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Guest Post: Motherhood and Social Media

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Motherhood and Social Media

Before the advent of Facebook, Pinterest, Skype and various other social media tools, motherhood was, in some ways, a much more isolating experience. Of course, before social media, mothers may have had email, phone calls and in-person visits. But social media and tools like smart phones and web cams bring your friends and family right into your living room, regardless of location, and allow them experience the growth of your child up close and personal. These days, moms can keep in touch with friends and family like never before.

Social media serves another important purpose: it brings moms together and makes geography nearly irrelevant. You adopted your child from China? There is a Facebook page or blog dedicated to that where you can connect with other moms with children adopted from China and share your experiences, ask questions, and make friends. Ditto for many other motherhood experiences. The internet and social media help us stay connected and meet others of like minds or experiences. This can be immensely reassuring when you are faced with a motherhood dilemma outside your previous experience.

Here are some of the most common social media tools I have found useful and some that many of my friends who are moms love to use:

Facebook

Although there are concerns that Facebook popularity is declining among teens, every mom I know uses it regularly. We post pictures of our kids, updates on our lives, questions about events at school and where to find a good pediatric dentist. It is a great tool for keeping up with both local friends and family and those that live far away.

You should be aware that Facebook is notorious for changing their privacy settings constantly and not informing users.  Therefore, I never post anything on Facebook that is sensitive or private. You really can’t be absolutely sure who might see your post. Also, Facebook has had the tendency in the past to ban breast-feeding photos and sometimes delete those users’ accounts, so while it is your right to post these types of family photos, the network has shown a strange intolerance to them, so beware.

That said, I love keeping up with what my friend in Spain is doing and her daughter’s activities, as well as making plans with my neighborhood friends for a barbeque.  I also belong to a Facebook group of moms with multiples and we talk about parenting issues specific to having twins or triplets.

Pinterest

Need an idea for a snack to serve for a toddler birthday party? Looking for an age-appropriate educational activity? How about nursery decorating ideas? That and more can be found on Pinterest by pinning photos and ideas of people you know and people you don’t. Along the way you can learn lots of interesting things about your friends. One of my friends has a prolific collection of dessert recipes – all involving chocolate. Another is obsessed with bookshelves of every shape and dimension. Another I can always count on for great ideas for appetizers.

Instagram

Love photos? Instagram allows you to tap your inner photographer and view others photos. You can also share them on Facebook and other social media sites. It is an opportunity to showcase your life in photos for friends and family to see, but the profiles are public, so everyone else can see, too.

Skype

There is nothing better than Skype for keeping in touch with family and friends far away – it’s almost as good as being there. It’s free to talk computer-to-computer and while you have to remember to talk straight into the webcam (or else all people will see is your forehead), it is a live way to talk so your mother that lives five states (or a continent) away can see and hear your infant daughter cooing. My niece put on a trombone concert for my parents a few weeks ago and sometimes my best friend and I get on and chat after the kids have gone to bed in place of going out like we used to. You can even BYOB.

Email and Texting

Don’t care to share your whole life with the masses, or even just your online friends? It’s a valid concern – many sites have little to no security settings, so there is really no way to ensure that what you post stays within your circle of family and friends. Emailing and texting, now considered old-school, aren’t completely foolproof, but you have a reasonable expectation that your rant to your best friend about not getting any sleep and the lack of privacy while pumping at work will be seen only by her.

What was parenthood before social media? It was a lot more private, and really, there is no substitute for in-person visits, but when that isn’t possible, social media can be the next best thing. It also opens up so many parenting resources and avenues for creativity, information and validation. It’s a way for friends and family outside your local circle to see your kids grow up, and to me, that is pretty amazing.

This guest post is by a SmartMom Contributor. SmartMom is an easy way to receive fast answers to all of your parenting questions from the convenience of your mobile device.  We’re launching in the app store soon – Visit our website http://smartmom.co for early access! 

