Real Talk: January 2013

I usually like to keep my blogs light and airy with some stupid bitching about unimportant things along the way.  But it's my blog and I feel like real talking for a moment.  I mean, it's always been real talk, but it's gonna get more real in a second.

Realities of Moving
I'm moving across the world here shortly.  We've known for nearly a year, and I feel like I've done everything humanly possible to prepare.  Okay...so maybe I haven't master Rosetta Stone Japan yet, but whatever...let's come back to that one.  But maybe by being prepared, I've become my own worst enemy.  I've been ready for a while, and now I'm waiting. And waiting. And waiting.  And please, I know that's how life is, how the military is, but knowing how it is doesn't make it any less annoying.

Excitement & Nerves
Since day 1 of knowing, people have tentatively asked if we were excited.  Do you want the truthful answer?  We were, we have been, and we are 400% excited!  It might sound cliche, but it's a dream come true for me.  Another question people ask is if I'm nervous.  Aaron doesn't get this question a lot.  Maybe it's cause he's a guy and should be all emotionally strong and stuff and I'm a woman and should be all soft and mushy and emotional. HA!  Another truthful answer:  Neither of us have been nervous.  Not about living so far away from family and friends. Not about moving to another country.  Not about not knowing anyone in that country.  Not nervous about that country not speaking English (primarily).  Nope, not nervous at all.

Anxieties and My Ridiculous Brain
As I said over at the kitchen, we are in transition from our last assignment to our next one.  Only since moving out of our apartment have I started to get anxious.  Maybe it's not really having a place to live (of our own).  Maybe it wasn't having an address anymore (we have since received our APO PO Box).  Maybe it's the stress of making sure the cat's paperwork (she has more than we do) is all taken care of and she survives the multi-day travel and flights (why in the world did I read this article about Pet Deaths in Airplane Cabins!?!?!). Maybe it's just the sitting around and waiting while living out of a suitcase for a month and a half.  It's probably a little of all of that, but I'll tell you something that I've been thinking about.  And trust me, I know how ridiculous it sounds.

I'm concerned I'm not going to be able to do all the things I want to do while living in Japan for 3 years.

Seriously, that has been consuming my brain at 3am.  I KNOW that I can't do everything in 3 years.  Fuck, I know I couldn't do EVERYTHING in my whole life.  So why the fuck did that thought ever cross my mind?!

I mentioned this irrational concern to Aaron the other day.  When he asked what I wanted to do while in Japan, and why I don't think we'll be able to do it, I responded, "I want to do EVERYTHING."

Yeah.  Not a lot of things, not most things, I want to do ALL things.

He gave me 'the look' and very kindly said that I might need to readjust my expectations.

People...I know this.  Really, I don't expect to do EVERYTHING.  I really don't.  I think I'm just looking forward to taking advantage of as much as I can.  I don't want to be that person who sits around on base because it's familiar - if you know me, you know that isn't something I do.  I want to be the person who goes out and explores everything she possibly can!!!  And you know what folks?  I'm going to be that person.  I am that person!!!  WOO!

Friends and Family Back Home
Most of our family and friends are really excited that we are moving, but some are sad or upset, and that makes me sad they feel that way.  I don't see it as us moving AWAY from anything, instead we are moving TOWARDS a once in a lifetime experiences and our future together.  Wow, that sounded so mega corny, but it's true.  For me, moving to Japan wasn't an option.  Once we had the opportunity, we were going to take it.

Realistically, we will be able to see and speak with our families just as often as we do now, and have for the past couple of years.  We are only a plane ride (or two) away, and according to google maps, you could always kayak to Okinawa (use walking directions to find your way).  Phone calls are still possible.  There are options for text messaging back and forth from the states.  Of course there is video chatting.  These are things we already do to stay in touch.  The 15 hour time difference just makes it slightly less convenient.

And of course I'm going to miss them, they are my family and friends!!! I just hope they take advantage of knowing someone overseas to go visit and explore.

Learning Japanese
I'm slowly working on it...and asides from saying a few words here and there (neko=cat), counting to 6 (ichi, ni, san, yon, go, roku), a few primary colors (acai=red), and some sentence that I have yet to figure out what Rosetta Stone means...it's not going as well as I hoped.  It's hard to begin with and learning things like this is not something that I've ever excelled at.  Apparently it hasn't changed with age.  I often have to remind myself not to compare my speed of learning with other people, especially Aaron.  He's learned nearly 1,000 Kanji characters, is currently using Rosetta Stone, and just started to learn Hiragana^1.   All this on top of learning how to fly a plane and everything that goes along with it.  I could be biased, but I'm proud of him.

