Florida DMV and Family Time

We are home again, after spending our long weekend in Jacksonville visiting my in-laws and trying to get our Florida drivers licenses back. Hubby was able to get his, I on the other hand am a different story... apparently Florida no longer takes just a copy of your birth certificate... no, they need the real deal. Mine also is not that easy to get either, since its an "American born abroad" certificate :( I actually have to go to immigration to get a copy of it, I also have to have proof of when I entered the country 24 years ago! I know... WTF! That's what I said too... so I guess I am stuck with a Mississippi drivers license for a while longer. Booooo! On the more positive side, the whole weekend was not a total loss. We did get to go visit hubby's Grandma, it was her birthday and she turned 86, she's only 5 years younger than my gram. It was also nice that hubby got to see ALL of his uncles & aunts (even the ones that had to come from Ashville, NC) before he will leave at that *uncertain* time and date ;) We had good food, and great people to spend the day with and even though it rained pretty much all day we still had an excellent time! I am glad to be home now, though... I've got a ton of laundry to do and stuff around the house to catch up on. I love going home to Florida but, I sure do hate driving it! It feels like it takes forever! Oh and Ace did GREAT on his first long car tip, not even a peep out of him! I was so thrilled! :D

10 Day You Challenge: Day 6

Hi!

Did ya have a good weekend?
Miss me?
Of course you did! ;)

I'm back at it with the challenge;
sorry I've been taking the weekend (and apparently yesterday as well) off to do family stuff, new dog stuff and well... general housework lol.

So today is all about places! Woohoo! Another of my favorite subjects!
And I'm supposed to list six of them!

Hmmm where should I start?
Where I've been? Where I am? Where I would love to go?
Decisions... decisions.
How bout a bit of it all.


As some of you might know, or might not know... I was born in Germany a city called Heilbronn its about 30 minutes North of Stuttgart and located in the Southwestern region of the country in the state of Baden-Württemberg. I lived there till I was 5 and then moved to the states. All of my mom's side of the family still live there. I used to go back to visit just about every summer when I was young and on summer break. It's been a while since the last time I visited though, which was in 2005. I really hope to get back at least some time within the next 4 years or so, I miss it alot and I miss the family. Seems like when I'm not there we forget about each other, only recently have we started talking through facebook, but even that isn't very much :(


I grew up in (back then) a small town called Lehigh Acres, Florida. Its a town in South West Florida about 2 hours South of Tampa Florida or 3 hours South of Orlando Florida. Growing up there I saw lots of changes. As far back as I can remember and for the longest time we only had a publix grocery store, a shell gas station, a dairy queen, a dunkin donuts, a post office, a sheriff's department, the bank where my momma still works (24 years later) a pizza place called Ike's, a Chinese restaurant called China Star, a McDonalds, an Elementary school and a Middle school. The Elementary school that I went to was just finished being built the year I moved to Lehigh. I remember walking in on the first day of school and still smelling the new paint and carpets. I can remember when Wal-Mart finally came to town! LOL! Later on as I grew up the town got bigger and more people came to stay in the early 1990's the population was only about 9,000 people and now its estimated between 70,000 to 80,000 people... my how things have grown huh? Its not quite the same town as it used to be though, I used to be that I could walk into just about any store and see either a friend or family member and now its nothing but strangers but *sigh* I guess that's what happens when you move away... right? My parents still live there so I go back from time to time but, it will never quite be the same for me as while I was growing up there.


My first big move was after the hubby and I started dating. He was stationed out at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. My oh my... what a HUGE change that was and talk about culture, weather and landscape shock! I couldn't have picked a more different state to be transplanted to LOL! Six years later and you can see it was well worth the move. ;)
I actually grew to love living in Oklahoma. I actually would move back there, given the chance. Hubby on the other hand would rather make Hell his new address first LOL!
I admit there are some harsh weather conditions... like 5-6 feet of snow and blizzards during the winter. Soaring over 100 degrees in the summer and let's not forget the Tornados! I was used to Hurricanes having grown up in Florida so I thought I had a handle on "these little Tornado's" boy, was I ever wrong! They are nothing like going through a Hurricane... there is sometimes little to no warning before it happens and then boom! Its right in your back yard! Yes, living in Oklahoma was sooooo different! There's no real sweet tea, I mean there's sweet tea but no Southern style SWEET tea... they make theirs by dumping the sugar in it after its already made! YUCK! Us Southerner's dump a hell of a lot of sugar in it while the thing's still brewing and then dump some more in just after while its cooling LOL! They also love to fry interesting things... like... Oreo's and Twinkies... and Snickers bars. And they think I'm crazy when I ask for some boiled peanuts?! Everyone kept asking me why I would want some boiled Penis... apparently I have an accent LOL! They do have some awesome steaks! Best steaks I've probably ever had in my life, was while we lived in Oklahoma. Also some of the cheapest gas prices I've ever seen! It's also where I first learned to drive in snow and walk, or should I say skate on ice in the Wal-Mart parking lot. It's the first place I've "bunkered" (we say hunker down in Florida) down in a closet for a tornado, and it's where my munchkin was born! She is a native Sooner! Yes, Oklahoma I learned to love you.