 

Living In Vicenza, Italy

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Happy to have this guest post by Stephany on Vicenza, Italy. Please visit my Duty station guest post page for posts on other locations or more information about how you can write a guest post about where you have been stationed.

living in italy

From the minute I stepped off the plane in Venice, Italy, I knew life would be a bittersweet combination of challenges and fun adventures. While I enjoy the beauty of Italy’s scenic mountains and greenery, I’ve learned that like any rose bush, Italy has its thorns too.

I had been to Venice a year ago with my husband and was surrounded by Italians who spoke English and were happy to serve American patrons. I naively thought the rest of Italy would welcome us with open arms until I moved here. A new army installation was opening shortly after I arrived (Caserma Del Din) and was violently protested by Italians who cut into the fence and forced their way in. Some Italians don’t want our troops here because they believe it will bring war onto their home front.

I also came to Italy with the preconceived notion that it would be cheap to travel all of Europe. My husband and I went to Rome and spent a little over $400 round-trip just for train fare. We spent close to a thousand total on food, lodging and travel. Needless to say, we haven’t ventured far since Rome. In addition, the cost of living is higher because the US dollar is equivalent to 0.70€.

The obvious solution would be to get a job so we have extra spending money for trips, however, this has proven to be difficult. The US has an agreement with Italy called the SOFA agreement which basically states US citizens can’t work in the Italian economy and 70% of jobs on post must go to Italian citizens.

However, there is a silver-lining to this proverbial thorn bush I call home. For starters, I live in northern Italy which is surrounded by beautiful mountains and it rains a bit which makes all the foliage green. Whenever it rains, the skies are clear the next day and every crevice and snowcap can be seen on the mountains. This is a treat for a Texas girl like myself who is from a drought-ridden city where the grass is brown and the ground is flat.

While I mentioned earlier that traveling can be expensive, there are plenty of places close by to see. Verona, Venice, Asiago (yes, this is where the cheese asiago comes from), and Pisa (you know, the leaning tower) are all within an hour or two away. I went to Verona to see the house of Juliet and even wrote her a letter! I’ve been to Venice a handful of times and I’m going to Milan in a few days! There is so much to see; wineries are everywhere, olive oil factories let you harvest olives and give a tour, and so much more. Surprisingly, there are wives here who are unhappy and it’s because they never get out and explore this beautiful country.

Along with traveling, I’ve enjoyed the food (maybe a little too much!) Italians are all about enjoying their meals and it’s taught me a few things. Unlike fast-paced Americans, Italians believe in enjoying meals and it’s not something to be rushed – it’s a marathon not a race. Dinner is served in courses and enjoyed in a large group of family and friends over several hours of delicious food and conversation. After dinner, it’s customary to drink coffee or even liquor as a digestive. I hope to adopt this belief of enjoying food slowly instead of shoveling it in my mouth long after we move.

My advice to any families PCSing to Vicenza, Italy is to 1) get involved in the military community (FRG, soldiers’ theater, community club, volunteer, etc) and/or make friends. It can get lonely here if you don’t get out of the house and I believe this is why lots of wives are unhappy here. 2) Come with an open mind. It’s a different culture here and it’s a different way of life, driving in Italy is very different (in place of traffic lights, there are traffic circles aka roundabouts), some restrooms are simply a hole in the ground (called a squatty potty because you have to squat to pee). 3) Lower enlisted are only allowed one POV, so make friends with other families so your husband can carpool and you can have a car when you need one. It’s tough having only one car out here but taxes are high if you have two cars and it’s not feasible unless you or your husband are higher enlisted and can afford it.

Stephany is currently living with her husband Travis in Vicenza, Italy. She has a passion for writing and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas, hook ‘em horns! When she’s not writing, she’s out walking her dog or spending time at home with her husband. She loves doing arts and crafts, making salt scrubs, bath fizzies, care packages, and sewing pillows.

 

Fall in Seattle

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I am very happy to have a guest poster for this morning.  She is going to be talking about fall which is my favorite season 🙂

A Girl is a 20 something blogger who began blogging in 2008 as a means of coping with a deployment.  She is a Veterinary Technician by trade and loves her work in Emergency and Critical Care.  She is married to a USMC reservist with 10 years of service, whom she met shortly after he returned from a deployment.  They have been married for four years, have three, very bratty dogs, and are currently trying to muddle through the aftermath of a difficult deployment for both.  You can find her blog at A Boy, A Girl , and The Marine Corps!

