Perfect Day

Today has been perfect!! I spent last night at my Pops house which is always good- love him. Got up this morning and watched some TV and putzed around the house a little bit. Then I cooked up a sauce for my Daddy and whipped up meatballs and sausage. Tonight we'll have pasta for dinner (shocker, huh?). So after I finished cooking, my sister messaged me on Facebook and said Grumpy Old Men was on CMT! She knows I love these movies! I watched Grumpy Old Men even though the sequel, Grumpier Old Men is my favorite. So after that finished I was walking to go get into the shower when I heard the beginning of Grumpier Old Men! I am so excited this is on. It's one of my all time favorite movies!

Speaking of movies, go check out my buddy JMo and enter to win in her give-away and her 100th Edition of Theater Thursday!  (you know, since I live in Europe and I'm ineligible! *wink wink*)

Day 22: Self Portraits

I have (what amounts to, basically) (not confusing at all right? haha) this cousin on Facebook who (evidently) thoroughly enjoys looking at herself. She's constantly snapping pictures of herself at all angles in all kinds of outfits and posting them on Facebook for the world to see. Do you do this? Do you know people like this or have them on your Facebook page?

She's a really good looking (ok, she's hot) girl but I mean.... I can't imagine being that' impressed with myself, where I'd have to stop almost daily just to snap a few pics of myself on my iphone and automatically assume the rest of the world cares enough about my puckered lips, awesome hair and gorgeous eyes. I'm just saying.... While she's very attractive that's not the point. Right?

Whatevs... 22 days in and I'm already back to my overly critical ways. I love my (basically) cousin but enough's, enough!

Motivate Me

Before I get to the actual purpose of this post (Twitter), I have to first discuss the pictures I found! I googled "Twitter", and then chose "images" and there were so many options! Can we just talk about for a minute how many different versions of that damn twitter bird there are? A. LOT! I was originally just looking for something like this:

Pretty standard right?

Well I saw these and just thought they were hilarious and adorable:

This one is my favorite- thought the lil' winky face was so cute!
Ok so now that we've discussed all the twitter birds, I'd like to now get back to the topic at hand: My motivation.

I need motivation. I need some kind of Twitter-vention. I need to know what you Tweet about? (so naturally I can tweet about it too) I need to know if you re-tweet or tweet at/to Celebs... or are you scurred? I need to know who you LOVE to follow, anything good out there?? I'm feeling like quite the Twitter failure people. So I'm currently trying to re-commit myself to the Twitter-verse. I downloaded Tweet Deck (because that's what the cool kids have, right??) I figure if I see more of other people's tweets that I'll be motivated to tweet more often, myself. Thoughts?

Motivate me... or follow me here. But preferably both! :)

I want it Wednesday...

I know everyone has missed knowing what I'm currently wanting every Wednesday out of life... so I figured I'd clue everyone in this week.

I want....

I had a stand-mixer, a cheapo-one but a standmixer none-the-less. It did what I needed it to do without spending $300 on it. So I was pleased. Well, something weird happened to it in the packing/shipping process (in our PCS to Germany) because now it only has one speed and that's super-duper FAST. So now I'm thinking I should just bite the bullet and get the Kitchen Aid!

I want...
My nephew to come back to his house so I have someone to hang out with! Remember how I told you guys that I was back home in Colorado for about a month? Well the downfall to surprising everyone is that they don't plan on you being there... (duh) so lil' Nathan had plans to stay at his Gramma's for about a week and since he loves it there and as so much fun I couldn't insist that he stay home just to hang out with me! that'd be selfish.

I want...
My husband to be here with me in Colorado. It's more fun when he's around.

Now you know what I want.... What do you want on this lovely Wednesday??

Busy come of days!!

