I'm about to become a sports widow before the rest of you ladies!

Weeks before the Labor Day kick-offs, I lose my husband to the manly game of....volleyball.

He loves the sport. It's a family thing, really. And that's OK. He's a great athlete and a great coach.



The season sneaks up on me every freaking time though! Here I am thinking I've a month of summer left, and he reminds me - tryouts are coming up! Just last night I got the rude awakening when he tore the house apart looking for his contact list so he could send out the first official e-mail!

So, mid-August through Halloween, I am a sports widow. First to all the evenings of tryouts, practices, and games, and then to the Saturday college football and Sunday NFL games. Sigh.

Every so often, people ask about our love story or wedding. I never bothered posting much wedding stuff as I'd already been married 2 and a half years when I started re•solve. I never talked much about our love story either as I don't find it so interesting (comparison is a dangerous thing!).

As it turns out, people who hear bits of our love story here and there are more intrigued (or at least surprised) than I expected. So, in true blogger fashion, I've finally decided to tell our story in teasing bits and pieces starting with today's "prequel:"

I dated a guy right out of high school who was no good for me whatsoever.

A young, naive, much more optimistic Bekah

While he never laid a hand on me, the relationship was clearly abusive. He showed all the "red flags" that women are warned about: he threw blame on me for trivial things (like doing my job), tried to keep me on a leash (if I set foot out of my house and he didn't get a phone call, he would throw a fit), and lied about everything to everyone. Of course, those were all signs of what I knew but didn't want to face: he was a lying, cheating, jerk.

I finally mustered up the sense to break up with him eleven months into the relationship. It certainly could have been sooner, but my stubborn self always said things like "it will get better," or I felt like I had something to prove to everyone who had already tried to warn me. (Ladies, I know you don't want to hear this because I've been there, but I will plead anyway. If this is you, please get out! There is something better waiting for you!)

Needless to say, after this relationship ended, a new relationship was the last thing on my mind. I focused on college, turning back into myself, and finding my future.

I was also frustrated with school at this point. I'd known all through school that I wanted to be a music major: specifically vocal performance.

high school Bekah was a theatre and choir nerd...

My dreams were basically shut down when, despite being accepted to all the schools I had applied to, my dad told me it was community college or nothing. The school was ten minutes from home, but didn't offer any of the courses I would need in that field aside from gen ed and some super pricey private voice lessons that my dad also refused to pay after my first semester. I was basically lost and frustrated.

I had broken up with the jerk right before fall semester. I went through the semester and did well, but with this frustration, I was seeking something new. I was sad that I wasn't singing, and I was realizing I needed to pick a new career path. The school had nothing of interest for me, and I was already paying all my bills while in school. I needed money and a career, and I needed them now. I shocked myself by deciding this full-time semester would be the last: I was going to enlist.

via

The following semester would be my "goodbye" of sorts. It was very part-time and consisted of three different PE classes that I took with some girlfriends of mine. In the evenings, I was learning ice skating, ballet, and ballroom dancing. During the day, I was working my part-time job as a beauty consultant with ULTA and meeting with my recruiter.

Halfway through the recruiting process, we hit a brick wall. I had passed my ASVAB with flying colors, and I thought my visit with MEPS had gone well. I, like all of my family, am very nearsighted. So nearsighted that I hit the limit at which the branch I was interested in would accept recruits. Another plan shot down. What now?

I lived in the same town I had lived in all along. I had some high school friends around, but most were away, and there was nobody new. I decided if I was going to be stuck here awhile yet, that it was time to meet new people and make new friends...


Come back next week to see what happens next! [update: read part 2 here]

I promised myself that I would take a break from the Cara Box for awhile after the June exchange was done. I have no time, I told myself, or money for that matter...



Then miss Kaitlyn had to go and announce the best theme of all time..."Sail Away with Me."

aka nautical things
aka my most favorite motif.

Our bathroom is covered in beach/tropical decor, the house as a whole decorated with colors that transition from casual in the fall to beachy in the spring. I won't even mention how much of our closet is occupied with navy blue!

Yeah, I had to participate. I'm so glad I did. I was assigned to send a box to Andi, and assigned to send to me was Chelsee. This is my fifth box, but the first time I knew one of my partners. It was so much fun! I think Chelsee and I exchanged 30 e-mails the first day. It's been great getting to know her better this month.

I had visions of blue and green dancing in my head, but Andi likes a different color palate. I went a different direction than I thought I would, but overall I chose nautical-esque products I thought she would enjoy. Check out her post to see what I included!

Chelsee worked her butt of trying to get things just right. Poor thing ordered an item that shipped late, then got lost in the mail...nightmare central for her! It was fun for me as I ended up getting multiple packages at the end of a week that had left me stressed out. What a great pick-me-up!

With the awesomeness of this box, I would have happily waited another month. Here's what she picked out:

This ADORABLE custom koozie. Honestly, she could have stopped here and I would have been thrilled.

You don't even know how hard it is to find a case for my phone let alone a cute one. Jackpot!

