9.28.2008

Hey, I like my family...AS A FRIEND!

Cherche la bouche

"Narrator: Here in southern Texas, they have an additional problem...
Crow: Texans."


I decided earlier today that I wanted to get a burrito from California Tortilla up the block from the hospital and since I didn't feel much like getting ganked, I took my co-worker with me. We decided to wear our lab coats since it was still kind of drizzling outside, and we didn't want to get too wet.

As we were walking down to the burrito place, we saw some inner city folks packing up their wares (re - vending machine food) for the day. The woman suddenly (and very snarkily) yells "Hey, look at the interns!". (We of course are not interns, but I suppose we were too young to look like bonafide researchers)

I came dangerously close to yelling back, "Hey, look at the street vendor!" to which one of two things would have occurred :

1) I would have been stabbed in the neck
2) I would have been shot point blank in the eye

Hard as it may be, you have to know when to keep your yap shut around these here parts. Gotta love Baltimore.

On a lighter, less wrinkled note

I was looking through the health section of our hospitals webpage when I came across this :

"Have a Few Wrinkles or Fine Lines You Would Like to Soften?

The Shock Trauma Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Service is now offering Botox injections, Radiesse, Restylane and Perlane fillers at pleasing rates. Just call 410-999-9999 to make your appointment or to ask questions. "

So I suppose in between saving lives, they will be filling in our wrinkles at pleasing rates.

Trooper 2

It is truly a sad day for us here in Maryland, particularly those in the trauma center/state police family. Earlier this morning one of our Medevac choppers, known to us as "Trooper 2" went down in a wooded area shortly after lift-off from a crash scene with two injured on board. Unfortunately four of the five on board did not make it, including the pilot, the flight nurse and another EMT along with one of the injured from the auto crash. I woke up to this horrifying news after I read about it in my morning ritual of scanning Fox News.

This news truly hit home for alot of us here at the trauma center. They weren't on their way to us, but on their way to another hospital. We have had pretty bad weather the past couple of days, and it is rare that they will fly the helicopters on those days unless absolutely necessary. It is quite the risk to all involved.

I was invited to fly along with Trooper 1 for a day (since I work in the trauma center) and of course that was my first thought was that it were friends I had made who fly Trooper 1. But we have met all of the troopers so far, some we have gotten to know better than others. These are some of the hardest working people, obviously risking their lives to save others. It just really intensifies my feelings on how people drive, and the personal safety precautions they take to ensure safety for themselves and for others. I find it to be such a selfish act to drive drunk, drive aggressively, drive recklessly, ride scooters/ATV's without a proper helmet, not be on the lookout for motorcyclists, etc. These are the crashes and injuries we see come in all the time in the trauma center, and most times they are flown in to us via our Trooper choppers. People need to think for a second before they hop behind the wheel after having "a few beers", or before they speed up on that wet road and try to pass the person in front of them who is going too slow. And while there is a helmet law here in Maryland, there is no law governing those who ride scooters, mopeds or ATV's. You don't know how many times I have seen a person come in with severe head trauma from riding these without a helmet. Most times those riding the scooters, etc. are not wearing protective head gear. It only takes a second folks. A second to make the choice between safer living, or injuries and worse.

Please keep the families of those aboard Trooper 2 in your thoughts and prayers. And think longer before doing something that could potentially harm yourself or others around you.

Maryland State Police Aviation Command - Trooper 2

9.26.2008

Kung-Fu time

Narrator: Here is a good time to point out a few facts about eggs.
Mike: Stop throwing them at my car.


I left you yesterday with feelings of disillusionment about how my brother was falsely accused of an act that never occurred and was never even investigated. I also left you with a feeling of redemption and pride when I told you about how our state senator was going to take care of things for dear young Cesaro.

I don't want you to think that the entire military is this way. The military as a whole is great, honorable and mighty. But we have to remember that we are still dealing with people here - and at a very basic level people can be jerks. And sometimes you need to go above the heads of those jerks and have someone put them in line.

You must also remember that I am a sister who is fiercely protective of her brother, and not really one who likes to sit back and watch injustice of any kind being tossed around. So I am happy to inform you that wheels are in motion and things are being done to investigate and exonerate Cesaro. Pretty freaking amazing eh? It also feels good to know that he has someone as powerful as a state senator in his corner fighting for him. I could maybe understand everything if the AF had actually taken the time to investigate and accept all of the proof Cesaro had offered up to them to prove his innocence. But they didn't. I'm not quite sure what they were hoping to accomplish, or how long they would have taken had Sen. Mikulski not stepped in.

