WE PASSED!!!!!!!! Thank you, God. I'm not sure it has entirely hit me yet. I'm writing this in my office on Friday afternoon. After sending my people home early on this gorgeous weather day, I'm just hanging out before OCF tonight at Mildenhall. We got the results of the inspection last night, and the official outbrief to the Wing Commander was this morning. So throughout the afternoon, I have had various levels of leadership wandering into our office grinning from ear to ear and congratulating us, but I'm still kind of in a daze. I'm not sure I'll believe it until I have time to relax this weekend and realize I don't have a dark cloud over my head anymore, that I don't have to constantly stress and worry about work.
Martin left yesterday for a month-long TDY, so my plans for the weekend include sleep, chick flicks, and more sleep. Yay! I should probably also get a run in, since my half marathon training has been up and down so far. I'm really excited to start the spring-summer travel season, because I already have so much planned! Looking forward to these trips has been one thing getting me through the last couple months.
The weekend after St Patrick's Day (18-20 March), I am headed to Dublin with a group of friends. I'm interested to see how differently the day is celebrated in Ireland, and I have heard it is beautiful there. We won't be close enough to the Blarney Stone, so I'll have to plan another trip there to kiss it! The next weekend... Martin's TDY is in Spain, a short train ride from Madrid, so we are going to meet in Madrid for the weekend! I scored a pretty awesome deal on a fancy hotel in the middle of the city, so it should be a great experience with hopefully warm weather. Then the first weekend in April (Martin comes home 31 March), we are running the Prague Half Marathon! We are taking leave the following Monday to give us an extra day for sightseeing after the race on Saturday. The second weekend in April is a 3-day thanks to a Family Day for school Spring Break, so we are tentatively (as in tickets have not been bought yet) heading to Sintra, Portugal. Never heard of it? Type it into Google and hit Images, you'll figure out pretty quickly what the draw is. :-)
Last but certainly not least on the "already-planned" list is a trip home to the good old U.S. of A. in May for Lisa's graduation from the University of Virginia. Still haven't bought those plane tickets (amazing how it will probably cost more than all of my European tickets combined), but I'm getting more confident that I won't be short notice deployed, so I'll probably get them in the next couple weeks. I'm also hoping for a reunion with college roommates Carrie and Jamie on that trip!
Let's see, what else is going on... I think I found a Master's degree program I am actually interested in, which is a pretty big deal I guess. It is from Penn State via their World Campus program, which is awesome because even if I deploy or move while I'm in the program it won't affect my progress. It is a Masters of Education in Earth Sciences, so the courses are mostly a variety of earth sciences with a few education courses and a capstone project. I've talked to two professors via email who lead the program, and I was really excited by their responses about how the program would work for me as a military member. The only hurdle now is financing, because there are a few different options for getting money from the AF, and I have to figure out what is the best combination of those... Penn State is not cheap! I have an appointment at the base education center on Monday to get some advice.
That's about it for now, except for the tragic news of the Lakenheath airmen shot in Germany. It's a very sad and scary thing for everyone on the base, so please pray for the families of the airmen and the Lakenheath community.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
TGIS
Thank Goodness It's Sunday (in case anyone was wondering)... Since we are working Saturdays now, Sundays are my only day of relaxation, and I am in a much better mood after actually sleeping a significant number of hours, and not waking up to an alarm. Holy cow, was this week ridiculous. I feel kind of like a bug that just keeps getting stepped on over and over again... and you know, if I had the choice, there were a couple points this week where I may have just thrown in the towel and walked away... but it's not a choice, and I can't do that for the sake of other people, so I'm still here and still going.
I have decided that I am not doing anything with the Cabrio until after the inspection. This week showed me that life is enough of an emotional roller coaster right now in the first place, I don't need to be adding to the stress. I had originally thought that the car was one thing I could get done while Martin was gone, but realized that there are more positive things I can do and occupy my mind with. I've spent this morning relaxing on the couch and posting our Rome pictures (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=614366&id=701905001&l=fb046d8214), and it's about time to get busy cleaning again.
As the very observant Amy pointed out last entry, I did change the background on the blog. :) I didn't take the picture, but it reminded me a lot of typical scenery driving through England, so I liked it. It has been pretty gray and cloudy recently (which I guess is good, I haven't felt trapped inside), but there have been a couple clear mornings with beautiful beginnings of sunrises on my drive to work, when the light is first starting to stretch across the sky and change the colors from dark to light blue. That's all for now, there is clean laundry to put away, mail to sort, bathrooms to clean...
I have decided that I am not doing anything with the Cabrio until after the inspection. This week showed me that life is enough of an emotional roller coaster right now in the first place, I don't need to be adding to the stress. I had originally thought that the car was one thing I could get done while Martin was gone, but realized that there are more positive things I can do and occupy my mind with. I've spent this morning relaxing on the couch and posting our Rome pictures (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=614366&id=701905001&l=fb046d8214), and it's about time to get busy cleaning again.
As the very observant Amy pointed out last entry, I did change the background on the blog. :) I didn't take the picture, but it reminded me a lot of typical scenery driving through England, so I liked it. It has been pretty gray and cloudy recently (which I guess is good, I haven't felt trapped inside), but there have been a couple clear mornings with beautiful beginnings of sunrises on my drive to work, when the light is first starting to stretch across the sky and change the colors from dark to light blue. That's all for now, there is clean laundry to put away, mail to sort, bathrooms to clean...
