Breakfast with Santa!

The Boat is still Afloat!

Because Tony had a formal on Saturday night, he couldn’t come up to Rhode Island to visit, so me and James had to go check on the boat. I was like, what are we supposed to check for, and Tony said to make sure the lines were tight and that it was still floating. Umm….if it hadn’t been floating, I’m not sure what we would have done, but thankfully it was. I fell in love with another sailboat right near Tony’s, and I decided that was the one he really should have bought. (Though it’s probably like, 5 times as much as his…at least!) So, after we determined that his boat was in fact still afloat, we drove to Connecticut to bring him some ice cream and to hang out for a few minutes.

Another fun weekend in New England!

I love New England! I think that if James and I had more money, I would have moved up there just so I could enjoy a beautiful area while I vigorously worked on my Masters degree. It would have been a nice retreat, and I could have spent moments here and there with James, whenever he had a free moment or two. Thankfully, I have been able to visit him a few times, and I have absolutely loved it. This past visit included the best clam chowder ever at a cute little restaurant in Downtown Newport, and a beautiful sunset along Ocean Drive! I had some time to myself, and I visited an old windmill, which was so peaceful and beautiful, despite the cold weather. We were also able to visit our second Vanderbilt mansion, The Marble House, being the 39th birthday present of Mrs. Alva Vanderbilt. It was interesting, as the tour was self paced using head sets, which was a little bit too impersonal for me, but at least I learned something this time. Mrs. Alva even had her own tea house built in the backyard. The Marble House was definitely my favorite of the two, and I am excited to visit one more on my next journey to Rhode Island! The class of 03-08 had a class get together, so I was able to meet James’ entire class, which was nice. I was the only guest there, which was a little awkward at first, but it ended up being nice. Although, I almost had to take out his Chief for ragging on Virginia Tech when I was not in the mood to hear it, and talking about how wonderful Miami is, even though he didn’t even go there. Clearly, I was not amused. But, it was fun nonetheless. The night before, we had enjoyed a nice dinner with about half of his class at a Brewery near the base. The guy’s favorite drink was Blueberry beer, which I thought was disgusting and had blueberries floating throughout it.

Star Fish

These star fish were underneath Tony's boat when we were checking to "make sure it was still floating." I was so excited!! It made me want to go to an aquarium to play with them!

Exemplary Department Award

Every year, Virginia Tech presents a department on campus with an Exemplary Department award, which is a great honor to have bestowed upon any department. This year, University Studies/University Academic Advising Center (www.uaac.vt.edu) was the proud recipient of the award, which included a $10,000 prize we can use to better the department. This year there were three awards, and we were recognized at a reception at the Skelton Inn and Conference Center. University Studies is for freshman and sophomore students who don’t have a major, and they are either undecided about what they want to major in, know what they want to major in but still have unmet requirements to fulfill, or for students who are in between majors. Because we are not degree granting, we do not get much recognition, nor do we have any alumni to support our office, so this award is a really big deal. The reception was very nice, and we had fun mingling amongst ourselves and amongst the other departments present. And, I met someone from Waco! I felt a little odd interrupting a conversation, which I later found out was between a Provost and a Dean and his wife, which is kind of a big deal, but how often do you hear someone mention Waco in Virginia? The Dean definitely agreed with us that we might the right decision moving back to Virginia, but I think his wife might have been a bit offended, as she was from Waco. I blamed it on the wine! Congrats US! Check out this article for more: Exemplary Department

Christmas at the Breakers!

This is us inside the Great Hall of the Breakers. The room is massive, and it is the only room inside the house that you are allowed to take pictures in.

Congrats Ensigns!

