Getting settled in

With all last week off to make my new place livable, I'm starting to feel settled in. I really like the town I'm living in and am glad that I opted for the 30 minute commute through wooded, country roads instead of 30 minutes through congested intersections right outside post.

I've purged quite a few of my belongings in the 5 moves I've made in the last decade- Spain to Louisiana, Louisiana to Florida, Florida to Colorado, Colorado to California, California to North Carolina. Hey, I've gone coast to coast!

On this last move, I finally got rid of the mismatched love seat and futon I had and decided to buy some real furniture. Upon relating this to Whit & Kathie, they laughed and said it was about time I stopped living like a college student! Sorry, but I'm gonna save pics of the new furniture until I get some art on the walls in the living room! You'll just have to wait a bit longer!

I was lucky to have found this place for a great price. Having rental property myself, I can appreciate the amount of work and money that goes into keeping a place functional and nice for the tenants. So I was quite pleased to have found this completely remodeled duplex. As you can see in this pic of the kitchen, all the appliances are brand new stainless steel and still had the owners manuals attached to them when I moved in.

Although it's just under 1000 square feet, I feel a little guilty about occupying so much space for just one person. I turned the spare room into an office of sorts and it filled up pretty quickly with all my books and professional stuff, but the rest of the place feels quite spacious with my few belongings scattered about. I say "few belongings" but I filled those kitchen cabinets! Hey, a girl's gotta be able to feed herself, right?!

The doors you see behind the table & chairs leads out to the back yard and detached garage. Although I REALLY needed one in Colorado, this is the first time I've ever had a garage! It's big enough to put both the car and the Harley in if I move them around, but I've decided to leave the car in the driveway and let the bike be protected from the elements solo until winter comes back around and necessitates musical vehicles. I know the car is new, but hey, it's a Hyundai for crying out loud and this is a Harley!!

Having grown up in a rural area, I had always wanted to have a yard. After having one in Colorado though, I've since changed my outlook. A yard is great if you have the time and resources to put towards working in it. As I found out in Colorado, fighting natural climate and working long hours don't do much for nice landscaping! Plus, if it's a nice weekend day, I want to be out and about (especially if it's good riding weather) instead of pumping money into my yard! Don't get me wrong, I still love a yard like my parents' with nice trees and flowers and swings, but at this stage in my life, I guess it's just not a priority. So, one of the other great features of this rental is that lawn care is included in the rent. . . I'm not responsible for it!

As you can see, the backyard isn't huge, but is plenty big enough for a BBQ pit and some patio furniture. The first yard pic is from the detached garage looking back at the house. I love the patch of bamboo along the back fence, gives it a zen feeling!

That's all the house pics for now. I've ordered some wall pics that should come in this week, so I'll post some more once I get those up so y'all can see the rest of the place. Hope everyone is surviving the crazy weather going on around the country and having a great weekend.

And the votes are in. . .

Thanks to everyone for weighing in with their votes! I knew it wouldn't be hard to pry an opinion out of this group!! This has been an interesting exercise for me and definitely changed my mind. I hadn't completely decided yet when I posted the pics, but I was certainly leaning towards #4. There's something about sunsets/sunrises that stir my soul.

The beauty of having people who know you well is that sometimes they have insight into your psych that you can't recognize in yourself! I love that y'all seemed to have put some thought into this and I especially liked reading the rationale behind the picks! It was like having everyone standing in the room helping me decide! OK, not quite because then it would've involved lots of food, story telling and laughter- although Rob did sneak in a story about my beach apartment winter heating meltdowns in Spain!!

I'll be getting the winning pic developed onto canvas to hang over my bed, it'll have even more meaning knowing that it was picked by friends and family!

And the winner is. . . #1- Waimea Bay, Oahu. Kind of fitting since I spent four very formative years on that island while I was in the Navy. The pic was actually taken in 2006 when I went back there with my sister though. I can't wait to see how it comes out!

Before I catch a ration of you-know-what for not posting pics, I WILL POST SOME OF MY NEW HOME THIS WEEKEND!!! Thanks again everyone for remaining a part of my life even when I'm far away :-)

Opinions needed!