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Car Donation
I don't know if I can do it. Have you seen Toy Story 2? The scene where cowgirl doll Jessie sings a song called "When Somebody Loved Me"? If not, I'm about to post the Youtube link. If you can watch this and not shed a tear, then you might as well stop reading this post now, because you won't understand emotional attachment to an inanimate object. Here's the video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px0j1EHF8Y0. Eyes still dry? If yes, you probably don't care how I feel about my car. If no... well then, maybe you'll understand.
Yes, I know cars are made out of metal and plastic. They don't have emotions or feelings. But I've always felt like cars have personalities, and when one comes into my family, I connect with it. This will make my parents laugh, but I am reminded of a time when I was little when they decided to buy a newer, bigger camping trailer (RV), and sell our old one. I was devastated. I cried, threw a fit, and swore I would never sleep in the new one... I would rather sleep in our Suburban than betray our trusty old trailer by abandoning it for a new one. Crazy? Maybe, and of course I got over it and have many great camping memories with the new trailer, but the point is, I felt like I was losing a friend.
And so that is why I am struggling with the idea of losing my VW Cabrio. My mind says that donating it to a charity is a noble thing, that it's the best possible thing to do with a car when the estimate to fix the transmission is 3 times what the car is valued. But my heart says I am sending a friend to death row... that the life will be crushed out of it and its worth will only be its weight in scrap metal... and no one will ever love it again like I have loved it for the last 6 years.
That car has been with me through the most turbulent 6 years of my life. I've cried, laughed, dreamed, sang, loved, prayed... LIVED in it. I'll save the specific memories for the tribute blog, but it has been a constant through so many changes, something that has always been mine, like a part of me. I said earlier that I've always felt like cars had personalities, and maybe I also feel like the Cabrio is the type of personality I'd want to be... cute, fun, vibrant, unique. So maybe it's not in the best mechanical shape anymore... the personality is still there, right? How can I let that go?
I don't know what I'm going to do. You all probably think I'm seriously losing it anyway.
Yes, I know cars are made out of metal and plastic. They don't have emotions or feelings. But I've always felt like cars have personalities, and when one comes into my family, I connect with it. This will make my parents laugh, but I am reminded of a time when I was little when they decided to buy a newer, bigger camping trailer (RV), and sell our old one. I was devastated. I cried, threw a fit, and swore I would never sleep in the new one... I would rather sleep in our Suburban than betray our trusty old trailer by abandoning it for a new one. Crazy? Maybe, and of course I got over it and have many great camping memories with the new trailer, but the point is, I felt like I was losing a friend.
And so that is why I am struggling with the idea of losing my VW Cabrio. My mind says that donating it to a charity is a noble thing, that it's the best possible thing to do with a car when the estimate to fix the transmission is 3 times what the car is valued. But my heart says I am sending a friend to death row... that the life will be crushed out of it and its worth will only be its weight in scrap metal... and no one will ever love it again like I have loved it for the last 6 years.
That car has been with me through the most turbulent 6 years of my life. I've cried, laughed, dreamed, sang, loved, prayed... LIVED in it. I'll save the specific memories for the tribute blog, but it has been a constant through so many changes, something that has always been mine, like a part of me. I said earlier that I've always felt like cars had personalities, and maybe I also feel like the Cabrio is the type of personality I'd want to be... cute, fun, vibrant, unique. So maybe it's not in the best mechanical shape anymore... the personality is still there, right? How can I let that go?
I don't know what I'm going to do. You all probably think I'm seriously losing it anyway.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
January Cleaning
Disney's Aladdin is on TV as I am writing this... what a classic! Hopefully it doesn't distract me too much from much-needed cleaning, since I've been fairly productive so far today. This is only the third day I've had off from work this month, so I'm enjoying it even though I have a lot to do around the house. When you're at work all day every day, the house goes downhill pretty fast.
I'm not going to lie, work has made life not so much fun this month. It's frustrating, because I used to love going to work, and now I dread it. And I hate that. There is so much pressure from so many people to fix everything before the inspection. I can't focus on anything else, though there is so much I want to do outside of inspection prep. I want to do new things with my people, get them involved with the flying squadrons, give them the opportunities they deserve... but we can't do any of that now. It's depressing for me and I know it is depressing for them. Somehow we just have to make it through the inspection... somehow.
Two days before Christmas, Martin's house flooded after a pipe burst in his attic. It was a huge mess, and the landlord's insurance company is still working to determine the extent of the structural damage. In the meantime, he can't live there, so he has been staying with me since Christmastime. That has been nice, because at least I have had him to come home to after long days of work. However, he left on Thursday for a 3-week TDY with his squadron, so I'm on my own again for a while. I'm looking at it as a positive thing, though, I have a list of things I want to get done before he gets back. Finally getting all the Christmas decorations away, knocking out another SOS test, and at least making some headway in the "box room" are at the top of the list.
Another goal is to catch up on posting pictures on Facebook, since I hadn't done that since the TACEVAL. So far, I've made albums from Top Gear Live in London (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=610344&id=701905001&l=32dce4d42e) and our tropical vacation in Tenerife, Canary Islands (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=610724&id=701905001&l=305d74bd13). More to come!
