Chris' Check Ride & Warren's Birthday

Greetings, everyone! Last time I posted, we were coming off of a very stressful week.  Well...we are quickly realizing that stress like that is going to take over MANY of our weeks over the next year.  Chris has been doing so well in his training and been getting "E"'s (for Excellent) on so many categories of his evaluation, that it's easy to sit back and think..."ohhhh we have this in the bag!" Well the Air Force already taught us a little lesson on not taking things for granted during the "air sickness" debacle, but I guess that wasn't enough, because the lessons continued last week.

The students complete four "check rides" during their pilot training.  Think of a check ride like a mid-term...they are very important and are your chance to show how much you have learned and whether you are up to the point where you are supposed to be.

Personally, I have a problem with the subjectivity of the check rides but life isn't fair and the Air Force never asked me.  I doubt the Air Force will ever ask me what I think, which is unfortunate, because I actually have a lot of opinions that I would like to share.  One of them is that there has to be a more fair and consistent way of grading the student pilots than having a different evaluator for every student who has his (or her) own opinions on what constitutes failing a student vs. just downgrading them (taking off points).  I'm an accountant, so I very much prefer a system that leaves as little gray area as possible and has definite "do's" and "do not's". I ESPECIALLY have a problem with this check ride system because I'm not sure if all instructors take into consideration the fact that failing a student for a ride could potentially affect their career and their life and it should not be taken lightly...they should REALLY consider their reasoning when doing this.  But again, no one asked me...

Anyway...long story short...Chris "hooked" (i.e., failed) his check ride last week.  You can imagine what an unhappy mood this put us both in.  He felt like this was a little unjustified based on the reasoning given for his hooking.  He actually had a good bit less than the average downgrades and there were others who passed with more downgrades than him.  Again with the subjectivity.  Chris went to a higher power, his commander, who admitted that he shouldn't have been hooked, but there's really nothing anybody could do about it. Anyway...what we can't argue about is that his flight wasn't perfect.  The instructor actually said he had a really good flight except for this one thing.  But he is the one with the authority and he decided this was a big enough problem. 

It is actually not very uncommon to hook the first check ride...of all the four check rides, the most students hook the first one, and Chris was not, by any means, alone in his class for hooking it. It still felt like a big setback.

Anyway...enough with the whining.  That's life, right? I know everyone has felt like they have been treated unfairly, but I guess you just have to pick up the pieces and move on!

SO we move on to the "88 ride"...the 88 ride is your second chance at a check ride.  You only get one in pilot training, then you move on to the "89 ride" where an actual commander flies with you and grades you...he has the final say whether you have the aptitude to remain in training.  You can have an 89 ride for all the four check rides if you hook all four, but that is your last chance before being removed from training. 

Chris had his 88 ride yesterday and did really well...Chris hardly had any downgrades and the instructor had some very complimentary things to say about him.  He said that Chris must have had some bad luck during his check ride.  Oh well, we are glad to be past this and glad that he isn't going on to the 89 ride.  However, if Chris hooks any more check rides, he will have to go straight to the 89 ride so let's hope that he doesn't have any more "bad luck"!

Today Chris flew again, and again he got a great evaluation and some encouragment from his instructor.

This weekend was pretty special because we went to Auburn for Warren's 21st Birthday.  Friday night I got to spend some time with Lauren and Hannah, who I don't get to see as often.  Saturday morning we woke up to Mason, ENTIRELY COVERED in fleas!! Don't ask us how he got them, we have no idea.  We treat him for fleas every month, but his next treatment was due this past Monday, so his prior treatment had probably worn off.  Anyway, he kept waking me up because he was shaking off and pacing around the room.  So I checked him, and he was covered.  Chris and I woke up about 6:30 am (on a Saturday! arg!) and picked about 50 fleas off him.  We realized we weren't getting anywhere, so we wound up going to the vet and getting him some treatment.  My parents had to flea bomb my room at their house but the problem seems to be fixed now...he is flea free.

My newest hobby is probably going to be estate sales.  My mom and I went to one Saturday morning and I picked up a gorgeous and very good quality rug for $15! We put it in our bedroom and it actually looks great. AND I bought 2 sets of Lenox Christmas napkin holders that I don't think have ever been out of the box for $2...the price tag was still on the back and said $29.00 a SET!

Saturday we got to have lunch with Chris, Sr., Warren and his girlfriend,  Liz, Aunt Bette, and a special treat, Chris' grandparents, Nana and Matt, who live in CoCoa Beach, Florida.  We had dinner with Tammy, Greg, Warren and Liz, and another treat, Chris' other set of grandparents from Georgia, Granny and GrandBob.  It was so nice to get to spend some time with the grandparents we don't see as much as we wish we did.  We wish we could have spent more time, but as usual, we were stretched very thin on our two-day trip so we tried our best to enjoy the time we had and look forward to the next time we can all get together!

Saturday night, we did a little bit of celebrating to ring in Warren's 21st birthday, which officially started at midnight.  A couple of weeks ago I was in Auburn celebrating my sister's 21st.  I think it will probably be a while before I celebrate any more 21st birthdays, but they have been fun! Here is the ONLY picture I took this weekend...bad, Amanda! I have got to be more on top of things!




