"Be the Change You Want to See in the World" --Gandhi

    My proactive military career began when my fiance was suddenly sent out to train for military duty 3 months before our wedding. We had been promised this time together and then my fiance(now husband) received a call from his commander that he was supposed to be at this base training YESTERDAY. That's right, he was supposed to leave for training the day before he had actually received his orders. In other words, he was in trouble for not instinctively predicting orders that had not been planned yet.
   We were devastated! We had planned our wedding around the military and now they were going back on their word. When we made calls to find out what was happening, NO ONE KNEW. We called every one of my fiance's superiors and no one seemed to know what was going on.  My fiance received 4 calls within that same hour, each time changing his orders to a new time and new place!
  After this, I had had enough! The military was messing with both our lives and there was no organization involved. I expected more from the military! After this I decided I was going to be very proactive and a pain in the military's butt.
  While in training my fiance was not being paid for two months of work. I was furious! When he inquired as to what steps he could take to get paid he was chewed out and threatened.
  So I took charge. I contacted my local congressman and told the whole story. I said that I knew my rights and I would not put up with this garbage. Amazingly, that congressman responded within 24 hours. The pay problem was solved within the next 24 hours!  I spent many times on the phone with a military lawyer and we spoke about how important it is for military spouses and families to be proactive. The problem is, most don't know what they can do. So we need to promote proactive and educated military families. Take a step, get involved, learn your rights!

ProActive and Educated Military Families

  For a while now I have been trying without success to get other military spouses and family members to be more aware of their rights and to become more proactive.
  Since that hasn't been working well I am going to use this blog to spread the word!
   Please leave comments and show your support by becoming proactive in any way with military concerns! Please check out Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden's wonderful link! They are trying to get military families more support and education, so be proactive!http://www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces/

The Genius of the Unconventional Wedding Photographer

   




 


   When weddings or special events come around, there is one law I live by: A good photographer is worth the money!!!!!

   Justin Hackworth was our genius! He has done weddings, concerts, albums for musicians, and an incredible annual art exhibit called "30 Strangers for 30 Days".

   It is so important that a photographer captures honest, meaningful moments on that special day, whatever it may be.

   I was so tired of wedding pictures that all looked the same! I wanted someone who could actually show how much my husband and I had been through to get to this event. After all, we weren't at all your typical couple so why should we do anything like anyone else?!

  Luckily my sister knew this genius, Justin Hackworth, whose work in photography was so genuine. All of his photographs show people as they really are and they are beautiful. They aren't overdone or photo-shopped to death.

   I wanted pictures of my family and friends as they really are, not posed like dolls with very low blood sugar. Which is usually how families look in wedding pictures.


 I was so happy with Justin's photography. He gave me so many memories that I will cherish forever.

 Link to Justin Hackworth Photography

My Cupcake Chic wedding Cake!

So even though it has been 7 months, I am finally now writing about my wedding reception!
  The picture on the left is our wedding cake. Both my husband and I don't like frilly wedding cakes. In fact, we tried to find a cake topper of Jack Skellington and Sally for the top, but they were too expensive. Luckily we knew about this incredible shop called Cupcake Chic. http://www.cupcakechicutah.com/

     They were the best cupcakes I have ever tasted. The recipes were so fresh and the cupcakes actually tasted like what they were named!

  As an added bonus the owner and manager let me pick out the cupcake tower I wanted to use. She let me pick the ribbon I wanted for my wedding, which she then glued to the tower.I picked the pleated mint green ribbon, which you can see. 
   I also had the option of pics to go on top of the cupcakes that I could pick out from a website. I had some gorgeous craft butterflies from Michael's so I used those instead. She also offered to change the frosting color to match my wedding colors, but I really liked the mismatched colors.

  My favorites were; coconut, cinnamon, lemon(which has real lemon peel in it), and the oh so delicious peppermint! The owner was awesome and let me choose as many flavors as I wanted! So I picked about 8 and I was able to pick summer flavors. She then printed the flavors on a sign and framed it so that my guests would know what they were getting. 
    I was beyond pleased! Everyone got a choice of their flavors and they LOVED the cupcakes. I still love going to the shop, especially to taste some of the seasonal cupcakes!
These photographs were done by Justin Hackworth.http://justinhackworth.com/

Is it really spring?

