Oh what a man I have...

I have been pretty lucky with my husband's hours.  Especially considering that he is in the military.  Sure I have to deal with TDYs and Deployments, and we're not going to even go into how bad they suck.  But, when he is here with me, he is usually home before I get off of work.  It is really nice.  We can (usually) make plans for dinner, hang out with friends (we have a Wednesday tv night tradition), and schedule whatever needs to be done as far as joint errands, etc.  But, for the past week and this one, he was/will be working 12 hour night shifts.  This is a big "boo!" for me because, since I also work, that means I will get to see my husband for about an hour each day.  No bueno.  So, in order for me to perk up, because in reality I realize that I am one of the fortunate ones with this assignment, I remind myself of some fond memories.  So today I am going to send a big shout out to my husband for how sweet he really was recently.

We recently tried a restaurant with some friends in the village next to us (Landstuhl), and really enjoyed the atmosphere.  It was quiet, cute, and quaint, and the food and wine were delish!  We vowed to return.  Joel noticed that there was a "candlelight dinner" special on the menu, and booked us a romantic dinner there a few weekends ago.  It was by complete surprise and a truly romantic gesture!

(Table decorations)

We sat down to this lovely table decorated with flowers and candles.  Well, let me back that up a second.  First, they sat us down at an ordinary table and lit a candle.  We were a little perplexed, but hey, it technically was candlelight.  When they handed us menus (the candlelight dinner had a set menu) they realized we were at the wrong table, and moved us to a quiet corner of the restaurant away from the main dining room with OUR table, which was absolutely beautiful.  They even made a heart out of candles!

(Aww!)

(The view into the main dining room)

The food was absolutely divine!  We started off with some yummy homemade bread and quark butter, and they gave us a half bottle of wine of our choice and water.  Joel was sweet, and even though he likes dry wine he opted for a semi-sweet bottle for me.  We then moved on to the main course.  Chateau briand!  We also had croquettes, fries (in true German style), cooked veggies, grilled tomatoes, and this mushroom concoction.  It was way too much food, but we made good works out of it!

(Yum!)

The meal ended with dessert consisting of vanilla eis and hot raspberries.  To everyone that can (especially those in Germany) please try it!  You won't be disappointed.  We went home and well...I have shared all of the story that needs told.  The moral to this posting is that sometimes I need to remember the good things about my husband's career.  If we weren't stationed in Germany, we never would have found this delightful place, among many other things.  And for these experiences, and many more to come, I am thankful.

Does anyone want to share anything that they have been thankful for lately?

Friday Fill In!

Ok, this always looks like fun, so I thought I would join in.  Wife of a Sailor does this great "getting to know you" questionnaire, and I think I want to play!

1.  If you could be a fugitive from the law for whatever reason, what would your crime be? (from It's a Hooah Life)

First of all, I hope never to be in this position!  But, gosh...hmm...ok, it would have to be getting in trouble for kidnapping my husband!  Cheesy, right?  Well, the military is always pulling him away from me and they can never make up their minds about anything.  Nothing seems to pass the common sense test, know what I mean?  So, I can see myself in this dream world of just kidnapping him and running around the world as a fugitive.  I think we are worldly enough we might be able to do it!

2.  How long do you think you will be a military family? (from Julie the Army Wife)

Well, Joel now has six years in.  If it were up to me, I'd say next year when he can put in his resignation.  But, he really loves what he does, and, well...I love him.  Se we will be doing this for at least fourteen more years.  Wow...did I really just say that?  We are lifers!

3.  What's your favorite recipe? (from Keep Calm and Soldier On)

Crap!  I hate these questions.  I am not much of a baker, and I can cook just fine and dandy, but everything I do I just "do."  No recipes.  I would like to get better at that (anyone?), but for right now I can't share a recipe.  :(

4.  What would you want your last five words to be when you leave this life? (from My Goal is Simple)

Life was full of love :)
5. Where do you hope to retire? (from Pennies from Heaven)

Wow, I wish I was ready to retire!  But, it sure is fun to think about.  I am a Midwestern gal through and through, and if I could pick anywhere right now, it would be Louisville, KY.  I love it there.  Big city with a small town feel, lots to see and do, four seasons, with family and friends near by.  What more could I ask for?  Just don't ask my husband, the Oregonian, this question.  I think he'll slightly disagree.

Blog Hop 2010!

So, thanks to my bloggy buddy Kendra, I have decided to join the blog Hop 10 that Pensieve is hosting.  Seems to be a lot of fun, so if no one minds, I think I will play along!

