Running with Ralphie

Okay, there is no one named Ralphie my life. You all have seen The Christmas Story, right? I felt like the kid who got his tongue stuck to the frozen pole. I was so bundled up when I went on my first outside run since all the ice and snow, I could hardly more. Luckily, I only bundled my top half, I felt like the Pillsbury Dough Boy. I had 4 layers on to include my new Under Armor Tactical long sleeve undershirt. That baby was toasty, next time I will not need to bundle up as tight. Here is too good health and cold weather.

"Top results are reached only through pain. But eventually you like this pain. You'll find the more difficulties you have on the way, the more you will enjoy your success."

- Juha "the Curel Vaatainen

Bittersweet but Thankful

Bittersweet, and thankful rarely find themselves in the same sentence, but those two words sum up my feeling about Thanksgiving this year. I went to two meals one at my friends Julie and Marty's and then to Lisa and Jay's house. I am so thankful and blessed to have such wonderful caring friends, that take such good care of me. The night was packed with good food, good conversation, and loads of wine. :) Have I mentioned I have wonderful friends.

Now for the bittersweet feelings. The day after Thanksgiving, I felt blah. I missed my friends, I missed Thanksgiving's past, most of all I missed the wonderful memories. Last year, I spent Thanksgiving in the airport in Okinawa, pondering life, and preparing to start a new chapter in my life. When I got home to Zama, I went to Quail and Sal, reheated Thanksgiving dinner, talked, drank car bombs, sat on the balcony smoked cigars, and shed a few tears. The 2 years prior to that I spent with Scott and Allison. In 2007, I had just arrived in Japan and they were gracious to have a perfect stranger over. By 2008, we were family, and my sister was even there. Man, this is when I miss them the most. Someday, I will be back.

When I was at Julie and Marty's we were talking about family holiday traditions. When I started to talk about Thanksgiving at my Grandma Nanny's and the pinata, one of the people in the room asked if my family had hispanic origin. I laughed, the answer is no, I am not sure how the pinata became a tradition. Oh how I miss those, loud, crazy Turkey Days with my big family.

I have come to the realization that the path I have chosen will rarely take me to a time and place where family gathers and old friends are near, so now I look at Thanksgiving in a different way. I like to see what people prepare, what their traditions are, do they make cornbread stuffing, or sage stuffing? What is the dessert? Is it a dinner or an all day event. All these things are interesting and make me thankful for all the diverse, wonderful, people in my life.

"I feel extremely lucky, extremely grateful, and a little bittersweet, too."

Wentworth Miller

Surprise! Your Basement is flooded.

I has been raining hard for the last week and when I say hard, I mean hard. I grew up in Oregon, so I know about rain, but boy this past week has been wet. Yesterday, I went down in my "dry" basement to switch out a load of laundry. There was a bit of standing water against one wall. I thought it might have come from the dryer. European dryers are condensers. Which means after each load you have to empty out a small bucket of water. You don't want to get me started on that. I would LOVE an American dryer. I cleaned up the little bit of water and blamed it on the dryer.

This morning I woke up and went downstairs to transfer laundry and there was about 3 inches of standing water against the same wall. To say the least I was bummed. I bailed to water into a bucket, all the while thinking this is a guys job. There are just times when it would be nice to hand the honey do list over to someone else.

"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow."

Gilbert K. Chesterton

Poland Trip

Recently, I joined the American Spouses Club (ASC). I thought it would be a great way to meet new people in the area, so even though I am not a spouse I joined. My friend Lisa would say it's about time, she had been asking me to join for the past year.

One of the trips the ASC goes on every year is a Polish Pottery trip. Polish Pottery is beautiful high quality pottery, and is also a rite of passage for military families in Europe. You can walk into most homes and know if the family has spent time in Europe, by the pottery around. Of course this doesn't mean everyone, but a majority, not all people like the design of the pottery. I personally like it, so I had no problems spending money.

