Design: Summer Dinner

Do you ever feel stressed out and tense and you're not entirely sure why? I have been feeling that way lately. My jaw has been really tight and I have to keep reminding myself to relax. The worst part is that I do not really have that much to be stressed about. I have a few events coming up, but nothing I really need to be overly stressed about. On the plus side, it has made me get down and do some yoga. I have been so slack about working out lately (hmm...that probably has something to do with my stress level). I found a new yoga channel through a Pinterest post; it's called Yoga with Kassandra. She has a lot of Yin Yoga videos which focuses on holding poses for a few minutes so you get a nice, deep stretch. I thought these videos would help me de-stress a little bit. I've been enjoying them so far.

One of the events I have coming up is a dinner with my Alumni Chapter. Really it's an excuse to have dinner with my friend, Cheryl. She might be the only one RSVPed so far, anyway. But that's OK! I used to stress out about lack of participation from people in the group. But I have learned (and still have to remind myself of this from time to time) that it doesn't matter who actually comes. All that matters is that I give them the opportunity to build and develop relationships. Only they can choose to use the opportunity.

For the dinner, I created a simple invitation. It follows the template I've been using for these types of events. But I do love the background I found on Shutterstock. It's perfect for summer!

Fonts Used
KG Hard Candy Solid
Cursif
Bell MT

Design: Coffee

I am having a blast creating fliers for our base spouses' club. We recently voted to merge with the Enlisted Spouses' Club which means I will have many additional projects to work on. Yay!!! I have started to prep a few items such as a newsletter and trifold. The project I have had the most fun with so far has been creating some new logo options. I cannot wait to see which one is chosen! I have a favorite, but I will share more about them soon.

An event we have coming up is a coffee meet up. The summer is really casual and we do not have an "official" socials, but I'm glad they have a couple events planned. A lot of people move in the summer, so it is beneficial to have an event for people to get their "feet wet" with our group.

Fonts used:
Rhumba Script NF
Bodoni MT
Milasian Circa Personal

Design: Movie Night

My creative outlet has a new beneficiary and I could not be more excited! I am now officially the PR chair for the Officers' Spouses' Club (OSC) here at our current base. I loved this position so much at our last base and and I am so thankful the spot at this base opened up for me. I am just getting into the swing of things and will not have a whole lot to do until the end of summer since the club takes a break over the summer.

Knowing that I would be in this position and because I anticipate organizing more Alpha Omega Alumni Chapter events, I decided to purchase a Shutterstock subscription. Whenever I make invitations or fliers, I find so many cute images from Shutterstock. But to use them (without the annoying watermark) you have to buy them or have a monthly subscription. I was tired of being limited.

For my first OSC flier, I was asked to create something for the upcoming movie night. They have these once a month. I downloaded my first Shutterstock image. It was so hard to choose because they have thousands of images. I plan to use this template for each month's movie night but update it with the new movie. It will be quick and easy to edit and post.

Fonts used:
Broadway
Bodoni MT
Milasian Circa PERSONAL

My goal for the OSC PR position is to create some new "branding." We may be merging with the Enlisted Spouses' Club and a fresh look sounds like a good idea. Part of new branding is finding some go-to fonts. My newest addition and my pick for the new logo is Milasian Circa PERSONAL. I love finding new fonts!

Design: Summer Retreat

One event that has been on my mind since helping create the Alpha Omega Alumni Chapter is a retreat. However, since the start of the chapter I have lived out of state. This makes planning a trip of this nature hard to execute. Now that I am back in the state, this was one of my priorities for this summer.

We are doing some fundraisers to help bring the cost down. Our first was a flower fundraiser through Flower Power. It was not hugely successful, but I like to try things out to see how well they do. That way we know if it's worthwhile to do again in the future. It was really easy to organize. I highly recommend it if you have a fundraising need and have some gardeners in your group.

Our group was interested in going to the mountains for a retreat. Originally I was planning on Hendersonville, North Carolina. Charles worked at a summer camp up there and we have been several times. It is a cute town, but a little off the beaten path so it isn't too busy or crowded with tourists. However, a couple of the other ladies suggested Asheville. I have only been there once, but it was at the tail end of winter. So I am looking forward to experiencing it in another season.