On another positive note, it's getting lighter here! We're getting about 3 minutes more of daylight every day, which doesn't sound like a lot, but is definitely becoming noticable. When I drive to work, if it's not too early, I can see the beginning of the sunrise. Better get back to cleaning, but not without one more thing...
Good List:
1. Sleep. Especially chances to catch up on it.
2. Warm chocolate chip cookies.
3. Fantasy football playoffs! I'm second in our league (and beating Martin!) with two weeks to go. Come on Steelers and Bears...
4. Glee on British cable. I don't have to wait until the DVD for Season 2! We're a few weeks behind, but at least it's in progress. :)
5. Cassette tape MP3 adapter for the Honda. Yay music in the car again!
6. Long hot showers.
7. Vodafone Passport. I can talk to Martin while he is TDY in Italy and not pay an arm and a leg. :)
8. Chicken tikka naan from my local kebab shop.
9. Making plans for after the inspection.
10. Old and new friends in OCF Bible study. The group dwindled a bit last summer/fall, but the family is getting stonger again. :)
I'm not going to lie, work has made life not so much fun this month. It's frustrating, because I used to love going to work, and now I dread it. And I hate that. There is so much pressure from so many people to fix everything before the inspection. I can't focus on anything else, though there is so much I want to do outside of inspection prep. I want to do new things with my people, get them involved with the flying squadrons, give them the opportunities they deserve... but we can't do any of that now. It's depressing for me and I know it is depressing for them. Somehow we just have to make it through the inspection... somehow.
Two days before Christmas, Martin's house flooded after a pipe burst in his attic. It was a huge mess, and the landlord's insurance company is still working to determine the extent of the structural damage. In the meantime, he can't live there, so he has been staying with me since Christmastime. That has been nice, because at least I have had him to come home to after long days of work. However, he left on Thursday for a 3-week TDY with his squadron, so I'm on my own again for a while. I'm looking at it as a positive thing, though, I have a list of things I want to get done before he gets back. Finally getting all the Christmas decorations away, knocking out another SOS test, and at least making some headway in the "box room" are at the top of the list.
Another goal is to catch up on posting pictures on Facebook, since I hadn't done that since the TACEVAL. So far, I've made albums from Top Gear Live in London (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=610344&id=701905001&l=32dce4d42e) and our tropical vacation in Tenerife, Canary Islands (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=610724&id=701905001&l=305d74bd13). More to come!
On another positive note, it's getting lighter here! We're getting about 3 minutes more of daylight every day, which doesn't sound like a lot, but is definitely becoming noticable. When I drive to work, if it's not too early, I can see the beginning of the sunrise. Better get back to cleaning, but not without one more thing...
Good List:
1. Sleep. Especially chances to catch up on it.
2. Warm chocolate chip cookies.
3. Fantasy football playoffs! I'm second in our league (and beating Martin!) with two weeks to go. Come on Steelers and Bears...
4. Glee on British cable. I don't have to wait until the DVD for Season 2! We're a few weeks behind, but at least it's in progress. :)
5. Cassette tape MP3 adapter for the Honda. Yay music in the car again!
6. Long hot showers.
7. Vodafone Passport. I can talk to Martin while he is TDY in Italy and not pay an arm and a leg. :)
8. Chicken tikka naan from my local kebab shop.
9. Making plans for after the inspection.
10. Old and new friends in OCF Bible study. The group dwindled a bit last summer/fall, but the family is getting stonger again. :)
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Cars
One significant event was left out of my year-end summary... I added another fun car to the family! :-) The new one is the replacement for the '97 VW Cabrio, which has had multiple mechanical problems and finally hit the point of costs adding up more than the value of the car. I still have the Cabrio, as I am working on import tax paperwork before I can legally transfer it in the UK. I think I have decided that I will be donating it to a UK charity, who will fix it up and sell it at an auction to raise money. I debated trying to sell it myself, but didn't really feel comfortable selling a potentially dangerous (bad transmission) car, even if I didn't ask much money for it. Donating to charity just seems like the right thing to do... I don't need the money, and I will be happy knowing that a car I have loved for the last 6 years will be benefitting others now. I plan on giving it a good wash and a final photo shoot before it goes, so you can expect a blog entry with all the great memories I have had with the Cabrio. :-)
And in case anyone was wondering... yes, I still have the bright yellow '79 Mini! It is great fun to drive, but not really the safest car in winter (lightweight, tiny tires, tiny tread, no airbags) or on major highways, so I needed a replacement for the Cabrio as a daily driver. So... what is it, you ask? Drumroll please...
And in case anyone was wondering... yes, I still have the bright yellow '79 Mini! It is great fun to drive, but not really the safest car in winter (lightweight, tiny tires, tiny tread, no airbags) or on major highways, so I needed a replacement for the Cabrio as a daily driver. So... what is it, you ask? Drumroll please...
