Summertime Blues

So, you know our lot in life. Cross country move. Beginning of summer. No friends. Husband deploying. Summer is typically our fun time but we are finding ourselves--BORED. Never thought this could happen to us!

When my teenager is in charge, we go shopping. Believe me, I am burned out on that one. When my tweens are in charge, we stay home and they play xbox. When I'm in charge, well, who are we kidding... I'm not in charge :) I try to get us out and about.

We made a quick road trip to Charlotte this weekend. For my daughter's 16th birthday. We went shopping (of course), hit up Dave and Busters (first time ever), and had breakfast at this cute cafe near University of North Carolina Charlotte campus. There is so much to see in that town. I plan to go back without shopping being the main focus. Although, the shopping was pretty awesome.

Our city list for North Carolina is currently Raleigh, Wilmington, and Charlotte. I think that about covers the big ones. There is more exploring to do in each city but so far Raleigh is my favorite. Charlotte isn't bad but it's more metro versus the character of an older city. My opinion could change but this is my initial take on things :) I'll keep you posted!

Ipsy Glam Bag June 2016

With May's glam bag AWOL, I was happy to see my pink mailer tucked safely in my mailbox. (Gotta love the problems a military PCS will cause.) The arrival of my GlamBag is always one of my favorite days of the month. I can't speak enough positive words about this subscription service. When I find something really great, I want the whole world to know! I'm not looking for the incentive of referring people, I just think it's a really great service that a variety of people would enjoy. I feel like I speak to the group that wants to wear makeup but feels a little overwhelmed with everything. That is how I felt. And I'm not a very experimental person if it means risking money and not being happy. That is why I love bloggers and Yelp and pretty much all social media. Let me learn from your experiences!

Anyways, the whole point of this post is to share what I got in my June Ipsy GlamBag....

You gotta love that makeup bag!! My five items inside were:

#1 Liptini Cream Lip Color in Pinktini

#2 Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Fireball (mauve/pink)

#3 12 Benefits Leave In Conditioner

#4 Seraphine Botanicals Blush in Happy Hibiscus 

#5 ColourPop Creme Gel Eyeliner in Swerve (black)

I've tried all the products this month. My favorite, Urban Decay eyeshadow. My least favorite: Liptini lip color. It just wasn't a quality product. 

I'm starting to get a pretty good collection of makeup items I use regularly from all these Glam bags. If you are interested in signing up, here is a referral link:

https://www.ipsy.com/new?cid=p_share_ref&sid=link&refer=wswla

You don't have to use it :) Just in case you want to share the love. 

And here are my other glam bags from April, March, February, and January. 

April 2016

March 2016
February 2016
January 2016

Are you an Ipsy subscriber? What was your favorite product this month?

Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Sanctuary

When I think sea turtles, I think Finding Nemo. And the East Australian Current. Here in North Carolina sea turtles are the real deal. They come to shore on the local beaches and nest their eggs every summer. Then wah-lah baby sea turtles hatch and make their way to the ocean  60 days later. Talk about a bucket list thing! I'm going to try to get in on that this summer!

But for now, our first sea turtle sighting was at Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Sanctuary in Surf City, North Carolina. This rescue is for sick and injured sea turtles who are found on the Atlantic Coast. As far north as Massachusetts and south as South Carolina are transported to the sanctuary for rehabilitation and release.

It's a small little place. Lots of educational opportunities to learn about sea turtles and what the sanctuary is doing. Plus, we saw many turtles who are to be released in the near future with lots of personality. Who knew turtles had personality?!?

And kudos to all the knowledgeable volunteers who taught us way more than we realized there was to learn :)

Official Link of Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Sanctuary

Our First Visit To Raleigh

The feelings of adventures are starting to revive within my soul :) I've been holding onto my California dream for over a month now. I have to admit the positive comments I received on my A House post really helped push me in the right direction. So, thank you, Jen, Katie, Meg, and e! I do appreciate all my comments but those really touched my heart when I needed it!

I've decided leaving California was a bit like a breakup. An unwanted breakup. And I just wanted to rekindle what was. I keep glamorizing the good stuff and somehow overlooking the bad stuff. I felt like I was back in my teen years again. And that wasn't pretty! Once I wrapped my brain around the breakup analogy and the fact that "we are never getting back together"...well, for at least 3 years ;) I started thinking of new beginnings in my new "relationship" with North Carolina. And how I need to try to enjoy what is.

So, I decided to venture out to Raleigh. I'm a big city kind of gal. Surely, I could find something in Raleigh to love. We went downtown to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science because it's a Blue Star Museum. And Blue Star Museums are free from Memorial Day to Labor Day for military families. The NC museum most definitely wow'd us! I can't begin to explain and didn't take enough decent pictures to let those do the talking. We will go back soon and I will do a proper adventure post to document.

I promised the teens we could make a quick stop at the mall too. We are now required to drive to our shopping, which is a stark contrast to the overabundant shopping area in California. But I have to say I've seen a lot nicer malls outside that state than inside. One point for North Carolina :) Opps, I mean two because of this museum!

A House

We finally have a place to live in North Carolina. We been here for more than 30 days and finally slept in our permanent rental last night. We managed with a few blankets and thankfully five pillows.

Now I'm sitting criss cross applesauce on the hard wood floor waiting for the moving truck to bring our household goods. I'm having mixed feelings about all this. On one hand, I think getting our stuff will help feel more settled. Maybe even help me to feel some more positive about being here. The other side is once our stuff gets off that truck there is no turning back. My fantasy of moving back to California instead of living here will be (even more) unrealistic. And that is still my daily struggle :(

Practice Makes Perfect?

Oh yeah, it's about that time again for our family. Honestly, my mind hasn't even processed that he will be leaving...soon. I've got all these things running through my brain. Number one: "Haven't we hit the quota on deployments?" I feel like deployment should be something your service member should eventually be able to opt out of, like living in cramped junior enlisted/officer housing or having 24 hour duty on holidays. Once you've checked that box a hundred times, then you don't have to do it anymore. I know I know. What a terrible military that would be! I understand everybody needs to deploy. Geez, can we put a limit on deployments? Pretty please.

You want to hear something strange? When it comes to deployments, my husband is constantly gone in August. I can only count on one hand how many times my husband has been around for the first day of school in 15 years. You want proof...here is my post from 2015... and 2014...and 2013...and magically he was here in 2012. I feel like every military family has that one occasion or month, when the military member will always manage to be gone. Does that happen in your family too? Ours is August. And it's going to happen again this year!

If you are seasoned military spouse, then you know pre-deployment briefs are the "only" way to prepare for a deployment. I think I could give a pre-deployment brief in my sleep! Topics covered: OpSec, American Red Cross, money, emergency care plan, power of attorney, and a bunch of acronyms. Did I cover everything? This command did things a little different, they went light on the dry info stuff and heavy on the communication stuff. It was kind of nice because it felt more like a date than a boring class. The instructors based their class on the What Color Is Your Parachute? book. The general jest of the book is personality tests and communication styles which the teachers applied to deployment. As a seasoned couple, I felt we took something away from the brief than the traditional way.

With deployment fresh in my mind, I am curious how many deployments you have experienced? My second question, how do you feel about them?