I'm still plunking away at it, slowly but surely.  Rosetta Stone estimates it should take around 200 hours to complete the program.  I estimate more than double that.  It takes me a lot longer to get a passing grade (over 90%) in each section than it suggests.

Goals
Most of you came to this blog because you follow me over at Kacey's Kitchen.  You know I like love to cook and eat and all things foodings.  Both Aaron and I like to eat.  We like to eat new things, eat often, and eat well.  If I can cook it, we like it even better.  I can't even begin to express how stoked we are to be able to eat our way through foreign lands.  Not only do we plan on immersing ourselves in the food culture of Japan, but we intend to visit many other countries while over there...eating our way through Asia would make this couple very happy.

I would really love to cook like the locals and learn lots of new techniques and dishes.  I would love to do most of my shopping off base at Japanese markets.  It could get overwhelming and time consuming at first...navigating my way to the stores while not being able to read street signs, navigating my way through the store while not being able to read signs for products I've never seen before and don't know how to cook with.  Without wanting to put too much pressure on myself, once we get into our house and unpacked, I would like start out cooking 1 new dish (Okinawan, Japanese, etc...) a week.  While I would love to tell you all I'm going to come back in 3 years cooking only Japanese dishes (oh, and trust me, we would LOVE that), I'm going to START off with 1 new dish a week using local ingredients and increase that as I get more comfortable.  I also hope to participate in the Okinawa Island Produce CSA project, which is similar to the Bountiful Baskets program I used while here in Oklahoma. OIP has been 'down' since the typhoons last summer...but hopefully it'll pick back up.

Making Friends
Unless you are a freak, making friends isn't easy.  I wouldn't say that it's hard...it's just not as easy as it was when I was young and in school.  Moving around every few years doesn't help.

We are so lucky to know another couple over in Japan.  We met them a few months ago at our TDY location and became close friends.  They headed to our new base in December and doing well getting settled in and giving us the scoop on what to expect when we arrive.  We look forward to seeing them again soon and go explore the island with them!  I feel a little spoiled moving to another country and knowing someone there, but hey, I'm totally taking it!

I hope to volunteer a bunch while in Okinawa, and who knows what kinds of groups and clubs we may become a part of...but I don't think we'll be at a loss of meeting people.  There are going to be tons and tons and tons of people in the same situation we are, with lots or resources, away from familiarity, and with lots of things on our 'to-do' list.


There are so many things I want to do while over there, and I'm so excited to get started!  I'm going to try a blog a few more times before we arrive in Japan, but we'll be traveling a bunch, so we'll see how it goes.

Is there anything that you would like to know about our adventure?  Leave a comment below!!

¹Hiragana

A Japanese writing style (along with Kanji, Katakana, and Romanji).  Hiragana and Katakana are part of the 'kana' systems, with each character representing one sound in the Japanese language.  Hiragana is used for words which there are no kanji.  It's all very confusing to me.

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California & Grand Canyon Adventures, Part 10, Day 9

If you need to catch up on our California & Grand Canyon Adventures this summer, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, and Part 9!

I know, I know, it's about time to finish off this series, huh?    Well, for the last few days of our trip, we stayed with my cousin down in Orange County.  And just a few days before we arrived at her door, she calls to let me know she just broke her right leg/ankle.  Of course, I know NOTHING about that....and since she was living alone, up a flight of stairs, we were really happy we could be there to help her, especially that first week filled with doctors appointments and getting used to hobbling around in a cast.  If you've never experienced such a thing, let me tell you...it majorly sucks.

When we arrived, Soju (her monster cat) immediately fell in love with Aaron.

 These last few days were actually perfect.  We took it easy having well needed cousin time, and of course some beach time...about a mile from her house.  Life is rough folks...life is rough.

Although it was the beginning of June, the Pacific Ocean wasn't quite the temperature we wanted, but the beach and sun were perfect.  Technically, we did go in the ocean, about up to our ankles.  Sitting on the beach can get exhausting, so of course, we had to grab a burger...  