Ta-da! My new baby, a 1992 Honda CRX, better known as a Del Sol in the US. It is a UK-spec (right hand drive) 2-seater coupe with removable hardtop roof, so I'm not giving up having a convertible! It is in excellent condition inside and out, and so much fun to drive. Martin, who is a "car guy" and does all his own mechanical work on his two prized Nissan Skylines, checked it out with me before I bought it and agreed it was a great little car for a good price. I bought it in November and have been driving it on and off with the Cabrio, to become my primary car after I say goodbye to the Cabrio within the next month or two. And yes, for anyone who is counting, that means I currently own 3 cars for one person... what can I say? I am (proudly) my father's daughter... ;-)
Since you're probably tired of car talk, I have a couple other interesting bits of information to share. First, I signed up for a half marathon! Martin and I both wanted a goal race to get us back into serious training, so we picked the best combination possible - a race in a city we already wanted to visit! We will be running the Prague Half Marathon in the capital city of the Czech Republic on April 2nd. Excited!!! Running is such a great excuse (as if we needed one) to travel.
The other bit of news is somewhat related in the sense that I may be able to start looking at fall marathons... I happened to find out yesterday that the only deployment tasking for a weather officer in my "bucket" this year has already gone to another base. So... unless that person is disqualified for some reason (not outside the realm of possibility by any means), chances are I am not going anywhere. I'm slightly torn as to how I feel about the news... a deployment would be a great experience for me and good for my career, but I can't say I'm disappointed to be spending more time in England instead of a desert. I'm happy that it means I will likely get to come home in May for Lisa's college graduation, and hopefully see some extended family and friends at the same time. I'm not buying tickets yet, as things change very quickly in the Air Force, but it's nice to have some kind of indication instead of just waiting and wondering.
Since you're probably tired of car talk, I have a couple other interesting bits of information to share. First, I signed up for a half marathon! Martin and I both wanted a goal race to get us back into serious training, so we picked the best combination possible - a race in a city we already wanted to visit! We will be running the Prague Half Marathon in the capital city of the Czech Republic on April 2nd. Excited!!! Running is such a great excuse (as if we needed one) to travel.
The other bit of news is somewhat related in the sense that I may be able to start looking at fall marathons... I happened to find out yesterday that the only deployment tasking for a weather officer in my "bucket" this year has already gone to another base. So... unless that person is disqualified for some reason (not outside the realm of possibility by any means), chances are I am not going anywhere. I'm slightly torn as to how I feel about the news... a deployment would be a great experience for me and good for my career, but I can't say I'm disappointed to be spending more time in England instead of a desert. I'm happy that it means I will likely get to come home in May for Lisa's college graduation, and hopefully see some extended family and friends at the same time. I'm not buying tickets yet, as things change very quickly in the Air Force, but it's nice to have some kind of indication instead of just waiting and wondering.
I'll end with a Good List today...
Good List:
1. Cars (the movie). Just a coincidence that is the title of today's blog. Martin and I happened to catch it on TV last night, and wow... what an outstanding movie. I had forgotten how good it was. Absolutely brilliant writing, and the best combination of hilarious and heartwarming you will ever find.
2. Using a George Foreman grill as a panini press.
3. Running. So excited to get going again!
4. The Hielan Coo (Highland Cow) hat I got in Edinburgh for New Years. Warm, fuzzy, and adorable... pictures to come!
5. Long emails.
6. Nintendo DS. Martin got me one for Christmas, and it is SO much fun... I will never be bored on a train or plane again!
7. Bed.
8. Amazon.com sales.
9. Long fuzzy warm socks. Thanks Mom! :)
10. Excitement of a new year and things to come!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Best of 2010
I am pretty sure I am the worst blogger ever. If anyone is still reading this, I apologize for the 2-month absence... all I can say is that sometimes (specifically in the last 2 months for me), life gets in the way of writing about it. I thought about writing once over the Christmas break, but realized I would be summarizing the last 2 months and thus decided to just wait to come back with my year-end highlight blog for 2010. I really can't believe how fast this year went by... I feel like I just wrote my 2009 highlights. I've hit my halfway point here in England (year and a half), which is a little scary, but for the most part I'm not thinking about it that way... just enjoying the time and the people around me.
Just for a little background before I start the best-of list, the end of the year has been pretty stressful, hence my lack of entries. I thought life would go back to normal after the TACEVAL, but instead another obstacle reared its ugly head: SEPWO. This is an inspection of the weather flight done every two years by higher-ups in Air Force Weather. To make a long story short, we failed ours in August, and have a re-inspection planned for the end of February. My boss deployed in November, then we had a pre-inspection in the first week of December to check our progress... and it was bad. So I'm basically responsible for performing a miracle to get us ready by Feb. Lucky for me, I have a smart, hardworking flight chief to lead the charge, and an array of young but quick-learning people to make it happen. I believe we will pass, but life will not be fun by any means until after Feb. So, enough about that, let's get to the good stuff!
January: Traveled to Nellis AFB in Las Vegas to support one of our F-15E squadrons at Green Flag and Red Flag. An unbelievable operation to be a part of and an experience I will remember the rest of my life - working with over 100 aircraft and several hundered aircrew from all over the world. My parents flew in for a weekend and we hiked Red Rock Canyon, saw "The Lion King" show, and climbed the Stratosphere. The next weekend, I rode roller coasters with an awesome group, then got my outdoorsy fix visiting Hoover Dam and Mount Charleston with my new friend Martin, a fellow Lt from Lakenheath supporting Red Flag.
February: Finished up at Red Flag and headed back to England, but missed a connection in Chicago and got stranded for a whole day, resulting in some unplanned sightseeing of downtown Chicago, most notably the famous shiny "bubble" reflecting the skyline. After returning to England, traveled to Dover for a half marathon, but ended up spending the weekend sightseeing at the White Cliffs with travel buddy and fellow runner Martin after the race was postponed due to snow and ice. Celebrated weather flight chief and good friend Greg's last weekend in England with a fun group, though was sad to see him leave, such is the way of the military.
