Captain Spot?

So this should be quite an interesting week...

This post may get a little complicated and piloty...so if it bores you, I won't be offended.  But after all, this is a blog of a pilot's wife!

A few weeks ago, Josh's airline announced a "Realignment" notice which basically gives the pilot's the opportunity to "bid" to fly other planes.  Since his company recently merged with 2 other companies, there are now a total of 4 different types of planes.

Contrary to what many people think, pilot's just don't wake up each morning and fly whatever plane is lined up for them.  They are assigned to and trained for a specific aircraft and that's what they stick to unless they bid to fly something else or they are hired by another airline.

  So because of this realignment and there being new planes to bid for, Captains might choose to fly something different.  In turn, that may create a few open Captain spots.  If things work out just right, Josh could maybe, just possibly be awarded a Captain.  ...which would be crazy/so exciting!

But honestly, there are just too many things that have to work out perfectly.  At first we were quite hopeful, but the more Josh ran the numbers, the more doubtful we became.  We just keep telling ourselves that if it doesn't work out this time around, it's for a reason and his time will come when it's right.  On the bright side, if some people upgrade to Captain (but not enough for him to be reached), he'll soar in seniority and hopefully get better schedules.  

Ughh...who knows.  This pilot business is just too complex. 

One thing I don't like about the airlines is the fact that everything is based on seniority.  Although it makes everything "fair", it's not based on merit.  In other words, Josh could be THE BEST pilot in the entire world, but he wouldn't be awarded a captain spot until everyone hired before him got it too.  I don't like it!!  I like my job where if you do really well...you are given a promotion or somehow rewarded.     

Anywho...the list showing if anyone was awarded a Captain spot comes out Tuesday evening.  However, we can't even get our hopes up because that's just the "Initial" award.  If anyone wants to make changes or decline anything, they can.  For example, if a Captain changes his mind about going to a different aircraft, they can decline and then that open spot goes away.  The "Final" list comes out Thursday night and that's the important one.  If his name is on there, then we're off to celebrate!

So if you all could just cross your fingers for him, that would be wonderful.  I'm really not expecting him to actually get it...but we can at least hope, right?!?

Whatever happens, happens.  But I'll definitely keep you all posted!!  Think happy thoughts! :-)

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

1. Carmex

Regardless of the season, temperature, weather - my lips are almost always chapped.  It's kind of ridiculous.  So throughout the years I've become an expert on good chapsticks.  Carmex is by far the best chapstick out there!  So next time you're standing in line at the grocery store and you're in the mood to try something new, grab one of these suckers off the shelf!

2. EverSleek Shampoo

I really try to be as healthy as I can, but when I think of being "healthy," food and exercise usually come to mind.  But we have to remember that our skin is the largest organ of our body.  So anything we slather onto our skin/head will immediately be absorbed into our bodies.  I recently purchased Loreal's Eversleek shampoo because it's sulfate free.  I was kind of nervous at first because I know they put sulfates into shampoo to make lathering easy.  But I was pleasantly surprised!  It lathered quite well and made my hair feel extra soft.  Good purchase.

3. Strawberry-Pretzel Salad

O-M-G.  I'm sure many of you are quite familiar with this dessert...but I made it over the weekend to take to a party and it was probably the best dessert I've ever made.  You can find the recipe here.  It was a pretty simple recipe...just a few separate steps.  It's always a crowd favorite...  YUM!!

4. Josh is HOME! 

I'm LOVING that Josh is HOME and it's Wednesday!!!!  As soon as I'm finished typing this post, we're going to make dinner and then spend the evening together...I feel like a real married couple, haha.  I'm really not sure why he's home (some random thing with this week's schedule), but he'll leave again tomorrow morning for just a few flights that day and then return home tomorrow night.  All in all, this week won't be too bad.  And then at the end of next week... SAN FRANCISCO!!!  Woo hoo!!

Have a lovely evening everyone!

XOXO,

Looking for Guest Bloggers!

As some of you know, I will be in San Francisco visiting my brother October 7th-10th.  Soooo, I was hoping a few of you might be interested in guest blogging!

I'm open to all topics...but my favorites are beauty, fashion, money-savings, pilot lifestyles, healthy living, etc.  

If you're interested, please comment below or send me an e-mail at mrspilotwife@gmail.com and we can work out the details!

Thanks so much!  I've never done this, so I'm kind of excited ;-)

A Wicked Weekend

Many months ago, my awesome mother surprised us all (me, Josh, my mom, & step-dad) with Wicked tickets.  I'm sure many of you are familiar with it already...but in case you don't know, it's a Broadway show and it's fabulous.  We didn't travel to NYC...the touring company just came to Pittsburgh.

Our Friday night:

Wicked is based around what happened prior to "The Wizard of Oz."  Therefore, to fully understand the story line, you need to be pretty familiar with Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Wicked Witch of the West, etc.  Needless to say, (for Josh's sake) we watched the The Wizard of Oz on Friday night in preparation for the show on Saturday....haha.  But wow...I am REALLY glad we did.  I forgot how many references there were and he probably would have been pretty confused.    

Our Saturday:

We woke up early Saturday morning and met Josh's parents at our favorite (breakfast) restaurant, Perkin's.  That was nice since his Gram was in town visiting and we don't get to see her as often as we'd like.