We were happy with the Shwack.  It's a casual beach type place in downtown Dana Point.  Show up in your bathing suit, order at the counter, grab a beer, sit outside, and enjoy. Their burgers were delicious and the Shwack spuds were amazing!  Check out how crunchy they were!  Oh, and asides from fresh and delicious food, the prices were great too.  I like!

Next up was bringing the cuz to the doctors office.  Hitting in up early, we got a nice look at her bruises and swelling while she waited for some x-rays to verify the damage.  Looking at these pictures, I really liked those jeans...I wonder what happened to them...

.

Yup.  Definitely broken.  Super nice and twisted and definitely needing surgery.  All those little lines are where the doc showed us where the pins and screws would go.  Yikes!

At our second doc visit of the day.  Obviously Shannon's super stoked I'm taking a picture of her in this state.

My family is really, REALLY good at working up an appetite.  Shannon took me out to South of Nick's which is another great food spot.  Nice modern and warm decor, we grabbed a table, and shoveled delicious food into our faces.  Both of us were super stoked about our choices here.  I recommend!  At this point, I felt a little bad about leaving Aaron home and him not enjoying this great meal...obviously I got over it though.

When we got home...the monster had gotten him again...

We had a blast during our California vacation, and while we were there, we planned to have me fly back out with my cat and stay for a month to help Shannon out after her surgery.  Aaron was going to be away in training, so it worked out perfect!  Maybe I'll do a short little series on that trip.  It was so awesome to be able to spend a whole month with my cousin, and we were amazed that not even ONCE did we want to strangle each other!!!

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Pack it up, Pack it in!

I'm pleased to announce that all of our belongings (with the exception of our filled suitcases) were packed up over a month ago, and they are currently on their way to Japan as I type this.

Overseas military moves have 2 shipments: Unaccompanied baggage (UB) and household goods (HHG).  During a UB, your stuff is put into boxes and sent over via plane.  It gets there first, and because it costs more, you are limited to only so many hundreds of pounds.  The overseas household goods shipment gets boxed up and then crated, and sent by boat, so it could take quite a bit longer (hence the UB shipment for priority items).  This shipment also has a weight limit.  The weight will be determined by your destination, rank, and if you have dependents (that's me!).  In our case, we were authorized a total of 13,500 lbs, including a ~1,000 lb limit on our UB Shipment.  You've got to estimate your weight yourself, and figure out what to do with the rest, cause the government will move EVERYTHING you have, but if you are over those weight limits, they charge you an arm and a leg and your first born or something like that.  I don't know the exact amount off the top of my head, but you just hear from people, "DON'T do it!".  So basically, don't do it.

The weight limit is pretty much a joke to us.  We don't own much.  In fact, we recently received emails saying they weighed our shipments.  Our HHG weighed 3,465 lbs and our UB weighed 309 lbs.  Yup...29 years of 2 peoples belongings and it doesn't even weigh 4,000 lbs.  Nice, right?! 

98% of our belongings have been up in storage since summer since we moved out of our house and into a furnished apartment, so my day with the movers went amazingly smooth.  We packed everything up well enough to ship overseas, with the intentions the movers wouldn't have to repack anything.  Our efforts worked well, because they didn't have to unpack anything (okay...just one box that was crushed).  The movers are responsible for getting your belongings to your destination safe, and they are NOT allowed to write 'packed by owner' on the bill of lading, so they'll open up boxes to make sure it's packed to their standards.  They might need to throw some extra paper on top to prevent shifting, or repack a box entirely.  It is their call, no matter how nicely you think you packed.

Pro Tip Alert! If you plan to put your stuff in storage, do it right the first time, when you have time, and you are the one handling your belongings.  Go to the recycling center at your local base.  They flatten and keep the professional moving boxes and even sometimes bags of paper.  They'll give you anything you want for free.  Get it, it's what the movers would use to protect your belongings.  If you pack it up to snuff with moving company standards, it will save you so much time on moving day, plus the peace of mind knowing your the only one touching your stuff.

We had 2 storage units (because only small were available at the time we moved in), so the movers worked on one at a time.  They checked some boxes and decided if they were all packed as nicely as those...they wouldn't be repacking any.  I have heard of folks getting annoyed that shippers won't send those big plastic totes as they are, but it's really for your own good.  The temperature changes could crack the plastic, making all your shit fall out.  And you don't want your shit to fall out.  A solution would be to ask for what my movers did automatically...instead of repacking the totes, they just sat them inside of another box.  Viola!

