"Streetmosphere"

“We’re definitely moving to Wellington when you get down here because Ft. Collins is awesome!” - Jess

Tom has been at Maxwell slaving away during ASBC for the past three weeks while I have been sitting around lovely weathered Cheyenne lol. He “deployed” the first week, which basically means he learned Self Aid Buddy Care (SABC), MOPP gear (for chemical attacks), and navigation stuff all over again. I guess at least he didn’t have to put up all the tents this time (unlike Global Engagement (GE) at the Academy, which we do after our sophomore year). Currently he’s going to school 7 hours a day, writing 1-3 page papers, and playing Icarus (some sort of dodge ball game that simulates airplanes? Lol)

Occasionally golfing in his spare time, he’s also working on getting back into shape! Tom calls ASBC “fat camp” because you are so bored all you want to do is work out. Haha. I think they do Unarmed Combat (UC) four or five days during the program, so that’s something to look forward to when I have to go lol. My ASBC date is Feb 14^th, so maybe I’ll get Tom to show me some of the moves again before I have to go down to ASBC ;) We can practice them together… hehe. (We took UC at the Academy our junior year…so it’s basically a refresher course down in Alabama).

I’ve, surprisingly, been pretty busy around Cheyenne, even though initially I thought this separation from Tom was going to be much more difficult on a day-to-day basis. The first few days, when we were setting up the house and Mary was going on alert A LOT aka every other day and a half (called a Ripple), I was pretty bored at home. I didn’t really know what to do with myself, didn’t know what to do with my spare time, or who to hang out with. I had 8 days off to set up the house, but after Tom left I got pretty lonely before I actually started up work. Work started August 4^th and even though I’m slowly learning everything in the office which is somewhat frustrating…the fun hasn’t stopped since then!

I’ve hung out a lot with Celina and Josh (the other two LTs) in the office -- both during work hours and after. They both are so great! They are very patient and understanding. They walk me through what they do each day, what programs they use, and common forms they fill out (yeah we're finance haha). Most of the information kind of goes in one ear and out the other, but at least I will have heard most of the terminology before I go to tech school in November! I will take over Josh’s job probably May of next year after Celina PCS’s (leaves the base). She is the Budget Officer and Josh is the Financial Services Officer (FSO), pronounced “Fizzo”.

After hours, sometimes I hang out with Celina at her home down in Wellington, CO, which is where Tom and I eventually want to live after he moves out here. We go to Old Town Yoga in Ft. Collins once or twice a week and then I just crash at her place for the night so that I don’t have to drive back up to Cheyenne all by myself lol. I am so blessed to have such great people just working right there in my office, much less all of the other people I have been meeting. Josh’s girl friend, Naomi, comes to yoga with us. She is super adorable and very sweet! Dave’s wife, Heather, also hangs out with us, though unfortunately they are moving to Maxwell at the beginning of October. L New friends are already leaving! The good news though about Heather and Dave is that I will have some friends down in Alabama when I finally go to ASBC!

Fort Collins, I have come to find out, has an absolutely amazing selection of restaurants to go to! Celina said Tom and I will be hard pressed to find any restaurant we dislike and that we will probably have the opportunity go to a different restaurant every weekend for the first 5 or 6 months we’re here! I’m SUPER excited for this even though Tom already thinks I go out to eat too much lol. While hanging out with the girls I’ve already eaten at Jimmy John’s (great sandwiches with excellent service), ordered pizza from the shady Pizza Palace in Wellington (that looks doubtful on the inside, but has the most amazing cheese breadsticks I’ve ever had), and going to the Chocolate Café for Black and White Cheesecake and coffee! Delicious!

With Mary, my roommate, we went to Austin’s, an American grill, and got to hear the a capella group sponsored by “Streetmosphere,” a Ft. Collins county organization. Streetmosphere hires singers, comedians, performers, etc. to perform on different street corners throughout Ft. Collins.

AMAZING idea! Love it!

After Austin’s we enjoyed some delicious cupcakes from the Buttercream Cupcakery J Ahhhh, I’m going to love living closer to Ft. Collins when Tom finally gets out here so we can go to these places ALL OF THE TIME! Lol Just kidding babe…just half of the time J

Mary and I, since she’s finally been home lately, have been working out all week thankfully! It’s so nice to finally get to the gym and go for some runs. I don’t feel quite so crappy every day. Plus the working out balances out all the coffee and sweets I eat lol. We’ve been hanging out with Katy in Ft. Collins on the weekend, Missy at her house for a BBQ, The Three Musketeers (Ben, Jon, and Chris) pretty much everywhere we go. Talon and Barrett came over for some shish kabobs. Mary and I checked out a new church called Element in Cheyenne with Rey, Clark, and John? (Sorry, I’ve met some many people lately!) And Mary and I have also managed to cook up some mean spaghetti, great fried rice, hamburger helper, and various other meals. And all of this within the last two and a half weeks!!! No wonder I’ve had no time to work on my Rosetta Stone for Russia or to begin studying for the GRE. Lol.

Tom just bought an iMac down at Maxwell that he found on sale at the BX because it was the floor model. He found a 27” 1 TB, 4 GB of RAM for $1300!! What a steal! Especially since we’ve been saving up for an iMac and we thought we were going to have to settle for the 21.5” and 500GB for $1200. The extra $100 was definitely worth it.

I can’t wait to Skype with him today on it! And to Skype with him/my parents in the future! It’s going to be great!

Anyway, life truly has been busy and I am kind of hoping it slows down some lol. I keep trying to go to bed by 9:30 so I can get up a little earlier before work for some quiet time in the morning, but I haven’t quite gotten myself into a steady schedule. I’m currently working on a book called The Quiet Time Companion as well as Letters to a Graduate (which we got from New Life last May). I recommend mucho!

Anyway, much love to everyone and please continue to pray for us as we go through all of these transitions and as we travel all over the country!

Thanks J

Jess