Embracing It

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I am so happy that I got to come home for my favorite holiday. We're going to have Thanksgiving Dinner at my house this year. That is going to be a little bit strange. We've only eaten at our house one other time that I can remember, but I suppose traditions change as our lives change.

My mom cleaned all day yesterday and prepared for all of the cooking she had to do today. I helped with what I could and did as much cleaning as I could help with. Usually I'm better at making messes than cleaning them up though.

But after some hard work I finally get to sit down by the nice warm wood stove and blog.

I filled the cooler up with soda pop and adult beverages.  It's not a family get together without an adult beverage or two, that is for sure...

Or fridge is filled with pies, ranch dip and various side salads for dinner tonight. Of course, It's now 5 o'clock and the bulk of the guests have yet to arrive, so everything is still, quite literally, chillin' in the fridge.  Every year we go way beyond the usual mashed potatoes, green beans, and turkey. We always have way more food than we could possibly eat, but it gets eaten eventually.

This year, I  learned the secrets of the potato salad. In case you were wondering, I am now the potato salad master. It will undoubtedly be the best potato salad we've had in a while. I'm sure of it it. 

Soon we will fill up one of these mis-matched plates with too much food for us to eat, we'll pray as a family and we'll have another successful Thanksgiving.  I think that is what I'm most thankful for this year. Yes, our plates don't match. We don't have "company plates" and we had to clean from top to bottom to host this Thanksgiving Day meal, but that is what makes my family mine. 

Sometimes we don't fit together exactly as we're should, but that's okay. It's what makes us...us. 

I am so very thankful for everything that makes us who we are. I am thankful for all of my crazy experiences and up-hill battles. Even though things around here are changing more than I might have asked for It's going to be okay.  I'd rather embrace it than run from it. 

I'm thankful for all of my friends that have helped me get through all of my many trials and I'm thankful for this crazy, unpredictable life. 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Enjoy your time with your families and try not to die tomorrow on Black Friday. 

In The Spirit of Thanksgiving

Initially, I created a vlog post for this, but I just couldn't get it right, so I decided to stick with my strengths and just write like usual.

Every Thanksgiving, I take a little bit of time to show my gratitude for all of the wonderful blessing that I have in my life. Objects, people, opportunity, and so on and so forth.  The following will be more or less a list of things and people. I mention you by name, so if you're just feeling like reading what I have to say about you, the things I am thankful for will be in bold type :) It won't be hard to find yourself!

There are many things in this world that I have to be thankful for. First and foremost, I feel that I should give thanks for my amazing family. 

Family, You have all be so very patient with me. I have had a very rough year and a half or so and every one of you have done nothing but be supportive. I have made a lot of life changing decisions that affect more than just me and it means the world to me that you have been here through thick and thin to help me to succeed in all of my overly ambitious endeavors. 

Responsibility.  I am so thankful for all of the responsibility I have as of late. It is teaching me how to be a grown up. It has taught me that if I'm not looking out for myself, no one else is. Of course, there are people around that will be supportive of me, but they do not hold my fate in their hands. I do. I am so thankful for that. 

Technology and communication. I cannot even begin to describe how thankful I am for modern technology. Without it, I wouldn't have healed as I should have. I wouldn't have been able to keep up a wonderful and emotional long distance relationship. I wouldn't be able to hear my best friend's voice or see his face...It is a great think that I take for granted. I will so appreciate it after I write letters for 3 months...

Bloggy World.  This blog has seriously been such a fantastic blessing in my life. Like I said earlier, I have had a hell of a year and half or so. I have been able to put down everyone of my thoughts here, and I have been met with such support. From strangers, no less. Honestly, having this blog to talk to has enriched my life in ways that I don't even fully understand just yet. 

My Job & The Military. I love my job. I love that I have a job in a place where jobs are so scarce for some. I am so grateful for all the skills I have learned, the friends I have made, and the experience I have gained. 

The military...oh my. Something I never thought I would ever get to be part of, I am going to get to experience. I can't simply describe to you what that means to me and how thankful I am for this chance to live my dream. 

Friends:

in no particular order :)

Will, I don't think you know this, but you have the ability to brighten my day. When you were deployed and I got the chance to talk to you, it made me so happy that I was in a good mood for the rest of the week. Although we have had our ups and downs, I feel like I can always count on you. You will always be honest with me, support me, yell at me, and make up with me when we fight.  I am exponentially thankful for your friendship and I hope that it means half as much to you as it does to me. 

