Rants, Recipes, and Running

Where do I even begin? How has it been since June 28 since I've checked in here. Gosh, so much to catch up on. So many events, I think we will need to do a "bullet point style recap" to get this all down before time flies too fast and I forget it all! Ha! I'll throw in a few pictures, as well. Hold on tight - lots to cover ;) 4th of July weekend was amazing. So full - so much laughter - so much fun. We got to bond with family from California, cousins, siblings, nieces, nephews. Much boating, laking, laughing, eating over the 4th of July. Have I mentioned that I feel like this trip home feels like this freeze in time where I'm kind of covering ground I lost over the past 9 years? Blog post to come on that soon.... Out to dinner over the 4th of July weekend with family on my dad's side!   Fedora picture taken after a day of tubing down the river with aunts and cousins on the 4th of July Pontoon ride that weekend with several of my siblings,

Greetings from Fargo! "Dontcha know" we have been in Fargo since April 9? I have been a bit absent from here. Here is my list of excuses: 1. No one reads this blog. 2. It's been kind of busy. 3. By the time I finish my day of work where I'm staring at a computer screen for 9 hours in my work from home office, I don't want to look at another screen. 4. Everytime I think about posting a blog, I don't even know where to begin :D So what have I been up to? Well, for one, trying to stay warm. It hasn't been the best weather here in Fargo. But I'm not letting that stop me from enjoying myself. And I really soak up the beautiful days. Work has been quite busy. I don't tend to talk much about that part of my life these days. I'm feeling strained, and while I'm working or thinking about working - my stomach hurts. So let's focus on the fun things in life! Wedding Fun: Love has been in the air in my family. My sister got married t

We are rapidly approaching 9 years of being Tucsonans. While at the same time...we are REALLY rapidly approaching our departure for Fargo, ND for  6 months. And I have to be honest and admit....even though it's 6 days away, it does not feel real yet. First of all, it doesn't feel real. For I was told it was happening, and then it wasn't happening, and then it was for sure happening, and then there was only about a 30% chance of it happening. But now it's really happening. I've kind of warped my brain to not believe anything is happening until I'm fully living it. But we really are moving. I've changed our address w/ USPS and I've packed 1 suitcase so far! ;) I don't even know how to explain in words how excited I am. I've missed and pined for my family so much over the past 9 years. It doesn't feel real that I'll be with them for 6 months. While at the same time, I'm going to miss my friends. I have a group of friends who ha

Wow. Where do I begin... It's  been a rollercoaster of a few weeks. Ryan is supposed to be coming home tomorrow. He's been home for a week. (Yay!!!) Let me tell you about last week. We went from thinking we were going to be spending 6 months in Fargo ND near family, then it was going to be Nashville, TN, then it was going to be Syracuse, NY, then it was back to Fargo. The funny thing about this life is it warps your brain to not even care where you're going -- you just want to know. But the amazing news is....we are going to Fargo, ND on April 7!!! We still don't know what kind of living situation we will have. That is changing on a hourly basis. Literally every day Ryan comes home with new "news". I don't care. I'll live in a box. Well, my company won't approve of that. But you get the point ;) As thrilled as I want to be - it's hard for me to take the excitement seriously. It changes so much that I almost am starting to feel lik

As I was writing about our trip to Syracuse , I made the statement " I don't think we would have visited this part of the country, if it weren't for Ryan's job.". And it dawned on me that there are a lot of beautiful, amazing places I wouldn't have explored...if it weren't for just that! "We will see how things play out" are words that come out of my mouth several times/week, in fact. When trying to make plans in advance. And I'm okay with that. We cannot control what we cannot control! So here are few gems we have found due to our situation: 1. Tucson !! When I look back at "me" 10 years ago, I would not have chose Tucson. In fact, if you gave me a map and said "Pick anywhere" -- I'd pick someone with more seasons. But, WOW, I can't picture life had we need found this place. Our adventures, the hobbies we've picked up, the friends we've made, the lifestyle we developed.... 2. Montgomery, Alabama

