Project progress & lessons learned

I'll admit it. I love alliteration.

moldy carpet = confirmation that new floors are an awesome idea

This week, Eric and I "broke ground" on our huge floor-laying project. We hauled a ton of the flooring in from the garage so the wood could acclimate to the temperature of the house and got to work ripping up carpet in one of the guest rooms. Side note: per our modus operandi, we started this huge project with only three days to work before my parents come to town. This is important not because my parents can't see past a home improvement project, trust me, they can. It is important because they need to sleep in the room that is housing all of the furniture from the room we are currently working in. We started a different huge project in the days before Matt and Meg visited and consequently were working into twilight in order to get the house ready for visitors. I'm not complaining, though, I actually like it! I've always worked better this way. For some reason, I thrive on the feeling of last-minute-ness.

Okay, back to the project. A couple of lessons. First, when laying a floating laminate floor, the beginning is infinitely harder than the rest of it. In the beginning, we were convinced that we were royally screwing up and that we had definitely bitten of more than we could chew. Fortunately, with each subsequent row, the process became easier and we worked faster. Pictures sometimes tell a story better than words, so let's put it this way:

Here is our progress after night one (approximately 4-5 hours of work)

And we were proud of this! It took a lot of work, sweat, near-tears, and a few spousal spats to get to this point.










Here is our progress after night two (approximately 4-5 hours of work)

Talk about progress! By the end of this night, we were exhausted, but feeling pretty good about ourselves and our ability to carry this project to fruition.

The second big lesson learned, is that things are never as easy as they appear to be on TV, where floor clicks into place with the push of a thumb and time-lapse film is used to show progress. Patience is key and sometimes you break things.

 

holy green bean!

The outside of the house is being worked on, too. We wanted to add a pop of color to the house. I'm not sure this is what we had in mind...but it is hard to tell during this phase of the project. It doesn't help that I can hear the guys painting it talking about how they feel like they're taking a "trip to Willy Wonka Land." Or that the color reminds them of their favorite childhood move, The Wizard of Oz, because it's the same color as the witch's face. But I have faith that it will look good in the end. This isn't the first time that color has been scary initially only to come out looking nice. Anyway, if it's a complete disaster, there's always more paint!

So far, DIY house projects have been tons work, stressful at times, and a lot of fun. There is nothing like seeing the progress of your own hard work. It's also a great opportunity to learn more about yourself and your partner. Eric's a rockstar partner when it comes to this stuff and hopefully he can say the same about me.

Banana Bread and Revelations

In Altus, one has a lot of time on one's hands to dedicate to thinking. My friend, Sarah, and I have started calling the "epiphanies" one my have during these thinking periods, "revelations." We tell ourselves to be mindful of (and in) these moments and that we should record and document these fleeting thoughts. After all, not everyone has this kind of reflective time available to them. Be appreciative. Right?

banana bread batter

Well, this afternoon I baked banana bread (actually it looks more like cake because I don't have a bread pan). Sometime during the gentle folding of walnuts into the banana mixture, it dawned on me that this time last year, I was walking out after a day of work in a world-renowned pediatric hospital. I had spent the day working with (and learning from) a team of some of the smartest and most dedicated people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I had enjoyed, been saddened by, and been inspired by my time spent with patients and their families. All in a day's work.

Things have changed. Just a bit.

Today I made banana bread. It smells good and likely tastes delicious. I'm not sure that this treat will have the impact on the world that my time in the hospital had, but I enjoyed it. It is even likely that several of the people in Eric's office will enjoy it tomorrow as well. Is the activity of baking bread any less significant or meaningful than putting in a full day's work at a dynamic workplace? Probably. But who is to say that it should be any less valued? I added a skill to my toolbox, I made a few people's tummies pretty happy (mine included), and I didn't waste the bananas that had become overripe. That aint' nothin'!

Who knows how the rest of my days in this new home of mine will be spent. I surely don't. But the lesson is that it doesn't matter that I don't know the answer to this question today. The answer will unfold itself with each passing day. And at least I have another day of happiness and health to be thankful for.

Saturday morning musings

Days when you (both) don't have to wake up to an alarm are awesome.
When your husband makes you a vegetable frittata for breakfast, you are one lucky woman.

This is what happens when, after washing his car, your husband dumps the remaining soapy water into the flower bed. He "watered" the garden with this concoction back in June. Now it's October and still bubbly.
 

