Prague, Parents & Possibilities

It's been a month since I've written, hasn't it? Well, technically, we're still in September, but still, it's been a month! A bit has happened, and I'd love to tell it all in detail, but lucky for you, since we're far away from the events now, I'm just going to give the highlights.

Last post I told you I was going something called a Spur Ride. Well let me tell you, it was such a blast. I got to change a tire of a tactical vehicle, eat an MRE, put on the full gas suit, mask and all, get turned upside down in a hummer simulation, practice with a rifle at the firing range, and take a modified PT test. Oh goodness, we had so much fun. There were a few stations that we went to, one in particular, that they tried to kick our butts (and tried to give me a hard time for "being" an officer), but I just laughed my way through it all. I actually got the only individual award that was given out for getting the best PT score out of all the women that were there. Let's just say I kick butt at pushups (real ones) and flutter kicks.Me in Matt's uniform for the Spur Ride. Yes, that is a broomstick. It was our "mount" for the day. And yes, I had to take him everywhere we went that day.

After the Spur Ride I came back home, showered, and then drove to Prague. You know, I think it's easily becoming my favorite city, and I am slightly, ever so slightly, learning the roads there. If you've ever been to Prague, and taken a taxi around Zone 1, you know that the roads are absurd, as are the drivers. But, I got safely to the hotel, and just had a wonderful time with my parents. I don't know when I've been that spoiled. We got to go to pretty much the nicest restaurants in Prague because they were on a business trip. I got to meet a lot of people my parents have known for years, and who have apparently known me since I was a wee one. They've all seen me grow up through pictures over the years, so it was nice to put names to faces.

Prague is ridiculously beautiful, so I've put some photos up of some of the typical sights you'd see while there.

Gorgeous building at the east side of Old Town Square. The clouds were just perfect behind it.

Great bridge with copper accents

Yes, more bridges. Took this while on a boat cruise

The castle and its cathedral, set up on the hill

At one of our lovely dinners.

After Prague, my parents came back to my place to hang for about a week. Now, I had every intention of showing them a good time, taking to some of my favorite spots, but they really just insisted on helping me get my place more set up. And oh my goodness, I am so glad they did. My place looked good before, and was relatively functional, but now, it is so much cooler looking and a heck of a lot more functional. The first thing we changed was to move a piece of furniture I had gotten from a friend from the hallway into the living room to act as a bar. Prior to the bar we just had all our alcohol sitting on the counter in the kitchen. Though it wasn't much, when it's all in one place just out in the open, it looks a lot less modest than when it's in a nice bar. And for the area, I happened to have a great Guinness clock my brother had given me.

Bar in living room

An area that needed work for functionality and decor was the entryway. It was pretty much empty save for a little table I had hidden in a nook (see one leg in the bottom right of the picture below). So, we decided to get a nice entry-way table over which we'd hang decorations, and to install an exposed closet underneath the stairs (much sweat and brain power went into making that closet work, thanks so much Dad, could not have done it without you!).

Front entry way

To decorate the hallway, I had a few random frames for which my mom found good pictures, and a few other items. My favorite thing on wall is the set of candles. Mom had just gotten back from Guatemala and was so kind to bring me a beautiful set of candles, amongst other colorful cloth placemats and gifts from my grandmother. Now, for you to fully appreciate what it took to get this display up, you must understand that that wall is solid cinder block. This house is not a wood house, so for each hole we made we actually had to use a masonry drill bit to get the holes in. And you see the letters and the "London" sign? Yeah, they had two holes a piece.

Front entry way display

Now, before my parents came, the upstairs was completely lacking. A beautiful lit area, but completely lacking. The only piece of furniture up there was an antique table. But now, with my parents help and a little investment on our part, we furnished the upstairs! We got the couch for a ridiculously good price, and the rug too. And the entertainment center too, now that I think about it, so this whole room is such a blessing. From the picture of the front hallway, you can see how tiny the stairwell is to get upstairs, so we actually had to bring the boxes up piece by piece, and assemble it upstairs.

Entertainment Room

And because I do a bit of crafty stuff, and at least have a lot of crafty items that needed a space (got loads of scrapbooking stuff for my birthday, thanks ladies!), we decided to make the back room a craft room. Once Matt gets back it'll be a workout room too, and perhaps a bit of a reading room if we can find a comfortable chair for upstairs. I love how the table came together, because we bought the legs and the top separately. I chose these legs because I can choose to sit or stand, or even to tilt the table-top towards me like a drafting desk (Esther, you gotta visit). The table-top is actually a door from Ikea that was damaged on one side. So for just 5 EUR we bought it, and you can't tell at all that it's damaged because we just put the undamaged side face up.

So now I feel really good about my house, and can't wait for Matt to come home and live in it with me. We think he's going to be coming before the end of October. I'll only know a few hours before he lands that he'll be arriving, so I won't be able to put any more detailed information on here (nor would I be able to even if I could for OPSEC reasons). But clearly, I'll let you know when he's home, safe and sound.

