Becoming a "Former NCO Wife"

Sorry for my lack of blogging lately, but after my whirlwind of a fabulous weekend in NYC life got rather hectic with my husband's commissioning and masters degree graduation and the start of my first grad school class. Life has been NUTS! So, let's start with my hubby, K's, big accomplishments lately. I'm proud to say that last week he commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army and received his M.A. in military history - 2 major accomplishments in his life and military career. It was an amazing moment to watch him take his officer oath and to be the one to "pin" on his new rank. Plus, watching him receive his first salute from 1st Sgt. Money (his former "boss" and true mentor in his military life) was the icing on the cake. Now with K's rank changing I also now become an "officer wife" - scary! For those not adept in military culture an "officer wife" is an entity all their own. There are too many stereotypes about these women and none are appealing in any way shape or form. The token "officer wife" is thought of as rank wearing women who apparently eats, sleeps, and breathes their husbands military career to the point of thinking they are an Army officer themselves. It's really not pretty, so I write this blog to promise to all that I know that despite the fact that K has gone from NCO to officer I will not becoming an "officer wife", but sticking with "Former NCO wife" instead - think it has a better ring to it.



*EDIT - I have to add that have nothing personal against any officer wives I know, I wrote this to express the point that I just don't want to be pre-judged by my husband's rank or profession...I only want to be judged on my own character and accomplishments because we're individuals that happen to be married.

And for my dear friend, Ashley, I will NOT ever be wearing what she refers to as "officer sandals" - even if K becomes a 4 star general I will just say no!



P.S. I'm in my first week of my first online grad class and it's quite a bit overwhelming, but I'm loving the academic challenge.....more on that to come!

Happy 30th Birthday, Sister!

Well, today is my lovely sister, Lisa's, 30th birthday! Quite a milestone in her life and I thought it to be fitting to dedicate my blog to her honor today and share 30 unique and special things about her - so here goes!

1. She hates mayonnaise and I completely agree with her - it is a vile substance that is rather grotesque!

2. Lisa and I have a strange habit of when we are together and in the car we manage to always come up with some sort of choreographed dance routine, and if you are lucky to have witnessed one of these performances consider yourself blessed by our talents.

3. She has two cats and despite constantly mocking my large orange tabby, she somehow ended up with a gigantic cat of her own.

4. She ice skated growing up and ended up doing partners skating with another girl - seems funny now looking back on it.

5. Lisa is a pilot - a field dominated my men (come on - they call it the cockpit for a reason) and she has proven her skills time and time again. She doesn't let anyone stand in her way of career success.

6. She is hands down the best Aunt in the world - she visits often and when she does she is fully hands on....from changing diapers, to bath time, she does it all and I love her for it and so does G!



7. She is giving of herself almost to a fault. Lisa rarely says no and is always willing to lend a hand to a friend in need and is often under appreciated for her kindness.

8. We are both proud Boilermakers - Go Purdue! We were lucky enough to share one year there together and she showed me the ropes.



9. She secretly loves to call and leave me voicemail messages of her singing along to the radio - from Neil Diamond to New Kids on the Block, to her favorite "You're Beautiful" (ha ha!)...anything that inspires her will do, and trust me those messages always get a laugh and a smile out of me.

10. Lisa does not digest cream soups correctly so please avoid serving any of those at your next event or celebration.

11. Lisa, her friends, and I made a music video to "Sweet Child of Mine" and Lisa made one hell of an Axel Rose while I did a stunning performance as the "video chick".....we've got skills.

12. She decided in her pre-teen years to perm her hair - bad call - she came home and wore an bag over her head for over an hour....thankfully it grew out rather quickly.

13. Lisa is an outdoor enthusiast from running, to biking, to canoeing, to hiking she does it all.

14. Lisa used to think of herself as the smart one growing up and that I was the pretty one, but somewhere along the way she got prettier and I got smarter so I think we evened out.



15. She has a strange obsession with natural disasters, airplane crashes, and any sort of trauma. "Death in the Grand Canyon" is her favorite book and she absolutely adores all the disaster flicks.

16. She once got so mad at me as a kid that she secretly put toothpaste in my bed sheets as a prank, but true to her character she couldn't handle the guilt so she told me before I went to bed.

17. Lisa is brave and confident in making a tough decision when she knows it's the right thing for her to do, despite knowing it could hurt others - the truest form of courage.

18. Lisa was there for the birth of my son and was an amazing source of strength and truly shared in the joy of that miraculous event - granted she might of witnessed some not so pleasant things, but she was a trooper and a great coach.




19. She may live in the south in Atlanta, but Lisa is a Midwest girl at heart. I think she'd be happiest eventually settling down in Illinois or Indiana.

