My Favorite Veterans

I don't talk about being an Army wife or an Air Force brat a lot on this blog.  I'm not sure why because the former certainly affects my life in a gargantuan way.

My father served as a pilot in the United States Air Force for 20 years.  He retired when I was just a kid but you can tell he's a military man.  On clear days with blue skies he still says to me, "Today would be such a good day to fly."

My grandfather, who unfortunately I don't have any digital pictures of, served in the United States Army during World War II.  He fought in France along side his bother, my great uncle, who didn't make it home.  My father is named after this uncle.  My grandfather died when he was 87.

My husband is an officer in the United States Army.  He's currently serving a 12 month deployment in Afghanistan.

Side note: He's coming home so soon!  Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have the welcome home photos for you.  Squeal!

I wish I was close enough to one of my favorite vets to give them a squeeze today and say thank you in person.

Happy Veterans Day.

Papa's girl

I'm a daddy's girl. I look just like him. I got my first gray hair at 16 from his side. My unwavering loyalty, popping joints, all or nothing attitude, strong faith, straight teeth, and bluntness? His fault.

I love him for it and couldn't have asked for a better father.

So Papa, thanks for teaching me everything good there is to know about love by showing me how you love God and Mama and Chris and Laura and me. And even though you think you missed out on a lot by being gone a lot for work when we were small I don't think you did. I never remember you leaving, I just remember you coming home. Thanks for holding it together long enough to marry me and my husband. Thanks for answering my tax questions. Thanks for not pushing me to be something I'm not. And for giving me gifts without strings attached. Thanks for acting cool when I cuss in front of you because sometimes I forget that we're not just bullshitting but that you're my dad. Thanks for fighting the good fight of fatherhood.

I love you.

Nikki

p.s. sorry for cussing.

Papa Bear

Today is a very special day in my world. It's my Papa's birthday.

I got my looks, my prematurely graying hair, my straight teeth, my bluntness, my big heart, my knowledge of what love is, my ability to curl my tongue, and my clear skin from him. He taught me how to ride a bike, how to do things well, my self worth, algebra, how to love by loving my mother and caring for his aging father, and how to do what I say I'm going to do all the time, every time.

The world is lucky to have him and so am I.

Happy birthday, Papa Bear.

Best Christmas Card Ever

My Aunt Aimee sent me this card along with a HUGE box of presents for the hubs and I. She's an artist. I haven't opened the presents yet, but I think this my be my favorite present in there.

Butter bretzels

We went to Oktoberfest this weekend.

We being my husband and his parents. Can you tell that my husband are related to these people?

No?

He says he doesn't see the resemblance.

I drank 3 of those glasses. They hold 1 liter of German beer. For my American cohorts I will do the math for you: that equals 9 American beers. Three per glass. I was feeling very good in the Paulner tent.

I'm pretty sure my mother-in-law has video evedence of how good I was feeling.

Mamma mia...

Oh, and when we weren't drinking beer, we were eating big German sized bretzels.

Let's just say that Oktoberfest 09 will not be soon forgotten.

Welcome!

Welcome to Nikkilooch! I've been wanting to change my blog name for a while to something shorter and less angry. Because I'm shorter and less angry. Not really on the shorter part.

Why Nikkilooch? It's my husband's pet name for me and I love it. His family all call me that, too. I think it's so sweet and really makes me feel like part of their clan.

And now if you'd kindly direct your attention to the spankin' new, beautiful banner at the top of the page I'd like for you to take it in. Remember Sexton Day? My brother made this beautiful banner for me. The only direction I gave him was that I wanted it to have some kinda coffee in it and that I like hearts. He came up with that most lovely banner in a matter of not a long time. He's so nice to me. It has coffee and hearts. The two things I love most in this world. Well, maybe not most but in the top 25 or 50 at least.

There are going to be a lot more topics that I cover and things I include in this new blog: more pictures, art journal pages, more day to day life. I love seeing how other people live. It's the little peeks into their lives that make this online community really work. It makes you feel like you really know your internet friends even though you may have never heard their voice or given them a hug. I'm excited to document my life this way.

