Life Choices

From my last post in December, I talked briefly about school. I was attending school for Nursing to become an R.N. but it was during this Spring semester 2014 that I was unsure if it was really what I wanted to pursue. The drive was no longer there for me as I saw in my fellow classmates. While they would find what we were reading about interesting, I found it tedious and a hassle to sit down and read or study. After discussing this with Matt, he was on board with my dropping out from this semester and to change my field of study back to what I should've done; Journalism and broadcasting. Once I withdrew from my nursing classes, I felt such a weight lifted off my shoulders. I have more time to do craft projects, cook dinners, spend time with family, relaxing after work. It's great! Another decision that I do not regret.

Also since December,

 Matt and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. I cannot believe we've been married for 5 years already.  We feel and know this will be one of the most significant and happiest years.

 Traditional anniversary shot

The 2nd weekend in February, I ran a 10k and ended up getting overall 3rd place for women's with my best time of 57:15 ! I was so surprised- I received a trophy, medal, and a t-shirt. Made up for the cold rainy weather I had to deal with while running, as well as having no iPod or watch since the batteries both died within 1 mile in.

I was batman (superhero run)

The Past Six Months

Well, a lot has happened in the past six months, so much that I feel it's easier to sum up with pictures instead of words.

My job is going great! I enjoy being an activity assistant CNA and interacting with the residents. I plan on staying here until graduating with my RN degree years from now.

We adopted a dog - his name is Rusty. He was 9 months when we got him. He now is 1 year and 3 months. He is supposedly an australian shepherd mix. We think he is a lab mixed with something but don't know quite yet. He is a handful at times… we're trying to train him. He is able to do tricks such as roll over, lay down, speak, praise, sit, stay, give the paw, high five, and be quiet. Although, the quiet one is rare.  We are training him how to play dead next. He enjoys playing with the neighborhood dogs by running around and chasing each other. He is friendly with all dogs and loves the dog park.

Visited my grandfather for the first time since he passed. His stone was not there yet.

We did a lot of updating of our home inside and out.  On the outside, in the front,  we removed the front landscaping and adding in our design with new plants and flowers. In the back, we planted flowers on one side of the fence and in the back wall we added a row of bushes that will grow tall to allow privacy and reduce sound from the road beside us. Our next step is to add flowers on the other side of the fence. On one side of our house, we removed the grass and added in some flowers with mulch. We plan on removing the other side and lay down rocks. Also, along the back porch, we added a rock border.
A major change to the yard, is grass! When we moved in, there was no grass. That was the first thing we put in after the landscaping.

Front of the house before and after. The front porch is now all painted white. 

The back is hard to see where we planted the flowers along the side of the fence from the angle I took. 

The inside we hung up pictures, changed a few minor details. Nothing too major. Once all that was completed, we had our house warming party and it was a hit!

Matt went to school full time and I started school as well to finish up my RN degree. We both finished this semester with A's! Next semester is soon to start in about 1.5 weeks

Signed up for Origami Owl - find me at bridgetlacey.origamiowl.com

My brother in law got engaged and they had finally had their bridal shower. 

Spent time with family out of state and family that lives close by.

Celebrated Brittany's Bachlorette Party

Ran the Neon Run - it was horrible.

Hubby had to have surgery to get his appendix removed

Celebrated my brother-in-law and Brittany's Wedding! They became the NEWEST Mr. & Mrs. Lacey

This picture is taken with my youngest brother-in-law, James

Us four girls can be trouble

The cousins

Hubby and I

my newest sister in law

The cousins again

Sisters with the mother

They became husband and wife!

Matt and I at the reception

Family picture

Celebrated my best friend, Trisha's bridal shower and bachelorette party

My best friend, Trisha got married

Their reception was just too cute

Run Nona 5k - awesome!

