Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Cameron

so anyone who knows me will know how rediculously proud i am of my big brother. he has been in the air force for 11 years now and i wish i could say that i see him all the time, but i dont. once a year if i'm lucky. that being said, he's progressed quite well without my constant supervision and i have discovered in the depths of my 201 unread emails these pictures forwarded from our mom that he had taken.
background: as part of the cleansing process after his divorce, he came to realize that he was now free to pursue some of his dreams that had otherwise been pushed to the back burner by the presence of a wife and potential children. now living with minimal restrictions, he went for it! he began the process of applying to be a member of the Thunderbirds flight team. no, he doesnt fly, he is a communications guy - he has the opportunity to be the PR/communications guy for one of the most prestigous establishements in the world. If you're unfamiliar with how awesome this is, check out: http://thunderbirds.airforce.com/
so yes, my brother has a 99.9% chance to be a part of this "dream job". he will be based out of Las Vegas and will travel 280+ days a year, all over the world. at the end of his 2 year stint with the team, he will be given a ride with the team. $10 says he blows chunks.

and without further ado - here are the pictures he submitted as a part of his application packet. i have no idea what is stuck up his butt, but it's impressive all the same. i couldnt be more proud of his accomplishments and of the man he has become. he's come a long way from throwing tupperware at his little sister, he's a man and a member of the United States Air Force. he's the same rank my grandfather was when he retired and he's earned every speck of those stripes.



Sunday, June 21, 2009

hi



so i have been reading other blogs (especially at work when i need a break from everything else) and really enjoy the Holzman family blog - see "Elizabeth's blog" to be directed there. and in reading other blogs, i realize why my blog is not very good. i dont really much talk about what's going on with me and i dont really talk about anything deep and exciting and i dont even think i have done much "ranting" lately, as my blog title suggests that i should be. so for the sake of an insight into my current life, i will now attempt to do all:


so my dad was up for the weekend for Father's Day. we had a really good time, even though we didnt do a whole lot. Friday evening Charles had a work function/going away part for a friend of ours at a mexican restaraunt in downtown leavenworth so we went. food was good, margaritas were good. we then made a run to dillons and back home. as i will explain more fully later, my home is crowded right now, so we mainly spent the weekend trying not to be here.


Saturday we took our time getting around and then went out to the British Car parts place to buy windshield wipers for mom's car and then took the afternoon to sample the delights of downtown "LV". one of our stops was the Euro Pottery store. clearly, since it is a place invoking things both eurpean and pottery in nature, i love it. might i also say, as a side note, that i have been in the market for some new dishes as we only recieved 4 place settings of the incredibly expensive Mikasa dishes that i wanted for our wedding (thanks mom!!!) and 3 years later, still only have 4 place settings. unfortunately, they have chipped and are too expensive for us to justify buying more of them so we were going to switch it up. weeeell ok, so we're looking around the Euro Pottery place - which was originally DAD'S IDEA because he knew that mom was in the market for new dishes also - and i found a pattern that i enjoy. next thing i know, Carlitos is following me around the store trying to decipher my gruntings and figure out which pattern was my favorite. when i indicated the one titled "Peacock", he immediatly turned to the lady and said "we'll take two place settings of these". .............what?! ok, so i have new dishes. i am quite in love with both my husband (how sweet is that!?) and my dishes, but admittedly more so my husband, he's pretty cool.
this is my old pattern - "Arabella" by Mikasa

and here's my new pattern - "Peacock" www.europottery.com

right, so my mission now is to hopefully get another JCPenney's gift card from my in-laws for my birthday (if not, i'll just buy them anyway myself) and order some Cobalt Blue Fiestaware to match what i have. the Euro Pottery was $88 for 2 plates, 2 salad plates and 2 bowls. so probably i will order 4 each of the fiesta ware and go buy 2 more of the pottery stuff. this pattern is one of their most popular so i will most likely end up also buying a lot of the cool accessories to go along with it, i.e. vases, baking things, serving bowls, etc. it's SUPER sturdy and all hand-painted. quite the quality invenstment. i still absolutely love my old dishes, but i am to the point where more pieces are chipped than not so i will probably just keep them to use as serving things and roll with the others for every day use. my kitchen decor is quite "euro" anyway, and i'm sure i will develop more into that when we move and i have more space (Lord help us).
so yes, crowded house: friends of ours moved in with us at the beginning of April, yes, about 3 weeks after Charles got home. they were supposed to leave at the end of May but the situation changed and they are now leaving mid-July. consequently, Charles is leaving mid-July for a 6-8 week school in Leonardwood, Missouri (4-5 hours away). Eric had back surgery at the end of May and now lives on our living room couch. his wife, Carolina, is due August 1st and works at Old Navy. dont get me wrong, we are more than happy to be able to help our friends and they are wonderful house guests, clean up after themselves, and are fun to be around. but admittedly it can be a bit trying. i just look forward to when we can have the house to ourselves again. hard to make a baby when you're living in the super-secret stealth mode. many evenings find me in bed after a quick dinner, reading a book just to find some place relatively quiet.
another new adventure: de-flab. There are a lot of housewives in the Army and i know i am quite stressed from work activities, and that isnt helping either the weight or the baby-making, but after a particularly stressful day (during which i frantically went to the commissary to buy $20 worth of cake "to share with my coworkers") i began to realize that the majority of the women i see are extremely over weight. I mean, women who have boob-like fat deposits above their knees and whose arms are twice as wide as they should be. i know i need to loose weight for health reasons if for no other, but i flat out refuse to end up looking like one of those women just because i let myself get flustered or complacent about my life. life is way to precious and i have way to much of it left to live to sit around being fat and lazy. and so it began. it is going well and my main hang up now is cardiovascular fitness, but luckily carlitos bought me a heart rate monitor last year and i have been using it to keep that in check and regulate my activity. whether i get pregnant tomorrow or in 6 months, i just want to be healthy. that was a reflection of mine last week in Mass, i need to be healthy all around. spiritually, physically, mentally, and in my relationships - especially my marriage. so my focus is on being healthy and i just pray that God will decide that we are ready soon and bless us with a little one. dont know what else i can do! :)
so to whoever reads this - thank you. thank you for being my friend and supporting me. life is really pretty great for me and you have more to do with that than you realize. my rock.

