Last week, I completed a golf clinic.  Golf is the ultimate lifetime hobby, and is a biggie for Matt - from toddlerhood forward, it feels like most pictures I've seen of him include either a plastic set of kiddie golf clubs or take place on a golf course!  I decided to enroll in a beginner's golf clinic that ran Monday through Friday evenings for one week so that, hopefully one day, I won't have to perpetually struggle through four holes before I have to give in for everyone's sake.

Continuing the pattern that started when I was visiting home for graduation, Sawyer and I have been beating the streets like crazy this summer, averaging six or seven miles of walking or running every day.  We know the limited walking routes here like the back of our hand, or paw, in his case.

On Saturday, Matt dove back into another passion of his, and signed up for an MMA tournament in a town about an hour away - an actual town, unlike the sad sprawl of developments and strip malls that we currently live in, outside the main gate onto post.  Frequent get-aways are a must while we serve our time here before moving on to bigger and better things. 

 We and a group of friends decided to make a weekend of it, which meant that Matt had his own little entourage of fans cheering him on from the stands, making the event extra exciting!  On that particular 100-degree day, the event venue keenly lacked air conditioning, but the old auditorium with coral and mint arched ceilings was beautiful nonetheless.  Our trip little trip was made complete with a couple hotel rooms, libations at a local brewery, a swanky steak dinner, visiting some hip little bars, and reservations for a crepe brunch.  After the group dispersed on Sunday morning, Matt and I were joined by a friend for a round of golf to test my new knowledge, before heading home.


Monday was Matt's first day of classes as a full-time graduate student, and in a civilian atmosphere, complete with a sack lunch and real civilian clothes!

His schedule is a busy one - he will finish the degree in December - but he has Tuesdays off from class entirely.  Enjoying our joint freedom before the semester gets intense, we joined a couple friends on the range and practice green at the golf course on post on Tuesday morning because, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect.  That evening, we also chose two new recipes to experiment with, gathered our ingredients, and made a delicious paleo lasagna and a not-so-paleo, espresso-fudge ice cream sundae.  We almost never, ever do desserts or sweets in this house, so it was a real treat!

The Valiant Return

Well, I've been on quite a long hiatus from writing here.  Like... long.  Sitting down and writing a new post has crossed my mind many, many times in these past many months, but each time I chose not to, because I couldn't quite put my finger on my aim with this whole blog thing.  I don't want to just write a whole lot of fluff just to say I wrote something, so decided to put it altogether on the back burner until I came around with a sense of direction and inspiration.

Since I last wrote, I have moved from my college town, moved for a one-year stint to another state in the middle of nowhere with my Army guy, got a Husky-Lab, cutie-pie, punk of a pup named Sawyer, student taught, graduated (!!!), spent some time back in my picturesque, cozy little hometown, and went on a month long trip that involved the east coast and Europe - and we got to see so. many. loved ones along the way!

We also found out that we will likely be moving overseas to Germany this winter, for three years!  The military tends to change its mind a lot, so I'm not banking on it yet, but my fingers are crossed and my hopes are high... probably dangerously so.

The only bummer is that we will move, regardless of where we go, in the middle of the school year, so I won't have my own classroom this year.  That was a tough dose of medicine to take at first.  It's been a bit of a blessing in disguise though, what with the potential of Germany due to our fortunate timing, and the generous amount of time I have had/will have to invest in interests that have been on my mind for a very long time!

Having a long stretch of unguided time ahead is somewhat daunting.  It could easily pass by in the laziest of ways, so I took it upon myself early on to set goals and a routine for myself based on those goals.  (It also helps that I have a genetic dependency on being productive at all times - I cannot sit still for very long, meaning more than a handful of minutes.  Everything must have a purpose, I tell you!  Sometimes I feel bad for Matt, because I'm not a very skilled "relaxer.")  While I will also substitute teach, I won't be depending on the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants scheduling that goes along with that for a sense of structure in my day-to-day life.

Here's what's been going on and what's ahead:
1.  Getting my Personal Trainer certification, with specialty certificates in Mind-Body Exercise and Diet.
2. Continuing to love to cook and get better at it.
3. Sewing the right way (learning the ins and outs of my machine, beyond-basic techniques, and nuances of different fabrics) and learning to design my own patterns.  Go and ask my grandma, I have been chomping at the bit to learn to sew (really, really learn) since I could break into her stash of fabric and thread.  I haven't become a pro seamstress yet, but with the opportunity of time on my hands, I'm well on my way now!
4.  Make my daily mileage goal with walking, hiking, or running and get in frequent strength training.  I love my morning and evening walks.  So does Sawyer.
4.  Travel (there are plans for Las Vegas, New York City, Nashville, and Dallas in the works for this fall!  I'm pining to go back home and visit the family once more before the holidays... before our pending international move.)
5.  Familiarize with the full capabilities of my new camera, a Canon T3i, which was a birthday gift from my awesome husband who seriously knows my style!
6. Stay brushed up on and improve my Swedish - I have a book series to conquer, thanks to my wonderful Swedish friend, Max.
7.  Speaking of language, get back into playing music!
8.  Last but not least, stay in touch with far-away friends (and family, of course).  It's not always easy being so freakin' far in the ACTUAL middle of nowhere.

So, that's the gist of what's been up, and what's going to be up for a while.  I plan to use this blog to post about the endeavors I take on related to all these things that will be keeping my on my feet; sewing projects, tutorials, recipes, travel photos, regular-life photos, and updates on life for us way out in the boonies so that our families can keep track of us.