Have you been to Heartlink? As I was talking to some fellow AF wives I realized that most of them have never been to a Heartlink orientation. I was so surprised! I would encourage each of you to go to one on your base, they are at each base and I feel are very beneficial. Here is the rundown:

A program designed for new Air Force spouses. It basically gives you an overview of the AF/base mission, resources available, services and protocal.

It's a one day class that was developed to help clear up the confusion that can be associated with getting thrown into military life.

You receive an Air Force coin of your own and get to learn about some fun military traditions.

A great way to network with other spouses.

(Call your Airman & Family Readiness Center to find out meeting times and learn about how to receive free childcare during the orientation)

On Base or Off

As many of you know, Matthew and I live on base. We have at all of our duty stations (Maxwell, Vandenberg, and now Malmstrom)  Of course there are pros and cons to everything, but in general I LOVE living in base housing. He is my pro con list. I hope this helps you if you are deciding where to live.

Pros

You don't have to look for a house over the Internet from states away
Your neighbors are all military, they know what you are going through - built in support system
The commissary is usually less than 5 min away as well as the BX and Shopette
You don't have to worry about crazy people coming to your house when your DH is deployed and you are home alone
I have no excuse not to go to the gym because it is also only 5 min away and it's free
You don't have to worry about selling your house before you PCS


Cons
You have to sign people on base, which makes it harder to hold events with your local civilian friends
Sometimes it is a pain to move out of base housing because they make you clean so much and they inspect your house at least twice.
Your daily life may be interrupted by gate closures and military drills
Reveille plays every weekday morning at 7am, National Anthem at 4:30pm, and Taps at 10pm (I admit for me this is actually also a pro, I love hearing the anthem every day and taps at night. Its a great reminder of all our service men and keeps things in prospective somehow)

Lastly I want to say that a reason I often hear for not living on base is that the service member feels like he would never really leave work. When I asked my hubby about it he said that he has never felt that way because once he is in the neighborhood it is it's own separate little world. He also loves that he gets home quickly and can come home for lunch. :)

 Our house at Malmstrom

The Park Next Door 

We Had A Ball

We had such a great time Saturday night at the ball!  We had lots of friends there, we made some new ones, and - my favorite part of all - we got to get really dressed up!

Because tickets were slightly expensive and my DH had to get new rank for his mess dress, I decided that I was going to wear a dress I already had and do my own hair. I found a great tutorial for my hair which can be found here. Seriously girls best styling blog ever! I got together with some girlfriends Saturday afternoon for a PartyLite party and showed them what I was going to do with my hair. They were so excited they asked if they could help. It turned into a fun and wonderful girls day in. My dress was a tiny bit stressful too because while I was with the girls we decided that this dress would look better strapless. The look it had was slightly dated. As luck would have it, a mom of one of the ladies at the party (she is also the PartyLite consultant) is a seamstress and was able to alter the dress right then and there! I think it turned out beautifully. Thanks again Connie and all you ladies for helping me get ready for my night out. 

Formal AF events are in my opinion one of the big perks to being in the military. Who else gets to dress up at least once a year in their adult life? Just FYI, the Air Force Ball is around the same time of year, every year, at almost every base. It celebrates the birthday of the AF. I highly recommend going at least once just to have the experience and see your man in his mess dress!

 

shots

My little man had to get his 18 month shots today. I hate when he has to get shots and I will admit that I cry almost every time. Garrett was a champ, and he got his first ever sucker which stopped the crying right away. :) Bonus  - these were his last ones till he is 4! Ohhh YEaaaa! But I wanted to let you all know that in addition to his 18 month shots he was able to get the flu shot for this year done. A lot of the bases already have the vaccines in for this younger age group so check in and see if you can get them done early. Make sure your AF member gets them done now too! The sooner the better.

 

A Sad Little Picture of Garrett After His Sucker Was Gone

Protocol - Dress Code

This coming Saturday night is the Air Force Ball at Malmstrom AFB. I am so excited! In honor of this event this post is about Air Force protocol. I will start with dress code. Check back later this week a list of helpful tips.