March: Training for the Edinburgh (Scotland) Marathon kicked into higher gear with double-digit weekend runs, mostly in beautiful Bury St Edmunds with Martin. Managed to squeeze in a "girls' weekend" trip to Bath and Stonehenge with 3 new friends. We relaxed in a spa, toured the historic Roman Baths, and wandered around the world's most famous pile of rocks.
April: Possibly the craziest month of the year. First weekend was a 3-day in Warsaw, Poland, with good friends Alex and Martin. We ate pierogies, toured the beautiful "Old Town", and discovered a crowd celebrating International Pillow Fight Day (no joke) in the city center. The second weekend was another 3-day in Newcastle with Martin, where we shopped, ate great food, toured a castle, and ran 7 miles along the river. The day after we got back, I flew to Trieste, Italy, to meet college roommate Carrie! We toured Venice and Trieste, then our flight back to England was cancelled due to an Icelandic volcano eruption which closed UK airspace for almost 2 weeks. Our epic journey back spanned 40 hours, 4 trains, 3 buses, a night on a cold train station floor in Milan, a ferry, and a very good friend (Martin) driving an 8-hour round trip to pick us up from the southern coast of England. Since Carrie's flight back to the US was also cancelled, we toured Cambridge and London with her cousins Mark and Kathryn before she had to leave.
May: Marathon month! I ran a 20-miler 3 weeks before the race and felt great. Celebrated Cinco de Mayo with friends, took 2nd place in a base 10K race, went to a spring bazaar at Mildenhall, and said farewell to my Red Flag weather buddy CeCe. Marathon weekend in Edinburgh was a blast, though I didn't meet my goal time in the full marathon, set a new PR for the half! Martin was my travel buddy and support crew for the race, so I returned the favor on Memorial Day weekend as we traveled to Dover for him to run the rescheduled Dover Half.
June: My parents visited England for the first time since they were stationed here almost 30 years ago. We spent our first weekend seeing all the sights in London, did day trips to Bury St Edmunds, Ely, and Cambridge, then spent our second weekend in Dover and Canterbury. After they left, I was busy hosting 21 AFROTC cadets on base and teaching them about the Operations Group. At the end of June, Alex (one of my best friends) left for her new assignment in Boston, but we had a great farewell out with friends on an overnight trip to London.
July: Began training for an August half-marathon, took 2nd place in the base 4th of July 5K, and had an awesome time with friends at the base 4th of July carnival and fireworks display. Hosted another group of AFROTC cadets, and traveled with friends to an international air show at RAF Fairford to watch our F-15s and Alaska's F-22s put on an impressive show. Sister Lisa came to visit for 2 weeks, and we finished July by celebrating her 21st birthday on a 3-day trip to Paris.
August: Spent the first week with Lisa visiting London, Warwick Castle, Hunstanton Beach, and Cambridge. Then it was off to Nottingham with Martin for our half marathon, with my goal of finally breaking 2 hours. Hot weather kept me from reaching the goal, but had a great time in Nottingham at the Robin Hood Festival, shopping, riding the swings at a city carnival, and eating at Hooters. Martin's mom and aunt visited for his birthday at the end of the month, and I joined them in London to celebrate at the original Hard Rock Cafe, visit the Beatles studio, and walk over the famous crosswalk on Abbey Road.
September: Began with a Labor Day weekend trip with Martin to Alicante, Spain, which was probably one of my favorite trips ever. Alicante is gorgeous, and so much more than a beach... there is a castle on a mountain, a marina full of beautiful yachts and amazing restaurants, a palm-tree-lined boardwalk... just incredible. The second weekend, I hosted a Penn State football party for our big game against Alabama, the current #1 team. We lost the game, but I had 15-20 people in my house and all seemed to have a great time, so that was a success. The next weekend was my 26th birthday, and Martin surprised me by giving up tickets to a rock concert in London to show up at my house with steaks for the grill and Glee Season 1 on DVD. Awww...
October: Returned to Nottingham with Martin to see Mayday Parade, one of our favorite bands, in concert. We also went shopping, toured a network of caves (got to wear hard hats!), and ate at Hooters again. The next week, I met my friend Megan in London for a Lifehouse concert. My favorite band ever put on a great show and Megan caught Jason Wade's guitar pick! The big inspection the base was preparing for all year began, and we got a one-day break for Halloween between that and the NATO TACEVAL.
November: Made it through the TACEVAL!!! We scored very well and everyone was thrilled it was over. I surprised Martin with tickets to the Top Gear Live supercar show in London, and we had an awesome weekend getting up close and personal with Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and the amazing Bugatti Veyron (fastest production car in the world). Base leadership gave us a 4-day weekend over Veterans Day, and Martin and I took advantage of it traveling to a resort in Tenerife, Canary Islands. We hit the slides at a water park, explored the many different shops, some fun restaurants, and just enjoyed relaxing in the sun after all the stress of the TACEVAL. The day after we got back, we went to Norwich to see the Goo Goo Dolls in concert, an amazing show that proved how timeless great music is. Thanksgiving weekend took us to Rome, an absolutely gorgeous city with much more to see than we had time for. We went on an incredible guided tour of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, took a moonlight walk to the magnificent Colosseum, walked through St Peter's Basilica, and joined a crowd in St Peter's Square to see the Pope speak from his famous window.
