Rainbows

England gets a bad rap for being cloudy and rainy. Yes, winters are fairly gloomy with standard cloud cover, fog, and only 8 hours or so of daylight. But summers? England summers are just bursting with beauty. It still rains off and on, but the rain makes possible the bright green fields and tapestries of flowers growing both in the wild and in perfectly tended gardens. The rain showers also bring rainbows, with incredible regularity. I have seen more rainbows in the last 2 or 3 months than I have in the last 2 or 3 years. Unfortunately, I see most of them while driving, so I don't get pictures... but a part of me is okay with that. It makes seeing one that much more special. I was lucky enough to arrive here during the summer (5 days until my one-year anniversary... can't believe it!), and I think that is one reason I instantly fell in love with this place.

It is Saturday after an extremely long two weeks. I was basically doing three jobs during this time... escorting and planning activities for another group of AFROTC cadets, filling a staff briefing position in the exercise on base, plus my real job in the weather station. It was a lot of long hours, but I'd say everything went about as well as could be expected.

Last weekend, a couple friends and I went to the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford. It was just over a 3-hour drive, and traffic getting into the event was awful, but it was definitely worth the trip. We got to see aircraft and demo teams from so many different countries, plus plenty of USAF assets. One of our Lakenheath pilot friends flew an F-15 in formation, and the F-22 demo was unbelievable. On the way back, we stopped in Oxford and had a really awesome dinner, though it was too late for sightseeing. Here is the photo album from the trip: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=465034&id=701905001&l=4d6cfd314f

Lisa arrives tomorrow!!! EXCITED!!! :-D It will be so much fun to have her here and go fun places and hang out with friends. Also, we passed "cancellation Friday" without a phone call, so I am hoping this means all systems are go for our Paris trip next weekend! We haven't decided exactly what we are going to do while she is here and when (except for Paris), but some of the ideas we've talked about are Warwick or Leeds Castle, definitely London for a day, Bury St. Edmunds, Cadbury World (chocolate factory), and Cambridge. Can't wait!

Training continues for the Newark Half Marathon (2 weeks away, yikes...). Last week's long run was not as good as I had hoped, so we will see what happens when I head out for another this evening. I just made hotel reservations in Nottingham today, so that makes it more exciting. We decided to stay in Nottingham for the weekend for sightseeing purposes, and just drive to Newark (about 30 min away) on race morning. I hope we get cooler weather for it... last week I ran in 80+ temps and it was not fun.

Good List:
1. Planning trips. Excited for so many options with Lisa, and the topic of a beach weekend (Spain?) over Labor Day has been brought up with friends!
2. My OCF Bible study. As tired as I am on some Friday evenings, I never regret the time with these wonderful people and hearing God speak through them. :)
3. Making progress on a goal.
4. Watching friends inhale my Reese's peanut butter cup cookies.
5. Running.
6. Peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
7. Job satisfaction. A couple of the AFROTC kids thanked me so genuinely for a couple of the things I did for them... made the long hours worth it.
8. New friends.
9. Taylor Swift. Go ahead and make fun of me, but that girl has the right song for every one of my moods.
10. Last but not least... Rainbows! :)