My name is Kristen, 26, married to my husband who is serving in the United States Air Force.  We just got married in May (newlyweds!).  We met because we are both stationed in Germany.  I, too, work for the military...but I work for the good ole' US Army!  So, we tend to have branch wars with the bets of them.  But, we truly believe that all paths in life brought us together, and we are one of *those* couples who truly are best friends.  Gag me, right?  Don't worry, I won't be too sickeningly sweet on here.

My blog is not just limited to military talk, although I am sure that will encompass some of it, because it is a big part of my life!  We are also huge travelers and love to post pictures as memories.  But, I also blog about randomness of being 26 and still trying to figure life out.

I have a dog, my lovable pug Pugsley, and my super cool cat (ha, get the joke there?)  Jaeger.  No babies, and that's a whole other part that my husband isn't allowed to bug me about yet.  We will be moving next year back to the states, and doing all of those new couple things like decorating, buying a house, me re-finding a job, as I will be following my husband's career (note: I am not so excited about this).  I love my husband and I will do my best to not kill him during all of this, because I will miss him...just a little. :)

Working on my fitness...

So, Joel and I got married in May.  We are on three months of newlywedded bliss now.  Since we live in Germany and flew to the states to get married, we opted out of taking an immediate honeymoon.  Instead, we wanted to focus on new family and friends, and worry about ourselves later.  Plus, May is a beautiful time of the year, and we thought it would be better to escape the cold winter to go to the beach.  So, we planned a January honeymoon to paradise.  No, literally, to paradise.  May I present, THE MALDIVES!

www.meeru.com

We will be staying here in a jacuzzi water villa, which will look like this.

I know, right?  This is an all-inclusive resort, which will mean a whole lot of swimming, snorkeling, hanging out in the jacuzzi, and relaxing.  You know what I will have to wear during all of this?  That's right, a bathing suit.  You know the problem with this?  I feel that I look like this...

Ok, obvs that isn't me, and of course I am not that fat.  But, I sure feel like it a lot of days.  I have put on more weight in the past year than I can admit to people I have never met.  That's bad!  But, I am determined to lose some weight before the honeymoon.  I have worked out twice this week, and I am not stopping there!  I hope to make it to the gym (in between work and school) at least two or three times a week plus working out at home.  I need this for me...for my sanity!  I want to take lots of pictures during out honeymoon because we didn't have a photographer at our wedding, and I want to make an album out of the two events.  So any advice or encouragement is greatly appreciated.  I want to be -15 lbs by mid January. 

Attainable, no?

I received an award!

I am ecstatic to get my award from Elizabeth @ http://patandlyzz.blogspot.com/

Thank you so much! I hope everyone checks out her blog.




So, here are the rules!


1. Thank and link back to the person that gave you the award.
Thanks so much!!!

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

a. I have lived overseas for a quarter of my life.
b. When I move back to the US to live permanently, I want to go back to the Midwest. I miss simple things like spring thunderstorms and sweet tea on the back porch.
c. I am an animal lover! Seriously, I wish I could run a no-kill shelter for a living, but I would take all of the animals home.
d. My favorite animal is a puffin. I have traveled to two different countries (which are not the US) just to see them in the wild. I failed on the first attempt and nearly failed on the second.
e. While most people love being associated with the military (i.e. military wife), I don't. I love the friends I have made and the experiences I have, but if Joel wanted to get today I would be thrilled. I want to stay in one place and buy a house and make a career for myself. So why I am super proud and will support him to my fullest...um, yeah...
f. I HATE my apartment! All of my friends live in awesome houses, but my husband got his apartment before he met me and I lived with a roommate when we got married, so I had to move in with him. I keep thinking, only 11 more months, but I miss having a yard and my own driveway!
g. I am really undecided about what to do when I graduate soon. I work for the army now as an Admin Officer, but want to go a completely new direction when I graduate. One day I will decide what I want to be when I grow up...

3. Pass the award to 9 fellow bloggers that inspire you.

Ok, I promise I totally will! But I wanna think about it. I appreciate all of my followers (I find it neat that people care about what I do...and I do the same for you guys!) so I will get back to this.

Slowly but surely...

Well, I am back from Hamburg, but the "busy-ness" isn't over yet! I have finals this week, soo I will be mostly absent. I just wanted to write about one of the stops I made on my day to Hamburg. It was to Bergen, Germany, the site of a concentration camp during the Holocaust. One of the most famous faces of the Holocause, Anne Frank, took her last breath at this camp. It was a somber experience, one that will always stick with me. Here are a few pictures from that visit. Almost everything that existed during the camp was burned or destroyed, so almost all that is left is the grounds.

Whirlwind!

I am back from Scotland! It was an amazing trip! We went to Edinburgh, Stirling, and North Berwick. Definitely in my top five, especially as a History major. So much to see and do. I have lots of pictures, but not yet the time to update. So, here are a few teaser pics.

