Ugly Sweater Party

This past weekend, Mom and I decided we wanted to have an "open house" Christmas party. I sort of took the idea and ran with it. We had a blast trying to come up with a poem for the Facebook invite which ended up going like this:

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la Tis' the season to be jolly, The house is decorated with lots of Christmas holly. The stockings are hung, And carols are being sung. The tree is in place, And we'd love to see your face Please stop on by, Because we'd like say "hi!" No matter the weather Be sure to wear your best ugly sweater! There will be a prize So please participate, both girls and guys! We'll have a White Elephant if you'd like to partake, But please RSVP so we know what to make! The gifts should stay cheap, $10 or less, Make sure to wrap it nice so no one can guess. We'll have a signature drink, but it might not be what you think. And if you wish, You're welcome to bring a dish. If you have any questions, please post them below, But we'd really love it if you would show!

Mom invited her friends and I invited mine, however, it ended up just being my friends that showed up. We played Apples to Apples for over an hour while waiting for everyone to get here and then the fun really started. Mom bought me a board game called "Shooters and Ladders," that she let me have early just for the party. For this game imagine the children's game "Chutes and Ladders" and then add shot glasses and a bottle of alcohol. After this, we had the White Elephant gift exchange which involved everything from hand and feet warmers to dish towels to a live gold fish! 

The unopened presents

Caroline got Silly String

Matt opened the gold fish, but....

it wasn't too long before Brittany stole it! 

The group, missing Isaac and Mason

Isaac won the ugliest sweater and got a farting Santa and a bag of coal!

A few days before the party, we took Cassidy to see Santa. She wasn't too thrilled about him and slid off his lap as she started crying, so we had to take her over to the tree to take a few pictures since she looked SOOO cute!! 

Courtney and Jared

I met Courtney and Jared a few months ago when a friend asked me if I would be interested in joining his team for Amway. They're a super awesome couple with some pretty cool dogs! They asked me if I'd do some pictures for them so they could send out some Christmas cards, and with all of our crazy schedules, we just got these done this weekend. They even had this awesome old railroad bridge right by their house so it was great! Hopefully you like the images as much as I do! 

ENJOY! :)

Check out those AWESOME dogs!!!  

How gorgeous are they?! 

I think they've done this before... 

To see the rest of the images, please check out Courtney and Jared's album! Also, don't forget to like Marci Duckro Photography!

Samantha and Harrison

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY HARRISON!!!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE IMAGES

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE IMAGES

Moving on Frustrations

How hard can it be to get over something/someone that you never see and haven't had in a long time? It can't be that hard, right? Wrong. Big time.

I had a decision that should have been mine to make taken right out from under me and I didn't realize until tonight that it really is still bugging me. More then I like to let on. I figured out very fast that if I smiled and told people I was ok, they would believe it and eventually I would too, but after almost a month, I got a blast from the past and it made me realize that I haven't dealt with anything.

It's definitely been easier since nothing really changed in my day to day life, but I didn't deal with any of my emotions. I cried for a week and boxed everything up and said that's it, no more feeling sorry for yourself, but I didn't really deal with anything. I don't really know how. It's really hard to deal with something that is "out of sight, out of mind" so to speak. I've done the typical stay busy and keep my mind off of it, however, not dealing with these feelings isn't exactly making them go away either.

My friends have been the best over the past month and I've been working almost 40 hours each week, but the loneliest time is at night. This is when I realize I'm not as ok as I pretend to be. Or maybe it's in the car when those certain damn songs come on and all I want to do is call him, but the hardest is when I see his name pop up on my phone.

We've only talked a few times, but each time it brings back those feelings. He tells me that he knows I'll be ok and this is what's best for me. Which brings me back to my earlier point...isn't it my decision what's best for me? Who is he to make that choice for me? I was willing to drop most things for him and he says that that was the problem. (Now, when I say I'm willing to drop things, I really mean what I'm comfortable with and what I'm used to. I've always lived at home and never moved, and I'm willing to leave my comfort zone for him.) He says he will "never be able to fully commit to me the way [I] need [him] to and that's not fair." The way he sees it, the Marines are his entire life now and he's not allowed to do anything else that might make him happy. And that's frustrating as hell.

I guess I really don't know how to handle my feelings because he left it so open ended. He wants me to find someone better because he doesn't think he can commit, but who knows because one day he might be able to. Ok, that's not fair. How is one supposed to move on when every time you talk to them, it's nothing but sadness?

That's it for now. I'm really annoyed with my brain. Good night all.

Until next time,
xoxo
-MD

Heart break and moving on...

As many of you know, this past weekend was life changing for what I thought I was supposed to be doing in the near future. This is honestly one of the hardest things I think I have had to go through to date. This past Sunday, Ben and I talked for about an hour and he decided to end our relationship.

This is where I wish I could say that I hate/resent/dislike him for wasting two and a half years of my life, however, I can't do that because it's just not true. Not a single day was wasted while we were together. He taught me so much about myself, taught me to be a little more adventurous (even though I typically put up a fight about doing anything new or crazy), taught me to love and to cherish every moment you have with someone. Before I started dating him, I never thought I was a strong enough individual for a military relationship, but he taught me that if you really love something, it doesn't matter how many miles there are between you because when you're together you're on top of the world. While I would have given anything to have a normal relationship where we could have seen each other every weekend, neither of us were at the point in our lives where this was possible.

I would love to be able to say that this came completely out of the blue and I was surprised by this event; however, I have felt it coming for about a month. The lack of communication between us (mainly on his part) has been killing me and I finally said something about it. He then reminded me that we both knew TBS was going to be hard and that he was going to be busy. Now, I'm not a super needy person and I have my own life, however, I only asked for one phone call a week updating me on his week and letting me know what was going on in his life, and I didn't get these. I had no idea what was going on in Quantico except for the occasional post from my Marine wife friends that are there now, so when people asked what he was up to, I honestly had to tell them I didn't know.