The obligatory note(s) of encouragement plus a cute tumbler & some beauty essentials (she is Southern BEAUTY guide, after all!).

Beach towel, beach read, beachy frame, & the tumbler again!

and some sea salt spray. Been wanting to try this awhile!

Not bad, eh? I may have to quit while I'm ahead. This box ridiculously spoiled me!

Oh, check out my previous Cara Box exchanges below:

It's like the google reader announcement all over again: all bloggers who use passion fruit have gotten the e-mail, and many are less than thrilled. For those who don't know, the now-free service will be a paid monthly subscription come September.

For the more successful blogger who makes a steady income stream from their craft, congratulations. The $9 montly service charge likely isn't an issue. You are likely one of the lovely few who pays for the fancier edition of rafflecopter.

For the smaller or swap only blog, this is an issue. I can accept that the service is worth paying for, but it doesn't make sense for me to pay for a blogging service when blogging isn't really paying me.

something like that. via

Many other bloggers have complained, raised concerns, and sought out new ideas. It's not like we can all mass-migrate to the bloglovin' of passion fruit. There's no such thing as far as I know.

So....here is my personal solution for re•solve sponsorships:

All of my ads will be available at the posted rate in August. Swaps will still be available as well. Contact me to swap.

From September on (at least for the forseeable future), all of my ads will be free and chosen at random through the rafflecopter. Five spaces, all of the same size, will be up for grabs each month. I will post the rafflecopter on the last Monday of each month and ads will go up on the first of the following month.

Where does that leave me? I don't know. But I'm happy to help my fellow bloggers and hope that karma will make its way back to me in the end.

via

How about the rest of you PF users? Who's sticking around? Any other fun ideas?

We didn't have many traditions growing up, but there was one my mom followed religiously: each birthday, we were gifted a Christmas tree ornament. We never managed to follow the tradition of when the tree went up, but you best believe that we all knew an ornament was somewhere in the stack of our birthday gifts.

This is the part where I awkwardly admit I went through a phase involving carousels/carousel horses.

As a kid, I really wasn't a fan of this. I didn't speak up as I didn't want to hurt my mom's feelings, but younger Bekah would have rather opened a new Barbie or boy band CD or whatever else was more personally relevant at a given age.

Regardless, I knew to expect the ornament each year. Some I loved, some I rolled my eyes.

There was a Tinkerbell phase, too. I'm still a fan. But those feathers? wow.

Of course, as an adult, I have to acknowledge that mom had the right idea. Despite Sean and I both bringing all our ornaments from our childhood plus some extras our mothers sent our way, our tree certainly seemed naked to us our first Christmas. It was my mom who took me to Wal Mart to grab some filler ornaments until we grew our collection further. Imagine how naked the tree would have been without her tradition!

In November of 2010 (our first year of marriage), we traveled to Boston where I interviewed for a teaching program. We didn't have much time for sightseeing, but we did make it to the Harvard Museum of Natural History (yes, we're nerds!). The souvenir shop was small and pricey, but we wanted some sort of memento. We settled on (you guessed it) an ornament: a jewel toned, flexible sea horse, to be exact.

That's right: aside from admitting mom was right, I have also realized Sean and I have carried on her tradition in another way. Our (probably only) tradition has become to pick up an ornament whenever we travel (at least as much as possible!) Since Boston, we have grabbed ornaments from a day trip to Hershey Park in 2011 and our vacation to Maine in 2012:

A light house, of course! What else?

Oh, and of course, the most recent ornaments that had me facing the truth: this summer from our trip to Harper's Ferry:



...and another to Hershey Park!

Well hey there! I'm coming back to blog like a normal person soon, I promise. Things have been completely nuts the last week or so! Right now, I'm just enjoying sleeping in my own bed again!



We spent last Saturday through Friday pet sitting for a friend and Arbonne teammate of mine. It was local and of course wonderful, but we then departed her house to go straight up to PA for a family reunion and then hit Hershey Park on our way home.



We got in late Sunday night, and Monday morning I was again reporting for jury duty. Apparently they don't care that you're half deaf. I was in selection til 3:30, then drove back home to work the final hour and a half of my shift (I had to get hours in somewhere!). I was looking forward to a little sleep Tuesday morning, then late Monday night a co-worker asked me to cover her shift. Since the whole jury thing is ruining my life and stealing my hours, I knew I needed to say yes despite being exhausted.


So here we are, already Wednesday, and I've yet to write a real blog post since my recipe last Wednesday. Sorry! You're not going to get one today, either.

However, you can go over to Southern Beauty Guide where Chelsee has featured a guest post of mine. I'm discussing my favorite beauty-related topic: Arbonne! Head on over to check out my story of how I found the stuff and why I love it so darn much!




And remember, my archive of guest posts and other publications can be found here.