 

 Seattle

There is something about fall in Seattle.  Our summer is only a month long at best, our winter is two if we are lucky, and most of the rest of the year is spent in a perpetual springtime.  So, for a few months a year, I have this amazing time called “Fall in Seattle”, which is unlike fall any other place.  It is a time of grey skies, and clouds that are not ominous, but welcoming.  They stretch across the horizon, obscuring the sun and moon, but wrapping our lives in a protective layer that prevents the temperature from ever being too hot or too cold, but a gentle chill that invigorates the senses.

This September was unseasonably warm.  There is no reason in the world it should ever be over 80 degrees in Seattle more than one day a year, let alone for the entire first 17 days of what I have come to regard as the month that I look forward to most.  It is September that marks a truly hit or miss daily weather forecast.  It may be sunny and warm, it may be sunny and raining, or it might ice over.  And the weatherman doesn’t know any better than you do what it might be, and the Weather Gods don’t care if it does all of those things in course of just 24 hours.

And then fall comes… all at once.  You wake up one morning and all the leaves are brown, then the next day they are gone.  And that is fall in Seattle, if you are lucky enough to see it happen at all.  So I don’t think of fall as the time of year to enjoy the changing of the leaves and the rustle of them in the wind, most of our trees are green all year round anyway.

But what I do think of is fog.  I think of rains washing through the city, cleansing us of our summer sins, nourishing the landscapes as the flowers are replaced with soft earth and grass that never dies, but simply stops growing.  I think of mornings spent drinking warm tea, and the ridiculous clothing you will see only in Seattle, where moist weather gear is as much a fashion statement as it is a functional part of your wardrobe.

Though it is never truly very dry here, the air becomes so moist, that outsiders mistake it for rain.  A fine mist looms in the air and you can become damp simply by walking to your car, even without a raindrop in sight.  Dew forms on the tips of pine trees, creating the glassy look of a flash rainstorm.  The sidewalks never quite dry, the ground never stops sloshing under your feet and the smell of the air is always clean.

You don’t see many umbrellas, which is how you can tell the tourists, the transplants and other non-natives from the locals, or those who have lived here long enough to know better.  You won’t see rain boots, unless they are covered with bright, multi-colored polka dots (as mine are), or rubber duckies or other such non-sense.  And to be honest, I didn’t even own a pair of rain boots until I needed them for school because we were going to a dairy farm. I have not worn them in at least 2 years, the last time being when I used to have to walk through the mud to catch the horse I rode for my riding lesson.  Because even though we all own them (or most of us do), we really don’t see the reason to change shoes just because it’s wet.

If you ask people about Fall most will cite amazing quotes about the leaves turning color on the East Coast, where the trees are not green all year round.  You will hear talk of crisp breezes and the feeling that winter is almost here…  But for me, winter is not the time of year I look forward to the most.  I grew up in Seattle.  It means that I have never really experienced much in the way of a gentle change in weather as the leaves turn color and fall to the ground in preparation for winter.  Instead, I’ve been lucky enough to experiences lush hills that line our freeways as I laugh that even born and raised here, most still can’t drive when the streets are wet, and I can look out my windows and not be sure if it’s morning or evening because my world has been tinted by grey colored glasses for days.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Please contact me if you would like to guest post on Soldier’s Wife, Crazy Life 🙂

Guest Post: Camp Zama, Japan Part 2

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Here is the 2nd part of Jes’s post on Camp Zama.  Make sure to read part one as well 🙂

Jes  blogs at Bleu Dress and Dress Blues!

We have a wonderful spouses club {again, only one, not enough people to support separate enlisted and officer clubs…that’s a recurring theme around here.  It’s not encouraged but it’s not uncommon for the two to mix freely around here}.  ZaCSA {http://zacsa.org/}, the Zama Community Spouses Association, has a plethora of volunteer opportunities and hosts numerous events throughout the year. Some of these events are held with groups of local Japanese women {their groups are exclusively female}, including cooking classes {1, 2, 3} and new years parties {2011, 2012}.  If you get stationed here and are looking for a way to get involved, this is the place to start {we were still in lodging, had been in Japan less than 2 weeks, when I took my 1st cooking class}!

