Ausfahrt means Exit

I've been in Germany for a week now and I'm really liking it. So many new things to see, weird words to learn and confusing toilets to flush. I got my German driver's license but my car hasn't arrived yet, however, I'm a little nervous to drive. I'm not always sure who has the right of way here.
Corey isn't here yet so I've been house hunting alone which is a little stressful. It's hit and miss with houses here. I'm holding out for some of that floor heating though.
I had my first schnitzel and I'm just wondering how much weight I'm going to gain here. That schnitz is good! Also, it's winter so I need something to keep me warm.
I haven't done much except sleep, look for houses and other various "getting settled" type of activities, so I have no pictures or stories. Hopefully my next post will be a picture of me relaxing in my house on my furniture that I've missed so much for the past 5 months. Please let it be that.
PS. You're all still invited, but definitely don't visit in the winter.

Vacation Food

Due to Thanksgiving Dinner, we didn't eat out much but I had to get some good Mexican food while I was in Arizona, so we went to Mi Nidito last night. I get all my restaurant suggestions from Man v. Food so lucky for us they came to Tucson. We got to Mi Nidito knowing it wasn't in the nicest part of South Tucson but became very aware when armed security escorted us from the parking lot to the restaurant...
Man v. Food wasn't even the biggest thing to hit Mi Nidito. Mother effing Bill Clinton ya'll! And Hillary and a bunch of other random celebrities love this restaurant. We all got different dishes and shared and it was all delicious. I'm not going to say it was the best Mexican I've ever had, but it definitely hit the spot. Plus, eating with an armed Mexican next to you, always makes the food taste better :)

My Little Nest

The President's Plate

Thanksgiving Vacation Begins

I'm taking 2 weeks off for a Thanksgiving trip and to get in all the family time I can, before I move to Germany. I flew to Colorado so I could drive with my sister and her 3 kids down to Arizona. Before we left, Jackson had his friend Bday party and it was hilarious. Is it wrong to play Ke$ha, Lady GaGa and LMFAO songs for Hot Potato? Hahahaha. It was a great party.
The 13 hour drive went pretty smooth and the kids were great. We got to Corey's place, unloaded, rested for a few hours, then Corey and I drove to Phoenix to get my brother, sister-in-law and their daughter. We are just waiting for my brother-in-law and parents to get here to make a full house.
I am so thankful to have the best family and to be able to spend Thanksgiving with them this year!

Spiderman party

4!!!

Piñata time

They are faster than they look!

Just waiting...

I have nothing too exciting going on while I wait to leave for Germany. I got to fly a new plane a few weeks ago. We landed at Richmond International, got lunch and came back. My friend Sarah came down for a night, we ate at an Afghan restaurant http://www.panjshirrestaurant.com/ and it was amazing! We went to Old Town Alexandria and got hot chocolate, then to the National Harbor to a piano bar. I've been staying busy, but all I really want is to be living in my own place, with my husband, and all our things. I'm tired of living like I'm 19 again. I really liked it back then, but it's less exciting now.
I'm leaving for Arizona on Thursday for an awesome family Thanksgiving and I can not wait! I get back to DC on the 29th then fly to Germany on Dec 5th. I know it's close, but it feels like a ways away and I feel really anxious about it. The only thing that soothes me is shopping.

Columbia 400

Focusing on leaving Richmond International

Last Weekend

So it went like this: Girls date at Mexico Restaurant (yes, that's the name. I'm not racist!), haircut, in-laws, kid Halloween parade, bike ride to Mt. Vernon, devouring the left-overs from Mexico Restaurant.

John, Grammy, Barb

Ryan & Alyssa

Halloween Parade

Party Favors

Nature!

Hair cut/Prius/Nature!

Faith & me 

Faith

Add caption

George's place

The National Harbor (from afar) 

CLEP

I have several college credits. Lots. Unfortunately none of them combined make even an Associate's degree. Luckily my year of military school combined with some previous classes got me really close to an Associate's through the Community College of the Air Force. I was still a few classes shy so I have been taking CLEPs to finally get something concrete accomplished. Yesterday I passed my final CLEP in Principles of Management with the bare minimum passing score :) You need a 50 and I scored a 50. I was so happy to have gotten by so close because I feel like I won one over The Man. Oh, I need 50? Fine, that's all your getting!
Now that I have this degree I'm really not too far from a Bachelor's, but the military is cutting education funding at the beginning of the year, so I'll just work on getting some more street smarts in Europe. Dang! I'm sooooooo sad that I have an awesome excuse to not take classes overseas, leaving me with more time to travel. Darn it.
I know it's pretty pathetic to be getting an Associate's at 30, but I know I have undiagnosed ADD. Haha. Just kidding. My real reason for not going to college was that I didn't get accepted to BYU Hawaii, therefore I couldn't bear the thought of going to college to learn. If there was no tropical beach involved, I was not going.
The lesson you can learn from my mistakes, is this; get ADD medication early in life so you can focus on accomplishing boring things like college.