20. We are 3 years apart in age, but often get asked if we are twins since we do look quite a bit alike, but then when people think I'm the older one - she happily admits that she's the older one despite "allegedly" looking younger.



21. Lisa is a big health food fan and is always cooking up healthy recipes, but she can still whip together some of the best Paula Dean gooey butter cake bars - and trust me those are NOT health food.

22. We both went to an all girls summer camp, Birch Trail, for years growing up and to this day it still holds an incredibly special place in our hearts and some of our best childhood memories.

23. Despite the fact that we are best friends today, we did NOT get along very well as kids. Lisa hated me tagging along with her and her friends, but somewhere around high school and college that all faded away.

24. She is a true hopeless romantic - she wants what Carrie Bradshaw says, "I'm looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can't-live-without-each-other love," and I know she won't accept anything but that in her life.

25. Lisa's family nickname is Fred and the only real story behind it is that there was a T.V. news reported my Dad liked when she was born named Fred and somehow it stuck - strange.

26. She likes a good glass of scotch or Crown Royal on the rocks and I think she's crazy for that - that lady knows how to drink her liquor.



27. Lisa is close to Katherine Heigl in 27 dresses with her record of being in weddings - it's got to be over 10 and they just keep coming her way. I give her a lot of credit for being such a good sport in all of those terrible bridesmaid dresses.

28. When we found out some difficult news as kids, Lisa ran up to her room and immediately I ran after her - we have an unbreakable bond and I know that we will always be there for each other.

29. My sister has the following quote on her Facebook page, "Find your place. Be happy with what you have. Treat everyone well. Live a good life. It isn't about material things; it's about love. And you can never anticipate love," and that shows all that she believes in and who she is and love her for that.

30. Simply said, “For there is no friend like a sister, in calm or stormy weather, to cheer one on the tedious way, to fetch one if one goes astray, to lift one if one totters down, to strengthen whilst one stands.” -Christina G. Rossetti



Happy 30th Birthday Sister - you deserve every happiness that life offers and I love you more than words can say!

I Heart NY

Well, I just got back late last night from a FABULOUS trip to New York City. I had a been a few times before as a kid, but my last trip was somewhere around 15 years ago. Gosh, I truly love New York City. Other than Chicago, my home sweet home, it's the only place that has that true "city feel". The sound of public transportation, crowded sidewalks, the smell of trash (not my favorite - but an integral part of a city). The ability to just walk a few blocks and see, feel, and experience soooo many things. I simply love it!

The intention of this trip was to spend time with my mom and sister, Lisa, who is celebrating her 30th birthday. And celebrate we did - in true NYC style. We ate at fabulous restaurants, shopped 5th Avenue, visited Time Square, saw "Billy Elliot" on Broadway, took the "Sex and the City" Tour (more on that later), shopped in Greenwich on Bleeker Street and simply soaked in all we could of the city for the short time we were there. Let me start with where we stayed - we stayed at the Residence Inn in Time Square right near Bryant Park. GREAT location - it's midtown so you can head to the upper east side or down into SoHo or Greenwich with just a short cab ride. Not only that it was a suite so plenty of room for the 3 of us and it included a hot breakfast buffet everyday - not shabby for an NYC hotel.