Japan

my 1st Japanese cooking class just days after arriving in Japan

Ok, enough about stuff on base, let’s see if I can begin to describe what life off base can be like when you’re stationed here.  1st, I’ll state the obvious, living in a country where you don’t speak the language is difficult!  It is very easy to be intimidated by the language barrier and never leave base. Those people are the ones who tend to HATE living here and I don’t blame them.  If I never left the base, I would be MISERABLE here too!  If you’ve ever read my blog, you probably know that I am NOT one of those people.  From day one I was determined to make the best of my time here and I am confident that I will leave here feeling like I accomplished that goal.

Japan

embracing my inner Japanese at a temple in Tokyo

The food is…different, but, IMO, good!  My favorite, okonomoyaki, I haven’t blogged about but it’s now on my blogging to-do list!  Yakitori, or grilled chicken on a stick, is a close second and there’s a great joint between Zama and SHA.  There is also a great gyoza {dumpling} restaurant close to SHA.  Sushi here is a tad different that what we’re used to in the US.  Not so many rolls with fancy sauces and toppings, more fish, rice and wasabi.  My mom was a trooper when she came to visit and tried everything I put in front of her which was basically every Japanese food I know!  If you’d like to see more about the food here, I recommend checking out that post.

my mom’s 1st experience with sushi

There are lots of festivals and celebrations that happen throughout the yeah, especially in the summer months.  Some are family friendly, and others are not so PG.  Some you plan to attend {the one US radio station, broadcast from a near by AF base tells you about lots of events going on outside the gate}, some you randomly find by following the noise you hear while out in town for other reasons.

Japan

my friend, Melissa, and me playing a taiko drum.  these are often a part of festivals and celebrations in Japan

Working here can be a bit challenging as there are only a few job opportunities available.  I chose to go the route of teaching English.  There are companies here who match Americans with Japanese students who want to study English.  They make it very easy for you to get started.  I also teach a group of WONDERFUL Japanese ladies at a local community club.  These women have made my time here in Japan so much more enriching.

Japan

the ladies that I teach at the community center

Shopping in Japan can be difficult, especially if you aren’t super thin.  Even as a size 4-6 US, I have trouble finding clothes that fit sometimes.  And shoes?  I don’t even bother, my size 9 is non existent here!  The style here is a bit different than it is in America.  I embrace it, others don’t, but I’ve always been a tad on the funky side of fashion.  I’ve shared my shopping experiences here and here.   Most of us rely on online shopping though!

Japan

a sampling of some of the more extreme fashion seen in Tokyo

  Driving and parking can also be challenging for some.  The roads are small, the cars are small and the parking spots are even smaller and slightly complicated to figure out! {I highly recommend NOT bringing your car here.  It’s very costly and large American cars don’t fit on the road here very easily} Your best bet, stick to the trains!  They go just about every where, they’re efficient, very easy to navigate and way less stressful than driving!

Japan

watching a train driver on a local train

It took me a while, but I did find a few places to volunteer out in the community where at least some people speak English!  Through a local photographer, I found a food bank in Tokyo and through that food bank, I found an organization to volunteer with after the Tsunami.

volunteering at the food bank in Tokyo with my dear friend, Melissa

 Japan

Everyday here is an adventure.  You never know when you’ll turn a corner and learn/discover something new.  I think the most important thing is to keep an open mind.  I wasn’t thrilled the 1st time we were out and I had to use the bathroom and could not find a Western style toilet but hey it’s all about gaining life experiences right?

 Japan

a Japanese style toilet AKA squatty potty

There are tons of sights to see here.  I’m quite sure it’s impossible to see everything here in just 3 years but I’m sure going to try my best to knock as many off the list as I can!  I hope you’ll follow along as my journey here continues and if you ever get the opportunity to be stationed here, I hope you jump on it!

Japan

Daibutsu located about an hour away in Kamakura, Japan

I could go on and on about life here but I think that is more than enough for now.  If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to send me an email.