Then we moved to Georgia... Augusta, Georgia. Your might have heard of it if your a golfer. It's where they hold the Master's Golf Tournament every year. It was also the birthplace to the god father of soul; James Brown. Augusta is located about half way up the Savannah River, about 2 hours East of Atlanta Georgia and about 10 minutes from the South Carolina border. It's the city I've ever lived in that has 2 counties in it, Richmond County and Columbia County. It's also home to one of the LARGEST Army training posts in the country! In the 1700's it used to be the capital of Georgia before the great fires of the 1800's and the great "Burning of Atlanta".
It was an interesting place to live, definitely not my favorite place to live but I did meet some of the greatest people there, and that is what it made it worth while! I do miss its changing of the season's it had some of the most beautiful fall foliage I've ever seen and I also miss driving up and down the hills.


After Georgia we PCS'ed to Biloxi Mississippi and that is where we are currently living. Biloxi lies directly on the Gulf of Mexico and is home to the Mississippi Sound and a lot of barrier islands. Biloxi was first founded by the French in 1559 and has over 400 years of history to it. It was also owned by both the British and the Spanish in the 1700's and later was claimed by America and admitted to the union in 1817. Biloxi for me, has by far the most interesting history! It's amazing that it's history goes back as far as some of the first settlers in our country! However, not all that history is pretty... Biloxi is host to hundreds of battles and a few wars with lots of bloodshed and heartache. You can just imagine the paranormal stuff that goes on here... ;)
Two of the biggest hurricanes to effect the area were Hurricane Camile (a category 5 Hurricane) in 1969 and Hurricane Katrina (a category 5 Hurricane) in 2005. Hubby was actually deployed down here and to New Orleans right after Katrina struck; I can remember talking with him on the phone and him describing it looking like someone dropped a bomb on the gulf coast.
Since then though, the city and the whole gulf coast has worked VERY hard in its clean up and rebuilding efforts. Now, you can barely see the scars of the city, in fact you might never known a Hurricane of that magnitude had ever been through here unless you visit the Katrina Memorial. The Memorial sits across the street from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, it stands over 14 feet tall to symbolize the standing water after the storm, on that wall is a list of names from the lives of local people the storm took. It is a very beautiful yet somber place.
I think my favorite things about the living down here is the hospitality and general pleasantry of the people... I swear the Cajuns invented hospitality along with their food! And the food! My goodness! I don't think I've ever eaten so many good thing's till I moved down here... beignets, muffulettas, crawfish etouffee , gumbo, po-boys... and the list goes on and on! And let's not forget Mardi Gras! (which actually got it's start in Mobile Alabama not New Orleans like everyone thinks) ;) Yes, its a HUGE deal down here! There are parades, and balls, and tons of festivities! Its such a big deal down here that the kids get 3 days off of school just to party! See... told ya... now don't you wish you lived down here?


And where are we going next? Well, if plans work out the way we have them set then it will be Jacksonville, FL. Where the hubby grew up. Yes, we would move back "home" to Florida. There are lots of job opportunities there for hubs. He is not one that will make the Air Force a career, the Air Force has been good to us but with the knowledge and education he has, he is twice a valuable on the outside. Plus it gives a chance to be closer to both our families. I think I will miss the moves, the traveling, and the getting to see other parts of the country but it will be good to finally call a place "home" again. :)

A Trip to Chamblin Bookmine

I think I've mentioned it before but... just in case... Chamblin Bookmine in Jacksonville, FL. Is my FAVORITE book store! This place is AAAHMAZING! They have every kind of book you can think of, from new to old to print to out of print... yes, just when you think that long lost copy of "Little Miss Strange" is out of reach, chamblin will pull through! This place looks amazing too! In short its an organized mess, but that's the novelty of it!