Of course, there is the question of the job. Yes, I'm still hoping for the one with the Army Corps of Engineers, it's just taking forever. They have finally established a position for me, but now I have to go through the application process. The position hasn't come online yet so I haven't been able to apply, but the guy I've been talking to sounds really confident that I'm the one who will get the job...whenever that is.

As for Christmas vacation, we're going home! Yup, our first time back to the state since early May. We won't be coming back very often because flights are just awfully expensive. So, you really gotta get over here and see us :-D. We'll be in Orlando for about a week and a half before Christmas and for Christmas day, and the next day we fly out to San Francisco for the traditional Lipps New Year's party. I'd love to see whoever I can while I'm in Orlando and San Francisco, so let me know if you're going to be home or in the area.

That's it for now. Oh, and I think we found a good church and I'm going to be on the worship team there. NOW I think that's about it. Thanks for keeping up!

The End of Summer

I don't know about you, but August is definitely the last month of the summer. When you were still of school age, if you were in the month of September, you were definitely in class, which means no summer.

Today is the first day of September, meaning that in my school-girl heart, summer has officially ended. It was a good summer if I may say so. It was the longest Matt and I have been able to be together in our relationship, so we really had a blast. I moved to Germany, got a house, got some cool friends, and figured out this whole house-wife thing pretty well. But what else does September mean? It means that next month my husband comes home. The boys were scheduled to come home in November, but we heard that the Boots On Ground (BOG) date is November 25th, meaning that most of the guys have to be back by that date. And there is rumor (as always) that the boys will be coming back sooner than that. SO, next month is when my husband comes home!

He's been doing pretty well in Iraq. He just signed up for wireless internet in his bunk so we are finally able to have a long conversation at least over gmail chat in the evenings. We have fun bantering back and forth talking nonsense, but it's so comforting to be able to do that. If we can't do that life just gets to serious! His men have apparently really taken to him and show this by hazing him. Some of the things he tells me are just incredible and I cannot imagine them actually happening because it just tells like a movie. He sent me a picture of him in his uniform though and that's below. Gosh, he is such a stud!



For my birthday Sarah (my aunt) sent me a buttload of scrapbooking stuff, so now, I actually have to get down to it. I had about 3-4 boxes of stuff that I wanted to scrapbook, but it was in no order whatsoever, so today, my project was to make a dent in organizing it. It took most of my day, but I have almost everything in piles according to the year. I probably need to go back and organize it according to the school year instead of the calendar year, but heck, at least it's in like 10 different piles instead of just one! I also threw a bunch of stuff away that I just had no need for anymore.

During my organization I came across a load of letters. I guess I kept all of my birthday/Christmas/valentine's day cards for the past 10 years or so, and it was so much fun to go through them all. I even had notes that my friends would pass me inbetween classes. It's incredible to see how those friendships develop over the years. I even found a $20 bill in birthday letter from someone! Glad I looked through it! I'll consider that my pay for the day.

Apparently, over the years, two people in particular have written me loads of letters. I guess it would make sense, but I was just astonished at the mass of letters I had acquired from them! Both my mother and my grandmother (Lipps) have just sent me tons of letters. Grandma always writes these lengthy letters in her beautiful handwriting, never forgetting any holiday. And mom, she writes me tons of just "I love you!" and "I'm thinking about you!" notes. I guess whenever she finds a cute card or a postcard she just sends me stuff. I can't tell you how loved I felt from these two women. So, to you to ladies, thank you for your love and for always thinking about me! Forgive me if I haven't replied as often as I should, but I have made a plan to get better at it :).

Speaking of my mother, she and my father are going to be arriving in Prague this Friday for "business"--meaning some meetings and lots of play time--and I'm going to be joining them! Then on Wednesday or Thursday I'm going to drive them back here to hang out with me until the 18th. I am so excited to have my family visiting me! And for such a long time too! I love that they can see my house and my life, so they can better understand when I talk to them on the phone and say "I'm in the kitchen," and things like that. Dad and I plan on changing the brake pads on the car, along with the warped front rotors, and we plan to watch the Die Hard trilogy. My mom and I will be spending time scrapbooking, as she has to catch up on the last 23 years. Well, she'll do the first however many and I'll pick up where she leaves off.

Ah, but before my trip to Prague, this Friday there is an event called a Spur Ride. This is where the spouses get to dress up in their soldier's uniform and basically take a day in his shoes. We're going to have a (modified) P.T. test in the morning, move on to first aid, then NBC (eh?), a flat tire change, weapons training, and a mystery event. At the end of the day there's going to be an awards ceremony. I would clearly love to get an award, but I'm really just doing this for fun, to see what Matt goes through, and to join the other women.

Hopefully I'll have pictures to put up on the next post. And hopefully they're not of me getting my butt kicked on Friday!