He decided that he wanted to drop his flight contract to try to go infantry, so I knew he was busy and I knew he had to bust his butt to do the absolute best he could, but he told me that he felt it was unfair to me to have to put up with this. This is where my rant comes in...I don't understand why it is his decision to decide if I was going to wait for him or if I was going to move on with my life. I was willing to wait until he found out his MOS and got stationed somewhere after training to get a "big girl job" and I was willing to compromise some of my life goals, however, that's what you do when you love someone...you are willing to compromise things. He told me thought this wasn't fair to me and I deserve someone who can be here for me whenever I need them and I deserve someone who will be able to support what I truly want to do with my life, and I can't say he's wrong, but I thought he would be that person for me. I was saving up to buy a professional camera because, lets admit it, everyone wants homecoming pictures or pre-deployment pictures or pictures of their children. I had also been looking into working with USMC families and children; I had my goals thought up, and he sort of just threw those ideas out the window for me. GRRRR it's so frustrating.

The greatest friends ever

However, since last Sunday, I have applied for many AWESOME positions! I talked to a friend who is currently working on a cruise ship doing videography and she suggested that I look into photography positions because "working on a cruise ship will change your life" so I looked into it and ended up applying for five different positions with a few different companies. I've also been looking into different volunteer positions for nonprofit organizations in the area just to get some "real world" experience if I were to not get one of the cruise positions. I have decided that I'm not going to linger on this break up because as everyone says "if it's meant to be, it'll happen," so for the time being, I'm going to do as Ben recommended I do and do something I want to do.

Just because pictures make things more interesting

I also wanted to say thank you to my friends. Honestly, I had so many people come from nowhere to support me and keep me busy this past week to help keep my mind off things. I honestly have the greatest support system a girl could ask for, all across the globe (from Japan to Florida to California and the Pacific Ocean). You're all amazing! Thank you so much.

Sorry if there are any errors, I wrote this raw and tired and didn't really feel like editing it...

Until next time,

MD

Advice from a tree

Happiness

Fall Bucket List

Fall Bucket List for September through November

Who wants to help with this list?!? :) 

Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas

For my birthday, Mary Ellen (Ben's mom) got me a cookbook (Taste of Home Cooking School Cookbook), and this is the first recipe that I've tried out of it, and the family approved! Everyone loved it! It was nice and easy and didn't take too long either! 

Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas 

makes 8 servings

Ingredients: 

• 2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained, divided
• 1 pound lean ground turkey
• 1 medium green pepper, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 can enchilada sauce 
• 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese
• 8 tortillas 

Directions: 

1. In a small bowl, mash 1 can black beans; set aside. In a large nonstick skillet, cook the turkey, pepper and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the mashed beans, remaining can of beans, half of the enchilada sauce and 1/2 cup cheese; heat through. 
2. Place 2/3 cupfuls of bean mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in two 11-in. x 7-in. baking dishes coated with cooking spray. 
3. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. 

I served them with a simple mexican rice side dish. You can find different kinds at grocery stores.

YUMMMM!!!

I miss my college friends :(

She was starin' out the window of their SUV

Complainin', sayin', "I can't wait to turn eighteen"

She said, "I'll make my own money and I'll make my own rules

Momma, put the car in park out there in front of the school"

And she kissed her head, and said, “I was just like you”

You're gonna miss this

You're gonna want this back

You're gonna wish these days

Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times

So take a good look around

You may not know it now

But you're gonna miss this

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride

In her one bedroom apartment and her daddy stops by

He tells her it's a nice place, she says, “It'll do for now”

Starts talkin' about babies and buyin' a house

Daddy shakes his head and says, “Baby, just slow down”

Cuz' you're gonna miss this

You're gonna want this back

You're gonna wish these days

Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times

So take a good look around

You may not know it now

But you're gonna miss this

Five years later there's a plumber

Workin' on the water heater

Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'

One kid's cryin' and one kid's screamin'

And she keeps apologizin'

He says, “They don't bother me

I've got two babies of my own

One's thirty-six, one's twenty-three”

Huh, it's hard to believe

But you're gonna miss this

You're gonna want this back

You're gonna wish these days

Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times

So take a good look around

You may not know it now

But you're gonna miss this

You're gonna miss this

Yeah, you're gonna miss this

Dog Tags <3

Does anybody else have any of these? I keep them hanging around my rearview mirror in my car :)

Job Hunting

Forewarning: This is a rant

Job hunting in today's society really f*ing blows! As a recent college graduate, I have joined the "real world" and with student loan payments knocking now on my front door, I'm starting to freak out a bit. I have been working "three" part-time jobs since I graduated in May. I put the word three in quotes because while I am currently employed by three different companies, I hardly consider them really anything.

I love working with Nick doing wedding photography, but one weekend per month is hardly considered an income. I've also been helping in Mom's office with filing papers and answering the phone occasionally, and this is a nice time killer while getting paid $10/hour, but it doesn't excite me nearly enough to make it a "I want to go in and work EVERYDAY!" kind of job (Gary allows me to choose the hours that I go into work there). So that really leaves me with just DLM. Don't get me wrong, I love the people and it's a great place to work...if it's full-time or you're 16 without any bills. I don't have many bills to pay, right now, I really only have my cell phone bill, credit card bill and car insurance, along with the typical payments for having a car (gas, oil changes, engine problems, etc), and every now and then I pay for some groceries since my brothers don't like eating healthy so Mom doesn't waste her money. Now the problem is I'm still living paycheck to paycheck and I'm living at home, with three monthly bills.

