SHOW US YOUR LIFE - Your Family

It's time for another "Show Us Your Life".  Instead of sharing about my husband and puppy (whom I adore and could talk about forever), I'm going to share about the family I grew up with!

The most recent family picture, 9/2009

My parents were very young when they had me and during my early years they worked so hard to make sure that I would have a great life.  They had a lot of help as I was growing up (my dad is one of 6 so I have a ton of aunts and uncles and both of my grandmothers were instrumental in raising me), but they had to grow up very quickly.  They were and still are the BEST parents.  I consider my mom to be one of my best friends and my dad is always the first person I turn to when I need help or just someone to laugh with. 

Don't get me wrong, I was a very typical teenage girl and between the ages of 12 and 18, my mom and I were not friends.  I'm pretty sure we didn't even like each other (there's a huge difference between loving someone and actually LIKING them).  I thought she didn't know anything and she thought I was a brat.  Luckily, it was a stage.  As soon as I left for college, I realized how much I needed them and how well they took care of me.  I talked to my mom a lot more than my friends did while I was away at college and in the 4.5 years since I graduated, she's become the first person I turn to when I need to vent and when I need to make a decision.  We like the same books, TV shows and movies and shop at the same clothing stores.  I am SO glad that we have the relationship that we do, I couldn't ask for a better mom or friend.

I am a total daddy's girl.  I'm pretty sure I always have been and I don't think that will ever change.  My dad is one of the funniest guys I know and he loves to hang out and just relax.  We have the same sense of humor (often finding movies and TV shows hilarious while my mom looks on in confusion) and loves helping people and taking care of things.  He doesn't talk much (not many of the men in our family do, the women do enough of that), but when he does, it's important or hilarious.  Also, my dad can fix anything!  Seriously, he always has the right solution and the right tool to do the work!  Whenever we prepare to fix or build anything, my dad is the first call...and he always knows just what to say!  My dad has supported me through every step of my life and never failed to mention how proud of me he was.

My brother Marc is 10 years younger than me and while we've never been best friends, we're as close as we can be (he was 8 when I went away to college and I haven't lived in the same house with him on a long-term basis since).  When I got to high school, we had nothing in common and there wasn't much for us to talk about.  But when I went away, I realized how much I missed my brother, how I hated that I wasn't around as he was growing up.  Every summer break, I spent as much time as I could with him and we've reached a good point in the brother/sister relationship.  He's old enough now that we can talk about life, share music, go out to lunch together and I can give him advice. It's incredibly hard for me to believe he's 18 and I feel like just yesterday I was holding him in the hospital the day he was born. Marc is incredibly funny, a little sensitive and loves his car. Despite not being super close when we were younger, I love my little (but much taller) brother more than I can say and hope I get to see a lot more of him now that we'll live closer.

I am extremely close to my family.  I'm in my late 20s and have had no problem living with my parents and brother for the past 2 months.  I know this wouldn't fly with most people...but my parents are my friends and after living over 1000 miles away for the past 4 years, I value any time I can spend with them, long or short.

SHOW US YOUR LIFE - Alma Maters

HAIL TO PITT!

Kelly's SUYL this week is all about Alma Maters.  I'm super excited to share this one because I LOVED The University of Pittsburgh and everything that went along with it.  I chose to go for two reasons:

1) My really great friend Pat had applied and I didn't want to go away to college alone...
2) I was required (by my parents) to stay in the state for money purposes.

Regardless of the reasons, I loved the city, the people, the classes, the parties, the activities, etc. and I look back on those 5 years as some of the best of my life.  Here are the main reasons for that:

  

My sorority sisters

  

My pledge sister class



My fabulous little sister



Resident Assistant staff (best job ever!!)



Being in Pittsburgh when the Steelers won the 2006 Superbowl!!!



Meeting my two amazing best friends!



Finding my husband <3


I bleed Blue and Gold and I'm proud to call myself a Panther.  I love the University of Pittsburgh :)    



Annnnnnnnnd, she's back!!!!

Hello blogger-land!  So yes, it really did take me this long to get better.  In fact, I'm still suffering from a runny nose, but I can pretty much deal with that.  I finally finished all the medicine last night and am hopeful that with all the huge things the hubby and I have coming up soon, I'll be 100% in no time.

Just a fraction of what was prescribed to cure me!

So what's been going on lately?  Well, Mr. L left the first week of November for water survival in Pensacola.  Despite rough seas and some really terrible weather, he had a great time and survived!  He came home and we had 12 days to figure out our lives for the next 6 months...seriously.  Everything in Air Force-land is happening much more quickly than we anticipated and we had to figure everything out before he left for more training!  Mr. L left again for SERE training on November 18 and I won't see him again until December 11. 

My silly hubby trying out his new headlamp and water bag for training.

