Home Design Trends To Check Out In 2023

Home Design Trends To Check Out In 2023

It’s very important for homeowners to feel comfortable and content in their environment. Military families have a special need for comfort at home since they already face a lot of stress and hardships outside. Whether you are a property manager, a property investor, a real estate agent, or just a homeowner, interior design plays a huge role in your business or life. Your home value can increase greatly if you follow modern trends and use tasteful prompts. We can give you advice on decorating your home with 2023 design trends. You can cozy up with a cup of coffee with…
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Why I Wrote I Move A Lot and That’s Okay

Why I Wrote I Move A Lot and That’s Okay

Jasmine Smith Photography - Shermaine Perry-Knights - Library You ask, “why did I write this book?” I Move A Lot and That’s Okay is simply the book that I wanted as a kid. Let’s face it, moving is hard to do! Moving is incredibly scary for kids. Relocation is a whirlwind of frustration and activity. There are extreme highs and lows of emotional, social, and physical change. Many kids struggle to leave everything and everyone behind for the journey ahead. Now let's add the pressure of PCSing and “daily military life”. The average military child changes schools nine times between…
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Things I Have Learned In Preparing For Military Retirement

Things I Have Learned In Preparing For Military Retirement

How do you process something for which you have very little context, knowledge, or understanding? I have had to keep asking questions and trying to build on my fund of knowledge, but some days my brain doesn’t want to cooperate. For a little background, The Huz and I have been married for 29 years (in October), and together for 30 years. We met when I was a college senior and he was a high school senior. We married when he was 19, and had our first child when he was 20. He is a Marine Corps brat, and originally attempted…
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Our Love Story

Our Love Story

Our Love Story By Lizann Lightfoot, the Seasoned Spouse My husband and I met at a small community swimming pool. I was the lifeguard, and his family had just moved into the neighborhood. We were both 18 and had just graduated from high school. We connected instantly. Even though I was going away to college in a few months, we soon started dating and promised to make the long-distance thing work. Ha! At the time, we thought long-distance was living a few hours apart, and us being able to visit each other at least once a month. That was before…
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Bloom Where You Are Planted – 5 Things To Make A New House Feel Like Home

Bloom Where You Are Planted – 5 Things To Make A New House Feel Like Home

Bloom where you are planted! This statement rings true for military families. Every 2-3 years we are expected to uproot our families and move to a new place. This is definitely one of the hardest things about military life. It is hard to say “goodbye” to our home we have lived and made memories over the past few years. Seeing the stark white walls of military housing or moving to a new house can often be intimidating. With each PCS there are five things I would recommend doing to make your new house feel like home. Unpack your kitchen! One…
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The Breakthrough You Need to Fight Holiday Loneliness

The Breakthrough You Need to Fight Holiday Loneliness

Last Thanksgiving, I accidentally stumbled upon a breakthrough activity that connected me to my long-distance friends—cooking each other’s recipes and commenting back and forth about them on Instagram. I’m all about the in-person connection, but this holiday I was lonely and needed some company while I cooked. (more…)
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Coast Guard Girlfriend To Navy Wife Love Story

Coast Guard Girlfriend To Navy Wife Love Story

I am a formal Coast Guard GF of 2 years and a current Navy Wife of 7 years. I consider myself a master packer, an expert at finding my tribe quickly and a tiny human tamer with my four little ones. I feel strongly that I became a military spouse in order to help others because it was not in my original "plans". But then again, that's basically how military life is! I met my husband in 2004. He was stationed in my home town of Memphis, Tennessee, in the Coast Guard and we went to church together. I had…
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Those Dress Blues Tho’

Those Dress Blues Tho’

Originally published 1/21/20 Okay, so promise me you won’t tell my husband this because I’ve denied it for ten years now (and will probably take it to my grave!).  I was the Program Director for the Boys and Girls Club of Danville, Illinois. We had a table at the job fair that was held at the community college. It was my co-worker’s turn to represent the company that day, so I was back at the office. After a couple of hours, I received a phone call from her in which she said, “There’s a hot Marine here – you should…
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I Am Not Okay

I Am Not Okay

Originally published to Milspouse Conversations - 11/25/19 Let me tell you all a secret about me- although I am usually Little Ms. Sunshine, sometimes that's a front. I married very young. My husband and I were high school sweethearts from Podunk Town, Mississippi. He wanted to join the Navy, and because that was his dream, I eagerly followed. I had no idea what military life entailed. No one close to me had ever served. Hell, I thought that (one of my all-time favorite movies) Top Gun, was the Air Force because of the pilots. I simply assumed that if you…
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4 Simple Self-Care Practices for MILSOs to Start Off the New Year

4 Simple Self-Care Practices for MILSOs to Start Off the New Year

This article was originally published January 2020. Military Spouse Life Military life is not for the faint of heart. Moving every 18 months-3 years on average means starting over. Finding new friends, service providers, activities, schools, church just to name a few can cause even the most seasoned spouse to put themselves on the back burner. Deployments, workups, on-call schedules, and the unpredictability of their spouse's work also come into play. There is added pressure of being both mother and father to their children while that parent is gone. (more…)
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