I would like to be able to purchase a nice, reliable car some time in the near future and it's possible through Toyota with their "recent graduate finance program" but the kicker is, you need to have a full-time job to get this great deal. So much for that one since I can't seem to be qualified enough for anything.

Through college, I had to work for every penny I earned and decided (stupid-ly) to go to UD and get myself into some debt (not horrible, but more than I would have if I would have taken that full ride to play softball that I was offered). Now I find myself with a bachelor of arts degree in communications and going nowhere. Every job that I look at requires previous work experience...well my main problem is I really have none that would apply to them. During school, I was on the newspaper staff as a photographer, not a writer (mistake number one) and I couldn't apply for any of the internships in the area during summers because they were all unpaid and I couldn't lose valuable time from a paying job to go to a job where I was making no money. And now it's coming back to bite me in the butt. I believe the worst part about job searching, besides filling out at least 5 applications a day, is reading all of the qualifications and thinking this is perfect! I'd be great at this and then getting down to the last line "minimum of 3 years work experience..."

How do you expect a recent college grad to have anymore then MAYBE a year of real world experience? This is not a realistic expectation.

So after searching for what I like to call my first "big-girl job" for almost 3.5 months now, I find myself wondering if I should just go back to school to get more experience...but wait, that won't help! Because that will just put my further in debt and then I most likely still will be unable to find a job after another graduation. But I also run into the problem that I really don't know what I want to do with myself for the rest of my life. I'm really open to any sort of job at this point because I feel that I didn't have enough time to explore during college into what I really love doing. Yes, I love taking pictures, but starting out is very rough and expensive. I don't mind writing, but how am I supposed to get a job doing that if I can't even get an unpaid internship with a local paper? I love kids and everyone tells me I would be a great teacher, but I really don't want to do that, however, I have recently considered applying for being a substitute teacher this year, just to see if I would like it or not. I love traveling, but it's so hard to find a job where you get paid to do so. I have even started looking into becoming a nanny, but everyone feels like paying somebody $5/hour to watch your two or three children all day is a fair price, and I'm sorry but if you can't put your children in daycare for that cheap, you should expect someone to come into your home to care for them at that price. I feel like I'm just stuck.

We really have to find a way to provide more jobs for people who are needing/willing to work in today's society otherwise, as a friend said the other day, "we're going to have an abundance of really educated restaurant servers in our society." GRRRRRRRR!

Until next time,

XOXO
<3 Marci

Birthday Weekend

As many of you probably know, my 23rd birthday was Monday and boy oh boy do I feel old! I've been joking for awhile now that I was probably going to have a quarter life crisis (which is most likely not true) but I sure can't party the way I used to, that's for sure!

Friday night, I went out with my friends Cecily, Kim and Sarah. Sarah and I started the night at a local bar called Dr. Doodles where we were hit on by a very old gentleman (at least in his upper 50s) and he told us this pick up line that was pretty clever (I've never heard it before), but it was highly inappropriate.

The following line is not for an immature viewing audience:
Man: "You're like my pinky toe"
Us: "Uhh, why?"
Him: "Because I have a feeling I'm going to be banging you on my coffee table all night"

Can you say AWKWARD!?!

Needless to say, we didn't really stick around there too much longer. After Kim and Cecily got off work, we went to The Yellow Rose Nightclub only to ride the mechanical bull! A little background: on my 21st birthday, my mom took me to New Orleans **Here's the video from New Orleans** and we ended up in a country bar where some guy bought me a ticket to ride the mechanical bull and I did it, so after hearing that a club near us had one, I said I wanted to try it again...minus the strapless and short dress, so my friends agreed to go with me (they're the best)! So here I am as an "experienced" bull rider so the guy (with influence from my friends) decided they were going to try really hard to throw me off and make the bull go really fast (ahhh!) **Here's the video from this time** Spoiler alert: I beat the bull! However, the next day, my legs were SOOO bruised from it!

The group for the night!
Left to right: Cecily, Sarah, me and Kim

After we rode the bull, we headed downtown to the Oregon District to hang out at Ned Peppers and had a great time! I'm so glad Sarah and Kim didn't try to recreate my birthday from last year (completely and total death!) since Saturday I was headed to Cincinnati to celebrate with more friends!

Kelsey, Nate and I after his commissioning 

Saturday morning, one of my really good friends, Nate, was being commissioned from Miami University in Oxford into the US Army as a 2nd Lieutenant. It was such a different ceremony from Ben's, but I was so glad I got to be a part of it! Nate was essentially the one that introduced Ben and I so he has become a great friend and I was so glad I could be a part of such a special time for him. It was a very small ceremony (only him and one friend were being commissioned) and it was held inside a chapel on campus with their closest friends and family. And it only lasted about 30 minutes (tops) which was great...however, it was crazy how fast it all moved! They each took their "oath to office" separately, and then had their LT bars pinned immediately and then left the stage and had their first salute...which sort of threw me for a loop since for Ben's commissioning, everything was sort of at our own pace, so I missed getting pictures of everything :( but my friend Kelsey and I did get a picture with Nate afterwards! After the ceremony, we all headed to his grandparents' house for lunch and to hang out until the party bus came to pick us up...that's right, the party bus! Nate has been trying for years, yes years, to get our group of friends to rent a party bus, so he finally decided to take it upon himself to get one for this big event and I'm so glad he did! We had a blast riding down to Newport, KY where we were dropped off at the Hofbräuhaus. We hung out there for a bit before moving on to different bars, but we ended the night at a piano bar which we ultimately took over. There were 18 of us just having fun and celebrating our friends and I couldn't have asked for a better Saturday night of my birthday weekend!

