Day 13 - Neighbors

Neighbors are funny things, sometimes they are pretty darn cool and other times they are downright strange, once in awhile they are more than you could ask for. We have run the gamut with our neighbors over the years. Most have been friends and we have kept in touch with many of them even if it is only the yearly Christmas card.
In OK we had upstairs neighbors in our first apartment that we had a great relationship with. And in fact with the great timewaster invention of facebook we have reconnected. They are ones we kept up with years with annual Christmas cards. Moved on to the base and had stellar yard neighbors who again we do the annual Christmas card exchange; our wall mates there notsomuch. Onto Colorado and again facebook has been the most recent way we have kept in touch with our wall mate. Our cul de sac neighbors who were LilBlues best friends we have kept up with over the years through little care packages from our different assignments and we even met up in FL for a fun one day reunion a few years back. Another one of the cul de sac neighbors that LilBlue connected with we reunited with in NE a few years ago! That's the beauty of this AF world. Unfortunately in VA neighbors were not so friendly and while we were always cordial there were no real connections made. And the connections that were made in our neighborhood we did not keep up with! Part of that was us. We were in an apartment complex and our location while we loved it did not open us up to much neighborly interaction. On to AL and we did have awesome good neighbors. They have even called every now and again just out of the blue. I think they think it's fun to track us down and get in touch and say, "so where are you now and what are you doing?" LOL

In Italy our neighbors definitely win THE BESTEST EVER award...seriously, we loved them and I think they thought we were pretty okay.

Recent reunion with Italian neighbors.

The kids!

In NE we knew our neighbors but we were not all that close. However, LilBlue did enjoy that area and is still there. It's a friendly midwestern feel and she loves it. We always take the time to drive through our old neighborhood when we go back to visit.

In FL MiB and I had one doozy of a neighbor, just think whack job. But while not a true next door neighbor we had great on the street friends who were truly awesome. They were 3 Doors Down and we spent many a Sunday evening together as well as several mandatory fun events which were made way better due to the relationship the four of us shared. Moving on to LA and we have some great neighbors once again, in fact we are surrounded by awesomeness. It is neat to know the block or curves as I call it so to speak and since we are off in our own little neck of the woods it's great to be able to reach out if needed for a myriad of things!

2nd Annual Columbus Day Gathering--even though last year it was known as the New Kids on the Block Party!

Just a couple of the curves kids :)

 

  Queen B with her Marine daddy

 Our LA neighbors at our recent block party!

Ordinary life is made way better with good great neighbors (who are also friends)!

Day + # post explanation is here.

Thursday Thoughts!

Airport run today :) MiB will be back!

Going to the Attic, gotta make a commissary stop as it's Neighborhood Ladies Night Out. I have a couple other errands to do and that's pretty much it for today. Light, I like it. Looking forward to the ladies being over and just chillaxin'! We do that good on the East side!

Thoughts:

• Will he or won't he?
• And when will it happen?
• Ready for the weekend NOW :)
• Thinking of being a homeowner again...

Gator in the road!!!

Holy moly after the movies we decided to drive by our old church. On the road there we met a gator! Shikey's he was little but plenty big enough! MiB wanted to get out of the car but my smarterthenthat senses prevailed thankyouverymuch! We circled around the street a couple times to get really good looks at this little dude then went on our merry way to dinner!
Tomorrow we are heading out. Though we thought we were pulling out today we opted for another lazy day on the beach, it was awesome!! We also tried a neat little lunch spot and had really yummy Philly cheese steak sandwiches! It's probably a good thing we didn't find this place until now!

MiB is BACK!!!!

What a wonderful day in our world! MiB is back in the USA! First things first, he hit the waves! It's sunny and warm and we are going to enjoy some sun and surf before we start our road trip north.

Life is good! Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers for his safety, it is good to have him back :D

F U N

What a treat to be with good people! It has been great fun to hang out and get to know the extended families of "three doors down"! They are fun, real and have family stuff just like we do, I think that's a good thing. Getting to be around people who are people, people who don't try to put on airs, that's a good time! They were honest to goodness people who had tales to tell, stories to share and memories to recall. I would like to think they made new memories and will tell stories after their visit to FL for the retirement of one of their own as well. They are a close knit family and like most families do not get to spend enough time together since they are all spread out over several states.

