The Unspoken Life of the Military Wife | Building community and connection for military spouses

Short and sweet this week. Next Monday is Memorial Day. Which we often look at as the kickoff to summer and cookouts and celebrations. In reality, Memorial Day is a day for us, as a nation, to honor  the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces. The Travis Manion Foundation has The Honor Project where volunteers go to military cemeteries across the nati...

Short and sweet today. I wanted to let you know about a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization called Transport for Troops. They offer financial assistance to qualifying military families during a PCS move. Families who qualify are: Compassionate or Humanitarian Assignment EFMP families Gold Star Families There is support offered to other uniformed military personnel based on availability. For more inform...

We are kicking off our PCS series with Kellie from Millie. If you aren’t familiar with Millie they are a one stop shop for all things moving and real estate. Their website includes installation guides compiled from lots of different resources to give you an unbiased look at the area. The have a vast network of Agent Hero’s who are mil spouses or veterans real estate agents and are vetted for quali...

Today we are sitting down with the owner of List and File and army wife Liz. Liz shares about their military life including have 2 babies while her husband was deployed and what that experience was like. And living overseas in Korea. Her family loves living there! She says everyone is so nice and welcoming and its very kid friendly! We talk about career transitions and how language jobs or being a...

Today we are talking to all grown up military kid Chelsea. Chelsea grew up with both her mom and dad being active duty Army. Her mom transitioned out a few years after she was born, but her dad finished out a 20 year career. Chelsea shares that she absolutely loved being a military kid and it truly helped form her into the successful adult she is today. She does share some of the challenges she ha...

I am really passionate about our planet and what we can do to take better care of it. April 22, thats this saturday! is Earth Day! I wanted to share my top 10 ideas you can do with your kiddos to celebrate! #1 is visit earthday.org Here are a few other ideas specifically for kids: https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/hands-on-earth-day-activities-for-kids/ https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/138729/10-...

Today I'm taking you through the book Seasons of my Military Student. We talk about the Military Interstate Compact and what it means for your military kid as you move states and schools.    We talk about the importance of having an education binder for your kids. What should be in it and do I really need it? Spoiler alert....YES!    How can we advocate for our military kids when we get to a...

Have you heard of Purple Star Schools? No? Me either! Thats what we are going to talk about today! Purple Star Schools are schools that have earned that title by having school personnel and programs specific to military kids and their families. There are Purple Star Schools all over the nation, and definitely worth looking into during your next PCS. I share with you how schools earn the accreditat...

Today we are talking to marine corp wife, Lauren who has built a success digital marketing and web design business and has developed a course, for military spouses to help you break into the virtual assistant or virtual marketing assistant space.  We all know how challenging careers are while navigating military life with constant moves and instability. A lot of mil spouses are turning to remote o...

This weeks episode is really personal. Michael has been on travel this week and this momma is at her limit! We need to normalize talking about the overwhelm and stress of not only motherhood and everything that goes along with being the "default parent" but also the added stressor of being a military family.  I share my coping mechanisms and encourage you to reach out to a friend, or me,...

Happy K9 Veterans Day! Short and sweet today! We touch briefly on the history of military working dogs. Did you know that during WW1 it is estimated that over 1 million dogs were killed in battle? Unbelievable! We talk about how the holiday came to be and what you can do to help celebrate! -Visit a war dog memorial! Click the link HERE to see if any are in your area -raise awareness on social medi...

Today we are sitting down with retired army wife Stephanie to talk all things Space A travel. I know Space A travel seems like a beast and you have probably heard horror stories, I have too! Stephanie is going to break it down into simple steps to help you understand how to make the most of this military benefit. We cover: -how flights work, and realistic expectations -Identifying the closest base...

Overstreet Organizing Today we are talking to Army mil spouse Caroline.  Caroline is the owner of Overstreet Organizing, a in person and virtual home organization business. We chat about their different duty stations and the challenges that has created for her career. She shares how she got Overstreet Organizing off the ground with the help of social media connections and the benefits of a mentor....