Almost all of the girls from the night!
Left to right: Kelsey, Kristina, me, Meg and Candice
Missing: Kelsey (Nate's fiance) and Amy 

Sunday I ended up getting to hang out with my niece all day which was great! And on my actual birthday, we celebrated my friend Jamie's 21st instead! Caroline and I took her to Elsa's to start her first alcohol tasting with a Bad Juan. The verdict was that tequila tastes like toilet bowl cleaner (which I might have to agree with).

After celebrating all weekend with friends, I received a whopping 167 facebook "happy birthdays" and really realized how awesome all of my friends and family are! They are the reason that I have as much fun in my life as I do and they are the reason I *usually* have a smile on my face! They are also the ones that have gotten me through my 23 years of craziness and put up with my through thick and thin. Thank you all for a great birthday and for always being there for me! You're all the greatest!

Until next time

XOXO,
<3 Marci

One Year Project

So I'm asking for a little bit of help to come up with something to do for a year. I've been thinking about it and after failing at my 365 photo project ( :( ) I'm thinking about trying something once a week for a year. I've got multiple ideas, but I want to see what my readers have ideas about since I will be writing about my progress...any suggestions are welcome!

Get creative! :D The best idea will win something...maybe cookies, or maybe my love and thoughts for a whole year as I do my project. Participation is key here!

FYI, here's a few ideas I've thought of:

1. Photoshoot a week, but I would need subjects to photograph!! (sessions would be free!)
2. New recipe/DIY project
3. A photo theme each week and make a collage (would love ideas for each week)

THANKS ALL!

xoxo
-Marci

TBS Care Package #1

Since Ben has been gone for almost a month, I sort of felt like a jerk of a girlfriend since I hadn't sent him anything yet so I decided to come up with a "back-to-school" theme for the one I sent him this past week. If I do say so myself, it was kind of awesome.

Things included:

• Erasers - to remind you that each day you start with a clean slate 
• Tootsie Rolls - to remind you to always roll with the punches 
• Pack of Gum - so the information you learn in class will "stick" 
• Sponge - to soak up all the new knowledge you'll be learning! It will also help in doing your dishes ;) 
• Hershey Kisses - to remind you I'm always here for you and I love you! 
• Life Savers - for when you feel like you're drowning in information 
• Beef Jerky - because they're not turkey sandwiches (apparently all he eats is cold cut sandwiches because he doesn't really have a lot of places to cook)
• Candle - to burn while you're studying late at night 
• Lemon Heads - when life gives you lemons...be thankful it gave you anything! 
• Suckers - to remind you not be be suckered into anything and be your own person! 
• Sour Patch Kids - sweet and sour so you learn to appreciate the differences 
• Pencils - to always "write" your wrongs 
• Puzzle - you're my missing piece when you're gone, but I thought these doggies could keep you company! 
• Starbursts - for an extra "burst" of energy on days when you might need it most 
• Coloring book and crayons - since I know you won't have time to draw, I figured coloring was the next best thing! It's also a huge stress reliever! (I have to mention that it was a Star Wars coloring book, one of his favorites!) 
• Power Bars - eat this for some extra power before your PFTs! 
• Movies - (Inception, The Dark Knight and Batman Begins): In your spare time, hang out with some super heros for fun! 
• Book - I ordered him In the Shadow of Greatness: Voices of leadership, sacrifice and service from America's longest war which is written by members of the class of 2002 from the Naval Academy: they say we learn from our pasts, so take some time to read from those who have already been there
• Hug - even though we're many miles apart, just remember I always want to be wrapped in your arms 
• CD - just for fun! 

It all fit perfectly in a large priority flat rate box and I even saved a few dollars by sending it this way instead of a normal package! I had some fun putting it together so I hope you all had some fun reading about it! Feel free to steal any ideas if you happen to be sending any care packages to anybody soon!

Until next time,
xoxo
Marci

Chicken Spinach Tortilla Bake

Tonight I decided to start on one of my goals from the list that I started a month ago (for a refresher, here it is), but I started cooking. I've been using Pinterest list a crazy person to come up with all sorts of recipes to try and I made my first one tonight.

The original link is here but I changed it just a little bit to fit my family's picky-ness. 

It calls for:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

4 chicken cutlets (total around 1 lb) I used chicken thighs because they're a little cheaper

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups store-bought salsa verde I used mild salsa because my family isn't big on spicy!

3/4 cup ricotta cheese

4 large (8") flour tortillas

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

3 cups baby spinach 

2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese I used a mexican blend, again because of the spicy factor 

You preheat the oven to 450 and then in a skillet, you cook the chick in olive oil on medium heat. Season the chicken with some salt and pepper and cook until it is completely cooked through (took about 5 minutes). After the chicken is cooked, let it cool and then shred it. 

While the meat is cooling, mix together the salsa and ricotta in a small dish. You will need a 9-inch baking dish to layer everything, so next grease this pan and begin to layer. Put tortilla down then spread the salsa/ricotta mix then I put spinach next, followed by onions and then cheese; repeat this twice and put a tortilla on top to finish it off. 

Bake until golden-brown (15 to 20 minutes) and let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 4 servings. 

Everyone (my mom and two brothers) both thought it was really good! I thought it could have used a little less onion, but that was just me. It was also a little hard to cut since the tortillas were hard, but it was delicious! 

Until next time,

xoxo

Marci

Sometimes...

I just need reassurance from you that I'm not wasting my time and that I'm sticking with something that we both want...not just that I want.

And then hearing your voice makes me forget any doubts I had at all.

Mommy for a Weekend

It has been a really long time since Mom and I got to spend an overnight with Cassidy (my niece) and this past weekend Nikki was sick so she asked if we could babysit for her so of course we jumped on the opportunity to get some needed "baby-time" and we got to keep her for the entire weekend!