December: Holiday festivities were in full swing, as well as the stress of the weather flight's pre-inspection. Martin escorted me for the OSS holiday party the first weekend, then I joined him for the 494th Fighter Squadron party the second weekend. The fighter squadron rented out one of the college halls at Cambridge University, and it was an awesome venue and exciting to get dressed up and party with a fun group. Christmas dinner was at my house, with Martin cooking the turkey and a couple friends bringing over some side dishes. Then we rung in the New Year with a group of friends traveling north to Edinburgh, where we celebrated the festival of Hogmanay.
Whew! Just writing all of that makes me tired. I think I must be getting old, because every year seems to go by faster than the last. 2010 was a crazy, busy, up-and-down, whirlwind of a year. I just read my parents' Christmas letter last week, and they wrote that I was in my "dream assignment" here at Lakenheath. I can't really think of a better way to say it... it stills blows my mind every time I stop to think about where I am, the opportunities I have had, and the things I have done here. Not every day is a dream, especially recently with the overwhelming pressure at work, but nothing can dim how much I love this country, this base, and the people I've met here.
SO much has changed during 2010. I began the year with a weather flight as close as family, just a taste of the international travel I had already fallen in love with, and all kinds of ideas and plans in my head about what 2010 would be like. At the end of 2010, my weather flight friends have either moved or just grown apart, but I have many more friends in my peer group who I have so much more in common with. I still love my flight and miss the ones who are gone, but I think I have grown as a person by defining myself outside of a given group. I had international adventures in 2010 that I never could have imagined. And I had these adventures with people I didn't even know on New Year's 2010, people who would become some of my best friends. Martin and I started dating in November, after cementing a friendship at Red Flag back in January.
So... did any of my ideas and plans for 2010 actually come true? Just a few, but for the most part I was surprised by the beautiful unpredictability that is life. I don't have any New Year's resolutions for 2011, really, but there are a few things I'd like to do... more like goals than resolutions, I guess. An obvious goal is to get the weather flight through the next 2 months and pass our inspection. Another thing is to be better about keeping in touch with family and geographically separated friends. I want to run a spring half-marathon, and maybe a fall marathon if I don't get deployed. I want to clean out the "box room" (aka junk room, ideally office) in my house. And then there are a few I'll just keep in my mind for now.
Thank you for reading this, and I will try to write more frequently this year! Happy New Year and love to all! :-)
Just for a little background before I start the best-of list, the end of the year has been pretty stressful, hence my lack of entries. I thought life would go back to normal after the TACEVAL, but instead another obstacle reared its ugly head: SEPWO. This is an inspection of the weather flight done every two years by higher-ups in Air Force Weather. To make a long story short, we failed ours in August, and have a re-inspection planned for the end of February. My boss deployed in November, then we had a pre-inspection in the first week of December to check our progress... and it was bad. So I'm basically responsible for performing a miracle to get us ready by Feb. Lucky for me, I have a smart, hardworking flight chief to lead the charge, and an array of young but quick-learning people to make it happen. I believe we will pass, but life will not be fun by any means until after Feb. So, enough about that, let's get to the good stuff!
January: Traveled to Nellis AFB in Las Vegas to support one of our F-15E squadrons at Green Flag and Red Flag. An unbelievable operation to be a part of and an experience I will remember the rest of my life - working with over 100 aircraft and several hundered aircrew from all over the world. My parents flew in for a weekend and we hiked Red Rock Canyon, saw "The Lion King" show, and climbed the Stratosphere. The next weekend, I rode roller coasters with an awesome group, then got my outdoorsy fix visiting Hoover Dam and Mount Charleston with my new friend Martin, a fellow Lt from Lakenheath supporting Red Flag.
February: Finished up at Red Flag and headed back to England, but missed a connection in Chicago and got stranded for a whole day, resulting in some unplanned sightseeing of downtown Chicago, most notably the famous shiny "bubble" reflecting the skyline. After returning to England, traveled to Dover for a half marathon, but ended up spending the weekend sightseeing at the White Cliffs with travel buddy and fellow runner Martin after the race was postponed due to snow and ice. Celebrated weather flight chief and good friend Greg's last weekend in England with a fun group, though was sad to see him leave, such is the way of the military.
March: Training for the Edinburgh (Scotland) Marathon kicked into higher gear with double-digit weekend runs, mostly in beautiful Bury St Edmunds with Martin. Managed to squeeze in a "girls' weekend" trip to Bath and Stonehenge with 3 new friends. We relaxed in a spa, toured the historic Roman Baths, and wandered around the world's most famous pile of rocks.
April: Possibly the craziest month of the year. First weekend was a 3-day in Warsaw, Poland, with good friends Alex and Martin. We ate pierogies, toured the beautiful "Old Town", and discovered a crowd celebrating International Pillow Fight Day (no joke) in the city center. The second weekend was another 3-day in Newcastle with Martin, where we shopped, ate great food, toured a castle, and ran 7 miles along the river. The day after we got back, I flew to Trieste, Italy, to meet college roommate Carrie! We toured Venice and Trieste, then our flight back to England was cancelled due to an Icelandic volcano eruption which closed UK airspace for almost 2 weeks. Our epic journey back spanned 40 hours, 4 trains, 3 buses, a night on a cold train station floor in Milan, a ferry, and a very good friend (Martin) driving an 8-hour round trip to pick us up from the southern coast of England. Since Carrie's flight back to the US was also cancelled, we toured Cambridge and London with her cousins Mark and Kathryn before she had to leave.