Us with Warren and his girlfriend, Liz.  It was pouring rain at Skybar so we all got soaked!


Sunday morning I had a BLAST at the Clothes Rack helping my two engaged besties, Hannah and Lauren Emily, try on wedding gowns for their upcoming 2013 weddings! I am so excited for both of them and only wish their weddings were sooner! I am a bridesmaid in both weddings (and they were both bridesmaids in mine)...Hannah's is June 2013 in Auburn, and Lauren Emily's is November 2013 in Tampa.  It meant a lot to get to help two of my best friends pick out their gowns in the store that I worked in for 6 1/2 years and was such a big part of my life.  Gayle (the owner and my old boss) let me open the store just for them Sunday morning...Lauren Emily bought a dress and I think Hannah has found her dress as well, but will need to order it.  I have some pics, but sorry...I obviously can't post them! Don't want to spoil the surprise!! :)

We had lunch Sunday at my parent's house with my mom, dad, and grandmother, and although we meant to leave very soon after lunch, we were so exhausted that we couldn't bring ourselves to get off the couch and pack until about 2 o' clock.  We went by Chris' dad's one more time on the way out of town and finally made it home JUST in time for the Desperate Housewives series finale.  I am so depressed that this show is ending that I really can't talk about it without getting emotional!  Haha.  I'm actually not that crazy, BUT I will say that I am really going to miss this awesome show and I can't think of a more appropriate ending to the series than what happened in the finale!

This week has been a pretty good one...Chris passing his 88 ride with a good evaluation definitely helped.  I am a little bummed out that I will be working in Birmingham Friday and all next week with a trip to Auburn in between, but then I will be going to Gulf Shores with Chris and my parents for Memorial Day weekend, so I have that to look forward to.  It is so unnerving to find out you will be gone for 11 straight days with about 3 days notice, though.  I am trying my best to leave the house clean for Chris, but at the same time I feel like it is a mess from me trying to pack everything.  Y'all know I'm not a light packer. Thank goodness Chris is not one of those guys who whines about me having to be gone for work...he understands that working is important to me, and thankfully is not so dependant that he can't function on his own! I'm sure his meals aren't as elaborate when I'm gone, but he gets by and still looks nourished whenever I return so I trust he is making it okay!

Tuesday night was the base-wide spouse social (we have two spouse groups...the base-wide "Columbus Spouse Club" and then the "Student Spouse Club")...and I'm proud to announce that the newest social chair for the Columbus Spouse Club is yours truly! I am really looking forward to this! I get to plan some fantastic socials...using someone Else's budget! ;) How fun is that going to be?

Last night, for the first time in it seems like forever...I cooked a somewhat-elaborate meal, we had a bottle of wine, lit some candles, and had a nice, relaxed (not rushed) meal together.  We realized how much we took this for granted back when Chris was on casual status (before he began training).  Back then, every night was just us hanging out...just the epitome of the dream newlywed life!  Now, he has to study and go to bed early...which I totally support and understand.  But since he passed his 88 ride yesterday, we decided to celebrate a little and just relax together.  I am so looking forward to spending the weekend away for Memorial Day weekend.  Hopefully we will get some of the much needed "us" time that has been so difficult to squeeze in lately.

Before I wrap it up, in honor of Mother's Day, I want to give a quick shout-out to moms! Esspecially our moms! Chris and I are both lucky to have moms who have supported us and encouraged us since the day we were born.  Certainly we would not be who we are without our special moms.  It is easy for me to see how Tammy made Chris into the husband that I adore, who loves to take care of me, support my goals, and always respects me.  Tammy always encouraged Chris to be the best he could be, and was there for him from the time that he played just about every sport growing up, til he decided to join the Air Force...which I know had to be a very difficult thing to stand behind as a mom.   I know that Chris sees a lot of my mom in me, and loves that I enjoy entertaining, making friends, and that I am a strong woman who can speak my mind.  My mom constantly bends over backwards to help us out whenever she sees that we have a need.  She is so creative and is always teaching me something new.  We both love our mothers and our mothers-in-law and are incredibly lucky to have these two amazing women in our lives!

Well, there's the update on our week! I know some of the small details about our day-to-day activities are boring to some, but I also know there are some of you who are interested and I'm so happy we can keep you updated this way! This weekend Tammy is being kind enough to throw me a Rodan + Fields launch party at her house, and then Meredith and I are having a joint launch in the Creekside Clubhouse from 6-8 pm...we will have some wine and hor 'duerves, and it will be a great time, so if you are in Auburn please come out and support us!

Ups and Downs of the Air Force Life

I know it has been a couple of weeks since I posted! It has been a crazy couple of weeks.  Two Fridays ago, I wrote a post and never put it on the site.  Two weeks ago was really not such a good week. Last week got so much better, though!  Now that we are out of the woods, I feel more like sharing what we were going through.