I try to hit this place up at least once while we come to Jacksonville to visit hubb's family. This time I brought some old books to trade it, it wasn't alot because I cherish the books I have but it still helped with buying some new books. In that haul was a particularly cool comic book novel that hub's spotted in the graphic novel section. Its of the early joker comics from 1940-1965! I was completely blown away by the coolness of this book, I seriously just had to have it because of the cover alone!

Pretty sweet eh?

And here's all my haul from the great trade at Chamblin! Two paranormal romance novels by J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series (the only two I am missing in the series) 2 cozy mysteries; Glazed Murder (a doughnut shop mystery) by Jessica Beck and cookie dough or die (a cookie shop mystery) by Virginia Lowell and last but not least a sci-fi/fantasy novel; The way of shadows by Brent Weeks (its the first book in the trilogy) I'm so excited to read all these! And now I finally have a bit more time to get the reading done! Woohoo!

Weekend in Florida

We had a great weekend, and a great time hanging out with the family in Florida! We left for our trip last Thursday and my brother & sister in law flew in from Germany on Friday night. Our weekend was spent eating home-made BBQ, Lounging in the Florida sun by the pool and eating more home-made BBQ (courtesy of my father in law) lol! Sunday we got up and headed to the shooting range, we did end up bringing our small arsenal of guns with us and it was great to shoot our new ones! I have found that the .380 Ruger hubby bought me is going to take some practice in holding, because its so small (its meant to be a conceal and carry weapon) but I do love the crimson trace laser on it! I was completely surprised at how much I LOOOOOOOOOOVE shooting the AR-15! Its amazing! I feel very confident in my shots and completely comfortable with it, its also very easy to load the mag and super easy on the trigger. I basically told hubby that I will be wanting a AR-15 for Christmas this year and possibly a few accessories (it IS the barbie doll of guns!) In case you all are wondering... they look like this...

The Ruger .380 with Crimson Trace Laser

The AR-15 with military tactical rails and sights (aka. amazing zombie slayer!)

I think its safe to say if there is ever a zombie epidemic, we will be safe for a while. :) In fact...
hubby made sure to buy more ammo to replace the ammo we took with us, juuuuust in case any of those flesh eating, brain sucking, rotting corpses popped up on I-10 while driving home. LOL! I call him paranoid, he calls himself prepared... LOL! All in all it was a good trip, I was glad to see my in law's (all of them) and glad I had a chance to go to my favorite little book store (Chamblin Bookmine and don't worry... I'll share my finds with you in another post) and a discover a new comic book shop downtown! Hope you all had an amazing weekend too!

Awkwardly Ok...

Saturday night was the hub’s 10 yr class reunion. It was awkwardly ok… I wasn’t 100% comfortable yet I wasn’t 99% uncomfortable either. I met alot of people I just happen to see on facebook all the freakin time, so it was good to see them in person instead of stalk see them on online lol. The food was kinda meh, but it worked… this wasn’t the kinda thing you go to expecting to eat. The music was good but his group of high school buddies was just to small to get anyone out there on the dance floor without looking like an idiot (even with alot of alcohol). And speaking of alcohol that was actually pretty good and reasonably priced and a good thing too seeing how I was in the need of liquid courage. My poison is my classic Bacardi and Coke… didn’t want to over do it with the long islands, which are usually my first choice… it really depends on how much “courage” I need ;) Bottom line… most people didn’t care to talk to me or see how Ive been for the past 10 years, which is to be expected seeing how Im not the one who graduated with them, oddly enough I was more comfortable in the back seat on that night. The hubs played a good wingman, he didnt leave me but for a few mins. not that I wanted to be up his ass either but you know how it is when your at awkward social events… and Im not little miss sociable either. Point is… it gave me an inside look as to how next year will go for mine. Man, I really hope they have one… Im dieing to see some of the old high school riff raff I used to hang out with lol. I haven’t heard anything thus far as to planing the event but then again its a whole year away.

So yeah…sigh

Here’s some pics for your enjoyment to sum up the event.

His graduating class. The people who came, out of the graduating class. Ok the graduating class minus like 5 people LOL!

He took this (obviously) of me getting ready because Im a basic jeans and t-shirt kinda gal, I dont get dressed up for anything so he just HAD to take a pic to remember the moment… apparently its a big deal when I get all gussy’ed up.

I dont quite remember why he was busting out in Air Guitar style but apparently it was funny as hell. Someone had commented that he looked like Michael Jackson reincarnated and that made me laugh my ass off.