This is what happens when you have three TONS of flooring in your garage and you know that it is your job to do something with it. 

It is finally raining in Altus, America! And when it rains, it pours.

Hergs host houseguests!

Waiting in line at Meers and the ONLY picture of the four of us from the trip.

You can't find better friends than Matt and Meg. About a month ago, they called to let us know they were planning a trip to Altus. Eric and I were beside ourselves with excitement and could hardly believe they were coming until they were here, standing in our living room. Their visit began last Wednesday morning, when I made the two hour trip to the Will Rogers Airport to pick up Meg. I think I drove the whole way with an ear-to-ear smile. I couldn't wait to see her! Luckily, I only had to wait a few minutes for her to walk out the doors. After a big hug, I informed her that our first stop on her Oklahoman adventure would be a to a recycling plant to drop off about four month's worth of glass containers (woo hoo!). You see, Altus AFB has a recycling program, which is wonderful because the city itself does not offer recycling service. The problem is that the AFB does not accept any glass at all. Being that I am a born and bred recycler/Earth-saver, I just can't bring myself to throw glass in the trash. The result of this conundrum is that I find myself having to travel ridiculously long distances to recycle glass. Needless to say, my trip to pick up Meg presented a great opportunity to make my first cross-city recycling attempt.

I am truly fortunate to have such an adventuresome friend in Meg. She helped me find the plant and then jumped right in helping to sort the green from the clear to the brown glass. She worked even to the detriment of her own shirt (let's just say I had not been very diligent about rinsing certain beverage receptacles...eww).  After we finished that task, we got back into the car and started exploring OKC, keeping an eye out for an interesting lunch spot. We stumbled upon a neat block of boutiques and restaurants and decided to dine at the Pachinko Parlor. This little restaurant has an interesting Asian inspired menu and a lot of personality. We sat at a table on an outdoor patio, which sits almost directly next to a railroad crossing. We elected to split some sushi and a sandwich and really enjoyed our food. We enjoyed our conversation even more, despite the fact that it was regularly interrupted by an odd waiter and the deafening blow of a train whistle.

After finishing lunch, we got comfortable for the long trip back to Altus. We got to talking so much that I missed the ONE turn I have to make between the city and our house. I woke up 45 miles from Wichita Falls and on country roads, such as the one we were on, you have no idea how far away the next exit will be. Calmly, I pulled my best, "I'm an Oklahoman so I can drive on the grass" maneuver to cross the median and get back to moving in the right direction. I think I only ended up adding about thirty minutes to the trip, but we were pretty happy to see Altus when we finally found it. I avoided driving through the main part of town to get home because I was saving the Tour d' Altus for the next day. We got home, I gave Meg a tour of our house and only a few minutes later, Eric came home from work! The three of us spent the rest of the evening making dinner, visiting, and catching up. It was just like old days, oh, how we needed that.

On Thursday morning, Eric went off to work and Meg and I enjoyed a leisurely morning, chatting and having breakfast. On the agenda for that day was a tour of Altus and checking out some antique stores (proportionally, there are a lot of them here). We grabbed a map so Meg could keep track of where we were going and where we had been, and she saw Altus from corner to corner (or field to field). Meg also got to check touring a base off her bucket list. We visited the BX and stopped to see Eric in his legal office habitat. We started to get hungry, and again, Meg being the adventurer she is, she suggested that we try a restaurant that was new to me as well. Earlier in the day, she had spotted a Taqueria on the Main square so we decided to check it out. It was delicious! The best Mexican food I've had since moving to Altus (and we have more Mexican restaurants than antique stores). After lunch, we hit the antique stores and a couple boutiques on the square and around town.

Meg and I each returned home with a handful of treasures we'd found among the junk, but the best was definitely a memoir written by an Altoosian, which covers a time span from the late fifties through the present in Altus. I purchased the book from the author's wife, the couple owns a printing shop/art gallery. It would be hard to explain how wonderful this book is in this entry so let's just say it will keep us entertained for a long time to come. In all seriousness, though, it is the most information I've found about this town since I learned of it's existence. Meg and I shopped that afternoon until Altus shut down (circa 5pm). We hadn't yet made it to all the antique/collectibles/junk hot spots, and there were still a few that we definitely wanted to see. We decided to put it on our schedule for the next day as well.