Les Miserables

My mother-in-law and her boyfriend took me to see Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center last weekend! I am not a huge fan of plays or musicals but there are a select few I have always wanted to see and Les Mis was #1 on my list. It might be my favorite story of all time and the performance was amazing. How do these singers not have record albums?! They have way better voices than most famous singers do. Thank you so much Pamela and Sal! I had such a great time and loved every second of the play.

Me & Pamela

The Buff

While I was visiting my family in Colorado Springs, Derek and Andrea Bailey met me in Denver for a weekend trip. We went to Boulder for some breakfast I had seen on Man vs. Food and it was worth the traffic from game day in Boulder! We went to The Buff and I got my order of pancakes with bacon and sausage cooked it the batter. They're called Saddlebags but I didn't really like the imagery. Fat thighs or not, those things are good. I also bought a shirt because it says, "Eat in the Buff" on the back. I wore it on my bike ride and run today and felt extra cool.

I loved Boulder and Denver and could totally live there...in the summer.

I visited my husband

Two weeks ago I went to Arizona to visit Corey and it was amazing! Of course it was amazing. I haven't seen him in two months. Guess what we did?...Went to Tombstone, an Arizona Wildcats vs. Oregon Ducks game, hung out. You know. 

After I left Arizona I got to visit my family in Colorado Springs and then Andrea and Derek Bailey (friends from Utah) met me in Denver for a fun filled weekend of eating :) It's too hard to go back to work after that much fun. I had a night full of anxiety before going back to work but I guess I'm okay now. 

Here's a few pictures from Arizona. The game and Tombstone. Uh, I remember Tombstone being a lot bigger but the only other time I was there was when I was 9. The gun fight in the street was less realistic and less terrifying this time.

LJ & CB

I was lucky enough to catch up with one of my oldest (not age wise) and best friends, last night for a few hours. Lindsay is in the DC area visiting her sister and I got to hang out with both of them and their kids. It's always so much fun hanging out and reminiscing. I could've stayed all night but I'm old and have a job and had to leave around 11. I think we stayed up late talking a lot when we were in High School. Probably more like 3 or 4 a.m.
Once again, I didn't get any pictures of Lindsay or Hillary's kids (all of whom are adorable!) but I never have the energy to try and persuade children to stop playing for a picture. I don't know how photographers do it. Anyway, Lindsay was easier to get a picture with ;)

I'm always the difficult one. I can't keep my eyes open!

New Places in the Same Ol' Place

Since Corey has been gone and I've moved closer to work, I've been discovering new places around DC and hanging out with more people. Not that we were old, boring, married shut-ins, but we were old, boring, married shut-ins. I liked it that way though :)
I finally went to The National Harbor in DC and to Old Town Alexandria in Virginia. Both are a lot of fun and I've really been having a good time trying to make the time go by fast so I can just be in Germany already, living with Corey again.

The National Harbor to see The Kelly Bell Band

Old Town Alexandria with John, Barb, Julie & Dwayne

 My friend Faith is very outdoorsy and adventurous so we have been hiking, running, biking, spinning, etc a lot. Every time we go on a hike there is some kind of freak flash flood storm so we decided to document it this time because it's getting ridiculous. If you need it to rain, let me know and I'll go on a hike with Faith.

Rosaryville State Park with Brittany's dog, Tucker

Potomac Airfield

I started flight lessons last week at Potomac Airfield in the DC restricted airspace. So far I've just been a sweaty mess trying to learn basic flight maneuvers, but it's been a lot of fun. Flying in this area presents a few obstacles due to Andrews AFB and the White House. Every time you fly anywhere you have to call with a flight plan or an F-15 will kindly escort you out of the air. I don't know how kind they are so we'll just keep calling in the flight plans. I don't really have a clue what I'm doing but luckily I have really good instructors who are braver than any normal person on earth. I don't think I would ever want to teach someone how to fly. Something about being 2,300 feet in the air with an idiot sharing your flight controls. These people are nuts! 

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this endeavor but this is pretty standard for me. I don't know what I would do if I ever had a clear plan of action. Hopefully something exciting works out and maybe I'll be flying you to some exotic location on a private plane one day. Are you brave enough to fly with me? Haha. Don't answer that yet. Wait until I pass some tests and get a license. 

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Dirty 30

I always thought 30 would be kind of cool but then I woke up this morning with a nasty head cold, walked out to my car and found a flat tire and got the on-call phone at work. Hmmm. Soooo, it started off bad but luckily I had a friend to help me with my tire, someone to bring me this awesome cupcake cake, tons of phone calls, text messages and facebook posts, and two sweet girls who decorated my room with balloons and made me more cupcakes!

I was sad that I didn't get to spend my 30th with Corey, but was so grateful for all the people who made my day so special. No one really helped me with the excessive snot problem this head cold has given me, but that's cool. I learned how to really change a tire (not just in theory). I finally took a tire off and put a fixed tire back on. I also snotted on the tire and didn't tell the guys at Mr. Tire. Birthday surprise for them! 