The guys were really good with my belongings, but I stayed close to help answer questions (this eliminated the need for them to search through something), and just to keep an eye on things that may have been overlooked.

Pro Tip Alert! Keep an eye on that bill of lading sheet that the head-mover-dude is filling out.  When he/she walks away from it, take a look, count your boxes, and make sure those stickers are on EVERY SINGLE BOX (otherwise you can't prove you had it, if it gets lost).  It's easier to ask to look at the sheet occasionally while they are working on it rather than after they have everything in the truck, and 10 inventory sheets, and you have no idea what's missing or wrong.  Doing it this way, I was able to catch numerous boxes they hadn't accounted for (simple oversight), and a wrong description of our TV.  If something still goes missing, at least you know that you did everything you could to ensure the best possible move.  If you don't...well...really, who's fault is it?

Once all the items were out of the storage units, boxed, labeled, and listed on the BOL inventory, they were stacked into the crates.   This was pretty fun to watch how perfectly they could stack/shove so many boxes into one crate.  NOTHING else could fit in them.

The HHG's were done in one day.  We had two scheduled just in case, and also our UB shipment on the second day by a separate provider.  I brought hot fresh donuts from the local donut shop, and the guys took breaks so I didn't feel obligated to feed them anything else.  On the second day, my movers practically laughed at me.  They had it MADE that day with only 7 boxes that they placed into 3 larger boxes.  Once the paperwork was complete, it was less than 12 minutes from the time they showed up to the time we all left.

So what's left now?
We've been living on what we can fit in our suitcases to bring with us on the plane to Japan.  Aaron should be finishing up with training this week, and then we will move out of our apartment and in with some family until we leave for Japan.  So this weekend we are going to pack our suitcases.  And then all that's left is to clean the apartment, put together a box to ship to ourselves (bedding, & other last minute stuff), and hand in our keys.

Oh, and then wait a month.

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MilSpouse First Friday Fill-In (January)

Wifey of Wife of a Sailor came up with this 5 question monthly series to get to know our fellow bloggers better!  Once you post your answers on your own blog, you will submit your link on her site, where all the contributors are listed! Check it, Check it! 

Here's my questions and answers for January!

1. What’s one thing in the past month you would have changed? Hmm...I'm not really sure.  Oh! I wouldn't have let the fucker who bought my jeep drive home with my license plate.  He was another military member from our base and for once, I gave someone the benefit of the doubt, trusting them until they give me a reason not to.  He didn't return my license plate, and played games with me the whole month about it.  Hopefully I've worked out all the legalities with the state of Florida, and nothing will come back to me about it...we'll see.  This just helped justify to myself why I do the things I do.  

2. What was your favorite thing that happened in December? Seeing sister of course!!! Yay for sister time!!!!!  Another favorite was destroying my little cousins in a pillow fight....total annihilation!!!

3. What are you looking forward to in January? Getting out of our stinky furnished apartment.  It's stinky.  It has furniture that isn't ours.  And only 2 windows.  And ever since packing up and sending everything we own to Japan....I'm getting frustrated when I try to cook only to find out I've packed that certain spice or kitchen utensil or best of all, a baking dish for that pie I just made.  It's hard to cook a pie without any sort of baking dish.*sigh*

4. What did you do for New Year’s Eve? Ran a bunch of errands with Rachael, Brendan, and Aaron. Got our Jersey food fix with the MOST AMAZING sandwich at Rose's Pizza in Garfield.  Played video games in our PJ's, snacked all night on gourmet stuffed olives, and drank lots of wine and champagne!

5. What are your hopes and wishes for 2013? That the Sammy girl (the cat) has a successful trip to Japan.  I also hope that I experience everything I possibly can while living in Okinawa!!!

Turkey Sub at Rose's

Want to check out my past MilSpouse First Friday Fill-In?  Check them out here.

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Resources for Living in Japan and Other Things

For the past 9 months or so, I've found myself doing research nearly every night about moving to Japan, living in Japan, communication to and from the US from Japan, and traveling throughout Asia.  I'd almost say it's become an addiction, but in the best way.  It's so exciting knowing that in less than 42 days we leave for Japan.

Lots of people are curious about our adventures and what Japan is going to do and mean for us.  I respond with 'everything'.