My busy (I say again, BUSY) weekend started at 6AM Thursday (Central European Time). "Why was I up so early?" you ask. Well, I had to get up to Frankfurt for a 1030 flight!! I purchased a plane ticket Monday to come back home to Colorado for a visit. My youngest nephew was having his first Birthday party on Saturday and that job fell through so I figured if I would be coming home for a visit during the course of this deployment now would be a good time.

The fun part: it was a total surprise to my family!! Lauren was supposed to pick me up from the airport in Denver but some jerkoff hit her person with his car! Thankfully my friends Lauren and Erin enlisted Erin's momma to come up to Denver and get me (to keep the surprise intact). Thank the Lord for Erin's Momma!! :) I finally made it back to Erin's house about 9 PM on Thursday (Mountain Standard Time). I was at least 8 kinds of exhausted (hello dark circles-- eeeek) so I hit the hay after a much needed shower!

After two nights at Erin's house it was time to surprise the family at Logan's Birthday party. I showed up a little bit early and my sister was completely SHOCKED, then as my parents showed up they were also so shocked and happy! It was such an amazing surprise! :)

I'll be in Colorado for about a month just spending some quality time with friends and the family! The only thing that could make this time better would be my hubby! I wish he were here with all of us. I miss him.

The Realness

I miss my husband. I miss him more when I have an itch, I can't scratch (on my back- you pervs) at 11:00 PM. I've had the opportunity to speak with him quite a bit when I'm sitting around really wanting his opinion on something I haven't had to wait too terribly long to get it, so I can't really complain on that front. I do just miss his company, in the car, in the kitchen, at the dinner table, in bed to snuggle with... I have to say, we do the whole pre-deployment-fighting-wonderfulness. The ownership for that belongs to both of us. It's not all him but it's not all me either. We come together in the end, we do eventually see the bigger picture! My point being that while we do love each other we fully understand the other's faults and shortcomings and today I'm missing him.

(and I missed him ALOT last night when I couldn't reach that spot on my back!)

Troops work without PAY...?

First reaction to this story: O.M.G!!

I've seen it all over Facebook for days now.... Yes, it's scary to think about my mans down range not being funded and volunteering (as in, not getting paid) because I'm pretty sure I'm still unemployed (whole other conversation right there) and I'm pretty JP Morgan/Chase is expecting our mortgage on 1 Apr regardless of whether or not Congress pulls their heads out of their collective ass, and stops with the posturing and pissing contests. It's ridiculous really.... We may be kind of behind on the news over here in Germany (not an excuse with the internet, but silly me I find everything in the world kind of depressing so I don't do much to in the way of searching it out anymore... when I see it on a commercial then I'll watch) but what I gather is the Demo's presented a plan to cut like $8 Billion and the Repub's offered up a plan to cut some $61 Billion from the budget. The commentary on AFN was saying both sides are on complete opposites of the spectrum only to get their political bases fired up then will ultimately come together and compromise.

I say why not cut out the bull-shit and just compromise?? Seems like a much better use of our tax dollars, having them all in Washington and actually doing something constructive.... egh, maybe that's wishful thinking but, hell a girl can dream.

Lets also recall (milfolks) that in the 90's when the government shut down, this effected the civilians our military was still paid and life went on. My mother on the other hand (GS worker for over 20 years) may not be paid, hell may even be furloughed but such is life... right?

Lets remember with all the posturing going on for the Presidential race no one wants to be this close to any election with troops downrange and NOT fund the military. It'll never happen (my prediction). I mean... lets hope not, because I'm pretty sure come the 1st, those JP Morgan/Chase folks are going to want their money regardless.

Personally, I'm not going to bogged down in the politics and banter.

