NOLA!

I was lucky enough to be squired around New Orleans by a native, over Memorial Day weekend. It was as amazing as I've always imagined! Of course I loved it and want to live in one of the cool neighborhoods and never leave, but it turns out that I have a job (yob) and can't really do whatever I want to. I learned a lot of great things about the area and was able to visit the WWII museum so it was the perfect minication.

The French Quarter

I loved it there

St. Louis Cathedral

Jackson Square and the St. Louis Cathedral

Southern trees

Field of wild flowers

WWII Museum

Go Army!

The Battle of New Orleans

Chalmette Battlefield

Malus-Beauregard House 

Chalmette National Cemetery

St. Roch's Cemetery

Cemetery

Second lining a New Orleans wedding...incredible

Week of Funtivities

All I want in life is to play everyday. I just want to do something fun every single day and it has to include a variety of activities. Last week I kayaked 3 times, ran through the woods with an organized group of crazy people, went to the shooting range, had girl's night at a Brazilian restaurant and did Land Nav twice. I failed my Land Nav test which is why we had girl's night at a Brazilian rodizio. I needed to drown my sorrows with filet mignon.

Hash House Harriers run

Lake Tholocco

PMS Thursdays at Lock-N-Load

Land Nav gone wrong...ugh

Dressing up and overeating to soothe the pain

Econfina Reserve in Florida

The world's most gorgeous water!

Such a fun group of kayakers!

Living Your Dream

I have wanted to be a pilot since I was 12, when my aunt took me to Catalina Island via chopper flown by cool pilot woman. It was always some sort of elusive fantasy because of the reality of becoming a freaking helicopter pilot. It's expensive, it's not economical, it's a HUGE commitment, not necessarily family friendly, blah, blah, blah. In my mind I knew I wanted to do it, but I avoided thinking about it because it was difficult to accomplish, I didn't want to fail and I'm pretty lazy.
Now I'm finally in the Army and will start flight school soon. There are still a few obstacles in the way (which will be their own posts) but what I wanted to share was how it feels to be living my dream. Everyone has something that is their ultimate fantasy, career or life goal and that nothing can top. To me, being an Army helicopter pilot is it. I think it's cooler than being an astronaut, a surgeon, a anything.
Living your dream is the best feeling and I have tried to think of ways to eloquently describe it, but I can't. I really can't even fashion it into an organized thought. Here are little descriptions: When I'm sitting in a never-ending Power Point training about the Army's most boring topics, I still love it. When I wake up after only 4 hours of sleep and know that I'm going to the range to sweat like a race horse and be miserable in the hot Alabama sun, I love it. When I'm driving and start to zone out, I think about the fact that I'm in flight school, and I love it. When I can't travel or hang out with friends because I'm busy with homework, I still love it.
There are definite sacrifices and it's certainly not easy, however, I feel like everyone should experience the absolute bliss of living your dream of dreams.

UH-60 Blackhawk

AH-64 Apache

Destin, FL

Now that I'm in the dirty, dirty south, my goal is to live at the beach. We made our first trip down there and had a blast. All of us are in flight school and one has a boat...I love boats. We just went down for the day and it was magical. The beaches are phenomenal, and relaxing in the sunshine and salt water will never get old. NEVER!

Our path to the sea

Kayaks & palm trees

Beautiful southern trees & moss

How a boat makes you feel

Girls on boats

Early boats on the sand bar

Ocean colors

Slow it down

The shore

The life

Love notes in the sand

Rocks, sand & sea

Lovely white sand

Destin, FL

The beach

Nice little waves

Beach hazard

I live in Alabama now

I see it's been a while since I posted anything and that's because I have been too lazy to use this antiquated mode of social media. Corey and I sadly left Germany at the end of December and he moved to NC and I moved to AL. I'm here for training and will move into our new home after I'm done here.

I went to Warrant Officer Candidate School at Ft. Rucker, AL

I graduated and Corey came to celebrate

He pinned on my new rank and was my first salute

We celebrated more at Gladys Knight's Chicken & Waffles in Atlanta

I haven't started flight school yet. I have to complete some other training before I get to change the cockpit into the box office. Hopefully I'll be flying by July though :) It sucks being geographically separated from my husband but I think that the sacrifice will be worth it in the end. I hate to brag, but I have the most supportive and motivating husband in the world. There are not a lot of men who encourage their wife to follow her dreams to become an Army Aviator. I am very lucky and can go on forever about how amazing my husband is.
So, now that I'm in a new part of the world the exploring has begun and I think that I'm going to have a lot of fun in Alabama and have made some great friends already. Get ready for a lot of beach pictures!