We will be discussing topics from the book Messy Beautiful Friendship by Christine Hoover. I just started the book and am really enjoying it. It addresses a lot of issues that I struggle with. And it sounds like most, if not all, women struggle with the exact same things. It should provide some good discussion in our group.

Fonts used:
Just Realize
Parisienne
Quicksand

Design: Beach Day

I absolutely love being back in South Carolina! One of the best things is the ability to plan get-togethers for the alumni of Alpha Omega. While living out of state, I was able to plan or help plan the annual Alumni Weekend, but a lot of ladies find it hard to attend. We have folks living all over the state and I like to encourage people in the various areas to meet together. Being back allows me to facilitate these gatherings.

Currently I'm about 2 hours from the beach and it has been calling me. I thought it would be fun to organize a beach day with the Alpha Omega Alumni. Summer is always busy with people traveling, so I am not sure how many will be able to come. But I figure I have to at least try.

Fonts used:
Hawaiian Punk
Meganhand

Tending my garden

Growing up, my mom was always gardening. We moved just about every three years (unrelated to the military), so she had a lot of opportunities to start new gardens. And for the most part we always lived in new construction houses, so the yard was a clean slate to begin with. However, while I was younger did I have any interest in gardening? Of course not. That changed once we had our first town house in Ohio.

While renting, we were pretty limited in what we could do in the yard of each house we have lived in. We have planted several flowers and such in containers, but that is hit and miss with me.

When we moved here and bought our first house, I had my first real chance at a garden. This is a new construction house, so the yard was a clean slate. It came with grass and some plants in the front flower beds, but everything else was on us.

Being an environmentally-friendly person, I was most interested in creating a bee/butterfly/hummingbird garden. Bees are essential to our food production system. Pesticides and such are causing large amounts of casualties among bee communities, so planting bee friendly plants and flowers and avoiding pesticide use is super helpful. I made my list of plants and flowers to look out for and headed to Lowe's.

Chocolate mint

Citronella...my attempt to keep the mosquitoes at bay

More herbs

Lime basil and lemon balm both smell fantastic!

The cilantro (behind the salvia) has doubled in size over the past two weeks. I better start using it before it's taller than me.

We also wanted to plant some fruits and veggies. We had a tomato plant in California that did really well and we wanted to try a few other things.

Two apple trees and a magnolia tree

Strawberry flower

Okra

Broccoli

We planted three blueberry plants. Two are really tiny and we're hoping they grow nice and tall with lots of blueberries.

Watermelon! We attempted watermelon while in California, but it never really produced anything. Here's to attempt #2!

Did I mention we adopted a dog?

As you can see my blogging has been pretty lax lately. I guess I just haven't been inspired to compose blog posts lately. Plus I have been busy working in our yard making it match my visions and plans. Gardening can take up a lot of time!

But that is beside the point. Part of this blog is to share what has been going on in our lives and a big event was adopting a dog! Charles has been wanting a dog, specifically a retired greyhound, for years now. We almost adopted one when we were stationed in Ohio. But since we had just adopted the kitties and because they were so small, it was not the best time to bring a greyhound into our household. Racing greyhounds are used to chasing small prey during the course, so the greyhound adoption group thought it could be a dangerous combination with small cats and a retired racer.

When we moved here and purchased a home, I figured it was time for Charles' wish to come true. We worked with a group based out of Columbia, SC. They pick up dogs from race tracks in Orlando, FL and bring them back for a bit of fostering while they adjust to the post-racing lifestyle.

My ideal greyhound was 1) female 2) smaller in size and 3) Brindle coloring. Luckily, the greyhound rescue group had that exact dog for us! It worked out perfectly.

Meet Suzie Q! If you're a fan of the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, you will remember that there is a character named Susie. But Charles is also a big fan of Creedence Clearwater Revivial, so we combined the names from the comic strip and the song.

The morning after we brought her home, we all participated in a 5k on base. We intended just to walk the course, but once she saw everyone running she had to jog, also. She became tired about half way through and we walked the rest of the way.

Greyhounds have very low body fat compared to other dog breeds so jammies and jackets are necessary in cold weather or in air conditioned places. We bought these cupcake jammies on Etsy. Aren't they adorable?

Suzie has taken over the loveseat and claimed it as her own.