Tampa Bay Buccaneers Heart the Military

As a military brat, I am ALWAYS a fan of organizations who support the military and I do my best to blog about ones that make me smile.

My parents are stationed at MacDill in Tampa, FL and while I was on my holiday mini-break I unexpectedly got to experience my first NFL game. For the final game of their season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers released 250 free tickets for military families and their friends.

My family and a few of our friends went to the game. I must say, I was fairly impressed. With what you ask? Okay, so yes the stadium is amazing and I was floored by their REAL pirate ship . . . but what most impressed me was the love they showed the military members.

The honorary captain of the game was a solider who had just returned from a tour in Iraq. As the national anthem was sung, a giant American flag danced across the field.

On the final note, a military cargo plane and two military choppers graced us with a fly by. The crowd erupted in cheers.

While the Buccs lost the game to the Raiders (it was close though!) the coolest part of the entire experience was hanging out on the pirate ship. My dad's connections got us right up there (yeah for my fam, I love when we get to be VIPs!) and we had an excellent view of the game and even got to throw beads into the crowd.

Here are a few photos from the big game!

The SHIP!



The back of the ship . . .



My boyfriend Dan and I on the ship . . .



My parents on the ship . . .



And here we are tossing beads into the crowd . . .


Many thanks to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You made my first NFL game an amazing experience and you gave 250 military members and their friends a wonderful Christmas present!

Thanksgiving - What I'm Thankful For

Happy Belated Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope all of you had a fantabulous holiday. Thanksgiving is awesome. You eat a giant bird. You eat pie. And, well, you just eat. And you get to reflect on the things you are thankful for.

Because of work my Thanksgiving is always an un-Thanskgivingy but it's something I'm willing to accept. Here are the things I'm thankful for this year, in random order . . .

1. That my family was together again - even if I wasn't with them. This year, my parents and brother and sister met up in the Ozark Mountains for some quality family time. My parents drove all the way from FL and my brother and sister (and her boyfriend) drove up from Oklahoma on their break from college. I was happy that this happened - last year my everyone spent the holiday alone. My folks went to Miami and hated it. Very un-Thanskgivingy said Dad.

2. My job. I'm so glad to have my job. Seriously. I'm also glad that my job provides me exciting opportunities like experiencing Black Friday in an amazing way. And today I am thankful that Black Friday is far away!

3. Dan. Like I need to say more. I thankful for his love of the holiday, the way his family celebrates it and how they miss me so very much when I'm not there with them. And I love him and am thankful that he loves me.

4. My friends. Especially the ones who love me enough to call me on Thanksgiving and cheer me on as I count down to Black Friday

5. Our military members across the world. I'm very thankful for all of the military members (and their families) that are stationed throughout the globe as they are far, far away from those who love them. A special shout out to the young and single - here's to hoping that another military family opened their homes to you on the special day. My warmest thoughts go to our men and women in the land of sand. I know that you stood in line for hours to call home on this week. Thank you for doing that. Thank you for emailing. And thank you for your positive attitude that reminds us to stay just as positive even though we miss you oceans.

What were you thankful for?