Recent fun

For the past two years, Brian has volunteered to be the bingo announcer for the Officer's Spouses Club on base. He secretly loves it...

Really, he just loves getting dressed for the occasion-

And drinking martini's while using the super old school bingo machine!

We had the AMAZING opportunity to attend a TEDX conference in Napa together. If you don't know what TED talks are, here goes- 

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan "ideas worth spreading".

TED was founded in 1984 as a one-off event.^[1] The annual conference began in 1990, in Monterey, California.^[4] TED's early emphasis was technology and design, consistent with its origins in the Silicon Valley.

The TED main conference is held annually in Vancouver, British Columbia and its companion TEDActive is held in Whistler. In 2014, both conferences moved to British Columbia from Long Beach and Palm Springs, California respectively.^[5] TED events are also held throughout North America and in Europe and Asia, offering live streaming of the talks. They address a wide range of topics within the research and practice of science and culture, often through storytelling.^[6] The speakers are given a maximum of 18 minutes to present their ideas in the most innovative and engaging ways they can. Past presenters include Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Malcolm Gladwell, Al Gore, Gordon Brown, Richard Dawkins, Bill Gates, Bono, Mike Rowe, Google founders Larry Pageand Sergey Brin, and many Nobel Prize winners.^[7] TED's current curator is the British former computer journalist and magazine publisher Chris Anderson.

Here we are, waiting to be inspired- 

(Please ignore the mustache.... It was Mustache March- an Air Force tradition... here is a great article that explains it all, and who it actually honors- http://www.stripes.com/blogs/stripes-central/stripes-central-1.8040/mustache-march-1.270454#.UzmAI9yWLlc)

And inspired we were! As the day went on, the talks got better. The last one was Seval Oz, Dr. Oz's sister. She works for Google, and is in charge of their self-driving car program. She was amazing! We had the chance to meet with her after the talks and she (being Turkish) was very interested in Brian's work with the Air Force and Turkey international relations while we were stationed in Germany. She had her assistant come over and give him her business card. Too bad we aren't ready to leave the Air Force just yet!

PLEASE take the time to watch the talks- they are all free on-line! There were 14 total, less than 20 minutes each. We also had the amazing experience of listening to Rudy Bridges Hall, who was the little girl forced into desegregation in Mississippi in 1960 and featured in this Norman Rockwell painting- 

Here is the link for all the talks that day- 

http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/9851

Sometimes, my Air Force work is fun.... each year we have an auction to raise money for scholarships for Air Force kids and spouses to go to college. Part of the leg work required to pulling off an event of this size (we raise $30,000-50,000 in one night!) is soliciting LOTS of donations. This year, I got in on the soliciting and called all the wineries that we are members of... it paid off and they donated generously. Which gave me an excuse to get to Napa! 

I decided to take my friend, and fellow Officer's Spouses Club executive board member, Chris with me to pick up the donations. The problem- neither of us wanted to drive! So, I had a brilliant idea- we farm out the kids to friends & her husband (since Brian was on a trip) and hire our babysitter to drive us- instead of babysit for us! 

Here is our wonderful Natalie- 

At the first winery, she found an admirer- the barn cat!

Chris & I at Ladera-

Stupid Hall winery trying to bring in lots of ART! Who needs a giant bunny? Just give me the wine!

Mondavi, where Chris is a member, had some random art too-

We had such a fun day out with Natalie! She is only 19, but an old soul. Brian and I met her 3 years ago at our first church when we had just moved here. She is growing up fast- engaged to an Airman in the Air Force!