Since we were such a large group and we had lots of things going on around us it was easy and simpler not to go out for meals. I mean we were all right there close to the magnificent "SurfSide" with a fully equipped kitchen so why not whip up some food for the hungry mouths to feed. It was not gourmet but it was good, we had lots of snackies, lots of veggies and lots of fun. We enjoyed the kitchen time, the patio time, the beach time, the porch time. Tonight was my last night with them and we were privileged that cousin T was doing the cooking and I was honored to be her prep girl, I held my own with her in the kitchen, I mean after all she wrote a cookbook! However, SisterS was in charge of the fruit salad and make an awesome fruit salad she did! It was super yum!

 

Isn't she cute? She's from Minnesota dontcha know!

Though she lives there no more, she's a NAVY spouse so she lives wherever the ocean blue sends them!  

I leave for Denver in the a.m. I will not say goodbye, only farewell for now...I know we will be seeing them again, sooner or later! Thank you extended family for allowing me to be one of you these last few days I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute!!!

I'm back on the beach!!!

Oh what a great 24 hours!!!! Being beachside again is awesome. I think I am totally agreeing with MiB we may need to be near water when we retire!

So it's kind of unbelievable the connection we have had with these wonderful friends in the Blue. I mean they ARE family! And we are so incredibly blessed. I am so honored to be invited to this ceremony and more then a bit sad that they will be retiring out of the blue; but I know it is the right thing at the right time for them...however; selfishly, I will miss them!

Three doors down is retiring tomorrow and the USAF is loosing out. I firmly believe in this case we are letting one of the best get away. Stellar man, outstanding leader and rocket scientist, what more could the Air Force need, we keep all kinds of others with less skills and abilities and we have this amazing guy and we let him walk out the door...SPACE X you are gaining one great guy!!!

Being back on the SpaceCoast is always a treat and this trip is no exception. I am loving seeing all the work going on around the beach. It's long overdue. The military beaches are prime real estate and for the entire time we were here MiB petitioned and lamented on their neglect but his song seemed to fall on deaf ears. Well apparently someone has finally heard and taken action and lots of improvements are in process and it's awesome!!!!

Probably doesn't seem like much to you, but this is 2nd Light and we went here lots. This area is closed right now and they are totally reworking it. The picture shows the old shower area, which is where MiB took his own shovel and dug out several times during our time here. It looks like it's going to be pretty neat when they get it all done, they are also replacing lots of timbers and walkways!

After a long day I am off to bed and hopefully I will get a nice morning run in on the beach before doing a few odds and ends prior to the big retirement ceremony. YIPPEE and good night! 

Smartee...

Before I forget I wanted to post about the SMARTee. Lots of people wonder what happened to it. It has been in storage since June...we liberated it while we were in FL. It was fun to see it and drive it again. It is still a novelty to many and we still enjoy it and MiB loves it as much today as he did when he got it!

This is an older picture...from when we lived on the street!

The folks at the A&FRC loved getting to check it out! 

We rolled it over the 16,000 mark!

In it's home aka the storage unit!!!

Nice that she only needs attention every 10,000 miles!

the making of a Caramel Macchiato!

Are you a Starbuck's fan? Well, I really am not what I would call a "fan" but I do enjoy some of their drink offerings, especially the caramel macchiato. I mean this is a great drink IMO and if I find myself at a SBs this is my go-to treat drink. Otherwise I usually just go with a Now, please know that I do not go to SBs just to get this drink, I'm tooooo cheap for that! I also cannot afford the calories, so I have learned to order it "skinny"  which knocks off a few of the calories and doesn't mess with the taste! So the cheapness in me led me to assist in the exploration of making this drink at home when Mrs 3DD said she wondered if we could recreate it! A little google search was all it took and we were off...armed with knowledge, detailed insight and a recipe we embarked on the recreation of the CM at home! In a word.... S U C C E S S. This was the site we used! We did start out following the site and then tweaked it to our own taste...little heavier on the vanilla in the syrup, little more caramel on top! It's definitely a keeper if you are a fan of this SBs drink!

 

 Whipping the milk was easy, and fun, not to mention messy if you did not keep that whippet thing all the way submerged...just sayin' And just for the record, I am going to try this again with almond milk, which I have found I really enjoy. Oh and we simply heated the milk in the microwave, easy!