I may not have voted for her in the election, but I am very grateful to her for all of her help.

9.25.2008

You gotta fight. For your right. To serve this country?

"Crow: I thought it was deep...
Joel: What did you think, Servo?
Servo: I thought it was pathetic.
Crow: So deep, we should've been wearing boots"


Although I am not military myself (I have neither the guts nor the glory) I have strangely found myself surrounded by military men both in my immediate family, extended family and the man I plan to start a family with. My grandfather, two uncles and an aunt were all enlisted Air Force when I was a kid, although this didn't really mean much to me.

It wasn't until my younger brother (we will call him "Fush") joined the Air Force ROTC in college that it began to mean something to me. Fush went to an expensive private engineering college up in Hoboken, N.J and found ROTC to be a great way to help him pay some of his college loans. So he commissioned into the Air Force as a 2nd Lieutenant and went on his merry way. I then met Mr. Hot Pilot who just so happened to be an Air Force Major who graduated from the Air Force Academy. The idea of a military-ish lifestyle began to move itself to the forefront of my mind when I realized that I will someday soon marry this man and be a military wife. However I also knew that his being an officer would make our lifes much more "cushy" than the ordinary enlisted man's life.

Now enter my youngest brother (we shall call him Cesaro). He is was a fresh-faced 17 year old with the world at his feet when he graduated high school. I begged and pleaded that he go to college. It took me 10 years to earn a bachelor of science and by gosh he was going to do it quicker than I did! But he was bored with the whole collegiate scene. And he was proud of his older brother, Fush. I could see it coming from a mile away.

You see Cesaro is alot like me in many ways. I like to force life to happen at breakneck speed - hence a disastrous marriage at the seriously young age of 20. I also changed my mind (and my college major) so many times that I didn't graduate college/find my career of choice/meet the man of my dreams until I was much older. I don't necessarily regret my choices as I realize that there were things in my life and in Mr. Hot Pilots life that had to happen. And when he graduated college I was only 16 and it would have been VERY ILLEGAL. (I LOVE bringing that up to him from time to time, hehe!) But I digress. Cesaro wanted to be a missionary for a while. Then he wanted to be a police officer. All the while he was flirting with the idea of a career in the military. So he decided to enlist in the Air Force. Fush warned him that it was a bad decision. Mr. Hot Pilot (a big guy on campus with AF) warned him against it. Everyone told him to get a degree and THEN go ahead and go in as an officer. Better pay. More respect. A better life. But I knew he wouldn't listen. And so off to basic training (at 17 mind you) he went. To make matters worse, he decided to join Security Forces in order to hopefully further a law enforcement job in the future.

Fast forward 6 months. Cesaro has had his main graduation and has now graduated from tech school. He graduated top 10% of his class and received the coveted distinguished graduate (DG) award. (Awards are a big deal in the military I am finding) But see, there was one little problem. Cesaro was in a squadron of a few losers and jerks. Losers and jerks who liked to drink underage, and mess around with other mens wives and go AWOL at liberty. Cesaro kept his nose clean and didn't associate with this handful of losers. But the losers decided to try and clear their name a bit by dragging Cesaro into the fray. Why lets get the DG in on our lunacy! Fabulous idea! So the week before he is to return home and then proceed to his first assignment, he is brought up and told he is going NOWHERE. They are investigating a report that he went AWOL as well. Only no one is investigating. And no higher ups are willing to take Cesaro's physical proof that he did not go AWOL. They are just expecting to get Cesaro to sign a form admitting guilt so they don't have to do a darn thing and can just sweep it under the rug. Cesaro fights back. Mr. Hot Pilot and Fush offer advice to fight back. Mr. Hot Pilot is pissed. My dad decides enough is enough when his phone calls go unanswered and we find that Cesaro's file has been lying in a pile on some Captain's floor for THREE WEEKS. So what is a father to do? He goes above the Air Force's head and goes right to our Senator, Barbara Mikulski. Believe me when I say HEADS ARE ROLLING. People are getting in trouble left and right. And it screams of victory.