After that, we pretty much rushed home and got ready since we had tickets for the Matinee show.  Usually I prefer going at night, but my mom was able to get much better tickets if she chose the earlier show.  Good decision on her part because we had wonderful seats...about 10 rows from the stage.  Just far enough back that we could see the entire stage perfectly. 

As I mentioned above, Wicked was fabulous.  Like, so freaking good.  However, it was my second time seeing it and it will never compare to my first time.  I was fortunate enough to have seen the original broadway cast in NYC with Kristin Chenowith and Idina Menzel.  That night was magical.  I was pretty worried I was going to be disappointed with the traveling company, but I wasn't.  Their voices were SUBERB and they completely lived up to my expectations. 

Josh also loved it.  Let me just say, I am very thankful to have a husband that actually enjoys these kinds of things.  There are so many guys out there that would just refuse to see a musical with their girlfriend/wife because it's too "gay" or boring.  So thank you hubby - you are awesome.  

After the show, we all went out for dinner at Max & Erma's which is a fun restaurant that's right across the street from the theater.  It was nice to be on a "double date" with my parents...albeit different, but nice.

Our Sunday (today):

My former boss had a party at his cabin.  We got there at about noon and stayed until mid-afternoon.  No joke...it was by far, the nicest cabin I've ever seen in my entire life.  It was something you'd see on HGTV or something.  I really wish I would have taken pictures...but then again, it may have been weird if they caught me taking pictures of their bathroom.  It was right along the river too, so the view was just breathtaking.  

After we got home, we did our usual get-josh-ready-for-his-trip routine and now we're both curled up on the couch watching the Steeler game.  Ahem...Go Steelers!

So overall, this past weekend was wicked fun ;-)

My First Blog Award!

Yay!!!  I received my very first blog award!

Thank you Miranda from Aimless Translation!!  You definitely made my day.  

The rules of this award are to say 3 random facts about yourself and then pass the award along to 5 other bloggers.

My 3 random facts:

1.  I have a step-brother who currently lives in San Francisco and we're going to visit him in October!  I am so excited AND I can fly for free. Seeeee...there are definitely perks to being a pilot wife ;-)

2.  I am obsessed with the TV show Full House.  I have every. single. episode memorized.  This ties back into my random fact #1.  If you don't already know, that show was set in San Francisco.  In other words, I will actually get to see/take a picture/hyperventilate/whatever else IN FRONT of the ACTUAL FULL HOUSE - HOUSE.  Shea=Pumped.

3.  I played piano when I was younger for 7 years.  Yep...7 freaking years.  And do I have anything to show for it?  Nope.  Playing piano was one of those things my mother made me do because she insisted that I would appreciate it later in life.  But my heart just wasn't into it.  I had no desire to play and therefore, no motivation to ever practice.  I'll be turning 25 in a few months and I still don't care if I can play or not.  It just shows that if you don't have a true determination to do something from within yourself, you're probably not going to accomplish very much.  

Here are the 5 fabulous bloggers that I pass this award along to:

Momma St.J Says...

Hey, Belly!

The Smelly Life
Daddy...Daddy, Come Back!
Blue-Eyed Blog

I absolutely LOVE these blogs. I can't say enough nice things about them...so you should definitely check them out.  I get beyond excited when I see they've written a post.   Thank you all for keeping me entertained!

XOXO,

Fall Bucket List

I saw this great Fall Bucket List floating around the blogger world and I just had to snatch it up!

I seriously love every single activity on this list.  I want to do everything!!

Especially the corn maze!  I've always wanted to do one and every single year it somehow slips by unaccomplished.  This year will be different.

If you can think of another fall activity that this bucket-list is missing...leave it in the comments section!  (Except Haunted Houses...I'm a chicken and refuse to subject myself to that kind of terror.)

Finding the Joy

Hi Ladies!

I am thrilled to be linking-up with my dear friend over at Momma St. J Says... for Finding the Joy Friday.

Today I'm finding the joy in:   

Fall, Fireplaces, & Pumpkin Pie

As I type this, I am curled up on my couch in front of my fireplace.  I'm so cozy!  There's a chill in the air and I love it.  We bought our first pumpkin pie of the season and I fully intend on enjoying it as soon as I'm done typing this post.  YUM :-)

My Hubby's Hard Work

Today was Josh's first day off from his trip, but instead of relaxing, he worked all day on our house project.  When we first bought our house, every room was covered in medium brown/oak trim.  It did look nice - but we both really love white trim/doors.  So, we reluctantly took on the project of repainting everything.  Oh. My. Gosh.  This project sucks.  We finished with the first floor, took a few months off, and now we're back to it again.  I came home from work today and was pleasantly surprised by how much he'd done.  Thank you again sweets!  I really appreciate it.

One of these days I'll do a house tour post!

Monkey Balls

Do any of you know what these amazing things are?!?!  Ok, so their real name is "Osage Oranges," but for some reason everyone refers to them as Monkey Balls.  I'm not sure I want to know why...

Anyways, they keep spiders out of the house!  They're pretty hard to find each year because it frosts too early/too late (can't remember which one, but the timing as to be just right).  But I was driving home tonight and I saw a woman selling them along side of the road!!!  I immediately stopped the car, turned around, and filled a plastic bag up with monkey balls.  Good times.

Now I'll just hide them around my house & be free of spiders this fall/winter.  Yessssssss :-) 

I'm grateful for so much more, but I really just want my pie...so I think I'll stop here.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

XOXO,