September Update

Excellent news - I got the promotion and am now officially a manager, responsible for BBSRC's business interface activities. Not so excellent news - the base has announced they will be downsizing and all active duty military will be reassigned by 1 August 2010. We were only scheduled to be here another 6 months (to Jan 2011), but somehow, I still feel robbed. 'Tis the life of a military family. Only 3.5 years to go, Jason can retire, and we can plan more than 6 months of our life at a time.

On the travel front, I am indeed being sent to a conference in Lisbon, so Jason and I will do a long weekend trip to Spain (Madrid) and Portugal (just Lisbon) at the end of October. I think we'll try and give ourselves (and our bank account) a rest in November, and then maybe off to Texas for Christmas. Of course, we have to budget Jason's leave, because there just never seems to be enough, but we're looking forward to a sunny Texas Christmas with our Rupp extended family!

We had an amazing weekend in Paris. Since we had just been there with Stephanie in June to see all the big sights (Louvre, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, etc), we felt more at ease this time to just wander around the city. We walked around Ave Montaigne, St Germain, Rue du Faubourg, etc. We popped in and out of shops, bought a few things for ourselves and the family, and generally enjoyed the fabulous weather and atmosphere. On Saturday night, we treated ourselves to a lovely dinner and then wandered down to the River Seine, where the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame were lit up. On the hour, the lights on the Eiffel Tower start to twinkle like a million little diamonds - it was one of the most amazing things I've seen. I think Paris will always be one of my favorite places in the world.