We went home and met up with Eric who by this point was home from work. The three of us made a trip to a liquor store/bait shop that we had heard about from a friend. It was a small store and we were the only customers there. The shop owner was a neat older woman who worked with the assistance of her cat who became cranky if you stopped petting him. She was a self-proclaimed beer-disliker and lover of Crown Royal. She let us know that she would be willing to special order things we wanted AND that if we were lovers of German bier gardens, we should absolutely make the trip to Fredericksburg, TX. Good to know!

We returned home, worked on dinner, and tuned into the X Factor while we waited to hear from Matt about the progress of his trip. We were expecting him to arrive in OKC at around 11pm that night (Thursday), which meant we would leave Altus to pick him up at around 9:30pm. The last Meg had heard from him was a call around 4:30 letting us know that his plane out of Raleigh  (Rolly) was delayed. We were expecting to hear from him again while he waited for his connecting flight in Dallas. We looked at the clock at around 8:45pm, and realizing that we hadn't heard from Matt, we became concerned that he had or would miss his connection in Dallas. The three of us start to brainstorm, "well, we could just pick him up in Dallas (only an additional hour or so driving time), how about having him try to find a flight to Lawton?" Meg started texting Matt all of these alternative options when she received a text from him. Matt says, "you won't believe this, but I just landed in OKC, and I'm not sure they're going to let me get off the plane." Finally, we found out that the airport was going to send send a van out to the tarmac to retrieve Matt and the other six or so passengers who were also supposed to end their trip in OKC. Meg and I told him, "great, be there in a jiffy!" and, like chickens with our heads cut off, we left for OKC. We ended up picking Matt up at 11:30pm anyway. Ultimately, his change in travel plans did not shorten his travel time; however, I'm pretty sure he was the first person in history to take a direct flight from Raleigh to OKC.

On Friday morning, Eric went to work, Matt worked from home, and Meg and I woke up early to hike in the Quartz Mountain Range. The mountain are only about 20 minutes from our house. We decided to hike the New Horizon Trail, which goes up the face of Quartz Mountain and reaches her summit. I had downloaded a trail map from the park's website, which we used to find the trail head. Meg and I got out of the car and began walking. Almost immediately, we were going straight up. Early on, we saw a total of two blazes marking the trail and then nothing. It is important to know that the trail map classified this hike as "moderate to difficult." However, when you look at these pictures, I think you will agree with us that it was, in fact, not-so-moderate.

We had to reach deep down to tap into our inner-ninjas to scramble our way up AND avoid tumbling down. It was extremely windy up there toward the peak and we were 100% forging our own trail in an area completely unknown to either of us. In the end, the view from the summit did not disappoint and we were proud of ourselves for persevering. It was a great challenge and so much fun! Out of curiosity, Meg suggested that we stop at the Ranger's Station to inquire about the disappearing trail blazes. The woman we met there informed us that over the years, people have ignored the markers and made their own trails. The blazes have simply worn off over time. She also educated us that, here, they call them, "kiosks" not "blazes." Noted. Only somewhat satisfied with her answer, we made out way home.

We cleaned up, grabbed Matt, and went to meet Eric and a few friends for lunch at the Grapevine Cafe. This restaurant offers hit-or-miss cuisine with a good serving of character. Additionally, it is probably the closest we get to healthy food in an Altoosian establishment. We had a fun lunch, which featured an epic "pot pie"/"Popeye" miscommunication. Short story (because obviously I'm all about being concise), there was a Popeye salad special, Eric heard pot pie and very clearly ordered "poT pie." A friend also ordered the same, making sure to enunciate, "poT pie, I'll have the poT pie, ma'am."  The waitress returned with two Popeye specials: strawberries and chicken on a bed of fresh spinach. Umm, oh well.

After lunch, Meg, Matt, and I stopped for dessert at June's Tasty Treats. I only recently was introduced to this place, but June makes the best chocolate chip cookie I've ever had (sorry, mom). This place is now a must-try for any Altoosian visitor of ours. The treats were so enticing that Meg and Matt left knowing what their orders would be the next time we stopped at June's. Unfortunately we never made it back (at least not on this trip). We dropped Matt back at home to finish his work day and Meg and I hit the antique trail again. We even ventured out to the neighboring town of Blair to check out a few stores we'd seen on our way to the mountains that morning. We were not as successful as we'd been on the previous day's trip; however, I did find a few stores worth checking out again in the future.

