MilSpouse Blog Hop!

I love bloghops, don't you? They let you find so many people that you have so much in common with that you would never find otherwise. It's just great. Kumbaya, bloghop, kumbaya.

This particular bloghop is for MilSpouses and comes from...


And I'm cheating a little (I can only hit you guys with so many bloghop posts a month, but I love finding new blogs to love!) and adding this to the bloghop here:



Now to my mini-bio!

I'm not actually a MilSpouse yet, but I will be in 2 weeks! And one day, but I'm not counting that day...because I don't want to and I can do what I want...right? ;)

My fiance, B, is commissioning from an ROTC program as a 2nd Lt in the Air Force in June. Our first PCS is in Middleofnowhere, Western USA. True fact. Really. Well, it's actually in the cornerofnowhere, but that's besides the point.



I'm a multi-year senior in University intending on a bachelor's in Secondary English Education. I love to travel, if just for the weekend or for months at a time in other countries. We're outdoors-y people, and we camp and boat often in the summers.

We love dogs, and will go to adoption events even though we know better than to get one right now. I have a dog, Chase, but he is staying here when we PCS. I have a seriously hard time not laughing in posed pictures--pretty sure I'm incapable of it. I photograph everything, sometimes I even get a good shot. DIY home crafts make me gitty. I bake and write. Sometimes I even write about baking. I also believe that the world would be a better place if Marisa de los Santos would crank out another novel and Boy Meets World would release all it's seasons on DVD. I am a philanthropist for a billion things--mostly involving women and kids--and I never make the decision on where we are eating dinner.

I actually joined Blogger to "meet" other military wives before B and I were even engaged. We were one of those gag couples that knew very early on that we were in it for the longhaul, and I wanted to know more about the life of the military wife. I found it, and I absolutely love learning more and more so I'd love to hear from you all!

Thanks for stopping by, and head on over to these blogs if you want to join in on the fun!

Tuesday Tribute: Me to We

A couple weeks ago, I had the honour of meeting an amazing young man named Michel Chikwanine(chick-wah-nee-nay), and hearing him speak to a group of college students.


I've never met anyone quite like Michel. He grew up in the Republic of Congo, and at 5 years old was kidnapped and made into a child soldier. He was able to escape his captors, but only to go home where a few years later rebels broke into his home and forced him to watch at his mother and sisters were gang raped. The family managed to escape Congo and made it to a refugee camp in Uganda, and Michel and his mother eventually made it to Canada--one of his sisters and father were killed during this process.
This is definitely not the end or all of Michel's story, and the way he has handled it with such maturity is amazing to me. Especially because, at the end of his speech, a student raised his hand and asked "Is the War in Africa still going on?"
This astounded me. Sometimes I forget that not all young people have a connection to the world outside of their own--not all young people frequent CNN or watch the nightly news. But, the War in Africa, since 1994, has killed more people than WWI and WWII combined...and I feel that it is necessary for everyone to know about it.

Michel travels and shares his story with people all over the world with a group called Me to We.



Me to We offers leadership programs, volunteer trips to Kenya, India, Mexico, Educador, China and even Arizona, tour inspirational speakers to education people about particular world matters and even overcoming difficult obsticles. And they do all this while making the environmental carbon impact as low as possible. They also sell organic and donate one tee shirt (or one book, depending on what you buy) for every one tee shirt purchased.

But, the best thing about Me to We is that they donate 50% of their profits to Free the Children.

What is Free the Children, you ask? Well, you'll just have to wait for the next Tuesday Tribute :)

But, if you want to here a little bit of how Michel delivers his amazing inspiration...

This is Me

This is me worn out, tired, coughing, sneezing, on allergy meds, busy writing papers, in the final weeks of the semester, close to finals, three weeks from a wedding, working like crazy, the day before a twelve hour workday, wanting to post a Tuesday Tribute but not, making a post without even one picture, worried about switching health insurance/car insurance/cell phones, worried about taxes, worried about summer income, worried about summer classes, worried that I didn't know the word "preocupado" in spanish meant "worried" until yesterday when I should have known that months ago, living off mountain dew, nervous about the caffeine intake vs. my heart, running out of time, and out of energy.

