Nomades Charm Bracelets!

Yesterday I went to my monthly NOSC board meeting (Naval Officers Spouses Club). I serve/volunteer on the board as the Coffee/Social Groups Chair and as the Facebook lady. That's the official term ~ Facebook Lady....
After our meeting my two girl friends Pam & Lynn pulled me aside (Lynn made Josh's farewell cake for his party, remember HERE? And HERE is the post about only the cake). 
Anyway, they said, "Brenda we have a little something for you!" and handed me a pretty black box. 

I was completely taken by surprise!


Very patriotic  ♥


I saw the little drawstring pouch and my heart started to beat really fast.


And there it was. My "starter bracelet"with a set of Army dog tags on it for my Josh. 
They got it for me to remember my boy every day.


On the other side of the dog tags.....they had his name engraved. (I cut out his last name for his privacy, but you still get the point)


Can I just say that at this point, right outside of the board room ~ I went into the UGLY CRY.
I really did. The whole body shaking, crying, makeup & snot everywhere ugly cry.
Which made Lynn & Pam go into the ugly cry too and now they're mad at me because we had to go to lunch all swollen and poofy.
I was also speechless. Pam said, "Let's mark this date in the history books." Everyone knows I don't have many moments in life....ever....where I'm at a loss for words. It was how I was born. I can't help it.
Nomades Jewelry - website: HERE - is a company that supports our troops and they also know that women who love their soldiers/military men and who love jewelry WILL buy their bracelets, ha! Smart company.
I happen to be a woman who loves my military men (one Navy & one freshly Army) and I loooooove jewelry! Johnny said, "Oh man they saw you coming!" CHA-ching!
What you do is "create your story" depending on what your spouse/child does and the bases you/they aer assigned to. 
Other charms on my wish list include those pictured above ~ the "Support our troops" ribbon, Japan & San Diego (the mission), Infantry for my Josh, and I just like the tank for no reason other than it's adorable!
I just ordered the Infantry and the Ft. Benning charm (green parachute) to add....and someday. SOME DAY.....I'll get to add one of these cute grandchild (engraveable on the back). I can't wait to be a grandma! Let's get him through basic training first. A girlfriend would help too. Oh, and a wedding!



Here are all of the services. And the house is engraveable for your first duty station's address. Look at the "spacers." I love the ones that have rhinestones on them. They keep the charms in place so they don't all fall to one end of the bracelet.

And in the end you have "your story." Is this not the best gift ever? I was stunned. I saw Josh's little dog tags and was overwhelmed. My girlfriends are awesome. What a way to brighten my life.

Yes, Johnny said to order the USN anchor and to go ahead and make HIM a set of engraved dog tags (along with San Diego, Japan the Pentagon charm for Washington D.C. ~ our duty stations together as a married couple). Oh my, I just found out that they are launching a Naval Academy charm......  ;o)
Then it's up to Josh to fill up the rest of it ~ I already have Ft. Benning  & Infantry on order!  :o)
My bracelet is going to be beautiful and full of love and support for the most important 2 men in my life. I'll be able to look at it every day and think of them. 
♥  Thanks to my amazing girlfriends who I love, cherish and adore  ♥
P.S. **I know you can purchase online, however why not support another military spouse/independent Nomades consultant?**
My personal consultant is Christy Dewitt and you can contact her at cdewitt66@yahoo.com  

My friend Pam sent this video to me today, knowing how much I love and adore our furry friends!

Too cute! Happy Holidays!

I was doing just fine. Perfect really. For an entire month!

I've been minding my thoughts, making sure they're positive, doing my daily chores, volunteering, having lunch with my girlfriends, chatting with my sister every day, playing with the puplets, loving my hubby, cooking, enjoying life and have been writing a letter and sending it to Ft. Benning every day.....

And then it happend. Out of the blue.



I sat down to send my Christmas cards today and I saw his name.

Joshua.

My boy.

Guess it had to come eventually. The deep sadness. The heart ache.

Guess it's because it's the last year I'll sign his name on our Christmas card.

John, Brenda & Joshua.