The one highlight of two weeks ago was how sweet everybody was to call, text, email, and Facebook me on my birthday! Thanks everyone! Instead of taking forever to go through this post and change it for "past tense" instead of "present tense", I'm just going to post it as it was written on April 27:

So.  Poor Chris.  Some of you may know that he has struggled with motion sickness since he started flying, which was actually a couple of years ago at the Academy.  The T-6 is the most powerful plane he has ever flown in and the motion sickness hasn't gotten a whole lot better since he has been flying it.  There are times when he gets through the flight just fine, but there are times that he gets so sick he can't fly the plane.  This is not uncommon, it happens to a lot of pilot students.  The body can adjust to the motions of the plane, and eventually it just gets used the motions and you stop getting sick.  This takes longer for some than for others. There is a very specific regimen that the Air Force uses to help people overcome their motion sickness.

Step one is medication.  You can take these medications, which are a combination of stuff to help you not get sick and amphetamines to help you stay awake because the other stuff can make you drowsy on its own.  Amphetamines are highly regulated.  You can only take those medicines for 3 days.  While you take them, you are flying so your body is actually adjusting to the motions of the plane without having the symptoms of motion sickness that disrupt your flight.  The idea is, by the time you fly 3 more times, once you are off the medication your body has adjusted and you don't get sick anymore.

Unfortunately, between Chris' cold and some bad weather that resulted in cancelled flights, Chris took his medicine for 3 days but did not get to fly all 3 of those days...then he actually  had a 10 day break before he flew again.  The medicines really didn't get to serve their purpose. The Air Force is really cut-and-dry.  They won't give him a chance to take the medicine again.

If you still get sick after the medicine regimen, you go to step two. Chris got sick on his flight on Monday.  He couldn't finish his flight, so his instructor pilot had to take over.  On to step two.

So step two is the spin chair.  This is what everyone wants to avoid because it is not pleasant.  They spin you around in this chair basically until you vomit.  It's designed to be 100x worse than a flight should ever have to be.  It is such an extreme version of the worst possible motion sickness scenario, that it is very effective in adjusting your body to the motions of the plane...if your body can adjust to the spin chair, it is going to be able to handle a plane ride no-problem.  After 3 days in the chair, each day spinning for 3 10-minute sessions, most people's bodies are adjusted and they are over their motion sickness.

Chris has been doing the chair the past few days.  Obviously this has made his days terrible. The doctor told him to eat foods he didn't mind throwing up.  They make you do all sorts of things while you are spinning to make it as bad as possible...close your eyes, head down.  Open your eyes, head and arms up. 

If you continue to have motion sickness to the point where you can't fly the plane, you move on to step three.  Step three is, you are dismissed from pilot training and go take another Air Force job. Please pray that Chris won't have to go to step 3.

Things are looking pretty good at the moment.  Monday was the day he got sick.  He knew he would get assigned the chair on Tuesday, so Monday was not a good night.  We were both already very stressed about the possibility of having to move to step 3, even though we weren't to step 2 yet.  Tuesday was better...he did not get sick in flight.  However, he still got assigned to the chair.  Wednesday he also did not get sick in his flight, but that afternoon was his first chair session.  In the first 10-minute spin, he didn't get too sick.  On the second and third spins, he got sick and threw up both times.  Yesterday, he did not get sick in flight again.  He got sick in the chair but did not throw up.  Unfortunately, he felt sick the rest of the day after that.  Autumn and I went to a beer tasting/food pairing dinner in downtown Columbus...Chris (and Jon) wasn't able to come because they didn't get released until about 9.  They met us when they got out, but you could tell Chris didn't feel well.  Today he's doing a simulation but he is going to get spun one more time on Monday and fly....then, after that, we just hope that he is going to be cured of his motion sickness.

I also did not have a good week at work.  The excess stress from home, plus a couple of computer malfunctions did not help.  I'm ready for this week to be over.  Also, Chris is supposed to solo next week.  I did not expect him to solo this early, but I am really upset because I'm afraid I may be in Birmingham working and won't be able to make it back to watch him get dunked in the pool of water (it's a tradition after you solo the first time for you to try to run back into the flight room, and if your classmates can catch you, they throw you into this nasty pool of sitting water).  Obviously, I want to share in all the excitement and take pictures.  This is kind of a milestone.  So I'm just praying for some heavy rain next week.  Maybe his solo can get delayed until I am scheduled to be back in Columbus on Thursday.
I'm headed to Auburn for the weekend and Chris is going to stay here.  I'm looking forward to being with friends and family, but I'm bummed out about Chris not being able to come.  I am taking Monday off of work to help my sister, Jessica, ring in her 21st birthday.  Tuesday morning I'm heading to Birmingham to work there until Thursday, which is also the day of my Rodan + Fields launch event here in Columbus.

Okay!!  That was my blog for April 27, which I never published. So before I move forward with the events of last week, I'm sure you are all wondering what wound up happening with Chris.  He seems to be cured of his motion sickness, hooray! Thank you for your prayers.  He soloed last Monday, and sadly, I missed it.  However, he sent me this video of him getting dunked. This dunking process was traditionally a LOT more rambunctious than it is now.  But apparently some guy got a concussion recently when his head hit the side of the dunk tank, so until all that blows over, they have to be pretty gentle with the dunking :) They still have nasty water, though! (For full screen, click the icon in the lower right corner of the video).

