I'm 24, I'm a 1LT, Barca are Champions, and I love my Oxford fam!

This past week was a great one with lots of fun and friends and many many reminders as to why I love Oxford and will be so upset when I have to leave!

Tuesday was my birthday and I didn’t want to work because of the fact it was my birthday and it was a beautiful day in Oxford so I didn’t really work.... I had a nice lunch/coffee break out in the sun in Bonnie and then celebrated my birthday is the best way imaginable, circuits! The sad thing is I’m kinda serious, I really love circuits! After circuits I got dinner at Nandos with some of the circuits crew. It was great to spend time with Matt, Gemma, Leon, Emma, Bonnie, Rupert, Darren, and Danielle. The food was good, the company was better, and I’m so glad I’ve gotten to know these amazing people in the past 6 months or so. They’re such a welcoming group and they’ve been so good to me, I’m gonna miss them (and circuits) terribly!

The rest of the week sort of dragged by because I had much to look forward to at the end of the week. Friday evening Shiri flew in from Israel which was super exciting!

Saturday morning was football development training so during training Shiri went for a run then when she was done we left training a little early and wandered around Oxford seeing the sights. We hit up Exeter and its Fellows Garden to see the view of Radcliffe Square, New College chapel and cloisters, the Bod, St Mary’s Church, Christ Church Cathedral and Hall, and the Covered Market. It was rainy and dreary and lots of places were closed because of a graduation ceremony so we went home in the early afternoon, showered, and changed for the evening’s festivities.

We then met Si and Kim and headed into town for dinner, again at Nandos. Yes, it is that good that I can eat it twice in a week. Danny and Tommy joined us for dinner and then Bonnie and Kirsty showed up and we all headed over to the Duke’s Cut where the party would be. Speaking of the party, this lovely get together was in honour of several things: my birthday, the Champions League Final, and my promotion from 2^nd to 1^st Lieutenant. So yeah, back to the party. I reserved half of the pub for just our group which worked out perfectly and gave us lots of room, good view of a big tv, and good access to the bar. Basically all my friends and I could possibly want. Tradition in the US Air Force dictates that, when an officer is promoted, for their celebration they put down their one month’s raise on the bar for all their family and friends. Since I only had 1 member of my actual family to celebrate with, I decided to celebrate with my Oxford family. The bar tab opened at about 7:30, just before kickoff for the game, and was open until the bar closed at 12:30. It was quite a tab...

The game was awesome, even though most people were rooting for United, but regardless of what result you wanted, you couldn’t complain about the actual match itself. After the game we just hung out at the pub until it closed and then moved on to Anuba, another bar/club down on Park End street. I’m not sure exactly when I made it home, but it was late...

In all, I was really happy with the evening. There were over 30 people there and it was amazing to spend time with such incredible people whom I’ve been blessed to get to know. Some of the people there I’ve known since I first arrived in Oxford, others I’ve met within the last few months, but I wouldn’t trade any time I’ve had with any of them and I’ve loved every minute of my friendship with them all. Sadly, some of my closest friends were missing (especially Neal and Soupy) and I wish I could’ve shared this time with them as well, but just so they know, I was missing them and wishing they were there. I want to again thank everyone who came for making the night, and my time in Oxford, so unbelievably incredible!!

Ok, that got really sappy and mushy and that’s no fun... So yeah, here are some fun pictures from the night.

Happy birthday Blog!

Its been 1 year since I started my blog. Yay for my blog. I wish I updated it more than I do... there's always next year!!!

Photo Challenge Day 30

A photo you find beautiful:


By request of Michal, I have included this photo for today. First of all, its a great shot representing a BEAUTIFUL day in my favourite park in London: Regents. I mean Hyde.... :) This is from exactly 1 year ago, my birthday. Michal and I had each just returned from Holland (different reasons) and we were meeting Neal, Brian, Ian, and Jeanie at Wembley later for the England vs Mexico World Cup warmup. We spent the day wandering around London, Hyde Park, eating Flake, having a great dinner at Zizi's and watching England win. Great day, great birthday, beautiful all around!

Photo Challenge Day 29

A photo of your favourite person in history:


Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to pick a favourite person in history? Seriously?

