Orders

January 2012 is a long ways away but I wanted all of my family and friends to have ample time to save their money and come visit me and Corey in Germany! Corey just received official orders to Wiesbaden, Germany reporting in January 2012. He is for sure going and now we are working on getting me over there. Since he is Army and I am Air Force, it can get a little confusing with orders and stuff.
The first thing I have to do is wait for May. Unfortunately I didn't get selected for pilot school during the March boards so my packet automatically gets another try in May. I will say that after seeing the results, I may have gone into this a little optimistic. Basically, it will be a miracle from heaven if I get picked up. With that said, at least I tried and will never have to wonder.
So, once I get the final word on my packet, I will either be going to Alabama for 18 months and Corey will still be going to Germany or I will be trying to accompany him there and we will be there for 3 years. This is your official invitation to come and visit Europe with a free place to stay in centrally located Germany. I love traveling and I love having visitors so come to our home and we will travel with you and all of my dreams will come true. I am so excited and can't wait to see every country over there.

I hope everyone takes me seriously when I say that my home will literally be a free hostel for you to stay at (if I already know you and you're not some wierdo who is just reading this blog) and that I am telling you now so you can prepare for the Eurocation of a lifetime. I have already written down about 50 things I will do when I'm over there and I can help you with your list if you will just come and hang out with me in Germany. Thanks.

Cleveland, Ohio Ohio Ohio

In the last 2 years, Corey and I have been nearly everywhere within a 3 hour drive from our house. Now we are on to the longer drives. We went to Cleveland last weekend for the sole purpose of obtaining a baseball from the Indians stadium. I really liked Cleveland but traveling in the winter always seems bleak so get ready for some semi-depressing photos. Not a lot of people walking around and everything seems gray.

We followed the advice from our fat friend on Man vs Food and went to Melt Bar & Grille. 3 words: Gourmet Grilled Cheese. I know. It was heaven. I tried my first Monte Cristo and I will never be the same. It's turkey, ham and cheese (sounds normal) dipped in some kind of pastry batter and deep fried! Then you dip it in berry preserves and it is a combination of eating a grilled ham and cheese on top of a funnel cake.

There was a 3 hour wait at Melt so we called the other one on the other side of town and ordered to go. That was an hour wait so it was ready when we got there and we ate in our car. No 3 hour wait is going to get in the way of me and gourmet grilled cheese!

The Indians lost to the White Sox but as long as there are some good hecklers sitting nearby, I couldn't be happier. We were right by left field and the White Sox left fielder is Juan Pierre. He recently broke up with his rapper girlfriend and a group of guys next to us were giving him hell the whole game. It was hilarious.

 We went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame before we left. No cameras were allowed inside and I was pretty lazy about taking pictures anyway.

I'm slightly offended that there is a child on Michael Jackson's guitar...gross.

Baltimore Bomb

Have you ever driven 100 miles for a piece of pie? Well I think you would for some Baltimore Bomb from Dangerously Delicious. Corey saw it on the Food Network so we took a little trip to Baltimore yesterday and discovered the meaning of pie. I only wish I could've tried more, but they are pretty decadent so only one piece of pie was doable.

They are basically a Rock 'n Roll pie shop. If you've ever heard of Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland, it reminded us of them. I'm not going to lie. The best part of going up there was discovering Nacho Mama a Mexican restaurant next door that I am going to go back and visit. The pie was really filling! Next time you're in Baltimore, visit Dangerously Delicious Pies and visit me dammit!

Good Reads

I've always loved to read but as we all know, there are times when that luxury is the last thing on our to do list. Luckily I've found the time recently for a few good reads, but I've also been taking advantage of my 65 mile commute (my brain's way of protecting itself from going insane is looking at the bright side) by listening to books on cd (remember when it was "book on tape" and remember how it still sounds more normal than book on cd?) Today I finished my most recent book on tape and it was so moving I wanted to share it with everyone.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave. This is the kind of book that makes you feel depressed, terrified, naive, grateful, unworthy and nearly every other kind of emotion that exists. I'm not saying this book is for everyone, but it's the kind of book everyone should read. If you've read ever read The Kite Runner or A Thousand Splendid Suns, you'll be prepared for this novel. 

After reading this book I feel bad. I have read so many articles and seen so many documentaries on human suffering around the world, but what have I ever really done to help alleviate it? I know we can't give up our lives to help people suffering on the other side of the globe, but someone has to, right? I'm really not trying to be melodramatic but this is how the book leaves you. 

Ok, here are some other books I've read or listened to recently:

My thoughts: Wow, this book was way above my intellectual level. I literally wrote down over 60 words to look up because I didn't know what they meant. The author is extremely intelligent so I pretty much believed everything she wrote about Cleopatra. I never realized that she lived only one generation before Christ and did business with Herod. I also didn't know that Julius Caesar and Marc Antony were her baby daddies and that she was really more prudish than a whore like Hollywood portrays her.

My thoughts: How in the hell did America win The Revolution?! Seriously, I don't get it. I read the whole story and it doesn't make sense. After visiting many of these historic locations the story seems to come together more for me, but us winning is still a mystery. 