When we learned Ryan would be heading to Syracuse for a few months for work....we decided that we would take advantage of this time to visit NYC ( as neither of us have ever been there!). But I decided 3 months with only 1 visit was NOT enough. So I was able to score some tickets to visit Ryan in Syracuse with frequent flyer miles. That is the beauty of the military. It sometimes send them to random places. And those random places can be gems - and places I probably wouldn't have visited otherwise! Which a post about this is soon to come.... I fell in love with upstate NY. I think if you took a normal person that grew up in, say, AZ .... they wouldn't find this part of the country that thrilling. But for me -- I felt at home at times. Rolling hills, tons of trees, snow, farms, rivers, lakes....hmmmm sound familiar? Yes - it reminded me of Minnesota. My 2nd home. Now we visiting in the most undesirable time of the year. But I still just loved it there. Syracuse itsel

I think most anyone that reads my blog is well aware of this information, but I feel it's time to put it all into writing. In fact, when I am get to play "99 questions" about this and all the details from acquaintances ...maybe I should just give them the url to this post. Back in August of 2015, Ryan decided to pursue his childhood dream to become an F16 pilot. He made many decisions in his life to pursue this: worked as an Avionics technician, got his Electrical Engineering Degree, got his private pilot licence, followed the F-16 jets from Fargo to Tucson that he was maintaining. Then we sat down, and picked out the locations we could move to. And he interviewed all over last fall. And guess what? He got the job!! And it wasn't any job. It was an F16 slot in Sioux Falls, South Dakota!!! 3-4 hours from my family and 3-4 hours from his Nebraska family. Do you ever make the "best decision of your life", and then get underwhelmed by it? Maybe feel like

As I recapped in my " Thank you, 2015 " post, that was a pretty amazing year. My biggest goal was to make 2016 more exciting and happy than 2015. I think we are off to a good start. We kicked off New Years weekend with a bang. I started NYD with a 20 mile run with my girlfriends, and then Ryan and I headed to Star Pass Resort for a weekend of relaxation, hiking, good food, and rejuvenation! But this post is to focus on literal this 10 day span, because I cannot believe how much as happened. Let me set the scene: Ryan is working night shift on random days (sometimes he is Monday - Friday, sometimes he is Wednesday - Sunday, sometimes he is Monday-Tuesday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday). You get the jist. It's all over the place and we are ships passing in the night. In fact, I met a friend for brunch today and I was a few minutes late. And my reason was "I met Ryan on the street and hadn't actually talked to him since Thursday - so we stopped in the street to hu

Reading : Bittersweet by Colleen McCullough -- it's about 4 sisters post-WWI, who decide to enroll in the 1st ever "RN program" together so they can live their own dreams and have a career. So far it's a great book! Thinking : About how I will keep sane during our 27 hour drive to Minnesota this week. (We have to bring our dog, because my brother is going to take him for the next few years while Ryan is doing all his training). Any recommendations on good e-books? We are signing up for audible. Frustrated : **Cue broken record** -- That we don't have any information for when we are going to be moving, how we will be moving, whether we will have a home/apartment/hotel room, or any of the details regarding pilot training. So all I can do is take a deep breath, and let it be.  Feeling : Relieved that I got my 18 mile run done this morning. One of my girlfriends joined me for the full run, and 2 others joined us for 14. It was windy, cold, and extremely hilly

I have been a bit absent from my blog lately. And I keep trying to sit down to do a Hawaii Recap post, but haven't been able  to get the pictures together to do that. But I promise that will be coming soon! Instead I think I'll give a generalized recap of life as it is. Mid July, Ryan decided to revisit of dream of his that has persisted since he was about 9 years old - to become an F-16 fighter pilot. On August 4 he turned 28, which is the cut-off year for applying for this position. Once you turn 30, they no longer train pilots to fly '16's. He also has been balancing a full time engineering career, with a part time flying career with the Air Force that puts him working 14-20 days in a row sometimes. That's not a really "long term" approach to living a happy and fulfilled life. He has grown a lot of gray hairs over the past year, and he's only 28! So to the drawing board we went. And decided it would be best he pursues this lifelong dream.

