Hello Lackland

Many of my facebook friends know my journey to join the Air National Guard and that from back in June of 2012 I got serious and contacted a recruiterand that led to enlisting in my dream career field.

Every drill weekend I worked even though I did not yet have a uniform and I have not gone to basic military training. Each weekend I spent with my unit I got more and more exited for it all to be real. A lot of people who heard about the job I was going into told me I was very lucky and I know now that is because my unit is very close knit, like a family. Everyone is so kind and willing to teach and learn from each other, no matter the rank. And although I didn't have my technical school training yet I was still welcomed into the training the unit would conduct and I was given the opportunity to get somewhat of a tiny leap into what tech school would teach me. What's even more exciting is how supportive my unit is and I know I will receive a letter or two while I'm in basic.

Now I'm at the day I have been waiting for. And it is scary as hell. I have never felt sick from nerves and stress but I know this is just the beginning. I know I have more advantages than most of my flight mates I will meet today and that is a little comforting. I am comfortable now with my physical fitness and I am more worried now of the emotional stress I will face. I can only hope that my past experience in military like activities will help me transform into the person I need to be in order to get through the next 8 weeks.  That is the only thing keeping me focused.

Since I signed the enlistment paperwork I knew that the hardest part of basic and tech school would be the separation from my husband. We have been inseparable for the for years we've been married, we do everything together. The past year we've even worked together. It will be so hard to realize I can't just walk to the other side of the building and see his face.

I think I've mentioned in another blog post before that I plan to journal my experience so that I can share it on this blog after I graduate. I brought my journal so I guess we'll see if it works. I have no idea how much personal time I will have to not only write in the journal but also write letters to loved ones.

Please look out on my facebook for my address where you can send me letters. My loving husband will post it for me. I'll try to write back to everyone.

On that note I will say good bye for now. I will not be able to post again until after I graduate. Most likely when I get to tech school. I am due to graduate basic March 8th and will be in tech school that next week. Love you all. Wish me luck :)

MAY!!!

Ok so to those who have done the HCG diet and have succeeded I say kudos, congrats because this diet is difficult to maintain. I made it to my fifth day and decided that it was not worth the lack of energy that I was dealing with. I was taking vitamins and following the diet exactly but I think there are many factors that I did not think about going into this diet. First I walk around a lot at work which means I do burn some calories and on this 500 calorie diet I think I was burning too many and that is why I was so tired to the point that after the work day all I wanted to do was sleep. Second, in my opinion this program is for people with a lot of fat to loose and because this diet requires that you do not have breakfast it practically kills your metabolism. I do have to say that I love getting anything from GNC because I was able to return the HCG and get a full refund. I am still taking the women’s multivitamin that I bought from GNC because I like it and I have more energy and I feel more awake during the day when I take it.

I am still aiming for a healthier lifestyle so on Monday I took the dog on a walk and used an app on my phone called JogTracker. JogTracker uses my phones GPS and maps to get my location and accurately map out my route and give me the distance that I am going. It also gives me time and if I have my headphones in with music playing this app keeps me updated every few minutes of my distance and my time. Better than trying to check my phone while running! So when I took this walk I used the app to plan my route I will be taking. Also since I have not been active since I tried p90x at the beginning of the year I think that a brisk walk may warm up my muscles. I found the right route which was 1.2 miles and walked it again with the dog Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday I decided to take the leap of faith and do a light jog to see how I would do. For not remembering the last time I ran a mile I think I did well, and I did better than I thought I would do. 13 minutes for that mile is not great but I am happy with myself in that I pushed to finish and did not let myself walk at all during the run.

On the diet aspect of healthy living I have decided not to follow some crazy diet and just try to make healthier choices and to try and avoid fast food and sugary drinks. I have also picked out low fat or fat free choices when grocery shopping. I also follow @TaralynnsTweets who gives great healthy living advice. I found her blog on Pinterest and I find it amazing. Take a look: http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/. I am super busy in the morning and I am also not a morning gal so making time to get ready AND eat breakfast does not always work out and this leads to not eating breakfast which is a big no no! So I came up with a genius idea to premix oatmeal in a sandwich bag to take to work and since we have a coffee machine that I can get hot water from it works out! I took ½ cup 1 minute oatmeal, 1 tsp brown sugar, dash of salt, desired amount of raisins and craisins. I put all this in a sandwich bag and all I had to take to work was a disposable paper bowl and a plastic spoon.

