Sooooo it has been a while I know. I have been pretty busy here getting into the swing of things. My mom came down for my birthday weekend in September and BROUGHT MY CAR!!!! With that new addition to my life, I have been busy exploring Pensacola Florida in ways not possible with a cab. My Mom and I had a blast, it's good to see a piece of home when you can't be there yourself. We did the shopping, eating, eating, eating, movies, and had a drink or two:-) We also lucked out with a great beach day while she was here! I think Mom got a little burned. The trip was too quick. I was sad to see her go. I also received the greatest care package from my friends for my birthday full of thinks we all know I love, (cookies, books, minnesota t-shirt, spam, magazines etc.) It was great for a good laugh, and treat as well!
Then the very next weekend my best friend Allison aka Shakakan cam down from home. I picked her up Friday, we went to the beach on Saturday with a little Tour De Franzia action (where you drink a box of wine in a race, but not really because we had teams and we dumped quite a bit out) My business associate Uncle Dan ended up winning the tour,... maybe next year. So then that night we went out to a sushi dinner and went to the bars.... We ended up dancing the night away at a place called Emerald City, where Al got a new girlfriend! Sadly the next day we did beach and then she was gone. It was a great couple of weekends, but I can't wait to make it home for Thanksgiving! Since all the visits I have been taking it pretty easy. Doing a lot of beach and whatnot. I am gearing up for my trip to New Orleans soon. I know that will be a good time, then shortly after I will be home for the holidays..... Thanks for all your support! (LB thanks for the Card) i will be seeing you soon......

Megan-Jason

Hey! It's a cloudy Tuesday here in FLorida.... Not a lot has been happening. I have a test today, which should go well (I woke up early to study!) Anyway, I am getting excited because my mom is on her way down here in a couple of weeks with cookies and my car for my birthday. I definitely have some fun times in store for her! (Beach and dancing!) Last weekend, I went out dancing on Friday night and apparently we closed the place down around 3:30 am. It was a great time.... I learned some new dance moves, that my friend and I seemed to find hilarious, but not so sure that they actually were :-). Saturday I had a watch from midnight to 4 am, I walked upon some people in a compromising sexual situation, where I said "really guys?" and then my watch partner and I sat there and had to wait until they left.... haha I think we may have ruined their night?? Oh well! I also went to the beach on Sunday and we were probably there for the only 2 sunny hours of the day, and then it was seriously hurricane-ish.... never seen weather like that, so we decided to pack it up and head out. We topped the night off with pizza and movies before going to bed at like 9:30 pm. The weekend definitely wore me out!!!!!!
I just found out today, we won't have class Thurs or Friday (or Monday!) so we have a bunch of free time and I am busy thinking of thing to do to occupy that time,... things preferably that don't cost any money..... All I can think of is working out and beach.... We shall see!
Deuces

OH HEY

HEYO
It's been a while, but I am still alive. I am still in school, it's not so bad, right now I have a 97% in the class, which is pretty okay I guess. :-) I did get moved classes so now I am on a 12:30 pm til 6:30 pm class. This is actually the best shift you can probably get as you can stay up late and yet still sleep in. (Which I take full advantage of!)
The weather around here has been pretty shady lately, a lot of storms.... something about it being hurricane season?? haha, if Pensacola gets bad they evacuate us to somewhere in Alabama. We had to sandbag doors last week because of Hurricane Bill,,, but he never hit us too bad. This does create a problem with my hopes of becoming bronzed as last weekend at the beach it was stormy. The beer still tasted good though.
Anyway, I also got a new room! With NO MICE!!!!!! And its way cleaner, also a bonus. Another bonus--- my hair is finally starting to get longer, so much so that I am not allowed to wear it down while in uniform!!!! baby steps right?? I figure every little victory counts. So this coming weekend I intend on going to the beach Sat. (hopefully it's sunny?) I am a bit concerned though that last week one of my friends got stung by a jelly fish, they are all over out here! Luckily I avoided them. Looks like I may get home in time for Thanksgiving,,, but not for sure, though it is for sure at Christmas time, I can come back for a while! Well I am off to PT.... :-(
Much Love

CLASS BEGINS

HEY! I have some semi exciting news here. I found out last night that I start school today. This is good news because I was told I may be waiting until October-Novemberish for class, but I got bumped up somehow and start today. The bad part is, it is Bravo shift, which means I go to class at night until 2:30 am. That is somewhat sucky.
Otherwise we had an attack of the mouse last night as it got into my roommate's cookies and ate them.... we had to clean that mess up this morning, but all is well. I will win this fight with the mouse!!!!! Anyway, I plan to spend my whole weekend at the beach, at least after I get out of school at 2:30 am Saturday morning... then I don't have to go to school until Monday night, so it's not so bad.
I am hoping we have coffee at this night school venture, otherwise I am not sure I will make it! haha JK! We shall see how it goes, I am excited to get to work. I see it as somewhat of a challenge, if you are top 3 in your class you get to pick your orders, and I am gonna give my best effort!
Anyway, I am about to go and get ready for the first day of classes.... wish me luck.

