2nd and 50th anniversaries

Welllllll, I'm back at work.  The flight back was probably the smoothest trans-Atlantic flight I've ever had.  Pretty much every one of my friends/family have heard me complain about the ridiculous turbulence that occurs during my flights (usually around the equator), but this time there was barely any!  So you'd think that I would have gotten a solid 7-9 hours of sleep - WRONG.  I had the pleasure of having a very vocal baby and hyperactive 3-year old in the row behind me.  Between the shrills of joy, screams of anger, and pitter-patter of little feet up and down the aisle - I got about 2 hours of shut-eye, if that.  Needless to say, I've been going to bed pretty early this week and I plan on enjoying a nice long nap this afternoon.

There are two pretty important things I'm missing back home this weekend...First is my 2-year anniversary with my honey!  Two years ago today Chad walked into my life, and right away I let him know that I was moving back home to Texas in 6 months, assuming that would be the end of that - thankfully I was wrong!  He has been so incredibly supportive from day 1, and even though we've had our fair share of ups and downs he continues to encourage me everyday.  He puts up with my ice-cold hands and feet, annoying morning-person habits (thanks Lisa), and my occasional sassy-ness like a pro.  I'm so sad that I'm not back home to celebrate, but, lucky for me, we have our African adventure right around the corner!

Yall know I document my life through Instagram, so here is what I was doing 104 weeks ago...

Second, I owe BIG congratulations to my amazing grandfather and his brother on celebrating 50 years with their company Comfort Air Engineering!  Most of the family is down in San Antonio this weekend helping celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Pa and Robert founding Comfort Air.  I couldn't ask for a better role model in my life than my Pa.  He and Robert risked so much to follow their dreams, and have truly come out on top!  Not only have they provided a wonderful life for their very grateful families, but they are truly leaving a legacy for many generations to come.  Sending lots of love from Angola!

1964

2014 - could they be any more adorable??

I'm only working 3 weeks this time around, which should fly by since everyone's returned from the holidays and things have picked back up.  So after my next time off, I'll get back to my normal 28/28 rotation, maybe ;)

5 days down, 16 to go!  xoxo...

Bring it 2015.

I realize that I'm not back at work yet, but I am going to make a better attempt at blogging even when I'm off work.  Let's start with my great excuses for not blogging the last 2 Sundays..

- January 4th:  I flew from Cabinda to Luanda to Houston (where I had brunch, mani/pedi date with Court, ran errands, packed for my Colorado/California vacation, watched the Cowboys WIN) then to Bakersfield...I was bussssssy.

- January 11th:  I was in recovery mode from MusicFest 2015 and then slipped into a minor depression after watching the Cowboys get ROBBED for their chance at the NFC championship...

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about how 2015 has gotten off to a reeeeealll good start.  I did not make it to midnight to actually ring in 2015 Angola time, but I was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6AM to watch the ball drop in NYC (thanks cnn.com) - so that counts in my book!  The last few days in camp were pretty slow/boring/snail's pace since most of the nationals were still off, and I was super excited to get home which always makes things  m o v e   r  e  a  l  l  y    s   l   o   w...  

As mentioned in my excuses section, above, I flew in and went from Texas to California back to Colorado (there's a long story, but just trust me on this one...it was cheaper).  So I looked back at my blogs from this time last year, and there's one called "back in action" where I discuss how bummed I was to be missing my FAVORITE week of the year, MusicFest in Steamboat Springs, CO.  Well, guess what - NOT THIS YEAR.  I was there with 11 pretty fantastic people for an amazing week of music, snowboarding, hot tubbing, and lots of memory making.

Day 1:  Turnpike Troubadours on the outdoor stage

Night 1 in the tent with my Rolow sistas

Night 1 at the ballroom with Rach

Day 2 on the slopes with my babe

Night 2 group shot

Night 2 with my 2 favorite boys (3 counting Braidon's photo bomb...)

Day 3...80's day on the mountain 

Night 3 peeps

Night 3 with my love

Perfect backdrop on the last night

After Steamboat, I came back to Bakersfield for a week of nothing but catching up with friends.  I got to have lunch with one of my favorite little munchkins, Addalee, and her sweet momma Carrie.  Followed by another lunch with my friend Elena who is expecting a little girl of her own in February, so there was some belly rubbing involved over sandwiches.  Chad and I headed out for a day on the central coast where I got to enjoy a beautiful sunset while he was working, and then we ate out weight in meat at Jocko's Steakhouse (highly recommended if you're ever in the central coast area).  We headed back to Bakersfield for a night with just enough time to chow down on some basque food before jumping in the car to get back to San Luis Obispo.  As if we hadn't had enough live music, Randy Rogers Band was playing at SLO Brew and that's something that we just couldn't pass up.  We rounded out the trip with some wine tasting in Edna Valley on a beautiful Saturday afternoon before heading back to Bakersfield...

She's got 6 teeth!

And is very good at picking her little nose.

sunset at the Cliffs

a man and a grill

#foodie

Randy Rogers Band at SLO Brew

my man and his men. 

making our mark in bubblegum alley

love these people

central coast in January - 70 and sunny

I think I owe everyone, mostly myself, some New Year's Resolutions...

1.  Run a half marathon (carried over from last year...)
2.  Stop spending all my money, aka save some cash.  I'd like to squirrel away 30% this year.
3.  Text less, call more.  (Note:  this does not apply to my group text with Lauren, Taylor, and Court - you girls keep me alive!  But I will call you 3 more often too...I guess.)

There ya have it, bring it on 2015!  So I'm off to work tomorrow morning, but only for 3 weeks before I head off for my African adventure with my babe!  I'm going to travel around Africa for my time off in February and March, so I won't be back in the states until April.  April seems SO far away, but as always I'm sure the time is going to fly!

xoxo...