Links

Please note that my tweets are protected and if your most recent tweet was about a mortgage, saving money, an incredible teeth whitening product invented by a mom, or you have a sleezy picture…I won’t approve it.

J.L.S.I'm a 20-something newlywed who is finally getting to actually enjoy living with my husband 15 months after our wedding. My husband just returned from a year in Iraq. He's finishing up his last few months of service while I'm working on getting into nursing school. We are both keeping our fingers crossed for Colorado. We are displaced South Carolinians trying to survive the Texas heat.View my complete profile

Looking back on it, I think starting up my weight loss blog in August (which I've now given up) and my Crossfit blog in September helped me to "grease the groove" in terms of blogging. First I blogged weekly about my weigh-ins, and then several times a week to record my Crossfit workouts. And now I'm to the point where I feel up to attempting daily posts for NaBloPoMo 2009.

First things first: Happy Veteran's Day. Take a moment to celebrate all of our veterans, present and past, to thank them for all they have done and to recognize how lucky we all are to have brave, honorable men & women who are willing to fight for all that is good and right.Second: Watch "The Way We Get By" tonight on your local PBS station. I've heard all about it but this is the first time I'll be able to watch it. I've got my Kleenex ready. Check out this site to learn about this amazing movie (you will need the Kleenex to watch the trailer too, so consider yourself warned) and this site to find out what channel to watch it on in your area and what time. Also, way to go PBS... broadcasting this movie is not only the honorable thing to do, it is the right thing to do. I hope you tell everyone you know to watch this movie tonight.Third: I am lopping off all my hair today. Pictures will follow.Fourth: Swiss is recovering nicely and feeling a million times better. There will be a conversations with the FRG and PTB (powers that be) when I get to Fort X about how this sort of information is disseminated, how much information is given out and so forth. The FRG did what it was designed to do, but the content was all wrong. I'm less mad now, knowing that Swiss is okay, but I would hate for another spouse to have to go through the same mess I did. Also, I would encourage all of you to not have your BiL's and step-kids on your Facebook account no matter how cool they seem. Recipe. For. Disaster.The end. Now, go hug a Veteran (maybe not a stranger, but hug a Veteran you know).

I'm eternally grateful to the men and women who courageously defend our country - past, present, and future.  But especially for this one...my soon-to-be hubby (who has since been promoted to Captain!  He will probably hate that I used this picture, but I love it!  As you can see...working on 3 computers...18+ hours every day/7 days a week...hardest working guy in that unit!)  I love you and am so proud to be able to share my life with such an amazing, compassionate man and soldier.  I can't wait to see you in just a few days!

I was asked by a friend today how she could pay tribute on Veterans Day if she doesn't personally know any vets. That got my brain wheels turning and I started coming up with ideas... and I couldn't stop! There are a gazillion and one ways to show you support and/or reflect on the the meaning of Veterans Day, but these are a few that I recommend.