Let's hope he never has to return to the chair! Since then, he's had several good flights. On Friday, he soloed again and there was some confusion in the air traffic control tower that could have caused several planes to collide.  Chris stayed calm under pressure and increased his altitude, which, in effect, prevented the collisions.  That just goes to show you that just because this is "just training", doesn't mean that Chris' day-to-day job is completely safe...this is a very scary realization for me, but I suppose that is what I signed up for when I said "I do"...when you become a military wife, you are really saying "I do" to a whole lot more than most wives! "I do" vow to never let my own anxiety over Chris' job affect the way he gets treated at home.  But I'm so thankful to be where we are and to get to hear the stories every day when he gets home.

I had a great weekend in Auburn two weekends ago visiting with everyone.  I got to spend time with some of my girlfriends, with my family (including my sister's 21st birthday celebration), Chris' family, former co-workers, I got to pay a visit to the Auburn School of Accountancy, and I did some business while I was there.  Busy, busy weekend but so much fun! Here are some pics:




Jessica and me at the Auburn University Singers Show..so proud of my talented little sis...she blew an Adele song out of the water on her solo! It was fantastic!



Family birthday celebration.  Jessica and I are 3 years and 4 days apart.



Happy 21st, Jessica! Wearing the crown I gave her (I also gave her that wand to carry out) and her b-day sign with a list of 21 tasks to complete while out on the town!



Sara and Lauren also joined us because they love Jessica like a sis! The two girls on the right are Jessica's friends from the education program at Auburn

Birthday dinner with Tammy, Greg, Warren, and Aunt Bette at Hamilton's.



Grand opening of the Event Center's upstairs lounge.  Love the cozy atmosphere and view!




View from the upstairs patio



Upstairs patio again

Upstairs bar area

On a side note, one of my coworkers showed me where Chris and I were in the local paper a couple of weeks ago on the opening day of the Farmer's Market (second down on the right side).  Next to us is another couple from base, Amanda and Nils Lorenz.  Amanda and I went to an afternoon of Pilgrimage tours a few weeks ago and she also came to my launch this week.  She's a sweet girl and I'm glad I'm getting to know her! My coworker was kind enough to laminate this for us...the "Scene and be Seen" page...I guess we are really "making it" here in Columbus, haha!

I left from Auburn last Tuesday morning and drove to Birmingham to work there until Thursday.  Thursday, Meredith came back to Columbus with me to help me with my Rodan + Fields launch event.  The theme was wine and cheese.  I had a great turnout, it was really laid back and a nice time.  Meredith and I were able to practice showcasing the products, and everyone was impressed by them after hearing how effective they are, seeing before/after pictures, and getting the chance to sample a few. 

Meredith and I with the table of all the great products! Thank goodness Meredith came to help me, because we had about an hour and ten minutes to get ready for the party once we got to Columbus from Birmingham!

After the launch, a few of us headed downtown to a photography studio where they were holding an art show/beer tasting.  That was very interesting and I found out that they have events like those the first Thursday of every month.  Like I said before, Columbus actually has plenty to do if you take the time to look for it!

Friday night we played cards over at Jon and Autumn's, and the next day we spent at Market Street Festival, which is Columbus' biggest event every year.  There were probably 100+ vendors there selling all kinds of unique goods.  There were also concerts and shows (a cheer competition, even!) and lots of food.  Saturday was also Cinco de Mayo.  We came home mid-afternoon for a break from the sun and heat, and I made a mexican dinner.  Yum!

Taking a break from cards to cuddle the pups!

Chris with this ginormous car that was at the car show at Market Street Festival

We found this painting by Nicole Bexton at the art gallery this weekend in downtown Columbus...we thought it bore a stiking resemblance to the picture below of Mason (which is our most likely choice to enter into the Humane Society contest)...isn't that crazy?? Haha.  We wanted to buy it pretty badly but it was $875, so I may just have to recreate it at Sips-N-Strokes one of these days...

Chicken enchilada casserole, tomato/cucumber/avacado/corn salad, and a Modelo.  Happy Cinco de Mayo!

 Once again, I'm sorry for not keeping up with the blog for so long.  As you can see, there has been a lot going on and it may have finally caught up to me! I will do better going forward!

Thanks for reading! We are looking forward to traveling home this weekend for Mother's Day.  We also have the special treat of getting to see both sets of Chris' grandparents that we do not get to visit with very often.  We have another project underway that I can't wait to share more about.  These are exciting times!

War Damn Rodeo and the rest of our week

Happy Friday, y'all! I can't tell y'all how happy I am that it is FINALLY here.  And what a week it has been!!