On November 30th, I watched a group of OCS candidates graduate from OCS, including Ensign Walsh, a friend from college, and Ensign Becker, whose family has been very supportive for me and James throughout OCS. I had the pleasure of finally meeting both Becker’s family and Walsh’s family, and I am very happy for the opportunity!! (Thanks for all of your encouragement and support!!) During graduation, I also was able to “meet” some of the drill instructors, and they scare me just by being around them and taking their picture! I can’t imagine having them yelling at me for everything. These guys went through so much to get to where they are, and I am so proud of them! Although it seems like forever since they’ve been gone, the time has also gone by fairly fast in a weird way, as life just keeps trucking along. I am very happy to have been able to visit Rhode Island while James was gone, and we had a blast when I came up there for graduation. I will say that I miss some good ole southern hospitality when we are in New England, and I am always happy to return, though I would be happier if James were returning with me. But, only a few more weeks and James will be a commissioned officer! James and I were finally able to watch a football game together, and we watched the Hokies in a sweet win over Boston College. I got all Tech’d out while James stayed in his uniform, but it was still super exciting. YAY ACC 2007 CHAMPIONS!!! Orange Bowl here we come! We also visited the summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the Breakers, an enormous mansion overlooking the cliffs of Newport. It was pretty, but none of the workers were nice, and I didn’t learn anything on the tour, as it was self guided, and they hardly gave you any information in the guide. I’m still glad we went though, as it was quite an incredible house.

Fun in NOLA!

Not only did we do relief work in New Orleans, but we also had a ton of fun! We spent three nights down in the French Quarter, and we enjoyed playing with masks and watching the drunk people on Bourbon Street. The French Quarter did not flood, and it was one of the first areas of New Orleans to reopen after the hurricane. The French Quarter is such an interesting area, with amazing Cajun restaurants, beautiful architecture, awesome music filling the air, and art galleries scattered about, and then you have the sketch part of the French Quarter that is strip clubs, bars, and all the sketchiness that is Bourbon Street. Because we were only there during the evenings, all of the galleries were closed, so we went to restaurants and spent time in all of the tourist gift shops, which are a ton of fun. We enjoyed Beignets at Café du monde, complete with our sketch waiter who made inappropriate comments to all of the girls in our group and messed up our order. But, the Beignets were AMAZING, and we left covered in powered sugar, making it an overall great experience. There is something about the gift shops down there that is so fun, and we spent a ton of time just taking pictures with masks and crazy t-shirts. There are a ton of “funny” hurricane shirts that are funny, but completely inappropriate at the same time, like, “I drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was gone” and there are a ton with special language for FEMA. I guess tourists buy these shirts?! I didn’t see anyone buying them, but I feel like they wouldn’t sell them if people didn’t buy them. One evening, we had awesome catfish poboys at this obnoxious restaurant on Bourbon street called the Cajun Cabin. We were serenaded by a swamp band, and enjoyed watching our friends play the washboard with a spoon. New Orleans is definitely a unique city with an interesting culture, and I always enjoy visiting!

God is Good!

More than just paint and hardwood floors

It’s amazing what an impact one week can have on your life. Every time I visit New Orleans for relief work, I am constantly reminded how much I have to be thankful for, and how much I take for granted on a daily basis. I look at my daily life and I think about all of the complaining I do about non important things, when I should be thankful that I have shelter, food, friends and family who love me, and a God who loves me. Although we experienced a great deal of frustrations with our host organization (like…they didn’t have projects prepared for us), the week still ended up being great. My group worked on the home of Mrs. Jackson, an 85 year old woman who has been living in a FEMA trailer for the past two years. She didn’t have insurance or savings, nor a family who could or was willing to help her rebuild. Her home is seriously in the swamp, and I saw the biggest spider I’ve ever seen in my entire life!!!!!!! I was proud of myself, though, and I didn’t freak out too much. Mrs. Jackson’s house still needs a ton of work, and I’m not sure the foundation is solid, but we did the best we could. We primed and painted the house, and then we put hardwood floors in! The floors posed a great deal of difficulty, as the floors were warped, and we didn’t have a working power saw to cut the wood most of the time. It was a great deal of fun though, and I am proud of our group! The house looked sooooo much better after we left, and I can’t imagine how happy Mrs. Jackson will be when she walks into a newly painted house with gorgeous floors! We have so much to be thankful for!

