February in Review

Hello friends and Happy Monday!! ((trying to find something positive about Monday's... it's sometimes difficult!))

I've decided this year that I want to do monthly review posts to kinda highlight what has been going on in my neck of the woods. It's fun to look back on things as well help me focus on what I want to document every month for myself! I can't believe that another month has come and gone already! Can you? It's insane how time seems to be flying by so quickly this year!

Here is a small look into this past month for me:

** Made some new recipes with Mo: Beef and Broccoli on Rice and Honey Brown Sugar Chicken and started a new series hosted on Tuesdays for Recipes! I even made a little header for it with Mo's help to show off how nerdy we really are. :)

** Watched American Sniper- which was a fantastic movie! It is one part of one of my goals checked off my list. I'm still currently reading the book, which takes longer and I reserve for the more boring moments of work, especially when working a night shift, but we had been planning to watch the movie and I know that the movie and book won't always match up. This one was a little confusing in the start of the movie how it kept switching back and forth between his time in the military and what happened before he joined. I prefer the book to the movie honestly, just because I like the details that Chris Kyle actually shares, the stuff that Taya shares in her rare appearances, and just hearing stuff from Chris' opinions. Don't get me wrong, it was a good movie, but it was also a lot different from the book and I prefer the book wholeheartedly!

Also- the man accused of murdering Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. I personally don't know much about what really happened, about whether or not he really did murder them or if it was a case of PTSD (which people often forget isn't just related to war but to traumatic events and what is traumatic to one person might not be traumatic to another), or much about the trial, so I honestly don't have much of an opinion on whether or not he should be sentenced to life or not.... I just honestly don't know enough about the situation to form an opinion.

** Participate in #This Week by Mandy at Record Life

** A couple of 5 Fandom Friday's: One, Two, Three, and Four.

** Went to a Soldier of the Month board and made second place! Up next is a promotion board (finally) to hopefully make it to Sergeant before July of this year... only 3 years late

** Finished Mo's Captain America Little Monster 

** Got a new Blog Layout and I really like it!

** Had a BBQ at work, had some large fixed wing fly by the tower, and remember why I don't like people all that much!

What about you? What are some fun things that happened in your neck of the woods in this last month? 

I look forward to documenting the small parts of life, with the help of my social media in the coming months!

Make sure you leave a link to you review posts so I can check them out!

January in Review

Hello friends!

I can't believe that today is already the last day of January! Where the heck did the time go? I can remember the start of the month like it was yesterday!

1. Started the month (and the year) of in Florida! Watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and didn't realize that it was already after midnight

2. Flew back to Germany after three weeks off and I jumped right into a rotation that turned out to not be as busy as it was promised to be. We were told is was going to be one of the biggest rotations of this fiscal year and it started with the unit we were supporting deciding to take a four day weekend and things just went downhill from there! I am super glad it is over!!!

3. I went to Ikea (my first time) and got some much needed items for the apartment (like my new desk chair). I'm crafting this weekend and just happy as can be to have some time off!

4 Thanks to my Command Sergeant Major (CSM), my NCO's are finally being made to send me to the Soldier of the Month Board and then the Promotion Board! I have been trying to go to a board for a while and get promoted and finally someone is working with me to go! It'll be amazing to finally make SGT. The only problem is on top of working on my training program at work, I now have to study for a board AND work on Correspondence Courses to increase my promotion points and put me higher on the list to be promoted! I will hopefully make SGT in April!!!! I just hate all the studying!

I'm getting ready for February that starts tomorrow, which is another month closer to me leaving Germany and starting the next step in my life.

Tell me something about your January!

2014 Recap

Hello friends!

Today is the last day of 2014.... which is kind of weird to think about since the year passed by so quickly. Okay so it flew by in what seems like is the blink of an eye! I wanted to take the time and kind of for my own memory keeping purposes, recap this past year with what I can actually remember.

January and February brought prepping for my move to Germany, packing up all of my belongings, clearing Fort Bragg, and then preparing the things I didn't want to take to Germany to drive them back home. The begining of March brought a four day trip to my parents house with a truck full of stuff to put in my new storage unit. My best friend Linz, our friend Sparky, and I all took a trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for my firat time and we had a blast. I bought Hermione's wand since she was always my favorite character and some chocolate. We took a ride through the castle and it was great. After that 4 day trip I headed back to Bragg to finish some last minute thigs before I left for Germany, including finishing my half-sleeve tattoo.

me, Linz, and Sparky with the conductor of the Hogwarts Express

As soon as I got to Germany I started working immediately since we were in a rotation with foreign countries. April brought Daster, my first train ride to see a couple of friends, my truck arrived in Germany, and then it was my first drive on the Autobahn to see friends and then I met Morales. I visited friends in Illesheim, went to my first Wine fest and bought my Lederhosen before attending the fest at my own base. May and June brought rotations and trips to see friends. Morales and I started dating officially in July before I went to school for the Army, where I spent 4 weeks working on how to be a better leader. While in school we attended the Graf Fest with some new friends from stationed in both Germany and Italy. I surprised Morales after he had mouth surgery when I had an early weekend off of school, and after graduation at school, it brought more rotations and not a lot of time off. I got position qualified on the first one in November and then again on the second one in early December.

I went to München Oktoberfest with my unit late September, went to the  Nürnberg and Regensberg Fests, attended both the Spring and Fall Stuttgart fests, and  the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Fest in October. I went to the Stuttgart Christmas Market and attended the Esslingen christmas Market two seperate times. My first week in Germany brought inprocessing and "cultural college" to learn about the basics of German culture before taking a tour of Nürnberg and learning about some of the city's history.

I've made a couple new friends in my coworkers, made some friends in Stuttgart where my old friends live, and I decided to participate in december Daily, which will be finished when I get home to Germany and more of my supplies.

All in all 2014 has been a year of firsts and of adventures for me. I've learned a lot about myself, the German culture, and photography. I'm planning to travel more in 2015, have more adventures, and new experiences.

Tell me about your 2014!