Things I Love

1. Finishing 2 exams in one day.
2. Almost finishing the packing on the entire apartment.
3. Vacations (like Houston)
4. Kitten kisses, and when they sleep curled up in my arms.
5. Hugs from the hubbins after a long day of hard work for both of us.
6. Tote bags, because when you run out of boxes but own 20 totes, you dont have to worry.
7. Steven Tyler on American Idol. Much better than Simon.
8. Staying up late just to lay in bed and giggle with each other.
9. Ipod hookups in cars.
10. Having my own blanket to sleep with, so I can actually get a good nights sleep.

:) LOVE TO ALL

Accomplished

Exams came in yesterday, so this afternoon I will be finally finishing my semester. Relief right there. I kept getting worried I wouldn't get them done. So I'll be looking over some stuff this morning, and then I am going to attack my kitchen. Our bedroom is 90% done. Everything is taken down or put away that can be. Our bathroom about 70%. Threw away all my old make up, lotions, and anything else I just didn't like enough to keep. I packed my things for Houston, just have to do laundry so I can pack Greg's. I got the wii bedroom all packed up, just need to find a place for the kitty toys. and the spare bedroom is filled with nothing but things that either are packed, packing materials, or things half packed. I am sucessful. :) The livingroom is bare, the bedroom is bare, all our decorations are packed away. I am so relieved. So today will be starting the kitchen, and moving everything finished into the livingroom. I might even take some stuff to storage by myself after I finish my exams. Gregs on a night flight tonight, thats the only reason I'd be alone. :)

So its official. We leave for Houston on Thursday!! So excited! We'll have to come back Sunday night, Greg has stuff scheduled for Monday. But I'm pumped that we're going!

Crunchtime

So as I stated yesterday. Things come up. I have been planning this trip to Houston for my birthday week for over a month in my head, and a few weeks vocally. Though I think I've been talking to Greg about it for quite awhile. So its been "set in stone" in my mind. Of course, that was silly of me. I dont know how many times I will have to be told no before I learn my lesson to be flexible. But lets face it, I'm a stubborn firery red head who does not like to not get her way. From the infamous "I TACO MOMMY" quote, to moving out at 17, moving to Texas, getting married and not telling anyone first... I like to do what I want. So being told this weekend the dates of things that have to happen for the deployment. I was crushed. Of course they all happen right around my birthday, thank goodness nothing happens on my actual birthday..or I'd be reaaaaalllly sad. So I have been wracking my brain for the past 48 hours trying to figure out a solution. Voila! I texted Lindz, asked her when shes off...and told Greg to put in leave for this coming weekend. Yup. We move out of the apartment on the 31st, and I want to go to Houston the 27-30th. So my week has become mega crunchtime packing zone. Hahaha. Wish me luck.

To do Today:

All decorations are coming down, clothes will be sorted and packed appropriately, and the kitty/wii room will be entirely packed and cleaned up!

Whohooo for making things work. Boo for making more work for myself. At least this way I'll keep myself busy this week! Cant wait to be home sooN~


PS- Anyone want to go thrifting with me in the future? I'm addicted to craft blogs and I wanna make stuff while I'm home! K thanks!

As the days go crashing by

Another week is over. I think last night was the first night that it hit me that its getting dangerously close to the deployment. I cried. I am so excited for everything to come, but I just dont want to be apart again. Deployments are never easy, no matter how much you prep beforehand, and I know there will be stupid fights, and lots of crying, and days of wondering where and if he's ok.. and I'm just not ready for that all again yet. But there isn't one thing that you can do about it. So I'm just trying to put a smile on, and enjoy the time we have left together. Come on packers! Pull off a win today!

I'm a little upset. I've been trying to go to Houston for months..and we finally pick some dates to go, find out Lindsay is off work, and now it looks like it wont happen. So we have to find new dates.. try and work around everyones schedule, because I will go! I dont care! I want to see Lindz. She was my closest friend when she was here, and it stinks that life happens and gets busy and you lose time to talk. But 6-8 hours away isn't across the country and I regret not trying harder in the past to see her. So I am going!