Before it was cleaned and put away

Probably some Christmas presents in the mix

It was quite the weekend. We left at about 1145 pm on Thursday night. 24 of us made the 10 hour (one way) trip in a tour bus. We arrived Friday morning and started to shop. We visited the factories on day one. Each factory has an on-site store. We shopped all day until our feet hurt. Then had a wonderful dinner and stayed in a beautiful little hotel, called the Blue Beetroot www.bluebeetroot.com/rates.html. We all drank good wine and got pampered, I had a wonderful foot massage.

Poland is a very poor country. I felt thankful for all I have when we walked the street and drove around the countryside. There is so much history there, I hope to go back.

In the morning we woke up loaded the bus and were off to shop at the little shops that dot the streets of Boleslawiec the town where all the factories and shops are located. We headed back to the bus late in the day to head home. We had intended to stop for dinner about 9 pm, to our dismay the restaurant we had planned to eat at was closed. We all reloaded the bus and drove on. At about 10pm, we stopped at a McDonalds. As many of you know, I do not like Mickey D's. I had a large water and a little kids meal thing of apples. It was just enough to fill my stomach enough to sleep the rest of the way home.

Cleaned and put away

After unloading the bus, I made it home about 4 am this morning (Sunday). It was a wonderful weekend. Not only do I have beautiful new pottery to show for it, I also made new friends.

Tonight's Dinner

" A moment last all of a second, but the memory lives on forever" ~ Unknown

Is the grass really greener?

Today, I updated my blog with places I have been over the past few months since my keyboard has been out of commission. Ok, Allison, my math orientated friend, it has been more than a couple months, try 7. ;)

As many of you many know I have a big adventure coming up that I will post more about when it is final. If you don't know what I am talking about and you would like to know just email me. I will let you know what is up.

With this next new adventure and at that, any new adventure, I believe we naturally take some time to be introspective and look at our life. Which brings me to the title of this entry. Is the grass really greener? Do you know what the other side looks like? I would say it is tempting to look for answers on the unknown other side, but it is better to find them right where you are.

A few weeks back I was chatting (online) with an old college friend and he was a bit shocked to find out I still live overseas. The last time we talked I was in Japan (where he still thought I was) and now I am in the Netherlands. He typed something that I have thought about since that day. He typed, "I bet the people at home think you are crazy. I bet they wonder why you don't have 2.5 kids, a husband, a dog and a house." I chatted back and said yeah, you're right, people probably wonder what I am doing, moving to a new country every few years, no husband, no kids, no house. Then I wrote maybe in time, right now I am happy with what I am doing. We chatted on and said our goodbyes to the tune of catch up with you in two more years on here and both signed off.

So, what does this all mean? The grass is green, on my side of the fence, and it is a great place to be. I love what I do, I love working with military families, living in Europe is awesome, having wonderful supportive friends all over the globe is grand, having a family that supports my dreams is admirable, and having the confidence to follow my dreams to make the best life I could ever dream of is the best feeling.

When I look over the fence and see wonderful Families with the 2.5 kids, husband, dog, and house, I think some year. When it is meant to be it will be. Until then I will live in the moment, continue to grow and most of all do it with a smile, at least most of the time.

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.

Harriet Tubman

Roots-Reek, The Netherlands

Ironically, my blog is called Roots and Wings and the two values conflicted about a month ago.

Traveling the world and living aboard is most definitely a Wings period of my life, but you never know how close your wings will bring you to your roots.

I moved here to the Netherlands last winter after being here for a while I noticed little things that came from my mom's Dutch roots. Putting your shoes by the door for St. Nick, eating gravy on a piece of bread with lettuce and being cheap are a few. :)

I found out the village my ancestors lived in is only about an hour and a half from my house, so when my cousins Johnny and Ross where here visiting we set out to have a look.

Reek, The Netherlands is still a sleepy town 130 years later. There was really nothing there. We went in a community center full of old men, in a church and a cemetery to find evidence of our heritage. We struck out, no names on graves or any signs of what use to be the home of our family.

It was fun though. We were on a weird wild goose chase. It was a great day with Ross and Johnny.

Off to Norway next... Hopefully.

