The Start of 2014!

I've been getting some slack about my lack of updates on my blog so what a better time to update than the start of a new year?  Hopefully, this will be the start of regular updates, perhaps once a month...

Since the last post, just before Thanksgiving I believe, we have been busy!!

Kristin's Career

As I mentioned, I got a job!  Since I've officially started I can disclose my awesomeness!  I'm a Project Manager for JPMorgan Chase.  All of those annoying emails from companies like Southwest regarding 2 free roundtrip tickets, it's people like me that manage those projects.  I used to just put those in my email trash, but now I review them as a tangible result of my work, although, Southwest isn't one of my partners, they are managed within my team.  The daily commute of 100 miles roundtrip isn't a blast, but if I have to do it the tollway here makes it smooth.  Even though I am in a contract position now, I do hope to become full time in May because there are some seriously awesome opportunities at Chase and I would absolutely love to make them part of my career path!

Thanksgiving

We hosted our first holiday and it was a success!  First, Ms. Kara came into town on the train right across the stress from my work which was super convenient and great to have a friend from home!  Once we got home she helped me prep a few dishes for Thanksgiving day.  Thanksgiving day started around 7am after waking up both my dad and my mother in law in Colorado at 5am MST...ooops!  I needed clarification on how to prep the turkey and make Bobby's favorite side dish of Sweet Potato Casserole.  For documentation purposes we made the following dishes:

• Turkey, duh
• Homemade Stuffing from french bread- my favorite
• Sweet Potato Casserole with Oatmeal AND marshmallow topping
• Mashed Potatoes
• Cherry Pineapple Jello fruit salad, Barrett recipe
• Green Bean Casserole, apparently this is a must
• Deviled eggs
• Rolls
• Homemade gravy, of course
• Pumpkin Pie

After about 6 hours everything had finally finished and our friends on base had arrive with some awesome pies to share.  I think I'm ready for next year!

Christmas

Wow!  This is still fresh in my mind since we haven't even been home for a week!  Last year, Christmas was super busy because we were getting married and weddings are a lot of work.  This year, I had just started my new job which comes with a long commute and I decided to make about half of our gifts.  I sewed aprons last year for our sisters, and this year I made wreaths for our moms and my sister.  For my grandma I had intended to make a quilt, but time was too limited so that's my current project.  On Friday, the 20th, I flew out to Colorado and spent a little time with my mom and dad before Bobby flew out on Monday night.  Splitting the trip 3 ways kept us busy, but it was nice to see everyone.  I have to say this year was pretty awesome in terms of gifts that were not on our list- our family knows us well and I'm very excited about all of our new things.  One thing I have to share is our new Colorado canvas that Janelle (Bobby's younger sister) made.  She made this with crayons and a blowdryer, an idea she found on Pinterest and had to hide it from me since I steal a lot of her CO pins :)  Oh and I have to mention my awesome new macbook air (my first mac) from my Hubby!!

New Year's

Last year's New Years Eve was the lamest ever!  After driving some 15 hours in a snow/ ice storm from Colorado to Texas we made it back to Fort Worth around 9pm and were passed out by 10pm only to wake up around 2am to whisper "Happy New Year" and fall back asleep.  This year, I was determined to make it more fun so we decided to host our first party!  Since Bobby wasn't arriving until Monday afternoon, we have to hustle to get everything together and cleaned around the house for the party to take place on Tuesday evening, but we did it!  I think Bobby stressed more than me for a change.  There weren't any dull moments, just a social evening with awesome friends and some seriously good snacks!  My personal favorite were these Sopapilla Cheesecake squares made by Kristen.  To top it off, clean up was easier than I expected!

Since it is a new year, I suppose I'll disclose my resolutions...

1. Be nice to my hubby
2. Stop cussing
3. Run a half marathon*

*It looks like I have a few friends to run with me as well.  Our goal is to complete the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Washington D.C. mid March.  

Before I start training I need to get better.  After losing my voice for the past few days I went to the Doctor today and have an upper respiratory infection, which I seem to get every January now.  I'm still trying to get used to my hypothyroid medicine as well.  Lately, I've been rocking on a boat because of it so hopefully that kicks in soon!

Finally, the most exciting thing to share is that Bobby will complete training this month and be mission qualified!!  This should be a good thing for both of us.  I know Bobby is excited to actually partake in something other than training and of all the things he gets to fly!  That's just cool!  I'm still in awe every morning when I see him dressed in his flight suit and aviators...a man in uniform never gets old!  For me, it will be good to have some alone time when I get home from work as well.  He's been so helpful with getting dinner ready for when I get home, but sometimes just getting the house to myself is a breath of fresh air.  We're still trying to balance our time since we were apart the last 2 years, and when we got time together we put everything else on hold.  Oh, as part of his missions I almost forgot, he can bring some cool presents home for me sine he will be visiting the world, albeit without me.