My flight landed in DC about 20 minutes early. Its only about an hour and a half flight from home. My boyfriend was going to pick me up right at the airport and we were going to take the Metro back to his house. After landing early, I panicked slightly because I had NO IDEA where I was supposed to be meeting him. But when after a few quick texts back and forth, I turned the corner and there he was walking towards me in his ACU's. He always looks so good!! I bought a $10 metro card (which lasted me the entire weekend) and we made the trip home. It was only a few stops before we were at the Pentagon...where we then took a bus and a minute walk to his house. It was only about 7:30, but he had work in the morning so we just got ready for bed and talked and watched tv. He lives with 2 other guys, one of them is an emergency room nurse or something like that, and my boyfriend has to share a bathroom with him. Well, the bathroom is connected to my boyfriends bedroom, so every time this guy went to pee, it sounded like Niagra Falls (not that I've been there or anything) but it was loud none the less. So this guy comes home at like 2am, my boyfriend his up at 5:30 and out of the house at 6:10 because the metro is crowded in the morning and he has to catch a shuttle bus over to Bolling Air Force Base every morning. So, 2:30 am his roomate comes home, I hear the microwave going off downstairs...I hear him in the shower and flushing the toilet. I hear his tv on...This guy is just not respectful of the other people he lives with, thats for sure. So I had a very restless sleep that night and I was quite annoyed. That morning when my boyfriend was getting ready, I continued to lay in bed and watch with sleepy eyes, and then he kissed me on the forehead and went to work. I wondered, "what the heck am I going to do all day"? I thought about jumping on the metro and just walking around somewhere, but I figured I wouldn't be able to find my way home, and my boyfriend freaked me out about some "bad" areas of DC. so I stayed home, slept in (tried to...it was trash day so the garbage trucks were on the rampage), and watch movies...put his laundry away and what not. He can't call from work so we emailed back and forth for a little bit and he told me to look for a movie to go to later that night, but I couldn't find one I wanted to see. When he got home at 5:30, he changed..we hung out for a little bit and jumped on the metro and headed to China town. I couldn't tell you where we ended up eating, but basically he talked me into pizza. From there we walked...a lot. And I wasn't wearing very good shoes for walking. I ended up ripping my heal basically..forget the blister, I just burnt through like 3 layers of skin. I know. GROSS. Well, walking along the National Mall area, ther were these teeny tiny pebbles that kept getting in my shoe, so then i was putting most of my weight on my right foot, and then my right ankle hurt! I was a mess. Then we both had to pee and we walked forever to find port-a-potty's which I really didn't want to use, but I really had to go. All of them were locked except for 2. Thank GOD! I thought my bladder was going to explode. After that we continued to walk, we walked through the WWII memorial, and then on to the Lincholn memorial. Luckily, we took a cab home. I honestly don't know how much more walking I could do in those shoes. The next morning we went to Target for some 600 thread count sheets (HEAVEN!!) and a tripod. We took the tripod and his Digital SLR camera to Arlington National Cemetery and got some good shots in, and watched the changing of the guard (the picture above). From Arlington, we walked across the Potomac and to the Lincholn Memorial again, took some pictures....the Vietnam War memorial, the white house....all over basically. then we went to dinner. I was getting my period and was craving me a cheeseburger. I guess my body wanted some iron!! After dinner we went home for the night and rented a movie. The next day he took me to Fort Myer so we could go grocery shopping at the Commisary. That place was packed on a Sunday!! His boss invited us to his house for a Football BBQ, and because it was my boyfriends birthday...his wife was making cupcakes. I know absolutely NOTHING about football. I don't understand it, and just don't really follow it. So...I was pretty bored. But, I put a smile on my face and tried to enjoy myself for my boyfriends birthday. I just don't do very well in those situations where I'm out of my element and I don't know anyone else there but him. I pretty much keep to myself. I'm not outgoing unless its something I'm interested in I guess. Does that make sense? Oh well, after that we drove to Bolling Air Force Base so I could see where my boyfriend works. That building is HUGE!! holy cow, I would get lost in there! Then we drove and parked near the Capital bulding, and walked around for a bit before going home. We had another low key night, made his lunches for the week, watched Army Wives in bed and went to sleep. We were up early Monday morning, him getting ready for work...and me packing :(

Citizen soldier with 15 years light infantry experience, currently serving as a Team Chief for an Embedded Training Team with the Afghan National Army. My team trains and conducts combat operations with an Afghan Infantry Kandak (Battalion) in eastern Afghanistan. In my spare time in Afghanistan I enjoy long walks on the beach (No beach here), sampling fine wine and scotch (No drinking here) and conducting a low level insurgency telling Americans about the great warriors that I serve with and their dedication to winning the GWOT!

Paramilitary police from the National Emergency Response Brigade detained Khalid Masur Isma’il, who is also known as Abu Mustafa, during a raid in the Shia slum of Sadr City recently, the US military said in a statement. The exact date of Isma'il's detention was not released.

One of the best things about getting together with my military spouse friends is the common language we speak.  I mean, we all speak militarese with various levels of proficiency, but there is a common sense of humor as well. 

For those that are new here (welcome by the way) are wondering , why would a southern girl / Army wife care about hockey for?? My husband grew up in MN (ya know — STATE OF HOCKEY ) so I was indoctrinated early in our relationship and I absolutely love it!

According to Price Floyd’s twitter page, he spent yesterday speaking with Google VP, Vint Cerf on how social media can be used.  Vint Cerf is the person most often called “The Founding Father of the internet”.No word on the actual conversations that took place, but needless to say this is good news, and will hopefully help to craft the Pentagon’s final policy on social networking.Speaking of “The Founding Father of the internet”:  what’s Al Gore up to?  Rumor has it he’s busy inventing Twitter.  And working on a new invention called an: a-i-r-p-l-a-n-e.  Apparently it’ some type of craft that flies through the air that has fixed wings and is powered by propellers...  Crazy talk.UPDATE:  I received a tweet from Price Floyd after asking if he could share more about his meeting:pricefloyd @milblogging The most interesting thing about the meeting was the questions he asked. Ex: Why do you want to use social media?I know it's short, but that's the thing about twitter: 140 characters or less.  For a minute there, I thought I was reading a fortune cookie. Just saying.

Delicious! If you don't like Tres Leches Cake...you've never tasted Tres Leches Cake. Give it a try just once. You'll love it! Note that this does not fall within the "Fat Free" section of this website. Not that one exists.

What you are looking at here, is a compilation of 8 different photographs, put together to form one big-ass panorama shot, using the Photoshop CS4 ‘Photomerge’ feature. The photomerge feature, is freakin’ awesome. I previously got some ’stitching’ software when I bought my DSLR, but it has NOTHING on this photomerge feature.

It’s here… Finally here.. After almost 8 months of work and planning, Corpsman.com Version 4.0 is finally up and done. Please give a big “THANK YOU” to CrazyCajun!! We are still tweaking a few things in the upcoming days. All of our photo’s that we have on Flickr have to be migrated here to our database on our site, as... [Read more of this review]