Getting Organized :)

Soooo.... my first round of classes are finished and I am officially STCW certified :) It was an exciting week for me! I learned about how to survive if I ever had to go overboard a vessel, and I even got to learn basic fire fighting which was pretty cool!! Luckily it wasn't too hot of a day here in South Florida :)

Basic Fire Fighting!

This week I am trying to get into the Silver Service course which will help me learn more about the exact expected duties of a Stewardess.  I am really excited to get some of these things under my belt! Then I know I'll be ready for the hiring world!

I have already met so many new and awesome people through this school.  It is neat because there are so many people at different points in their career. I have already learned a lot from them! I have heard many positive things about the industry that it makes me so excited to start searching!

Today Marc and I took our new head-shots for our resumes, they look really nice :)

My head shot, dls photography ©

Marc's head shot, dls photography ©

 Everything is starting to look really good for us! I hope we will be able to find something together and not have to be searching for months and months.  But we will do what it takes!

Right now, Marc is making me dinner :) I feel good that I got a lot done today but got to relax at the house..

My own personal chef

Did I mention how beautiful it is here? It has been awesome.  And also, Marc's friend came home and surprised us all! So we have been having a good time with him, and he has also been giving us lots of tips on what to do, since he is in the industry too :)

Happy Monday!! Presidents DAY!

We have arrived!

We left Monday, February 4th for our drive down to Florida.  It was -1 degrees when we left! Was hard saying goodbye to everyone but once we got on the road, we started to feel the freedom bug and it was feeling pretty good.  Our first drive was an 8 hour trip to Kentucky.  Thankfully, the Jeep was working wonderfully!! We got to Marc's Marine Core friend's home about 7pm.  When we got out of the car, they had 4 gigantic steaks on the grill just about done to perfection!  It was a wonderful suprise.  Also, Asparagus, amazing baked potatoes, corn bread.. YUM!! Was so delicious!  Marc got to catch up with Rich, and we met his fiance Jessica and sweet little girl Olivia.  They made us feel so welcome it was definitely hard to leave!

The next day, we headed out to Sammie and Jeremiah's.  It was only a 2-hr trip which was surprising!  We got there and Sammie and Jeremiah created a delicious chicken dinner meal, and Mom came over too to eat. Sammie FINALLY got to open all her Christmas presents from Dad! Was fun watching her and she was very happy.  We ended up having such a good time that we stayed another night!! Jeremiah showed us a little bit about his job and Marc and Jeremiah enjoyed playing video games while Sam and I played "Would you Rather".   They made us another amazing meal and Sammie introduced us to their yogurt smoothies which were delicious!!  In the morning, Jeremiah had us shoot at cans with a 22. and a muzzle loader which was pretty fun :) I wasn't the best shot and I blamed it on my glasses!~

Then we got back into the Jeep and drove for 5 hours to see our good friend, Free from the A.T.  He was in Georgia.  We had a great dinner at a little bar and lots of talk (Mostly about how we couldn't eat the same as we could just a few months before!) and then we got to meet his parents and see their beautiful home.  If we would have had more time, it would've been amazing to stay there longer! Everyone was so welcoming and kind :) It was cool because a photo I took of Free hung in the kitchen of their home.  I felt pretty proud to have something I took all the way in a home in Georgia!






After that, we had another 8 hour trip to Florida. We ended up meeting two other trail friends, Blue Sky and Gerber just a couple hours North of Fort Lauderdale.  We had a great time catching up, eating, talking about what everyone was up to.  Before we left, we had a nice breakfast at a little cow-themed breakfast diner.  Reminded me of Wisconsin for sure!

Then we finally only had a four hour drive to Fort Lauderdale.  It was a pretty calm drive, and there was even a camper that had overturned on the road and fortunately for us, it was on the opposite side of the road.  All of the traffic was backed up for at least three miles, people were sitting on their hoods! And it didn't look like it was going to be any time soon that they were able to get out of there.



We got to our destination, and it was absolutely shocking how beautiful it is here! The place we are staying has water right outside of the building, it's a safe community and it has pools, gym and more! We are lucky to stay but are definitely hoping to find work not to put our friends out for too long! :)  It is beautiful here though for sure!

I had my first STCW training course today, so far so good!! Can't wait to have the whole week done :)  Will try and keep everyone informed as much as I can!

-Dana

Some PICS from our drive down! Will have to get some of our place up soon!

Sammie's Smoothies

Sam and I

Marc shooting the cans!

Beach by Blue Sky's House

Beach by Blue Sky's

Me Gerber Blue Sky Marc

It's soo hard to say..

For everyone that I didn’t get a chance to say “see you later” to, I am sad and sorry for that.  I really wanted to see each and everyone in the last few weeks, but time went way too fast and my days were filled with cousins, aunts, bouncing babies, work, and last minute to-dos!  It is never easy to have to say it and I thought about you each very much and having to say those words are never easy to do.  Just because I didn’t, doesn’t mean I don’t care; I truly love you and hope you realize I am the same as I always was and nothing will change that!  And remember the phones work and I would love to hear from you at any time, I mean that. 

For those I did get to say it to, I love you so much and thank you for the time you gave me.  Getting to see you all was great, and hard, but helped me realize deeper the relationships I am lucky enough to have, and remind me even more about how precious time at home is and how no matter what, Gilmanton is my home and always will be.  I know we will be back again, hopefully sooner than later, but just know we will be thinking of you and keeping in contact the best we can as we go on our new journey.

We are doing this while we can, we are young and able and have lots of people that support us and are doing what they love too! No matter where in the world they are.  Everyone needs to remember that his or her own dreams should be a priority; we only do get to live once.  Live it how you can, keep family close, stay happy and be safe <3 nbsp="" p="">

I'll try and stay on top of the blog as much as I can.  Feeling excited, anxious and a little sad as always to leave those I love, but open for the new and amazing experiences to come.  Love you all :)