May: Marathon month! I ran a 20-miler 3 weeks before the race and felt great. Celebrated Cinco de Mayo with friends, took 2nd place in a base 10K race, went to a spring bazaar at Mildenhall, and said farewell to my Red Flag weather buddy CeCe. Marathon weekend in Edinburgh was a blast, though I didn't meet my goal time in the full marathon, set a new PR for the half! Martin was my travel buddy and support crew for the race, so I returned the favor on Memorial Day weekend as we traveled to Dover for him to run the rescheduled Dover Half.
June: My parents visited England for the first time since they were stationed here almost 30 years ago. We spent our first weekend seeing all the sights in London, did day trips to Bury St Edmunds, Ely, and Cambridge, then spent our second weekend in Dover and Canterbury. After they left, I was busy hosting 21 AFROTC cadets on base and teaching them about the Operations Group. At the end of June, Alex (one of my best friends) left for her new assignment in Boston, but we had a great farewell out with friends on an overnight trip to London.
July: Began training for an August half-marathon, took 2nd place in the base 4th of July 5K, and had an awesome time with friends at the base 4th of July carnival and fireworks display. Hosted another group of AFROTC cadets, and traveled with friends to an international air show at RAF Fairford to watch our F-15s and Alaska's F-22s put on an impressive show. Sister Lisa came to visit for 2 weeks, and we finished July by celebrating her 21st birthday on a 3-day trip to Paris.
August: Spent the first week with Lisa visiting London, Warwick Castle, Hunstanton Beach, and Cambridge. Then it was off to Nottingham with Martin for our half marathon, with my goal of finally breaking 2 hours. Hot weather kept me from reaching the goal, but had a great time in Nottingham at the Robin Hood Festival, shopping, riding the swings at a city carnival, and eating at Hooters. Martin's mom and aunt visited for his birthday at the end of the month, and I joined them in London to celebrate at the original Hard Rock Cafe, visit the Beatles studio, and walk over the famous crosswalk on Abbey Road.
September: Began with a Labor Day weekend trip with Martin to Alicante, Spain, which was probably one of my favorite trips ever. Alicante is gorgeous, and so much more than a beach... there is a castle on a mountain, a marina full of beautiful yachts and amazing restaurants, a palm-tree-lined boardwalk... just incredible. The second weekend, I hosted a Penn State football party for our big game against Alabama, the current #1 team. We lost the game, but I had 15-20 people in my house and all seemed to have a great time, so that was a success. The next weekend was my 26th birthday, and Martin surprised me by giving up tickets to a rock concert in London to show up at my house with steaks for the grill and Glee Season 1 on DVD. Awww...
October: Returned to Nottingham with Martin to see Mayday Parade, one of our favorite bands, in concert. We also went shopping, toured a network of caves (got to wear hard hats!), and ate at Hooters again. The next week, I met my friend Megan in London for a Lifehouse concert. My favorite band ever put on a great show and Megan caught Jason Wade's guitar pick! The big inspection the base was preparing for all year began, and we got a one-day break for Halloween between that and the NATO TACEVAL.
November: Made it through the TACEVAL!!! We scored very well and everyone was thrilled it was over. I surprised Martin with tickets to the Top Gear Live supercar show in London, and we had an awesome weekend getting up close and personal with Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and the amazing Bugatti Veyron (fastest production car in the world). Base leadership gave us a 4-day weekend over Veterans Day, and Martin and I took advantage of it traveling to a resort in Tenerife, Canary Islands. We hit the slides at a water park, explored the many different shops, some fun restaurants, and just enjoyed relaxing in the sun after all the stress of the TACEVAL. The day after we got back, we went to Norwich to see the Goo Goo Dolls in concert, an amazing show that proved how timeless great music is. Thanksgiving weekend took us to Rome, an absolutely gorgeous city with much more to see than we had time for. We went on an incredible guided tour of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, took a moonlight walk to the magnificent Colosseum, walked through St Peter's Basilica, and joined a crowd in St Peter's Square to see the Pope speak from his famous window.
December: Holiday festivities were in full swing, as well as the stress of the weather flight's pre-inspection. Martin escorted me for the OSS holiday party the first weekend, then I joined him for the 494th Fighter Squadron party the second weekend. The fighter squadron rented out one of the college halls at Cambridge University, and it was an awesome venue and exciting to get dressed up and party with a fun group. Christmas dinner was at my house, with Martin cooking the turkey and a couple friends bringing over some side dishes. Then we rung in the New Year with a group of friends traveling north to Edinburgh, where we celebrated the festival of Hogmanay.
Whew! Just writing all of that makes me tired. I think I must be getting old, because every year seems to go by faster than the last. 2010 was a crazy, busy, up-and-down, whirlwind of a year. I just read my parents' Christmas letter last week, and they wrote that I was in my "dream assignment" here at Lakenheath. I can't really think of a better way to say it... it stills blows my mind every time I stop to think about where I am, the opportunities I have had, and the things I have done here. Not every day is a dream, especially recently with the overwhelming pressure at work, but nothing can dim how much I love this country, this base, and the people I've met here.
