SHOW US YOUR LIFE - Guest Rooms

It's time for Guest Room pictures!  Despite living in Mississippi, we actually have had guests!  Granted, those guests happened to be my parents and brother once and Mr. L's parents twice, but they stayed here and used the guest bed!  This room is small and I really didn't take any time to try to make it super pretty, but I'll let you look at it for yourself!


View from the hallway.  The armoire came with the set, but it's empty now.

  

View of pretty much the entire room from the doorway. 



The Guest Bed! 

The bed, side tables and armoire are from IKEA.  This set was our very first purchase as a couple when we lived together in Pittsburgh.  It's not made of much, but it held up pretty well until we bought our current set.  My favorite part of the bed happens to be the throw pillows.  When we move and get the chance to be more creative with our walls/colors, I want to base the theme off those pillows (from Pier 1!)


View across the room. 

The closet holds my wedding dress, wedding bouquet, graduation cap/gown, and our exercise ball (which hasn't seen any use since Florida).  It's a catch-all place for things we like to keep out of the way.  The bookshelf was mine in grad school and holds my Real Simple magazines and stuffed animals that I'm not sure what to do with :)

This was my grandfather's.  He loved light houses and when he passed away, I took these two (the other is on the other night stand) to remind me of him.

Our "name" sign.  I've done a good job of keeping our name out of the blog, but I love this sign and wanted to show it off.  We went to Seaworld one month before we got married and had one of the vendors make this sign to showcase what would soon be both of our last names.  I LOVE it, but had a hard time finding a good place for it.  I think it works in this room!

Thanks for looking around!!!!

Oh yeah...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!  We didn't "celebrate" exactly.  Last night was our trick-or-treat, but Mr. L and I got tickets to the Mississippi State/Kentucky game, so we went to the game instead (which was awesome!).  This is year number 2 that we've missed handing out candy to the kiddies...we'll give it a shot next year :) 

Another year passed...

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear MEEEEEE, Happy Birthday to me!

It's my birthday, the big 2-8.  Every year as this day gets closer, I get excited.  My birthdays were always a big deal growing up, my parents always threw me a party, made sure I was surrounded by family and friends and, due to it's proximity to Halloween, I always felt like it was a holiday!  Maybe that's a little arrogant, but I really LOVED my birthday and loved celebrating it.  Also, until I was in high school, I never knew anyone else who was born on October 27th, so I really felt like the day was mine.

My parents threw me a great party when I turned 16.  They rented the municipal center, got a DJ and had music note lollipops made for favors (I was big into music).  My entire family plus about 30 friends came and it was awesome.  My 18th birthday was a Friday and I had to be in school, but that was the day my high school celebrated Halloween.  Everyone dressed up, most classes were just filled with costume contests and candy, and I ended the night with a home football game, followed by a night at Red Robin.  Exactly what every senior in high school wants!

My 21st birthday was pretty typical.  I went to a bar, I don't remember much else and I was a little sick for the following days.  But it was great :)

That's when I decided I wanted to stop.  I didn't need to get any older...I'd already crossed all the milestones and wasn't really looking forward to much else.  Luckily that wasn't possible because my 23rd birthday was my first date with my now husband...I'm pretty glad I turned 23.

25 came and went.  26 passed too...I turned 27 a month after I got married. 

This past year has been one of the most intense of my whole life.  I moved to Mississippi, was unemployed for the first time since I was 16, it was my first year of marriage, and my husband was in pilot training.  27 has been eye opening and a little hard, but worth it :)

As my age climbs towards 30, I'm freaking out.  What happened?  Where did all my years go?  I don't regret anything and I'm certainly not wishing to be 16 again, but I just can't wrap my head around getting older.  I want everyone to stay this way.  I want my parents to be the age they are, my brother to stay 18.  I want my family to be around forever.  I want to be in my 20s and be just this way.  I realize this is all crazy and can't happen and life goes on, but does anyone else feel this way? 

So now I'm 28, one more year closer to being 30 and I think I'd like to just stay here.  365 days to see if maybe it'll happen this time :)

Silver Shiny Wings

Off we go into the wild blue yonder,

Climbing high into the sun;

Here they come zooming to meet our thunder,

At 'em boys, Give 'er the gun! (Give 'er the gun now!)

Down we dive, spouting our flame from under,

Off with one helluva roar!

We live in fame or go down in flame. Hey!

Nothing'll stop the U.S. Air Force!