OK, OK, I know I'm behind on posting! I've had several requests for pics of my new place, but I still have have stuff spread out from wall to wall at the moment as I attempt to get my life organized!! In the meantime though, I've decided to expand the wall art of my amateur photo hobby. As most of you know, I'm all about the pictures. I'm the geek that actually looks through those mounds of photo albums collected over the years. Part of my way of dealing with being away from so many loved ones so much of the time is to be surrounded by reminders of great times spent with them. I have lots of pics of family & friends around my home, but I also enjoy landscape scenes as art. Now this is where my opinionated friends and family come into the picture (pun intended!). . .

I'm looking to get a huge enlargement of one of the following photos that I've taken over the years on the Hawaiian islands reproduced onto canvas so it looks like a painting. As you know, I'm a beach girl at heart so I'm hoping one of the following prints on my wall will help calm my restless soul. Here are the options:

1. Waimaea Bay, Oahu2. Family on beach, Kauai3. Hammock scene, Kauai
4. Sunset on Maui

Some of you have posted comments in the past, so you know how it works. For those of you who have been voyeurs and haven't posted a comment before, it's pretty easy to do. Click on the "comments" tab at the end of this post and you will be brought to a new screen. Once you type in your comment in the text box (and choice of pic!), click on the button next to "anonymous" unless you have a blogger profile already set up (if you did you would know how to do this!). Make sure you sign your name in the text box (just first name and last initial please) so I'll know who made the comment. Then click on "publish your comment" and it will be sent to my email account for review. You won't see your comment posted right away, it'll show up later after I approve it from my email account. Since this is a family-friendly blog, I want to make sure that no one posts anything inappropriate.

Alright y'all, don't let me down. . .

A new home!

My apologies for such a short, photo-less post, but I just wanted to let ya'll know that I'm still alive and have found a place to live! It's about 30 minutes from work and in a beautiful small-town area with some great roads for riding!!! My household goods and my Harley were delivered on Friday, so I've spent the weekend trying to unpack and get somewhat settled. I'll post again with some pics as soon as I can!

Fort Bragg arrival

I arrived to Fort Bragg on Wednesday evening after a frustrating day of travel. I can't blame my frustration on the airlines though, the only obstacles I encountered during the day were due to my own carelessness. After accruing 100,000+ frequent flyer miles over the last couple of years, I did something that I usually roll my eyes at novice travelers for doing. . . forgot my Leatherman tool in my carry-on! My heart sank as I realized when the TSA guy told me it was in my bag that I was going to lose my companion of 20 years. The multi-purpose knife/tool was given to me by a Navy mentor and had accompanied me on just about every mission and motorcycle ride since. Did you know that you can pretty much fix anything on a P-3 aircraft with a Leatherman tool? Can't really say the same for my Harley, but I was sentimentally attached to the tool nonetheless (and yall know how often I actually get sentimental). Anyway, the security line was too long for me to go back through in order to mail it back to myself, so I watched in disgust as the guy tossed my tool into a bin labeled "trash". I could only be mad at myself since the guy was just doing his job, but man it sucked! As you can see from this blog post, I haven't quite gotten over it yet!

OK, enough about the sob story over my knife. . . I found my way to Ft Bragg and have been checking in on base (err, I mean "post") ever since. There's a ton of briefs and presentations newly arrived personnel must go through just to be in-processed onto post. Tomorrow I'll finish that process and start checking into the place on post I'll actually be working. The post is HUGE and I've only seen a small area of it so far, but decided to take a pic of one of the statues that seems to represent the essence of Ft Bragg- "Iron Mike." The monument depicts the Airborne Troopers of the Airborne units stationed at Fort Bragg, notably the XVIII Airborne Corps Headquarters, the 82nd Airborne Division, and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC).

After avoiding owning a 4-wheeled vehicle for a year and a half, I finally broke down and purchased a car! My bike is in storage and I can't really get it out until I find a place to live. I didn't know how long that would take, so I decided it was time to become a grown-up (kind of!) and buy a sensible car. I looked around on the lemon lot and perused the internet, but I couldn't find anything I wanted and/or trusted for a decent price. I arrived at the conclusion that I hadn't owned a new vehicle (other than my Harley) since 1987 and that as long as it got good gas mileage (25-33 mpg) and would last for a while (5-year warranty), it was a wise choice. Actually, I convinced myself that if I was sensible with the four-wheeled purchase that I would be able to upgrade my two-wheeled purchase soon :-) Although non-descript, I'm satisfied with my 2009 Hyundai Elantra.