It's not always roses and sunflowers. I feel like that is masked too much in the blog world. So, I just unmasked it. Sometimes life is just plain nuts.

Nashville: Where they keep the horse caves.

B and I often have conversations about the smallest things that go on way longer than they ever should. So, when we were driving through Kentucky on our way to Nashville, we passed a sign for Horse Cave...

Me: "Hmm. Horse cave honey, should we go?"
B: "I wonder if it's a cave shaped like a horse of a cave big enough to fit a horse in?"
Me: "I'm wondering if it's an actual cave or if it's the name of the city."
B: "It might be the name of the city, but I bet there was at one point a cave called Horse Cave there."
Me: "Probably!"
B: "Maybe that's just what they call barns."

Hahahaha. So now everytime we pass a barn, we go "Look! A horse cave!"

Anyway...to Nashville!

We stayed in a pretty nice hotel across the street from Opryland, about a mile from Opry Mills mall. So, of course, our first order of business was shopping! We met this 'little' guy in bass pro...


But Friday night we headed downtown to BB Kings Blues Club, which is an absolutely amazing place. B loved it too!


Then dropped into the "world famous" Wildhorse Saloon!


Saturday we ate lunch at the Aquarium restaurant in Opry Mills


Then headed down the Centennial Park, where we discovered a huge earth day festival. But, we were really there to see the worlds only replica of the Parthenon! Which is amazing! Did I ever tell you I have a tattoo that says "Athena" in ancient greek? Because I do. Parthenon=rocks.


And, all in all, it was a great weekend! Definitely well spent :)

Again, I'm still without backlight, so I apologize if I have a billion typos or these pictures suck a lot. I can't see them haha! It's definitely new computer time for me!

Done, Check, Next?

Things have been super busy around here, and I know I haven't done an update post on the wedding plans for awhile. I will say, though, planning a wedding takes a lot more effort than I ever would have imagined.

And can I just say that I don't understand why people think I should be nervous? Every time people ask when the wedding is, I say "about a month away now," and they immediately go "Ooo, close. Are you getting nervous?" No. I'm not nervous. I'm marrying my best friend. Why the crap would I be nervous? But, I usually take the polite way out and answer with a "no, I don't have time to be nervous!" Which is true!

The only thing I'm really nervous about at all is that I'm not going to be the one in charge. I know that sounds "i'm a control freak"-ish, but I trust myself to do things more than I trust others to do things haha! B is always saying "I can help you with stuff!" but...well, I mean when we did the save the dates I had him put a few of the mailing address labels on the envelopes, and they were so sideways that "straight" wasn't even in it's vocabulary. So, I'm like "hmm, thanks baby, but uh...I'm doing fine" haha. The biggest reason I like to do everything myself is mostly because if I screw it up, I can only blame myself. I can get over blaming myself a lot quicker than someone else screwing it up. I know, I'm nuts.

So what has gotten done lately?

The girls flowers as well as ordering the flowers for the church.


Favors and Pew Bows.


Hair picked, and trial run done (PS. This girl is not me, just FYI. I showed this to my Grandma and said "this is how I'm doing my hair for the wedding." She said "I like that. Your face isn't going to look like this, is it?" I replied, lovingly, with "No gram, I think I'll wear my own face that day.")


All reception songs chosen.
All readings chosen.
All readers chosen, notified, accepted.
All bridal party gifts purchased.
Pre-Cana attended.
FOCCUS meeting with priest accomplished.
B's passport attained.
Rehearsal dinner booked and invites sent out.

Up next:
Meeting with the music lady at the church.
Obtain marriage license.
Meet with wedding coordinator at church.
Construct programs for ceremony.
Purchase/Choose parent gifts (Any ideas here?)
Finalize things with photographer and DJ.
Pay remainder for photobooth.
Purchase video camera.
And have final two dress fittings. I was supposed to go to the "month before" fitting today, but the seamstress called and I guess something happened involving her car, purse, and store keys so it's rescheduled for tomorrow!

