November 19:

Hochi came home safe and sound from his deployment, we enjoyed the time he had off by going to Asheville for a night and Newark, NY to visit his family. Unfortunately two weeks was all we had to enjoy...because he had to head straight to SOS exactly two weeks after he come home. Thankfully he will be making the drive home for Thanksgiving, cause I sure do miss him a lot.

Hope everyone is looking forward to Thanksgiving as much as I am.

Fly Safe,
Barb

August 25:

I had a wonderful morning working at the SSC membership drive... we even ran out of applications! It has been a while since we had a social, since a break is taken over summer and it was so nice to see so many friends! It's especially nice when our main form of conversation is to two dogs. Actual adult human conversation is so important.

This week went really well, Hochi and I agreed him being gone has actually been really good for me. I have never really had a chance to live on my own and it's given me a bit of opportunity to explore things I have not had a chance to.. and to set my own routine and I am actually sticking to it. I go to the gym everyday except two days a week (those I do a hike or a long walk), I go to yoga and zumba, I run, I lift... something everyday. I start every day by meditating, I don't feel guilty about my weird hours because they don't keep him awake or take time away from each other. I eat super healthy and have been losing weight in a super healthy way. I quit drinking alcohol and started drinking kombucha. I have been creating and blogging and reading. I miss him dearly and I am SO ready for him to come home.. but this has been a positive experience so far that has really helped me grow as a person and I know when he comes home I will be a better person for it... and in turn can be a better wife.

Positives aside... can he please come home now?!

Fly Safe, Barb

August 18:

The past month has been surprisingly good. I have been keeping super busy with Hochi gone. I've been to a few concerts, broken my camera out for some jet photos and growing the Wing Woman brand. I have also been working out every day, trying to get swole.

 At Warped Tour I got to see my favorite band of all time, Senses Fail, I even caught a pick. 

 Drunk on a Plane... complete with a pilot and plane. 

 Island in the sun really needs some light. (Yes, Weezer DID play Africa and it WAS amazing.)

 The Offspring were as good live as they are in their albums. A+ Show, wish they had been the main act and not the second. 

I have started mentally preparing for the move to Korea, and now have to start getting ready to go to Italy as well, hard life! In all reality it is a lot of stress, especially when your significant other is far away. It will definitely all be worth it the end! I am gonna have to figure out how to handle the Wing Woman Designs side of the house while I am back and forth in Korea, I certainly would miss it if I had to shut it down for a year, but that will come in time!

Fly Safe, Barb

June 19:

I think we can all agree I am terrible at consistently updating my blog. Life happens, ya'll. I figured I would hop on and give a quick update while I was sitting here thinking about it. The family is doing well, two healthy dogs, one healthy Hochi, one (mostly) healthy Barb. The past year has not gone how I expected, to say the least. I definitely did not expect to ring in 28 still in recovery from an ankle surgery, but here we are.
It's PCS season and we all know what that means: a lot of goodbyes to people you don't want to say goodbye to. For us it means we find out our next assignment at the end of the month. We have a lot of big hopes and dreams, but you know me, I am not one to put my hope in the military. We hope for the best and brace for the worst. When people ask what we want, we almost whisper it in fear that the PCS gods will over hear us and send us a different assignment just to spite us. Sometimes we don't mention it at all "We will make the most of anywhere!" and we will, but some options are certainly better than others. That's Air Force life.
This PCS will be more difficult than ones in the past (and you know I have been through a ton of them). Mostly because as a kid it was easy to make new friends. As an adult I sort of have some built in opportunities within the squadron, but that requires the squadron spouses actually being involved with events, which is not always the case. 2 years after getting here I have finally found my people, not just friends. My family. We all celebrate each others accomplishments together, support each other in downfalls, embrace the embarrassing moments to make them jokes, encouraging each other.  It is going to hurt to leave them. While I know the group chat will always be there, there is nothing like hugging your family after a hard day, when you're worried about life or your husband, or recovering from surgery... no one makes you feel quite as good as them.

This is not really the direction I anticipated this going, whoops.

Fly Safe, BARB

September 9:

If you know me at all, you know I live for fall and winter. Unfortunately here in SC we don't get much of a winter... not by my standards anyways. My standards might be a little high, considering I am a Colorado Girl at heart. Thankfully it is that wonderful time of year where the weather starts cooling off a bit, and the leaves are going to start changing color soon. Hochi always jokes that instead of the "spring cleaning" that most people do... I do "fall cleaning" I am always my most productive and creative this time of year, because I can't help but be inspired by this weather.