PS, I asked some friends and we come up with these tips if you happen to be PCS’ing to Camp Zama:

1.  Our PX is small, very small.  It has most of the necessities but if you are particular about a certain product, especially make-up or hair color or shampoo/conditioner, etc.  I suggest you bring those things with you.

2.  We have a clinic on site for regular check-ups and day to day health issues but we do NOT have a hospital/ER. If you find your self in a situation like this one, or are/become pregnant here, you will be seen at either Yokota AFB or Yokosuka Naval Base {both are any where from 1-3 hours away by car depending on traffic}.  Time sensitive emergency cases can be taken to a much closer Japanese ER and the base will provide you with a translator.  As far as pregnancies go, you will travel to one of those bases for all of your appointments through out your pregnancy and then about 2 weeks before your due date, they set you and your spouse up in a hotel there so you are close by when the time comes to deliver.  I have no personal experience with this but from what I hear, it’s a pretty nice set up.

3.  Most people like to take advantage of the numerous mountains near by, especially Mt Fuji.  If you intend to do any hiking here, I recommend purchase quality boots before you come.  You can find some boots off base but they are usually 2-3 times what you would pay for the same shoe in the US.

4.  Also footwear related.  RAIN BOOTS!  Public transportation is huge here and the rainy season gives us up to 3 months of pretty steady rain.  The last thing you want is to be walking around without proper protection.  You may want to invest in some rain gear before you arrive.  Rain boots & a rain jacket at minimum are pretty essential items here!

 

Guest Post: Camp Zama, Japan Part 1

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Jes at Bleu Dress and Dress Blues is my next guest poster.   I will be dividing her post into two because of all the wonderful information she has 🙂

 Camp Zama is a teeny, tiny Army base located about 25 miles SW of Tokyo, Japan.  Most people have never heard of it, I hadn’t until we got orders {I actually have a soldier with 25 years service under his belt tell me that I was making it up because he didn’t think we had soldiers on mainland Japan, lol}.  It is home to about 10 units, including U.S. Army Japan(USAR-J)/I CORPS FWD.  I don’t know exact numbers but if I had to guess I’d say there are less than 800 soldiers, maybe about 1500 civilians and probably close to 2000 local national employees on base.  Unless you get permission from the General {yes, the, we only have one}, soldiers and civilians are required to live on post so it’s kind of like living in a fish bowl in the middle of Japan.  Most of the time, this is great, I love living in a community where  everybody knows your name but it’s also a breeding ground for massive amounts of “Zama Drama”. {If you were wondering how Zama is pronounced, well, it rhymes with drama!}

Japan

we have been blessed with some of the most amazing neighbors ever here!

Our community includes the main base {Zama}, Sagamihara Housing Area {SHA} and the Sagami Depot.  Most of the families live on Zama or SHA with a few {less than a dozen} residing at the Depot.  I have never actually been to the Depot so I know very little about it.  On SHA you will find family housing, the elementary school that serves SHA + Zama, and our state of the art, just installed, digital movie theater {it’s the 1st one of it’s caliber in on a military installation in Japan and it’s been a big deal for us.  It means we get movies IMMEDIATELY once they’re released in the US instead of having to wait for the film to be delivered weeks or months after it premiers in America}.  Zama, which is where almost all of the units are located, contains family and single soldier housing, the small PX, the mail room and post office, the community club, a GREAT travel office, a bowling alley, a golf course {apparently one of the best on any base instillation around the world…but I wouldn’t know!}, a vet, a high school that serves not only Zama + SHA but also Naval Air Facility Atsugi which is located about 30 minutes from here and the clinic {we don’t have a hospital here}.  Both areas have very small commissaries {the one on Zama only has 4 aisles…it’s tiny!}, a gym, a food court, day care, and a chapel.

Japan

One of the things that I think separates us from other bases I’ve been to is our community club.  Our base cannot support both an enlisted and officers club so we just have the one and, believe it or not, PEOPLE USE IT!  ALL THE TIME!  The place is always busy.  I’ve never seen a community club that has as much consistent business as ours does.  It’s a great facility run by a couple of great guys.  I also think it may have to do with the fact that it’s one of the few places to eat American food outside of your home.  If you want American food here and you don’t want to cook, your options are the food court {Popeye’s, BK, Subway and Anthony’s pizza}, the golf course, bowling alley, DFAC, or the community club.  The options get old REALLY fast!