Friday, June 12, 2009

work event - ice cream social

so last Friday i did a work event at the office for all the residents who are leaving: a "Farewell Ice Cream Social". sadly, not many people showed up, and the ones who did werent leaving, but were excited for free ice cream all the same. And since I am the queen of shopping, especially for food, and with someone else's money - i bought some GREAT stuff for the ice cream. :)

from left: Arlene (the new housing inspector, i dont think she likes anyone), Anthony (one of our totally useless summer interns, dont get me started on Anthony), Katie (former regular in my "friend group" until she turned two-face on us and we de-friended her), random resident, Me


here's me serving my boss's daughter. so far Megan is doing of a good job of not being too much like her mother, she's really rather sweet.



Claudia stuffing her face:


yes, i know i haven't detailed the anniversary evening, i hope to this weekend (even though i said that last weekend also.. sorry). otherwise: this weekend i will be cleanng, and tonight we go to the Cheesecake Factory downtown with some friends. i am NOT pregnant and it makes me sad, but oh well. i'm pretty sure all my friends here are about sick of listening to the play by play of my monthly cycle, they're pretty awesome people to know so much about me, regularly listen to my whining about lack of pregnancy, and STILL hang out with me. i'm very blessed.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

killing time again - the anniversary adventures

so last night charles and i experienced a Nine Inch Nails concert, it was my anniversary present to him. I had seen them a few years ago and he wasnt able to join me... and considering they are one of his all time favorite groups (can't really call them a "group", it's one guy who does everything and he just hires musicians to tour with him, but for all intensive purposes, they will be a group) I couldnt let another opportunity like that pass us by. I'm so glad i spent the money for the tickets because come to find out, this is their last tour. NIN has been touring since 1989, so he's put in his time for sure. the show was pretty awesome, although there was a definite presence of illegal substances. Jane's Addiction is touring with them, along with another opening group. we didn't stay for Jane's Addiction because it was already 9:30 and we had an hour drive so we opted to just go home. we did not remember to bring the camera, but just assume that there were lots of flashy lights and people with green hair and black baggy pants.
tomorrow is our 3-year anniversary and he has made reservations for us at The Melting Pot, which will be a new experience for us, we're excited. and then our house guests will be gone (at my request). eric is having his back surgery tomorrow (pray for him, he's very nervous) and i just straight up asked carolina to find somewhere else to stay for that night. i had about 2 weeks alone with my husband before they moved in, so damnit - i've earned an anniversary night alone!!!!! it's too bad i'm not 30 pounds skinnier and looking fantastic in whatever disguisatory black dress i decide to wear tomorrow, but luckily my husband loves me anyway and i dont have to worry about how disgusting i think i look - i'm going to eat all sorts of fondue at the restaruant and drink some wine and just enjoy the evening exactly as i am!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

more Marissa

not so sure about these crazy people taking pictures of my bald head...
a smile!

Dawn's graduation

Charles' little sister graduated from Campus last Sunday, it was a nice weekend - much family togetherness and fun.

April and Dawn:

Charlie Sr., Dawn, and my fantastically good-looking husband:


walking across the stage:


I wouldn't dare miss out on a chance to take a picture with him in his uniform!



the graduation party at his dad's house with cousin Ben (pretty sure Charles' dad is crazy...)





Friday, May 15, 2009

another work event

so yes, as previously stated, work has been very busy. last night i did another cooking class and i think it was quite sucessful. i didnt have a huge turnout, but it was fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. i even had someone call me a few minutes ago who had never gone to one of our events and just wanted to let me know how much fun she had. it made me feel really good. :)

here is the BBQ guy. this man knows more about BBQ than any one person probably should.



my venue: the Hunt Lodge. it got more full than this, but whatever, here it is.


yes, i do public speaking now! go me!