All I'm going to preface this post with, is that living on opposite shifts has been difficult for Ryan and I lately. Ryan working from 3 pm-1 am, me waking up at 4 am and working until 6 causes us to not see each other multiple days. "Living among each other" - has been way harder than merely living in opposite states. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true. My reflections have come up with a conclusion for why this has been so challenging. When we lived in different state, we each were kind of doing our own thing. We'd talk in the evenings a few nights a week, and catch up. When we did see each other, we dedicated that time 100% to each other. We had a "rhythm" to our relationship. Lately we live in the same house, but we "live" in opposite worlds. Much of the week, the only contact we have, is me being too loud when he's trying to sleep, and vice versa. Add sleep deprivation to the whole equation? And you have what I like to call &qu

I've been doing a lot of reminiscing lately. Last year at this time, we were packing for our 5 month adventure to San Antonio, TX to Randolph Air Force Base. I remember feeling optimistic. In fact, I remember thinking San Antonio was going to be this lush, green, fabulous city of love. It wasn't . It had a fake, man-made river with cheesy chain restaurants along it, that drunk people frequently fell in. It was in a horrid drought. The highlight of San Antonio was it's movie theater that served delicious beer and food! I didn't love San Antonio. However, believe it or not, I look back at that phase is fond memories. I am recently finding myself longing to relive some of those days, believe it or not. I counted down the days to returning to AZ, but I remember even thinking, "I'm going to look back on this phase with a soft heart...." I was right! I miss cozy nights of crock-pot scrambled eggs in our humid & tiny Air-Force-Inn hotel room. So here

On our second day of hiking, I was feeling very exhilarated and happy from how much fun we were having. And my naïve, silly self said to Ryan, "I think any couple that is having a tough time in their relationship should take a trip like this!!!" Ryan had to stop walking so he could laugh, and assure me not to suggest this to any couple in trouble. Bad relationship + survival challenges + wilderness = feed significant other the bear He had a good point. A relationship should probably be thriving before roughing it out in the wilderness. Why do I say this? Because you really have to function as a team. Our tent was so tiny, it literally only fit our bodies. We had to squeeze in and out one person at a time . But as I frolicked through the forest and reflected, there were many analogies between backpacking and healthy relationships.   (or life, in general!) To have a successful backpacking trip, you must be okay with "nothing to do". There aren no TV

Since January 25 of last year, it  seems Ryan and I have lived in different states more than we lived in the same state. He was in Alabama from January 25-March 6. Home for 1 week. Then in Colorado from March until May. And now he's in New Mexico for a 4 month school. The nice thing is this is his last school. I also have no place to complain. My husband is not deployed. He's in the US in safe places. We don't have any kids. I have a job to keep me busy, running trails to enjoy, and a group of supportive girlfriends to keep me laughing! But it will be nice to live under the same roof again. To be honest, I'm getting a little irritated when people tell me this separation is "good for me" and "good for us" and "will teach me how to be independent" . Well, let me tell you....I've learned how to be independent by this point. I know how to take care of myself. We've learned to value each other and our time. We're ready to

There is never a dull moment. I'm becoming more and more of a non-planner these days. For example, I am writing to you from the hotel room (that my husband currently lives in) at Holloman AFB. My detailed weekly itinerary has written that I was to be on the road back home at 0930. However....I have decided to stick around until Ryan finishes his flight, so we could have lunch together. It may be a few weeks before we see each other, so adding on 4 extra hours isn't going to kill me!  The most spontaneous part of the weekend was our little get-away. Wednesday night, as I was packing Ryan requested I bring along my backpack and some camping gear "just in case we go backpacking".  To be honest, I wasn't all that keen about going backpacking this weekend. The winds have been nasty (40-50 mph), with dust storms. I also know that the mountains near Alamogordo, NM are quite cold. 30's at night.  But, I don't like to turn down a potentially fun adventu