The airforce life is never easy. Sometimes I wish just one thing that I really want would work out.

Its the Final Countdown!

Today is the day we move stuff to the storage shed. Its all sitting nicely piled in my livingroom just waiting to be picked up and tossed into a cold lonely 10 x 10 foot square. Hahaha. I'm excited. We're finally going to get stuff out of our place, and this week will be lots of hard work, but work I'm looking forward to. I did my first ab workout in like a month last night and my self esteem is up 20 points today, so keep it coming! Also we get our wisconsin refund back on the 27th! Check that action! I'm pumped. Lets do this! WHOOOO!

Refund Accepted

Got our taxes finished last night. :) It was so easy this year too.. maybe Im getting a hang of some of this numbers stuff. Anyways I was so excited about I couldn't sleep. It was ridiculous! Our refund will pay off 3 credit cards. 3!! Leaving us with only the best buy account, and Gordons account both which are still interest free and will be paid by June 1st! By the end of the deployment we'll have a nice nest egg in the bank as well. I just cant believe it. Married a year and a half and we'll be out of debt. Its days like today I dont mind the military so much. It comes at a cost though. 1/3 of the year without your husband.. not exactly the way I wanted it to happen, but I'm grateful all the same.

Santorini.

We've updated our trip to Greece. We're going to spend 3 nights and 4 days in Fira (Thira). There I plan on lots of beach time, maybe the submarine tour they offer, and hopefully visiting a winery.

Then we'll spend 4 nights in Chania, taking a ferry from Thira to Souda, and a taxi, shuttle, or bus into Chania. There we're going to eat wonderful food, probably kayak out to a small island, visit some musuems, and my favorite part: the market. I would love to bring home some great olive oil, some wine, and other wonderful things that they sell! :) I cant wait for the trip!


Today is not an incredibly excited day otherwise. Just studying and packing! Missing everyone!

Lobsters

I just realized that I have forgotten to post the photos from our lobster dinner so here they are!

This is me not wanting to pick up or touch the things! They freak me out a little bit.

Greg holding his dinner :)

Me finally picking up a lobster and playing with it. They were soo delicious. I cannot even begin to explain!

We tried to have a lobster race, but they weren't in the moving mood. Instead we just freaked out our cats. Chased them around the kitchen with the lobsters. Soo funny. Little Madison was hissing the whole time!

The complete and delicious New Years Eve dinner. Thank you again Marla and Wade!!!

Soo excited

I'm still waiting for things to happen! I want our W2s or whatever they are to get here so we can file taxes! Plan for taxes, pay off Amazon, Discover, and as much of wells fargo credit cards as possible, and put $500 into savings to jumpstart savings! Yay! We'll be debt free by July! Seriously I have it all worked out! Of course in July we'll have to buy a washer and dryer, possibly a pool table (Greg really really wants one and he's worked so hard this year I think its definitely a deal) and hopefully put a downpayment on our vacation, though maybe not, we might just keep that money in savings until we know for sure when we'll be going.

Life just seems so wonderful lately.. Nights of laying in bed talking about the future, about the past, about all that we have to do before the 31st, but its not stressful. Its a relaxed frenzy. I am really looking forward to being home, also nervous because I'm not sure what it will be like living with family again, but I'm sure it'll be great.

My goals for home are to study a ton, work out, tan, and start working on buying myself a new wardrobe. Probably Greg too. Since my paychecks aren't really paying for anything, anything I make at A&W can go to us. Things we've been wanting and haven't gotten. Mainly, a sewing machine, bread machine, and donkey kong wii!

Debt free by July. Well I say that sparingly. Of course we'll have our student loans, and our Equinox to pay off.. but other than that we will have nothing. And it will be so nice to stop stressing and just live life. And when we get back, I haven't decided if I'll work right away, or if I'm going to push to finish school first so that when I do get a job I can actually get a decent one. So many decisions.