2014 is going to be a great year and I am so blessed to have everyone and everything in my life!  I really have it made!!  Until next time...make things happen!!

Finally feeling settled!

It's been quite a while since my first and last post so in light of recent events I think it's time for an update.  Upon moving I was excited for an inordinate amount of changes, but they definitely took their toll on my energy.  To recap we arrived to Dover, Delaware after driving over 2200 miles from Fort Worth, Texas.  2200 miles only because we went to visit some friends and family along with spending a romantic night at Niagara Falls.

As promised, Bobby and I went to my favorite spot in DFW, Dough Pizzeria after I finally got to see him for the first time in 24 days due to training.  After packing our cars we got a much later start on our drive and made it to Tinker AFB around midnight on September 1st.  After what seemed like forever driving to Oklahoma and Kansas we made it to my sister-in-laws house in Omaha and enjoyed some nice coal-fired pizzas and homemade ice cream.  Then on we went to my friends house to enjoy lunch at Zombie Burger with her family and new baby which I held all through lunch!  If you're ever around Des Moines, IA check out that place because their cake and dessert shakes are awesome!!  At this point we began to realize that we underestimated how exhausted we'd be after a day of driving.  Once we got to Chicago we showered and crashed, unfortunately missing their night life.  After some much needed rest we did get to check out the city for much of the day and we'd be happy to visit there again.  While we were there we had the most amazing breakfast at the Wildberry Cafe in Millennium Park.  I had their Signature Bliss Pancakes which tasted like vanilla creme brule in between each layer of sweet vanilla pancakes!!!  I wouldn't dare add syrup at the risk of ruining them.  I'll post a picture once I find one.  Bobby had a pretty awesome breakfast buritto; neither one of us wanted to stop eating...surprise surprise.  The most gorgeous part of the drive was from Niagara Falls through New York and Pennsylvania to Maryland.  It was a long day driving through all of that, but we had to stop so many times because it was so beautiful.  First off, Niagara Falls has a reputation for a reason, well at least on the Canada side.  We stayed on the 39th floor of the Embassy Suites with some of the best views I have ever seen.  On our last night of the trip we caught the last bit of the Broncos v. Ravens game so needless to say we slept well after that win!

Finally, we made it to Dover and there was a house ready for us to move into upon arrival!  Our first house!  With the movers coming after the weekend and my dad coming just 2 days after that I had my work cut out!   With my dad in town we cruised through nearly a 200 mile radius of Dover by going to NYC and Colonial Williamsburg, VA in only 10 days.  It was nice to have family after moving even farther away, but I think we'll wait a few weeks before entertaining next time.  Only now, 2 months later do I feel settled in and like this house is slowly becoming home.  Originally, when we arrived I thought a whole house to ourselves was going to be plenty big, after all  we didn't even own a bedroom set for ourselves.  After I started unpacking the kitchen and our textbooks we quickly outgrew the some 1800 square-feet.  On the social realm I forgot how hard it is to make friends in a new area!  Fortunately, some neighbors introduced themselves to us the first day and took us out for some pizza!  A few weeks later, we met some people from Bobby's squadron that have since invited us to more social events and parties and I am having a great time!!

Now that we are going broke from buying furniture for our new house I am excited to announce that I have been offered a job as of this morning!!  I am officially transferring industries to the finance sector as a Project Manager.  While I have no background in finance I enjoy working with numbers, and the PM position at my last job seemed to be a better fit for me than Design Engineer so I think this is going to be a great opportunity for me!!

Who knows when the next post will be so keep in touch!!

A New Beginning...TOGETHER!

For my first blog post, what a better rant than going over all of the things I am excited for in the next 2-3 weeks!  It's a little lengthy, but pretty dang awesome!!

I can't believe it!!  We're finally down to just 13 days before we move and get to be together!!!  Since 2012 began Bobby and I have been living between 385 and 404 miles apart, depending on the route you take. With the exception of our wedding in December and his UPT graduation/ Honeymoon we haven't been together for more than 5 consecutive days and we're supposed to call ourselves married.  In 13 days we will head on the road to Delaware TOGETHER!

There are so many great things about this new adventure!  The first of which is when I see him return from training after not seeing him for 24 days and run into a huge hug...well that's my expectation anyway!  I hope he's prepared! :-P  

Secondly, we are going to my 2 favorite places in DFW to do nothing other than EAT!  Duh!  We're going to Dough Pizzeria for a house-made mozzarella ball, then traditional Neopolitan pizza in their 800* wood fired oven, and finally their marshmallow-nutella panini with homemade whipped cream and caramel drizzle!! My mom and sister-in-law, Tiffani, can attest to the greatness of this place!  Just in case we don't have diabetes by then we're going to stop by my first favorite, a little closer to home, Sweet Sammies!  There they have homemade cookies of nearly 20 varieties and they sandwich any 2 cookies of your choosing with a big round scoop of Blue Bell ice cream!  After our tummies are happy we have to load up our last minute items into the cars and weigh them full.  Then we will be ready to hit the road!