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. ~Marcus Garvey

Blind Booking

Blind Booking is an interesting system used by cheap airlines here in Europe. As you all know there is so much to see here, so many sights and history. For 19.95 Euro one way you can do a blind booking. It is a good way for the cheap airlines to fill seats.

How is works: you go online and select party, beach, shopping, eastern Europe or western Europe. Each of the categories has 5 cities listed under as destinations. You enter your travel days and they give you flights to one of the 5 place.

Casey and I did this. It was a wild feeling we were hovering around my computer as it selected our destination.

We got Berlin. Neither of us are history buffs, so were were like cool Berlin, but what to do there for 2 days.

We got online and the top rated attraction was Segway tours of the city. So, we booked a tour. Segways are the little scooter things mail cops drive. They are totally controlled by balance,which was weird at first. We had training then we were off. Below is our tour guide Waid and the remaining section of the Berlin wall.

Below is me rocking my Segway in front of the Berlin Dome. The Segways were a blast and we were still laughing about them the following day. Unfortunately, the guy in front of me crashed HARD. I barely avoided him. I got lucky. Casey witnessed it all and we laugh about it to this day.

I am standing in front of the Check Point Charlie replica, which divided communist East Berlin from democratic West Berlin. Note, that I am wearing my back pack on the front. Berlin is known pickpockets and gypsies. Not Cool.

Our last night we decided on Kebabs from a street food stand and large beers. We ate in front of fountain in East Berlin right under the famous TV tower.

"The value of experience is not in seeing much, but in seeing wisely." ~William Osler

Haarlem

After our days in AMS we went to Haarlem. I am posting this because Haarlem, was a beautiful quiet town. Not really a must see, but I am glad we went there. If you had a family and did not want to deal with the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam, Haarlem is only a 30 min train ride a way and is beautiful.

Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child. and the smiling faces. Smell the rain and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams. ~ Ashley Smith

Amsterdam

This summer I finally made it to Amsterdam. My friend Casey came over to Europe to visit and since Amsterdam is a must see tourist spot we went there for two days. Like any big city with a ton of history, 2 days was good, but I could have stayed longer. It is a must see city.

We stayed at a nice hotel in the Museum area. I highly recommend this area. It is close to all the must see sights, but it is quiet.

We got a 24 hour pass on the canal boat system, which I highly recommend. It was a great way to see the city and it was like an all in one taxi. So, how does that work? Well there are stops all along the canals and you can hop on and off whenever or where ever you would like in a 24hour period.

We went to the Van Gogh Museum which was amazing he was quite an artist, but I will have to say, he was quite crazy. Never the less he produced quite a collection of masterpieces.

Another must see in AMS is the Anne Frank House. I hope everyone reading this is familiar with Anne Frank's Diary entries. The museum is the original house persevered. Talk about a gut check. All the Nazi prosecution took place not too long ago. Yikes.

We went to the Heineken Brewery, which was a highlight for me as Heineken Light is one of my favorite beers.

We walked a lot, saw a lot and ate a lot. All qualities of a prefect outing.

When night fell we went to the Red Light district. It is strange how it seemed somewhat normal because no one makes a big deal out of the prostitution. It is excepted. My over all impression of the red light district was different than I thought it would be. Smell like fresh pot smoke(normal here), the girls were pretty (shocking) and the tourist were tourist.

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” - Robert Lewis Stevenson

My Computer is Back

After many, many, long months, I finally took my computer in to get fixed. It is so nice to have it back. I can't believe I put it off for so long. Amazing, all the keys work. I am in the process of retraining my brain not to cut and paste when I need to use the letter a. I am super thankful that the backspace works now. Oh the simple things.

And it was all cover under the Apple Care Plan. I didn't have to pay anything. I love Apple!

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task." ~William James

Slideshows

First of all, My keyboard still doesn't work. At the rate I am going, I probably won't get it fixed until I get home in July.

Today, I sat around and didn't do much, it felt so good. Work has been busy, on the agenda this week, TDY in Germany Sun- Tues. On Tuesday, Johnny my cousin gets here and will be staying with me for about 2 weeks.