I"ve done that for 13 years. I love it. Next year he'll write his own cards. I hope.

It's also the last time my Minnie Mouse gets a mention in my annual Christmas letter. I can't believe she's been gone for 2 1/2 months already.

I miss my silly little girl.

And I miss my boy today.

A lot.

I was doing just fine.

I got this today from my "Brave Girls Club" via and email ~ it was so sweet I had to share:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear brave brave girl,

Never forget that since the very beginning of time, and forever more, there has never been and never will be another person with your exact personality, your talents, your relationships and your influence on the people around YOU.

Your life is so important -- the world is a better place because you are here. There are so many important things that will never be done unless YOU do them. YOU CAN DO IT!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Sometimes we just need to hear that, you know? It's a simple reminder that it is IMPOSSIBLE to compare yourself to others. No matter what. We are all unique and special, individually crafted by hand. There never was, and there never will be anyone like ME again. Can I get an Amen!?

I needed to get that in my in box....Thank you Brave Girls Club. Check them out HERE, you won't be disappointed. Join their club and we can do this journey together.

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy HanukkahTo all of our dear Jewish friends! "Put on your yalmulka, here comes Hanukkah

Its so much fun-akkah to celebrate Hanukkah,

Hanukkah is the festival of lights,

Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights...."

(Quick - name that song!) Oh man, gotta love Adam Sandler, right?


We're not Jewish, but one of Johnny's Naval Academy classmates and his wife, who just returned to our area from a tour in San Diego, are Jewish and they invited us over to their home to be part of their family's festivities on Saturday night to celebrate Hanukkah.


Felicia is the most amazing cook. She's over there shredding about a thousand potatoes and onions to make home made latkes. They were served with apple sauce and sour cream. I wish I could do a scratch-n-sniff blog because you'd just fall over the aroma was so awesome. She mixes in some sweet potato, yum!


The house was so festive!


I don't know if I was supposed to or not, but I kept walking around eating up those cute little coins that were all over the place...I couldn't help myself. They were Bavarian chocolate! Sorry.


Blurry...but you can see that Felicia really knows how to set up a party. This was just the hors d'oevres section.


Sweets. Come to Mama.


Yes, she did all this herself. No ordering out.


Johnny hit the coffee bar. There was tea and hot cocoa too  ;o)


Stuffed cabbage leaves (meatloaf filling), beef brisket...


Garlic green beans and my favorite NOODLE KUGEL!

Can I just say that I've had Felicia's noodle kugel before and loved it so much that last year at Hanukkah (even though we're not even Jewish!) I made my own Kugel to celebrate and can I also just say....It Sucked. Big Time. Oh. Yes. It. Did. Johnny & Josh wouldn't even eat it and that's saying a lot. I mean, Johnny used to live on a Navy ship and can eat anything but wouldn't eat my kugel. My son loves Military MRE's and wouldn't touch my kugel. That's telling you how horrible it was. Boo-hoo.

So I was so {{{happy}}} to get Felicia's Kugel last night. The End.

Of course, who could forget? The best soup of all?....


Matzah ball soup! Mazel tov!



Blurry again, sorry. I had to have my Fstop so low just to get enough light in my camera. Oh well.

If that plate looks like it belongs to a piggy then it's Johnny's....however if it looks like it belongs to someone who is truly enjoying being at a Hanukkah party and wants to partake fully in the experience with no reserve and just enjoy life (Le Chaim!) then it's mine. You decide.


The joyful guardian of the menorah.


This is me and my new friend Kim. We are both part of the Army wives club - I'm a Navy wife and she's an Air Force wife, haha. Go figure.


After dinner the kids came over and lit the candles (day 5) and sang the traditional songs and said prayers in Hebrew. It was so beautiful. We felt honored to be included in their special night.


Hungry Gentile 1 and Hungry Gentile 2.

Hey, we can throw down that Matzah ball soup & red wine just like the next guy so we fit in just fine.

It was a fun evening, Felicia really out did herself. And I'm so glad they're back in town so I have another Navy wife buddy to hang with!

Happy Hanukkah!
Le Cheim! To life!