I thanked my mom for bearing me and putting up with me and she was all like, "yeah, you owe me $4,500 for the C-section" so I'm going to start working on that. Just kidding. My mom is so sweet and pretends like I was a precious angel. She has been blessed with the gift of forgetting. She thinks all her children were so sweet and easy going. Haha. We were ;)

Um, I like 30 and wasn't bugged about the age but I certainly don't want to turn 40. Let's just stop here and forget about the rest. 

In case you're bored and have been dying for a new viral video...check out the Honey Badger. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg

His name is Mudd

Whether the expression came from Dr. Mudd aiding John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated Lincoln (did he or didn't he?!) or if it means "a stupid twaddling fellow" like etymonline.com says, it doesn't matter. What matters is that I went to a historical landmark today and now I'm teaching you about it. Scholars maintain that the literal translation has been lost for centuries. Dr. Mudd's home is about 2 miles from my new place in Waldorf, and since I have nothing better to do now that I'm a geographical bachelorette, I went for a drive today.

After Dr. Mudd's house, I just drove until I got to the end of the road. I saw on the map that there was a national park on the beach so I checked it out. Not as pretty as I was expecting but the east coast beaches always do that to me. It was about 12 degrees cooler and I love the salty sea smell so I can get over the black water and small beaches.

Point Lookout State Park

Notice any safety hazards? Oh, I don't know, fishing where your children are swimming...

I guess I've been missing my old commute and had to get in the car and drive for a while. Haha. No, I do not miss that commute. I love getting to work in 20 minutes. I love owning a Prius and being able to enjoy not filling up every week. Again, I love not driving 130 miles a day! I'm very excited about this.

Corey is gone...to Arizona

So our road trip was awesome and I didn't think leaving Corey in AZ was going to be a big deal since I can go visit whenever I want and he's still in America, but I'm still pretty sad about it and it's been 4 days. What has happened to me?! I used to be so independent and never felt any sense of loss when my living situations changed but I guess I'm just jealous that he gets a 3 bedroom house with a jacuzzi all to himself and I'm sleeping on a squeaky twin bed. No, I really miss him and kind of hate that I'm turning into a bigger wuss every year. Please tell me that all of you tough ladies have now become big sissies and cry way more often than you think you should.
Ok, well we got to Colo Springs and had so much fun with my sister, Dave, their kids, and my parents. We jumped on the trampoline a lot, went to the Rockies game with Amy and Dave and ate a ton of mama's home cooked food, which is always the best. We had to leave way too soon but got to see my Grandparents and more family in Tucson, then Corey went to Sierra Vista and I went to Phoenix to see some of my favorite people in the world, the Stansfields :) Or LJ and the fam. I finally got to meet Lindsay's youngest, Dylan, who is the handsomest little man and gave the best hugs and kisses. Once again, our visit was way too short but definitely better than nothing.
I hate missing such good friends and family all the time. I hope they all come visit me in Germany ;)
***I did a terrible job at getting pictures at the end of our trip so not everyone I wanted to show pictures of are posted. Sorry Linds!!! Please see the Stansfields' blog for pictures of their ADORABLE children.

Sweet little Annie

Corey and his cactus

Amy & Dave at the Rockies game

Me & Corey at the game

Kansas City

Kansas City was the last short drive we had. It was about 5 hours from St. Louis. I just kept thinking how easy and quick our road trip had been...I had forgotten what the real west was like. After we left KC it was all 10 and 14 hour drives to our next destinations. I also hadn't been watching any news and didn't realize the midwest was in the middle of a terrible heat wave. Don't worry,  I found out at the Royals game where we were sitting in direct sunlight for most of the game. I honestly don't know why I sweat like a 400 lb man in a sauna, but it is uncomfortable! We left after the 7th inning stretch and I was a sticky mess until we got to Colorado Springs. It motivated me to push through the fatigue and get to my parents house without any stops.

We made it to a Man vs Food BBQ joint in Kansas City

The ribs were awesome!

So was the pulled pork :)

Corey wasn't as sweaty as me

Probably one of my favorite stadiums of all time

Louisville & St. Louis

So far, so good. The driving hasn't been too bad because we're making a lot of stops...and because Corey is doing most of it. We went to Louisville and stopped by Churchill Downs and then did a tour at the Louisville Slugger factory. I thought Louisville was so pretty and it seemed like a fun place to live. We kind of hurried out of there so we could get to St. Louis in time for dinner at Pappy's (Man vs. Food restaurant) but they close early on Sunday.
Upon first arrival I thought that St. Louis was quite charming as well. Then we opened our car doors and the weather was less than charming. St. Louis is hot and nasty! We got some quick pictures under the arch and attempted to find another BBQ joint that was open on Sunday. Nothing was open and we ended up driving around the hood for about 20 minutes. I'm not just calling it hood 'cause I'm a white girl from a middle class suburban home. This place reminded me of favelas in Brazil and made Corey homesick for Iraq. Holy S*** St. Louis! Get your crap together and clean up your streets.
If you're looking for a nice family trip, I would recommend Louisville. If you want to get mugged or see some real life adventure on the streets, St. Louis is your city.

One day we'll go to the Kentucky Derby

Awkward alone picture. What do you do with your hands?!

They give you free bats after the tour...