Dress Code

I have to say, one of the frustrating things to about being an Air Force spouse is that I never know what to wear to any given event. I know that throughout my DH career I will have many different ceremonies to go to, changes of command ( I have already been to at least 4 in our 4 short years), promotions, retirement functions and formal dinners to name a few. Here is some basic dress code protocol to turn to when in need.

If you are unsure what the dress code for an event is, it is always safest to call the host of the event and ask. If you have enough notice you can also ask your military member to find out if it seem appropriate. Another good indicator of dress code is by what uniform your military member is required to be in.

• Very Casual
• Usually jeans or shorts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, etc. Events such as sporting events, BBQ, after work trips to the Club
• The military member will probably also be in civilian clothing for this type of event. 

• Casual
• Corresponds to what would normally be worn day-to-day at work. Men - open collar shirt, khakis. Women - Slacks, simple dress, skirt and blouse.
• "duty uniform" is worn by the Air Force member. This my include ABU's, the light blue shirt with or without tie, or flight suit, depending on duty section.
• For civilian functions normally women will wear a casual dress, slacks and blouse, and long or short skit would also be appropriate. Men's dress includes short or long-sleeved open-neck shirt, no tie. A sweater or sports coat would be acceptable.

• Sport Coat and Tie
• The Air Force member would normally wear civilian clothing when the invitation specifies "sport coat and tie" as opposed to a uniform.
• This starts the more formal attire and would be appriate for events such as dinner at the Commander's  house.  Ladies - dressy clacks or church dress. Gentlemen - slacks, tie and sports jacket.

• Informal
• Very similar to the Sport Coat and Tie dress code. However the informal dress is most often worn to changes of command, parades, official visits of VIPs and promotion and retirement ceremonies. This category of dress may also be referred to as Business Suit.
• The military member's "business suit" is the Service Dress Blues. Ladies - dressy, street length or Sunday dress or business suit. Men - dark (subdued) suit and tie.

• Semi- Formal
• Men  - Dark business suit. Women - cocktail dress or dressy cocktail pants outfit. Semi - Formal is just a small step away from formal dress. The uniform for this type of event is Mess Dress.

• Formal
• Events may include military weddings (as participant), award dinners, some civilian affairs "black tie" such as holiday balls or charity galas.
• Mess Dress is worn by the Air Force member. Ladies should wear a long or short evening dress (different from a cocktail dress). Civilian men's attire would be a black tuxedo with black bow tie.

I hope this helps when you are wondering what or what not to wear.  Please note that these descriptions are based off the more traditional dress code. However, always better to be slightly over dressed than under dressed I think. :) This picture came to mind when I was thinking about dress code, military weddings and Sarturday nights ball. Hope it makes you smile today!

Remotivated! I am so remotivated to start up this blog again. It has been a year. My beautiful baby boy Garrett has been born. I am just a little older, just a little wiser and, most important of all I have learned a whole heck of a lot more about being and Air Force spouse.  Here is the deal. I need your help. I get a little overwhelmed because there are so many different parts of this Air Force life that I could talk about and just don't know where to start. So I will just start talking and hope that you give me ideas for what you would like to know about. I will try my best to find anything you would like to know. So here we go! I am ready to be off and running. Get ready for my first offical installment in the next week. REALLY I WILL POST!

Here is a picture of me and my now big 19 month old! He is a bundle of energy and so much fun :)

Excuses, Excuses...

Happy New Year! Once again, I am so sorry for putting this blog on the back burner. I cannot promise it won’t happen again, but I will try and post more in the coming months. I do have a couple of good excuses though! The first and main excuse is that Matthew and I are expecting our first baby, a little boy, due February 6th (Yeah Super Bowl Sunday!). The second is we have moved houses yet again (our old one is getting torn down). So between morning sickness, getting resettled and getting baby ready I have not been posting. I do already have some thoughts in mind for some new topics however, so stay tuned! I have not forgotten you! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season and I wish you the best in 2011!