The third exciting part of this new adventure is all of the wonderful places we have decided to drive through on our way to Delaware. 

Day #1 August 31 Destination: Oklahoma City, OK
Since Bobby is going to begin his day VERY early it is going to be a plenty long day for him.

Day #2 September 1 Destination: Des Moines, IA
A very good friend, Nicky, who was actually the Matron of Honor at our wedding just had a baby and moved to guess where? Des Moines, IA.  Since we're headed to the north anyway this wasn't too far out of the way so I finally get to hold that baby that was hiding at my wedding!  About the time we're going to need lunch we'll be in Kansas City, KS which means we are getting BBQ!  I've already mapped out the Diner's Drive-Ins and Dives along our route and picked a place.  For dinner, Nicky chose Zombie Burgers.  (There weren't any dives near Des Moines.)  I'm not a Zombie enthusiast, nor a big burger fan, so I looked up their menu.  I think I will survive since they have a ton of options including...CAKE SHAKES!!  I already warned Bobby that he is going to have to get one so I can try 2 because I just can't decide.  Go figure.  They have cake mix and ice cream and some even have vodka!  Ready for those!

Day #3 September 2 Destination: Chicago, IL
Neither of us have been to Chicago, but it is directly on the route from Iowa and from the sounds of it, there's always something going on in Chicago.  We're going to stay downtown and eat none other than Bobby's favorite...Deep Dish Pizza!  Yeah...we like food...A LOT!  From one of Bobby's UPT peers we have a recommendation to check out Lou Malnati's for the deep dish!  After dinner, we're going to be about a mile away from the Willis Tower, previously known as the Sears Tower.  I think we'll need a least the mile walk.

Day #4 September 3 Destination: Cleveland, IL
Cleveland has been in the spotlight lately and not for anything good, but it is a dead split between Chicago and our next destination.  The best part about Cleveland, according to my inexperienced opinion?  There's a dive, Melt Bar and Grilled!  They have some awesome grilled cheese masterpieces apparently including a Man vs. Food Challenge with some 5 lbs of cheese.  I told Bobby about it and he's seriously considering it- he could do it!

Day #5 September 4 Destination: NIAGARA FALLS in Canada
I am probably most excited about this day than the others just because I never thought I would get to go here.  Everyone says that the Canada side is better than the U.S. side, apparently they take better care of it, shocker!  It's a short drive from Cleveland so we're going to get there pretty early.  I'd like to do the Maid of the Mist boat ride down to the falls.  Ahh and how romantic is it that the room we're staying in has a view of BOTH of the falls!?  It's going to be a great night!

Day #6 September 5 Destination: Hershey, PA
Originally, I was very excited to stay here, although recently I looked up the hours of downtown Hershey and I'm not positive they are going to be open.  That would be a bummer.  In any case, the best rated place for Philadelphia cheesesteaks is apparently near Hershey where we are staying.

Day #7 September 6 Destination DOVER A.F.B.
Finally!  After driving separately for over 2,000 miles it will be so great to be in our new home with the long drives behind us!  We already have an address assigned to us on base and an appointment with the housing office at 11am!  It would be absolutely fabulous if our belongings, which should already be in temporary storage in Maryland, could be delivered and unpacked that day!  We could use to the weekend to get settled in; however, I'm not getting my hopes up that that's how things will work out.  In any case I'm hoping that they will be delivered early the next week since the next part of our adventure happens...

Since we knew we were going to move not long after getting married, I left most of our wedding gifts packed up which means that we get to open them all over again!  We get to really be newlyweds in OUR home and have matching dishes and print wedding pictures.  Over 8 months into our marriage we get to start all over again in bliss!  

Fifth, my dad and step-mom are coming to visit us Thursday, September 12!  I love entertaining so I am very excited to use all of our new wedding gifts to entertain for them!  I think everyone in our families enjoys food so it's going to be awesome.  I already have a list of things to bake for them!  The first weekend they are in town we're going to head up to New York specifically for the surprise I managed to get Bobby.  It was mine and my dad's idea to do this, but currently, I only have 2 tickets for the event and obviously 4 would be great so we can all be together.  The problem is the tickets for the event are upwards of $200 a piece aka TOO MUCH!  I'm sure things will work out one way or another.

Beyond all of that excitement we have 2 more families to come visit us AND my 99 year old Great Grandma lives just over an hour away and also, my uncle lives about 2 hours away in the opposite direction.