I love my dog, really I do....

but, this weekend I almost killed her!
So here it is Friday afternoon and with nothing but good intentions I decide to take Autumn on a walk. I guess I didn't click the leash on her collar properly because we began our walk and everything was fine until she started pulling to play in a mud puddle and naturally I did not want her to trounce around in mud so I tugged on the leash to prevent this from occurring. And that is when it all went down hill! The leash unclipped from her collar and OFF she went through every mud puddle insight, straight for a truck driving down the road. Of course I take off after her screaming all the while for the truck to stop before my maniac dog dashes in front of it and gets hit! Fortunately the truck stopped and I coraled her back onto the grass...er...should I say mud. Autumn has a fun little venture running a muck, circling around me, taking me through every mud puddle along the way. I am sure she was laughing hysterically the whole time and thinking that it was the best game ever! The driver of the truck did eventually get out of his truck to "help" me, but he proved to be entirely worthless as Autumn walked right up to him to sniff him out giving him ample time to grab her collar, but he didn't...probably because he was enjoying a good laugh at my expense watching me chase around this dog! Finally, a came up with a genius plan; Autumn loves people, especially kids! So I frantically...and I do mean frantically knocked on the backdoor of Danielle's apartment, screaming for her to bring Clayton out on to the patio. Of course as soon as Danielle opened her door, Autumn comes running over to her patio rail waiting to catch a glimpse of Clayton and that is when the whole charade finally ended! But, not before I fell and scratched up my leg, was covered in mud and Autumn was practically one giant mud ball. Oh, the joys of owning and loving a dog! Autumn was on probation all weekend and I am happy to report that she got off probation for good behavior.

Vanity plates, they are more than a license plate....they tell something about you!

Growing up in Texas, few cars had vanity plates. Since in Virginia I have seen my fair share of vanity plates, some funny, some practical, some outrageous, but all giving a special tribute to oneself. I am not sure if it just costs much, much more in TX to get a specialized plate or if Virginians just seriously love to drive around giving everybody trailing them a tiny glimpse into their personal lives. Here is a list of my personal favorite license plates:

8NT SCRD - Loudly proclaiming to the world that they are indeed not scared!

GEEZ US - I am guessing Jesus was already taken.

DRV SLW - Letting everybody know that if you follow me, I intend to drive slowly!

BIG BIA - Yeah, not sure why you would want anybody to think that you are B****, but not just any B**** a BIG one!

And my personal favorite............

LUV HOE......???????

Never a dull moment!

We have been in Virginia for 2 months now and we have put our time to good use seeing many of the local sights and immersing ourselves in the diverse history of the area. We have traveled a large span of time from the 1600s and pre-revolutionary era to the 1800s and Civil war era. I have learned so much and we have only skimmed the top of what all there is to see and do here! I have no idea how anybody could possibly ever be bored here, I feel as though we could travel every weekend and still miss things.
This weekend we visited Fort Monroe.

Fort Monroe is an Army installation in the Hampton Roads area. It served a vital role in protecting the eastern shoreline of Virginia and preventing any ships from entering the James River from the Atlantic. Fort Monroe is the only active Army post that is truly a Fort and is surrounded completely by a moat. In the picture above you can see the Chesapeake Bay at the top of the photo, the Atlantic Ocean spans out from the right side of the photo and the James River is the bottom and left side of the picture. You can see the star shaped, six-sided moat inthe center of the peninsula. Here is a better picture of how Ft. Monroe is set-up.











In order to enter inside the moat you had to drive through one these tiny bridge tunnels.

It was seriously a tight squeeze and I wasn't sure if we could fit Andrew's truck through it or not. Once you cross through that bridge and over the moat, it is like you traveled back in time and are living in the 1800s again. There are actual houses, churches and offices inside of the fort. How cool would it be to say that you live inside of an actual fort??? Once inside we visited a casemate museum, which is essentially a wall of the fort that is set-up with canons and other defenses. The museum was really neat and across the street from the museum the house where Gen. Lee's (then Lt. Lee) first child was born.



This is a picture outside of the casemate museum and moat. Inside of this casemate you would find a canon and other defenses at each one of those windows directed toward the Atlantic Ocean.

I am generally underwhelmed by military engineering, but even I will admit that this is ingenious and I was thoroughly impressed!

Outside of the moat and fort, was typical military installation stuff: PX, commissary, hotel, office buildings, military housing.






The Garrison Commander's house.

Lt. Gen. Dempsey, he is in charge of TraDoc.













This is the Historic Chamberlin hotel that is on Ft. Monroe. You definitely won't find anything this nice on Ft. Hood!!!


If you are are ever on the east coast near Ft. Monroe, it is most definitely worthy of a visit: fun, historic and scenic!

