oh hi

Hello again, friends. Here's a random selfie I took to Snapchat my sister a few weeks ago, just in case you forgot what I look like.

It's September. It's September and I'm not ready for it to be September. The autumn decorations are out too soon at Target and internet friends are posting too many wishlists of sweaters. Let's be real: in Texas, I don't think fall comes until like November and right now, I'm okay with that. Let's enjoy these 105 degree days while they're still here and maybe go for some late night swims to rejoice in the fact that we don't freeze our buns off when we get out of the pool yet.

August was quite the month. That list of bold intentions I posted last month has been conquered. I finished grad school with a bang, devoting a few weekends entirely to schoolwork and coming out with a 5/5 on that thesis. Hell yeah. Ben finally came home after a month at his New York base and I was weirdly nervous when I picked him up at the airport. The butterflies washed away the second I saw him and we've been getting into our new groove the past few weeks. We're in our new home, finally, and as I predicted, IKEA and Target have become our second homes as we set this new place up. It's not done, but I love it so far. Settling in and making new places ours is one of my favorite things to do.

You guys don't really care, but work has been crazy. That's the only word for it. Students moved back two weeks ago and since about a week before, it's been utter pandemonium as we got ready for them and now as we all settle in to this new building. 398 students live in this residence hall and I'm in charge of every single one of them plus the operations for the whole building and a student staff of 25 college kids. If that's not a lot for a first job, I don't know what is.

I don't know if you've heard yet, but I'm pretty much a kickboxing pro. While this is not entirely true, I have been asked if I'd like to be an instructor. After a roundhouse kick and a hell yeah, I started training for that and have some more training to do before I go live. The job pretty much consists of wearing a Britney Spears mic, punching things, and bossing people around, so I'm a natural. To be completely honest though, it was such a blessing to be asked. Ben and I had just decided that we couldn't really afford my membership once he started school, and then the next day, they were like hey, do you want to get paid to do this instead of having to pay? I'm thankful. Plus it feels pretty awesome that they saw something in me that made them want to ask if I'd join their team. I knew I wasn't doing all of those push-ups for nothing.

To sum everything up, life is good. I'm in a really good place right now and my sweet Ben is forever at my side. He's happy at his new school with his nerdy engineering classes and I'm proud of him for going back to school for another degree when he could have just forced himself to stay in a field he wasn't happy in. We're continuously learning to serve each other and are both trying really hard to love each other more than we love ourselves. Marriage isn't the easiest thing around, but it sure is worth it. 

Speaking of marriage, my husband is still cozied up in bed being a lazybones on this thunderstorm-y Labor Day, so I'm off to make him some coffee and a bagel and get that boy out of bed. I hope all of you have a nice day off!

this weekend

... was a little crazy.

In an effort to smush in as much quality time as we can before the move, our weekends this month are packed. This one was the beginning:

Friday, we went to my mom's and had dinner with her & my sister and did a whole bunch of laundry. Mom & I went on a walk and it's always so nice to reconnect with her and to have a few hours to spend with Jessa.

Saturday, we did the Color Run! Ben and I along with my sister and our friend, Chris, signed up a few months ago and I kind of forgot about it until this week. Thankfully they were all cool with running at my slow poke pace and it was a ton of fun. We got covered in color, as it should be, and then opened our packets and doused each other in even more of that stuff. My shower afterwards was a good 40 minutes and I didn't even get it all off.

After we showered and impressed ourselves with a speed clean of the apartmet, my college roommate and her boyfriend came in from Cleveland. We spent the night telling stories from the good ol' days and wondering how in the world it's been a whole year since we graduated. [A year!].  We walked into town and ate some good barbeque and then headed downtown to hang out with the boys. It's nights like that, where we drink on the front porch, go to a bar with twinkle lights and picnic tables in the back, and end up back at the boys' playing darts, that make me want to never move past this stage of our lives.

Lacey & Jeff had to leave Sunday morning, so we said goodbye and promptly landed on the couch with coffee in our hands and last night's SNL on tv. Then it was time for our cook out! A few weeks ago, I invited all of our friends to come to the park right by our house for some football and cheeseburgers, and it turned out to be the perfect day for it. We came, ate, drank & played.  We forgot to get a group picture while everyone was still around, but we have these and these will do.

Oh and one friend does stand up comedy on Sunday nights, so a few of us went out afterwards. Really, I just brought that up because here's a picture of Ben with his motorcycle. Hot.