Below are two slideshows that I made for my upcoming presentation about facing adversity head on. The JMS Sideshow is about me. The second one titled Fam is a tribute to my family and friends. I made the Fam/Friends one because, one of the take home messages of my speech is going to be the importance of surrounding yourself with a strong support system.

The only bummer about the slideshows, is when I posted them they to youtube, they both had copyrighted songs. To protect people from copyright issues, Youtube makes the user change the songs or delete all audio. None of the songs are long enough for my slideshows, a bit of a bummer, but you will get the feel of the slideshows at least.

Enjoy.

“Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.” - Unknown

Sometimes I feel like Izzie

The title of this blog is for all of the Grey's Anatomy fans out there. I am one myself, I even pay $1.99 to my big brother Apple every week to download the newest episode.

Some of you who know me well, know why I am like Izzie at times. I like to bake, but when I am lonely, frustrated or just need a soothing moment I bake. I am not sure why, but baking just makes me feel good. Not to mention, my house smells great when I bake. It feels like a home when it smells like cakes and muffins, I just love it.

When I was in Japan, I would go on baking spree and bring it into my staff. They loved the little surprise and were always aware that I need to hear thank-you and see the smiles on their faces. Maybe thats it, treats make others smile and it makes me feel good. Who knows, all I know is it makes me feel good. Now I only have 2 employees and I am a believer in only keeping one treat for myself, so the CDC here is lucky.

Last week, I made blueberry apple muffins, this week I took my mom's busy day cake and made it into muffins.

I was talking to one of my good friend about the muffins last week and she said good grief girl, you are just too domestic. We were joking around and I said that's why no one sticks, a muffin maker type must be the baby maker type and most guys are scared of that. We had a good laugh out of it, that's for sure.

Here again, my roots are showing through. Thank you mom for baking and being domestic, thank you dad for cooking steaks as big as my head.

All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much. ~George Harrison

You can take the girl off the farm...

But, you can't take the farm out of the girl. Once a farm kid always a farm kid!

As I was getting to know someone a while back we were talking about how we were raised and where we come from, etc. Not living in your home area this conversation happens quite often. I said that I was from Oregon and I was raised on a farm, The person said to me, I could never see you as a $hit Kicker, I smiled and said okay. They followed with, well I guess you must be a sophisticated $hit Kicker. I smiled and said, I guess so. Just as my blog is titled Roots and Wings. Many times I come back to my roots without even realizing it.

This weekend, I made a pact with myself, it was a no money weekend. Meaning, I would not spend money. I did not make my regular thrift shop rounds, I did not go to the PX or the commissary. I have also, stopped using the dry cleaner, in Japan it was cheap, here it is a different story. I dropped off 4 sweaters and when I picked them, up it was just shy of $100, with the Euro rate, and that was on base. Okay, back to this weekend, I kept busy around my house. After being TDY then getting home and being sick there was a lot to do around my house. Not to mention mounds of laundry. Those of you that have been subject to the small, take forever, washing machines of Europe and Japan, know exactly what I am talking about. The fastest cycle takes 1 hour and 5 mins and only holds about 3 pairs of jeans. The dryer is also a pain it takes about 2 hours per 3 jean load. The European style dryer extracts the water from your clothes and it has a little drawer/collection bucket. My laundry is in my cellar, so I have to carry the bucket up and dump it in the sink. Enough complaining, but you get the point.

So, today I tapped into my farm girl ways and attacked the laundry. It is cold out, but sunny, so I thought, hey, I will hang my clothes out. One BIG problem, I didn't have clothes line or string of any type and please note, I said no shopping. So, being resourceful, I used saran wrap to make a clothesline, worked like a charm. I will admit, it was a tad, or maybe a bit more than a tad hillbilly. :) I just got done taking the last load off the line and guess what? They were frozen!