This week has been the no-contact week and it's been 3 days since I've spoken a word to my husband.  In the 5 years we've been together, we've never gone more than 24 hours without at least saying a quick goodnight on the phone.  Not even the night before/day of our wedding...we chatted on the phone that afternoon!  You really don't realize how much you can miss someone until it's absolutely impossible to talk to them.  I obviously support his training and think it's awesome that the Air Force prepares the aviators (and others) for this possible life-threatening scenario (and it's super great to know that, despite being terribly uncomfortable, they are actually really safe), but it's really tough.  Simply put, it's tough.  I love hearing his voice, I tell him everything and I don't really have many others to share my day with.  My mom called me last night and I kept her on the phone for 3 hours!!!!!!  Now, I'm a talker by nature, but even that is a little crazy for me.  I'll be thankful for Thursday night when he finally gets to call :)

Our first date (halloween on campus), 5ish years ago.

While he's been gone, it's just been me and the Lily-monster.  She's acting out like a teenager who's daddy left and she's pushing all her mom's buttons.  I remember doing that.  Well, now my dog is doing it too.  She's biting (she NEVER bit anyone), growling, chewing on things she's never chewed on before, and overall acting like a brat.  Not cool.  



Do not let this picture fool you, she's a monster...sometimes :)


Since Mr. L was away for Thanksgiving, I spent the holiday with my super great friends, the Duncan's.  Chris and Amy have been amazing to me and Mr. L since we moved to Columbus (Chris was Mr. L's class leader) and Amy has become one of my very good friends (I'm not looking forward to moving away from her and her adorable daughter Elli).  Our friends Christy and Jeff also had Thanksgiving at their house, plus Amy's dad and it was a great way to spend the day.  I'm so thankful that this crazy military life has given us all these extra "family members" with whom I can spend holidays when Mr. L is off serving his country (or getting lost in the woods!) and I'm far away from my parents and other family members.

Jeff, Christy, me, Elli, Amy & Chris on Thanksgiving

When Mr. L was stationed in Florida, we didn't make many friends.  His job didn't allow him much social time and I was away in Pensacola getting my Master degree, so we didn't really live the "military life".  When we left Florida, we had a hard time saying goodbye to a few friends that we had made at my school, but not really anyone in the military.  Over the past year, the opposite has happened in Columbus.  I've made several friends that helped me get through this year and they are some of the most amazing and strong women I've ever known and I can't imagine not knowing them.  The other spouses in our UPT class became my close friends and I've already had to say goodbye to a few (not fun).  Such is the life in the military though...constantly making friends and then leaving, many times going across the country from them.  I've known for a long time this was the way it goes, but I don't love it.  Last week and yesterday I had to say goodbye to two ladies who I've been close to and shared Assignment Nights and graduations with and it was hard, to say the least.  The upside to all this? Having friends all over the country!!  The Air Force is actually a small world and I know I'll see these ladies again.  It's just not really great in the meantime when you have to say "see ya later".

Erin, me, and Brooke...the ladies I said "see ya later" to in the past week.

Due to our impending move (so soon!) and all the travelling and craziness in between now and when we finally get settled in Dover, I decided not to decorate for Christmas at our house.  Putting up the tree would be troublesome by myself and stringing up the lights outside alone would probably be impossible.  Not to mention that as soon as I get them all up, I just have to take them down again because the movers come in two weeks.  So I'm leaving the tree in the box (yes, we do artificial...it's awful, but easy), leaving the lights tangled and leaving all the decorations stored.  It's been very sad when I walk Lily around the neighborhood and see all the lights and see all the twinkling Christmas trees in the windows.  So I decided to give myself a little holiday cheer and decorate my office at work!  Okay, so I didn't really decorate, but I got a tree!

Alright, it's a little tree.  I got it from Hobby Lobby (it's called A Tree For Me!).  There's a huge wall full of itty bitty decorations, tree toppers, tree skirts, etc and it's just too cute.  I bought silver garland, multi-colored balls and a sparkly tree topper.  You probably can't tell from the pic, but I also bought patriotic ornaments.  They are angels, snowmen, and santas that are decked out in red, white, and blue flag patterned ensembles.  Not only are we a military family, but I also work on the base, so I thought that would be a nice touch.

So now, I'm just spending my time cleaning out all the closets, tearing the office apart trying to figure out what papers stay and what papers get shred, running last minute errands and separating our household goods from our DITY stuff (this is my 3rd move and I still don't like doing that).  The movers will be here super soon and we'll be spending Christmas with our parents in Pennsylvania and then more training and finally to Dover! 

And I'll be doing it all while blasting Christmas music through my non-decorated house.  A girl's gotta have a little fun :)

Just a spoonfull of sugar...

It's been a while (for me) since I wrote.  But I have an excuse.  I'm on day number 6 of being sick and it shows no sign of letting up.  I don't really like the doctor, so I haven't gone.  I'm thinking it's probably time.  Boo.  Okay, that's about all my throbbing head will let me write.  I'll have to catch the blog up on everything when my nasal passages clear and I no longer feel like I've been run over by a truck.  Fun times. :) 

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!! :)