Here's just a few things I learned from this weekend:

• Taking care of a puppy/dog is a lot easier then a baby! - Puppies, while they require play time and need to be taken out and fed, are fairly independent creatures. You don't need to hand feed them or watch them every minute to make sure they're not hurting themselves or doing something bad. Granted, when I first got Kugel, I did watch him all the time and wanted to cuddle with him all the time, but taking care of Cass was very time consuming. She is a very content baby for the most part so putting her in her play chair works for awhile, but she doesn't sleep all the time like Kugel does. I also found myself waking up to every little sound or movement she made during the night. The last time she spent the night here was when she was only a few months old and she woke up at 4 am screaming and woke up everyone in the house. So this time, I really didn't want that to happen again, but it also meant I didn't sleep very well either night she was here. The only night I ever found myself doing this with Kugel was the very first night we had him! 
• I hate changing diapers, especially poop filled ones - I have never been a huge fan of this...my gag reflexes don't like it much either... For the most part when Nikki is hear, I hand her Cassidy and say "she needs her diaper changed," but since Nikki wasn't around, I gave her to Grandma instead ;) 
• People judge - Friday night after picking Cassidy up, Zach (one of my younger brothers) and I went to Dewey's Pizza for dinner and while there, I had a lot of people look at me (a 22-year-old girl with no sign of a ring on my finger and no boyfriend/fiance/husband around) and I know they assumed I was a single mother. The older women (typically about 45 and older) would tell me how cute she was and well behaved, but the girls more my age would just stare. Then Mom and I took her to the park on Saturday and she even said "you know people think she's yours, right?" to which I responded with "well I am old enough that if I wanted a family, I would be able to have one," but I would just like to take this time to say that I am very happy that I have not had to deal with this experience at this point in my life. While I love children and want them someday, at this point and time of my life I know I would not be able to take care of another human being and personally don't want to. I have a hard enough time taking care of myself, I wouldn't want to have someone completely dependent on me. On that note, I do love getting to spend time with my niece, but at the end of the day, I like being able to give her back to her mother...especially when she needs her diaper changed! I would be a hypocrit if I said I have never judged someone for being young and having a baby before, but this isn't the first time this has happened to me. I have been mistaken for being Drew's mom (just because he has red hair doesn't make him my son people!), and before when I hung out with my friend Seth (he has a five year old little boy) I overheard someone say "that really sucks, they're not engaged or married and they have a kid!" 
• There's a lot of things people don't tell you before becoming a parent - Saturday morning when Cassidy woke up, I changed her diaper, but then found myself stumped as what to do next. I figured she was probably hungry, but I didn't know if I should give her a bottle or put her in her seat and feed her. I also didn't know if this should be right away or if I should wait a little bit. I have also realized that I don't really know a whole lot about babies. It's been a really long time since we had a baby around a lot (my brothers are 15 and 13 now) so I don't really remember which came first: crawling, walking, teething, etc. I have since found out that teething starts typically first (Cassidy has two teeth at 8 months old), and she is just starting to crawl...sort of...she seems much more determined to walk then crawl. And while she babbles her baby talk, there isn't much talking yet, so that somes last, but before potty training. 
• Kugel gets very jealous - he knows he's my baby, so when she is here, he tries to fight for my attention over her by constantly following me around and sitting as close to me as possible. However, he learned that if he sits under the high chair when Cassidy is feeding herself, he's likely to get some good food. 

That's about it, so I will leave you with some cute pictures from the park :D

Check out those eyelashes! 

Baby Soup! 

So stinkin' cute, but I might be biased 

She was having fun in the swing

Auntie M as Nikki calls me, got to take her for her first slide ride

Until next time,
XOXO,

Marci

New goals

Over the last week or so, I've been trying to come up with a list of goals to try to accomplish during the time that Ben is at TBS. I figured that while he's off sweating his little booty off in Quantico, I could make use of my time by trying to better myself and hopefully some others around me. It's just a short list, but I figure February will be here before I know it and if I don't keep them semi-simple, then I won't be able to complete them and I will have failed.

1. Get in shape - While Ben was home, he made me work out with him a few times and I really realized how lucky I am that my metabolism is awesome so I'm not a huge obese person. I literally do nothing and eat like crap but yet still manage to keep my weight and my body pretty healthy out of sheer dumb luck. I've been working out for the past week with my friend Abbie and we're putting ourselves through "booty camp" as we called it. She's trying to get in shape for a cruise next month and I would just like to be healthier. I also have recently purchased a mountain bike and roller blades and despite my wipe out a few weeks ago on the blades, I'm hoping to keep doing both of these activities to work up some endurance and maybe that will help me out a little in the long run. I've been using Pinterest and finding a lot of good workouts as well as some awesome recipes that I'm going to try to talk Mom and the brothers into trying with me, which leads to the next goal.

2. Learn to cook - This has never really been an interest of mine, but as I'm getting older, I'm realizing that Mommy won't be around to cook me dinner every night and I should probably start to learn to fend for myself sooner rather than later. As I mentioned above, I have found a lot of what sound to be good recipes so I'm going to try to give some of them a try. I attempted my first one today and it worked pretty well, but a smoothie isn't that hard to mess up ;)


3. Learn to do a pull up - In the process of working out, I would like to build the upper body strength to be able to do a pull-up. This is actually a lot harder for me then I thought it would be when I first tried one. Watching Ben do 15 in a row, I thought to myself, "Oh this can't really be that hard" until I tried and didn't move at all. So far this week, each time I've gone to the gym, I've used the assisted pull-up machine and gotten a little bit harder each time, and I'm hoping by the end of the six months at training, I'll be able to do at least two in a row without whining or failing. I figure if I aim for low, I can push further and be happy with my results!