Thursday favorite

 

Yesterday was one of my favorite days this week. There's something about getting an early start to the day and being productive before the hour that you normally even finish eating breakfast. The day was spent in a meeting and then running errands: buying things and returning things and feeling so productive in my flowy dress. The sun was shining, I got compliments on my dress in literally every store, and it was one of those days where you just feel GOOD, you know?

To keep the good day going, I stopped and bought flowers on my way home. I buy flowers for myself a lot because they're so stinkin pretty and Ben doesn't really think to get them for me. That's more than okay because he washes all of our dishes and takes care of our bills and squeezes me tight and that is how he shows me he loves me. So the flower buying is up to me. Usually, a $6 grocery store bouquet of tulips is good. They're cheap and pretty and they get the job done. Yesterday, though, I wanted to get something extra pretty. I stopped at a florist, told her what I could spend and what I liked and that up there is what she came up with. They're the perfect flowers for our springtime coffee table and there's something so nice about treating yourself to pretty things. Especially when it's a random sunny Thursday and your only motivation is because you want to.


[Oh, and Ben was sweet enough to take pictures of me with my flowers. Some days I'm just not photogenic, so you don't get to see most of them, but this one is a gem. He had just said sweet things to me and that's the look of love, kids].

catching up

As I mentioned last week, I'm officially done with work until the big move happens and I start my new job. This means I have all month long to do grad school things, start running again to be ready for sundress season, and theoretically pack. Our apartment is tiny, so I'm not exactly sure where the boxes will go once I pack, but that's something to worry about at a later date I guess. We'll make it work. We'll be living in box forts maybe.

No job also means a little more time to blog! So here's a quick little catch up post:

Last weekend, like I mentioned, Ben was out of town. I spent all weekend with my family and my sister and I did typical sister things:

 Our landlord called me last minute last Friday to let me know they were showing it to someone on Saturday morning. I had to get out of bed at Mom's early Saturday to rush home and clean, so I got the family dog into our tiny Smart car and got to tidying up the place. Agape wasn't much help, but she's cute so it was allowed.

After we didn't want a family birthday party to end on Saturday, a bunch of us went bowling. Aunt Thyra killed it the first game and my dad got serious in the second game. I got a Turkey, spent time with some family that I don't hang out with often, and drank some beer, so I'd call that a successful night. 

Mondays, Ben has class all night so I'm usually home alone. When I got home from work last week, it was still 70 degrees and beautiful out, so I took my bike for the first ride of the year along the canal. 

I locked myself out of the house one day last week, so I hung out on the front porch while Ben drove home. I don't have many pictures of our first place, so I decided to get one with the rent sign in the yard. This tiny apartment will always have a place in my heart.

So many nights last week were beautiful, so one of Ben's Air Force friends came over with his girlfriend and we had a little cook out and rode around on the motorcycles. I felt like we were in a gang, so it may be time to start wearing a bandanna.

 Wednesday was my last day of my secretary job! Like I've said before, I'm glad that I found such a nice place to work for this in-between year. They were such sweet people.

 And then Wednesday night, I cleaned up and promptly did nothing. A little break before the to-do list started was necessary.

Now that it's almost May, I'll get to writing about life currently. My big brother got married on Saturday, so hopefully I can share some of those pictures soon, and we'll see what else pops up. I'm off to go for a run. I bought a new sports bra last week, and it's one of the ones that zips up the front. I pretty much feel like a Bond girl when I'm working out, which is an even better motivator than you'd think. Happy Monday, friends!

Wednesday night

I have a sleeping husband on the couch next to me, a glass of champagne on the coffee table, and the sound of the wind blowing outside our windows. It's Wednesday night and I've been meaning to blog all week, but most of the time, the days just get away from me.

Life has been good lately. It's the ebb and flow of late winter and early spring fighting to be in charge for the day. There's beautiful, sunny days where I wear my favorite sundresses [they're all my favorite] and run errands on lunch just so I can be outside. And then cold, rainy days where I put on leggings and a sweatshirt and stay on the couch all day, doing homework and procrastinating by reading blogs. I've been wrapping things up at my job, writing papers for grad school, and mentally preparing myself for moving. 

On the job front, today was my last day. It was such a nice place to work, with such kind people, and true to form, they threw me a surprise going away party. I'm thankful for finding that job for this year of in-between that we had. For me, jobs are all about the environment and I couldn't have asked for a sweeter one than that.