My thoughts: If you are into conspiracy theories, The Masons, National Treasure or anything along those lines, you will enjoy this book. Brad Meltzer also hosts the show Decoded and he is into all secretive and conspiracy type things. I guess I am not creative 'cause I can NEVER figure out how these stories are all going to come together! I enjoyed reading this book. I bit my fingernails off though.

My thoughts: I listened to this book and it kept me awake. It's more of a mid life crisis book for a southern woman but I liked it enough to listen to the whole thing. Sometimes it totally annoyed me but that might have just been the reader. She drove me crazy with the daughter's voice. I couldn't stand her. It's like how sometimes if you watch the movie before you read the book you hate some of the characters. Not my top pick but I still enjoyed it.

Audrey (my compadre)

My sweet, beautiful, adorable, funny, cuddly, precious little niece turned 1! Since I am a devoted auntie I had to be there for her party and it just so happens that my brother and sister-in-law live in Hawaii so while it was a tough choice, I feel I made the right one. 

I had soo soo much fun hanging out with my family and playing with Audrey. We did all the usual Hawaii stuff. I can't even describe how nice it was to have warm weather, family all around and nothing to worry about. Luckily I made it out before the tsunami warning. I didn't even hear about it 'til I landed in Dallas because I slept the entire 8 hour flight. I turned my phone on and 10 texts popped up with worried messages and then I was all worried 'cause I had no idea why everyone else was worried. I'm so glad nothing happened to Hawaii!

In the course of 10 days I took about 559 pictures...I see why parents always want to take pictures of their kids. They have so many cute faces and funny looks and you want to capture them all. But seriously, Audrey is so freaking adorable and I couldn't stop taking pictures of her cute face. Thank you Paul and Krynn for such a great vacation and taking such good care of me. And all the trips to the airport. Haha!

                                  

Road Trip to the South

In an effort to strengthen my Warrant Officer package, Corey and I took a road trip down south. We headed to Ft. Rucker, AL through Knoxville, TN. In Tennessee:

• I hit a skunk
• We tried to go to Dollywood but it was closed, so we settled for the photo op
• Ate BBQ pork burritos at Sweet P's
• Jack Daniel's distillery tour

We spent the night in Alabama with an infantry friend of Corey's who was stationed with him in Hawaii. We left Wednesday morning and made it to our hotel in Daleville, AL where we took our one and only shower on the 5 day trip. Thursday was the main event and I am happy to say that it was excellent. I really hope this was the key to getting selected. If driving down to Alabama didn't do the trick, I'll be pissed but will still be glad that I got out of 4 days of showering! In Alabama:

• We ate at Po' Folks
• Took a shower
• Toured Ft. Rucker
• I got in the cockpit of an Apache
• Peed a little in the Apache

On our way out of town we planned on getting some burgers at the Vortex in Atlanta but were too full from all of the southern eating. I am definitely 10 years closer to a coronary bypass. We road tripped it hard core by sleeping in our car for a few hours at a gas station and made it to Richmond to visit our friend Sarah and her two casts. I totally planned on taking a quick shower there but Sarah and I have known each other for a long time and I knew I didn't have to impress anyone :) Corey drove me home and I am happy to announce we have both taken showers and are resting comfortably.
I really love driving around the United States. I hit 3 new states and saw a few places I've always wanted to. Unfortunately we didn't stop in Atlanta but that looks like it'll have to be its own vacation. We also couldn't make it to Graceland so I'll be going back to Tennessee one day. Here are some pictures from the trip. I always start off strong, taking pictures of everything and slowly lose motivation and tell myself to just take mental pics. I'm super lazy. So, here are a few from the first part of the trip!

University of Tennessee

Photo op only. We did not get into Dollywood.

Sweet P's BBQ! Soooo good. 

Official road trip picture.

Me and Jackie D!

Lynchburg, TN

Knoxville, TN

153A

So I've hesitated to post about this because I am afraid/don't want to press my luck/superstitious that I'll ruin my chances buuuuuut...I woke up super early and was looking at blogs and realized I haven't posted for a while so here it is. I have submitted a package to the Army to be a helicopter pilot. This has been taking up a lot of my time for the past 4 months and I got it submitted last month so now I am waiting. The board meets in March and I should know then.
If I do get accepted, the Air Force will release me and I'll enlist in the Army (making mine and Corey's living situation much easier) and go to another boot camp, SERE training, dunk training then flight school all at Ft. Rucker, AL. I will be getting my @$$ handed to me for about 18 months. Exciting, huh?!
I have always wanted to fly helicopters but it is VERY expensive to just get your license but if you give your life away to the Army they pay for it! Great deal :) So, Corey helped a ton to get everything done. It was very extensive. I had to take a tests, work out a lot, so many interviews and letters. I'm sooo sooo glad it's over and I might never do anything like this again.
For Christmas Corey got me a helicopter lesson since I've never had my hands on the controls and it was amazing! I did okay up high but not so well trying to hover. Next month I'm going to take a fixed wing lesson just to get up there again. Definitely a lot more exciting when you're in control.
So wish me luck or send out vibes or pray and if I get accepted because of your mind power... I'll totally drop you off at the mall in a helicopter or something cool like that.