SO much has changed during 2010. I began the year with a weather flight as close as family, just a taste of the international travel I had already fallen in love with, and all kinds of ideas and plans in my head about what 2010 would be like. At the end of 2010, my weather flight friends have either moved or just grown apart, but I have many more friends in my peer group who I have so much more in common with. I still love my flight and miss the ones who are gone, but I think I have grown as a person by defining myself outside of a given group. I had international adventures in 2010 that I never could have imagined. And I had these adventures with people I didn't even know on New Year's 2010, people who would become some of my best friends. Martin and I started dating in November, after cementing a friendship at Red Flag back in January.
So... did any of my ideas and plans for 2010 actually come true? Just a few, but for the most part I was surprised by the beautiful unpredictability that is life. I don't have any New Year's resolutions for 2011, really, but there are a few things I'd like to do... more like goals than resolutions, I guess. An obvious goal is to get the weather flight through the next 2 months and pass our inspection. Another thing is to be better about keeping in touch with family and geographically separated friends. I want to run a spring half-marathon, and maybe a fall marathon if I don't get deployed. I want to clean out the "box room" (aka junk room, ideally office) in my house. And then there are a few I'll just keep in my mind for now.
Thank you for reading this, and I will try to write more frequently this year! Happy New Year and love to all! :-)
Saturday, October 23, 2010
It's Showtime
Hello from the beginning of the two-week inspection we have been training all spring, summer, and fall for. It officially began on Thursday, resulting in a 15-hour day, and an extra training session today (Saturday). We will probably be called in on Sunday too, but don't know what time yet. As frustrating as things have already become, all I have to say is... TWO MORE WEEKS!!! Then we are DONE. So that's what I'm thinking about. :-)
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What have I been doing since I last wrote? Mostly work, but there have been a few fun exceptions. The first weekend in October, Martin and I went back to Nottingham to see one of our favorite bands, Mayday Parade. We drove up there on Saturday afternoon, walked around the city and had dinner before the show, which was awesome. I have a video from one song where the crowd starts jumping and lights start flashing and it looks like an earthquake hit the building... will have to figure out how to cut the video into a smaller file to upload!
We spent Sunday morning and afternoon shopping and exploring one of Nottingham's unique attractions... caves! There is a network of caves under the city that were used for tanning animal skins in medieval times, as well as bomb shelters in WWII. Guess what my favorite part of the tour was? We got to wear hard hats!!! :-D Here is a picture (I think I might have been a little more excited about the hats than Martin was):
The next week, I went out on a school night(!) to see Lifehouse, my favorite band ever, in London. I met my friend Megan at the show, and we had a great time. We were pretty close to the stage, and Megan got Jason Wade's guitar pick when he threw it into the crowd! Here is a picture of us posing with the pick while waiting at a Tube station after the show:
I am planning to create a Concerts photo album on Facebook and upload all of the pics from Mayday Parade and Lifehouse, plus the next show on my list... Goo Goo Dolls in Norwich on Nov 15th! So excited. :-) I will post that link when the album is ready.
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The fact that I cannot wait for the next two weeks to be over goes without saying, but even more so because of all of the exciting things planned in November. The first weekend in Nov is a trip I cannot talk about yet because it is a surprise for my travel buddy, but I can promise you it is going to be an awesome weekend and there will be lots of pictures. It's hard to keep the secret because I am so excited!
The second weekend in Nov is a 4-day thanks to Veteran's Day and a Lakenheath day off on Friday the 12th. Sooo... I am going to Tenerife, in the Canary Islands!!! If you are unfamiliar with Tenerife, here is a quote from Wikitravel: "Tenerife is probably one of the last European paradise isles. It offers lush forests, exotic fauna and flora, deserts, mountains, volcanos, incredibly beautiful coastlines and spectacular beaches." Sounds like the perfect place to unwind after months of stress, doesn't it? SO EXCITED!!!
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And last but not least, the second 4-day weekend in November, courtesy of Thanksgiving, will be spent in... Rome! I feel like I should be pinching myself, but if this is a dream, I'm not sure I want to wake up. It absolutely blows my mind sometimes to think how blessed I am to be living here and having all of these experiences. God is so good... because I have definitely not done anything in my life to deserve any of this. Grace is a beautiful thing.
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Good List:
1. Countdown... 13 days! (Til the final ENDEX, of course)
2. Taylor Swift Fridays. I have established a policy of always listening to Taylor Swift CDs in the car on Fridays, and even the first notes put me in a better mood despite the craziness.
3. Pumpkin carving. Martin and I will be carving jack-o-lanterns this afternoon, and I can't wait to light them up outside my house! (Will have to post a pic later)
4. Arbor Mist Strawberry White Zinfandel.
5. Glee. I am 100% addicted. Only the season finale left to watch from Season 1, then on to downloading/catching up with Season 2!
6. Two legal and working (for the most part) cars.
7. Plants vs Zombies. It is a computer game, and it is amazing... and completely addicting. O:-)
8. People who make me laugh when I am stressed.
9. Soup in a sourdough bread bowl. Panera gets credit for the original, but reproductions turn out pretty well!
10. Sweatpants and slippers when it is rainy and cold outside.
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