You see, here you have a kid who was determined to serve his country the best way he knew how. He worked hard and did all he was supposed to AND THEN SOME. And he gets pooped on by the people he is so determined to fight with for our freedom. It is true there is a lack of respect for the enlisted folks of our military. I'm not sure how many people realize that. Now they are trying to kill my brother's career before it even has started. But Cesaro is fighting back. Fighting for his right to serve our country. And it should never be that way. It isn't the entire military that is this way, just a select few people that want to be lazy and brush over the injustice that has been done. Senator Mikulski has just begun their investigation into this mess, but suddenly wheels are moving.

Amazing isn't it? I will be sure to post updates on the progress.

9.21.2008

Music to my wheels

"Lisa: How do we stand on fuel now?
Crow: I'm for it."


Crazy news story of the day via foxnews.com :

Officials to Pave Over Music-Making Asphalt
Saturday, September 20, 2008


LANCASTER, Calif. — Residents of northern Los Angeles County are not grooving to this music.

Lancaster city officials said this week that they're paving over a quarter-mile strip of asphalt grooved to play the William Tell Overture when auto tires speed over it.

The road was completed this month as part of an ad campaign for Honda. It's engineered to play the overture — also known as the theme to "The Lone Ranger" — at perfect pitch for motorists driving Honda Civics at 55 mph.

But neighbors aren't amused. One says the road music sounds like a high-pitched drone. Another says it keeps him and his wife up at night.

Lancaster officials plan to pave over the grooves Tuesday.

9.20.2008

Worthy of a dirty look

"What's a giant eye going to do, pick you up and wink you to death?" - Joel

Where I work we have a certain uniform of pink scrubs that we wear everyday. The trauma center that I work for is known for their pink scrubs. Since I don't have to get in the muck and yuck with patients, I tend to wear a regular t-shirt over top of my awesome pink scrub pants to try and jazz it up a little and just wear my lab coat over that. So while I was walking from the parking garage to the trauma center, two younger guys followed in step behind me. I couldn't help but overhear their conversation as they were certainly not being very discreet. They were discussing how the trauma center is the only hospital around that makes their nurses/doctors/researchers wear the pink scrubs, and you can always tell if someone works there. Then, with me being the only pink scrub wearing person in the vicinity, I heard one guy go to the other "Yeah, those pink scrubs are the most ill fitting scrubs I have ever seen".

All I have to say is the stink eye I shot him when I turned around was very much warranted.

9.19.2008

Workin' hard...or hardly workin'

Doctor, I think we got our blood donor! -Servo

If you have known me for any length of time (preferabaly from infancy on) you would know that in my younger days I was rather shy. As in the girl who only spoke to those who she knew and hated meeting new people shy. Please, don't ask me what happened (as so many who are accustomed to my mouth so often do)-I'm just grateful I'm not that way anymore.

I remember back in the high school days when I was in **cough, cough** marching band, and we would have to sell subs and pizzas in order to make money to go on our yearly band trip. I HATED selling things. I HATED selling girl scout cookies door to door when I was little (yes I have had the door slammed into my then 6 year old face), and I HATED selling those stupid band subs and pizzas to people as a teen. It was a truly painful job to do. I would retreat to my room every afternoon after school as quickly as possible in order to pretend to be doing copious amounts of homework, all the while escaping my mothers repeated requests for me to get on the phone and sell those darn band subs. As she put it, I needed to "Hump it, and get it done".

Dear Lord. Yes. She actually told me to "Hump It." To this day I can not reflect on that phrase without my face going completely beet red. My poor mom had no idea in the world what that phrase could possibly mean to a 16 year old.

So year after torturous year, we would go through band sub season with my doing the best freaking homework job ever, and my mother hounding me to "Hump It."

I did eventually quit the marching band, not so much because of the horrendous sales job I did (although that was a good part of it) but because our band leader was just a terrible, horrible, thoughtless, evil, fat pony-tailed man. And so I was out.

Since then I have never, ever taken a job where I had to rely on my sales savvy in order to pay my bills. Instead after high school and while pursuing a college degree (that took 10 years to acheive) I worked in Pharmacy as a pharmacy tech. People were usually too giddy and excited to get their meds to really give a hard time (except that guy who wouldn't pay the $10.01 copay because 'his copay was $10.00 dammit!')