Now I know this is going to sound super random but it popped into my head. When I was younger I went through a phase where I was really interested in Annie Oakley. I read a biography of hers and was just fascinated by her life and her story. So yeah, I'm just gonna go with Annie Oakley. Although Annie Get Your Gun may have ruined that for me....

Photo Challenge Day 28

A photo of something that made your day:


This is from Varsity last year. The guys said they were going to "paint up" but I didn't even imagine they would take it this far! It may have been cold and cloudy, I may have been playing on only one good ankle, we may have lost the game, but having such amazing friends who were willing to do this for me absolutely made my day!

Photo Challenge Day 27

A photo of something you're looking forward to:

Lots to look forward to this week. First of all, my birthday is on Tuesday. I'll be celebrating it in the most enjoyable way imaginable: circuits! No really, I actually love circuits!!


Then on Friday, Shiri arrives! Woohoo! This is me and Shiri in our Tiki Hut that we built over Christmas break. Yeah, I know, we're awesome.




Then on Saturday is the Champions League final (Manchester United vs Barcelona) plus my birthday/promotion party! Very excited for that as well!


Now if only I didn't have to do tons of engineering work in between all the fun stuff...

Photo Challenge Day 26

A photo of your favourite subject in school:


I liked pretty much every subject but my favourite (and my major in undergrad) was Astro. These are photos of FalconSAT-5, the satellite I worked on when I was a senior at the Academy. Its actually orbiting up in space right now!

Photo Challenge Day 25

A photo that inspires you:

In case you can't recognize him, this is John Glenn. He is amazing and so inspiring. What an example of a man who dedicated his life to serving his country in so many ways. First as a Marine Pilot, serving for 24 years. Then as one of the nation's first astronauts, being the first American to orbit the earth. After his NASA career he went into politics, serving in the US Senate for 25 years. He returned to space at the age of 77 on the Space Shuttle (the launch of which was the first shuttle launch I ever watched). Furthermore, he has been married to the same incredible woman (who I also had the honour of meeting) since 1943. An amazing man with incredible stories and a total inspiration to me.

Photo Challenge Day 24

A photo of what you want to be when you grow up:


I wanna be an astronaut. Yes I know, thats something you only want to be when you're, like, 5 but whatever. Also I understand there will not be space shuttles by the time I get around to going to space but its an awesome picture so I went with it!

Photo Challenge Day 23

A photo of something you want to do someday:


I want to fly F-16s. Its as simple as that really. Except I want the 1-seater, obviously, because then it means I'm flying instead of just along for the ride!

Photo Challenge Day 22

A photo that you associate a good memory with:

This was from my first game at Anfield with Michal and Ashley after our Ireland trip. What a European night! Stevie scored and set Fernando up for one of his two goals. It was a great evening, a great match, shared with great people.

My First XI

As mentioned in the previous blog, I decided to honour one of my new favourite websites (kickette.com) by doing my own First XI of hot footballers. Here it is, enjoy. Shiri was instrumental in helping me choose my side.

Goalkeeper:
Joe Hart (England, Man City); Why oh why must your play for such a horrible team?

Defenders:
Carlos Bocanegra (USA, St. Ettiene): Hello there Captain America!

Fabio Cannavaro (Italy, Al-Ahi UAE): Still not happy Italy won the World Cup but you're good looking enough to get away with it.

Gerard Pique (Spain, Barcelona): Please stop bleeding from your head. You're too good looking to afford that. Also, you're dating Shakira, just thought I'd throw that out there.

Xabi Alonso (Spain, Real Madrid): Why oh why did you ever leave Liverpool?

David Beckham (England, LA Galaxy): I mean really, how can you not include him? We're just going to ignore the bad hair years.

Benny Feilhaber (USA, New England Revolution): Representing Irvine, CA (my hometown) and Irvine Strikers (my youth club).

Stu Holden (USA, Bolton): You are adorable. Really not much else to say.


Steven Gerrard (England, Liverpool): Basically I love you to death. That is all.

Strikers:
Michael Owen (England, Manchester United): Why oh why did you ever leave Liverpool?

Fernando Torres (Spain, Chelsea): Why oh why did you ever leave Liverpool? I'm sensing a theme here....