Prior to this step there was the making of the vanilla syrup. You can actually buy this stuff, SBs has their brand and there are many others out there as well, but we decided to make it. VERY EASY, little water, little sugar, real vanilla, and you have your own vanilla syrup with no preservatives or other things in it you cannot pronounce!!! The recipe to make the vanilla syrup is in the link above.

 A lovely picture of the steamed milk just after it was "marked" with the espresso! We used a single serve coffee maker and used an espresso disc, it was perfect IMO. You can choose to make up your own espresso however you like. We were quite pleased with the taste, strength of the one we used.

Adding the caramel!

 

Ready to be stirred and enjoyed! Which we did! YUMMERS...I'm ready to make one now!

I have the house to myself!!

Whoa, what a feeling, I mean you just don't get a house to yourself when you are homeless, happily homeless I might add! It's kinda odd and cool all at the same time! What gives it an even stranger feel is that I used to live in this house (well, not THIS house, but one exactly like it, three doors down...) So there is that overwhelming familiarity to it but it is not my house...makes perfect sense to me and I'm enjoying it. So today is my last day in FL and everyone is involved in life which leaves me to my own devices; scary I know! They also have a laptop, desktop and wifi that I have permission to use... I'm digging it.

As I heard everyone get their day started this morning, I did not emerge, I just chose to enjoy the morning, foggy as it was in my little corner of the world...read a little, emailed a little.  When I did finally venture out I chatted with DD#1, had coffee, really good coffee I might add and a bowl of oatmeal. Then I proceeded to belly up to the desktop and had a grand time! I've been quite productive this morning if I do say so myself...I've booked another plane ticket, researched car rentals, did more research on things to do and places to eat in HI while working on our I-10, forwarded documents to the insurance company regarding LilBlue, caught up on some banking transactions and made this post and it's not even 9:30 A.M.

Next I am going to head out to the garage to shine up the little SMARTee prior to putting her back in storage, hit the BX/commissary one last time to pick up some favorites and thank you things, have some lunch, walk on the beach, pick up DD#1 from school and let the last evening unfold. It's not a big day but a day I am relishing in, even though I am solo. No committments, no one to feel like I am burdening.  It's pretty neat how things work out. I get concerned about being under foot when staying on with friends and family (especially, those who work at home...G&G and one half of 3DD) but it usually all works out I think!

Enjoy your Friday, I know I am :)

Thursday Thoughts!

Hmmm...thoughts on this Thursday scream, I WANT MORE TIME W/MiB...

I am so thrilled for the last 11 days; what a bonus it was that we were able to rendezvous but I am still sad that the time has drawn to a close and we go back to our separate lives. On the bright side in a mere 34 days we will have another rendezvous in HAWAII for 16 glorious days. There is ABSOLUTELY NO doubt in my mind I will be on a countdown for this one!!!  After that is should all be downhill until his return in say 85 days or so give or take a few!

It still remains to be seen where our next new home will be but does it really matter as long as we are together? I think not! However, there are some great options out there and Lord willing we will have some details to share soon enough : )

The Midwest has been slammed by some ferocious weather this week, I am returning there on Saturday and hope it is all good for an airport shuttle to pick me up!

Florida Thoughts:

• I miss MiB...
• I miss the ocean...
• I miss three doors down...

I'm going to soak up a little more of this FL sunshine (even if there has been a little rain here and there, it's NOT SNOW) before I head back up north. Hope your world has a little bit of sunshine today even if you had to make it yourself!

Dolphins and Donuts!

As we strolled the beach this morning there were dolphins...I had just told MiB they never jump up out of the water like they do at SeaWorld do they? Then lo and behold they started to jump, I know they did it just for ME :)

 My jumping dolphin shot!!!

It was such a great morning, we enjoyed the 67* weather in short sleeves...awesome consider much of the Midwest is battening down the hatches for a blizzard and that would include most of our family! So sorry for them, and not so sorry I am not there...

After strolling our beach, we decided to make a donut run...Boston creme and blueberry won our favor and with our drinks of choice in hand we headed over to Hightower to enjoy the view! What a view it was and a great place to enjoy the morning. Today is our last day, I am so thankful for this precious time together, I know tomorrow will be a somewhat melancholy day but a day I am thankful for nonetheless.