The guys (these are the guys he is claiming BFF-ness too) Hubs is in the middle with the AF Blues on the guy in the green shirt, he has known since middle school and the guy next to the guy in the green shirt, he has known since kindergarten. They are flinging the W’s because they are all from the west side of Jacksonville… yeah not Compton.

And just to clarify hubs went to what I like to call; “Geek High School” it was a public school but their classes were computer electronics, engineering, drafting, Aerospace engineering… etc.

I love my G33K ;)

Lately and a Prediction

Not a whole-whole lot has been going on lately, just typically the usual. The 4th was fun, we spent it with friends who live down the street. We just grilled some hamburgers and hot dogs and our kids played in the kiddy pool and had squirt gun and water balloon fights, that night we went down to the beach and watched the fire works while trying not to get torn up by the mosquito. Today I went out with the girls to lunch at Chili’s and then we went to go see Eclipse. I loved the movie of course because it is twilight after all but I loved this one particularly the best because of the way it was made and the light that was shed on alot of the “sidekick” characters. I love the angles that they shot in the movie. There was definitely alot more action and and waaaaaay more drama but it was awesome! It was how I expected it to be and I felt satisfied but not completely because I want the next one to come out like… tomorrow. LOL!

This week will probably fly by or at least I hope. Friday we leave for Florida again, Saturday is the hub’s 10 year high school reunion… woooweeee! 10 years.. yeah hes an old fart LOL! I guess I shouldnt talk, mine is next year. LOL! Im kinda nervous, excited and intimidated all in one. I just hope its not huge and I hope he doesnt do the “stupid guy thing” which is leave me by myself with a whole bunch of people I dont know or want to talk to so that he can go rub their faces in show off his vette to his high school buddies and take turns taking them for rides, because that would be very lame and Id be pretty peeved. I hate, hate, HATE being stuck with people that I dont know at all and have nothing to talk about,but I can almost predict that it will happen. :P Oh well… so long my nightmare doesnt come true it wont be a total FML, and no Im not going to elaborate. :P

TV Week

So this week has been the season finale week of all our awesome shows, which makes me both happy & sad. Happy because the finales have ROCKED! And sad because there’s gonna be nothing to watch until this fall! So this week we have watched the season finale of Chuck, LOST and then Thursday will be the season finale of The Office. Chuck was the best 2 hrs I have seen this far with the show. I really love John Casey and his grrrr, grunts! I have a new respect for Morgan and the fight scene between Chuck & Shaw… OMG! Amazing!

LOST is bittersweet for me, I get it, I feel some what satisfied but I feel like they have hurried this last season up a little. I liked the way it ended, but I feel sad and I will miss the show. I thought to myself last night, there goes 6 years… I love sawyer too… hes my fave. Hes got the best little snippets in the show! I liked him and Kate together but I understand him and Juliet too.

I also went to best buy yesterday to pick up my copy of Season 2 True Blood on Blu Ray. The hubs and I have started to watch it last night. HBO is doing a special promotion thingy on facebook. You can sign up to win their sweepstakes contest and win 2 free passes to the season 2 finale of True Blood in a movie theater, a sneek peek at season 3 and a meet and greet Q & A with the WHOLE cast!! And guess which lucky duck scored herself those 2 free passes?… Oh yeah baby! ME!!!

Im so freakin excited! I have never won something so cool in all my life… other than the time I was 16 and I won tickets to the English Redding festival in London, mom wouldnt let me go though, I was 16 and it was just too far. :P But this time I am going! It is on June 1st which actually is great because its in Jacksonville and Mr. has his appointment in Pensacola that day so were already 1/2 way to J-ville. Hes looking to get Wed. off so we can drive back that day. The show starts at 11:30 so its gonna be a long night and a long day of driving but I think its WELL worth it!

So that makes for a VERY busy weekend and VERY busy start to next week. My in laws will be coming in on Friday and they are spending memorial day weekend with us. The gremlin is very excited to see her Poppa and Grandma (it has been a while) and we are taking them to NOLA one of the days. Then on Tues. they are driving back and we are headed to Pensacola and meet them later in JAX that night.

The 8th is my doc appt to get my FCC physical done just so they can tell me I am fit to be a daycare provider lol…. silly I know but part of the rules. Yesterday I had my fire training and got to put out a fire with a extinguisher which was actually pretty freakin awesome! In all honesty its not hard, the hardest part is getting the pin out but just yank on it and your fine. ;)

So now what… oh yeah… back to the housework and then my FCC meeting tonight LOL!