Don't Forget To Turn The Light On

Today's post was inspired by something that I posted on my personal Facebook page (Please, feel free to send me a friend request) last night. 

It might sound kind of silly to say that something you said about yourself inspired you, but honestly, it happens to me all the time. I am a thinker. I think everything to death. So after I put something on the internet, I read it a lot. I think about what I said, why I said it, and what it means to me. I won't lie though, sometimes I also giggle a little bit over what I say. I think I'm hilarious. 

But anyway, I'll try no to climb the whole mountain before I get to the point of the this post.

This particular post earned 29 likes (come on people! You couldn't give me 30?!) and a couple of comments. Lately, my facebook has been pretty active. Ever since I discovered twitter, I've sort of been neglecting Facebook, but I decided to split my attention a little bit. Ugh, I'm sorry, I'm hiking up the mountain again. 

My post said the following:

"Last winter, I was recovering from a surgery, tired of it being dark and cold, depressed that the person I loved was far away, and felt completely hopeless. Today, I have embraced this cold weather, I even sat in my car in which the heat does not work in 12 degree weather to finish listening to a song and I wasn't bothered. I am beyond recovered from my injury. I'm not terrified that a relationship is going to fall apart and I'm two weeks from fulfilling a major dream. Things seem pretty dark at times, but I think that I probably just forgot to turn the light on.."

I'm not sure what spurred the thought, I suppose I was simply reflecting, like I often do, on my situation and thinking about if I was happy or not with the way that things were going.

This is what I came up with:

Yesterday, I went out to lunch alone. I don't work on Tuesdays, but everyone else does...

But instead of being all depressed about it, I gathered together my multiple Cafe Rio card and ended up with a free meal! 

When I came out of Cafe Rio, I jumped in my car and drove away. Well, I didn't get very far because I had a flat tire. Of course, I was wearing dress so even if I did have a tire iron in the car, I couldn't change it myself. I had to call my daddy to come and rescue me.


Instead of letting that ruin my day, I took note that my daddy was wearing the hat I got him for Christmas, and he has been ever since.

I spent the day hanging out with my dad by accident. I guess that's pretty okay with me.

Then later, we went over to my sister's new place. As I've mentioned before, my big sister is pregnant. I'm going to be gone when she has the baby, so I'm putting together her baby shower for this weekend. Well, she just barely moved into this house and we've got to get it ready for a whole bunch of guest by Saturday. The first thing that we had to do, was get her new (well new to her) sectional down the stairs and into her family room...Well it was too big to fit, so my dad busted it up into pieces and he's working on putting it back together by Saturday...

It's sort of stressing me out. But we got to go over to her new place and have dinner.

Ever wonder how you check to see if the spaghetti noodles are done yet? You throw one at the fridge. Totally works, I swear. 

Then, my sisters and I watched one of our all time favorites, The Master of Disguise. Well, we made it through most of it before we fell asleep.  I guess in our old age we can't stay up late anymore...

My mom snapped this picture of us before she woke us up to brave the tundra outside to go home.  I'm really going to miss my sissies when I go...

So...Now you're like. Hmm...what the heck does this have to do with turning on the light. Well, today was not the best day ever. It was inconvenient to get a flat, but let's face it, flat tires are never convenient.  I had to eat lunch alone, but it was free!  And because I can't drive my car, I get to carpool with my dad. My van has heat! 

Basically, what I'm getting at, is that although there are something that happen throughout your day and throughout your life that don't seem to go as planned, things that simply just don't work out, sometimes, you just have to turn the light on. Watch the Master of Disguise and forget about the darkness. 

And while you're at it, enter this great giveaway I'm running until the first week in February! Win a free medium silver locket from Origami Owl.  Check out Tina's design Facebook page. Like it for your first entry and head over here to enter!

The Jewelry That Tells Your Story

I am so very excited to announce that I hosting an Origami Owl Giveaway!

In my Christmas recap I shared some gifts that I gave to the women in my family. They were these beautiful living lockets  by Tina Graham.

These lockets are probably the neatest pieces of jewelry I have ever seen. Personally, I really don't wear much of it, but when I saw these lockets, I knew that I had to have one. 