To be continued…

Guest Post: Okinawa, Japan

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Okinawa

Hey! I’m Kara and I blog over at Ramblings of a Marine Wife. In case, you didn’t notice, my husband is a Marine and we are currently stationed in Okinawa. We have 2 kids, our son is almost 7 and our daughter is 3. Our last duty station was Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. Hubby hated it, I liked it, but I’m from Missouri. However, we both agree that we absolutely love Okinawa!

Okinawa

Okinawa is a sub-tropical island in the Pacific Ocean. It’s roughly 950 miles southwest of Tokyo and 400 miles east of Taipai and yes, it is a relatively small island. It’s 877 square miles and only about 70 miles long. It’s easy to drive from one end to the other in a day, even with the traffic and slower speed limits. However, there is a ton to do here! I was a little worried about being landlocked, but not once have I felt the need to get outta here because of Okinawa’s size. I also didn’t realize how absolutely gorgeous this island would be.

 okinawa japan map

There are bases all over the island, one Army, one Air Force, a couple Navy, and the rest Marine Corps. Of the ten plus bases, only 7 have housing. For the most part, they will put you in housing near where you work, but not necessarily on the same base. We lived on base when we first got here and were pretty far from hubby’s work, but only because we picked our house over another. Now we live in town and we picked that too, based on school districts, and we just liked the house we are in.

This island is great for families. We’ve been here almost 2 years and I’m still finding new places to go and things to see. The island has a lot of touristy spots, including a couple zoos, an aquarium, numerous memorials and museums dedicated to WWII, castle ruins, and more beaches than I could count. We have also found some pretty neat parks. The Japanese don’t build playgrounds like we do! Theirs are way better! The military MWR’s and MCCS are also good about constantly having stuff going on.

okinawa

If you do like to vacation, the military has a resort, Okuma. There are also nice hotels in town. But, then again, we are in Asia. Why not fly to your country of choice? We haven’t gone anywhere yet, but I have friends (that I’m extremely jealous of) that have gone to mainland Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, and probably more places I’m forgetting.

I have found that Okinawa is either a place you love or you hate. If you get out and enjoy the island and the culture, you will come to love it. Never leave base and you will come to resent being here. I love it (my blog will testify to that) and would love to stay longer, but I think my family would kill me.

 

 

Guest Post: Ft. Rucker Army Post

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Hi guys!  I am in California for vacation and wanted to have a few guest posts share with you about where they call home at the moment!  If you would like to guest post about your duty station or location, please email me at soldierswifecrazylife (at) gmail (dot) com :)

Chantal blogs over at Scattered Seashells.  She is an Army Wife stationed at Ft. Rucker with sweet little baby girl.

I wasn’t so excited to go back to the South. We had been living in Hawaii for two and a half years, and well, what can I complain about? It was the perfect amount of sunny, there were beaches, there was delicious food, and plenty of stuff to do. Though by the time we were supposed to move, we were ready to leave. It was time to go somewhere else.

But the South?

My husband got accepted into flight school shortly after returning from deployment, so we were headed to southern Alabama – Fort Rucker, to be exact. While we were excited over his new career path, our only experience of the South had been Fort Benning, Georgia, and we hadn’t liked it there much. That was all we could think about! Would Alabama be the same?

I changed my views about Alabama (http://cshels.blogspot.com/2012/04/alabama.html) shortly after we arrived. Goodness, it was so different! Sure, it’s still as hot (probably even hotter…) and crazy humid, but I can’t help but love the scenery. It’s so green. We come from Colorado, where it’s brown, so seeing green everywhere is so refreshing.

There isn’t much to do here unless you look. A lot of people head down to Panama City Beach or Destin on the weekend since it’s a nearly two hour drive, but to us, spoiled by the Hawaii beaches, it doesn’t compare! Also, we have a baby, so it makes it a bit more difficult to head down there for the day. However, it’s the place to be for a lot of people.