First of all, I want to ask you to *pretty please* hop over to my new page on this blog (you will see the page options at the top of the page), "Rodan + Fields".  This week was a big week for us because I decided to start my own business selling a product that I really believe in: Rodan + Fields dermatalogical skin care lines.  The income potential with this company is amazing, and so far I have loved taking on this new project! I believe that a second income source for me could help tremendously in us reaching our financial goals.  I have also always dreamed of owning my own business, becasue there are so many personal and financial rewards (hello, tax deductions!).  I am getting my box full of sample products today and I could not be more excited! I could keep going on and on about it, but I'm going to go into more detail on the page I am dedicating just to my business.

All I'm going to ask is that you all at least read through the page and support me in my new venture...that means that if you know anyone that you think my products would help, please refer them to my website (which is http://amandabeck.myrandf.com/ ).  ALSO, if you know anyone that could use a second (or even first!) source of income, please share this opportunity with them and encourage them to talk to me! I am so excited about the potential that this product has and would love to help someone else be a part of the amazing team of consultants that I joined this week!

If nothing else...just check out my page to see the sweet discounts that I will be offering my first customers until June 30. :)

Second order of business:  We are entering Mason in the Lee County Humane Society calendar contest!

See: http://leecountyhumane.org/special/calendar.html

We have narrowed our entries down to the following pictures, and I would REALLY appreciate your input on which one we should choose!

Option 1: 

Option 2:

Option 3:

Email me or add your favorite to the comments at the bottom of this blog! :) Thanks!

The entry fee is $10 to enter if you have a great pic of your pup...not that we want any competition, BUT it is for a great cause! Also, the votes are $1 each and also go to the Humane Society, so once we choose a picture, we would appreciate your tax-deductible votes! Thanks, Tammy, for letting us know about this!

This weekend Chris and I and a bunch of other folks from the class made the trip to Auburn to participate in the Alpha Psi rodeo.  In case anyone is confused about the title of this post, we really need to get you up to date on Auburn! But, you (should) know how we say "War Damn Eagle"? Well...at the rodeo, we say "War Damn Rodeo".  So now you know :) Oh my gosh did I have an awesome time.  I couldn't think of anything better than being surrounded by old AND new friends, as some of my best girlfriends from Auburn were there! (Those that were missing...you know who you are! And I expect you to be there next time, if there is one, haha)

Here are some pics...but before you look, please read this disclaimer::: The rodeo is all in good fun and requires everyone to dress up as complete rednecks and act like complete rednecks for an entire day.  These pictures do not represent the values or lifestyle of anyone pictured, and do not accurately represent Auburn University, the US Air Force, or the state of Alabama.  Okay, maybe they do sort of represent Alabama, but they don't represent Lee County!

 Here goes.  And a special thanks to Chris Beck, Sr. and my sister, Jessica, for driving our rather large group to the rodeo in the back of your trucks...as well as to Aaron Braden and Drew Hull for driving us back when the shuttle line was way too long! Thanks to my parents for putting a bunch of us up, cooking breakfast, and taking pics.  Also, thanks Jess for taking care of wittle MayMay all day.  As you can see...attending the rodeo requires quite the support group. Y'all rock!

I scoured the internet for the perfect redneck shirt for the rodeo, and found it...I am going to HAVE to find an occasion to wear this gem again!

I feel like this picture belongs in a Nascar magazine somewhere...



I'm proud to say I actually made the shorts we wore to the rodeo.  Well I didn't actually sew them but I spray painted them.  Here they are in my yard last week. I used painters tape and cut-out stars.







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Have you ever seen such a good looking group of guys? Would you believe that on top of looking that good, they also defend our country in the Air Force? haha...yeah, I'm sure most other people didn't, either.



Here is my husband, biting into a whole chicken.  He really went all out with his outfit and the mustache and all.  Have you ever looked at your husband and thought "wow...I signed up to procreate with that person one day! ahhhh!"  I had my moment right there, haha. 


At the rodeo, the cool thing to do is nap under a raised truck...here Jon and Chris are, beating the heat.





And here we are trying to get in some rest in the shade!

  

Awesome moment of the day? Our friend, Nancy (also in Chris' pilot class) won VIP tickets to the Eric Church/Easton Corbin concert at the end of the day!! She got two and gave me one, so we got some AWESOME pics of the concert!



Easton Corbin and his band

Eric Church! I'm so obsessed with him now and I have to see him in concert again.  He was amazing!

Eric Church was drinking out of this Jack Daniels bottle for a couple of his drinking-themed songs (after all...it is country music!)  haha.  I took a little potty break and when I came back, he had given it to Nancy from the stage! How cool is that!?



Sunday, we had a fun birthday brunch at the Moores Mill Club for Tammy.  Tammy hated Chris' mustache, so we came up with a good plan for her brunch.  When we got there, Chris walked up with her card over his mustache and she was like "did you shave it!?"  I know she thought he was about to take the card off his face and reveal a clean shave...but nope! He still had the bushy mustache! I know she was so dissapointed!  Then, once we sat down at our table, he excused himself to go to the restroom and came back with no mustache.  It was soooo nice to see the top of my hubby's lip again! However, I must say...the month and a half of scruffy Chris was so worth his look for the rodeo.  I mean, of all the rednecks there...I think he must have looked the most genuine!