I've subscribed to dozens of blogs relating to Japan and have found hundreds of websites.  Some of my favorites or most useful, I've actually posted links to on my bloggy-blog here.  Look up, just below my header, you'll see a link for Resources.  Go ahead, click on it and explore if you are interested in what I've been researching.  Maybe you are looking for some tips on living in Japan too!  If you are, we should totally meet up for some coffee or tea or something.  Maybe at the Neco Cafe?  Because a cafe filled with cats is how all cafes should be.  Don't you agree?  And please, if you visit that Neco Cafe site, please use Google Translate to make it legible and read it.  The translation throughout the site is hilarious!

Anyway.  I like using my blogs as sort of record keeping...you know, for the stuff I want to share publicly and all.  I hope on updating more often, but you don't really want to hear about us 'hurrying up and waiting', do you?  Naawww.  But here's a quick followup:

We just got back from nearly 2 weeks visiting family on the east coast.  Aaron still has a few flights left.  We need to pack our suitcases this weekend.  We move out of our apartment next week.  We are homeless for about 3 weeks, although thankfully staying with family who is gracious enough to take not only us but our cat in for as long as we need.

In the meantime, I continue with my research addiction.  Tonight I found a few more blogs of interest, and thought I should share them here.

Just Hungry: My new go-to Japanese cooking blog for the basics.  I think this will help me reduce my 'learn how to cook all over again' time once I start shopping locally in Okinawa.  I appreciate the '100 Japanese Foods to Try at Least Once' list.

Just Bento: By the authors of Just Hungry.  I would really like to make Aaron fun bento lunches in the future.

Savory Japan: A beautiful site explaining who/what/where/why of Japanese food.  Some great recommended reading found here also.

Surviving In Japan: Anything you want to know, from how to ship lithium batteries to Japan, to Japanese tampons, to using your Japanese air conditioner.  Great lists with English/Kanji/Romaji words that I'll be bookmarking soon!

So...that's all I've got for tonight!

Oyasuminasai!

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I Don't Get It, Vol. 1

Elf on the damn Shelf.  It's not cute.  It's creepy.  And I don't understand the appeal.

I've read peoples blogs, seen the descriptions and the 'point' of it...but I don't get it, and don't like it.

According to elfontheshelf.com:

"The Elf on the Shelf ®: A Christmas Tradition is a very special tool that helps Santa knows who should go on the list of those who misbehave and who on the list of those who behave well."

From what I've witnessed, parents are using Elf to prank children, scare children, and threaten children.  For example, "If you don't do your homework, Elf will tell Santa and you'll be on the naughty list."

Now, I don't really care what you people do with your own kids, but I was a kid once, and I would NOT have appreciated it.  If you need to punish your children, grow some balls and do it...don't blame a 9" plush little boy with a painted face.  Plus...dolls with those fucking creepy eyes are fucking creepy.

Let's check out some of the things Elfy does.

Not cool Elf...not cool at all.

Nope. Not what parents should be doing with a childrens toy.
When I was a kid, lessons were not taught like this.

That's just not sanitary. (Well, neither is the second picture).

Great idea, let's trash our own house and pretend an inanimate object did it.

A few things here.
I thought this is something parents did not want their children exposed too.
And...if an Elf drank all my wine...I'd be pretty pissed.

Call me a party-pooper or an Elf hater or whatever you want.  I don't like it and I don't get it.

To make things worse...What the FUCK is a Troll in the Hole?

What about you?  What do you think of Elf on the Shelf?  What's annoying you these days? Leave a comment!

If you enjoyed this post, and would like to follow 'Where in the World is Kacey?', please subscribe here so you don't miss anything! Also, be sure to check out Kacey's Kitchen for the latest recipe, Mushroom & Beef Tacos with Avocado Salsa.

California & Grand Canyon Adventures, Part 9, Day 8

If you need to catch up on our California & Grand Canyon Adventures this summer, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Part 8!

Hopefully I'll finish this series up soon, cause there is so much more to cover in 2012 before it's 2013! Yikes!

Okay. So this day was pretty cool.  It just happened that our friends Nich & Des from back home (East Coast - Holla!) were visiting the fine city of Los Angeles at about the same time we were! This was especially exciting because we don't get to see them very much at all.  Aaron hadn't seen them since our wedding (2 years ago).  So anyway...I had not been to Universal Studios Hollywood ever, and Aaron hadn't been since he was young, and Nich and Des have this uncanny love for theme parks.  It was just a given that we should go.  So we did.