Today was one of the proudest moments I've ever had.  Mr. L graduated from pilot training today and earned those silver shiny wings :)

The day started out with a nice sit-down breakfast, followed by the Vice Wing Commander giving us a bit of history about pilot training.  Then, an IP showed a slideshow of the history of Columbus Air Force for all the guests.  We sat with Mr. L's parents (who made the 16 hour car trip down for this momentous occasion).  We also sat with Kyle, his parents and Jen.  They're our closest friends here and it felt really nice to share the day with them. 

After breakfast, we all headed to the auditorium on base for the actual ceremony. 




Mr. L receiving the Distinguished Graduate Award!  He worked so hard :)





Here he is receiving his wings and aeronautical rating.  So exciting!!



Mr. L and his class getting ready to break their first pair of wings, per AF tradition.

  After the ceremony, we walked to the Smith Plaza (it was a gorgeous day!) to do the formal pinning of the wings.  Due to time, magnetic wings are secured on the jackets and the real wings are handed to them as they leave the ceremony.  Then, family members can actually pin the wings on and it can be photographed and you can take your time.




It's not as easy as it seems, that jacket is really thick!





He's pinned!

 The rest of the day passed like a blur.  We took his parents to the simulator, where both were able to "fly" the T-1.  We were able to go to the flight room, talk to the instructors and purchase some really cute flight and plane memorabilia.  I got a set of wings and a C17 charm (both hang on a necklace) while Mr. L got a shot glass and a coin.  After a serious dress crisis (I had to go out shopping 1.5 hours before the formal dinner!!!) it was time for the banquet...the total end of pilot training.



Mr. L in his mess dress and me in my last minute purchase!



The Air Force has some wacky traditions, including kissing your wife (crazily) in front of everyone!



The class spouses...we've stuck together through a hard year, I'm sure going to miss them!

  Mr. L walked away with two more awards (4 in total, including the prestigious Commander's Trophy) and we had a wonderful time meeting everyone's families and reminiscing about the past 54 weeks.  Then it was time to leave and say goodbye to the most crazy, hard, long, exciting, and memorable year we're sure to have in our lives.  It was fun, but now we're ready for the next adventure.




CONGRATULATIONS 11-01!!!! YOU DID IT!! :)



 

SHOW US YOUR LIFE - Office

So far, this post is empty.  My office pictures are currently on my camera and my camera is not here :(  As soon as I can get some time to upload the pics, I'll update this post!

Lily Sunday

When we first got Lily, she was forbidden to enter any part of our house that had carpet.  Though she was 6 months old when we adopted her, we had no idea where she had been for the first part of her life and were unsure about her bathroom habits.  It turned out that she *sort of* understood where puppies were supposed to go, but for the first two months, she pretty much did whatever she wanted.  Therefore, she lived in the kitchen/dining room!  She would sit at this gate (that looks into the living room) and cry and whine until one of us would sit with her.  If this didn't work, she took to chewing on the corners of the walls or trying to eat the gate...she was very persistent.  When she wasn't doing those things, you could find her doing this...Lily loves a good nap.  Though I'm not sure why, with that huge bed, she chose to sleep with her head on the floor :)

SHOW US YOUR LIFE - Dining Room & Kitchen

I am so sad that I'm so late on these entries!  I was so excited about Kelly's Korner show us where you live series, but I just haven't been able to keep up!  So, even though I couldn't link up to her entries, I decided to post mine anyway!  I've combined the Dining Room & Kitchen posts, since in our house, they are pretty much the same room!  Onto the L's Dining Room!

This is the first view of the dining room when you come in from the living room.  We bought this set recently and with the leaf, it can seat up to 8 (though we only have 6 chairs!)

Here's the view from the kitchen.  We love the half wall because our house feels like one big room, even though we have really distinct spaces.

An upclose of the buffet.  We were initially looking for a tall hutch, but due to our budget we went with this low buffet.  It has great storage and I love that it can hold all my miscellaneous stuff!

The sign above the buffet.  Pretty much how we feel about our weekends (we feel this way about our weekdays too, we just don't have the time to enjoy them that way!)

One of my favorite pieces in our house.  For obvious reasons, Mr. L and I are really patriotic and we love anything we can add to our home that emphasizes that.  The national anthem is played on base every weekday at 5:00pm and I have to say that I still sometimes get choked up when I hear it, so when we saw this plate, we knew we had to have it in our house.