25 going on 12

I love amusement parks! This past weekend; Andrew, Jason, Danielle, Clayton and I went to Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg. It was awesome and I unashamedly ran around everywhere with a big cheesy little girl grin screeching in delight at every exciting thing we crossed. Of course the first thing we did was ride every roller coaster before we figured the lines would get too long.....though the lines never got too long. The first roller coaster we rode on was The Lochness Monster a traditional train style roller coaster with little cars that have 2 seats in the front and 2 seats in the back. I guess it was ok, but nothing special. Next, we rode possibly the greatest roller coaster I have ever rode, The Griffon...I know, not a very intimidating name but trust me it is very intimidating.



















It takes you up 205 feet and hangs you on a 90 degree angle for 5 seconds before it drops you reaching a speed of 79mph. Then you go through a series of twists and loops before another smaller 90 degree drop. As we are climbing up the 205 feet Andrew looks at me and says, "I am instantly regretting this decision." He ended up loving the ride and I couldn't stop squealing in delight! We rode a few other roller coaster, but honestly nothing could ever touch the sheer awesomeness of this ride....though rest assured I will continue searching.

Mid day, against my good senses, I was essentially peer pressured into drinking a beer (after all, we were at an Anheuser-Busch park), but not just any beer, my first beer in a blue aluminum bottle! If you have never had a beer in a metal bottle before you just would not understand how ridiculously cold that beer bottle gets! I seriously could not hold on to it, it is crazy! Which leads me to the Real Men of Genius commercial....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qupPg5gatCA


After 9 hours at the park and 100's of screeches and squeals my throat was hurting so badly and I knew my voice would be shot. It was, but that is just the price you pay for a day at the park reminiscing and running around as though you were 12!

Oh Aaron, not Erin...

I did something crazy today. Correction, I did something stupid today. I decided to get my haircut. Now, this act in and of itself is not crazy or stupid. The crazy and stupid part is that I randomly chose a salon that I knew nothing about and on a whim made an appointment to get my haircut. I have incredibly thick hair, and if I don't get my hair cut at least every 3 months, it gets ridiculously heavy and unmanageable. My 3 months was up, and I NEEDED a haircut! So that leads me to today, when I went to get my haircut with who I believed would be an Erin......I got there and SURPRISE it was not Erin, it was Aaron! Now, forgive me if I sound sexist but when I go to get my haircut I naturally expect it to be Erin and not Aaron referring to me as, "honey and sweetheart." Though obviously young and vivacious, this guy was overwhelming me with his sweet pet names. I wish I could describe this hair cutting experience. But, I honestly do not believe that I could put it into words....I really could only describe it by acting it out. It was as if I was being punked. I kept looking around for Ashton Kutcher to pop out. All I wanted was a simple trim of the exact cut I already had....."just take an inch off and thin it out a bit." That is simple right??? Well, this had to be the most complex haircut I had ever seen. He would cut one hair and then foof, step back evaluate, cut-foof-evaluate. I began getting concerned b/c how can you possibly cut straight hair if you are constantly voluminizing my hair instead of straightening and cutting evenly. Needless to say, it was not straight. And despite my continual proclamations that the left side looked a little longer than the right, he tried to convince me that it was just b/c my part is on that side that it was an optical illusion and it wasn't really crooked. NOPE, its definitely crooked and despite my desperate attempts I can not make this haircut look worth a darn. Humph!

Let us never forget.....

9/11 - A day I will never forget. I remember driving to high school and hearing the news on the radio that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. Now I must admit, in my small town ignorance I truly did not even really know what the WTC was....other than that it sounded important. The radio coverage, did everything but make it out to seem like a life altering, world changing event. I didn't have a first period class so I went to talk to my cheerleading sponsor who had a tv in a classroom across from her office and that is when I saw live coverage of the 2nd plane flying into the 2nd tower. I honestly thought it was showing video of the first plane crash until I heard the shear terror in the voice of the reporter and the shrill cries of people in the background. I will never forget the illness that fell over me when the reports began to change from a possible accident, to an act of terror. Little did I know then, how my life would be so directly affected by the events of that tragic day. Eight years later, I still get that same ill feeling in the pit of my stomach and the tears still well in my eyes when pictures are shown. For many people it is easy to forget that we are in the midst of war. For me and so many of my very dear friends it is a fact of life that we are reminded daily of by deployments, redeployments, training and the security on post.

I have been dreading this day all week, perhaps it is because of the nauseated feeling I still get when I see pictures and footage of that days events or perhaps it is because I wonder how different my life would be if that day had never happened. Either way, this day is necessary. It is necessary that we remember those that fell that fateful day and those that gave their lives that day to save another. It is also necessary that American's who are otherwise not affected by the events of 9/11, remember the sacrifices that so many men and women make everyday to preserve and protect our freedoms. This land is great because we have people like the firefighters, police and emergency crews that responded that day and it is great because of people like my husband who volunteer to protect our country from events like 9/11.