Military Discount Alert!  Do NOT go to Universal or other theme parks WITHOUT contacting your ITT department.  They have the most amazing discounts ever, but you typically have to order them ahead of time direct through your base (or another base).  This is the second theme park that we've gone to getting crazy deals through them (Disney 4-day park hopper for $138 each - hello?!?!).  In this instance, the 4 of us (military member plus a finite number of guests) got a Year Pass plus Front of Line pass for something like $80 each or so (I can't remember exactly how much).  Another awesome thing...you can order ITT tickets from ANY base.  Our base didn't carry Universal Hollywood tickets at the time, so I called Camp Pendleton (different branch) and they overnighted the tickets to me!

Onto our day....

Nich and Des are awesome to theme park with.  My first theme park as an adult was last year (Disney), before we moved from Florida, and I was so thankful that it was just my husband and I.  Asides from having goofy fun (get it...goofy?) together alone, we planned out our day to hit every ride/show we wanted with minimal lines.  We were so stealth running through the park, grabbing a fastpass, running to another ride, hitting up our fastpass ride.  We completed 2 entire parks in one day.  That's really amazing people.  And we couldn't have done it if we were in a group with dilly-dalliers going "uhh...do'r...what do you want to do next?". I couldn't handle that.  People would die.  But Nich and Des were clear and upfront with what they wanted to do in the park, and the 4 of us easily decided how to navigate the park.
 Please tell me you guys remember An American Tale.  If I were a mouse, Fievel would be my boyfriend.

 These things came in handy.  But you know what?  The park wasn't even too busy if we didn't have them.

 I loved how the park is built on a mountain and there are tons of different levels.  Props to Des and Aaron for walking up some  4,908,234 stairs. Give or take a few.

This is what I get for not getting permission for posting pictures of people on my blog.  I think it's kinda funny.  The next few shots are from the Studio Tour, which is something like a 30 minute tram town of, you guessed it, studio tours.

 How they reenact car explosions and crashes.

 I don't even know.

 We all liked the Animal Actors show.  It was pretty neat to see animals like guinea pigs, mice, cats, and others trained to go places on cue.  Afterwards, everyone with Front of Line passes got to stick around and pet some little creatures and take pictures with them.  Can we say STOKED!  Even Aaron bonded with one of them.

 Oh boy... (Made of Jelly Beans)

We had a blast, and it was so nice to do something like that with friends we rarely see.  We didn't want to say goodbye, but we parted ways and headed down to see my cousin Shannon in Orange County.  More on that next!

Hungry?  Check out my most recent post on Kacey's Kitchen, Mushroom & Beef Tacos with Avocado Salsa.

If you enjoyed this post, and would like to follow 'Where in the World is Kacey?', please subscribe here so you don't miss anything! Also, be sure to check out Kacey's Kitchen for my food blog!

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MilSpouse First Friday Fill-In (December)

Wifey of Wife of a Sailor came up with this 5 question monthly series to get to know our fellow bloggers better!  Once you post your answers on your own blog, you will submit your link on her site, where all the contributors are listed! Check it, Check it! 

Here's my questions and answers for Decemeber!

1. What’s one thing in the past month you would have changed? I would have chilled out a little more.  Maybe living in the middle of nowhere is starting to get to me, maybe it's preparing to move across the world, but there were a few days this month that I definitely stressed myself out waaay too much.  I also feel like I've been going non-stop and could totally use a day on the couch with a bottle of wine and a Law and Order SVU marathon.  That would totally straighten things out for a while.  Dum-Dum.

2. What was your favorite thing that happened in November? Went to Dallas with friends and ate ungodly amounts of delicious food which made me so freaking happy.  Really, how could we NOT have 2 dinners in one night.  We also John & Sherry from Young House Love at our first book signing.  Oh! And we had our first formal afternoon tea.  That makes us all sound so fancy pants, but don't let that fool you.