We met up with Eric and Matt back at the house and had a fierce corn hole showdown. Meg/Eric v. Matt/I. Very clearly, Meg and Eric are superior corn hole athletes than Matt and I. Though I have to say, we did have one "close" game. We kind of scared them, almost. We grilled some chicken and a couple of friends from Eric's office joined in on the fun. Meg found a new use for the over sized marshmallows featured in an earlier entry. She created a Willy Wonka-esque digestif. The recipe will remain a secret, but it was actually pretty delicious and mind-blowingly creative.

On Saturday morning, the four of us got up and hopped in the car. We stopped to grab a quick breakfast for the road at Happy Donuts then made the hour-long drive to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge. We entered the park shortly after pulling off of highway 62. Almost immediately, we started seeing Bison and Texas Longhorn. They were all over the place just dozing, munching on grass, and crossing the street. There were signs abound warning us to keep our distance, and we heeded the warnings, but I would be remiss to say that buffalo look anything other than sweet and cuddly. I love them. 

We stopped at the welcome center to speak with a ranger about the best hikes in the park. He suggested a six mile trail, but there was not much elevation change in that one and we were hoping for more of a climb. Our solution was to attempt two hikes: a 2 mile round trip hike that promised great views of most of the refuge and the six mile hike that was recommended by the ranger. The weather was beautiful, but we hiked the shorter one first as we believed it would be more challenging and we thought it better not to push ourselves during the hottest part of the day. The picture to the left is of Eric, Matt, and Meg at the highest point of the hike. There were some really beautiful views from the top! By the time we finished the hike, we had worked up quite an appetite. We got back in the car and went in search of the world famous Meersburger.

After getting turned around a bit, we finally arrived at Meers- Store & Restaurant in the nearby tiiiiny little town of Meers, OK. To our credit, here are the directions from their website: "Take I-44 to Hwy 49. Travel West about 4 miles, to Hwy 58. Turn to the North for about 5 miles to the turn-off to Meers (follow the signs). Now turn to the West for 4 miles and you're there." We got into the line that already stretched out the door and patiently waited for our turn to eat. The food was well worth the wait! The burgers were huge and heavenly and we wouldn't have been able to live with ourselves if we didn't sample the spicy wedges, onion rings, and frickles! Meers makes homemade ice cream as well, and it looked like the most beautifully smooth and creamy ice cream we'd ever seen. We had all been eyeing it, but we were thoroughly stuffed by the time we finished lunch and could not bring ourselves to order dessert. Next time... 

Still having another hike on our agenda, we made out way back to the Refuge. We were all so full and the weather was so completely perfect that all any of us could think about was taking long naps on a blanket in the sun. Before starting our second hike, we paid a visit to the Prairie Dog Village. There are prairie dogs all over the park, but there is one area where they and their homes are visible in abundance. They were so cute to watch as they busily popped in and out of their homes. Some of them even appeared to be standing together, enjoying an early afternoon conversation (and maybe a cupa tea?). Their town looked like a giant game of Whack-A-Mole!

Our second hike was supposed to be a six mile adventure, but I lead us astray and we ended up at the wrong trail head. Luckily, there were many other trails so we opted to do some parts of two other hikes. We were lead to believe that these routes would be clearly marked by various symbols. However, we again ran into the problem of a clear lack of kiosks (not blazes). We had difficulty knowing which trail we were on or where we were going. At any given point, there appeared to be several trails, but no signs. We chose just to hike alongside the river and by doing so were able to see some neat sites. The Wildlife Refuge made for a great day and Eric and I (being the lovers of outdoors that we are) are lucky to have it so close to home.

Saturday night in Altus was pretty low key. Still craving ice cream from earlier in the day, the four of us decided to go to Braums to have sundae's for dinner. This made me happy because I love ice cream, but also because my grandfather took my sister and I to Braums for ice cream for dinner when we were little girls, which officially secured his spot as coolest dude I knew. After our very nutritious dinner, we drove around a little to see Altus at night and stopped in the parking lot of the Altus Speedway to check out the scene. It was the last race of the season and there was a pretty decent crowd. We chose not to go in to watch the remainder of the race, but I definitely think Eric and I will give it a try next season!

