Do you hold grudges against your significant other? If so, do you realize you are doing it? Or does it take awhile before you know that you are doing it?

I ask, because I had a moment of self-realization the other day that I've been holding a grudge against Mr. Infantry for the last year.  It was an event in our lives that really hurt me and although I thought I had forgiven him, I certaintly hadn't forgotten.

I feel almost as if I've gypped myself out of the best year I could have had with him because I was holding onto this.

Now, I'm doing my best to forget that hurt and give my very best to Mr. Infantry.

Perhaps I had a little growing up to do.

Mr. Infantry and I are lucky in the fact that we can celebrate both our birthdays and our anniversary within the span of two weeks.

July 4th is Mr. Infantry's birthday, (fitting no?) and we decided to go to Austria to celebrate his birthday and our wedding anniversary.

We did some sightseeing, we ate... a lot and just enjoyed the weekend together.

Mr. Infantry also gave me some lovely gifts for my birthday and we are going out tonight for my dinner since the place we wanted to go on my actual birthday was closed.

I like this way of celebrating my birthday, but it is vastly different then how I celebrated growing up.  As a child my mother would let me pick what I wanted for my birthday dinner, which was celebrated with my grandparents and my immediate family.  She would make me a strawberry cake made into whatever character I was into that year and then I would have my birthday party.

There was no cake this year, but that's ok because to be honest Mr. Infantry and I aren't really cake people.

How do you and your husband celebrate birthdays? Any special traditions you've started?

Oh and here are a few pics of Austria.

I'll just come out and admit it right now that I'm addicted to dresses. Especially dresses from Forever 21. In this Italian heat, I'd much rather slip on a dress then put on a hot pair of pants.

Recently I was wearing one of my new purchases and Mr. Infantry made this comment, "Why are you buying all these grandma dresses?"  I told him the dresses I had bought were fashionable and what would he know, Mr. Button Up with Jeans?

The other day we were doing some grocery shopping and I decided to wear this little number:

I had several people compliment me on it, all were over the age of 40. Perhaps Mr. Infantry was right about the grandma dresses?

Hmm......

Since we've been married Mr. Infantry and I have taken a variety of road trips together. 

Being Memorial Day weekend, we decided to take advantage of having a couple days off and explore a part of Italy that we had yet to go to.

Now, I'm a planner, but Mr. Infantry is more of a fly by the seat of your pants type of guy. He decided we were going to Torino (host of the 2006 Olympics) and spend a day and night there.

We should have known before we even left that the day wasn't going to go well. Our highway pass was not at the bank where we applied for it, but at another location, the GPS we wanted to rent was not available and we got a later start than we intended. 

No matter though...we pressed on and hit the open road.  Several hours later we hit Torino. It was crowded, dirty and there wasn't a parking place to be found. No parking garages, no parking on the street, etc. It was a NIGHTMARE. An hour and a half later and three near-misses to being in a wreck and Mr. Infantry and I decided to do something we never do. We threw in the towel and decided to leave Torino.

We tossed around the idea of going up to Innsbruck, Austria and then we hit the hour long traffic jam in Milan. We passed the time by rolling down the windows and singing loudly to Elvis tunes. I'm quite sure the Italians thought we were nuts.

Despite the trip from hell, we still had a good time with each other.  I'm hoping our next trip isn't quite as "exciting" though.

Do you have any crazy travel stories?

Once I reached dating age, my mother and I would talk about the guys I would date, their qualities, quirks, etc. She would always tell me, "They say you always marry someone like your father."

I would always scoff and swear that I'd never marry a man like my father. Now don't get me wrong, I have a great dad and I love him to pieces, but growing-up he and I used to butt heads A LOT. We were very similiar, which is what the problem was and we both liked to get the last word. Not a good combination.