Jazz Funeral and Mrs. Monti

What an amazing week in New Orleans! It was filled with tears, frustrations, memories, anger, hope, fun, friendships, and work. It is a week I will never ever forget!! We began the trip remembering two of our fallen Hokies who had both spent Thanksgiving breaks giving back to the people of New Orleans. Stack went to New Orleans with me and James the Thanksgiving of 2005, right after the storm devastated New Orleans, and Leslie spent her Thanksgiving in New Orleans during the Thanksgiving of 2006. It was only right that we spent our Thanksgiving 2007 remembering these two amazing individuals who touched our lives so much! On Monday morning, we dedicated Mrs. Monti’s house to these two amazing individuals, and I was overwhelmed by the love and thanks she had for us, a group of young students whom she had never met. In the New Orleans tradition, we decorated umbrellas to celebrate the lives of our lost friends, and we danced to an AMAZING jazz band to show them our love. We cried and danced and hugged and cried some more. Mrs. Monti led a life time of service, so it was perfect to dedicate her house to Leslie and Stack who were also both committed to service. Her house was complete with a framed picture of Burruss and a precious note from her granddaughter that said: Welcome home grandma. We planted orange trees in her backyard with Hokie stone memorials to Stack and Leslie, and I know they are in a very meaningful place. Her home looks amazing, and I know that she is thrilled to be moving back home. Her home was in the same neighborhood as the first house I worked on in 2005. We spent all day gutting, working through maggots, found a dead dog, and discovered how awful a refrigerator smelt when it dumped open after being flooded. The home was completely rebuilt, and it was such an awesome feeling to know I helped that amazing couple move back into their home! The dedication was definitely the highlight of the trip, and there is no where else in the world I would have rather been last Monday. Check out this story: Remembering Stack and Leslie

Happy Thanksgiving from Newport!

Happy Thanksgiving all from Naval Station Newport! I am in the midst of a 4 hour watch, as a few of us without family here for Turkey day are taking long watches so they have more time with their loved ones. I hear Angela is having a good time putting in dry wall and flooring, and can't wait to actually talk to her at night. A few of us are staying in Providence for a few days and will be cooking our own meal tomorrow. One guy I'm staying with is using his 15,000 dollar bonus as a Sub Nuke Engineer to buy a 2007 Mustang Convertible, which I'll go with him to buy tomorrow. All in all OCS is going well. My class has been on point and impressing our Class Team that we keep getting liberty. Monday is our final test, on Naval Warfare Strategy, then we have a few days of learning how to run the Regiment. On Thursday we will become Candidate Officers and receive Midshipman ranks. We'll have many freedoms as we split off to run the regiment. This is the phase we work so hard to get to. Also, next weekend I get to see Angela for some real time together!! With less than a month before graduation we are all getting excited to finally be Officers. We've all made good connections here, and can say that we are Navy owned, but Marine Corps Trained! Go Hokies on Saturday!

Abandoned...

AJ sad after he finds out his mommy and daddy are both leaving him.

Happy Turkey Day!

Greetings all!! At 5:15 this morning, I will be embarking on the journey to New Orleans with 47 other Virginia Tech students, staff, and alumni. I am very excited, although I could have used a little bit more sleep! I just finished writing a 60 page case study report for class, and I am happy to say that I have finished it! :-) My first semester of grad school is almost done...yay! We will be driving the 15 hours to New Orleans, and as soon as we get there and get all settled in, we will be decorating our umbrellas for the Jazz Funeral. The Jazz Funeral and the house dedication ceremony will be held on Monday, and then we will get to work! I <3 you Stack! We will be returning late Friday night, in light of the UVA Tech game on Saturday. Please keep our group in your prayers and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!