4. Start playing my violin again - I found the poor dusty case sitting in my closet and opened it only to find a broken string and a highly out of tune instrument and realized I actually really miss playing my violin. While driving to Annapolis with Ben last weekend for Chris and Michelle's wedding, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" came on and I remembered sitting in orchestra with Christie Lavoy pretending we knew how to play it and saying one day we wanted to learn, and I am (again) adding this to my list of goals. Maybe come the beginning of the school year (which is just three weeks away) I could go back to Fairmont and see if Mr. Wright (my awesome teacher from high school!) would let me help out in any sort of way, which leads me to the next goal.

                          Scene from The Hunger Games

5. Volunteer - "I volunteer as tribute!"
Ok, maybe not that intense, but this is something I have never really done before and I think I would benefit from it greatly. However, it's proving to be sort of a difficult task to find things to do, as stupid as that sounds. I'm trying to find something that is a re-occurring event instead of a one time thing, but I'm not really having much luck with it...it's almost as hard as getting a job it seems like! I've been looking to apply to SICSA (the local pound), but I feel that could be dangerous in that I might find a dog and want to keep it, and if I brought another dog home, my mother might kill me, so I think that might not be the best fit. I've also thought about trying Big Brothers, Big Sisters, but I'm not exactly sure how that works with people who have graduated from college. Does anyone know if there's an age limit to this? I feel I can really benefit from volunteering by figuring out what I like to do. I have all sorts of different little hobbies, but even though I just graduated, I still can't figure out how to put everything I love together to make the "perfect job," but I would really like to try. 


6. Find a job - As a recent college graduate, I'm struggling big time, even with living at home and only having to pay off my simple cell phone, car insurance and credit card bills because I know the dreaded student loan payments are knocking on my door. This is tough because I have three part-time jobs, but none of them are paying me enough to be able to pay the small bills that I have and not be living pay check to pay check and it SUCKS. I feel like I sort of wasted four years at UD because I feel that I didn't really get anything out of it except a heap of debt and some great memories. I still don't know what I really want to do with my life, I'm still just as broke as I was before (more actually) and I'm still living at home while being barely able to support myself without having to pay rent. I really would love to find a full time job or even an internship that would give me some sort of experience in my field of interest while still paying so I can support myself without the help of my mom.

7. Read more - Whether this is newspapers, books, magazines, anything, I want to start reading more. I've started slow on this, but I try to keep up to date on big events from Twitter where I follow CNN Breaking News, Dayton Daily News, NY Times, The Washington Post, etc. I've also just started a book called "Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the search for a way out of Iraq" by Linda Robinson. I bought this book last year thinking I would be able to use it for a book report for a class and we never did the reports, so I never read the book, but everything I have read on it says it is an excellent book, so hopefully I'll be able to get through that quickly because I have a list of other books I would like to get to some time soon.


8. Religion - This has never really been a top priority to me, but as I sat at my great-grandma's funeral on Tuesday next to my "brother-in-law" who knew absolutely nothing about the ceremony we were in, I realized that I really didn't know too much more. I was baptized Catholic when I was younger, but my mom never wanted to push me into something that I didn't want to do, so she never pushed private Catholic schools or even going to church and in the end, I know nothing about my so called religion. I know a few prayers, but that is from hearing them repeatedly at weddings or trying to learn them in the few masses I have attended in my lifetime. This goal, I know is going to be the most challenging, but if accomplished, could be the most rewarding. I really don't even know where to start or what to do to work on this, so any support or ideas are welcome, but it is something that I would like to explore more in the near future.


9. Continue to blog - self explanatory


So that's it, hopefully I'll be able to accomplish some, if not all of these tasks in the near future. Wish me the best of luck and until next time!

XOXO,

Marci

A month long "vacation"?

So yet again, I find it being a month since my last post. And yet again, I find myself doing a huge catch up of everything awesome that happened. I guess I sort of suck at this, but I think it's fun and I don't really know how many people read it, but it does keep everything straight and I think it's fun to go back and "re-live" everything that I have been doing, so I hope if anyone actually reads this, that you find it at least sort of interesting.

Anyways, oh my goodness! What a crazy month May was! If you follow anything (facebook, twitter, etc) then you may know that May, for me, was a pretty crazy month due to graduations, weddings, vacations, work and so on.