[I feel very sad that I couldn't find a single photo of my bestie and me together]

Christian, I barely know you. Some could argue that I don't know you at all. But it doesn't feel that way. I feel like I've known you all my life. Although when we first started talking, you had zero obligation to me, you let me rant and be annoying. You probably think that I'm totally insane, but having you to talk to had a really positive effect on me that you probably cannot understand.  I hope that one day, we can actually hang out. Talk in person at least! Be real friends, not just the texty kind. 

Kelsey, you and I could be apart for any large amount of time and pick up a conversation like we never stopped talking. I know that I can always lean on you for support and that you will never leave me. I am very thankful for you and for our friendship. I believe it's the lasting kind that won't waver despite distance or time weighing on it. 

J...I can probably just call ya by your name on here now, but you're just...J in my bloggy so that's how you'll stay I guess. I'll keep it brief here, but I am very thankful for you. I am thankful for you and for your family and for all of the awesome adventures that we got to have together. I still think about you every day and it's getting easier to think of you. Instead of being upset, I can just...remember and be okay. I hope that you, too, are thankful for me and for what we had...

Day Family, I don't know how to say how thankful I am for you all. I have never felt so at home in someone else's house as I do in yours. I have learned so much from you all. I built lasting relationships that I know will never disappear completely. I know that if I ever needed anything, I could turn to any one of you and get the help that I need. I love you and I hope that I never have to live without you all as at least a small part of my life. 

And all of my wonderful friends new and old in general! I have some of the most fantastic people in my life...Without you all, I would not be this person that I'm growing into. And oddly enough, I'm actually starting to like that person. It has been a long time since I looked in the mirror and hated what I saw. You all have played a large role in that change. I love you guys and I hope that I have a continued friendship with everyone that is currently a part of my life. 

This past year or so has been...difficult. I have faced so many trials and have been forced to deal with many things that I didn't want to. I have been broken in many ways. I have been hurt and damaged. I have made detrimental decisions. I have made smart and great choices. I have left behind a few things and picked up some new ones...I am thankful for this life that I live. It's not perfect. In fact, it's so far from perfect, one might call it a little dysfunctional, but I don't care. I am thankful for it, not regardless or the bad, but including it. Without it, I wouldn't be me. I wouldn't be Katie. 

And Katie is just not such a bad person to be...

What are you thankful for?

Thankful for Change Even Though I Sort Of Hate It

This is the cork board at my grandpa's house. 

Nothing on this board has changed since my grandma died but the calendar. There's little notes, phone numbers, reminders, lists, measurements for something she was going to sew. things we made for her cards from the services she used. and then some. 

I love this board because when I sit there at the kitchen table, it feels, for just one moment, like nothing as changed.  It feels like I'm going to stand up and see her sitting at her sewing machine making baby blankets for my sister's new baby coming this March, or putting together neighbor gifts for Christmas. 

But unfortunately, that isn't going to happen. Things have changed. 

It's hard to be thankful for change, but we have to be. 

I constantly hate that I have to live without certain things in my life, but it has made me stronger and shaped who I am. I've talked about change quite a lot here because it is an extremely common theme in my life. 

I don't think that I'm worse off from it either. 

I like that board in the kitchen that never changes. It's a piece of yesterday that I really love to look at, but I live for today and for tomorrow and the next day. And I am so very thankful fact. 

Don't forget to check out my first sponsor for the month of November! Show your husbands how thankful you are for them with a new multi-tool case!

The Way I Am

Lately, I've been doing my best to avoid making big and concrete plans. I don't know exactly where I'm going to be after I get home from AIT and I don't know that I'll want the same things that I want now.

But today, I am so thankful that I have options.

I'm thankful for ambitions and my sense of adventure, and I so beyond thankful for my ability to adapt to any given circumstance. I am so very thankful for the way that I am. That's a bit of a blanket statement, but you get the idea.

Although I am not quite where I want to be, I have the ability to try and get there and I am so thankful for that. 

Right now, I've got the makings of a plan. And I am really hoping that it will work out. What are my plans? I might as well tell you. I don't believe it jinxing it. 

source

Okay...so Grey's Anatomy is not my plan. But Seattle? Seattle is my plan. The University of Washington is my plan, to be more specific.

