July 4th-ish Marriott Celebration

On the 4th of July, our hotel in Germany was ever so kind to host any crew members to a dinner and drinks at their restaurant downstairs. It was fun to interact with all of us together from different bases, although the IAH sector was the largest, having 2 flight crews at the hotel at the same time.

I've flown with 7 of the 8 of this crew. . .

But these were my people this trip

Always an interesting mix of people when you get a bunch of flight attendants celebrating together.

Birthday Blessings

Yesterday I chose to go to work on my birthday because it's considered "holiday pay" here!! So, not only did I get a free caramel latte and breakfast burrito to start my day off. . .

. . .I also had extra time to enjoy an Oreo milkshake!

I was supposed to work 2 flights and ride as a passenger on 1 flight (total of 3), but instead, due to weather and mechanical delays, I worked 1 flight, and rode as a passenger on 2 flights!  I got home 2 hours later than planned, but that gives me a wee bit more birthday pay!

Here I am celebrating my day with a few hundred of my favorite strangers!

My birthday blessings continued with today's work on my kitchen!!  A friend helped me install new lighting.  If you didn't know, I had horrible florescent lights in my kitchen that only turned on when they felt like doing so, with no rhyme or reason to the timing.  I often cooked and baked in the dark.

BUT, due to my friend's knowledge and expertise. . .

 . . .I CAN SEE!!!

You can't tell very well, but there's a hole that was there this morning that is not there this evening.  I'm quite proud of myself, because I used some skills taught by my Papa, and used some drywall tape and mud to fill up the hole!  With a paint job in the near future, it'll look great!

Not only that, but what you can't see is that every air vent in the house has now been taken down, soaked in soap and bleach, scrubbed free of dirt, and the remaining hole vacuumed out.  That's thanks to my Mom's talent in knowing how to keep a clean house!  I have some pretty special parents!  

Visiting Nuremberg

Often when I go to Munich on a layover, I don't do much but sleep and relax. Earlier this spring, however, I decided to go visit the city of Nuremberg, which turned out to be very beautiful. I had heard the Christmas market here is one of the best in the country, so I may have to visit this coming Christmas season again, just to see. But the city itself was pretty incredible.

This is one of the first sights you see as you exit the train station.

And the incredible beauty gets better from there!

My two flying partners, Karen and Vola, who came on the adventure with me.

We ended up having supper (a few hours later) at the restaurant with the arches underneath.

The churches were plentiful and breath-taking.

One of them had 3 different organs in it!

I had to take a picture of this little shop. . .

. . .and it's patrons!

There is a fortress at the top of the city, which we, of course, had to climb up to take a look-see.

The buildings everywhere were incredible.

A tiny map of the city in 3-D

We didn't realize this until the end, but you could walk around the old city on a wall/path.  Next time I go, I want to explore this a little more and see how far it goes.

Visiting Cousins--LONG Overdue Post!

Due to my multiple renovations in the last months, I completely forgot to post these pictures back in March when the actual visiting happened. I worked a trip to Burbank, CA, and shared a dinner with Jen, my cousin. 

Then, 2 weeks later, I got the same trip on a different day, and got to go to Ty and Jen's house for the night!  The next morning, Ty took me to where he works as an air traffic controller. That was a VERY interesting tour, having only been on the receiving end of all the instructions (in the airplane) to see what really happens to make sure all the airplanes stay where they're supposed to without running into each other.  I have a new appreciation for this job! 

  Right across the street from it was this really cool airplane museum.

Don't you just LOVE mandatory family photos??!!

My favorite airplane type in the whole world.  I just think the 747 looks so majestic!

. . .and it's REALLY big!

They had a lot of old military planes, too.  This one, especially caught my eye. . .

. . .because of the verse painted on the wing.

Behind these trees is actually where Ty works, but I didn't take any pictures there!