Grad school is going well. I have a big paper due on Sunday, but my brother is getting married this weekend [!], so the plan for tomorrow is to bang that one out. My latest professor has been such an encouraging one, giving me helpful feedback and saying the kindest things about my writing. I called him today about this paper and he said "I'm not saying these things just to be kind; these are well deserved accolades". That's a morale booster if I've ever heard one. I ended work a month before we go so that I have these next few weeks to really get down to business on my field project and my thesis. Getting down to business is hard, though! I have no attention span. None. So I'm going to have to get into a schedule and really do it.

Ben was gone last weekend on a biking trip in the Adirondacks [that healthy son of a gun], so I spent the weekend at my Mom's. It was such a nice weekend, you guys. I loved my family before, but as a grown up, I get my uncles' jokes and I can have real conversations with my dad. Mom & I are starting to be friends too. I appreciate them all a thousand times more. I went to a baseball game with my dad, step-mom, and sister one night, shopped with my sister the next, relaxed Saturday morning and then went to a family party and family bowling. Then Sunday, I went on a little road trip with my mom to the church where she was speaking, and we spent the day with my sister talking and working on rehearsal dinner things. Things are so good when you have a loving family, aren't they?

That's all, really. Just a little update. I'm not sure how I feel about blogging anymore, but I like having this space and an aunt told me I'd have to write more once we move so she can stay up to date with my life. I hope everyone is having a good week. Spring is here, friends. Go enjoy it.

away we go

After months and months of a gloomy Rochester winter, Ben and I are jetting away to Houston early tomorrow morning to visit his mom's side of the family. We're flying standby, so who the heck knows when we'll get there, but tomorrow morning at 4 am, we will be at the airport, ready to go.

We have plans to eat a lot of wonderful TexMex [queso!!!], obviously some Chick Fil A, and whatever other Texas goodies we can get our hands on. Ben's sister and her husband are moving into their first house this week, so I'm excited to see that and help them get settled if they still need it. Those two were INCREDIBLY helpful moving us into our apartment in August, so it's only fair that we return the favor. They're also expecting their first baby this July, so I'm excited to see Bethany's sweet little baby belly and talk all about that. Her husband, Lee, was a 12 pound baby when he was born though, so her belly probably isn't so little at this point.

Unlike Ben, I don't have spring break this week [or ever until graduation], so I'll be toting my dumb homework along. I have a final paper due next Sunday too. But whatever. There will still be plenty of time for being outside, going on walks without having to wear coats, and visiting as much family as possible.   

I am beyond excited to wear sundresses again. 

These are a couple pictures from last weekend, when New York teased us with 60 degrees and sunshine. I spent the weekend hanging out with my sister while Ben was on base, and when he came home, he brought some pretty flowers back for me. He's a good one, y'all.

Why March?

from March 2011, when I had a serious thing for bracelets and we went to see the lilacs bloom at Highland Park

Because of birds chirping in the trees every morning. Because of starting to drive with the windows down. Because of the change that fresh flowers from the supermarket can bring. Because of blankets spread under the trees upon which to read. Because of dinners at our parents', catching up & making memories. Because the sun kisses my face once again. Because Saturdays at the Farmer’s Market come alive. Because of weekly bike rides around town. Because fresh fruit becomes a staple again. Because of sundresses with sweaters over them and the rare occurance of bare feet on the cool grass. Because of hope for warmer days, brighter sun, and time on the lake. Because homework can wait until another day. Because of job interviews and the hope of starting my career. Because  of  Alabama Shakes on Pandora and dance breaks in the middle of to-do lists. Because I'm learning to embrace the in-between.

more from that time we picniced amongst the lilacs in March 2011, as babies.

seven little Quigley things

*inspired by the ever lovely Elizabeth

1. Valentine's Day was sweet and relaxed, as per usual with us. Ben has been interning at the company I work for, so we snuck off in the middle of the day for a long lunch break at Five Guys, complete with bacon cheeseburgers and delicious fries. He had to leave for night class right when we got home, so I hung up his gift paintings right by his desk and did homework until he got home. He gave me a sweet note and my favorite snacks & we ended the night watching Valentine's Day, the cheesiest movie ever.

2. I've been in a music funk lately. Meg posted a video of The Lone Bellow the other day, so they're on while I type, and I'm digging it. Once this is finished, I'm going to check out Alabama Shakes again, since they were on SNL this weekend. If anyone has some suggestions, I'm all ears.

3. I've joined Vine. Amy convinced me yesterday afternoon and I made my first little video last night. I'm not yet sure how I feel about it, but you can follow along if you'd like. I think my name is @wildchild_jack, like normal? Or it might just be Jackie? New things confuse me.

