SO Thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
We had the Philadelphia Marathon/ Half Marathon this weekend and it went great! We stayed at our friend's house Friday night and then we were en route to Philly. We stopped and saw some Army friends on the way and finally arrived Saturday evening.

The race was Sunday morning and I felt great up until about mile 11. Dan said he felt good until around mile 22. I didn't let it stop me though just trudged through the last two miles constantly thinking about the WWP logo on my shirt and our friends name on the back.

I knocked 15 minutes off my last PR and Dan knocked a minute off of his.

I am thankful that we were able to raise over $2,000 dollars for this great organization and that there are so many organization out there that help returning veterans.

Not Only to Military IDs Get You Discounts....

They prevent you from getting robbed!

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_reservist_id_stops_muggers_111109/

Veterans Day

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy (early) Veteran's Day! If you are lucky enough to have your veteran home with you, there are some free meals at Applebees ( Nov 11th) and Golden Corral ( Nov 16th) for them to get- just need to show proof of service.

Also from Nov 12-15 Old Navy is giving a 30% military discount instead of their regular 10%.

Thanks to every military member for their service to our country :)

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Wounded Warrior Project

In 18 days Dan I will be running the Philadelphia Marathon/ Half Marathon. We are raising money to support the Wounded Warrior Project which hits close to home for us as one of our friends spent nearly 18 months in Walter Reed Medical Center. We would like to give back to this organization for the many great things it has done for our friend and many other deserving warriors. We would greatly appreciate your support!
Donate Here

<3 11W

Old Navy Military Discount!!

This weekend (7/30-8/2) Old Navy is offering a 30% discount when you show your Military ID!

***Edit: It turns out they do this at the begining of every month, there is usually a banner on military.com!***

<3 11W

Warriors and Bunnies

I just found an article that says that the proceeds from Playboy's Halloween Party will benenfit the Wounded Warrior Project:

From Foxnews.com

Halloween night at Hugh Hefner’s not-so-humble abode will still be filled with all the usual suspects - scantily-clad costumed women, bopping blonde bunnies, a Haunted House and Hollywood’s hottest stars.
But while the 31st of October itself isn’t an official Hugh Hefner party, for this year its going to be even more special as the men’s magazine mogul is handing it over to help those who’ve served their country.
"Hef was kind enough to let the Wounded Warrior Project be a beneficiary on Halloween. Proceeds will help severely wounded veterans that have recently served in Afghanistan and Iraq," Executive Director of the Halloween 09 bash Jose Dominguez told Pop Tarts. (General admission tickets start at $1,000 and go up to $15,000 for VIPs.) "Halloween is the most sought-after night at the Mansion so it was a good opportunity to support our veterans and enjoy a great party at the same time."

We’re also told over 40 wounded soldiers will also attend the scary soiree.

They Lost It All

Many of you know about the 8 service members that lost their lives in a single battle in Afghanistan last week. What I didn't know is that many of the surviving men lost everything in this battle. Many men walked away with only the clothes on their backs.

The American Legion is raising money in order to get supplies, necessity items, and some luxury items (such as ipods and movies) to these troops that not only lost their comrades, but their belongings.
Their website The Burn Pit has all the details and how you can donate.
<3 11W

Army 10 Miler

Tomorrow we leave to go to DC to enjoy the weekend and run the Army 10 Miler. I am very excited for this race and hope the weather is nice! I think it will be great to see all the military members and their supporters at this event. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post afterwards (I'm not going to break any land speed records during the race so why not stop for a few photos ha). I wish everyone running good luck!

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HE'S HOME!!!!! :)

Here are some homecoming pictures! They got a bit out of order when I uploaded them. I will upload pictures of the packages sometime soon also!
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Almost There!

I get to pick up the love of my life on Sunday!!!!! I can hardly contain my excitement!
I will post pictures of homecoming and care packages "in use" once things get settled down.

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Soldier's Angels

After reading Airman Mom's latest post, I decided to sign up for Soldier's Angels! I'm actually very excited!

He's Coming Home!!!!!!

So your soldier is finally coming home! yay!

Depending on his chain of command's rules here are some thing you may want to get or send to him:

• civilian clothes and shoes
• cell phone
• free banner from Build a Sign.com to hang at your house
• new underwear, socks and shirts (you know anything that went over there will never be really clean again)
• get him a few new outfits
• make sure his favorite foods are in your house

Last but not least, treat yourself to a day at the spa right before he comes home and go get a hot new homecoming outfit!

Congrats you survived this deployment :)!!!

<3 11W

Where to Go from Here?

Well my soldier will be coming home soon (yay!!!) so I will not have as much care package inspiration. So I have been thinking a lot lately about where to go from here?