If you’re not beach goers or don’t want to do the drive, what can you do around the area? There’s Dothan, the biggest city, about thirty minutes away. There you’ll find your chain restaurants and shopping – Target, Kohl’s, Old Navy, etc. Closer to home are three cities bordering the post: Enterprise, Daleville and Ozark. Not much to do except Wal-Mart!

But the area has its charms. There are some local farmer’s markets and farms where you can get some fresh produce. There are events on post for kids. There’s even a lake on post to check out!

We like it here and are even considering coming back at some point. It’s quiet and the people are so friendly. Fort Rucker has definitely changed my views of the South!

Guest Post: Ft. Bliss Army Post

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Hi guys!  I am in California for vacation and wanted to have a few guest posts share with you about where they call home at the moment!  If you would like to guest post about your duty station or location, please email me at soldierswifecrazylife (at) gmail (dot) com :)

My next guest post is from Sarah who blogs at My Life, Army Style.

HomepageSlideshow8aI have been an Army wife for 5 years now and I definitely view this life as an adventure. I currently live in El Paso/Ft. Bliss, TX with my husband and 3 adorable cats, and my blog is quite a random mixture of food, life updates, opinion pieces, and the military.

Hello from Ft. Bliss!

I’m excited to be participating in this guest series introducing various duty stations, and I will go ahead and announce up front that this review is going to be mostly positive. =)

Ft. Bliss is definitely an Army post that has gotten a pretty bad rap over the years. I got quite a few “Ugh, I’m sorry” responses when I found out we were moving there. I think part of this came from back when it was just a small, old Air Defense post, but it has grown SO MUCH in the past few years.

Last year they finished a brand new PX/commissary/theater/restaurants/shopping plaza called Freedom Crossing, and it is unlike anything on any other military installation at this point in time. Check out the link for it below and prepare to be jealous! The theater is fantastic and shows movies as soon as off-post theaters do. Restaurants currently include Buffalo Wild Wings, an Irish Pub, Dairy Queen, Smashburger, and a sushi place, along with the usual PX food court options, and Texas Roadhouse will be opening a location soon as well. It is always a happening place to be on weekend evenings, reminding me of a mini downtown city center. The gyms are all new or recently remodeled, nicely outfitted, and offer outstanding options for fitness classes and events. None of them offer childcare but there are CDCs nearby. Bliss is very good at planning fun events throughout the year and there is always plenty going on for families to do.

Housing is decent on post. Availability is low right now due to some units being moved here from overseas, but it is beginning to level out. A few neighborhoods are old and need remodeling, and do not seem to be worth BAH from what I have heard. But higher enlisted and officer housing is very nice. An advantage to Bliss is that finding nice, affordable neighborhoods off post is not very difficult. There are many parts of town that are safe and nice-looking, within 15-20 minutes from post.  Schools on post and off seem to be rather hit or miss, just like any post or large city, and seem to boil down to individual experiences most of the time. I do not have any kids though so this is an area I’m not very familiar with.

The city of El Paso can be a little difficult to get accustomed to, but if you go into it with an open mind and a determination to appreciate something different, it is very likeable! There is plenty of shopping, including 3 malls and one outlet mall, a thriving downtown area with lots of events and concerts, incredible food (and not just Mexican, although there is certainly plenty of that!), and plenty of outdoor opportunities in the immediate area and within a few hours of driving distance.  The city takes safety very seriously and as such there is very little to worry about despite being so close to such a turbulent border city as Juarez.  Some people find the scenery here to be ugly and the weather intolerable, but I personally think the mountains and desert views (and the sunsets/sunrises!) to be breathtaking, and the dry heat is so much easier to take than the humid summers elsewhere in the country. And you will certainly never be low in Vitamin D! =)

I hope this gives you a little peek into what it’s like at Ft. Bliss, TX and if you ever get orders here, remember this Army wife has no horror stories to share! =)

Links:

https://www.bliss.army.mil/

http://www.blissmwr.com/

http://www.ftblissfamilyhousing.com

http://freedomcrossingatfortbliss.com/

http://visitelpaso.com/