German Wine

Friday night I had just settled in for the night (aka took my bra off already), made peace with the fact that I'd be chillin' by my lonesome and was going through the process of picking out some chick-flick to keep me busy until bed time... when a new friend M, invited me over for some wine with a couple of other girls. Usually I limit myself to 2 drinks, I don't like to get buzzed or tipsy, or (God-forbid) Drunk... no no, that's just not my style. However, M and I were sipping our glasses of wine, as a lady should as soon as I stood up after my 2 drink limit to hit the little girls room I was already buzzed. EEkkk... this 30% wine is no joke people. I proceeded to have another 2 glasses (I think) and some bread (carbs are a must when one drinks, right?) (does that mean this evening with friends, wine and bread counts as Communion? Just saying...). Needless to say good times were had by all!

I've been lucky enough to speak with Kevin quite a bit since he's been gone. He finally met up with his company and is getting to know the guys on his maintenance team. Seems like there's less structure with this group of guys than the team he was on in Colorado- time will tell though.

Other than alllll of that exciting news there isn't too much to report. Still waiting to hear back on that job. I think the hiring official with the contractor was out of the office the end of last week. GRRrr. I love waiting. It's my favorite.

Day 3: Interview

I had an AWESOME interview today with a really good government contractor. Things went really well (hence the "AWESOME")! I've sent my Thank You email for the interviewer's time and contacting the hiring official.... we'll see how it plays out. The ONLY downfall is that it'd be an hour commute to and fro everyday. It's a great opportunity and I can't wait to hear if I got selected.

Other than that I've had some new and great friends stop by to keep me company the last few days-- just like Monday, I'm Stayin' Busy!

In other amazing news I heard from my fella! <3

Day 1: Staying Busy

Today, I hit the ground running. Not literally, of course- I loath running. I got up (always a good start), watched Army Wives (color me unimpressed), worked out, mopped floors, fixed myself for the day, had a friend bring me a box of brownie mix (yes, just the mix, for me to bake later, haha), went to the Commissary and PX and then I ate.

Best part I heard from the hubs. He's good but still knows nothing.... we're waiting to see where he'll end up and who he'll be with ect... Hurry up and Wait, such is life!

Today, I accomplished my goal to stay as busy as possible. Thankfully, I have some other friends to visit with and other chores to complete this week. Here's hoping, I'll have plenty to keep me physically and mentally busy over the course of the next few months!!

And he's....

Gone.




Maybe Bone Thugs n Harmony isn't your cup of tea... but right now I can't find a more fitting song. 


That could have something to do with the fact that my husband texted me from "parts-unknown" telling me to look up this song and he was dedicating it to me. But then again, could have something to do with the chorus:

If I had one wish
That wish would be clear
That I would not have to go
That I could stay here
And although it hurts me
To leave you all alone
Just know I'll come back for you
For now I'm gone.

It's strange I didn't completely flip my shit until I heard this song. I was 'ok' until I got home and found his dirty draws on the bathroom floor this song. 


I miss him already. 

I LOVE Bavaria

Really what's not to love!?

Picture it, a lazy Thursday afternoon at home in Baumholder, Germany. The hubs and I have barely said 2 words to each other all day because you know- we're being lazy and just bored witless. I see a commercial on AFN for Edelweiss..... I've heard of Edeweiss before and been told how amazing it is. I'd looked into booking a room 2 separate occasions before with no luck (nothing available). So I went over to the Edelweiss website and plugged all of our info in, and sure enough they had available rooms (shocking, for a Thursday night)! So we QUICKLY got our shizzle together, fueled up and got on the road. We didn't get checked in until about 830 pm, you see it's a 5 hour treck from Baumholder to Garmisch... the drive was a God-awful experience but it was ultimately VERY worth it.

We immediately feel in LOVE with Edelweiss, it has a very relaxing, welcoming vibe. We weren't there an hour and already made plans to go back for Christmas (and got details on how to go about booking a room for that)! Because I'm kind of a dumbass I failed to take exterior pics of the hotel, but the lobby was gorgeous:

We only had enough time to eat, explore what the resort has to offer (arcade for kids, casino for adults, multiple restaurants and bars, SPA, pool, gym.....), grab a few drinks then get to bed- that drive was rough. haa. We had to get up early Friday to see anything and get home in a timely fashion, we were up at 6AM got ourselves looking acceptable for being out in public, hit up the breakfast buffet and then made our way out. But not before the view from our room stole our breath away:

Amazing, right?

