Strike Fighter Ball

Lauren F., Laura, Lauren S., and I. The Lauren's squadron's husbands are

 deployed so they had a pirates theme... Pretty fun!

Katie and I

Our squadron had flames for our role-call: pump-hairspray bottles filled with lighter fluid... I didn't know it was lighter fluid until I sprayed it on my hair and the guys flipped out... I stayed away from flames all night. 

Boo and I. 

Dragon sing-along. 

Full-length shot. 

Laura, Kristen and I. All that's missing is Liz and we could have recreated our photo from Bad Man Ball last year! Boo...

P. Skipper and Amy. 

The night got a bit crazy... Here Dan and Cooter are Wrastlin'. 

November

November was a super busy month. I didn't get home from Idaho until November 5. Dave got home from Fallon on November 12. I attended Noriko's farewell tea in the 13th; I spent the 15th and 16th on base (all day) to paint the anchor in front of the O'Club for the upcoming change of command. On the 17th, we had the Change of Command ceremony, followed by reception and then hail-and-bail party that same night. November 19th was Hornet Ball in Visalia, 20th was recovery and Harry Potter 7. On the 22nd, Emily arrived and we got in the Thanksgiving mode. We had dinner at Katie's house on the 25th. 

Phew. Long month. 

Amy, Noriko, and Linda at Noriko's farewell tea 

held at Victoria Rose Tea House in Clovis, CA. 

                                      

Sandy, Linda and I painting the anchor. Doesn't it look classy? Until we were cleaning up and realized the Corosion Dept had left of the "G" in SSHWFGD (Super "Smokin'" Hot World Famous Golden Dragons). The G being very important... we had to redo that section. Huge headache. But it look nice (but not as nice, in my opinion). 

The actual moment that the change of command takes place: Commanders Henry (center) and Miller (right) salute each other as CDR Miller relieves CDR Henry of duty. Rear Admiral Aucoin looks on from left. 

Amy, thrilled and proud.  :)

Sailors (and officers, though not pictured here) stood at attention during the entire 90 minute ceremony. 

Rear Admiral Aucoin and CDR Henry, sporting their Golden Dragon socks. 

CMD Miller's dad taking photos of the logo. 

More Idaho

I realized I never posted more pictures from Idaho. And I also realized, looking through my pictures, that my camera only documented half of the time there. Katie's more pictures... like of me in my dirndl!

Make pomegranate jelly!

Maya atop Babe. 

Katie's older sister, Marci, with Tom and Maya, trying to figure out 

what went wrong with her caramel apples. The caramel just wouldn't harden onto the apples. 

A quick sojourn to Joseph, Oregon, to meet up with Aunt Julie and her husband, Mark, in front of Wallowa (Wa-Lah-wa) Lake Lodge, built in 1928. 

a heard of 10 deer and a buck on our way out of the Lodge area. 

Maya in Marci's wedding boots. 

Katie's dad, Dick, with Caleb, soon after he learned to say my name. 

My new vow...

...to only shop at thrift stores.

I went thrifting today with two friends who are locals so they know the good places to go. We drove to Visalia (which as the 2nd worst air quality in the nation), about 20 miles away, and hit up three stores.

The surprise hit in all of the stores was their book selection! Some total gems. One entitled "A Modern Explanation of the Catholic Church" which included a handwritten 3x5 note card responding to a parishioner's request for information; some ancient (40s and 50w) romance novels; a book from 1973 about your role as a wife in a marriage. Wow - for only 25-50cents each I had to restrain myself on some of them.

Here's what I acquired today.

A beautiful, though unfortunately very modern (2004) Emma, by her majesty Jane Austen, with Sparknotes in final 80 pages.... rather lame, but beautiful to look at on a shelf, yes?

 
A complete collection of Grimms's fairytales, complete with jacket, which  I removed because it's so pretty without one. Did you know the Grimm brothers wrote 211 moral teaching short stories? Originally published in Germany in 1812 and 1815, the originals of Cinderella, Rumplestiltskin, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, and the Frog Prince are more drastic and violent. I'm looking forward to reading them all. Exciting. (Came complete with original yellow bookmark.)

For twenty-five cents, who can say no to a comprehensive guide to successful gardening!?

Well these are just great. Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and The Man in the Iron Mask as cartoons. Hmm. Regardless, they should be interesting to look at.

The last two are glorious finds.

Here we have a new, with tags still in the pockets, size small Columbia jacket. For $5.50. So I obviously purchased it. Plus green is a good color for me. Score!

 Running off the "green is a good color for me" I found this green duponi silk dress, with original tags on it, for $25. Oh, but it's Monday, so it was 75% off anything that's been there for more than 10 days. So this dress was $6. Yes. So now I'm torn as to which dress to wear to Hornet Ball... both dresses shown here, the green one paired with faux (?) fur wrap. Classiness just oozes from both.