On Sunday morning, we got up, packed up the car and drove to OKC. Meg and Matt were to fly out early evening and we wanted to try to catch the Redskins game (since we wouldn't be able to see it in Altus). On our way to OKC, I started calling bars and asking (1) if they had Sunday Ticket and (2) if they were willing to put the Skins game on a TV for us. We finally found a guy who said he could work that out. So we went to a place called Republic Gastro Pub, a chic sports bar, which had a great atmosphere and a very interesting menu. We sat right next to a TV with the Redskins game on and got to see most of the game before we had to leave to take them to the airport. Luckily, when we left, we were pretty sure the Redskins were going to win. If it were a close game, I think Matt may have been willing to miss his flight to see the end (of course, we wouldn't have minded).

We took them to the airport and said our goodbyes. We are so thankful to them for making the trip. It's not an easy trip and it isn't the most exciting destination, but it is the people that really matter. The four of us together is always sure to be a good time. This combination has never failed.  We watched them walk through the airport doors and we drove in the direction of Altus. As we walked into our house, we got a text from Meg, "We're in Dallas, wishing we were still in Altus!" (Oh, how we wish they were still in Altus). They had made it to Dallas in the time that we made it home. Priceless.

DIY, DI Whyyyyyy?

Eric and I purchased this house for many reasons. One of them certainly being that we wanted a project house. But what happens when the stars align and for some reason all of the projects on your "to do" list need to happen at once? Complete chaos, that is what happens. The hail storm was the impetus to work on the external part of our home. Luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at it), we have contractors taking care of the outside. This means that we have to wait for the work to be finished (or started) on their terms, but it also means that I don't have to do the painting!

Now for the inside of the house...I'm not sure how it happened so quickly, but sometime between a Saturday night to trip to Home Depot and Monday morning, Eric and I ordered new flooring for the entire house. We are unbelievably excited about this as our little rancher is currently home to five distinct types of flooring. We are presented with an opportunity to capitalize on the fact that we don't have to protect our current floors. We can destroy them with painting and other remodeling projects that we eventually planned to get to. So when I woke up on Monday, I sprung into action! I called another contractor to come and fix all the "old house cracks" in our walls, I've been busy looking at paint colors (don't worry, the yellow and green colors in the picture below have both been nixed), and I started to prime all of the wooden trim in our house that we want to paint white. I even started taking down the kitchen cabinet doors in preparation to sand them. The end result is that our house is in complete shambles!!

This post includes various "before" pictures. Who knows when I will be able to post the "after" shots, but the journey is the fun part, right? I am learning to love the mess (though I have already suggested to Eric that we move all of our belongings into a storage unit until our work is finished) and I am learning to accept that mistakes will be made. I am even coming to terms with the fact that our house just may look like this when we host our very first house guests next week. We ecstatic, thrilled, and overjoyed to be looking forward to a visit from Meg and Matt!!

And just when I started to question whether we had bitten off more than we could chew, my phone sounded the new email alarm... When I opened it, I found a coupon for 40% off all paints and stains at Sherwin Williams this weekend. It's a sign. We can do this! Happy homemaking!

Ask for adventure and adventure you shall receive

To preface this entry, I should say that I got so far behind with blogging that I struggled a lot with whether to pick up and start with what is going on most recently or try to go back and recap this amazing summer. I decided to attempt the recap, but that being said, this entry will be quite lengthy and may not be interesting to anyone but me! I had every intention to blog regularly throughout the summer (as this summer was certainly one to remember). However, the summer ended up taking on life of it's own and was so busy and exciting that I never seemed able to find the time. Go figure, now that I am back in Altus, I have a little time on my hands! So where to start? I will break this (long) entry into two pieces: Itinerary one and Itinerary two.

Itinerary one: OK->AL->GA->AL->AZ->OK

Summer began with Eric and I making a road trip from Altus to Maxwell, AFB in Montgomery, Alabama. Eric was at JASOC (or JAG school for us lay people) from early July until early September. I rode with him, dropped him off on base, and went on to Tybee Island, Georgia for my annual family reunion at the beach. We had a great week at the beach this year! The most memorable event of the week was my mom being attacked by a Portuguese Man O' War (let me know if a separate post about that event is desired). But the best part of the week was all of the fun we got to have with our huge, extended family.