Sunday night I stayed in Birmingham with my friend Meredith, who I owe big-time for introducing me to Rodan + Fields.  She had her launch party and it was so much fun...nothing at all like some other parties I've been to where you feel pressured to buy anything.  We basically just got a chance to sample the products, and after attending her launch, I (as well as 3 of her other guests!) were sold on the opportunity to join the business.

I worked in Birmingham through Wednesday.  The weather was rough for a couple of days...check out this picture I took outside my office building downtown:

I think I should turn this into the marketing department and they should run an add like..."When life looks stormy...you can trust Cadence!" Okay, that's cheesy, but that's why I don't work in Marketing!

Chris  has had a slow couple of weeks.  He was sick the past couple of days with a head cold, and there has also been some bad weather.  Today he finally got cleared to fly again! However, as I write this, I am looking out my window and see some cloudy skies.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.  We are hoping that he will be able to solo next week.  He did get through his first block of training, which consisted of 6 intro (i.e. basic) flights focusing on aircraft control, landings, and stalls (what I refer to as free-falling...so scary! But not for him!) Now he's working on perfecting those skills and doing spins in the plane.  He has started studying about the instruments and doing simulators for those. Instruments are what you use when you fly in bad weather and have no outside visibility.

Here is a video that gives an example of what he is working on...still freaks me out, but I guess they get pretty comfortable with it! I mean just watching this makes me want to vomit:




I can't believe I am going to be 24 in 6 days! I remember what a special birthday 23 was...I actually took my fourth and final CPA exam last year on the 26th.  What a feeling that was! Literally everything that has happened since then has been a positive in my life.  Right after I turned 23, I graduated about 2 weeks later, got married and I feel like the entire year of 23 was nothing but fun, fun, fun.  I couldn't ask for anything more.  I am going to do everything possible to make sure that 24 is no different! I know this time last year I was probably hating my life while I tried to get through that last exam...now that it's over, I can truly appreciate the work I put into it.  I get my CPA certificate via certified mail on the week of May 14 and I can't WAIT to frame that sucker and put it on the wall!

As usual, Thanks for reading...and check out the R+F page please :)

Friday Favs!

I skipped Friday Favs last week because I didn't have time to upload all the pictures! This week I didn't really have any "favs" though, so here is what I wanted to share from last week:

Favorite Household Tip: Sustainable Green Onions

I use green onions all the time while cooking, and even throw them into recipes that don't call for them, just for the color.  I also substitute them for scallions sometimes.  I saw this tip online, and had to try it. It has been working pretty great so far!

Put green onions that you have almost completely used into a glass of water and place it by your window.  Here is what mine looked like Easter Sunday when I first started...

And here they are on Monday.  You should see them now! They are about 8" tall.  I need to trim them down and use them in a recipe.  I will just use scissors to cut them off when I need them. 

Favorite Money (and Calorie) Saving Recipe: Homemade Peanut Butter

This one was easy-peasy and is soooo much healthier than store bought peanut butter.  Chris likes to eat peanut butter and honey sandwhiches before flying because I guess it helps keep him from getting sick.  All you need to make homemade peanut butter is peanuts and olive oil.  I bought salted peanuts, but if you bought unsalted ones you may want to add some salt.  I couldn't tell you how much olive oil I used...I just kept adding it until it looked like there was enough! Also, we added a touch of *real* honey that we bought at the farmer's market...we liked the flavor it gave.

On Easter Sunday, I used the peanut butter and blended it with more honey, some soy sauce, and chicken broth to make a glaze for the ham.  It was delicious and a couple of people commented on how good the peanut butter taste was with the ham. 

Favorite New Veggie Discovery of the Week: Kale

I'm not sure if this is normal or not, but neither Chris nor I had ever had kale before.  So when we saw it for sale at the farmer's market on Saturday morning, we decided to give it a shot.  I didn't really know what to do with it.  Originally I planned to use it in a salad, but I wound up finding this recipe that had a bunch of stuff that I already had in my pantry, and giving it a try for dinner Sunday night.  It was soooo good...we will definitely be having this again!!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-yam-and-kale-salad/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=kale&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page (Roasted Yam and Kale Salad)

Yes, I know it sounds wierd...maybe even a little gross to some...but it was SO yummy! We love sweet potatoes, so we figured it would be pretty good but it was better than we thought it would be.  I added some gorgonzola cheese, and I think that enhanced the recipe even more.

Favorite Entertaining Idea: Champagne Bar

This worked really nicely and was so elegant and fun! I set out both Champagne and Spumante (they taste a little different), and for fruit I put out fresh strawberries from the farmer's market, canned peaches because I had them, and some frozen fruit (frozen fruit is always good to include because they also can act as ice cubes to keep it cold.  The guys mostly just put fruit in their champagne, but the girls liked to make mimosas.  So I set out some regular orange juice and some delicious mango-pineapple-apple-grape juice mixture (Welch's).  Such a cute presentation, very easy, and lots of fun! It was perfect for a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

 

Favorite Wardrobe Addition of the Week: Toms

I have always liked the idea of Tom's shoes (they give one pair of shoes to a child who needs them for every pair they sell)...but...I just didn't like how they looked! I bought this pair and it came in the mail last week.  I have been wearing them constantly because they are so comfy, cute, and they have holes in them so it's not gross that I can't wear socks with them! :)

Ignore the safety pin keeping the hem of my pants together, haha...yeah I know, I really need new pants.  I've had these since high school though...I guess they have sentimental value!