Thanksgiving with family

We grew pepper plants in the backyard. This is our first picked green pepper

Ran our first race together at the Reindeer Run Seaworld as a couple; also made my best time of 25:40 5k

For Christmas we both received a marathon and half-marathon ticket to the Space Coast Marathon from my parents

Our house lit up for Christmas

Since moving home, we have not regretted any decision making. We enjoy being close to family! We look forward to what the next year will bring us! Farewell 2013; 2014, We greet you.

A Few New & BIG Happenings

Well, I took a little hiatus because the Lacey household got a little busy the past month or two. I know I still wrote a couple posts regarding food recipes but I never shared any of the exciting news! So here we go from March! (Told you I am behind.. I'll try to make it quick)

In March we went to Florida for a visit with family, a birthday party…. and to house hunt. Yes, you read that correctly. Matt decided he wants to retire from the military so we can start our lives together, build a family, and focus on what he wants to do in life outside of the military. While the military has provided us a great beginning to our future, it just felt like the right thing to do at the time (and still does even at times it is a little nerve-wracking).  Well, we quickly got ahold of an AWESOME  broker through the VA to help us along on our first-time home buyer experience. He set us up with a relator in the area of Florida where we were looking to buy. We looked at a total of 7 homes.  The 6th home we looked at, felt so right. It was close to both of our parents and other family members, in a good school district (thinking about that future, ha ha), good size house - not to mention MOVE-IN READY!! Scary, we took the plunge and told our relator we want to put an offer in. It was a foreclosure so we were hoping to get lower than asking price. Offer came back, they hardly budge. So, again - another offer. Hardly budge again.. we weighed our options and discussed what we could afford, and decided to say okay to their second offer. WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!  From there on, there were a lot of papers to be signed, documents to be read, papers to be faxed, money to be sent.. but about 30 days later, we were signing the official documents out in California (we flew back) on April 24, 2013. We were then new homeowners. It felt so great to have a house of our own that we could call a home. A home that will have our future pet and kids. A home where family can come over and celebrations can happen. A home where we will always be together! It seriously is still one of the best decisions I think we have made as a couple thus far.

Our last month, May, in the house on base felt like it dragged by. During that month: We ordered a fridge for the new house, I quit my job, I sorted out items for a yard sale, We both enrolled in school in Florida, and we started to prepare for our move by canceling services.
Yard sale day came the weekend prior to us moving.. it wasn't that huge of a success as I thought it would be, so I ended up packing it away for a yard sale in Florida.

and relaxed a bit

Moved out of base housing and began our move on Fri, May 31. Along the way we stopped and stayed with my sister, nieces/nephews 1 night. We arrived at our home on Mon, June 3. We made really good timing, and again - it was a nice road trip but we were so happy it was over too, haha.

Matt has not retired yet from the Marines, so he was on leave for a couple weeks to help with the moving process. During his time, he helped unpack boxes once the movers arrived, fixed the hose connection to the fridge, fixed the dryer connection to the wall, installed a garage door opener, fixed the  dishwasher and sink.  We went to get office furniture and set that up, as well as a few items for our home and set up all of our services. He really did help out a lot. I wanted him to stay because we just moved in but he had to go back to California for 3 more weeks (he will be back in 4 days now).

So, since my husband has been gone from June 10 until now June 28 I have been busy doing something every day. It has been exhausting but since he's left: Our fridge arrived, I bought and installed blinds, decorated the house, organized the bedrooms, bought a china hutch, changed the layout of the living room, sprayed the yard to start killing all the weeds for removal, and ordered curtains to hopefully have up before he comes home. I do have the picture frames laid out for him to hang when he returns! Haha, what a fun project (rolls eyes)

Not only the house stuff was accomplished. I managed to apply at 5 nursing facilities for a CNA position. I went on one interview, got hired on the spot but after further thought and research, I declined and decided I would rather take my chances to keep looking elsewhere.  Then just the other day, I got called in for an interview. I got hired on the spot, again. I accepted and so far I am happy with the decision I made. I will go in for orientation sometime soon and then start work.