Recently I have taken on being the Secretary and scholarship co-chair for the Shaw Spouses' Club (we recently joined the OSC and SSC). It's been a fun adventure so far, and I am really enjoying it and all the opportunities brings to the table.

I have also been hiking a lot more, mostly Congaree, but Hochi and I took a trip to Asheville and did some hiking in Dupont State Forest (fun fact, some scenes in the Hunger Games movies were filmed there!
We have been making an effort to go to more local places, trying a new place at least every two weeks or so. It has made living here so much more enjoyable. So far a favorite place of ours is Za's, an Italian place, definitely worth checking out.

It is the time of year where we have to start prepping for storms (looking at you Irma), so I am fully stocked up on MREs and Water. If it gets terribly bad I will probably leave the state. Who knows how that will go though. It it still too soon to tell.
Wish me luck, because chances are I will be weathering this storm alone.
Fly Safe,
Barb.

May 15:

So lately I have discovered the enjoyable world of podcasts. That isn't to say I did not know podcasts existed, of course I did. I just never really got into the idea of listening to them.
Recently I was on a facebook group (xxFit shoutout) and people kept quoting one, so I had to check it out. Turns out, I love podcasts. Specifically this one "My Favorite Murder" its about exactly what you think it is.

Business has been going really well, I have been slowly adding new products to the line up and I really enjoy it!

We had the air show recently, it was amazing, I will probably write a real blog about it. Maybe.

Fly Safe,
BARB

April 11:

Spring has officially sprung here in sunny SC. We have had storms galore, and plenty of motorcycle riding weather too. No complaints here, except from the dogs, one of which was very upset he couldn't play fetch in the storms, and the other who refuses to go outside when it rains, lest he get his paws wet.
We have had an empty house a few times since I last posted, such is the life of a pilot's wife. Never ending TDYs and trips. Luckily the pups keep it feeling like home, even when it is just me.

I feel like no matter how long we are at a duty station, I never seem to get the house completely decorated until we are getting ready to move. Here is no different, we still have quite a while to go, and I have just"finished' my craft room/office, I still have pictures to be hung, and we still can't decide on a layout for the living room. I am sure when we receive orders it will finally be perfectly set up.

I have been enjoying everything SC has to offer, with hiking through local parks, enjoying local beers, and making trips to Charleston. Even finding hidden gems in Sumter!

I hope you all have been enjoying your current area to the fullest.... every duty station can be wonderful, if you make the most of it, and go into it with an open mind. A life of being a military brat taught me that!

Fly Safe,
BARB

January 7:

Happy New Year friends and family!
I am thrilled to report that we had a sprinkling of snow today! How exciting is that? It didn't stick to anything except the tops of the fences, and some of the cars, and it melted in about 20 seconds once the sun came out.... but it totally counts, right?
We got to enjoy snow in NY for Christmas, or I might be more disappointed.
I have a trip to Colorado coming up again, and I am very excited. I'll be there at the end of the month.
I am also just slightly over 6 months done with my braces, and one week into a diet!
The Fast Metabolism Diet, it going great, minus not being able to have caffeine.

How about Y'all, how is your 2017 going?

Fly Safe,
BARB

October 13:

Well, it finally happened. I got homesick enough to book a flight back to Colorado. I just wish it was sooner. We have a lot of exciting things coming up to help pass the time though. Hochi's birthday, the state fair, a wedding, a Raiders game in Jacksonville.
The past few days have been a bit rough on me, I'm struggling with job hunting, and with my looks. Braces and acne don't make me feel 26.
The hurricane hit us, our power was out for a day, and we had to use the grill to make coffee... but all in all we fared pretty well. Just a broken gate and Loki being crushed he couldn't go play fetch.

Counting down the days until I can go to O'Malleys....
fly safe,
BARB

September 20:

We brought home a bike last week, and I can't wait to ride it, just waiting for the back seat to come in.
Tonight is the season premier of Scream Queens, and then tomorrow night is a new American Horror Story, I am unreasonably excited about it! Are you watching them?
This week is so busy, job hunting, two OSC events, and a BBQ on friday night. It's nice to be busy though!
Fly Safe,
Barb

September 14:

I recently updated to ios 10 on my iPhone, I like it so far, but have to say I am very disappointed that it makes my blogging app obsolete.Blogger stopped updating their app a while ago, and even removed it from the app store. I do a majority of blogging on the app, but it just glitches out when I try to open it. Now I have to use the laptop, unless anyone else knows of a blogger based app I can use?
Yesterday was fun, I had an OSC meeting, Hochi had a test ride, and we worked on a coffee bar for the kitchen.
Today we went shopping, and now we are chilling at the house...slightly procrastinating staining the bar. It's wet out though, so it will take forever to dry anyways...

