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!

I <3 Tulips!

The flowers really opened up over night, and they looked AMAZING all day! It was a beautiful break from the white, dreary, snow filled day! I love them!

Tulips from my Love! <3

I was totally surprised today when I had flowers delivered at work!! James sent me my favorite flowers, tulips, and they are absolutely gorgeous! :-) I was so excited, and then he called me at work, and I was ecstatic! I love him! He is doing great, and we are so close to being together again! He graduates on December 21st, and I am going to visit him the last weekend in November. I’m excited about going into work tomorrow, just so I can see my flowers!

New Orleans Bound!

Thanks for all of the funding! It came in very quickly, and I have raised all of my support! Thanks so much!! :-) This past Sunday, I learned how to put up dry wall, do ceramic floors, and wood panel floors. It was surprisingly easy, and I am really excited about putting some of my new skills into action! It is going to be a really hard week for me and James, as he found out he will have liberty, but I will be in Louisiana. The good news is I will be visiting him the weekend after I return from NOLA! I can’t wait to see him!! This trip is very special and near to my heart though, and we both know that we are making the right decision. The city of New Orleans is throwing a jazz funeral for Stack and Leslie, which is very special, and it will be a great week of remembering our losses and their losses, and the hope, love, and encouragement that came from those losses. On past trips, we have been gutting and tearing down, but this trip will be a trip of rebuilding. I am excited and nervous, and ask that you pray for us during the upcoming weeks. Check out this Article in BigLick and the Collegiate Times.

Girls Weekend of Wine

Sometimes, a girl’s weekend is exactly what you need! I was able to spend an awesome weekend with three of my co-workers touring wineries in the Yadkin Valley in North Carolina for a weekend. We had a blast, despite all getting sick as soon as we got back! Boo on laryngitis and bronchitis! Tabatha, Courtney, Allie, and I piled into a car with Marge, the GPS, and we headed to the NC for a weekend of wine and adventures. We were able to hit four wineries in one day, and then spent a relaxing evening at the hotel playing Scatagories, watching tv, and sampling home-made Stanburn wines. We began our wine tour at the Stanley’s own vineyard, who sells to the Chateau Morisette in Floyd, Virginia, and we took a home made bottle of Chardonnay from their wine cellar. It turned out to be the best Chardonnay we had all day! We started the day off at Shelton Vineyards, a large, upscale winery with a gorgeous facility. We then headed to a small family owned winery, RagApple Lassie, that featured a southern belle cow named RagApple Lassie. It was here I learned that all good southern women should wear pearls. We then went to a winery that was recently featured on Leno, called Brushy Mountain. Brushy Mountain was located in an historic downtown mainstreet, and we were parked outside of it looking at a map and the GPS for five minutes before we realized we were there! And…with only a few minutes to spare, we made it to Grassy Creek winery, a classy but small winery that bottles it’s wines in milk bottles as a tribute to their dairy heritage. Wine is so very interesting, and I learned a lot, while having a ton of fun! I encourage everyone to check out at least one winery if you ever get the chance!

Pirate AJ

New Orleans Help

Hello family and friends!

As you all know, I will be traveling to New Orleans over Thanksgiving break to honor the memory of a good friend of ours who was killed last April. Stack was one of the most amazing people I have ever met, and spending a week doing work in his name is something I would never pass up! This will be my third trip to New Orleans for Katrina relief, and it will definitely be the most difficult and emotional trip for me, as it is a memorial trip, and I will be going without James. The good news is that there will be two counselors on the trip whose services I know I will be graciously accepting. I am still lacking funding for the trip, and was trying to avoid asking for help, but I could really use some assistance in funding, as I only have another $200 dollars to raise. If I am unable to raise the full amount, James and I will cover the rest of it, but we are stretched a little thin right now. If you would like to donate to the trip, you can do so by visiting the following website:
http://www.charityadvantage.com/vtymcaorg/Donations.asp
1) "I would like this donation to be used for,” please choose: Y student Programs
2) designation - Angela Gouger (NEW ORLEANS)
Any amount you can give will be very helpful, and I will appreciate every dollar donated. It’s tax-deductible! Thank you so much for your love and support, and if you cannot give money, I appreciate your prays and thoughts as we travel to New Orleans this Thanksgiving.

Always, Angela

New England Fun!

I spent an entire weekend in Rhode Island and Connecticut, two beautiful areas in New England. I love it up there, and even though I was only able to see James for four hours, the entire trip was worth it! I spent lots of time with my brother who is in New London, CT at the Coast Guard Academy. I was supposed to go to their football game, but it was raining, so the band decided not to play, and I wasn’t going to sit through another football game in the rain! I did go to a high school band competition in the middle of nowhere, which was fun, since I had never seen The Windjammers perform. They were the last band to go, because they were exhibition, and they were really very cute. They only have 30 members!! The piccolo section in the Marching Virginians has 36! I thought it was really cute, but they were very good. We were in this little town called Nantucket, I think, and I can personally tell you that there are country people in CT! It was fun though! On the way back, we missed our exit, so we ended up driving an extra 45 minutes, but we made it. On Sunday, I got to visit Tony’s boat. For those of you who don’t know, my crazy brother bought a 26 foot sailboat, and it is stored in Newport, RI. It was actually really nice, and I am really excited about going out on it! I have to wait until the spring though, until the weather is good, and until he has a little bit more experience. :-) I don’t quite trust him yet. The boat is a lot bigger than I thought, and it is really nice. I spent some time posing on it while Tony actually did some work. :-)