What's Up For Grabs: re•solve(Bekah)-Ad Space - Your choice of "The Veteran" or "The Novice" for 1 month! JustJacq(Jacquelyn aka Princess Kate Middleton)- Ad Space & Pair of Earrings Rhyme & Ribbons(Amanda)- Ad Space At Home with the Hinkleys(Natalie)- Cash The Party Girl's Guide(Erin)-Ad Space Hopelessly Ever After(Kristin)- Cash He Calls Me Grace(Katie)-Cash & Large Ad Space Sunny Tales & Happy Mail(Brittany)- Ad Space With a Side of Chocolate(Leslie)- $15 Gift Card to the Store of your Choice Wonder What's Next(Jessica)-2 months of Ad Space & $10 Target Gift Card Believe in the Sparks(Morgan)-$10 Gift Card to Starbucks Rachel's Country Roots(Rachel)- 2 months of Ad Space Southern Beauty Guide (Chelsee)- In Post Ad Space a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Friday!

I rarely say that as I have to work every Saturday, but we're off to a family reunion this weekend!

I'll be back next week, but til then, Miss Kelsey tagged me. I'm not big on tagging 20 gazillion people, but I will answer her q's just in case someone is just dying to know any of these things about me! ;)

the first ever picture of us - 2005

A production of Our Town. I'm in the glasses. Oh how different photo quality was in the days of scanners...

via

Ariel is my favorite! via

I think spaghetti may very well be everybody's go-to lazy eat. I mean, how hard is it to boil pasta and heat up some sauce? I've been doing that since I was ten.

Growing up, we made our spaghetti with ground beef. After I got married, I switched to ground turkey. Then, I went vegetarian. You know I wasn't going to just eat noodles and sauce. The whole starch and sauce or starch and cheese sans veggies thing is a pet peeve of mine.

I quickly started enjoying finding new ways to dress up pasta. And it was EASY. Chop something up and toss it in the sauce. Tasty and healthy!

At some point, I fell in love with zucchini all over again. Nine times out of ten, if I am making pasta, zucchini is included! The good news is, Sean loves it too! Oh, and did I mention it's super easy? Really...look:

Zucchini Spaghetti:

You Will Need:

Whole grain angel hair pasta: 1/2 box 
Pasta sauce, your choice: 1 jar 
Zucchini: 1 
Crumbled feta cheese: to garnish

Directions:

Do I really need to explain?
Boil the pasta.


While that is happening, simmer the sauce mixed with the zucchini that you've cut into bite size pieces. Put the sauce on the pasta and the feta on the sauce. Yum!




This recipe was shared on Say Not, Sweet Anne, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Plaid & Paisley Kitchen, and Keeping it Simple.

Yesterday was completely nuts, so I've scrapped the whole day and will just pretend the week starts today.

Shortly after my surgery was scheduled, I received jury duty summons. Not for my county, but for my state. Yay. Not for a week, but every Monday for the entire month of July. Double yay. Oh, and my first reporting day was the day I was to return to work from my surgical recovery time. Super yay!

I didn't have to go that far! via

Yes, its my civic duty, and yes, there are some spiffy trials out there...but the bottom line is, there are a gazillion factors that made July the worst possible month ever for this to happen. I responded to the summons and mentioned I had a medical reason with a doctors note as to why I couldn't serve. Request denied. Ugh.

I had a note from my doctor saying I would be recovering for 2-3 weeks (for the record, we are coming up on 4 weeks Thursday and I still have some pain and cannot hear, though the vertigo and nastier symptoms are mostly gone), so I figured I would just show up and present the note and hopefully be done with it.

But then...first Monday in July...duty postponed. Second Monday in July...duty postponed. Finally, yesterday, with a note now null and void, I was told I had to report. I brought all my paperwork anyway and submitted it, mentioning they could call my doctor and that the still relevant issue is the fact that my hearing is literally half absent.

1 hour plus of traffic, 3 hours of waiting, two blisters, and $29 in parking fees later, they finally told me I could go...for the day. I'm still waiting for a judge to decide whether my excuse will let me off for the month, postpone me til later, or tell me to serve the rest of my duty anyway.

See? Fun!

I know this is the most riveting blog material any of you have ever read...so I'll switch gears to something that really is fun...









PUPPIES!

We are house/petsitting all week for three crazy fluffballs! Not a shabby deal at all.

This recipe, if you can even call it one, is proof that I was meant to be vegetarian before I even knew the word. You may have already seen me gushing over these on instagram.




My dad plants a small vegetable garden each year: radishes, cucumbers, corn, and tomatoes. Oh, the tomatoes. From a very young age, those tomatoes turned into tomato sandwiches. The easiest, yummiest summer lunch ever!

I ate them for days while recovering from surgery and had them for lunch four days in a row this week (I'd probably still be eating them, but I ran out of tomatoes)! Some people hear me talk about them and think I'm insane. They've never heard of such a thing. Others make my heart happy when they tell me they share my love of tomato sandwiches. Hopefully if you're the former type, I can turn you into the latter type.

If you're a tomato hater, well...your loss. :(

Tomato Sandwiches

1 tomato typically yields 2 sandwiches