4. My college roommate came into town this weekend and it was so good to see her. It was a short visit because she lives 5 hours away and only had off for the weekend, but we still had fun. It's nice to see that things don't change even after almost a year. We slipped right back into our routine of drinking too much, making late night mac & cheese, and watching so many movies. She's a good one, that Lacey Blue.

oh, and we had our last kickball game on Saturday, so Ben pulled out the big guns: 

striped footie pj's.

5. One of Ben's Air Force friends works for Southwest Airlines and gave us some Buddy Passes yesterday! That means in the middle of March, we will be headed for Houston to see my sister-and-brother-in-law and my nephew to be! I don't remember if I mentioned it, but Ben's sister is pregnant with her first little baby, due in July, and we are so excited to make the trip down to see them before things get crazy. Even better: it was free. Even even better: it's a guarantee that it will be warmer there than it is here. Our warm blooded bodies can't wait.

6. Target is where it's at for spring clothes. I went in yesterday with this one skirt in mind and found a bunch of dresses while I was at it too. I'm beyond excited for spring to get here. Birds were chirping this morning as we were waking up, so that's a start.

7. Tomorrow, Ben and I are Tennessee bound! I'm headed to a job fair in Memphis and I talked Ben into coming along. It's a 17 hour trip for us, so we got some books on tape for the ride and we're staying with a family friend in Ohio tomorrow night to break the trip up.  I'm also hoping that my antsy self can survive 17 hours in a car there and 17 hours back. That should be interesting. This placement exchange is for exactly the type of job I'd like and I have 7 interviews lined up so far, so I'm pretty excited about it. I'm also nervous. It's a big deal. I'm doing my research and I feel pretty confident in interview situations, but these aren't some little interviews to work at the pizza shop; this is my career. So we'll see. I'd appreciate some prayers & good thoughts, if those are your thing.

That's it! I'm off to pack and get a quick hair cut before settling in to do some research and catch up on The Bach. I hope all of you friends have a wonderful Tuesday night. See you in a week or so.

time is love [a 2012 recap]

2012 was the year to end all years [literally, said the Mayans]. So many good things happened and I want to remember this year forever. So, here goes the remembering:

January|February|March

January: It started off with a trip to New York City with my graduating class, in which Ben surprised me on a bridge in Central Park and proposed. The rest of the month I was pretty much giddy, we did basically all of the wedding planning, and I started my last semester of my undergraduate degree.

February: We got in the swing of things with Ben being back in school [after missing last semester because of his deployment], me doing school and working, and wedding things. We registered, which was pretty much awesome, and I made the coolest fort for our Valentine's Day celebration. My mom, sister, and I went to D.C for a volleyball tournament and I also met Megan in real life finally and we drank our money's worth in mimosas.

March: During March, it was oddly nice outside, so I spent a lot of time going for runs and reading on the lawn outside of my dorm room and riding around on the motorcycle. Ben made a kick ass bar in his new apartment basement and we threw an awesome party and I got my first tattoo! That was it, really. It was a laidback month.

April|May|June

April: April was pretty much consumed by schoolwork again. That and job applications, which actually yielded no desired results. Which is why I now work at Macaroni Grill. As for fun things, we started pre-marital counseling this month and got our engagement pictures taken. I drunk vlogged and Ben and I were nauseatingly excited for our wedding. I think the engagement phase is like a pre-newlywed phase, all googly eyes and love notes, so that was my profound thought for the month. We also went on a third wheel date to my last formal with my roommate and did an awesome bar crawl with our friends afterwards. 

May: I graduated in May! We celebrated with Olive Garden and moving truckloads of my junk back to my mom's house. Then, it was time to get down to business. To-do lists out the wazoo. My little sister went to prom for the first time and I got crazy in my joblessness. We had a few date nights and banged out more wedding planning. Hardcore wedding planning. I had a little wedding dress meltdown, we celebrated Memorial Day with beer and some Kan Jam with our friends, and we also celebrated three years of being together.

June: June was consumed by wedding things. Crafting, building, planning, etc. We banged out our to-do list and I finally felt like it was all coming together. I surprised my little sister with tickets to Lady Antebellum for her birthday, which rocked. I also finally had time for myself, since there was no homework to be done. I fell in love with mornings and I fell in love with running through training for my 5k and was probably the skinniest I've ever been, which was awesome. I also read a whole bunch, so that was nice. My sister [and co.] threw my bridal shower and I felt so so loved. Also, we got a lot of cool stuff. We celebrated my brother's 23rd birthday, I started a new job, and by the end, we were both pretty much ready to just get married.