Let us never forget.

Health Care Now!

**Disclaimer-
I promise not to turn my blog into a political forum, but I have to write this on the heels of the current national health care debate, and my recent frustrations with my own government run health care plan.**

Health care NOW!!!!! Yes, that is in fact what I want.....when I need a doctors appointment I expect health care now! Unfortunately, with a large government run health plan; health care now, is not always what you get! For anybody who favors a government run health care option I urge you to take a look at my own government health insurance....Tricare! Now, I just want to state that I am incredibly grateful for the health care that I receive through my husbands employer, we pay little for any health care services that we receive (thank you taxpayer). With that said, I would like to point out my own recent experience with trying to get an appointment through the bureaucratic red tape.

In January, I had a procedure performed and was scheduled for a 6-month check-up on Aug. 2. Unfortunately, the military decided to move us before that Aug. 2nd date rolled around. Scott & White, who I had the procedure performed through, could not move up the previously scheduled check-up because if they performed the check-up just 1 day before the 6 month date Tricare will not pay for the provided services (thank you red tape). So I come to Virginia, needing my six month check up, with my medical file, films and referral in hand. But, do you think that the previous referral to have the check-up performed will work here in VA....NO! I have to schedule an appointment with my Primary Care Manager here in VA, who has no experience with my case. Then my PCM will have the authority to schedule my check-up procedure that should have already been performed over a month ago.

So I call my PCM upon arrival at Ft. Lee and when do you suppose the soonest appointment to see the doctor is???? September 21 (a month and a half out from the date in which I called)!!!! After the appointment with the PCM, he should refer me to get on yet another wait list (which at the time I called was over 2 months long) to have the procedure performed that I ALREADY HAD A REFERRAL FORM DONE!!!!! Now, lets do the math if I have to wait that long to get my procedure done I will be 4 months over my regularly scheduled appointment...and there is a very good change we will be in the midst of moving AGAIN!!!

So for anybody that thinks a Government run health option is the answer. Think again! Anytime you are dealing with a giant government monstrosity of red tape...your health will bear the cost.....and that cost my friend is certainly never free. So if you ask me my stance on health care, I will indeed say I am for Health Care NOW....health care when you need it and not after you jump through 25 hoops, check 40 boxes and spin around 10 times blind folded.

**this concludes my health care/Tricare rant, I will now resume my regular blogging**

Its the most wonderful time of the year.....

Its the most wonderful time of the year! Aggie football, the 12th Man, march-ins, beer, brats and the Fightin' Texas Aggie spirit. Saturday was bitter sweet for me. I always look forward to the beginning of college football, even though the prospects for a winning season are generally less than favorable. There is something about waking up on a Saturday morning, turning on Sports Center... (which we don't currently get) but allow me to fantasize here.....listening to crazy Lee Corso, popping open a beer and doing absolutely nothing but watch college football. Yes, watching the NFL on Sundays is fun too, but it just doesn't have the same aura and spirit that the college game provides. This season will be the first that I won't be there to partake in the game day festivities. No march-ins, no victory yell, no standing in the hot sun waving my 12th man towel, no seeing old friends of yore and no beer at the Dixie Chicken. Now my Aggie football festivities involve siting around the computer listening to the Aggie game broadcast while watching the ridiculous animation that is on the Aggie Athletics website, but hey, that's what we do......

My heart was heavy as I knew that so many of my friends and family were in College Station doing exactly what I wish I had been doing. The highlight of my day was when my 7 year old niece, Makayla called me from march-in so I could hear the Aggie Band march down Joe Route. I waited in anticipation all day of that phone call so Andrew and I could have just a small glimmer of the Aggie spirit. Unfortunately, just as the band was marching by when I would be able to hear, the connection dropped and by the time I called her back the band had already passed. =( Sad as I was to have missed hearing the Aggie band, I could hear the band in my head and could feel the Aggie spirit thousands of miles and many states away. There truly is a spirit that can ne'er be told; but believe me (and all of my non-Aggie friends can a test to this) I try! And though I am sure many of them would never admit it, I am pretty sure that I have made believers out of most of them!

BTHO Utah State

Falling in love with fall!

So apparently in Virginia there is this season called fall! It seems as though its the season that comes directly after summer and before winter and I LOVE IT! I can walk the dog at 8am, 2pm, or 8pm and never break a sweat....ok, maybe a little sweat if we walk during the afternoon. But in the mornings, at 6:30 when I have to take Autumn out so her bladder doesn't explode I am cold! Can you believe it, actually cold in the first week of September???? The leaves aren't changing here yet but I am so happy that we will be here to see all the leaves changing colors.

For those of you still stuck in the 100 degree weather, I am sorry because highs in the 70s and 80s like this week ROCKS!!!