You can take the girl off the farm, but... :)

"We must declare ourselves, become know; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself." ~Gore Vidal

MY TDY

For those of you that don't know what TDY means, it means Temporary Duty. Since we speak in acronyms in the military, it is our way of saying we will be away from our regular job for a temporary time. You may be TDY for a conference, a school, etc. I went TDY for a training/ conference. It was an awesome networking and learning experience, but like most conferences it was pretty dry.

The most random part of the entire TDY was the hotel we stayed in. 2 of my co-worker, my boss and I all went to on this TDY. My boss got special authorization to stay at an off base hotel, which she loved (she told us that before hand). Normally, for TDYs, you stay on base, it is usually close to the training and cheaper.

So, we pull up to this hotel, it has a bright pink car out front advertising the hotel rates, name etc. Kind of funky, yes, but also kind of cute.

We walk into the hotel, it is FULL of crap, there are fake flowers everywhere shelves of strange knickknacks. My co-worker turns to me and says this place reminds me of a no name Vegas chapel with rooms connected. In hindsight I wish I would have taken more pictures.

We got our room keys and that's when it got interesting. All of the rooms had mirrors on the ceilings and little lights in the mirrors with a dimming switch. All the rooms also had saunas and jacuzzi tubs. The hotel was quite the experience and the decor made you think renting by the hour was an option. We are still laughing about the place and wondering about my boss. :)

Las Vegas: all the amenities of modern society in a habitat unfit to grow a tomato. ~Jason Love

Transition to glass

I know random, huh? Transition to glass what the heck am I talking about. I am talking about trying hard not to use plastic as much to store and reheat foods. Thanks to my good friend Allison, I started using Pyrex dishes and other glass containers instead of Tupperware or those ziplock things.

So, why am I blogging about this. Well, the top picture is of the glass storage containers, note, they are clean in the top of the dishwasher.
This next picture is of the can of cheap spaghetti sauce that was also in the dishwasher.

This next picture is of the plastic lids and a plastic container that I was washing to put in the recycling. Note the pink tent, similar to what happens when a red sock gets in a white load. Yes, the spaghetti sauce did this to the plastic.

Lesson 1, cheap sauce must be made with green tomatoes, and then dyed with red die. This cannot be good for you, next time I will consider being less of a cheapo and buying better sauce. No promises there.

Lesson 2, stick with glass for storage, if dye leaks into plastic this severely, then I can only imagine what is leaking out of the plastic into my food, when I reheat and store in plastic.

Random, I know...

An optimist will tell you the glass is half-full; the pessimist, half-empty; and the engineer will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be. ~Author Unknown

Slow and Steady...

Builds character. Oh wait, the saying is slow and steady wins the race. This afternoon during a super slow run I was thinking about this saying. Somedays, I wake up and my legs are very handicable. Today was one of those days. I have never been able to figure out what "sets them off", but today they were super tight and walking felt like a chore, so I decided I would go for a run. Sometimes a good run loosens them up. The first mile today was a real struggle, I just wanted to turn around, start crying, and head home, but I knew what was best for me and it was to keep going even though it hurt. No pain, no gain, right? ha. By about a mile and a half into the run they felt a bit better, but still not quite right. I have the Nike chip in my running shoes and I run with my iphone, I love it, because it keeps my distance and pace. Today's work out was about 45 secs slower than my usual pace. Those of you who run, know 45 secs off is a LOT slower.

So, what is the moral here? I just question, why we say slow and steady wins the race? I know the rabbit and the turtle and all that... But, come on, the slowest person in a marathon is not the winner?? Common sense and facts leads us to that conclusion.

I think it should be slow and steady builds character. Yeah, I know, not very catchy, but it's true.

Here I am after my run. Exhausted.

Here's to, tight legs, slow running, tears, and believing in yourself.

How grateful I am to be me! I have the best friends and family in the world and... an awesome set of handicable legs, heck they are not perfect, but they have taught me so much.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. ~Helen Keller

About me!

Back when myspace was the "in" thing I wrote this "about me", I think it still sums it up pretty well!