Phew!

Also, I apologize for any ridiculous typos in this entry! The backlight on my computer went out, so I'm using a desklamp to see the screen and it's not working too well! It's a really funny sight to see, though! ;)

From Monday to Nashville

This Monday, B and I both had the day off. No work, no classes. It was lucky, and it was great. So, we went kayaking...



...and then we went hiking...




...and then I bought a bajillion $$ worth of allergy medicine.

And Monday night my mom and I took the rare opportunity to go out to dinner together "wherever the hell we want to go" (her words), so we chose Chili's. There isn't a Chili's close to our house, so we drove a little ways and lived out our plan: get one appetizer and split it, and then eat an entire Molten Chocolate Cake as our main course with a cocktail on the side. If you have not had this cake, you are like missing the sunrise your entire life--it's that amazing.



And this weekend, we are taking an impromptu trip to Nashville! Really. I haven't even found or booked a hotel for us yet! Anyone else going to be around there this weekend?

Wild horse saloon? BB Kings? Here we come!

I did NOT see that coming.

Since we are getting married in 37 days, I thought it would probably be a good idea for us to pick our songs, readings, readers, etc. Seems like a plausible, yet procrastinative, and reason to make up some wordage idea.

I picked "Daddy's Angel" by T Carter Music for my biological father. Nice, but doesn't say anything like "when I taught you to ride a bike" or "sang you to bed every night," but it will also keep me from having to hear about it for the rest of my life. Win/win.

B's mom picked "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts for them. The song I WOULD have chosen for my bio-daddy had she not beaten me to the punch.

But, I was having a really hard time with the song for my stepdad. He's not a sappy dude, he's a funny dude, but I wanted him to know that I love him...so it wasn't easy.

I eventually narrowed it down to two songs: "Daughter" by Loudon Wainwright, and "He Didn't Have to Be" by Brad Paisley. Still couldn't decide. So I gave him the two songs, and told him to pick.

This is what he picks....


...okay then, dad! Lion King it is! Weirdo ;)

I'd like to thank...

G.I. Joe's Wife and Mrs. Sergeant for these lovely awards! ...back in February, that I am just getting too. Thanks ladies!



The rules are:
1. Thank and link to the person that gave you the award.
2. Pass this award on to 15 bloggers you’ve recently discovered and whom you think are fantastic.
3. Contact said Blogs and let them know they've won
4. State 7 things about yourself

New bloggers of greatness that shall be receiving this award are:

G.I. Joe's Wife
Me, Him and the Army
Diary of an Air Force Wife
Scatterbrained Frame of Mind

7 things about me:

1. I LOVE Horizon Organic vanilla low-fat milk. The fact that our local grocery chain has just started carrying it in individual boxes makes me giddy.
2. I'm a sucker for heartfelt cards and letters. Not so much for cheesy lines.
3. I really miss working at a bookstore, because I did 98% of my reading in those days while I was there.
4. Finding/using a good pen makes my whole week.
5. Pepsi is way better than Coke.
6. Nights when all the windows in the house are left open are my favorite. I love to hear the sounds from outside in the evening and morning.
7. The One Tree Hill soundtracks have provided me with 90% of my favorite music over the past four years. And I don't even watch the show anymore.




Rules
1. Post where you want to be in 10 years
2. Pass it on to 10 of your bloggy friends!

In ten years, I hope to have two beautiful children and be living somewhere warm. Or, at least, south of the horizontal line that we can't seem to get off of. Maybe Europe, maybe Hawaii. We will see! And I'll be teaching, of course, but that's a given. I hope to be actively, highly, involved in some kind of charitable organization in support of one of the billion things I love to support. I plan to be disaster-relief trained by the red cross for house fires and natural disaster readiness. And I'll be loving my life!

Lucky loves receiving:

Mrs. Sergeant
jesstagirl and her officer
New Girl on Post
Sgt and Mrs. Hub
That [Officers] Wife

Thanks again ladies!