The give-aways:

The first give away is in honor of my new banner. It's a moka, espresso, and a small vase. Please note that the moka (espresso pot) pictured here is NOT the pot you will be getting. This one is my husband's and I'm pretty sure he'd show me how his AK-47 works if I ever gave it away. The winner will be getting a brand new shiny pot. The moka pictured here is a one cup and the one I'm giving away is a 3 cup. So not only is the winner's shiny it's also bigger. *pets your temper tantrum head*

I included the vase in case a non-coffee drinker (which if you are, please give it another chance coffee is lovely) wins the coffee prize. The little vase is from Nove not far from where I live. Nove is known for its ceramics. The store where I got this vase is known for providing ceramics for a little store called Williams Sonoma and a jewelry y'all may have heard of called Tiffany's.

Yeah. Good stuff. The next give-away is a book by my beloved Jill Mansell, Rumour Has It, and a journal. I love journals with elastic bands because they can hold in all the treasures you find as you write down what's important to you.

How to enter:

Just leave me a comment saying what you love about August. Contest ends Thursday, August 13th at midnight Central European Time. This contest is open to everyone on the planet. Please tell your friends.

I hope you, my loves, are as excited as I am.

Happy Sexton's Day!

A looooong time ago today my big brother got married.

Ok, so it wasn't THAT long ago. It was in 2000. But I was still in high school then and marriage seemed like it was never going to happen for me. I'm number 3 in the bride's maids line up by the way. I was so nice and tan. Now I'm Paley McPalerson. Oh, to be young and at the beach. My shorty pants sister is #4 and was 5 months pregnant with her first boy. My brother is by the far the tallest person in our family. My brother and his wife are both computer engineers. And they make beautiful children.

Happy Sexton's Day!

AND WE'RE BACK!

I have pictures again! It's going to take me a bit to sort through them all, but I'll update as I do. Here's Hubs and baby brother-in-law Chris from Munich this weekend. We were in the Hofbrauhaus (sp?). It's fuzzy but I love it. Just like I love pictures.

YES! PICTURES!

p.s. Isn't my husband the handsomest man you've ever seen?

Munchin, jawohl?

I am currently waiting patiently (as patiently as one bouncing in her seat can wait) for the memory card reader that my parents are sending me to get here. I want to show you my pictures. I WANT WANT WANT to. I’m expecting to get the memory card reader this week. I cannot wait. CANNOT.

Did all my American loves have a fireworky fourth of July?

We (Hubs, me and Hub’s baby brother Chris) drove to Munich. I had my first hostel experience. I have been living in Europe for 3 years and have never stayed in or gone near or thought about a hostel. It just was never an option for Hubs and I because we both have jobs and B&B’s aren’t expensive and that scary movie came out and I didn’t have communal bathrooms in college.

First let me clarify the term “hostel experience.” I did not actually STAY in a hostel. I just went to happy hour in 2 of them and drank an undisclosed amount of 1 euro beers. Good German beers. I think I’m in love.

I am starting my deployment plans. Hubs is deploying again, but only for a year this time. Last time my goals were to get a job (got one) and pay off our student loans (did that) and survive. Making one of your goals to just survive is setting the bar pretty low. I don’t want to just SURVIVE the deployment I want to thrive this time. I want to take my childless self as many places as I can go and take pictures and journal and draw and hear other people’s stories.

Segue time: And you know who stays in hostels? Other people. People with stories. Stories I want to hear and that I can write down in my notebook.

Funny inexperienced traveler story at my baby-brother’s-in-law expense:

Hubs and I are sitting in our hotel room waiting for Chris meet us. We had just finished watching FISH TANK at the Munchin Film Festival. Christ wanted ice cream and said he’d be right up. He comes in eating a prepackaged ice cream bar and says: I think I just paid some random guy for my ice cream.

HUBS: What?

CHRIS: Yeah, there was this guy sitting at a table and he got up to take my money after I got the ice cream out of the freezer. So I gave him the euro fifty and he went back to his seat where everyone at the table started laughing.

We left the hotel and walked by the café that sold the ice cream. Everyone that worked there was wearing and all black uniform.

CHRIS: That guy definitely had a red t-shirt on. I got robbed.