So here I am with a fresh, new college degree and a brand new job as a clinical research assistant. I cannot begin to tell you how awesome my job is. I get to work in a world renowned Trauma Center here in Charm city, and get to be in the middle of all of the action. However I was thinking earlier today about how interesting my job is, and how, back in the day, not in a million years would I have ever thought I could do this particular job. What is it exactly that I do you ask? Well I have to approach families and patients during the worst possible moments of their lives and "sell" my current medical study. I have to cold approach the mothers, fathers, husbands, wives and children of the very people who have their life hanging in the balance and "sell" the idea that this study will not only benefit their lives, but the lives of others as well. I have to prove to them that my taking samples of their blood/brain tissue/other bodily fluids will someday create a breakthrough in the world of trauma medicine that will benefit millions of people. I have to consent people who have had their limbs broken, to let me put probes on their heads in order to compile a control group of people with normal brain function. I realize that in fact I am doing just exactly what my old self would have given my left hand to avoid. I am putting myself out there for rejection...I am putting myself out there to become attached to a patient who might not make it...but my work is making a difference.

Would I rather sell band subs than approach the distraught family of someone who may help us save thousands of lives?

Not a chance.

9.18.2008

Martha, Martha, Martha

Standard sitcom joke landing on runway seven..." -Crow

So have you heard of the new show with Martha Stewarts daughter and her daughters friend called "Whatever, Martha!"? Basically the two young women sit down to disect each of Martha Stewarts television segments - and not in the kind, loving, daughterly way either. Think more along the lines of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" with a twist of snark and venom. Rather interesting if you ask me...

But I did a bit of looking, and apparently Martha herself is onboard with this. They are using old "Martha Stewart Living" shows from the late 1990's to early 2000's. Still might be a good watch though.

Charm City Finds

"*Puma Man*
* Puma Man flying over the city
MIKE: I don't mean to be picky, but Pumas aren't really known for flying."


Always on the hunt for really unique pieces, I decided to take a look at some of the shops in Baltimore's neighborhood of Hampden. Hampden is decidedly what one from the outside might conjure if all they knew of Baltimore was what they have seen in a John Waters film. Thanks to the Mill Center attracting artists to the area, this little area of Baltimore has seen an influx of great shopping and eateries. I have heard that Hampden has some great indie boutiques, so I went on search for some unique and inexpensive pieces to add to my floundering wardrobe.

One shop of interest is Double Dutch Boutique, which is right up my alley with its gorgeous dresses and other girly apparel. I also decided to check out the designers they offer individually and post my favorite finds as well as Baltimore bred designs:

Red Prairie Press :

Plasticland : I'm madly in love with these shoes. You can also find some vintage inspired mary-janes with a bit of a lower heel so you can walk comfortably all day.


Art in the age of Mechanical Reproduction Great T-shirts (I know, I said I'd stay away, but sometimes you JUST CAN'T!)


Pistol Designs by Ali Dryer : Who needs the latest Coach or Dooney and Bourke when you can have something handmade and designed in Baltimore for a fraction of the cost? And if you ask me, these bags are more of a statement piece than those $500 bags anyday!


Art School Dropout : For jewelry, accessories and "COMING SOON!" - BAGS!

Dandelion Blu : A baltimore based jewelry designer. I'm swooning.

Baltimore Etsy Street Team : Check 'em out!

9.15.2008

My Etsy find


I'm absolutely in love with anything to do with birds right now for some reason. And while I'm not one who owns much jewelry (except for the beautiful things Mr. Hot Pilot buys for me) I would totally break out the wallet and buy this.

9.14.2008

Plan? What Plan?

"You're really stupid if you get hit by a car after the apocalypse."
-Crow.


So I'm sitting here at work and I hear the alarm go off with a soothing robotic voice saying "The Fire Alarm has been activated, follow your safety plan".

What the heck is my safety plan? Not so good....