Pilgrimage, Easter, & Chris Flies!

Hey y'all! I know it has been a while since I did a "life" blog.   This Pilgrimage was the past two weeks and I had so many pictures to share, I wanted to do them all in one post.  I had fun hosting at three different houses and getting to dress in this antebellum dress...homemade by some of the wives on base...which did not include me! They are really some talented ladies! I got to wear a hoop skirt underneath, and when I was standing in those beautiful old homes surrounded by antiques and other people dressed like me, I felt just like I was Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind, my favorite book...at least I felt how Scarlett O'Hara felt at the beginning when she was surrounded by lots of parties and nice things.. Maybe not so much like how she felt at the end when she was dirt poor and starving...

Last Saturday, Chris and I went on a couple of the home tours together during the morning.  First we went to this one, which is called Rosedale.  It was filled with the most exquisite, incredible antique furniture I have ever seen.  It has been restored to its original state by the family that now lives there.  This includes details right down to the wallpaper and rugs, most of which were hand made and imported from Europe.  They had some kind of experts come in to examine the house and determine what kinds of patterns would have originally been there.  I didn't really take pictures of the insides of any of the houses, because some you were allowed to take pictures, and some you weren't so I just didn't want to take my chances. If you want to see the insides, you will just have to come down next year from the Pilgrimage, or perhaps this fall for the fall tours of homes...

I kind of had to drag Chris with me to see the homes that morning, but he actually really enjoyed it.  Chris and I both have an appreciation for beautiful things, and these homes are chock full of them.  Chris said he doesn't think he could do the home tours all day long the way I could, but he definitely enjoyed seeing a few of them with me.  We also went to Twelve Gables that morning, which is a historic home here in Columbus where a few women got together and decided to go to the cemetery to decorate the graves of Yankee soldiers.  They felt bad because no one had decorated those graves, yet the graves of the Confederate soldiers were all decorated.  These women realized that the Yankee soldiers also had wives and mothers and children who were mourning their deaths, but could not visit their graves.  This act of kindness led to an article being written about it in the New York Times, which eventually inspired a famous poem called "The Blue and the Gray".  I'm not going to put the poem here, but if you have a minute, I would suggest finding it online because it really is a moving poem.

Chris and I had lunch at the Quartier Cafe, and then headed over to the Artisans Alley.  I mentioned those two stops on my Friday Favs post.  After that, I met up with another one of the wives that I know from the base and we went on a few more home tours while Chris went home to study.  Here are the ones we explored together:

This house is called Whitehall and has always remained in the same family.  It is filled with some fantastic antiques and has the most amazing wrap-around porch that I hope to emulate one day! The porch even includes a deck area large enough to put out some tables and chairs.  One of the things I just love about these antebellum homes are how inviting they are...from the large porches to the high ceilings and huge walkways between rooms, they all had excellent flow for entertaining.  I imagine the people who once lived in these homes had a lot of parties.  I also enjoyed learning about the jib windows, which are windows that open all the way up from the floor to become walkways out onto the porch.  That way, if you are having a big party, you can open all the windows, and voila...you have 6x more doorways!

This is Rosewood.  The owners of this home have a vast collection of porcelain from around the world.  I have never seen so many interesting "knick knacks", and the entire time I was touring it, I was terrified of knocking something over.  My favorite thing about this house was the gardens.

This chapel was in Rosewood's garden.  It was in disrepair somewhere up north, so they brought it down, restored it, and put it in the garden.  They have had (very small) weddings here.

The inside of the chapel.  There was a Bible from the 1700s!

Another picture of the gardens...love the quatrefoil fountain (it's a Phi Mu thing :)  )

Pavilion...really cute inside.  It had a fan and a bunch of plants and places to sit.

 The last place we went was an old home, but the owners are still working on getting it ready to show for the Pilgrimage.  However, they opened the beautiful garden for visitors, as well as their guest house.

I loved this idea for a stained glass window in the guest house...it lists all the places that the previous owners had been.

More gardens

Friday night I toured White Arches...I had to go alone because Chris didn't get out of training in time to join me, but, like all the others, it was pretty amazing.  I just love the architecture of this one!

This Saturday, we visited a couple more homes.  My favorite was Bryn Bella...why did I not take any pictures there?? I guess I just wasn't thinking.  What I loved about Bryn Bella is that, whereas most of the homes we saw were considered "town homes" that the wealthy would live in part-time so that they could be closer to the social events, Bryn Bella was a true plantation home...what I imagine Tara being like in Gone With the Wind.  The owners had a lot of beautiful antiques, as well as interesting pieces like a stuffed giraffe!! The house was surrounded by acres of beautiful land.  My favorite part? The smokehouse out back! The owners were smoking a bunch of ham and it smelled DELICIOUS.  Then they let us sample some of the bacon and ham.  It was incredible!