Now there are times when I talk to Mr. Infantry or he does something and these words slip out, " You act just like my dad, or that's something my dad would say!" Let me tell you ladies, sometimes it's almost scary!  I have to say though that although Mr. Infantry reminds me of my father, he's not identical to him.  I like to say that I got the best qualities of my dad when I married Mr. Infantry.  For instance, my father is a very generous man. It was him who loved taking us to Walt Disney World for vacations, who gave me extra money when I went on youth trips and it was him that insisted I be allowed to buy whatever car I wanted after I turned 16. As long as I was paying for it, of course!

Mr. Infantry has those great qualities, but we also don't butt heads like my father and I did. For starters, Mr. Infantry refuses to argue with me. I assure you that this is a good thing!

So, did you marry a man like your father? Or are they polar opposites? Did you get the best qualities of your father in your husband? If so, what are they?

This is my father and I on my wedding day. You would be correct in guessing that he is tearing up.

As a military couple, Mr. Infantry and I had to get used to not seeing each other everyday.  For most couples these are called "business trips", but for military couples these are often called deployments, TDY (temporary duty) or extensive training exercises.

Mr. Infantry and I have been lucky in that we have not had to experience a deployment (going to Iraq or Afghanistan for a period of one year to fifteen months). I know of several couples who have gone through two or three deployments and have yet to celebrate holidays, anniversaries or birthdays with one another.

Besides a few days of training in the field and the first five months of our marriage that we lived without each other, Mr. Infantry and I have not been apart. Now he is away training for three weeks and later in the summer will be away for an entire month. Later this year he will finally deploy. 

I am already starting to prepare myself mentally for this upcoming challenge. Many military wives return to their hometowns during the deployment, but I have always known that I will stay right where I am. After all, I feel that where the military sends us is home. As tempting as it is to go home and have family and friends help distract during this time, I've decided staying in Italy will be best for me.

Does anyone out there have any questions regarding the military or deployments?  I'm all for dispelling any myths or helping those that aren't familiar with the military learn a little bit more.

Hi!

Since I'm the "New Girl" here on She Just Got Married, I wanted to introduce myself.

You may have noticed my title, "Not Your Normal Newlyweds", and I have to say that describes my husband, Mr. Infantry and I perfectly.

For starters Mr. Infantry and I met online, more specifically through MySpace, that's not something I tell a lot of people, but I feel like being honest with you gals. Mr. Infantry and I are from the same town, but we didn't know each other because we went to different high schools and he's older than me by four years.

Although our dating and engagement period was short  and our first wedding. (Yes I said first wedding) involved running off to Texas and getting married by a Justice of the Peace, we did manage to have a "normal" wedding five months after our first wedding.

We also lived apart for the first five months we were married. If you hadn't already guessed, Mr. Infantry is in the military and he was stationed in a different state than where I was currently living. Because I had a work contract to finish, we decided I would move to Louisiana where he was after our wedding in December.

To make a long story short we lived in Louisiana for a year and we are now living in Italy.

To say my life as Mrs. Infantry has been interesting, is an understatement. I never saw myself as a military wife, but minus a few minor things, I really enjoy it.

Now to the nitty-gritty details:

Mrs. Infantry- I'm a 20-something, aspiring photographer who has never started what I would call a career. Instead I've had a variety of interesting jobs. I currently work for the USO here in Italy and I love it. I love to cook, blog, scrapbook and I wish I could say I enjoy working-out, but mostly I just make myself do it because I need to.

Mr. Infantry- He's a paratrooper with the U.S. Army. I really admire him because of what he's been through in his life. Somehow he's turned out wonderfully when in his circumstances that wasn't the easiest choice. He's the cook in our relationship and easily makes the best steaks and other grilled items I've ever had. I consider myself lucky that he cooks, cleans and does laundry. What more could a girl want?

Boomer- our naughty, incredibly cute, smart and revengeful Miniature Pinscher. Boomer is a handful. That's wraps his personality up perfectly.

That wraps up our little family. I hope you gals enjoyed meeting us!