Stirling Castle

Edinburgh Castle

Puffins!

We are leaving after work tonight to head off to an amazing opportunity. My job funded a trip for me to go to Hamburg to stay in a government center for a week and learn all about the German government. Awesome, right? And Joel gets to tag along with me! I am very excited for this opportunity. And, of course, we are going to try and see the sights when we aren't in conferences. So, I promise I will do a better update on Scotland AND do one on Hamburg. I love this blog, and hate when life gets in the way sometimes.

Back...but not for long!

I feel like I have been too busy the last couple of weeks. School has been kicking my behind (thanks to my dreaded statistics class), work has been uber busy as we are short staffed because everyone else is taking a summer vacation (mine will come this winter, tee-hee), and I have been trying to take advantage of the nice weather.

I started to try and take advantage of the weather by going to Zurich, Switzerland a few months ago. See the *ahem* nice weather???

Yeah, me neither.

It was nice, though. We went to the largest indoor water park in Europe (cyber high-five!) and had fun acting like kids going down all of the water slides. Then they had a natural brine pool, and I have no idea what that means, but it was as warm as bath water outside, so it was really nice to float around in. I miss having a pool.

We toured the city and I get my coveted Starbucks (twice!) and got to enjoy some yummy food! Check out Joel and his huge sausage!

It was nice to get away. Countdown to this weekend when we go to...SCOTLAND! And we get to see (hopefully) Puffins! I know I sound crazy but they are my favorite animal and I was one week too late to see them in Ireland. So I am going to their natural habitat and they better be there! And, if you have no idea what I am talking about, here is what they look like.

Not my picture, BTW.

Super cute, right? I am also a huge history buff so we are going to follow the Mary, Queen of Scots Trail and have some yummy food. I am even hoping to get Joel into a Kilt! And of course try some of the local whiskey. Oy, oy, oy!

Ack!

So, I get my first award, then I totally get busy and haven't written in a while. Bad Kristen!

This will be short, but I promise I will update later. We got back from Switzerland Sunday night. It was a great visit, we spent too much many (that place is crazy expensive!), got rained on the whole time, but I got Starbucks and indoor water park time, so all was well.

This weekend i get to play Air Force Wife and go to an open house. This will be my first function, so I am pretty excited. Usually I am stuck in army land with my own job. It will be nice to kick back.

Next weekend is Scotland! Heck yeah! Super duper excited (obviously) and preparing for the trip. Picture overload will be coming, I am sure.

Just took midterms and I have a paper due this weekend; ugh. I will be working on all of that and trying to get some quality sleep and hubs time in. Work has been killing me lately.

You shouldn't have! But, thanks!

So, one of my favorite bloggers nominated me for my first award!



I am so stoked! I always see these fun little guys and get so jealous! So, as a special shout out, you should totally check out K's blog at http://uncorkandunwined.blogspot.com/. Another K and J!

So, as per the rules, I'm supposed to share 7 things about myself and then nominate other bloggers for the award.

Seven Things About Myself:

1. I am a tad bit of a control freak. Ok, so a lot. I literally feel shaky when a situation is happening and I have no control over it. And I hate surprises, in case that wasn't too obvious! It freaks me out when people say things like " I bought you something" but then I can't know anything about it or have it. Drives. Me. Bonkers! But, Joel deals with it nicely.
2. Matching in K's number two, I have also loved the color pink for years now, but hated it growing up. The first time I got something pink and liked it was in 2002 when I graduated high school. I have loved the color ever since.
3. I am deathly afraid of clowns. Ok, I will wait for the laughter to stop. But, seriously! Joel's fantastic proposal was almost ruined by the scary clown that stalked me in Rome. I totally had nightmares!
4. I love to read, but I don't read very much non-fiction, so I feel really dumb about joining book clubs. I would (MOST of the time) rather read about stuff that has actually happened. I think actual life is fascinating!
5. I am one of those crazy reality tv show watchers. Yes, I know how ridiculous the real housewives are. But I can't stop watching their living train wreck!
6. I have a crazy love/hate thing with my body and food. I want to lose weight and I know I could do it if I just put some more effort into it. But, I love eating and living in Europe affords me some great eating opportunities. So every time I lose that dreaded five pounds, I travel somewhere and more than sample the bad cuisine and wine. Bad Kristen!
7. I wish that I had more girlfriends around here. I always seem to make great friends right before they are moving. I love my husband, and as cliche as it sounds, he is my best friend. But I know his idea of a fun Friday night does not include pedicures, martinis, and Twilight. Know what I am saying?

As far as the nomination process goes, even though her blog is way cooler than mine, I would like to nominate Lauren from http://www.saltsays.com/ for this prestigious awards! Seriously, she is so funny. Go read her blog!