Caffeine free Pepsi and Boston cream donut!

Gotta run, still have some last minute things to wrap up, another surf session for MiB along with a couple goodbye meetings and a BG meeting. It's going to be a fun busy day. Dinner with "three doors down" as well!

Oh what a week!!!

It's been glorious, it's been busy, it's gone by waaay too fast...

 There's been lots of surfing!!!!!

 We have hit all the local surf shops to drool and dream!

 

 More time at the beach...surfing for MiB, soaking up the sun with a good book for me!

It's been so much fun to be together again! We have enjoyed the time...spent lots of it catching up on our different worlds the last seven months, lots of dreaming about retirement, some time thinking about our next assignment and what that will look like, where it might be and a bunch of time just being...

We have had some wonderful lunches catching up with good people we knew, a few dinners with others and just chance meetings with some, also some stop ins to see others! It was lots of fun! We are so blessed to live this life! 

Today has been a week and oh what a week it has been... I am so thankful for the air I breath and the life I lead. Enjoy your weekend, I know I am going to enjoy mine!!!

Thursday Thoughts!

G L O R I O U S...

This week has been just glorious, how fortunate we are to have this time together and after the last 7 months apart it was soooo welcome! Thinking about the remaining time apart and knowing that our next together time is just around the corner in March then reuniting for our next chapter in June puts the realization that we will soon have this assignment behinds us! I know it has been a rewarding time for MiB job wise and he has felt very much involved in a "real mission" but I also know he has struggled as have I with the family separation which is what we always realize is the real drawback to this whole military thing (at least for us)! Anywho, getting back to reality, we ARE on the downslide and it is only roughly 20 more weeks til we are done once we go our separate ways after this mini reunion and 2 of those weeks we will be together in HAWAII!

Life is GOOOOOOD!

Thoughts!

•  I have missed the ocean...
• Love gettin' my FL vitamin D!
• Have really missed "three doors down"!
• Weak coffee just isn't worth it...don't do it!
• Thank you Crown P for having a nice gym :)

He's here!!

Pretty sure this was THE BEST HUG I have had in quite some time... 

Disclaimer: 

The Littles do give me awesome hugs and I LOVE THEM, but there is nothing like the hug from the love of your life!!!

There is not a lot I can say that will convey the wonderfulness that I am feeling...as you can pretty much guess that I am sooooo thrilled he is here and we are able to have this time together.  We have enjoyed each moment of our time together already and we cannot believe how quickly the time is passing... We have been able to share great moments with "three doors down" already! It started with his own airport arrival fan club, then on to dinner at one of MiBs favorite local eateries, followed by a dawn patrol surf sessions with some of the guys and lead man at "three doors down" on Sunday a.m. Then we spent the day just hanging out, checking out the surf shops before heading over to a very tasty home cooked meal at....wait for it..."three doors down" yeah, we feel abundantly blessed.

 Airport Fan Club!!

Today MiB is off to class, the official reason he is here and I am hanging out at the hotel which is very nice. We are in a top floor room with quite the view. I am feeling very spoiled!!! I can hear the ocean waves and even though the sun is not out right this minute it is still a lovely 66* here and I am soaking in the warmth. Yesterday it WAS sunny and gorgeous with just a touch of breeze! A nice day indeed and the company was THE BEST!

Our view from the room!

Sunny skies in your world today!

Sunny Thursday Thoughts!!!

I'm enjoying the sunshine state for sure!!! Gorgeous weather (though there appears to be a wet change in the near future, the temps will still be warm so it will be tolerable!)...enjoying great company and just chillaxin' for sure!

MiB will be here shortly...I'm over the top excited!

Thoughts:

• I do miss the weather here...
• I have certainly missed the ocean waves!
• I do miss the people here (okay, some of them I do not, LOL)
• I am such a blessed woman and cannot believe this is my life!

Gotta run, the beach is calling my name! Enjoy your day...take time to count the blessings you do have! You know they are out there just remember to be thankful for them!

S I X, yes that would be SIX!

And today we mark another milestone...we are now at the half way point! Woot, woot, woot! We are half way people, HALF WAY.