So we had to get home at a somewhat reasonable hour but I knew being so close we just had to stop by Neuschwanstein Castle (you may know it because it's inspiration behind the Disney Castle). I'm so glad we went it was amazing! Again with absolutely awesome views. I can see with King Ludwig had it built there (although he only live in Neuschwanstein for 170 days).

I told you the views were awesome.

The castle, itself wasn't too bad either..
Unfortunately we didn't have much time to explore the exterior of the castle as the Army intervened and we had to go running.... Such is life, right?
We did, however take the tour of the completed rooms of the interior castle (yeah, you read that right the entire castle wasn't completed before King Ludwig's "suspicious" death). You aren't permitted to take photos of the interior of the castle (not sure why- I was afraid to ask, our guide reminded me of the creepy weird character from Lord of the Rings- Galum?). But you could take pictures from the interior of the castle of the views...

my favorite pic from the trip.

The last few pictures were of King Ludwig's childhood home Schloss Hohenschwangau. These photos were taken from Neuschwanstein, they are very close together. I picked up a few books on the history of the castle (the guided tour was just hard to follow with our Galum-like tour guide... still creeps me out) and can't wait to fill in a few of the blanks.

We had to leave Neuschwanstein quickly but it's ok because I KNOW we'll be back. I can't wait to tour Hohenschwangau, walk the bridge (pictured above), and spend more time taking in the views and snapping a few more photos with my love.

Yea, I know it's a CLOSE up, but there's only so much you can do when you're forced to travel alone and you have this bulky DSLR. I still love it! :)

Bad News Bears

March 2nd has turned into one hell of a news day!

Two US service members were killed at the Frankfurt Airport. So many things swirling around. I currently have their families in my thoughts, but I can't help but wonder what effect, if any this'll have my own husband's impending departure to the middle east....?

Today the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Westboro Baptists'; upholding the ruling of appeals court that it violated their Constitutional (First Amendment) Rights to freedom of speech to prohibit their anti-homosexual (asinine) protests outside of funerals of US service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read more here.

Personally, I have 2 issues (I know the mind rails, that I could only have 2 issues but for sake of time I've limited myself to 2):
First I should say the rationale behind these protests, including such signs:

{source}

is based upon the fact that God is punishing America for our support of the Homosexual lifestyle.
My issues:
1: If God hates the US (per your signs), and the soldier.... and we're all so immoral for allowing, supporting and otherwise furthering the homosexual lifestyle why don't you leave? Simple logic would show you're outnumbered. We're going to hell anyway. Why wouldn't you want to live your life surrounded by others just like you?
Exercise your Constitutionally protected right to to leave.

2: I'm confused why our freedom to free speech can be limited in movie theaters and airplanes but not under these circumstances. I'm wondering how many more times our military will be failed in these awful ways. I remember back to OIF 1 and the fact that I knew soldiers and Marines deployed without vests and how there wasn't enough water to drink and thinking if we were going to invade Iraq to avenge 9-11, secure weapons of mass destruction, topple Sadam's evil regime (I forget what the other reasons were...) shouldn't the men and women we send into do the job be properly supplied with bare essentials (water, body armor)? Now this?
We can tell people they can't yell "FIRE!" in a theater or "BOMB!" on an airplane, effectively limiting my right to free speech (not that I disagree with this premise) yet there isn't some loop hole or legalese to justify these nut cases not be allowed to protest at funerals!?

In more personal news, today marks the 1 year anniversary of my Grandfather's death. I remember this poem and I remember it helping me to feel better then. Today I thought of my Grampa smoking his cigars and shaking away as he prepared his Martini at the end of our family table and I smiled and was happy because I realized I'd always remember him this way.