   It is supposed to be springtime, but I live in the mountains of Utah.... So today the weather was: wind, followed by a brief cold hour of sun, followed by snow, and then followed by snow. Hoorah!
  Not that it matters that much, it is also time for midterms! So the cold weather forces me to stay inside and hopefully work on many, many papers.
  In the offtime I devote myself to Netflix and their fabulous selection of "MST3K" or "Mystery Science Theater 3000" films. If you are having a terrible day just watch their version of "The Pod People" or "I Accuse My Parents". 
  Oh, my sister has started a fabulous blog reviewing cosmetics! http://www.peacockgirl.com/
If there is one thing my sisters and I know its makeup, and books.

Created my own Military Support Group Page

After dealing with many fiascos regarding the military, I have decided to create my own Support group for spouses of military people who would like to become Pro-Active & Educated! I was so tired of spouses and military personel just accepting that this was the way the military ran. So as a political activist and librarian I decided that it is time people get informed as to their rights!

 http://www.military.com/HomePage/UnitCreatedPage/0,11003,892128,00.html

Cabella's :The religion not the store

            My brother in law has come up with an absolutely genius money making scheme, oops I mean tool. Since Cabala has become popular among celebrity gentiles that know absolutely nothing about Judaism, it got us thinking, hey, if jerks like Madonna can charge ridiculous amounts for Cabala bracelets, why don't we start our own new celebritant religion! It shall be known as, Cabellas!
                 We will sell camouflage strings to tie around our member's wrists for $5. Then we will sell camouflage candles and outdoor supplies with a 85% mark up! We will tell our members to go camping in the woods for years at a time and to only use our products so that they don't taint their meditation process with the outside world or electricity. We could make entire Cabella's communities that must live off our products! We could all worship creepy stuffed animals that they have hung in the stores.

Mall Conversations- so dumb it could be Reality TV

       Today our true life Mall conversation takes place at the "University Mall" in Orem, Utah, which is quickly mutating into "Fashion Island: of Southern California. Oy ve.
   Two girls that are about 6 feet 2 inches tall, with identical hair, identical $200 jeans, and $150 identical sunglasses. Girl 1: "Oh my gosh what size are you?!" Girl 2 looking embarrassed: "A size 4". Girl 1: "Oh my gosh! Me too!" Both girls hug and look like they may burst into tears.
   The End.
  For more ridiculously stupid conversations just sit on your local shopping mall bench and soak in the local flavor of your city!

Absence makes the heart grow fonder or turn crazy?

        Today I had to once again had to say goodbye to my best friend. I was not happy about it. My fiance and I woke up at 4 am to drop him off at the airport. After I had to say goodbye to the person I thought I would be marrying in 4 weeks to his recruiter casually said, "Sorry" casually and then left quickly. Its probably a good thing he did leave quickly because I wanted to punch him in the face.
       My siblings, there are 7 of them, who live all over the United States have been planning to come to this wedding. Now many of them can't make it. My maids of honor, my two nieces, who have been planning this with me long distance for 8 months now can not attend the wedding. It has cost my family a lot of money to reschedule and all this army officer had to say was, "oh, sorry".
      This wasn't a movie that we were all planning to see together, it was probably the last time my family could all get together at one time.  I wanted to end this is in a funny or satirical way, but it's too hard. I hated the ARMY before, and now I really hate them. This is my life. On the bright side, I am going to attempt to fill my life with crafts and staying busy, because I am now jobless and my fiance is gone.

Dear Brainless Gits who run the U.S. ARMY

Well, once again the men running the U.S. ARMY have done it again! By the way, all of this is completely true and factual.
            My fiance was scheduled leave to be trained for something he can not be deployed for, on Friday morning. Oh, but wait, there has been a mistake! Surprise, Surprise! He was supposed to leave this morning! Oh wait just a second, they made a mistake! We got a call 2 minutes after that call letting us know that my fiance would be deployed in the morning! Oh wait, they got the base wrong, now they know which base he is being deployed to! Whoopsie!
         So to the incompetent gits who are running the U.S. ARMY, if you are in charge of something that expensive, GET A BRAIN! You have the organizational skills of a 14 year olds at a summer camp!