DECEMBER!!! the last month of Christmas!

December!

its just like me to get behind in my blogging. 

but here is the completion of my 12 months of 

christmas blog. 

december...always a good month.

lots of food, cookies, parties, friends, family...

here are some of the cool places,things,events etc..

in no particular order, here are some things that happened

this month

philly

the reading terminal market.
i'm assuming this is where we get reading railroad?
monopoly...

its also where i had my first and only legit philly cheese!

christmas!

merry christmas!

this year i spent christmas a
million miles from family, but was blessed
with a great family to spend it with.
proof. God provides.

merry christmas from leah! this was my christmas
present from my lovely sis! made from pics taken
in atown and mounted on atown barn wood.
pretty sick huh?

merry christmas from me! and a happy new year!
while out shopping for my new christmas
party costume, i decided to swing into
a music store...i walked out with this. i decided
it would be my christmas present to myself
and also my new years resolution!

so far, its been awesome!
i love it 

ribs. im a little biased, but i happen to think these
are as good as they come. homemade marinade.
homemade bbq sauce... this particular
batch was used to treat the staff on my floor
and a few particularly cool patients to a homemade
christmas meal. crockpotted and grilled on the
george foreman at work.

i'm pretty sure this stunt made legendary status for
nate, nate, and i at work.

people i don't even know were asking about them
a week later.

back to nov for a crucial memory

so this is actually a recap of a november happening.
this thanksgiving i flew down to a-ville to run the annual
turkey trot. this is the only picture i have but leah, becky
lara, mers, noah, and i all ran this year. my trip down was
very short, but we got a good deal of eating, some good
hangin out, and a 5k done!  

december....this year was pretty stellar. it had its ups and down and i am happy for both. it was a year of a lot of change. this time last year i was in utah. since then, drove across country, spent enough time in texas to fall in love, (with the state) and continued on till i settled in rockville MD. along the way i hit fort collins co, austin tx, san antonio tx, dallas tx, new orleans la, fort campbell ky, asheville nc, leesburg va, and dc. i was part of the last class of nurses that was stationed at walter reed prior to its BRAC (base realignment and closure), i saw the merge of walter reed army medical center and national naval center. but the better than all that was the blessing of people. I think God has given me a love for people and the uniqueness of every one of them and how they each change your life. i know thanksgiving is past, but i want to say thanks for all of you who were part of my year, and who are a part of my life! God's really blessed me with you all. all in all, 2011 was pretty rad. i have made some great friends and great memories along the way and i can't wait to see what 2012 brings!

thanks for reading.

OCTOBER part ll...cause i forgot it, and NOVEMBER

OCT part 2.

how could i forget!? this was me for halloween. we got to
dress up so i went to work like this. it was pretty much stellar.

and that is the end of oct

NOVEMBER!!!

the biggest event and best memory from nov was our 

family get together. its hard to get just my family together

from utah, NC, and now DC. add TX and India...

thats one in a million...minus one we 

got the whole crew together! we all headed to 

NC where pati and mala and the rest of the fam

were able to get together and hang...play some good old

fashioned games, eat some food, and just chill. 

pati and dad in an intense game of indian rumi 

mala chiti with ben and na na at the pool

i don't have much for pictures from this trip. but it was great to see family, hang out, and enjoy each other. especially now that these trips are so few and far between...its been 6 years since who whole family's been together. so it was great! i recommend it. 

and now...for december...tune in soon.

the 10th month of christmas...OCTOBER

TOUGH MUDDER SEASON VIDEO

TOUGH MUDDER 

WINTERGREEN, VA

TOUGH MUDDER.................

WINTERGREEN RESORT, VA.......

23OCT2011....................

38* FAHRENHEIT...............

37* 55' 48" N 78* 56' 30" W..

3,515 FEET...................

by far...the best, most enjoyable, hardest, good time i've ever had
on a run.

our pre race team shots!

go america. go tough mudder. go pirates. 

tough mudder pledge

AS A TOUGH MUDDER,
I PLEDGE THAT...
I UNDERSTAND THAT
TOUGH MUDDER IS NOT A
RACE BUT A CHALLENGE.
I PUT TEAMWORK AND
CAMARADERIE BEFORE MY RACE TIME.
I DO NOT WHINE - KIDS WHINE.
I HELP MY FELLOW MUDDERS.
I OVERCOME ALL FEARS.

over the wall we go...
this must be early on seeing how
clean i still am.

gettin tired...

oh yea

 

finishing in style

post race, shower, food, and sleep pic

SHENANDOAH

in other big october news, i finally made it out camping. we took a trip out to the freezing

cold shenandoah valley where we did all the typical guy camping trip stuff. here it is. 

spelled out for you in logical steps. 

step one. cut wood.

step two. cut down the whole forest.