9.13.2008

Chica with a twist

"Someone's hitting a frying pan which means it's eight o'clock … " - Mike
"… 'course the clock's set to Miami time. " - Tom





 

This is me. Plain old me. I have always been one to want to try all sorts of new hairstyles and often times I use myself as the guinea pig. For instance, about 2 years ago I decided I wanted a super short cut, so I went and had about 7 inches lopped off, and was left with what you see in my profile picture. I have since grown my hair back out to about shoulder length, but I still often get the itch to let my hair tango with a pair of scissors. Luckily I have Mr. Hot-Pilot who forbade me from cutting my hair. When I told him I was getting my hair trimmed, I had to soothingly talk him into the idea.
Me : I'm getting a trim on Thursday...just to keep it healthy and growing well.
HP : Why cut it at all?? That makes NO SENSE! You cut it to keep it growing longer? Where is the SENSE IN THAT?
Me : I need my hair to stay healthy...the longer I wait the more they will have to trim off-this way they barely trim any. I promise, you won't even notice! I blow-dry my hair everyday, it has split ends!
HP : Well don't blow dry your hair then!
Me : I have to or I look like a Q-tip! It is scraggly and stringy and I look homeless.
HP : Oh come on, I'm sure it is GREAT! (notice him trying to find alternatives to my cutting my hair) Look, the next time you are visiting, don't blow dry your hair and we will see if it looks bad...and DON'T purposefully make yourself look bad!
Me : I promise you won't even notice the trim...it will look the same only better.
HP : Oh, I'll notice....

So anyway as you can see I have a long hair lover on my hands. So what is a girl to do when she gets the itch for a new 'do? Well, I stumbled across the website TAAZ, where you can upload your picture and mess around with cool hair and make-up ideas. So here are a few that I made :

Jessica Simpson anyone?: Jessica Rabbit :




Oh so fun!

9.12.2008

Fashion-Smashin!

"As a wise old Observer once said, "To constantly repeat the same action and expect a variant reaction is surely a sign of madness." …" - Brain Guy


I am a t-shirt and jeans wearing, fashion magazine reading kind of girl. Every single month I wait with baited breath until the newest issues of various magazines hit the shelves for me to peruse and disect and dream about. I love the way outfits are put together by the professionals-in a way I never possibly could. I try to study the masters, but when it actually comes down to my hitting the stores and trying to re-create the chic unique way of piecing together an outfit, I fall flat on my face. I will often find once I am home looking through my purchases that I have either
a) bought WAY too many t-shirts (or shirts in t-shirt like material)
b) bought everything in pretty much the same color
or
c) bought an item I realize will never ever leave my closet.

So I am trying a new way of shopping this year. I LOVE skirts and dresses, and tend to fall back on dresses especially during the summer time because they are comfy, and are the lazy girls all-in-one outfit. And a neat little trick I have found is that by varying the length of your hemline, you can have it hit at just the right spot to make you look as though you have long, lanky legs. BRILLIANT! I have decided to really study what the basic items I need in my wardrobe are, and then build off of that. I want pieces that I can mix and match in a gazillion ways to create a bazillion different outfits. I have taken to reading "What I Wore 2 Day" and I love how she will take one normal piece, and make it extraordinary. I want to do that! I want to learn how to accessorize (and not just wear the same pair of earrings every day for a year). I want to learn how to layer (and not just a cami under another t-shirt). I feel pretty solid on the shoe front. I have no problem buying tons of shoes in all shapes, styles and colors.

I ventured out yesterday afternoon to see what I could see. I just so happened to be walking through Lord and Taylor to get to H&M when I noticed a $14.99 and $24.99 sale rack (pretty much un-heard of in this overpriced store). So I stopped and found two amazing cropped swingy jackets. One had a laser cut out floral design, and the other was a thicker polka dot fabric. They both were originally $128 and $158 respectively. How much did I pay total? A whopping $45 BUCKS! Oh believe me, that totally made my day. So I am approaching my fashion disaster-dom like this : have my ten essential GOOD QUALITY items in my closet, and keep adding unique, colorful, textured pieces here and there. That way I don't overwhelm myself in the malls, and I don't bust the bank either. As it is, I wear scrubs to work anyway, so I don't get too many opportunities to play dress up anyway!

9.07.2008

Romance at its greatest...

"Yeah, this is what it's like when I put my contacts in inside-out. " - Crow

Today is the opening game of the season for The Ravens. I got to see all the bustle and excitement on my way in to work today. In addition to all of the souveneirs and food and T-shirts surrounding the stadium, you can often times see planes flying overhead with banners spelling out "I love you" messages or "Bengies Movie Theater" advertisements.

Todays romantic ode flying from the tail of the plane?

"I love you Pat...get a divorce".

The way to his heart....