So when we do get back to Texas in July, we're moving in with Staci and Josh. I cannot explain how excited I am about this. The houses that we can all afford together are basically dream houses for me, and I know they'll be the best roommates ever! I just hope nothing happens to screw that plan up or Ima be super sad. I cant wait to go out to New York in July either for their wedding! See Niagara Falls, taking road trips with my hubbins. We love to drive. lol.

Anyways, its early, and this lil girl is gonna shower and get her study face on before all motivation goes out the window! Wish me luck on my exams!

Waiting for Something Big to Happen

This whole limbo stage is strange. The period where you know things will shortly be changing, but you aren't quite there yet, and there is only so much you can do before they actually happen. Like now, I'm packing up boxes, but I'm running out of stuff that I'm willing to give up for two weeks..and also boxes. I just keep running through all the plans we have for the future, getting incredibly excited for them, and I just want it all to happen now! Someday maybe I will learn patience. :)

Everything I want to happen right now: Have our apartment packed up and empty, move a couple things into Alli's for the deployment, be in San Antonio/Houston celebrating our birhtdays. Thats what I would love to have happen tomorrow if possible. I want our taxes done, return in hand, and at least 2 of our credit cards paid off. Now we aren't crazy in debt, we mostly have little balances, but for different stores.. hence the problem.

I feel like lately, things down here are home. We have friends, we make plans, I no longer want to sit in the house all day and talk to no one cuz I'm depressed. I want to go out, do things, learn new things, meet people. Finding out who true friends are when you need them the most. People will always suprise you, in good and bad ways, and I am just so grateful that lately it has been all good. I'm glad to have finally put "the college life" behind me. Making grown up decisions, with mature friends. This isn't to say that we never go out and goof off, because most of our life is goofing off, but its nice to to know there are plenty of other girls my age who will be here soon and we can all get through this together. <3

Love to new friends and old!

Late Nights

Greg is flying again tonight.. and I am bored. Watching bones as usual. Alli totally saved my hair today. My stress level is almost down to zero, aside from packing up and moving, but she's letting us stay with her for the two weeks that we'll be in limbo between our apartment and the deployment. Such a huge stress off our shoulders! We'll be able to pay off some more debt, and go out and enjoy my birthday.

We're planning on going to Houston to visit Lindsay and Dan for a few days, haven't seen them since the summer, and then after we're headed to San Antonio to see the Music is my Weapon tour featuring Korn, Disturbed, and Sevendust (Gregs favorites). Its a double birthday celebration. We weren't able to really celebrate Greg's birthday, so we're going to the concert for him, and San Antonio for me. I'm so excited its going to be wonderful! :)

Hurray for things working out!

Finished!

I finished my classes today! Just waiting on my exams to come in and then I will be officially finished with my semester and I can work on the next one while I'm home. Thats right! Coming home in February. I'm not sure if I posted that on here yet or not. So the next month will be filled with packing, storing things away, and getting ready for the next deployment. Its a bittersweet time. I'll be with family, and around the snow, and friends, and everything I've been missing, but we cant come home together. Which is a bit sad. I just wish Greg could be there. So our plan is I will be back in Texas sometime in June to get our stuff moved in and what not, and then we'll probably be back home in July, for quite a long period of time. Hopefully we'll get in some Marquardt camping, along with a camping trip for just the two of us. I'm excited about it. Life has been good to us. I love my hubbins and my kittens. We'll be debt free and one step closer to our honeymoon in Crete!

The List

101 in 1001
Started Jan 3, 2011
To be Completed by Monday Sept 30, 2013

Travel:

1. Go to Crete
2. Go on a Gwen and Greg only camping and fishing trip
3. Greg-send home postcards from somewhere other than home.
4. Go to our 5 year reunion if possible.
5. Go to a place neither of us have been before
6. See the west coast, take a photo of our feet in the Pacific Ocean
7. Go swimming in the Mediterranean Sea
8. Visit One Winery and one Brewery (0/2)
9. Go to 5 different farmers markets (0/5)
10. Get passports
11. Visit the DeYoung Family Zoo
12. Go on a cruise together
13. Go to a museum or art gallery
14. Visit one Texas State park and camp there for a weekend
15. Plan a tropical vacation
16. Go to a zoo we've never been to before