My mom, Gila, and I shared a condo and it was great to have the much-needed and long overdue girl time. I meant to document the whole week through photos, but for some reason the two cuties above monopolized my camera's attention! This was my favorite shot of the adorable duo, Janet and Reed. Our family is so fortunate to have a mother/grandmother who gives us the gift of time together (not to mention in such a beautiful place) each summer. We come from different places in the country to reconnect every year. And I know I speak for all of us when I say it is something we look forward to all year long. We can't thank you enough, Grandma.

After a lovely week at the beach, I got to spend a weekend in Maxwell with Eric before going onto my next destination.  We ate a delicious Thai meal and explored the city of Montgomery by foot, which I actually found to be qutite lovely. It is nestled aside a beautiful river. There is a fun little downtown area with restaurants and bars. There is a lot of neat architecture and the city is heavy with history. Within only blocks from one another, we saw where the Montgomery Slave Markets were located and we visited the site of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Here is a picture of us standing where Ms. Rosa Parks once stood. It was truly moving to be in such significant places of our country's history. On Monday morning, after our weekend together, Eric dropped me off at the airport and I was on my way to visit my sister-in-law, Kelly, and her family in Phoenix, AZ. 

I had not been to Phoenix to visit Kelly since my freshman year of college. At that time, I was only 18, Eric and I had only recently begun dating, Kelly lived in a different house, was not yet married and Mia and Mason were, in the words of my mother, "just a twinkle in their parents' eyes." Needless to say, a lot has changed!! I had a great time meeting little Mason and being able to visit with Kelly, Rick and Mia. I got lots of snuggles in with five-week-old, baby Mason! I was able to see where Mia went to pre-school, see her do gymnastics (she's a star!), see her performance at the end of vacation bible school, and do a ton of arts and crafts! Here is a picture of Mia in her fabulous "Rapunzel crown" that we created together. Kelly and I did some shopping and ate at some awesome restaurants. One Saturday morning, Rick and I woke up early (but not early enough) to hike Camelback Mountain. It is the coolest hike I've ever been on, but it was extremely hot that day. Rick and I made it to the summit, but I definitely would not have been able to do it without him. I wanted to give up a bajillion times along the way. Rick just kept dumping cold water on my head and saying, "keep goin!" It was definitely worth the effort. It is incredible to be 2700 feet up in the air and right in the middle of an enormous city. The views are breathtaking! We had such a great time that at the end of the week, Kelly and Rick invited me to come back to AZ in August! Of course, I accepted their invitation, and returned to OK knowing that I would be home alone in Altus for just TWO rather than FIVE weeks! This was such a relief! I still can't thank Kelly and Rick enough for adopting me this summer!

Itinerary two: OK>AR>OK>AZ>AL>OK

While home in Altus, I made a trip out to eastern Oklahoma to attend the Kihehah Steh Pow Wow. I was so excited to be able to squeeze in some more family time! I enjoyed a delicious lunch with my Aunt Gayle and Uncle Vince at their home in Tulsa and then spent a long weekend at my Uncle John and Aunt Kim's house. My grandmother was there too. We had fun trying different restaurants and playing games. In fact, my grandmother, Aunt Kim, cousin Jack and I faced off in a fierce, two-day Taboo battle. It was intense, but now I can't even recall who won bragging rights! I was able to take my grandmother to a gathering of all her old buddies who were getting together for a quilting bee. They were so happy to see her (and she them)! It was also great for me to be able to visit with all the familiar faces of my youth on my grandparents' farm. After lunch, Grandma and I hit to road and enjoyed a short roadtrip from Skaitook, OK to Fayetteville, AR. My Aunt Carol had invited a bunch of the family over for a delicious dinner and then later that night I was able to enjoy an evening out in downtown Fayetteville with my cousins, Nicole and Mike. The prospect of being able to do things like that more often make living out here in Oklahoma all the more appealing. It was so much fun! I returned to Altus the next day. The highlight of the weekend in Altus was a trip with my friend Sarah to the Miss Altus Outstanding Teen pageant. Let me tell you, this was the real deal. The talent competition was fierce! I am now on the lookout for future local pageants because it made for some great entertainment! A couple of days later, I packed my bags for my return trip to Phoenix and then paid $250 for a cab ride to the airport! Such is the life of a country girl!