I am also applying to a few other schools. 

Source: University of Utah Campus Store

source: Caste Football

The biggest draw back to going out of state, is that it's going to be expensive. I'm hoping to figure out a way to get residency and I'm praying that the school is military friendly so I can hopefully afford to go there, should I get in. 

This dream to go to college is a fairly new one. The only reason that I wanted to go to college in high school, was because I felt like it was the next step, well now, I am actually feeling a desire for higher education. And I want to do it in a way that no one in my family has done before. I want to move away from home and learn in a new environment. So Washington is my first choice. But maybe I'll end up somewhere else. I guess we shall see. 

Maybe.

If I figure out how to pay for it. 

*I am also thankful for grants!!!*

So, by December 1st I will be applied to several schools.  Sadly, I won't find out if I got in to anywhere before I leave. Oh well. I guess sometimes you gotta roll with the punches...

If any of you awesome military spouses out there know a thing or two about how to make school affordable with military benefits, I would really appreciate it!

Don't forget to show some love to my awesome sponsor: Nay's Custom Leather. It's getting close to Christmas time and I know that you're husbands will like some of the products that he has to offer!

My Shameless Admittance of Being A Daddy's Girl

This is my daddy. 

Today, he is a year older. 

I figured that today would be the best day to talk about how thankful I am for that guy who helped raise me.  My daddy and I are quite a lot alike.  We have the same type of temperament, we think the same way, and apparently, we even rest the same way. 

I am truly so thankful for my dad. He has made me...adventurous and unafraid of new things. 

When I was a little girl in pre-school and kindergarten, my daddy would pick me up from school or the baby sitter's house and take me to work with him. At the time, his leather shop was at a barn where he boarded horses. There was a big arena, and large pastures where the horses were. It was basically a little kid's dream playland. There was a tire swing, a creek at the bottom of the hill, huge stacks of hay bales to play on. It was fantastic.  I would go there, and I would play.  I would be gone for hours.  What was I doing? Playing in the dirt, splashing in a puddle. running up and down the hills...And it was amazing.  When I was with my dad, I basically did whatever I wanted. 

It made me independent. I don't think that I completely learned how to take care of my self when I was 4 or 5, but I did find out that I didn't always need help. I think I became a big girl. I discovered that a piece of bailing twine could be fun. That dirt and rocks and water could make me the happiest lil' lady in the world. 

When I was little, that meant that I was very easily entertained, but now, it means that I can always survive. And I am so thankful for that. 

Happy birthday daddy. I love you and I am so thankful for you and everything you have taught me.  I don't know what I would have done with out you!  I will always be your lil' girl.

Please welcome my very first sponsor: Nay's Custom Leather!  

Giving Thanks

Every Thursday, I go back to my blogging roots and I talk about something that goes a little deeper than simply scratching the surface. 

 

 

November is probably my favorite month. I pretend to be a super scrooge when it come to fall, but I really quite like it. My favorite part of November is Thanksgiving. I love to give thanks for all of the amazing people I have in my life and for all the wonderful opportunities and material possessions. I have lived such an amazingly blessed life and I like to write down those things and remember how great life really is.

 

Each day of this month I'm blogging about all the things that I am thankful for. 

I am so very  thankful for...

 

My cell phone. As stupid as that might sound my cell phone has connected me to other in a way that wouldn't be possible otherwise. I have friends spread out across this country, and other countries too. It is so great knowing that I can still see their faces and send them texts and talk on the phone when I can't really be with them...It is truly something to be thankful for. Yes, I know my carbon-fiber shield is awesome.

I am exponentially thankful for my blog...This blog and all of the support I have received from those that read it has kept me sane. I know that sometimes I probably get a little bit too personal, but it makes me feel better to get it all out and put down on virtual paper. It's always been my dream to be a writer, and this is such a wonderfully simple way to do it. It makes me so happy to have somewhere? that will always listen.

I'm thankful for music. Music does two things for me. It puts me out of my head and takes me to a place I've never been, or a place that I want to be. And it also brings me back to earth. It places me back inside my head. It reminds me who I am and why I am the way that I am...It's me.

 

 

I am thankful for the food on my table,

 

And the clothes on my back...

 

And for the love in  my heart...

 

What are you thankful for this wonderful November 1st?