Week 1
The first weekend in May was my graduation party and graduation. I can't believe I am done with college. The past four years have flown by and I know I will never forget the people that I have come to be friends with. I can't say that I will miss sitting in classes, but I will miss getting to see my friends every weekend! Looking back on the last four years, there are a few things that I wish I would have done maybe a little different: 1) I would have loved to get to study abroad! Everyone always says that is one thing they would never change, but I never got to experience it. It wasn't that the opportunity never presented itself, I just never had the money to do it, unfortunately. 2) I probably also should have majored in something else...journalism is a quickly dying career and I unfortunately feel like I went to college and really learned nothing, but with the path that I was on in school (paying myself so needing to graduate in four years), I didn't really have time to babel in other classes so I sort of went with what I knew. Now people are asking what I plan on doing with my life, and as of right now, I still really don't know. I don't mind writing news stories, however, it seems like more of a hobby unless you live in DC or NYC or LA (aka big cities) and can write for a big name paper. But even then, I wonder how I would get a job since I can't even seem to get an unpaid internship with the local newspaper. With this career path, I will need experience before I will get my first "big-kid job" so I have been applying for unpaid internships around the area. The most common question now though is "what are your plans for the future" to which I answer "try to find a job, just like everyone else," but it's not that I can't find a job. Currently I have three jobs (wedding photographer (part-time), a filing secretary in a law office (part-time), and an assistant manager at the local grocery store (part-time, most hours)) and they are keeping me very busy, they just aren't really the types of jobs people expect someone to have with a four year college degree. But, back to graduation. It was the longest ceremony ever...with a class of 1, 460 kids, you would think it wouldn't be that long, and when I say we didn't even have a commencement speaker, you would think even shorter; but it took right around three hours. I was actually pretty disappointed in our actual ceremony, though. As May rolls around, you hear about all these schools with their speakers and who is speaking who, so I had some expectations, but then I found out we weren't having anybody speak and was a bit let down. I wasn't expecting President Obama, but I was thinking we would have SOMEONE. Also, the whole process was very disorganized. We (the graduates) weren't told anything prior to the morning of except what time to be at the stadium. When Dave, Pat and I got to the stadium, we walked around the entire place (along with everyone else) as we tried to figure out where to go. Once we figured that out, we continued to walk around aimlessly until about ten minutes before we started our march-on when the professors finally lined us all up. Luckily, I got to sit next to one of my best friends (Caroline) during the whole thing so that made it all a little better to sit through the hours of names. After the ceremony, I came home to have lunch with my family that came, and even my Dad made the drive from Florida just to support me! My family is seriously the best! And anyways, big-kid job or no big-kid job, I still made it through four years and received a diploma! So here's a few pics from the big day! 

Brenna (my roommate from freshman year) and I! 

I love this girl! I'm so glad I met Caroline and we've stayed friends since freshman year!
Also glad we got to sit next to each other during the graduation ceremony! 

Headed down to the floor! 

Shaking Dr. Curran's hand

Mom and I after the ceremony

Grandma, me, Poppie and Cassidy

The brothers and me

Even Dad was able to make it to graduation! 

Week 2
After relaxing for a whole 24 hours after the ceremony celebrations were over, I was headed with 2,000 of my closest friends on a road trip to Daytona Beach, FL for a week of free beer, sun, the beach and best friends. The trip, also known as Dayton to Daytona, is the seconds biggest event held in Daytona, only behind the Daytona 500. If you've never heard of this trip, just think MTV's Spring Break and it's sort of like that...but with all kids from your school. The trip wasn't the first for me, I went my sophomore year and junior year, but this year was the first time that I was one of the "cool kids on the block" (recently graduated senior) and I wasn't the young kid in the group either. I went with Jenni (I went to high school with her and she was a 5th year senior this year), Caroline (I lived next to her my freshman year and we've been best friends since!), Shannon (I just met her this year, but she is incredible! I see many more adventures in our future!), and Kelsey (ok, so we snuck her in...she goes to Miami University, but she's awesome!). The Monday after graduation, we all met up at Shannon's house and headed for our 15 hour road trip through the night. We got in to Daytona and headed straight to the pool deck for the first day, and from there, every day runs into each other and before we knew it, it was time to leave. On the last night, we went to the arcade for some free corn dogs and to ride the Farris Wheel before heading out at 1am to drive through the night again to come home. Daytona was a week of fun with my best friends and I love everyone that I have gotten to know over the last four years and I will never forget any of you! You have made my college experience the best thing it could have been!

Shannon and I on the second day

Dana, Becky and I on the second day

Group from freshman year on the third day!
(Left to right: Pat, Deven, me, Becky, Elliott,  Dana, Matt)

Some of my best friends on the fourth day!
(Left to right: Eric, Pat, JC, me, Shannon)

Shannon, me, Kalynn, Caroline on the fourth day

Caroline, Kalynn and I made a band with our prizes from the Arcade

The roommates on the last day
(Left to right: Jenni, Kelsey, Shannon, Caroline and me)

My school "roommates" on the last night. Thanks guys for letting me crash on your couch all the time!
(Left to right: Pat, JC, me, Eric, Dave)

Found a guy with this bird and he let us hold him! 

Week 3
After Daytona, I had a few days to relax before heading up to Columbus, OH for my aunt and uncle's wedding. Danny and Renee have been together literally my entire life, so it was about time they tied the knot. I was asked to be a bridesmaid, so Friday morning, I jumped in my car and met the girls at the salon to get our nails done. After that, we went to the rehearsal at the golf course and then off to dinner. The worst part about it though, however, was that I was sick (thanks a lot Daytona!) with what the doctor told me was tonsillitis and I was miserable. I had gone to get medicine a few days before and was really hoping that when I woke up Saturday morning, I would feel better...and luckily I did! Well, sort of. So we met again at the salon to get our hair and make up done and then headed to the hotel to get ready! After solving a minor hair crisis (Renee's curls fell out because of the heat so two of the girls ran to a CVS to buy a curling iron), we met with the boys for pictures. The day completely flew by, but it was so much fun! The wedding and reception were both gorgeous and I was so happy to be part of their day! We all had a blast and Renee looked beautiful!

The beautiful bride and I

Bridesmaids
(Left to right: me, Michelle, Jen and Kelley)

The groom and I!

This is what my brothers did with the petals that were along the aisle

Walking down the aisle - Riyad and me

Danny when he saw Renee

Renee and her Dad

They're MARRIED! 

Wedding party

Bride and groom with the nieces and nephews 

First Dance

Mother/Son Dance

Bridesmaids in the photobooth 

Cousins and Grandma in the photobooth

Me with the couple! 