I flew back to Phoenix and spent a little over two more weeks with Kelly and clan. During this time, Mia started Kindergarten, Mason discovered his hands and how to blow bubbles, and Kelly and I indulged our sense of taste! Kelly cooked a bunch of delicious recipes that I wanted to sample and we tried out a numerous fabulous restaurants. I enjoyed every second of it! Since moving to Altus, I have developed a whole new appreciation for interesting restaurants and cuisine. I also had the great opportunity to meet a lot of Kelly and Rick's friends. When you live so far away from family, friends become all the more important. It was great to be able to meet their family away from family and to put faces to names that I've heard throughout the years. They had a cookout at their house one night and on a different night, I had the privilege of participating in Ladies Night! It was so much fun and a pleasure to meet such wonderful people. Kelly and I were also able to hike together once during this trip, which was really a treat for both of us. We hiked the Pinnacle Peak Trail, which was really cool because it offered great views of some of the biggest and fanciest homes in Scottsdale. The time in AZ just flew by! Kelly and I celebrated my last night in AZ by going out for drinks and a nice dinner together. We had so much fun just talking and laughing. It was fabulous! Before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye, again. I will forever be thankful that I got to spend so much time with them this summer! And I look forward to future visits!

I flew from AZ back to Maxwell, AFB to meet up with Eric. I stayed with him for the last two weeks of his time at JASOC. On one of my first nights there, a group of us attended a Montgomery Biscuits game! It was an intense showdown with the Mud Cats, tied for almost nine innings, which ended with the Mud Cats conquering the Biscuits by 3, or 4, but who is counting? Whatever, Go Biscuits! We spent Labor Day weekend exploring more of Montgomery. We visited the First White House of the Confederacy, the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, and walked around the state capitol. It was amazing to us to see the proximity of all these places. Incredibly, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott just a block or two away from the state capitol. I am sure I've read about this in the history books, but it is an entirely different experience to actually see these places with your own eyes!

I was so fortunate to be able to be with Eric through all of the closing festivities of JASOC. I got to pin on his new rank during the ceremony when he was promoted to Captain. Several other JAGs promoted on the same day so we all went out to celebrate that night. It is tradition for the Airman who promotes to host a promotion party. Someone organized to have a party bus pick us up on base and take us downtown. Needless to say, a lot of people turned up to celebrate and we had a really fun night! The next night was Dining Out, a formal dinner party, steeped in tradition, that families and spouses are invited to attend. All of the Airmen wear their Mess Dress, which is equivalent to a tuxedo. Participating in this dinner was truly a unique experience. On the next morning, the 2011 JASOC class graduated. The picture to the right is Eric and I on the morning of the graduation. During the ceremony, The Judge Advocate General, General Harding, addressed the room, awards were given, diplomas were handed out, and with that it was over! I had such a great time in Montgomery, I was pleased to be able to meet all of Eric's classmates and many of their families. To hear about where they live, where they're from, and what they're doing on their respective bases was interesting, inspiring, and really gave me the sense that there is a greater AF JAG community, even family. They are truly a wonderful group of people who I hope to cross paths with again. I felt that spending time at Maxwell and having the opportunity to meet Eric's fellow JAGs as well as instructors allowed me to gain a better perspective about why we are where we are and where we are going. Altus is just one little piece of a much bigger puzzle. It is valuable in its own way and there are many interesting places ahead!

Immediately after the graduation ended, Eric and I loaded up the car and then met a large group of friends out for one last lunch at Dreamland Bar-B-Que in downtown Montgomery. We took a lot of abuse from one very nice and boisterous gentleman that worked at the restaurant about the "ugliness" of the Maryland football uniforms. Eric and I made the mistake of admitting that we actually liked them. This man proceeded to ask every single patron of the restaurant whether or not they liked the uniform and continued to proclaim, "those are the UGLIEST uniforms I've ever seen!" All in good fun, of course! After lunch, we hit the road toward home. We stopped for the night in Monroe, Louisiana and I, of course, was determined to "have an adventure" and to eat dinner at a restaurant that was interesting rather than a chain. Eric indulged my request and we spent well over an hour searching for the perfect spot. Finally we found it: Athena Greek & Lebanese Restaurant.

