Design: Spring Bazaar

The base spouses' club has a fun event coming up in the beginning of March--a Spring Bazaar! It was so much fun making this flier because I love spring! I found a fun example during a Google images search and recreated it with my own little touches.

We're gradually adding more and more vendors, but it should be a nice assortment of businesses! We had a vendor event in the fall and it was so great to see the home-based and locally-owned businesses that came out to support us. It was hard not to buy something from everyone!

Design: Yoga class

I'm still alive! I have been filling my time lately with yoga classes, puzzles and considering some new opportunities to add into my routine. I might sound busier than I actually am.

Since I mentioned yoga I will tell you a little more about that. I have always been a firm believer in NOT paying to work out. Having base access means I can work out pretty much anytime for free. And with YouTube videos, why would anyone need to pay to work out??? Well, I realized that maybe I needed to pay for it so that I would actually do it. It's easy to be "too busy" to work out. There is a yoga studio in town that offers a variety of yoga classes. Charles encouraged me to buy a class pass and then we could try some yoga classes together. I figured I'd give it a shot. It has been about a month of regular yoga (at least once or twice a week) and I'm really glad I invested in myself.

Last night we were doing a Beginner Unity Flow class and, as I held crow pose for longer than I have been able to in the previous weeks, I started to get a little emotional...happy emotional! It is fun to see some results in such a short period of time.

My favorite yoga has definitely been yin yoga. It's so chill and no sweating involved. If you've never tried it, look it up on YouTube and try one for free. Yoga with Kassandra offers some good classes.

Anyway, the spouses' club is having a yoga social this month. We had one last year and it is where I was introduced to the local yoga studio and some yin yoga. I am so excited to do yoga with the ladies again!

Design: Scholarship Applications

Traditionally spouse clubs have a scholarship program that benefits military spouses and children. Our spouses' club is no different. As Public Relations, I am automatically on all the committees and the scholarship committee is no different. I have been busy creating marketing materials to promote our scholarship program. We ended up re-doing all our applications this year and expanded who is eligible to apply. We are now open to military spouses and dependents throughout South Carolina! I am really excited to see how well the word gets out and who applies.

My goal was to create something fun and youthful to brand this year's scholarship pieces. I love the color scheme I ended up with. And you can never go wrong with polka dots! 

Design: Bowling

Happy 2018! Last year went by so quickly and so far 2018 is following the same trend. The spouses' club here is still rockin' and rollin'. This month we will be going bowling for our monthly social. I enjoy bowling because, especially around other ladies, I tend to do pretty well. But it's fun regardless of how well I bowl.

I am having some difficulty with finding graphics that I like enough to use. I started off using Shutterstock and found a TON of great images. But then I had an issue with their website and renewing my account. Then I tried another stock images site and I did not like it as much. I did find the below image, but it was more of a struggle to find something I liked there. Right now I do not subscribe to any other stock photo sites. I will try my luck finding free images through Google for a while until I can't stand it anymore. 

Soft Gingerbread Cookies (Vegan-style)

I love reading, but mainly Kindle books which makes me unusual among other readers (at least the impression I get from my book club is that they prefer real books). For this past month's book, we read Washington's Spies. I thought it sounded interesting since I enjoy history, but for some reason this book fell flat with me. But, as usual, I gave it a try and finished it in time for our book club meeting.

This month I hosted book club at my house. When I host, I like to cook and bake. It's just part of hosting, in my opinion. One of our regulars follows a vegan diet which proves to be slightly challenging when I menu plan. But luckily I was able to come up with a couple options that were pretty tasty.

For a sweet treat, I baked soft gingerbread cookies. I have made them before, but not a vegan version, so I was a little nervous about how they would turn out. They came out great! Maybe a little too good because I can't stop eating them!

To make them vegan, I substitute coconut oil for the butter and a flax seed mixture for the egg. Easy as pie...well, cookies. Here's the original recipe if you want it: One Little Project.

Dressember 2017

Back in 2015, I was introduced to Dressember by my friend Ciara. Dressember is a campaign that challenges participants to wear a dress every day for the month of December to raise awareness for human trafficking and sex slavery. The last time I participated I didn't participate in the official Dressember by creating a page through their site to raise money, but instead encouraged my friends and family to donate to Project Rescue which also works to help victims of sex slavery.

This year I decided to participate fully in Dressember and created a page where family and friends could donate. It's a unique way to highlight something that is so prevalent and needs to be stopped. I hope my small efforts will impact lives around the world.

Design: Christmas Party

We have now been at this base for a whole year. Man, has it gone by fast! I got plugged in with the Spouses' Club right away by attending the Christmas party. It was so much fun and I'm looking forward to this year's event.