my interview.

Wednesday I had an interview, and felt very good about it as I was standing up to leave. Then as I was saying 'thank you' and 'goodbye' one of the interviewers asked, "what brought you to Florida?" [at this point my mind went crazy! do I say military? which would imply I won't be in Pensacola for very long. do I tell a little fib, and say the "beaches, of course"], "my husbands work" was my answer. I felt good. Honest, but not telling too much. THEN he asked, "what's your husband do?" OF COURSE he asked that. Why wouldn't he. And as I slowly answered with a "he's going through flight school" honest reply, I felt a bullet go through my foot. Who would want to hire a teacher who can't commit to more than one year? I got in my car and felt utterly defeated.

Wednesday went on. We took Belleau to school and she decided to forget how to sit. The one thing she has been doing since she was 7 weeks old. She does what she wants. So as we are trying to get her little bottom on the ground to show her teachers, my phone starts vibrating. I look, planning to ignore it, and it's a Pensacola number. I sprint out. Answer the phone. And can't stop smiling. The Principal would love for me to come work with him as a Language Arts teacher. He loved my excitement and believes I could be the "shining star" of the school. I accepted. Which means I HAVE A JOB.

I have a job! In my career field! I am a working woman (again)! I'm a teacher! I am beyond thrilled! The Principal is beyond great! I went in and chatted with him for awhile Thursday. He was very encouraging and strongly believes I'm the "breath of fresh air" that this school needs. God has answered prayers. And I am now a Gator.

So let the planning begin. And the shopping (teacher clothes here I come)!

I passed, he passed.

So. It was an exciting weekend for us. I finished two more classes for my Master's degree (both A's!) and John completed IFS. He had his check flight Saturday then had his solo on Sunday. Solo = fly completely alone!! Can you believe it? He did great! And is one step closer to finishing flight school. Next is API which John should start in October. API (Aviation Pre-flight Indoctrination) is lots more studying. It consists of lost of classroom learning (meteorology, aerodynamics, aircraft engine and systems, navigation, flight rules, etc.). Once all that is learned, he will have swimming tests (still in API). As summed up on the website, "The syllabus consists of 177.5 hours of academic and survival instruction condensed into 31 days of training, challenging students both physically and mentally." Should be a fun six weeks! In the meantime, he will "belt up" aka become a brown belt and be home a lot :-). Next for me is another interview. Start your prayer engines! It's tomorrow (Wednesday) and in God's hands.

Of course, we've still been eatin' like royalty. I really am in love with cooking. Lately: stuffed bell peppers {sausage, rice, cheese, black beans, corn, onions, etc.}, chicken lasagna {this is John's FAVORITE meal I make. First made it for his birthday before we were married. It's time consuming, but worth every second. Maybe I'll dedicate a blog post to it one day}, crock pot tacos with homemade salsa and queso

stuffed bell peppers {with cheese on top}

chicken lasagna {i love that he buys me flowers}

and tonight ... we are picking up fresh seafood from the fish market and grilling! I'm hungry just thinking about dinner! I still have not taken the plunge into desserts. They scare me. I am not too great about measuring, and well, you can't bake without precision. Any easy dessert recipes out there?

Belleau has been keeping us busy as usual. She is now attending school (have I mentioned this yet?). She is quite the smarty. Or maybe she just does anything for some cheese. Either way, she impresses us weekly (even her teachers have been in disbelief). A current activity of hers is to use her back legs to wedge herself under the couch. She loved playing under there when she wasn't so big. And now, she can only fit if she pushes against the wall with her legs. This has been happening almost daily. She goes over to the corner, pushes, pushes, finally gets under, then cries and barks and cries some more because she can't get back out. Today I left her under there for 15 minutes.

Hoping it helped her learn. Then I had to go to the rescue and LIFT the couch up so she could get out. She's something else. We'd be bored without her. 

Superb week

It may seem as if I have been slacking on the blog, but there are valid reasons for that, 1.) we had visitors all week, and 2.) before the visitors arrived I had to finish my two summer classes. This past week was indescribably superb. Tyler and Amelia came to visit and we are already missing them! They arrived last Monday morning and the fun started right away! We ate at yummy restaurants, cooked yummy food at home, shopped till we couldn't fit anything else into the trunk, and went to the ocean enough to all receive sunburns (Tyler wins the prize for the lesser of all the burns).
Some specific highlights: (and anyone thinking of coming to visit, hopefully this post convinces you)
-We spent a full day in Foley, AL at the Tanger outlet mall. So many good deals. The best deal was that we received an unexpected check that allowed for some great new clothes for both of us!

-Our sushi night ended with a walk on the beach in the dark using our phones as flashlights. Thank goodness for iPhones and great apps. We saw SO many Jellyfish. Thinking they came in from the two days of rain. They were everywhere and if we turned off our lights we could see them glow in the dark. Such a sight in that clear, clear Pensacola beach water. During our walk we also saw the biggest sand castle any of us had witnessed. John tried to find the architect by asking every kid around. Too funny.

 -We purchased a couple body boards and had quite the time hitting waves with them. Lia wins this prize for being quite the go-getter out there in the water. She lived on that board. The first day we took them out it was a "red flag" day and people were not allowed in the water without some sort of board. The currents were crazy. And the size of the waves was even crazier. 

-We ate out by the water on Saturday. It was beautiful. And the food was great too. Only down side was we forgot to grab my box of leftovers. I'm still trying to get over it.

 -Sunday, we went for a dolphin cruise! It was a beautiful day for a boat ride, and we had two dolphins swim along the boat for what seemed like forever. It was cool to see. There were other dolphins as well. We got our money's worth. There was even a dance party on the boat! And I'm hoping one of my pictures will win me a free ticket for another trip.  

Other than these specifics, we watched a few movies at night, went to the beach twice more, shopped on base, ate pb&j's on the beach, John and Tyler went for a run on the base beach, visited some tattoo parlors, walked out on the fishing bridge, played with Belleau, ate huge plates of Mexican food, made homemade pizzas, and so much more. This week has made me like Pensacola a little more. Maybe one day I'll end up loving it as much as I did Virginia.

 I really want to do it all over again. Who's next to visit?