Long Distance Best Friends (Thanks, Air Force - Really!)

Do you want to know what I love AND hate about this military lifestyle? Friends.

The Air Force has been both wonderful and awful when it comes to friends.

If it weren't for my husband going to the Air Force Academy, I never would have met my best friend because her husband was a cadet at the same time.

But also because of the Air Force, we have to move a lot. We'll never be able to live in the same place for long, and that makes it difficult to make close friends.

That said, my best friend Lizzie (who blogs over at Seis Matters), visited me in Ohio last weekend, and we had a blast! She is also the one I ran the marathon with in Oklahoma in April.

Lizzie and I hadn't seen each other since my wedding at the end of May, and let's be real - we didn't exactly get to hang out a ton that day.

When this countdown started, it was at about 60 days. I took this three days before she flew out!

When she arrived, we went to dinner at O'Charley's and had their awesome Front Porch Punch - so delicious and fun!

We went shopping in Columbus on Friday with Ellie (how did we not take any pictures of the three of us?!) and found this weird looking piece of clothing at H&M. Fellow pilot wives will notice the bizarre alikeness this shares with the Air Force flight suit... weird.

We went to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force because it's ten miles from home - and we had a lot of fun checking out our favorite planes! Mine is the B-24 (because of the book Unbroken), and Lizzie's is the B-29. No, our husbands don't fly those... we just like them! Also, the nose art on this bad boy was quite nice, but I covered the naughty word with my head because some of my former students have me on Facebook / Instagram. 

Look! Another B-24!

We were trying to pose like the pilot mannequins behind us... but we didn't do a very good job because I kept laughing hysterically when Lizzie made her serious face! Oops! 

My husband is wonderful. He put up with our shenanigans for nearly four days and even had a little bit of fun with us! 

Speaking of that handsome hubby of mine, I caught him with his head inside an airplane daydreaming. He is so cute when he's around planes. He turns into a little kid, and I love it. 

We may or may not have purchased matching shirts with each of our favorite airplanes on them... this may seem silly, but we had so much fun! AND I totally plan on wearing mine when I go see Unbroken on Christmas night! 

Now the countdown is on again. We plan on seeing each other (with BOTH of our husbands next time - they're friends too!) over Christmas break. We are lucky enough to be from Midwest, USA, so it's pretty easy / quick / inexpensive to travel to each other when we're both in our hometowns! December, hurry up!

Do you enjoy visiting your best friend?
What about having them visit you?
Do you have plans to see your best friend soon?

Life Lately

I haven't made any personal posts lately, so I thought I'd do that this morning.

Instead of another recipe (but just wait -- more are coming!) or book review, I decided to share what's been going on lately. This is not an all-inclusive list, but it's just some things I felt like sharing with my wonderful readers. 
1. I had a three day weekend, and it was much needed. We had parent/teacher conferences at school on Wednesday night and Thursday morning last week, so we all got Friday off. Sleeping in was wonderful, and I feel slightly recharged (but I think Thanksgiving break in about a month will really do the trick). 
2. My sports teams are doing really well this year, which is a nice change. My baseball team, the Kansas City Royals, barely missed the playoffs, but they had their BEST SEASON in several years. It was so much fun to cheer them on. My favorite college team, the University of Missouri Tigers, are 7-1 this football season, which is only their second in the SEC. They are holding their own and doing EXTREMELY well. My absolute favorite team of all time, though? The Kansas City Chiefs. And they are 8-0 for the first time in TEN years. This is pure excitement on my end. It's so much more fun being a fan to a winning team... but win or lose, I've always been faithful to my Missouri sports. 
3. I got to see one of my best friends ever this weekend! Lizzie came out to Colorado to see her husband for a quick weekend while he's at training, and we were able to see each other twice, which was so wonderful. It's really hard having a long distance best friendship... we talk every single night, sometimes for hours, and it was great to see her in person and have Jack Quinn's together one more time. 

4. Reality is setting in that Cadet Lovemuffin graduates from the Air Force Academy in just 212 days. He has been working his butt off for over four years now for this, and I can't believe that the end is finally approaching (but it could still be quicker, and I'd be okay with that). I will only be his fiancée for 214 more days; after that, I will be his wife, and I could not be ANY HAPPIER about that. This has been a really long road, but I am so ready for this part of our journey to conclude. He was supposed to find out his Air Force AFSC (job) a couple weeks ago, but that has been delayed due to the government shutdown (yes, I know it's over; no, he still doesn't know when he'll find out). Keep him in your thoughts as he waits to find out because this is a HUGE deal!