new boyfriend were also in town. So in an effort to entertain the new boyfriend, we set out for an Air Boat ride to search for swamp creatures.

My lil' sis and I modeling what kind of "swamp creatures" to be on the look-out for.

All five of us sat on the front row of the boat and donned lovely large, black headphones that I am sure had not been cleaned in between head usage. The headphones luckily (note heavy sarcasm) came with a microphone which we were told to place snuggly (not a word, but you know what I mean!) under our bottom lip. At one point during the ride, my tongue accidentally grazed the germ-infested microphone and I could have THROWN UP. If Clorox was safe to drink, I probably would've chugged some.

One of the many beautiful scenes we saw on our ride. The water was so smooth that I couldn't tell where the trees ended and where the water began. It was crazy to look at, yet so peaceful.

We didn't see too many "swamp creatures" since it was really too hot for the gators to be frolicking on the surface, but the scenery was beautiful and it was a fun experience to ride on an air boat.

As I said my goodbyes on Monday, it made me happy to think that the next time I'll be at my parent's house will probably be with my Johnny :)

Carb Overload

And this is coming from someone who LOVES carbs. I could literally have a baked potato, garlic mashed potatoes, french fries, a freshly baked yeast roll and pasta on the same plate and be completely happy. I would also go into a carb-induced coma , but I would enjoy every second of that delicious food before hand.



However, this new Bread Bowl Pasta from Domino's totally grosses me out for some reason. Have you tried it yet? Is it any good? If you could see my face right now, it would be a face of disgust and dismay. I actually just tried to take a picture of my face with my phone, but it wasn't very cute, so I'm not posting it here. Just use your imagination.

I am really interested to find out if someone has tried this yet or not...so if you have, PLEASE leave me a comment and tell me how it was!!

Food Network Magazine

Did you know that Food Network now has their very own magazine? Were you as skeptical about it as I was when you first saw ads for it? Were you also pleasantly surprised when you checked it out and then couldn't put it down because it was AWESOME?!

If you are looking for a great cooking magazine with tips, recipes for both the beginner and advanced at-home chef and gadgets galore, then grab this magazine the next time you see it. It is an easy read and you'll feel like you are cooking with friends with the faces of all the Food Network chefs across the pages. I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Worst Reality Check Ever

This last quarter of the deployment has been really tough for me. I venture to even say I'm having a harder time right now with it all than I did during the beginning few months. I honestly think Johnny and I are just so mentally and emotionally spent that we are having a tough time communicating and unfortunately I am just flat out of patience and optimism.

A year is just too long.

I am going through the motions of each day but my general mood is just BLAH. I know how close we are to his return home and everyone says, even Johnny, "But it's almost over, he's coming home soon, you should be excited!" And I am, but it hasn't really hit me yet to the full extent to overcome my feelings of blah-ness.

I wonder if other Army wives hit this point during the deployment where they just can't comprehend doing another day of this crap.

To make me feel even worse about my lack of patience and not so great mood towards Johnny lately, I just found out this morning that the husband of one of my friends' best friend was killed in action this weekend in Afghanistan. She is my age, maybe a few years older. MY AGE. NOW A WIDOW. PLANNING A FUNERAL FOR HER HUSBAND.

I've had a tough time dealing with that news even though I never met this couple. Even now, I'm fighting to hold back tears as I sit in my office and write this. While I know the reality of Johnny's situation and job, and I knew what I was getting into when I married him, it doesn't make that blow any less painful. Those are things I don't let myself think about because I wouldn't be able to get myself out of bed in the morning.

I thought to myself, "How dare you for getting mad over stupid things when all you can do is pray and trust that you will see his face again one day. How dare you for taking life for granted while he serves our country at WAR."

Nothing is guaranteed. Is that argument really worth having now? My mom always says, pick your battles Amanda. I didn't really think I needed a reality check to remind myself that Johnny is in Iraq with death a very real part of the job, but let me tell you, that news really helped put things into perspective for me as I struggle to make it through the last 5-7 weeks of our deployment.

My thoughts and prayers are with the young wife as she wraps her head around the news, the rest of the family and my friend and her husband.

As Johnny put it best, "He was serving his country so that we can all have freedoms. He made the ultimate sacrifice for his country and he will not be forgotten."

Hiya

Where have I been lately you might ask?

Sleeping. That's where.

Summer has not been very nice to Amanda considering I just recently finished my SIXTH antibiotic for yet another sinus infection only to get the flu in mid-recovery. What a delight that was!!

I am finally feeling better and I'm armed with several allergy medications to help keep things in check. Let's hope this works because I don't think I could handle another sinus infection and I'm sure my boss is fairly fed up with zombie Amanda walking the halls!

I have had two exciting reasons worth celebrating this week. Yesterday was my parent's 30th wedding anniversary! That is a long time folks! But what a happy milestone to celebrate! It is hard for me to imagine Johnny and I celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary...I wonder where we'll be living and how many kids and grandkids we'll have by then. What a crazy thought!

The second exciting reason I am celebrating this week is because it is Johnny's birthday today!! Despite the fact that I am continually trying to celebrate his 25th birthday, he is really turning 26 today. As embarrassing and heart-wrenching as it is, I even wrote "Happy 25th Birthday" in his card. What an awful wife I am!!! I think I am confused because we have not been together for 15 months and we didn't get to celebrate his 25th birthday last year since he was at Ranger School. I already feel like I am just going through the motions of life while he is away, so I can kind of understand how in my head I'm behind a year. I think I am just trying to make myself feel better. I told him he will appreciate the fact that I can't remember his age when he is 80!!

I am having a birthday party tonight to celebrate his 26th birthday. Even though he won't be able to join in on the fun, we are celebrating the day he was born, and that is definitely worth celebrating in my book!

R&R Recap

Remember way back when, like back in May when Johnny was home from Iraq for 2 weeks and I couldn't stop gushing about how amazing our time together was?! We tried to cram all of our favorite things we love to do together into two weeks. We even made a list of all the things we wanted to do about 2 months before he actually came home. And I KNOW we accomplished most things off that list because as I was writing the captions for the pictures below I kept wanting to start off each sentence with, "One of our favorite past times...".

We really did have an incredible two weeks together. I don't think it could have been any better quite frankly. The fact that we hadn't seen each other for 7 months didn't seem to phase us because we jumped right back into our life and it was almost as if he had never left. It really did refuel us for the rest of the deployment and reassured me that we were going to be fine.

One of our "fancy" dinners out in Savannah. We love getting
dressed up and eating delicious food!

Playing cards and drinking beers at home :)

Pickling okra

Fancy dinner at Grill 225 in Charleston. We were celebrating our one year wedding anniversary since we weren't together for it in February. Look at how cute he looks in his bow tie!! Love it!

At The Citadel for the Parade.

Our couples massage at Savannah Day Spa....amazing!

Cleaning his bike after we got caught riding in a major rain storm.

Out for Mexican on Cinco de Mayo with friends.