With the freedom of wheels, yesterday and today I got out-and-about in the gorgeous upper 70/lower 80 degree weather to look at potential areas to live. There's a town called Southern Pines to the west of Fort Bragg that I really like and spent the day out there. It's a bit of a commute since you have to go across the whole forest known as the Fort Bragg Military Reservation to get there, but I really liked how quiet and spread out the landscape was in comparison to the options right outside the post in Fayetteville. I found this lake at Reservoir Park and walked the 2-mile trail around it as I cleared my head with the wooded smell of fresh pine.

Tomorrow I'll continue the process of becoming a member of this military community and trying to establish a new residence. Hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy the weekend and get a preview of the refreshing spring weather to come!

Moving on. . .

Today I checked out of Alpha Company of the 187th Medical Battalion at Fort Sam Houston. Tomorrow morning bright and early, I fly east towards my new duty station and residence- Fort Bragg, NC. North Carolina is one of the few states I've not been to so I'm pretty excited about this new adventure. This time last year, I was still getting settled into my new apartment on Coronado and anxiously anticipating warm Southern California weather. Wow, how life can change in 12 short months!

In the midst of packing up and checking out, I had the privilege of presenting to the young officers going through the Army Graduate Program in Nutrition here at AMEDD. It's always fun when you're asked to do a presentation on something your passionate about and to pass on some "words of wisdom" to folks coming up in our field. I got so fired up from getting THEM fired up about the role of performance nutrition in the military that I have a renewed sense of mission as I head to Ft Bragg!

One of the other cool things we got to do this week was go on tours of a couple of facilities here on post built especially for Wounded Warriors and Warriors in Transition (terms used to describe Soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan as they recover back here in the States). The Soldier and Family Assistance Center (SFAC) had some of the most state-of-the-arts entertainment technology I've ever seen as well as a huge fully stocked, wheelchair accessible kitchen for families and Soldiers to cook for themselves and others. I also went on another tour of the Center for the Intrepid (CFI) this week. I was equally as impressed by this center specializing in advanced rehab of amputees and burn patient veterans as I was the first time I visited it back in October for Ann's retirement. It's humbling to be around so many folks dedicated to helping these Soldiers adjust to their new bodies and lives and advance towards a new norm. I had to smile as I gazed upon the numerous pictures of Soldiers participating in various sports. I recognized many Paralympic events and wondered how many of these Warriors would some day find themselves competing in a sport they had never even participated in before.

As for off-post excursions, I didn't get out a whole lot other than when Pam & Ski and the kids came to visit me. I made it out to the River Walk a few times and saw some movies at the local theaters but didn't do a whole lot of sightseeing or going out. Since food is one of my passions, I did eat out way more than I needed to though! One of my favorite spots was the Canyon Cafe at the Quarry Market. The Black & Bleu Quesadilla accompanied by their signature Top Shelf margarita was my meal selection more than once during my stay here!

Another favorite that was much closer to base was Siam Bangkok Thai Cuisine right out the gate by Kim's Alterations. This quaint little establishment doesn't need any type of advertisement since word of mouth packs the place most nights. It's owned by the husband & wife team of Kent & Cynthia who make you feel at home every time you come in. My favorites on the menu are the Tom Kha Gai soup and Pad Thai. I ate there probably a half dozen times but never took a picture of the food because it was so tasty that I was usually half way through the meal before I remembered I had my camera on me! The portion sizes are HUGE with great presentation. Unfortunately, the only picture I have to post is of the Pad Thai leftovers that I took home and ate tonight for dinner!

As I finish up OBLC I tried to think if there were any nuggets I should pass on to future course students looking for information to prepare them for the training. I think the week by week posts give a pretty good sense of what the training and schedule is like. One important suggestion I have about logistics though is to BRING A VEHICLE! With only a motorcycle that had to be shipped ahead due to time constraints, I didn't have a vehicle to bring anyway, but I can tell you that not having a vehicle was a major drawback. I'm a walker and am not daunted by a mile or two trek to a destination, but I usually didn't have enough time to make it to where I needed to be on foot. The bus system isn't great, so bumming rides or constantly hailing a taxi becomes the norm. I spent a lot of money on rental cars that's not reimbursable, so if you have a vehicle and are able to drive it here, I suggest you do so.

OK, that's it for OBLC training. I'll be busy getting a thorough passdown and looking for a place to live the first week I'm at Ft Bragg, so not sure how much posting I'll be doing at first. Stay tuned though, I'll catch everyone up as soon as I can!