Week 4 and 5
Commissioning week. Enough said. But seriously, this week was INSANE! And it was pretty awesome! I love getting to go to Annapolis. It is a beautiful city and I am actually going to miss getting to visit there a few times a year, but for commissioning week, I was there for 14 days!!! That's the longest I have ever been there before! I ended up going up a day before Ben's family because I really wanted another excuse to wear my beautiful dress that I had bought last year for ring dance and on Wednesday night, there was the graduation ball, so I flew up there just in order to go to that. Also on that day, however, was the color parade and I met up with miss Kristy Yi (FINALLY) and we got to sit together and chat. Grad ball was a lot of fun and I even met a few friends of Ben's that I hadn't met before, so that always makes things interesting. The next day, Ben's parents and sister got into town and we moved into our "home" for the week. His parents rented this gorgeous house about ten minutes from the academy and it's was so nice to not have to be cooped up in a hotel for the whole week. That day before they got there, Ben and I got to see the Marine Corps Band and Silent Drill Team performance. The drill team was pretty cool, but I was a bit skeptical about how "silent" they are and bet that if you were to put a microphone on them, they were probably whispering to each other. During the week, we also got to check out the NEX (Navy Exchange), the MCX (Marine Corps Exchange), the Marine Corps Museum, took a ghost tour of Annapolis, got to meet the Superintendent and see his BEAUTIFUL house!, and hung out with a lot of family and friends! Come May 29, I got the first peek at Ben in his new Marines uniform when he came into my bedroom and asked "do I look ok in this?" He then got a big smile on his face and was so handsome! The day then flew by! I got great seats in the stadium because I snuck down to a different section then we were supposed to sit in (whoops!), but I got great pictures too! Defense Secretary Leon Panetta gave the commencement speech about to the graduating class about their futures in the service. He told them the focus was going to be in Asia as they begin to be deployed within the next year. He said, "it's up to your generation to ensure that our fleet remains unrivaled by any other nation on Earth. That's why you came here."

Excerpt from ABC News:
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told a graduating class of naval officers today that rapidly changing global challenges for the United States meant they would be tasked with leading a military in metamorphosis.

“You must be prepared to respond to whatever threats we confront in the future with courage, with creativity and with leadership,” Panetta said, “Adapting to new challenges is what the naval service does best. This is not a time for playing it safe. It’s a time for imagination, a time for initiative.”

Panetta told the graduates the threat of a nuclear North Korea and Iran, cybersecurity, the rising prominence of the Asia-Pacific, and the ongoing pursuit of terrorism were reminders that “we are still at war.”

“All of this coming at a time of increasing budget challenges here at home,” said Panetta.  ”Our nation now looks to you, the next generation of military leaders, to confront the challenges I just outlined.”

Panetta touted NATO’s success in Libya and America’s commitment to a 2014 drawdown in Afghanistan. He told the students that strengthening ties with China would be “key” to peace from the Pacific to South Asia.

“That reality is inescapable for our country and for our military,” he said.

As the military’s strategies evolve, so do the very makeup of its members, said the secretary.

“You are men and women from every state in the union and 12 foreign nations; rich and poor; secular and religious; black, white, Latino, Native American, Asian; straight and gay.”

There were many awesome things witnessed during this ceremony, and one cool thing that was announced during the ceremony was that it was the 100th anniversary of the cover toss. It is a symbolic gesture of no longer needing their midshipmen covers because they are being commissioned into their respective branches (Navy or Marines) and receive a new officer's cover. Another moment was when Panetta talked about the diversity of the Class of 2012. This is the first class that has been able to openly admit they were gay and not have to worry about facing anything for it, and when he said this during his speech, the whole crowd cheered. However, the coolest moment of the ceremony, one that I know I  will never forget, was when Kevin Hillery's name was called. Now, most people don't know his story, but it is one that is incredibly heroic. Just a few months before commissioning, Hillery was competing in an adventure race when a tree was struck by lightning and fell on him while he was riding his bike, paralyzing him from his rib cage down. With just a few months before graduation, the Navy decided to let him graduate and medically retire him right away. The most moving thing was when he wheeled himself up the ramp to the stage and the entire stadium stood up to applaude him. It was the coolest thing! As 1,099 midshipmen received their commissions, I was one of many proud girlfriends/significant others/ family members as I watched Ben and all of his friends walk across the stage to receive their diplomas and I know they will all do great things in their lives as they move forward in their separate paths. 

Marine Corps Band

Marine Corps Silent Drill Team

Ben and me in front of the Marine Corps Museum 

At the Marine Corps Museum 

After coffee with some cool girls!
(Left to right: Kristy, me, Nikki)

Ben and me after Baccalaureate 

Supe's Garden Party

Ben, me and Lee
Lee has been a great guy and has helped me out with SOOO many surprises! 

Last picture with my midshipman (Ben in his uniform and me in my pjs!)

Ben and Dave walking onto the field 

Blue Angels fly over

Marines being sworn in

Getting ready to walk on stage! 

Ben shaking hands with Leon Panetta

He's graduated!!!

Cover toss!

2nd Lieutenant 

Mary Ellen pinning on his bars

Getting his new cover

Me and the new 2nd Lieutenant Rinklin! 

Getting his first salute from his Uncle Marty 

Getting his first salute from his Uncle Marty 

So after all of the craziness of commissioning week, Ben and I stuck around a few extra days for one of his really good friend's (Seth) wedding. Ben was actually in the wedding at the end to do the sword arch which is pretty cool. Congrats to Seth and Tracy! Your day was beautiful and we were so honored to get to be a part of it! 

Adorable gifts from the rehearsal dinner! 

Ben and me at the rehearsal dinner 

Me with the 26th Company boys!

The bride and her ladies

Tracy and her dad walking down the aisle

Congrats Mrs and 2nd LT Freedman 

Sword Arch

Tracy and her dad dancing (this is my fav pic that I took all day!!!) 

Ben and I 

So that's it for now, so until next time, I bid you all farewell! 

With lots of love,

Marci