As, I said earlier one of our many touristy things we did was take the "Sex and the City" tour and it was beyond my expectations. I would give it 10 thumbs up to any true SATC fan. I'll just share a few highlights with you about it. Started by the Plaza Hotel - the classic scene of Carrie telling Big, "You're girl is lovely Hubble" at his engagement party wit Natasha - and then we bused around and saw a few more classic sights. We drove by Tiffany's (the site of Trey and Charolette's engagement), Takashimaya Department Store (where they smell crazy perfumes and Carrie talks about taking a "lover"), and a few more and then we arrived at our first stop at the Pleasure Chest. Yes, you can imagine what kind of store that is (think like Samantha...wink wink) - it's from the episode where Charolette discovers "The Rabbit" and then never leaves home. Needless to say, but there were many amusing items in the store for our entertainment. Sorry no purchases were made, but we were with our Mom...that's just wrong. Then we headed back on the bus and headed down toward Greenwich Village - seeing more sights on the way like the gallery where Charolette worked and the gym where Miranda meets the Dad during "family hour", and even Aidan's furniture shop which is now an architecture firm. We then stoppped at Buddakan Resturant which is where Carrie and Big have their rehersal dinner in the SATC movie at that long gorgeous table with big chandeliers. We actually ate dinner there (I did some SATC restaurant research ahead of time and we planned at meals at 2 places used in the show/movie) the night before and the food and ambiance were beyond amazing. We had edamame dumplings infused with truffle oil - wow! It was great to go back and see it during the day and really see how gorgeous the decor is. Plus, we learned that the area of the restaurant we sat it called the "China Lounge" was also used in the SATC movie for the New Year's Eve scene when Stanford and Anthony kiss at midnight. We then got back on the bus and drove by the church were Samantha pursues the friar and Sushi Samba where Samantha threw the dirty martini in Richard's face. Then our next drop off was by Bleeker Park right near Magnolia Bakery. We had time to stroll the shops on Bleeker Street and we had a great time at Fresh cosmetics. We had a quick mini-makeover and we all bought over priced, but fabulous makeup - their Fresh Supernova mascara is AMAZING! Try it - you won't be disappointed. After shoppping on Bleeker we headed back by the park and got to enjoy a Magnolia Bakery cupcake - home to the scene where Carrie is telling Miranda about her crush on Aidan right after they met. Wow, truly delicious cupcake and the frosting was to die for. Plus, this was the scene of an exciting moment for us. Our tour guide, Lou (she's great!), told us Bleeker Park is a popular celebrity hangout as many live in the East Village area and they like to bring their kids to that park. Sure enough I go glance at the playground and there was Nigel Barker, the famous photographer judge on America's Next Top Model. How random, but totally proved the point that celebs visit that park. Too bad SJP wasn't there, but I"ll take what I can get. Then we boarded the bus again to drive through the Meat Paking District and SoHo to see a few more shops and cafes that were used in the movie, and had our final stop off at O'Neals Bar which was Scout (Steve and Aidan's bar on the show) for some tasty afternoon cosmos. It was a great tour, neat to see all the settings from the show/film, and to also get to see a different perspective of NYC through the lives of the characters. Sorry if this was a complete bore to you if you are not a SATC fan (if you're not - you're crazy!), but if are a super fan you would LOVE this tour so if you're in NYC definitely check it out.

Also, have to share a tid bit of advice for the true super SATC fans. When I originally researched the tour it said it went by the brownstone where Carrie lived - basically where they shot all the scenes of her on the steps of her building, but I came to find out before we left they took that off the tour. Understandably the people in the neighborhood weren't fans of bus loads of people coming and sitting on their stairs, so now it's not on the tour and there is a no trespassing sign on the steps, but if you can still go by the brownstone on your own and take pics on the sidewalk, just not on the steps. Ok ok ok, I'll share my insider information (it's 66 Perry Street), but be respectful if you stop by - we actually met the owner of the building because she came out when we were taking our pictures and she was super nice and stopped and explained what happened with the tour, etc. I can understand not wanting all those people around all the time, but a few true fans were not a problem at all to her and she welcomed us taking our pictures.

As I mentioned we ate one dinner at Buddakan, super tasty Asian fusion food, but we also ate our second dinner at Il Cantonori - another SATC restaurant. It's an Italian restaurant and it's where Carrie has her 35th birthday party during season 4 where she ends up sitting at the table alone because every is late. It was pretty good Italian food and a nice atmosphere, but nothing too spectacular. One other noteworthy place we ate was a lunch at Serenedipity 3. I'm sure many of you know it from the movie "Serendipity" with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. It's a super cute cafe on the Upper East Side and the food and deserts are delicious. They are famous for their frozen hot cholocolate, what they ate in the movie, and it's as good as it it looks.


Have to also share that "Billy Elliot" on Broadway was a great show. Music by Elton John and cute story of a boy who wants to do ballet, but his coal mining father is a little less than supportive. Plus, it's got a nice historical tie in to the English coal strike in the 1980's. Well done and definitely recommended.


Well, I'll wrap up my travel review by simplying saying I love New York. It has an energy all it's own and it's now on my bucket list to live there at some point in my life. I'll grab a coffee and read a book in Bryant Park, I'll hit all the shops in the Meat Packing District, I will brunch in the East Village, and I'll where Manolos while doing it (did I mention my sister bought a pair - they are gorgeous...I'm jealous) .... one day....New York will be my home!

LaGuardia Sucks

I would like to thank Lindsey for letting me be her first guest blogger! Woo hoo! I have never blogged before and am already thoroughly enjoying my first blog. Oh, Lindsey told me that I should tell everyone who I am, but that might be too easy so I'm going to continue incognito. But if any of you know Lin real well then based off the title of this post you should be able to figure out who this mystery blogger is!

So, really all I want to say is that LaGuardia Airport is one of the worst airports I have ever been too. It's pretty much as simple as that, but being that my sister is here, that is helping to make the airport better. :) I don't want to knock on NY, cause NY rocks, but the airport could use some help. Man, I am boring aren't I?

Wish I had more interesting things to write, but I'm being surrounded by this crazy airport and I got up really early so I'm having a hard time focusing on anything else.

Happy blogging to all of Lindsey's blogging friends. I'm sure she'll have something more interesting posted then what I have added, but at least you all have learned something new -- stay away from LGA!

P.S. At least they have a Dunkin Donuts - that's a positive.