3. What is your favorite holiday memory? There is a toss up between 2 specific moments.  Once at Thanksgiving I laughed so hard I fell through my chair.  No joke.  My parents had this beautiful old OLD dining room set that was old.  We never had any issues with it up until then, but it was getting kinda old and the chairs kind of rickety.  *laugh* *laugh* *boom*  The seat of the chair just totally gave way.  Which is weird because I must have weighed all of 100lbs at the time, and my uncle's chair, who was supporting nearly 400lbs was fine. Did I mention the chair was old?

And then there was the time that we look over and my grandmothers head was in my grandfathers lap.  My dad yells, "Mom! Can't you wait until you get home!!!??!" My grandmother was the first one to pick up on it, my mom is yelling at my dad for saying that 'in front of the kids', my grandfather doesn't know why everyone is laughing and yells "Does anyone have a flashlight!?!", and I swear - food and drink must have shot out of everyone's nose.  That was like the funniest shit ever.  We are all still laughing about it, and that must have been 10 years ago.  Oh, the reason it looked like my grandma's head was in his lap was that he dropped one of his pills, and she was looking for it on the floor.

Priceless.

4. What are your plans for New Year’s Eve? We are going 'home' during the Christmas/New Years time, so our week is going to be pretty busy.  As of now, the plans are to hang out with my sister in NJ, get a shit ton of pizza *angels singing* (and booze), and just hang out.  I'm sure video games and lots of darts are going to happen. Also, annoying her cats.  Cause that's what we do.

5. What are you looking forward to in December? December is going to be a busy month.  Next week I'm looking forward to packing ALL OF OUR STUFF AND SENDING IT TO JAPAN.  Holy crap.  And OF COURSE I'm so so SO stoked to see my family the week after that.

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Orders aka Magic Papers

Last we spoke about our future Japan adventures, we had 125 days left in the United States.  As of this posting? 77 days. 77 days left in OUR OWN COUNTRY!!!

This can be summed up in one phrase.

Holy Fuck.

It's happening.  It's really happening.  And I'll tell you what's been happening.

After a few weeks of waiting for return phone calls and emails from various staff at various Air Force departments at various Air Force locations, we both completed the necessary various requirements to send in and then patiently wait for various approvals and actual real live orders.  You see, in the military, you are informed (or not informed) of information first.  This is your unofficial-official notification of assignment.  In our case, we were told in March of 2012 that Aaron was assigned to Kadena AB in Okinawa, Japan.  Then a few weeks later Aaron received his RIP¹.  This is sort of the first non-official official piece of paper (e-mail) that we get telling us him (at this point, dependents are not yet authorized to go) where and when he is going.

On the RIP, instructions are usually given to go find 'the checklist', contact so-and-so, briefings he needs to receive in order to obtain his orders and entitlements.  This is always a weird time, especially for us because we knew nearly 10 months in advance what his RNLTD² was.  Oh yeah, and during all this, Aaron was assigned a 5 month TDY³ a few hours south (still in good ole Ok-lahoma), and we decided we could be making saving an awesome amount of money if we left our house, put all of our belongings in storage, and I move down with him into a furnished apartment.  So anyway, Aaron started his 5 month initial qualification, I tried to get as settled as possible in a furnished apartment with minimal belongings and no friends (yet), and we both started to plug away at things on the checklist.  Things like: more checklists, more briefings, medical clearance for both of us (does the receiving base have the capabilities of taking care of our needs?), dental clearance (another appointment - does my dentist foresee any major issues while we are in Japan?), etc.  Oh yeah, I also tried (er...am trying) not to go crazy living FARTHER in the middle-of-nowhere-Oklahoma and not having complete control of our moving-across-the-world-planning.

Okay.  So following a checklist seems all easy and fine and dandy and all, so we completed everything just to be told that certain items cannot be completed until 'x' amount of months prior to arriving in Japan.  And the poor cat went through so much trauma to get her all approved to enter another country - that deserves it's own post though.  Let's just say, she has more paperwork than we do.  Making ourselves another checklist full of dates and appointments again, we finally submit everything and receive our orders.

*A Big Sigh*

We received our orders.  Aaron's 3 year tour is accompanied⁴.  That's definitely something important us spouses want to see on there.  See:

Orders. Check.
Flights to Japan with cat booked. Check
HHG and UB⁵ shipments booked. Check.
Housing application submitted.  Check.

Oh, and we just received an email from a guy named Aaron who volunteered to be our sponsor! 
Sponsor. Check.

So like I said....moving right along.

¹RIP

Report on Individual Person.  A document with important information on a specific person.

