Where I've been

Hello everyone! Anyone still reading? If so, I hope you are doing well. I cannot believe October is almost over. Less than one week left... wow. November is going to be even crazier than this month, so we will see how much writing I'm able to do. On the agenda for next month:

• Voting (well, this will probably happen tomorrow, but still- Election Day will be very interesting!)
• We will be traveling one weekend for a wedding, so that will be fun, but traveling = busy
• Conference presentation- I will present my research first in front of the faculty at my school and then at ASC in Chicago. Nervous much? Yikes!
• Thanksgiving-- family, more traveling. Well, you get the picture.

So it doesn't look like much but it feels like every week or weekend there is something special going on. But then once that is done, finals are around the corner then Christmas! It is definitely my favorite time of year-- Texas just got a nice cold snap and it feels so good outside! However, Matt & I are running our first 5K this Saturday morning-- it will probably be in the 40s. That does not quite feel so good, especially in work out apparel. I'll keep you posted on how that goes!

But enough about what's in the future. Here is a little of what we've been up to! 

We went to the air show a few weeks back. We had just gotten a cold front the night before so we were definitely feeling it! 

My poor husband... so cold!

Thunderbirds

The Canadian version of the Thunderbirds- the Snowbirds

Unfortunately because it was so windy and we were freezing, we snuck out early.The clouds were relatively low, too, so we didn't get to see much fly before we left. It was cool walking around to see some of the ground demo's though, and we know we will go again next year!

Last weekend my dear friend Mary came into town and we went to the State Fair! We had a blast walking around and seeing the crazy fried food. The only fried food we tried was the classic coney dog and it was delicious! 

Some of the crazy fried food offerings... yes that is fried butter

We went the day after Big Tex burned down (the 52-ft tall talking Cowboy)  and there was a nice memorial to him already

Guys, this is butter. It is a butter sculpture of some Girl Scouts handing Big Tex Girl Scout cookies.  Only in Texas

I approve of the awesome Star Wars characters participating in the Olympics :)

Mary with one of her favorite bunnies. SO many adorable bunnies!

Other than those few events, we haven't done anything too exciting. Matt and I have been studying a lot, spending time together when possible, and trying to get enough sleep. That pretty much sums up our life lately. It hasn't been easy, but I have been learning a lot about time management- something I thought I was good at before. 

Anyway, this weekend as I said as our first 5K on Saturday, so pray for us if you're thinking about it Saturday morning. It should be interesting to say the least! 

I hope you have a great Friday! And just for fun, here's a little video I'm kind of in love with.

Air Show!

This past Saturday, Matt & I went to the Ft Worth air show, featuring our favorites, the Thunderbirds! I guess this is one solid example of how Matt has impacted me-- how excited I was to see all the planes and I was even able to identify some of the military aircraft. Anyway... we had an amazing time (even though we forgot sunscreen and as a result sorta look like raccoons)! 


Heads up, this is a picture heavy post :)

Our awesome VIP section

Matt is so happy to be back with the Thunderbirds!

Looking at the EA-18

V-22 Osprey

F-16

Had to take a picture with the German WWII fighter

Coast Guard rescue helicopter-- they did a pretty cool demo that  I have a few pictures of later on

Explosive Ordinal Disposal Suit-- we talked to the operator of this-- very cool guy. The suit weighs about 80 lbs! 

The EOD robot

AH-1

Part of the Coast Guard rescue demo

Yes, that is a guy repelling down out of the helicopter over the runway. He picked up his 'rescuee' and then they repelled back up! 

Orbis- Flying Eye Medical Hospital. They go into developing countries for 3 weeks where they teach the local doctors how to perform eye surgeries. That plane has a classroom, an OR, and a recovery room. Quite impressive!

And one of the few pictures I took of the Thunderbird show! 

We are so glad we got to go, especially because the next day they had to cancel the show due to weather! If you want to see more demo pics, go to this blog post. 

Air Fest 2010 [picture heavy!]

As I said in my previous post, this past weekend Matt, his youngest brother, J, and I went to Lackland AFB for their annual Air Fest. Matt and J have a huge passion for any flying object, especially fighter jets. Ever since I've been dating him, my vocabulary for such aircraft has drastically increased, and I can now proudly say I can differentiate between F-15s, F-16s, F-18s, F-22s, and F-35s (thank you very much). 

Anyway, Texas has 3 big air shows in the fall. We chose the one at Lackland because not only were the Thunderbirds headlining, but the F-22 Raptor demo team (AKA Matt's favorite plane ever) would also be there. So, we took the weekend off from school, and we went!

This is J & Matt on the shuttle heading to the base around 8:30...

Then we stood in line to go through security, passed through the detectors, and we're in! They had various performances throughout the day, starting around 10 AM. We got there so early though, so we could walk around and see the planes that were on display. Here is a brief tour of that [don't worry, I'll spare you most of the pictures]:

Sikorsky Black Hawks

The Predator

A C-5

And inside the C-5, in case you ever wondered

He looked cool haha

The NATO E-3A, used for "air battle management," as their sign says

Inside said plane, well, a part of it

 I wanted to figure out how to work on this NATO plane. You see, they are stationed out of Germany and ever since I went I've been trying to contrive of ways to get Matt & I to live there. But alas, since they have no direct 'apply here' and instead it is a complicated 'join the military and maybe you'll get placed here,' I gave up.

But I digress. We also saw the Army Golden Knights-- their parachuting team. Without further delay, here are some pictures from that:

In this series, one of the jumpers had a string of 6 canisters of the air writing 'stuff.' He started spinning...

And spinning...

Yeah, it was pretty cool!

So of course what we came for was the F-22 Raptor demo & the Thunderbirds. Here are my favorite pictures from them:
 

Disclaimer: The F-22 demo was extremely cool, but extremely fast. One small plane + really fast = super hard to take pictures... sorry they look so sad, but it was quite amazing!!

Bomb bay!

And the Thunderbirds!

My favoritest picture ever....

 And so there you have it-- hope you didn't mind a non-wedding related post. This is for all the guy readers I'm sure I have (*rolls eyes*). In very related wedding news, this weekend I'm going home to:

• Have a make up & hair trial!
• Go to my first fitting for my wedding dress!

Basically- I'm pretty pumped! And now one last picture, because it makes me happy:

Mini weekend update

Hey everyone! Hope you are having a fantastic weekend so far! The weather has been amazing here lately, and I was able to take full advantage of it when yesterday, Matt, his brother, and I went to the Air Fest in San Antonio. I will post a picture-filled update later of this (because it was just that fantastic), but til then, I will leave you with a few of the F-22 and the Thunderbirds:

Look! Not one, but two F-22s!!!! [They're his fav]

And this is indeed a personal photo- I'm quite proud! haha

 So, in addition to the amazing air show, I got to spend some time with Matt's family, which is always good. Then we watched our Aggies beat the hell outta #8 Oklahoma University, which was pretty fantastic!

Now, it's back to epic grad school apps and thesis time, but I will post more pictures of the air show later. It was just that fantastic.

Have a good rest of your Sunday!