What you don't know, but I will now tell you is there is more wonderfulness...next month, yes January in the year 2011, I will get to see the MiB in FL. Yeah I know MAJOR happy dance!!!  We will have about 10 days together. Of course he will be in a class for 5 days of this time, but still I will see him before and after class and the weekends before and after the class begins, I am sooooo excited. I have already booked my flight, arranged with three doors down for airport transport and housing before and after MiBs arrival and it is all good. I am looking forward to seeing everyone for a few days and being back on the Space Coast.

Looks like there may even be a shuttle launch while I am there!

Today I am traveling to MO and plan to be there til I go to FL, but of course that is all subject to change as I have seen these last six months it is best not to make real firm plans but stay flexible, so I am!

Hard to believe it will Christmas in a week...think I better finish up the gift card buying!

Dinner w/Mr and Mrs G!

While we were stationed in Aviano with Fun Friend we were honored with the privilege of meeting Mr and Mrs G; last night I had the pleasure of having dinner with them. What a delight, they are just good people, we had the most pleasant evening. Fun Friend made a most tasty lasagna, like really yummy and I would have like to have had two pieces but I only had one cause I'm soooo tryin to be good, we had a very yummy salad with lovely black olives and garbonzo beans in it as well, just go ahead and put this in your lovely evening folder cause that is what it was. Great conversation, wonderful good food what more can you ask for. My goodness how blessed I am.

We toasted our men and women serving at undisclosed locations :) including my MiB!!!

Back in the Sunshine State!

My road trip has come to an end, I am safely back in that Nice town in FL after roughly 1900 miles or so of driving the past 8 days(actually, I did not drive, I navigated thank you very much!), it's been awesome, but I won't deny it we are tired. It's been wonderful and I would do it all over again but I am thrilled to be sitting in Fun Friends family room drinking Assam tea.

We are going to have a low key evening with steaks on the grill and caprese salad, what's not to love!

The final HOOPLA!

It was a FREE event, cause we think that's the way it should be...

We were overjoyed to have Airmen come if they wanted and not have to pay a bazillion dollars for 'horse douvers' that you can never eat enough of to feel like you got your monies worth or full.

So it was a BBQ shindig! There was chicken that had some of the best sauce I have ever had (and YES, I did get the secret to the sauce:) I will be making this little concoction on my own and there was pork butt (DaveM's words not mine and he was the cook for that so I'm sticking with his verbiage, it's kinda funny to say!) Of course there were yummy sides, beans, cole slaw and tater salad. It was all good.

The Servers! McBride, Ernie, DaveM

The eatin' was going real good but then they quieted everyone down to get onto the business of telling us goodbye, farewall, see ya. That was the part I was not looking forward to...honestly, it just isn't in our comfort zone to be in the spotlight or on the hot seat as they called it, course it was really MiB that had that distinction but they honored me as well; which was so thoughtful but yet so not me. They meant well and that is what I know so I went with the flow, I do that best anyway :)

Some pictorial moments to mark the event!

John N was the leader in presentations and hard to top!

Schaf did the honors for the NAF! He did it well!
The surfboard momento was a hit!!!!

All in all it was as good as it gets...you have to say farewell...might as well have a good food venue and do it up right, that is what we went for, we hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did! Thanks for the wonderful ride, it got somewhat bumpy at times, had its ups and downs but overall we had a great ride and felt so honored and privileged to serve along side the men and women of the 45th Space Wing, you are professionals and do your very best day in and day out and we are thankful for the opportunity to share in your world for the past few months!

Col W gives the final remarks and goodbyes...

The man in charge of the big goodbye! THANKS DaveM...you are the party planner bomb!

Godspeed!

Who ate what results

I am sure this has weighed HEAVILY on your mind ALLLLLL day long so I will take the suspense away now....If you are confused about what I speak of see here!

The Cheesecake Eater

The Turnover Eater

So that leaves the yogurt for me :) I can't imagine that that was a big surprise but who knows maybe I just blew your socks off :)

And just so ya know I DID not eat all three yogurts at once...I had the cappuccino one for breakfast this morning! It was okay, I would have preferred a little stronger coffee taste but it was still nice. (I did eat the other two last night...I had the strawberry cheesecake after we went for a walk on the beach, then we were up sort of late and the pineapple coconut was just calling out my name so to shut it up so I could get some sleep I went in and ate it!!!) Sorry, there is no pictorial evidence since I was the one snapping the photos for this event.