²RNLTD

Report No Later Than Date.  Report early, report on time, but do NOT report later than this date.

³TDY

Temporary Duty.  This is duty assigned somewhere other than the members permanent duty station.  It could be for a variety of time, anywhere from a few days to a few months, and your TDY station could be anywhere in the world.  One thing sort of awesome about TDY's is that they come with per diem pay to cover lodging, meals, and incidentals.  Depending on requirements and how the member handles his tour...you could make some cash monies.

⁴Accompanied Tour

Command Sponsored.  This means that the military approves you (the dependant/s) to tag along and you and your spouse receive all the benefits of an accompanied tour.  There are many reasons why the military would not want the spouse to go: unsafe, expensive, base not being able to accommodate special needs, etc. WITHOUT your name on the orders, you could potentially go anyway but you might only be able to stay for short amounts of time on a visa from the host country, you won't be able to use overseas medical services, they will not pay to move you and your belongings, you cannot live on base and the military member will not receive any additional funds for you.  Basically, the military won't acknowledge you.  So MAKE SURE YOU'RE ON YOUR SPOUSES ORDERS...or atleast understand why you aren't.

⁵UB

Unaccompanied Baggage.  This is a shipment sent separately from your HHG.  Going overseas, your HHG's are crated and sent over via boat, and could possibly take months to arrive.  Your unaccompanied Baggage is a limited weight of your essentials that you would like to arrive earlier.  UB is sent by plane, usually a few weeks before your HHG's arrive.  Sometimes they come after, but that's just the nature of the beast. Things suggested to include in your UB are extra cloths, pots/pans, linens, etc...  Something good to keep in mind is that during a PCS or TDY you are authorized to use the loan locker, borrowing anything you might need until your shipments arrive.

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California & Grand Canyon Adventures, Part 8, Day 7

If you need to catch up on our California & Grand Canyon Adventures this summer, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7!

Welcome back team.  Things are going forward with our moving to Japan and all that jazz.  In fact, we have our flight booked (with Sammy the Cat) and are in the process of scheduling our 'stuff' shipment.  More on that later.  Today I'm going to continue on with our California summer trip!

We woke up on the later side of the morning, and I'm sure that had nothing to do with Wanda and I staying up 'til all hours of the morning chatting (and finishing off a delicious batch of margaritas!).  Jim was an awesome tour guide once again, driving us around Palos Verdes to check out the amazing views and crazy houses on those 'landslide' cliffs!  Insane I tell you!

I had heard that Venice Beach was a cool area, and I'm not sure if we totally missed the 'cool area' or not, but it wasn't what any of us expected.  The beach and 'boardwalk' area were pretty trashy.  It reminded me of Seaside Heights in New Jersey.  I grew up with that, and I could really care less to see anymore crack heads begging for money on a boardwalk.  

That being said, there were a few interesting sites including best permanent signage:

And best working girl.  I just missed the shot of Jim shoving in a dollar bill.  He's a quick one with those bitches bikinis I tell ya!

There were some beautiful houses along the Venice canals though, which makes me think I missed the nice stuff in town/along the beach.

After leaving Venice a bit disappointed, we headed up to Santa Monica to shop at the 3rd Street Promenade, which was a great outdoor (with an indoor) pedestrian mall.  It was just a few blocks from the boardwalk and ocean, which I visited a few weeks later when I came back to California.  

Aaron and I especially enjoyed the topiary's. 

And even though we were on our way to dinner, we were all pretty starved, so we grabbed pretzels, and a pretzel dog.  This was also our first Wetzel's Pretzel experience.  I felt a little dirty eating this one though....

Next up was dinner at Paradise Cove Beach Cafe in Malibu.  Although online reviews say that this is a touristy place, it doesn't seem that way.  Apparently movies are commonly filmed here because of the cove and secluded-ness, and even when movies aren't being filmed, you'll still spot celebrities.  We did!  While we were eating, I peered over to see this trio of punk dudes walking down the beach in black skinny jeans and mohawks and leather jackets.  Oh Green Day...aren't you just too cool for Malibu!  Yup, there went Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool strolling past us in waaaay to much black cloths for the beach.  I bet they got tons of sand in their chucks too.

 Now that I'm back into the blogging mood, I should be finishing up this series soon and hopefully get motivated to talk about some current stuff!!!

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