I created a locket for each of the women in my family in memory of my grandma. I also added a charm that would represent a piece of them as well.  Each locket held the purple awareness ribbon for pancreatic cancer as well as some other charm the represented who they are.

They came gift wrapped in these adorable little boxes, which meant that I didn't have to wrap anything. That was soo nice. When I wrap, it looks like a car ran over it!  Tina was also very easy to work with and made sure to get me exactly what I wanted and then some!

The great thing about these lockets, is they can suit anyone. I know I've got a fairly large followling of military spouses. Well, you can create a living locket for any branch of the military to show your support for your soldier, airman, sailor, or Marine.  

Besides that, they can also be for any cause, occupation, hobby, and basically anything else that you can think of. 

You can share your story all inside of these little glass lockets. 

From now until December 31, 2013, if you tell Tina that I sent you, she will give you an 18 inch ball station chain (that's the kind I have. it's beautiful!) and 2 free charms with a purchase of $50.00 or more. That is a pretty great value! 

So, enter this giveaway and get yourself a free locket! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This & That

First of all, don't forget about the give away I've got running! You can enter to win a 25% off discount to Nays Custom Leather's Etsy Shop and a custom leather bracelet anyway that you want it!

I have a bracelet and I wear it every day! In fact, I'm wearing it right now. They are adorable and I know you want one! So hurry and enter to win while you have the chance

It's always worth it to enter a giveaway! What do you have to lose?!

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This day has been...interesting. 

First, I got up a little late (I've been staying up way too late re-watching Grey's Anatomy) and had to rush to get ready. I had to stop and get gas and I decided to grab myself some hot chai at the Beans & Brews. Drinking tasty hot drinks is all part of me trying to embrace the suck that is Utah in the winter time...

Well, the line at the Beans & Brews was way longer than it looked, so I started to get all anxious that I was going to be late, then I looked in my lap and realized that my badge wasn't on...so I had to go back home and get it. Luckily, I made it on time, but not before spilling my chai all over in my car...Good one, Katie.

Luckily, there was still quite a bit left in the cup because I opted for the 20 oz...but still, I spilled hot, sticky liquid all over. Not cool. 

Then we got slapped with all these new rules at work. Some people have abusing their privileges of not being watched like a hawk...so now everyone with my job title has to report what we're doing every moment of the day...Awesome? Not really. Of course, that is part of life, dealing with rules, but it's annoying that people had to ruin it for those that follow them.

I also decided today, that even though I don't believe in astrology and horoscopes and the like, sometimes, they tell me some good shit. Read this and tell me that this is something I didn't need to hear? Oh, you can't? I thought so...it's kinda dead on.  If you know anything about me, you know that today's horoscope almost made a believer out of me...(still a skeptic though.)

Yesterday, I was listening to this Mumford and Sons song and I started wondering why I don't just listen to them all the time...They speak to me and their composition is fantastic. If you don't listen to them or you've never listened to them, I recommend you look into them. They rock.

And...tonight, I'm taking my adopted little brother out to dinner and a movie. Okay, so he's not really my adopted little brother. He's J's little brother, but I wish he was mine, so we're pretending. I'm really excited to hang out with him, but now I have to go clean up the spilled chai so he can ride  in the car. That's just how things go for me! 

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe weekend!

Enter the giveaway while you still can!

What We Are Made Of

So, it's about time that I say a little something about my awesome sponsor! You may have noticed his little banner down  at the bottom each post throughout the month. You have probably also noticed that it's Nay's Custom Leather.  It's not a coincidence, it is my daddy's business.

Telling my daddy's life story would take days. It could fill pages and pages of books upon books. He has been hunting and trapping ever since he could walk, learning completely by trial an error. He has always been the independent type who is constantly working at improving.

He left home the day he turned 18 and finished out his senior year in Montana on his own. He worked as a ranch hand(aka: Cowboy), a guide for hunters, a farrier (horse shoe-er), and many other jobs that have enhanced his abilities in his trade. My daddy has been working with leather for over over 20  years. Entirely self taught, his abilities are growing with each and every day.

He started with his own saddle. After that, he sold 5 more. His little sister displayed one of his saddle in the display window at the bank in downtown Salt Lake.  He had taught himself to make something only the best of leather workers can do...He is really very extraordinary. And he sells everything he makes for ridiculously low prices for the quality.