Finances:

17. Pay off credit card debt
18. Pay off equinox
19. Start a college fund for kids
20. Start a retirement fund
21. Buy nothing for one week except groceries
22. Create a budget and stick to it for one year
23. Start a business plan for the coffee shop and have a place for all my ideas
24. Organize all financial information
25. Save $200 a month starting in February 2011

Health and Fitness:

26. Run 6 miles a week for one month (0/24)
27. Go to the gym 3 times a week
28. Eat one healthy meal a day for one month (0/31)
29. Wake up with Greg everyday for one month (0/31)
30. Go to the dentist
31. Go to yoga once a week for 6 months (0/24)
32. Buy bicycles
33. Go for a weekly bikeride for 6 months (0/24)
34. Go one month without fast food (0/31)
35. Go one month without eating at a sit down restaurant (0/31)
36. Private
37. No soda for one month (0/31)
38. Run 2 miles without stopping
39. Take multivitamins everyday for one month (0/31)
40. Get Massages

Relationship Goals

41. Complete one thing a week from the his/her booklet for one year (0/52)
42. Have a date night once a week
43. Write a love letter once a month to each other (0/21)
44. Build a bench from scratch together
45. Watch the sunrise together
46. Make lists of 100 things we love about eachother
47. See 5 bands in concert (0/5)
48. See the Transiberian Orchestra
49. Go Snowboarding
50. Write letters to ourselves to be read in 5 years
51. Try 10 new restaurants (0/10)
52. Go horseback riding
53. Come up with 50 date night ideas and do them
54. Go on a picnic
55. Buy a loaf of bread and feed ducks
56. Do something we've never done before on our birthdays

Cooking goals:

57. Make meal plans weekly for one year (0/52)
58. Cook a new recipe a month for one year (0/12)
59. Have an herb garden
60. Join a wine club for a year
61. Go out and pick something from a farm
62. Make homemade jam or jelly
63. Surprise Greg and make Penne Cota
64. Make homemade sushi
65. Bake 5 different cupcakes out of my Hello Cupcake books

Gwens Personal Goals:

67. Finish a degree
68. Read one book a month for a year (0/12)
69. Learn Greek before the Crete trip
70. Blog at least 3 times a week
71. Paint 5 new paintings for the house
72. Buy fresh flowers once a month for a year (0/12)
73. Buy a desktop computer
74. Compile a book of Marquardt and Heller family recipes
75. See Wicked
76 Write down 25 things I like about myself and keep somewhere visible
77. Set up emergency fund of cash
78. Make 5 new christmas decorations
79. Go one week without facebook

Greg Personal Goals:

80. Finish prerequisites for Palmer
81. Finish CCAF as an airman
82. Prestige in COD black ops 3 times
83. Decide whether or not to re-enlist
84. Watch one "Classic Heller" film a month for a year (0/12)
85. Teach Gwen to shoot a gun
86. Complete 100 hours of community service (0/100)

Rest of the Goals:

87. Buy a nice furniture set.
88. Own an entire TV series
89. Find a place with a balcony or porch and have outside furniture
90. Get all of our photos printed and scrapbooked
91. Send 5 care packages to the squadron boys when Greg is not deployed (0/5)
92. Send 10 birthday cards to people (0/10)
93. Learn to drive stick shift
94. Buy another vehicle
95. Buy a sewing machine
96. Get rid of everything we do not use or wear
97. Have a computer free weekend
98. Make something new and give as a christmas present
99. Make Daily goals everyday for a week and complete them (0/7)
100. Post list on the fridge and update weekly on blog
101. Donate $5 for every unmet goal

101 in 1001

My sister has posted her goal list of 101 goals in 1001 days. Since it is the new year, I thought I would follow suit with my own set of 101 goals. Well technically its for me and Greg. A few are just mine, and a few are just his, but almost all of them are things we want to do together. Enjoy!