Fly Safe,
Barb

September 12:

Yesterday was a great day, we went on a ten mile hike and even got to see some wild hogs. We also watched the movie Red Tails, and I applied to about a million billion jobs.
Today we are continuing work on the table and are planning to hit the gym. These are the last few days of Hochi's leave so we are spending as much time together as possible.
hope y'all had an amazing weekend!
Fly Safe,
Barb

September 10th:

We were supposed to go on a 10 mile hike today, but I woke up with problems in my knee, so instead I'm going to spend all day icing and babying it and we will go tomorrow. I have been looking forward to this hike all week, so I'm a little bummed but Hochi is on leave for a while, so it's not a big deal for us to go tomorrow. 

He's working on a project right now, I'm really excited about it. It's going to go in the kitchen. He always blows my mind when I see how talented he is! 

What are you doing with your weekend? 

Fly safe, 

Barb

September 8th:

We went to Charleston today! 

Expect a real blog on it soon, but we had so much fun. We went to lush, and I got to pick a bath bomb, we went to patriots point, ate canes, seafood and drank some delicious beer! 

Hochi helped me catch a ton of Pokemon too! He's the bomb. 

Fly safe, 

Barb

September 4th:

We are hanging out on the porch playing "fetch" with Loki (more like... Please throw the ball but don't take it from me) and drinking coffee. 

It's a beautiful morning. We have a lot to do today, I need to straighten the house a little, and we have to run to the store for Mac and cheese ingredients, and then, you know, make it. We are going to the Harms for dinner! 

Fly safe, 

Barb

September 3

Today was wonderful! Hochi is napping for a bit, while I watch Harry Potter weekend.
The dogs woke us up at 5 am, so that was rough.
Hochi lost his sunglasses in Korea, so we went to the mall to get him some new ones, and killed some time so that we could go to a Hibachi style restaurant as a late anniversary celebration. It was delicious!

Fly Safe, 

Barb 

September 2:

Hochi is off to work for the day, and I've been up for four hours already. 

Tropical storm Hermine is raining out the day, right now it's just a light drizzle and I don't mind, it's my ideal gloomy weather. Ask me again later after the worst part of the storm hits and see how I feel then. 

I'm curled up on the couch, drinking my second cup of coffee this morning, and watching Avatar for the first time. 

Hochi made biscuits and gravy for breakfast, it's so nice having him back. 

Fly Safe, 

Barb 

September 1:

After two, very long months, my honey is finally home. 

I know it doesn't seem like long to many, but I missed him so incredibly. 

Now that he's home I can't wait to celebrate our anniversary (only a few days late). We just need to get him back on SC time. 

I'll show off some of the stuff he brought back soon, there's some really fun stuff, and some interesting food. I also even have videos of the boys greeting him. 

Until then, 

Fly safe! 

Barb 

September 1:

Looking outside you'd never know it was already 74 degrees, with a high in the 90s later today. 

Looking outside you'd imagine cozy sweater weather, warm cups of coffee and pumpkin flavored everything. 

I'm not ashamed to admit I love pumpkin spice during fall, it's comfort for the soul. Mine, at least. 

Right now I'm finishing off some s'mores flavored coffee, the perfect summer flavor, but it feels all wrong because my mind is in fall mode, as you've been able to tell from my previous posts. 

I think part of that is being homesick, for Colorado, and Colorado is the most amazing place year round, but the crisp autumn air, and the mornings you can see your breath just can't be beat. 

I'm sure you're sick of me lamenting about my daydreams of fall, so I'll leave it there for now, and in about 5 months it will be day dreams of summer and days on the lake. Standard. 

Until later, when I have some fun news. 

Fly Safe,

Barb

August 31:

It's been storming off and on all day, but I'm really enjoying the light coming in my dining room right now. 

The rain has made me felt so cozy, even though I've been cleaning all day. 

Ignore the box in the corner I STILL have not unpacked. 

I stand by my earlier statement of it feeling like fall inside the house... Just don't walk outside. 

The pups have had a busy day, Jen came over for a bit and Loki lost his mind while she was here, now he is worn out.  

They are sleeping next to each other and it makes my heart melt entirely. 

Fly Safe,

Barb