On the weekend I like to make up pancakes on my little flat grill and I throw some mixed frozen fruit on the grill with the pancakes and this makes for a wholesome breakfast and I did put some syrup on the cakes but I wish I hadn’t since the juices from the fruit were enough I didn’t even need the syrup. Another quick breakfast idea for on the go is a nice smoothie. I used the frozen fruit and mix it in my Ninja with milk, orange juice, and protein mix. I use the protein mix for energy and to fill me up a little more than the smoothie alone would.

A sort of update on the military side of things: My uncle Rob (he is the greatest) got in touch with an air guard recruiter who funny enough happens to work part time as a salesman at the dealership I work. He was telling me of an amazing opportunity to get into the air guard as a commissioned officer which I did not think I was possible without a degree. Turns out that this is possible for only certain fields which are religion, medical, and legal. The only catch that I had found through research so far is that I must get my degree before gaining the rank of O-3 or Captain.  The job is also located in Fairbanks which I thought would be difficult because I would have to travel, good news about that is that the air guard will put me on a plane to and from Fairbanks on drill weekends and the air guard will pay for my hotel and food on the weekend that I have to go. Sounds compelling. My recruiter does not yet know if this job is still available but I really hope so. He is on leave now so I have to be patient but I am positive.

The spring semester is finally coming to a close and I have all my finals this weekend and some end of the semester project due. Which means I will be locked away this weekend. L Good news is that I will be free for the summer after this weekend! So excited!

Holy Crap! I need a Time-Turner!

So a couple of weeks ago I joined Pinterest.com and had a goal to make some new, fun recipes and share them in a blog post. Then I spent all my time working, studying, and watching True Blood and now I am hooked on Greys Anatomy (thanks Cari). Next time she bothers me about blogging I am going to blame it on her for telling me about this show.

Not much ha happened and at the same time so much has! I do not know where to begin. Some top secret stuff, family stuff, future stuff, and just about crazy stuff.

Anchorage is about to beat the record for most snowfall ever! Who would have though the year I move here I would witness a record? Also Zeke is kinda mad at me, he doesn't like the snow. Everyone here is baffled by all the snow this year and oddly enough in this part of Alaska people are surprised and do not know what to do with the snow. How do you live in Alaska and not know what to do with snow?

So a girl named Smantha Koenig who works at a coffee hut in Anchorage was abducted a month ago by an armed man and APD still does not have any leads. In New York this kind of stuff would happen all the time and it is sad that it does not become big news. There are people with reward fliers taped to their car windows. Although the whole thing is super scary it comforts me that her family has so much support, including donations to help raise the reward money for her safe return. This has scared everyone and with the talks of putting strict federal laws on gun ownership or gun purchasing I have purchased a handgun. I am so happy Alaska is a open carry state, because nothing says don't mess with this girl with a gun strapped to her hip.

School is expensive, especially when it is coming out of my pocket! These school bills are making me seriously think about alternatives to paying for school such as the military. I work with a national guard recruiter and there are some interesting benefits school wise that I could take advantage of. Another possible option however would be the air guard only because I could use credits toward my major from the technical school, which is not available in the national guard. All of this is still a thought and I haven't put much action into it yet.

If Obama continues to try to crush the military it may not work out at all. Hopefully his propositions of eliminating the commissaries and hiking up Tricare will not pass but those are some benefits that are the military's strong points in recruitments. Our military may be dwindling when we need it the most. Possibly soon in Syria?

Anyway I hope to post some Nikki approved recipes this weekend. I am sure Cari will remind me :).

I dedicate this post to Cari.

PS on this princess challenge, my favorite was the little mermaid then I changed my mind in early childhood to princess Aurora from the sleeping beauty. Ha!