"I think I'll have a screwdriver without that nasty, bitter orange juice." -Tom



Whenever I am in Texas with Mr. Hot Pilot and Munchkin, it is important for me to flex my domestic-woman muscles and take care of my boys the best way I know how : good food. My boyfriend is an extremely health conscious person, and I try to adopt his healthy ways when I feed them. Of course I enjoy presenting them with yummy foods that my mother has served us in the past (and hopefully will knock his socks off and have him see what great wife material I am). So far I have been pretty successful with them liking what I make for dinner. The roast chicken and garlic green beans were an instant favorite, and Munchkin gave me kisses for that dinner. But of course there are those times when you bomb. And for some reason I have been bombing quite a bit lately.

It all started with the chicken pasta salad I made them. And this isn't necessarily an easy recipe. I had vegetables to chop. Dressings to be made. Chicken to be sauteed. And then there were the artichokes. Yep. Should have known the artichokes would crash and burn before takeoff. Munckin is very blunt when he tells you he doesn't like something - and you had better have thick skin or he will eat you alive. We all sat around what I considered a super success of a dinner. Munchkin takes a forkful, chews thoughtfully and then points his fork in the air and goes "yeah, this is yuck salad". And there you have it folks. The connoisseur of food himself gave you the big, fat, forks down. And then of course I while talking to Mr. Hot Pilot the next evening after I'd flown home, he tells me "Man, those artichokes did a number on my stomach! I spent half the night in the bathroom!". Sure. Blame it on the artichokes.

You know what I blame it on? The chicken that he cooked the night before and let sit on the stove for 4 hours before refrigerating and THEN EATING IT the next night (the night of bowel mayhem) for dinner.

So I tried again a few weeks later. With a very benign, normal, everyone eats it fish called Tilapia. I had Munchkin come to Walmart with me to pick out the seasoning, and home we went to steam it. Healthy food? Check. Easy to prepare? Absolutely. And then came the first bite from Munchkin later that evening. There was the first forkful, then the thoughtful pondering as he chewed. And then there was that ever recognizable fork point....and then..."Sick! This fish tastes SICK DUDE." (Yes, Munchkin says dude almost as much as his dad and I do. What can I say, the kid is awesome.) What the heck? EVERYONE eats Tilapia for crying out christmas! Well everyone except Mr. Hot Pilot and Munchkin apparently. Mr. Hot Pilot asked "So what is this fish anyway?". When I told him Tilapia he cups his hands around his mouth and whispers to me "Oh, we don't eat Tilapia." WHAT?!?! You don't EAT Tilapia? Oh, how sorry I am my dear, I should have fixed you smoked Salmon in a lobster bisque sauce with a side of our most expensive caviar. My mistake. So now, I have decided to forfeit my culinary awesomeness, throw in the towel and take his mother up on learning the fine art of preparing the Puerto Rican food my man and his boy love.

On a side note, I work in a Trauma Center here in Baltimore. Last weekend a man came in after having been stabbed by his wife for complaining about what she served him for breakfast. Men, I suggest you love your women no matter what they set in front of you for dinner. Unless of course you would like to take over the task? I'm just sayin'!

How to get Mr. Hot Pilot to let Munchkin and I have a puppy....BRILLIANT!

"Oh, we just proved God while you were gone." - Tom

9.06.2008

Nobama 2008!

"Oh, so radioactive immediately equals bad to you?" - Crow




(source : http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/page/10/)

Muffin Tops - Nutritious and delicious

"Today the moon narrowly missed hitting a man's eye like a big pizza pie …" - Crow

"… scientists believe, that's amore." - Tom



While at the Walmart in Del Rio, Texas (because really there is nothing else to do), Mr. Hot Pilot and I were headed through the food section looking for snacky-snacks for Munchkin to take to school everyday when we came across "Muffin-Tops Cereal" by Malt-O-Meal. I of course go "Muffin-Tops Cereal?? A-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" To which my boyfriend goes "Oh, that looks yummy, should we get it?" No friends, Mr. Hot Pilot had NEVER heard the term "Muffin Top". (You haven't either? Oh my...well here is an example =

So once I had informed Mr. Hot Pilot, he found it to be the most HIGH-larious thing he had ever heard. Glad to have been of some form of entertainment for you my love. I suppose I can see where Malt-O-Meal is going with this. I tend to only enjoy that yummy top of my muffin as well (along with cutting calories by throwing away the bottom portion). Maybe my muffin-eating preferences will reduce the chances of gaining my own muffin top? Either that or I will buy pants that sit well on my hips, but I'm just sayin'!