Today we are talking to veteran army mil spouse Lissa. After 26 years of service, her husband was suffering from PTSD. Lissa is really open and honest with the toll it took on her and their marriage and finally reaching out for help, despite her husband’s initial reluctance.  Lissa shares who to reach out to if you or your spouse is hurting. PTSD is a silent enemy, and its wreaking havoc on so man...

Today we are talking to the founder of Brave Crate, Becky Hoy.  Becky is a 12 year mil spouse veteran who discovered through multiple deployments that just surviving and counting down to homecoming wasn’t how she wanted to live this season. She found creating routine to be super beneficial.  When her friends started having challenges with deployment Becky found herself sharing these resources and...

In the spirit of expanding our military knowledge, today we are talking about the USO who just celebrated its 82nd birthday on February 4th! The main goal of the USO is to provide a home away from home for service members and their families. We talk about the different programs they offer like: -Operation Phone Home -The Bob Hope Legacy Reading Program -Coffee Connect and Coffee Connect Live -In T...

Today we are talking to National Guard spouse Olivia. Olivia is a financial life coach. She shares her career pivots from child development major to life coach to finance coach.  We talk about her program called the Military Money Map.  Olivia shares the 3 biggest money mistakes she sees military families making.  She shares some statistics on finance and marriage and predictors for divorce. Finan...

Welcome back to episode 2 of our financial series. Today we are diving into all the things referencing the book Unshakeable by Tony Robbins. If you haven't read it yet, go get yourself a copy! We talk about: - how to choose a financial advisor, and what to look out for. - understanding fees and how your 401k or 403b might be costing you a lot of money! - finally we go over some investment jar...

We are diving into all things life insurance today. I know this isn't a super fun topic to talk about but it is incredibly important to set yourself and your family up financially if something were to happen to you. Topics covered include: - SGLI and FSGLI, who gets it and coverage amounts - transitioning from SGLI to VGLI and the rules around that - private insurance and the difference betwe...

Today we are talking about Blue Star and Gold Star families. Blue star family designation started back in WW1 as a way for families to show support and recognition of active duty family members serving in a combat zone. We talk about how that has evolved today. How to recognize and Blue and Gold Star families?  How can we honor them? We briefly talk about the organization Blue Star Families and ho...

Happy New Year!! It seems crazy that its already 2023, but here we are! I wanted to share with you today some of the things I like to do to reflect on how the past year went and how I want next year to go. I tell you about a journal I just recently purchased and the goal setting masterclass that came with it. You can check out the journal at jennakutcher.com It seems like everything is on our phon...

I love sharing with you books that have helped me cope with our crazy military life. I think we all know sleep in important but its also very quickly skipped or shortened in favor of other things and it wreaks havoc on our health. Today we are diving in the book Sleep Smarter by Shawn Stevenson. We talk about the importance of sleep and the detrimental affects lack of sleep has on our bodies. I sh...

Sarah has a rich military heritage. She grew up, her whole life with an active duty Dad and then joined the military herself and served as a black hawk helicopter mechanic and crew chief. Sarah also married a fellow service member! We talk about her childhood and how if helped mold her into who she is today. Sarah shares her road from military kid to active duty to children's book author. Sar...

Continuing on with our holiday gift giving ideas, we chat today with Wendy Hively who is the founder and owner of Charlie Madison Originals. Wendy and her family served 20 years in the Navy before retiring back in 2007 but we look back briefly at what their military lives looked like then. And touch on how challenging career continuity was and still is for mil spouses. Wendy shares how she founded...

Continuing with our mil spouse small business holiday series, we are talking to artist and creator Erin Hutton of The Messy-ish Masterpiece. If you love bright colors and the ocean, you will love her art! Erin shares with us her journey through their 14 year (so far) military career. Including battling sickness and getting lost in the role of mil spouse and losing your own identity. We talk about...