Imagination never took me here.

I decided on a whim to study business administration for my associates degree.

I chose marketing as my concentrated study for my bachelor's degree, solely because my cousins had done really well after college when they studied it.

I joined the military on a day when I did not know where to go in life after college.

I decided to put all (or as much as I could) of me aside and befriend the unlikeliest of people to make my relationship work.

I chose to bite my tongue and have faith that this is what life was leading me to.

Overall, I am more than pleased with the outcome. 

My new job doesn't deal with business administration for the most part... nor does it deal with marketing.

I rarely made honor roll throughout college, though I was working full time, studying full time, and partying overtime.

I have done great in the military. It has given me the best experiences of my life, and is what I am most proud of.  I am so sad to see it go. 

Thus is life, and so it goes on.

Testing waters with "new" friends who I was not so certain about has pushed me to my limit, only proving to myself that I have no limit.  Oprah said it best, "anything is possible to those willing to make the sacrifices."

My relationship has grown into everything I had hoped for.  I have never felt so comfortable with someone before.

I recognize that I take my luck for granted. 

Greg deserves credit for keeping me sane and driving me to the brink of insanity all at the same time.

In a few days, I will be in the Bahamas with Greg and his family. I'm most excited to spend time with his family. We could go anywhere... But the Bahamas is a nice option. :) 

Hopefully I will start my job soon after that... Still waiting on a start date.

Life is amazing.

We could not stop laughing.

Probably the best date night I have ever had.

First, we debated where to go for dinner, since we had already decided on seeing The Hangover Part II. We browsed restaurants and picked Rick's Boat Yard. On the way to dinner, Greg mentions that it might be crowded because it's right next to Speedway and this weekend is the Indy 500.  He was right.

We had to wait for a table, so we decided to go to the bar, and our pager went off as soon as we got our drinks. Our server, Matt was fantastic. We ordered our appetizer and then placed our dinner orders and were settling in, listening to and laughing at the tables around us, who had been partying at the race track all day.  As soon as the salad and bread got to the table, Matt sets them down with a disclaimer:

"Folks, I'm sorry to tell you this, but I think you're going to have to evacuate the premises.  The restaurant is on fire."  

- He wasn't kidding. 

Greg and I are pigs. We shoved half the salad in our faces and took the bread with us. The wait staff was laughing at us, but we were hungry (and only paying for our drinks at the bar, we managed to get out for only ten dollars!). Outside was chaos. Here's part of the scene we encountered...

This kid looked so sad, he was so hungry!

They originally told us that we would be back in the restaurant within an hour, but after they got the boots out for the trucks and headed up with axes to chop the roof off, we decided we had better go find some other restaurant.  We drove the 40 minutes back to the Fishers area and ate quickly to make the 1045 show. After dinner, we ran all the way to the theater. It was PACKED, so we skipped the line and opted for the self purchasing ticket thing. Of course, it's sold out. The next showing is at 1130, and Greg didn't want to wait that long, so we checked the Noblesville theater. The next show is also at 1130, but it's about a 20 minute drive, so that wouldn't be so bad. 

We were on our way there and Greg was certain that it wouldn't be sold out. I wasn't convinced, so we made a bet. As we pulled up, it didn't look crowded and most of the traffic was coming out of the theater. I felt defeated. We got to the counter and ordered tickets at 1105. It was sold out for the 1130 show, but not for the midnight showing. (I think I won). 

So we decided to stay. We snuck in to see part of Bridesmaids while we waited (HILARIOUS!). We got our seats and waited for the movie, which ended up being too much like the first one, but still funny. 

It was 2 AM before we left the theater. I was exhausted. Greg was driving back and I think I was awake for about 90 seconds of it. Just as I'm sitting down on the couch, still laughing at the series of events, Greg came inside to tell me that I have a flat tire.

Perfect.

3 drinks

+ 2 restaurants

1 dinner

3 show times

+ 2 theaters

1 movie

When the cat's away...

I have a tendency of taking on projects without permission. Every time Greg goes away (whether it be for 8 weeks or just a weekend) I change the house a little, give it a touch of... well, I'm making it pretty as a picture. 

First there was the guest bathroom...

Before

Before

After

After

Then, I made the dining room a little prettier.

He said it was girly... He might be right.

Then I decorated that little awkward ledge that had nothing on it by the front door.

I love those candle holders.


Lastly, I still cannot believe I did all of this so fast and completely on my own, but I redid the master bathroom in under 24 hours.

Before

I didn't get a good picture of this side of the "before"... I wish I had, it was the ugliest light in the world. And this monstrosity was behind it.

After. Took away the towel rack, added picture, got new mirrors.

I had never done any electrical work before, so I'm actually very proud of this one.  

Take me out...

Today was a nice change of pace. 

I got to meet up with my family for a baseball game at Victory Field.

The team won, but the company was the real fun at the game.

The Crew: Dad, Chan, Abby, Me, Kat, and Paige.


:)

Playing house.

Today was fun.

I took pictures of the house exterior, while Greg drew up the outside of the house to scale. 

Took a trip to Lowe's to get a hummingbird feeder and some small plants for the back porch.

We took the pictures and our "blueprint" to the nursery. 

(They were very impressed with the amount of work we had done!)

I took personal enjoyment when we were complimented on the well kept bushes (I had just trimmed them).

:)

Kirk designed our new landscaping, which was much more than we had expected, and so pretty!

Mr. Green walked us around and helped us pick out plants... Greg laughed at how distracted I would get by the flowers.

Got the flowers, trees, and shrubs ordered, ready to be delivered when we get the destruction done.

Came home and installed the bird feeder, small flowers, and made loaded pizza and pasta salad for dinner... we ate it all.

Tomorrow we have to go running...

But today was fun.

:)

My update.

My first trip to Maryland was a success!!

His family is wonderful, I feel very lucky.

Greg and his grandmother, The Queen. She is amazing.

Greg then went to meet some more of my family for Easter this weekend and made a new best friend with my nephew, Trenton.

Go Fish got very serious.

Greg and I have work to do getting pictures together. 

There will be plenty of time for that.

:)

Up, up, and away.

I seem to have failed to mention how lucky I am.  I have Greg, who does his best to keep me grounded and sane, and I do not know where I would be without him.  

With that being said, wish me luck!  Tomorrow morning I am waking up at an unnaturally early hour and heading on a plane with my wonderful boyfriend to go to Maryland and meet his parents. I will post more about this adventure when I get back from this weekend... Hopefully, all goes well. 

:)

Mallory and Greg, NYE.