My table centerpiece.  The flowers are from Kirklands and the blue bottle is one of my favorite things in the house.  When Mr. L and I got married, his brother and sister-in-law visited and got a bottle of wine for the four us to share and talk about our marriage over.  They took the bottle with them when they left and the next time we saw them, they presented us with this flattened bottle...it's the bottle of wine!  My sister-in-law explained that someone had done that for them when they got married and they use theirs to serve cheese on.  For now, the bottle sits here on our table and I get to see it every day, which I really love.

And here is the view from the dining room into the kitchen (see, just one big room)...

View of the kitchen from the living room.  We have tons of storage and a really nice layout.  It's easy for both of us to move around in the kitchen together, even with a dog under our feet!

Here's the sink and our window that looks out onto our screened in porch.  The stuff on our counters is a mix of Bed, Bath & Beyond and Hobby Lobby.

This is the BEST part of the kitchen.  We use this island EVERY day, whether we're preparing our food or using it to hold bags from the grocery store or shopping, to setting out food buffet style when we have people over.  All the cabinets and drawers are full, thank goodness for all the storage!

Here's the view from the kitchen to our living room.  We love the open floor plan.

Our "nook".  This is our catch-all spot.  Our laptop, the mail, our change, family pictures, keys, our phone, and our calendar take up this space and sometimes it's so full you can't find the computer or see the actual desktop.  It's been nice to have this space, but I will admit sometimes I wish it wasn't there so the clutter couldn't hang out there!

Just wanted to share these.  We got these plates as wedding gifts from my wonderful friend Nancy.  They were so beautiful that we wanted to share them, so they found homes on the top of cabinets where everyone can see them!

The way out! On the left, the two doors are closets (a large one for a pantry, a small one for a broom closet, but I use both as pantries!)  Beyond that on the left is the door to the garage.  The door straight ahead is our half bath and the door on the right is the laundry room/Lily's room.

Thanks for looking around!! :)



Drumroll Please...

We have been waiting for a year, a very long year, to find out what plane Mr. L will be flying for his career and what our first base would be with that plane.  Mr. L trained for a year, worked so super hard, and we filled out the dream sheet.  Then we waited...and waited...and waited...and we finally know!

THE C-17 GLOBEMASTER

to

We are SOOOOOOO excited!  This was the number one choice on Mr. L's dream sheet and getting your number one choice doesn't happen a lot!  First of all, Mr. L has wanted to fly the C-17 for such a long time.  he loves the mission, loves the crew airplane, and loves airdrop.  He didn't want to jinx himself, so he kept it to himself most of the time, but he wanted this plane soooooo badly.  I'm so happy that he will be flying it.  Moving to Dover is going to be awesome.  It's 2.5 hours from my family, about 3 from his, and we have lots of friends in the area. 

We've lived in the south for about 4 years and have enjoyed it a lot (especially the no snow part), but we miss the NorthEast and being able to go to our neices and nephews birthday parties, game nights with my family and spending the holidays with people we love.  We are thrilled that these things will be possible for the next 3 years.

We have no idea when we'll actually be going yet (remember, we here in the L family don't hold our breath for Air Force timelines), but we definitely still have some time left in Columbus.  Mr. L has to attend survival school and then go to Oklahoma for C-17 training...this will be about 4 months of time.  Add in some upcoming holidays and just the pace of these transactions and we could be here for another 6 months.  But trust me, Mississippi looks a LOT better when you know you're going to say goodbye soon!!!!!!!!

The List Is In...

So, as of today around 6:00pm, our dream sheet was turned in to Mr. L's flight commander.  This has been in the works for a year, since the day pilot training started and it was finally time to turn in the list.  We worked on the list for about three days, making sure everything was in the exact order we wanted it to be and it's finally in the hands of the one guy who can make it happen...no pressure :) :) 

We find out on Friday the 8th and I couldn't be more excited!  Not only do we find out where we're going to live for the next few years, but Mr. L  finally gets to find out what plane he's going to fly for his career.  I'm so super proud of him and all that he's accomplished and I can't believe that this year of training is almost over.  It hasn't been the easiest year (really long days/nights for Mr.L, unemployment for me), but he's doing what he loves and I love being there to support him and build this life together.  I'll bring news of Assignment Night to the blog as soon as I can :)

Okay so I just realized that I missed Lily Sunday last week and I totally forgot to do Kelly's Show Us Your Life Dining Rooms this week.  I'm going to skip last week's Lily picture and just start again tonight and the computer is being silly and won't let me upload any pictures at all, so I'll be skipping Lily again his week.  I'll catch up on the dining room pics this week sometime.   

One last note: Way to Go PITT!!! My panthers kicked butt this weekend :)