The last tour we went on was of Waverly Mansion.  This is a local tourist attraction that is actually open daily for tours, not just for Pilgrimage.  This home sat empty and abandoned for over 30 years while the family couldn't decide what to do with it.  Local high school and college students would throw parties there and carve their names in the woodwork.  When the family agreed to sell it and the new owners began to renovate it, it was filled with all kinds of wildlife that had made its home there.  It took 27 years to bring it up to the state that is in now. A confederate general lived there with his children.

I felt a little awkward...how do you go about posing for a picture with a pretend Confederate soldier?

Waverly Mansion

Whew! So as you can see, we stayed pretty busy with that the last couple of weeks! And I didn't even include the homes I gave tours of.   There are still plenty of homes that we didn't see.  Hopefully we will be able to see those next year.

Another project that we...okay, it was pretty much all Chris...worked on last weekend was this little project for Mason.  It's not the most beautiful thing, but it is very functional. 

Since Chris started formal release last week, he isn't able to come home during the day to let Mason out of his crate and play with him.  I really can't make it home on my lunch break, at least not every day.  My office is about 20-25 minutes away so I don't have enough time.  This is over on the side of our house.  We put a doggie door in the screen door, pulled some of the panels off of that little gate (that is supposed to hide our trash cans, but oh well...) and put this fence from Lowe's around.  Now we can put Mason in the kitchen and close all the doors so that Mason can have some room to spread out during the day, and when he needs to go potty, he can let himself out the dog door.  Our neighbour says Mason has been enjoying sitting out in the sun during the day.  This has been so nice because even when we are home, we don't have to constantly keep an eye on him to see if he is standing by the door to get out. I might eventually get around to spray painting that iron fence white so that it at least matches the other fence.  But with it being on the side of the house (the side where we don't have any neighbors or anything)...I think it is fine.  We do live in a rental, so we don't want to spend too much money on building fences, etc! This fence we can just pull up and take with us when we move.

This Sunday, Chris and I went to church at Columbus First United Methodist for Easter, and then I cooked lunch for a group of us.  

At church

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays...you can't help but to feel great on a day that is dedicated to remembering that, thanks to Jesus, we are saved from our sins...

This deviled egg recipe came from a Southern Living cookbook and was the bomb!

Chris doing the honor of cutting the ham

Broccoli and cauliflower casserole and squash boats...and Hawaiian rolls, yum!

After lunch we dyed eggs :)

Our neighbor Jaime is taking care of a litter of kittens for the humane society.  Here is one...isn't she cute??

The kitten love Mason...she wanted to sit on his back and bury her head in his fur.  She was purring the whole time.  It was so cute!

Mason liked playing with the kitten, too...

I worked in Birmingham last week and wanted to share this picture from The Club restaurant where I went one night with some of my coworkers.  Pretty fantastic view of Birmingham!

I think Chris and I would love being members of something like The Club one day.  No golf, no pool...just a bunch of private restaurants with an awesome view! The menu changes regularly so you would never get bored.  And the food was just flat-out fantastic.  There were also a bunch of specials...the night we went, they had 1/2 price bottles of wine and free dessert.  They have a range of restaurants that vary from more casual to very formal.  So you have an option for any type of occasion!

Now that Chris is on formal release, his schedule is very hectic.  He didn't get home until 8:30 Friday night...I was so sad! I know I will just have to get used to it though.  He won't be on formal release for the rest of pilot training, but we don't know exactly how much longer he will be on it.  He got to fly twice last week.  The first time, he got bad motion sickness.  These planes are a lot faster than the ones he has flown on before and the center of gravity is in the back of the plane so that makes a difference.  When you get bad motion sickness, you have to go to the doctor to get medicine, then you have to fly every day until your body adjusts to it.  Chris did not get motion sickness on his second flight.  However, a bunch of the guys are still getting motion sickness, so they get priority and actually wound up taking some of his other flights after he stopped getting sick.  Also, the weather did not cooperate with him every day.  So he is a little disappointed that he only got to fly twice last week when others got to fly as many as four times.  However, I'm sure he will eventually make up for it.  He got out of training around 9 most days last week.  This morning he went in around 6 so he should be home around 6 tonight. Last week he was able to practice maneuvers such as barrel rolls and loops. His first flight involved flying through clouds as well. This week he will practice his landings.

Suiting up for his first flight

Ready for takeoff...that's the IP (Instructor Pilot) in the back.  Eventually, Chris will be doing flights alone.

I can't believe it, but today is our 9 month anniversary! This year is FLYING by.  Before we know it, we will be hitting the one-year mark, and will no longer be considered "Newlyweds!" That is so hard to believe.  The past nine months have been filled with nothing but good times.  I'm sure we have hit a few rough spots. but I can't even think of any off the top of my head.  We have definitely been living in newlywed bliss! I'm sure pilot training will bring on a whole slew of new stressers.  I'm confident that we will be able to handle them gracefully.

Thanks so much for reading!

Dubs and Mason...BFF!!