Well, I hope you all enjoyed this as much as Shiri and I did. Probably not, but whatever. :)

Photo Challenge Day 21

A photo of someone you find attractive:

This one should not have been so difficult but it was. So I decided to do a bunch, picking people from different categories. You will notice there are no athletes/footballers on here. That is because that was FAR too difficult to narrow down and therefore I decided to take a page out of the Kickette book (check it out: kickette.com) and great a First XI of footballers. That blog is to come. In the meantime, here is a male actor, a female actor, a male singer, and a female singer for your enjoyment.

Male actor: Jake Gyllenhaal. Ever since October Sky I have loved him. He grew up alright as well. Also, I saw him at the airport once; he was leaving from the gate next to mine. Being the wimp I am I just sat there and looked at him rather than do anything about it but whatever, I still have the memory.

Basically because of the fact that even when she shaved her head for V for Vendetta she was still gorgeous, I had to pick Natalie Portman as my female actor. Also, she was born in Israel and is fluent in Hebrew which also makes her awesome.

Josh Turner is attractive before he starts to sing and even moreso once he opens his mouth. Love the smile and that ridiculously deep voice. Also seems like a totally decent guy.

Carrie Underwood is adorable. Even in her American Idol audition she was beautiful and she still is. Also, an amazing voice. Basically the only AI alum that I actually care about (minus Kelly Clarkson for a little while).


Last but not least I have included a picture of a mirror because you, whoever you are, are beautiful (no matter what they say...). Yes, I AM that cheesy!!

Photo Challenge Day 20

A photo from last summer:


Surfing in Morocco. What an AMAZING week that was!

Photo Challenge Day 19

A photo of something you ate today:

Rather than a photo of "something" I ate today I figured I'd give you a description of everything I ate today because it everything I ate was unique and particular to Israel (well almost).

Didn't really have breakfast (I know, thats very bad of me but I had an early bus to catch from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and so I didn't have much time) so I was very hungry by lunchtime. My great-aunt (my grandmother's sister) took me to Shiri to a nice restaurant called Caffit in the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens.

Shiri and I split two dishes and they were both amazing! The first was a sweet potato ravioli with olive oil, garlic, chili peppers and Parmesan cheese. I didn't take an actual picture of it but this is from the website and its exactly what ours looked liked:

The second dish we had was really unique and unbelievably good! It was called "Oregenatta" and it was sort of a salad on steroids. It had lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, some sort of feta cheese, all sorts of nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc), and sweet potato fries on top. Sounds strange, I know, but it was amazing! And yes, this is how high the plate was piled up! Between the two of us there was food left over. SO good!


After such an amazing lunch I didn't think it was possible to want to eat dinner but by late in the evening when Shiri and I met up with her friends from Hebrew U we were indeed hungry. Shiri wanted to take me (and her friends who had never been) to get "Kube" which is a sort of meatball covered in a sort of dough. Sounds strange but trust me, very good. We got some fried kube to share (were pretty good) and then had Kube Soup, which is, obviously, kube in soup.

Here's the fried kube:

Here's the kube soup. The first was mine, it was "Hamutz" (meaning sour) so it had pickles and lemon juice. It really was sour but really good.

This was Shiri's which had beetroot in it, making for a very interesting shade of pink.

After dinner we had one of the most amazing desserts in existence, chocolate rugelah. Its a sweet dough wrapped around a chocolate inside and then baked. Oh my gosh AMAZING!! I could eat these like its my job but I was good and only had one. That night. I had another the next morning...

We then went to Ben Yehuda street (where there are lots of bars and clubs) and had a chilled out drink. I'm in Israel, so of course, had to get a Goldstar!


A great Israeli day spent in one of the most incredible cities in the world, Jerusalem, with an amazing sister and unbelievable food!

Photo Challenge Day 18

A photo of your town:

I figured I'd include a photo of my hometown (Irvine, CA) and one of the town in which I now live (Oxford... duh).

Bet you can't guess which is which...

Photo Challenge Day 17

A photo from a trip you'll never forget.






The trip with my parents and Youval to Switzerland was amazing. Everything was so stunningly beautiful, the weather was incredible, everything was perfect (well, once we finally got there that is.... stupid Luton versus Stansted...)