The More Candles the Bigger the Wish

So my 24th birthday was last Thursday! It was one of the best birthdays I have ever had. I have some freaking awesome friends, I don't know what I am going to do once we PCS to Germany. Hopefully I make some equally as great friends. We ended up going to the Melting Pot,which is this awesome fondue restaurant. I got so many awesome gifts, my favorite being a Keurig! So I just wanted to share some pictures :)

The Roller Coaster of Marriage

Growing up when I thought of marriage I would always relate it to fairy tales such a Cinderella. You wait for your prince charming to come and find you and you live happily ever after and ride into the sunset together and live happily ever after. No one ever tells you how hard marriage can be. It is like a roller coaster with lots of ups and downs. Now when I think of marriage I think of it as a child having to grow. The first year is like the first year of a baby's life. Your so in awe with it and everything is so new, exciting, and cute. Your head over heels in love and so excited that you met the one person that you are going to spend the rest of your life with. Then comes the second year which is known as the terrible two's and your mind keeps jumping to the thought of :What was I thinking?!?!?Reality sets in and those things you use to think were so cute start to drive you crazy. But that's what marriage is trying to find a balance of sanity and crazy. Then there are so many other factors that can effect your marriage.

Children: They change your marriage and they change you. You still are yourself but then you become a parent to someone else thus creating a whole new version of yourself. So when you are a new verison of yourself it will also bring you to a new version of yourself. Sometimes a marriage can take a back seat because you are so focused on the new little person who has became your world. You have to remember that your marriage is just as important as your kids. Learning the balance of being a spouse, parent, and still being you is the hardest part. I still work at it everyday.

Finances: Money. It plays so much in a marriage. What if one of you is a spender while the other is a saver. Having a difference in how the household money is handled can be very hard on a marriage. This was one of the hardest things to try and overcome in my own marriage. With us what has seemed to be working lately is compromising and putting a balance on how you spend and save.

Basically it all comes down to good marriages don't just happen. They take work it is a process. Its not going to be a fairy tale but its not going to always be a nightmare either. I've been married for almost 3 years and I am just starting to understand that marriage is a give and a take. The only thing I am 100% sure about at the end of the day about my marriage is that I love my husband.

The Military & My Career

So I never realized how hard it was for a spouse of a service member to have a career or even establish one. I am a college student, I have been for awhile, might as well be a career college student since I feel as if I will never graduate. I was originally going to school to be a psychologist and become a family and marraige counselor. Well after 3 1/2 years I had an epiphany and decided I didnt want to do that. So I changed my major to PTA (physical therapy assisting). Well after finding that I really enjoy this and taking the pre-reqs to apply for the program, my hubby tells me we got orders to Germany. At first I am ecstatic then I realize I cant do the PTA program because you have to be physically here. Bummer right... So I am sitting here at a cross roads trying to figure out what to do. So as I go through all the degrees my school has to offer, I see I am six classes from being able to get an Associate's degree in Allied Health, whatever that is. I figure I might as well take this so I can at least have a degree, but I know this isnt what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Then last night I am laying in bed and talking to my husband about how I am about to be 24 and I dont know what I want to be when I grow up. He tells me to do something I love and am passionate about. So I am sitting there thinking and it hits me. What do I like to do??? Bake! I love to be in the kitchen making something up. Hmmm maybe I should open a bakery become a baker. Then I thought can I even do that because ever four years we will be moving. How do all you other Military wives balance a career and always moving? Who ever thought that when we graduated high school at 18 we would know what we wanted to do for the rest of our adult life was sadly mistaken.