Here's a few pictures of him in his early days:

As time has passed his business has grown and adapted to the times. The demand for saddles just isn't what it used to be. My dad's business has been growing steadily for several years. Recently, he  expanded his business into the online sector. He got himself a Facebook and shocked us all! In fact, he's better at Facebook than I am.  He opened up a shop on Etsy and has expanded his merchandise into new fields. I have yet to seem him fail at creating something that someone asks him to make.

He has a true passion for working with leather. He believes in working hard for the things you have and always providing great service. He has a quick turn around and will always do his best to create exactly what his customers ask for.

This business is the epitome of what a small business should be. He created it from he was made of...My dad is a great example to me and it is a honor for me to advertise his business here on my little piece of the internet. So, do me a favor, enter this giveaway for 25% of anything in the Etsy store!

Don't write this off thinking there is nothing you would like! Take a look at all of these things that David (Daddy to me) can make for you!

Here are a couple things that I have. I have more than this...but this is what I've already got pictures of. 

Enter to win...nearly anything under the sun!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Progress Report!

It feels like I haven't blogged in forever! Don't forget about my "50 Followers" DefineBliss giveaway! Today is the last day to enter!

She was at a show this week! Here is what her booth looked like!

Adorable!

Today's post is a bit of a mish-mash of everything. Usually, I throw down the Sunday Social, but I was tied up this weekend so I didn't get around to it.  And also, I wasn't really in the mood to blog. I've promised myself that I will never blog when I don't feel like it.  Blogging shouldn't be a chore, right?

I had drill with my reserve unit this weekend.

This month, we did an APFT. If you follow me on Twitter (@camocolored) you know that I passed!

Push-Ups: 26 ( I did 32, but only 26 of them counted...)

Sit ups: 60. (I could have done more. Next time, I will!)

2 mile run: 17:06 (my goal was 17:00!!)

I was sooo proud of that. I was more worried about the run than anything and I completely surprised myself. I think that I also surprised the soldiers around me. The SPC. That was counting for me sounded completely shocked every time I did a push-up. It sort of pissed me off a little. You should never judge a book by it's cover...But at the same time, I got satisfaction out of being a surprise.

I also looked much better in my hand-me-down uniform.

See that fuzzy patch in the center where my rank insignia is supposed to be? Well, because I passed my APFT, it won't be fuzzy anymore!! Woo!

I also "adjusted" my patrol cap so that it fit me a little bit better.

Yay for safety pins!

 I also got to see one of my old friends from the Marine DEP that is stationed in North Carolina. We had a good time talking politics and hanging out. We agree on like...everything so it was pretty easy to talk about. No warfare with words.

Plus, the other day, I got to Skype with one of my other Marine buddies who's on deployment right now. That was awesome. I don't realize how much I miss him until I get to see his face and it makes my week. It's great, but it is also hard to have all of my best friends so spread out...

So that's about it. I'm still living life, kicking ass and taking names, having a little bit of fun, and working like a dog to be the best that I can possibly be.

Happy Monday, Bloggy World

(if there is such a thing as a happy monday...)

A Blissful Giveaway

To Celebrate my 50 (and beyond!!!) followers I am giving away a lovely giftcard to my cousin Jessica's Etsy Shop DefineBliss.

Jessica has been creating all of her amazing hand-made decor since May 2010. Since she started her shop, she has learned a lot about her craft. On top of this, she works a full time job where she is the sole trainer for a whole department and a Team Lead Supervisor. She works her butt off all day long at work and goes home to continue working.

Everything that she makes can be custom ordered and she has had nothing but satisfied customers! She is great at what she does. She truly puts her heart and soul into every project. I have personally seen the joy that she gets out of positive feedback or when she makes something that she is proud of. 

These are some of my favorite products!

This one is actually hanging up in my house!

And I'm asking for this one for Christmas....

I'll admit, I'm a little bit biased because she's my cousin and I love her. But you can see for yourself! Enter the giveaway and select your very own DefineBliss Product!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/5a8cf11/

Thanks for being awesome and dedicated followers! I look forward to making new bloggy friends through this giveaway and I am so excited to giveaway this awesome present!