This place was complete with a gigantic fountain right in the middle of the dining room. Eric and I ordered our dinner and sometime in the middle of consuming it, the music got really loud. We were practically the only people sitting in the restaurant. Naturally, we started looking around trying to figure out what was going to happen or what we had won! Out comes this belly dancer! She pretty much gave us a private performance, make that three. It was definitely the most interesting dinner out either of us have had in quite some time. The food was great, we couldn't stop laughing, and we certainly got our adventure!

The next afternoon, we drove into Altus on one of the most beautiful afternoons I've seen in a while. The temperature was perfect and the sunset over the mountains was exquisite. I mean it when I say that I was absolutely ecstatic to be back home. I was even loving on Altus! After such an on-the-go summer, it is great to be back in our quiet home, together. Yes, it has been a few days now...turns out Altus is still Altus, but as I said before, I have new perspective. Each place is what you make it, and I am determined to make this great. If you have read to this point, you are probably exhausted. I promise, you, diligent blog follower, that I will not procrastinate to this extent again!

O'er the land of the free and the home of the....BIGGEST marshmallow you've ever seen

Fourth of July weekend was an exciting and eventful one for us! On Saturday, we joined a few friends and made the long trek to the big city, Oklahoma City. We spent Saturday night in Bricktown and really enjoyed our evening out. We had the opportunity to meet the family of one of our friends and that was a real pleasure. It's always nice to be able to spend time with someone's family. We had dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse, which will always hold a special place in my heart. My grandma and grandpa used to take my sister and me there when we were kids, it was always such a treat! After dinner we went to one of those places that boasts approximately one million beers on tap. A must-see for beer connoisseurs such as Eric and myself. Our last stop was a dance club and as those close to me know, nothing makes me happier than hours of dancing! It was a great time. We woke up on Sunday and I made my maiden voyage to the Waffle House. I know it's hard to believe that I haven't dined at this establishment before, but it's true. It was a first. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had plans for another first: to host our first holiday party here at 3517 on Monday afternoon. There was a lot of debate about whether or not there would be fireworks or if we were even allowed to grill. Our entire county (and all of the surrounding area) is under a burn ban due to out-of-control wild fires. When we got home from Oklahoma city, Eric diligently began researching how we could host a law-abiding cookout. He discovered that we could in fact grill so long as the grill was perched on a concrete pad. The fact that we have a concrete pad was a huge relief because I could not fathom a Fourth of July without a cookout and fireworks. We still weren't certain whether any fireworks were going to occur, but at least we could have our burgers! 

With much excitement, we set out on a mission to bring home Eric's new baby. We visited all three places where purchasing grills is possible in Altus: Sears, Wal Mart, and Atwoods. Sears won. After much hemming and hawing over whether we needed a smoker, charcoal, and gas grill combo spaceship OR a regular grill, Eric decided a regular grill would suffice. He selected this beauty. Getting her home was a struggle as both Eric and I drive compact cars. This experience only added fuel to Eric's "we live in Oklahoma so we need a big truck" fire. Thankfully, our friend let us borrow his jeep, and we got her home in one piece. Later that afternoon, after we confirmed that we could provide the grill, some friends joined us for a 4th of July cookout. Eric made his (and his dad's) famous hamburgers and our guests each brought side dishes.

We enjoyed barbecued shrimp kabobs, homemade pasta salad, potato salad, and fruit. Delicious! For dessert, we had big plans to roast marshmallows and make s'mores. Our belief that the "bigger is better rule" would apply to marshmallows was misguided. We each had one s'more and ended up covered in marshmallow goo (with the exception of one very skilled s'mores eater who came away spotless). Definitely an idea better in theory than in actuality. But here is proof that these actually were the biggest marshmallows that ever existed. You may have  museums, restaurant variety, rooftop decks, walking paths, live music, crowds, and excitement, but we have the biggest marshmallows. So there. The number one reason why living here is better than living there. 

At the end of the day, we shared a nice feast and lots of laughs. It was a successful first holiday away from home. After our guests left, Eric and I put on a movie and settled in to enjoy some quiet time together. We don't get nearly enough of that these days. Just as the movie was about to end, we heard a strange noise...a boom. Could it be? Were the fireworks actually going to happen? They did! And we could see and hear them from our front yard (another benefit of small town living). This was actually very cool. There Eric and I stood on our own front lawn, just the two of us, watching the fireworks. We felt both fulfilled and sad. A strange combination of emotions that I believe will become more familiar as time goes on.