Of Mice and Men

So my day so far has been one of those days. I woke up at 4 am to do pt. After pressing snooze for a while I finally crawled out of my bed. We are supposed to empty our garbage every day so I checked my can and all I had in there was one granola bar wrapper. I decided instead of wasting the whole bag, instead I would just grab the wrapper and dispose of it on the way out. So I picked it up. As I did, I felt something stuffed inside the wrapper and tried to remember what I had out inside. I threw the wrapper in a boz I was also throwing out and out ran a mouse!!!! I yelled and tried to shut the box with my foot, however I wasn't quick enough and the mouse escaped and ran under my bed. So if you know me well I am definitely freaked out to head back to my room for pretty much anything. . . . (you can thank my mom and my grandma for that) Oh well... I guess I can leave treats for it and I can have a pet in my room, or something.
Anyway, then I went out to PT still shuddering from the feel of the mouse in my hands, and we stood out there for about ten minutes when they told us it was cancelled due to thunderstorm. I however couldn't go back to sleep so I just went back to my mice infested room. After breakfast I reported the mouse to maintenance, but we already did that a few days ago and nothing has been done. I feel like it really may just be a part of my Floridian existence.
So then I went to work today and did pretty much not a lot. I drank a lot of coffee, which I have found gets me through the day. I had a meeting with a LT about going to officer candidate school. My boss during my day job made the appointment for me and pretty much told me I needed to go. I'm not sure that is the route I want to go as of now, but we shall see.... I am supposed to meet him again probably next week to discuss my options. Once again, I will just have to see how that goes. Well, I am off to have a good time, and by that I mean run 4 1/2 miles around that base.... good times, I know.

The Sun Hurts

It's a super sunny and hot Monday here in P-Cola. I can't complain though because I spent all day Saturday at an amazingly beautiful beach. I'm experiencing the kind of feeling that just hits you once in a while like "I can't believe this is my life." It's a bit surreal but I am loving it so far. I did get pretty burnt at the beach on Sat, so much so that I couldn't return on Sunday. The sun here is a bit different from the MN sun.... a bit stronger, who would have thought. It won't keep me away for long though!!!! I fully intend to utilize that beach as much as I can.
Not a whole lot is new here though. I am slowly learning the way around here, and can't wait until I get a car. The cab fares are killing all of us! Also this weekend I should be on phase 3 liberty which means I can leave base for the whole weekend! Yeah! Now on the weekends I have to be back by 11:30 pm and on weekdays 9:30. It's not so bad, but it would be nice not to have to muster all the time. (Being in uniform at these times for inspection and attendance.) On a good inspection note, I got and outstanding on my room inspection (for those who know me well this is a great accomplishment!)
We've been doing PT on a regular basis here at the rediculous time of 4:45 am. I somehow can't seem to be awake enough at that time. Anyway I have been running with the boys... (a group of at least 30 boys and 3 girls) It makes me feel good that I am fast enough to be in the "fast," group. On Friday we had to run our fitness test, a mile and half run, push ups and situps... I did my run in 11:20 so I was pretty proud of myself... my goal is under 11 minutes. We shall see, after all I am getting pretty old now. Almost 24 :-o
Well off to muster.... peace
Ashley

UPDATE!

Hey! It's Sunday night, and I am recovering from an awesome weekend. Friday I got upped to Phase 2 status which means I can leave base and pretty much go anywhere as long as I am back by 11:30 pm. So Saturday a bunch of us went to the mall, where though unusual I showed contraint when using my debit card.... trust me it was really hard. Then we went to the beach where I laid out all day long,... It WAS GLORIOUS! I am starting to think Florida may actually be pretty awesome. We stayed at the beach until dark and made it back just in time to have a beer on base before we had to check in.
I have met some pretty cool people here, but still miss my Minnesota pals. One good thing is that because I am not starting school for a couple months, I am able to get an out of area chit, which means I may be able to fly home for a weekend. I am looking forward to trying that, possibly for halloween weekend... that's always a fun one. Anyway,,,, until then I will be working on my tan.
Oh I also start my "job" tomorrow until I go to school. It will be interesting to see what that is as it could be any number of things. I will keep you all posted! LOVE LOVE