Poolside

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One bad@$$ Mami!

"Man, I've got so many threatening letters to write tonight. " - Mike

Who knew Sarah Palin was such a badass? Even my skeptical military officer boyfriend was blown away by her last night. And then McCain. I must say, it is awesome to finally have a good reason to get excited over this whole election.

Much to the chagrin of my family I'm sure, I disagree with Palin on her take on sex education. Being a community health science major, and knowing what I know about health education, I still feel it is crucial to inform teens about ALL aspects of sex and sexuality. Comprehensive sex ed. But if that is my only disagreement, I think we are doing good.

Friends don't let friends vote democrat.

Hello out there

"Oh, great. The plague. And I've got a date!" -Crow

I'm fairly new to this whole blogging thing. I read plenty of blogs on a daily basis, but I certainly wouldn't use that fact to give me a sense of expertise. I am just your run of the mill girl who just graduated college, landed an awesome job, is in a great relationship with an amazing man and a soon to be step-mommy to his little boy. Oh, and did I mention that we live nearly 2000 miles away from each other?

I am 27 years old, and by my standards, this is pretty old to be finally starting my life. I thought I had everything started about 8 years ago when I got married at barely age 20 and moved far, far away from my family. You see, I was young, and by being young I didn't like to listen to my family. I mean COME ON. I knew way more than they did, right? RIGHT? Apparently not. So I married the wrong guy, moved to the wrong state, and did all of the wrong things. And then a year and a half later, we were done. So I once again did the wrong thing, and dated the wrong guy for 3 years and then of course that was done as well. Did I finally learn my lesson then? Heck no. I then went on to date another wrong guy for another year, before I decided it might just be better to be on my own, focus on my school and eventually be the old lady with all of the dogs running around her cluttered hodge podge of a house. Yep. I was done. But it is funny when you clean the garbage out of your life, and you make time to really renew your relationship with your maker and yourself. Suddenly things begin to fall into place, and good things begin to happen. I didn't rely on myself to figure things out and be in control anymore. I decided to do a crazy little thing called PRAY. My parents had always suggested it, and I always would respond with "Yep, ok. Sure, I'll be sure to get right on that." Its funny how you try to remove yourself from all of that when you know you aren't headed down the right path, and aren't quite sure you want to give up that lifestyle yet. I was a selfish little punk I suppose.
So I decided to pray for everything, and when it came to a future husband I left no stone unturned. I prayed for EVERYTHING about that man, whoever he may be. I also prayed that if a guy was not meant to be with me, that we wouldn't progress beyond the first or second date, and I wouldn't get attached in the least. And oh yeah, did I mention that I finally started dating christian guys? (Darn it, my parents were right again!) So I started seeing prayers answered. I went on a couple of dates with some very nice guys. But they didn't really materialize into anything, and I honestly didn't really care. And then I met Mr. Hot Pilot. We met through mutual means, and believe me when I say, I seriously didn't really think much of it. (Granted he was knock my socks off gorgeous, but he lived so far away!) Then we started casually talking and emailing back and forth. And then he asked if he could call me. So I agreed (even though again I didn't expect much). And then he called me...and we talked and talked and talked...and I began looking forward to his phone calls, and I opened up to him and vice versa in a way I never had before. Dare I say I liked this guy? Well, I'd been hurt in the past (I know, I know haven't we all) and I prayed my booty off that if this was nothing, to make it all go away before I got attached. But he kept calling, and I kept liking him more and more. So I prayed harder for him to just go away if this wasn't right. I prayed that I would never get hosed again, and that the next man I met I would marry...and if he weren't it I wanted him to LEAVE ME ALONE. But he didn't. And before you knew it we were on our first date in San Antonio. And what can I say? The rest is history.

Granted long distance relationships are hard, but if you have the right people fighting for the same thing, it is a heck of alot easier. While I finished my last year of school, we got to see each other about once a month. He would usually fly me down to see him since he has a 6 year old son and he is a military officer who doesn't have the same freedom I do in travel. I'll tell you what, I was more nervous about meeting Sammy (who now I consider my own little boy) than about meeting him or his parents! And we have our own struggles as many couples do. But we are bound by our faith and deep un-ending love for each other. And so now the journey to married life begins. Its gonna be a great ride!