July|August|September

July: July, July, July. This was the best month of them all. At the beginning, I ran my first 5k with Ben right at my side, encouraged by my soon-to-be-in-laws cheering for "Mrs. Quigley" whenever we ran by them. We celebrated my little sister's 17th birthday, and a few days later, Ben and I got our marriage license. We finished up last minute wedding things, spent time with out of town people that were in for our day, some last minute baking and bike rides in between, and then all of a sudden, it was two days before our wedding. Wednesday was pampering and picking up my dress, Thursday was getting the park ready and having our rehearsal dinner, and Friday was the best day ever. Then it was honeymoon time. Then camp. Then moving in to our new apartment. It was a really busy month, in case you couldn't tell.

August: The theme of this month was home. We moved in, slowly settled in, and then started figuring out how to live together. The only thing is, Ben was gone for a lot of it. Dumb Air Force. Good news is that I got to spend a lot of time with my little sister and mom while he was gone. I opened my Etsy shop, we joined a kickball league with our friends, and we explored our new little town. Also, I gained back all of that lost running weight by eating more queso than a person ever should.

September: We settled. Ben started school again, we spent late nights on the couch watching HIMYM and eating peanut butter and frozen peanut M&Ms off a spoon, and we figured out a system for grocery shopping. We spent every Wednesday night with our friends at kickball and out at the bar afterwards and we settled in to each other. Into living together, into being one unit, into being a new family. The weather was beautiful, but I was already nostalgic for summer, and I think I always will be. This was the best summer of my life. But I tried really hard to focus on the life we were living now and it kind of worked. At the end of September, we celebrated my mom's birthday, and Ben's too, and our friends threw a big Cowboys & Indians themed party at Ben's request.

October|November|December

October: We started October out right by going to Brooklyn with our friends. I started grad school online and I had a lot of Saturday mornings to myself, while Ben was making up Air Force time he'd missed before. We made Thursday date days a tradition, usually just going for a bike ride, some exploring, and sometimes some homework, but they always started with slow mornings in bed and a pot of coffee. Ben got called to help with Hurricane Sandy relief, and while he was gone, I had the hardest week I'd had in a long time. October started off well, but I was glad to see it go.

November: Once Ben was home, everything kind of settled again. We decided to lease a SmartCar and had a lot of fun going to and fro to get it. We hung out with friends, spent a free night at a bed & breakfast on Veteran's Day, and I turned 22. We threw a Thanksgiving potluck feast at our place for our friends the day after, while I tried to survive my first real hangover, and we did the multiple families celebrating Thanksgiving thing later that week. I also decided to cool it with the blogging thing and that was one of my favorite decisions.

December: I was all about the new traditions this month. We decorated for Christmas on the 2nd [because we were out of town on the 1st], and I left no Target deal behind. We cut down our own tree, spent a day banging out the shopping list, made a fort on Christmas Eve Eve, and had about a thousand different celebrations. Grad school got a little more intense this month, which was bad timing because Ben finished up his semester and took my productivity with it, but somehow I made it.

2012 was the year of change. Positive, hoped-for change that I ran at with open arms, but change nonetheless. I got a degree, a husband, a new identity in my new last name, and a new home all in a matter of 4 months. And now I'm working on another degree in hopes of a new job and a big move in the next year as well. It's a bit incredible when I look at where I was last New Year's Eve compared to where I am now, but I love that about my life. I love the unknowns. Best part is that in July, some kid signed on to adventure with me so that the rest of our years will be spent together. Let's do this, 2013.

these days

Here's a little update of what life has looked like these days:

The night before Thanksgiving, my sister Jessa slept over, so we watched the Macy's Parade in the morning, she was a doll and straightened my hair and then we had a photoshoot on the way to our aunt's. Ben cooperated, until he didn't. Isn't that the way it always goes?

The day after Thanksgiving, my mom and all of us kids made our way to Albany to spend time with her family. The cousins all have a tradition of going to the nearby park and taking pictures on the dinosaur, so along with some football and impromptu board games with rules we made ourselves, that's what we did.

Last week was the perfect relaxing week. I can be a homebody sometimes, but there's something so nice about being home every night, with nowhere to go and nothing to get dressed up for. Monday night, we started to decorate for Christmas, Tuesday I worked on my Summer Book [and tried to finish it since summer was done a few months ago...], Wednesday we addressed Christmas cards and watched the SNL Christmas special, and Thursday night was homework night. So nice and productive.