What makes me happy: Working out, watching the sun come up, inside jokes, friends, family, college sports, tailgating, the good life, margaritas, Kwaj, the beach, Vets Hall, popcorn, COFFEE, rainy days at Starbucks, cities at night, the feel of mud between my toes, ketchup, memories of my childhood, the farm, peanut butter pie, baking, making others smile, laughing so hard I cry, support, love, forgiveness, the sound of children laughing, smiles, following dreams, pushing the envelope, being sassy, dressing up, matching jewelery, hugs, making care packages, good beer, independence, happiness, good wine, cooking, dancing, booty shorts, late nights, proving people wrong, email, cocky men, flaming dr. peppers with great friends, pedicures, the smell of my moms house during the holidays, my super smart sister, books, alone time, silence, music, chai tea, georgia coffee from the machine, accents, Japanese bread, the smell of summer nights, speaking my mind, independent music, the real world, "girl dates", flowers, getting snail mail, road farming with my dad, candles, reading, hard runs, clean air, military kiddos, shopping, an empty laundry basket... life!

What I don't like: Ignorant people, working too much, sneakiness, and mayonnaise. Yuck!

Learn to... be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not. ~Henri Frederic Amiel

My Fire

Last weekend, I decided to do some work in my "forest" better know as my backyard or as they would say here my garden. To give you a little background, I think it has been a while, since my "forest" has been maintained. Whoever was here before me piled small piles of twigs everywhere, on the fence line, by the garage... everywhere. They also never raked the leaves and did not touch the pine needles.

So, I had the bright idea to burn the debris. I also need to mention it was drizzling outside making the fire seem like a good option, yet a challenge. After I decided to burn the debris, I went to my handy friend google and tried to look up if it was legal or not the burn in town in The Netherlands. I could not find anything, all I could find was a blurb about nuisance laws and it said if the smoke interferes with the neighbors then they can call the police.

So, out I went, I lilt a small fire, wishing all along I had lighter fluid or gas. To say the least, the fire was LAME. I got sick of the small lame fire, so decided to pile a bunch on pine needles and debris on the small fire to suffocate the fire and go inside.

I went inside to take a shower. I looked out the bathroom window to my surprise, there was a HUGE plume of white smoke. I knew then I was going to jail.

To end the story, my smokey fire burned all night and no one turned me into the police. I am not going to attempt it again without calling legal first.

In a country where pot is legal I thought for sure I was going to jail for a backyard fire. Next time, I am going to let the gardener deal with the garden.

Despite the gardener's best intentions, Nature will improvise. ~Michael P. Garafalo

I heart Europe

So far my move here to The Netherlands has been awesome. I am blessed to be working with great people who do their jobs well, while respected each other. I miss my co-workers in Japan and my good friends there, but I will say the change in working enviroment has made life so much better.

I feel like there was/is a big weight lifted off my shoulders that I did or didn't know was slowing my life down. I was hesitant about this move because I took a drastic pay cut and that was scary to say the least, but even with that life here is wonderful. I know there will be some hard days, but I am grateful that I was brave enough to make the big move.

Here is a picture of my basket full of groceries from last weekend's shopping. I live right around the corner from a bakery and a little market. I love it!

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” ~Seneca

Internet

Internet, a novelty or a must?

I just got Internet the other night after not having it for over a month. I was still able to check my email at work, so it wasn't that bad, but I didn't have FB, Skype or anything like that. Due to the firewalls on govt computers a bunch of sites are blocked.

For me internet is a must, in the time I was offline I was not able to use Skype therefore, I could not make phone calls, this made me feel very cut off from civilization. But is it really a "must"? Doubtful, in the weeks I didn't have internet, I read 5 books, went on runs, and always made it to bed at a reasonable time. I have decided that I am going to shut off my computer an hour before I want to go to bed and read, we will see how that works, but to be honest I really enjoyed my time reading, so this is my way to keep it up.

Here's to Facebooking, Skyping and reading. :) And we wonder what is happening to kids these days... that is definitely for another blog.

For now I am back online, yay!

"Never let a computer know you're in a hurry." ~Author Unknown