step three. start fire.

step four. this one has multiple parts
a. get fire super hot.
b. burn everything in sight.
c. start burning things you don't think should be burned
ie: lighters...
d. start burning things that don't burn till they melt
ie: bottles and tin cans
e. try to do things you shouldn't do...like play hot potato
f. build the fire up again and go to sleep so its ready
in the AM.

and if you bring along the right kinda guy,
you wake up to this.

eggs. potatoes. pancakes. sausage. hot coco. coffee....

happy campers

thats how its done folks 

other enjoyable camping activities...sunrises

hiking

long walks together on the...gravel

taking in the good views

enjoying good company

and of course, eating peanut butter off none other than the 

kill-bar

that was october. it was a pretty accomplished month. finally got out to enjoy the fall colors. got out in the fall weather. got out side and out of the city...good times in oct

SEPTEMBER!

sorry guys, but this month is also gonna be a little lame. august and september are just 

obstacles in the way of october...

aug and sep were consumed by work, and little bits of fun here and there. 

i was able to check out some museums, monuments, bike through downtown,

kayak the potomac...that kinda stuff. all fun, but nothing like oct. 

so since i have no real good pictures of september, but i like pictures in my blog

i google image searched "september" and no kidding...this is the first picture that comes up.

i thought i'd post it for you all. 

that said, i'm done with september, be ready for oct! 

August....?

AUGUST

in the NARMY now

(Navy Air force aRMY)

yep. im in the narmy now. as of late august, we moved from "walter reed georgia ave" to walter reed bethesda. i posted on this a few months ago so if you want the whole story, just look back. this post, i'll just focus on some of the new stuff i've learned from the navy that i find rather funny.

gear adrift = misplaced junk

head = latrine = bathroom

bulkhead = wall

p way = hall

chit = a piece of paper saying pretty much anything to pretty much anybody

dixie cup = sailor hat

deck = floor

muster = a group meeting

the old place

"the reed" "WRAMC" "Walter Reed Georgia Ave"

the new place

"NARMY" "Navy" "WRNNMC" "Bethesda" "Walter Reed Wisconsin Ave"

that's pretty much it for aug. we slowly closed down the hospital until the last day when 

everybody got tossed into one of these killer ambulances and taken over the the new

place.  

8 stretchers, something like 8 seats for ambulatory pts,
and when it comes down the road, everybody moves.

its pretty sick

the seventh and most awesome month of christmas...July!

JULY!!!

i pretty much love this month.
here's some of the stuff that made it awesome this year. 

COUNTRY MUSIC

brad paisley, blake sheldon, josh thompson, josh kelley. 

here are a few fans

and here are a few more

there's not much that can match a good old fashioned country
music fest in the summer. and they sell bud light in the
metal bottles! heyo!

 MY BIRTHDAY

this is a picture of my birthday cake
(special thanks to baker)
i would have gotten a picture of the whole thing,
but i was so excited i got this far into it before i even gave a
thought to pictures. i promptly ate the rest of it...

THE 4th OF JULY

fireworks at the white house!

the 4th this year was pretty good. i got fireworks. i got to ride
my bike down to see them. i got to enjoy them with friends...

so funny story. since fireworks are banned in montgomory county...
along with fires, and flying the american flag, (i think it might be
communist...maybe) anyway, i decided to have some of my own.
actually i had just made the most perfect brownies you've ever
tasted. then i was going to make something else and turned on
the burner...which happened to be the one under the brownie pan.
big mistake. i was sitting on my couch waiting for the pan to heat up
when my brownies, along with the pan, exploded all over the kitchen.
it sounded like a gun and there was burnt brownie matter all over.

this has nothing to do with much of anything but i figured you all
might like to know some of the nothings that happen in my life too.

mostly i was sad that i lost the most perfect brownies i'd ever made.
and i guess the pan blowing
up was a bummer too.
it was a good'n 

GOOD OLD AIRBORNE PRIDE!

i took a trip to NC to see a couple army buddies there and took
a quick trip to the us army airborne and special operations museum.

funny cause its true...

so what does this have to do with anything?
well this was a wedding dress made from a paratrooper's
chute that he jumped on d-day into normandy. he carried it
for who knows how long until they had post set up and was
able to send it home. kinda cool huh?

here's a pic of some engineers before jumping into normandy.
war paint...
mohawks...
and...

a bulldozer! cause only real men bring a bulldozer to jump out
of airplanes into battle.

crazy engineers...

 BELE CHERE in A-VEGAS!

me and the kidos at bele chere

classic a-town music. and yes that guy is playing the saw with
a violin bow

uncle ryan's friend mark hooked us up big time!

a jeti hat! a jeti lightsaber! a jeti lightsaber belt and holder!
may the force be with him

nobody escapes this jeti