And, as always, I took a thousand pictures of Ben. He was dressed up a lot this week, once for a class presentation, once for a wedding we went to on Saturday, and once for church Sunday. He's so cute when he dresses up, especially when he steals my glasses and pretends to be a hipster. We got to spend a lot of time together this week and for that, I'm thankful. Oh, and also, there's a random France picture in this collage, because I still miss it.

and a little snapshot of us at that wedding this weekend. After getting married myself, I saw the day in a different way. It was odd. And I never go for the bouquet toss anyways, but for the first time, I wasn't eligible to. So odd.

So that's what my days have looked like lately. Though I still catch myself whining sometimes [mostly about having to work while Ben & my friends are having fun], I'm incredibly thankful. This is such a sweet time in life.

oh, and as some of you have noticed, I got a little blog design makeover! I won a giveaway and have been working with Jessica on turning this space into something I love, so please be patient as we work the little bugs out. Thanks!

brb

from here

I'm taking a little blog break to focus on grad school, some crafting, and my loved ones. I'm just not feeling this blog thing lately, but thought you deserved an explanation for my absence. I'll be back intermittently when I feel like it.

If you're still here when I get back, you're my fave.

Later gators.

remembering [in Instagrams]

I realized the other day that there are a bunch of you sweet people who read my blog that aren't bloggers yourselves. You don't understand exactly why I care about documenting every little thing that happens in my life, and you especially don't understand why I share my life on the internet for everyone to see.

Mostly,  it's to remember. I've had this blog for over two years now and I love looking back on my old posts and reading about a funny memory that I forgot about otherwise. I blog to write and sort things out in my head, and I blog for the community of other sweet blogger friends that I've made throughout the years, but mostly, it's to remember.

And so, in an effort to not exclude you readers that don't have blogs yourself/don't have a smartphone/don't care about Instagram, these are collages of little moments that I've shared on Instagram, but for one reason or another, they didn't make it on the blog. Remembering these little moments is what makes me thankful for the life that I'm living.

[starting at the top, left to right]: 

1) When Ben's gone for the weekend and I get home late from work, I'm a real classy lady: beer, mac and cheese out of the pot, and SNL reruns on the couch. 

2) Sister bonding with hair dye is a dangerous thing.

3) Our coffee table got real tempting for a few weeks.

4) I made a bunch of Thanksgiving potluck feast invites for our friends. We'll be squeezing 18 people into this tiny apartment next week, so that's exciting.

5) My morning toast and coffee is becoming a ritual. 

6) Drinking beer and working on Etsy orders. I love being a grown up. 

7) I dropped my toast on the ground on my way out to the truck one morning, but didn't have time to go back inside and remake it, so I picked those leaves right off and ate it. A little dirt never hurt anybody. 

8) We had my family over for breakfast for dinner and it turned out delicious-ly. 

9) Sometimes on Saturday mornings, I get fancy and cook myself eggs to eat with my coffee and toast. Ben calls is my Old Lady Breakfast.

[starting at the top, left to right]: 

1) Every time I go to Target, something just magically jumps into my cart. This time it was Halloween Oreos.

2) Knee high fuzzy socks are the best thing ever invented.

3) I put all of our wedding cards together into a little book and now, they're on our bookshelf instead of a box in the attic. Smart thinkin, right?

 4) Some moms stocked up on bottled water for the hurricane, but because my little sister lives in that house, Mom bought gallons and gallons of milk. That girl needs her own cow.

 5) Last week, I got stuck in a ditch. That was a fun way to start my morning. Thankfully, a DOT guy with a backhoe pulled me out. Such a nice DOT guy.

 6) I ordered a Blurb book of my Instagram pictures last week and decided to write in it, scrapbook style. I'm happy with how it turned out.

 7) Ben came home yesterday!!! So, I baked him a Funfetti cake and wrote a little welcome home message.

8) I finally found somewhere to put all of my mini-Instax pictures. Now, I just need to take some more so that bottom one isn't so lonely.

 9) Last night, I was entertaining myself in the truck while I waited for Ben's plane to land. Thus, documenting the first time I'd done my hair in a week.

And that's it! I've decided that I'll start doing a little Instagram round up every once in a while for those of you who don't follow me, but if you have it and would like to follow along in real time, I'm @wildchild_jack on there.

Happy Tuesday!