I would really like to devote more time to military charities so I decided I would start to blog about that once I started that. i will still haev ideas for packages to post every once and a while and I will also post about general military topics too.

Look out for the new topics!

First I would like to start out with an article from RangerUp.com. Its an article about why once of its writers decided to join the military and I think its pretty neat.

http://rhinoden.rangerup.com/kellys-finding-hunter/

If you or your soldier has their story about why they decided to join please comment!

<3 11W

Red, White and Blue

The 4th of July is upon us and it is my soldier's (as well as my) favorite holdiay!
This package is filled with everything to help him celebrate (except the fireworks of course).
I ordered most of these items off of Oriental Trading.

• Red White and You Sweethearts Candy- proceeds go towards the USO
• Red, White and Blue (RWB) Leis
• flag bandanas
• RWB rubber bracelets (like the livestrong ones)
• inflatable Uncle Sam (they have been using their air compressor on the Stryker to inflate things)
• Patriotic Pinata
• "Happy 4th of July" Banner
• RWB glow stick necklaces
• mini flags on sticks
• RWB rock candy
• flag sunglasses
• RWB mini beach balls
• Flag koozies for their "near beer"
• RWB gum balls

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Memorial Day 2009

*** This contest has been closed*** This winner is a soldier currently serving our country in Iraq. Congrats!

In the spirit of Memorial Day, I have partnered with the great guys at Ranger Up to have a care package give away!!! To enter please email me at 11whiskey at gmail.com the name, address, shirt size, and branch of service of you or your soldier. The contest ends June 8th.

This package will include:

• Sweet T-shirts, hats and stickers from the guys at Ranger Up
• Pinata
• Boobie Stress Balls
• Gadsden Flag
• CD 4 pack from To the Fallen Records
• Squirt Guns and Nerf Dart Gun
• House to House, Generation Kill, and Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green
• Whatever else I come up with!

Please pass this along to anyone you think would enjoy this package!

Please take a moment this Memorial Day to remember those who have given their lives for our freedom.

Boys and Their Toys

This one is a little morale booster. Every guy has a little kid in them so I decided to send some toys to my soldier to play with. I got two of most things so that he could have a partner in crime.

Your soldier may or may not get in trouble for having playtime haha.

To get this stuff I just went down the kid's aisles at Target:

• Squirt Guns
• Nerf Dart Guns
• Extra darts- I'm sure they will get lost easily
• Water balloon Kit
• Light Sabers (the retract into the handle so they are only as big as the handle)
  
• Card Games
• Over the door basketball hoop
• GI Joes
• Slingshot Flying Monkey or Slingshot Flying Cow
  

<3 11W

Author's Note: I just wanted to make sure that people did not think I thought every thing was all fun and games. I realize most soldiers are very busy and I think that sending these fun packages would help make them smile and amuse them in the downtime they may have.

Fiesta!

Cinco de Mayo is coming up shortly so I figured it would be the perfect time to send a fiesta.

• Tortilla chips
• Salsa
• Queso
• Pinata- you know they will like hitting something with a stick
• Candy to stuff the pinata
• Sombreros
• Hot sauce
• Cardboard or inflatable cactus
• Maracas
• Ballons

To the Fallen

I stumbled across this site today and was really impressed. To the Fallen Records is a label that has artists who are veterans or active duty. I ordered the CD 4 pack and I can't wait to get it to send to my soldier. They have a CD for Country, Hip Hop, and Rock. The 4th CD is a mix of all three genres. They have some song samples(most of the songs are patriotic or military related) on the site and they sound great!

Update: They post new music on the 1st and 15th of every month.
Update again: I got the CD's! Overall they are great! I also discovered they are on iTunes too!
Here are some of my favorite songs:

Country Vol 1

• "Hero" by Keni Thomas
• "Send my Love" by Cliff Hudson- great song for anyone going through a deployment
• "Why" by Cactus Hill
• "Your Freedom's Not Free" by Bert Jones- the lyrics are great
  
• "Home Lovin' You" by Herb Walker- the song is a little bit old school but nice

Hip Hop Vol 1

• "Real Soldiers" by Logic
• "Combat Zone" by Dirty Boi Vets
• "My War Cry" by Bank- Roll
• "Soldier's Prayer" by Talisman
• "Overseas" by Syx Synce
• "For the Heroes" by FOX-1

Rock Vol 1

• "Fight for Me" by Citizen Reign
• "Sleeping Giant" by 10 Fold
• "Start Saving Me" by Mike Corrado
• My Wasted Year" by Dave Rucker
• "Come Over" by Joel Port
• "Bottled Rocket" by Stephen Covell
• "The Hardest Things" Dane Kaehler
• We'll be Together" Zach Johnson

Say Goodbye- Mix Genre CD

• "Say Goodbye" by Arez featuring Soldier Hard
• "From Here We Fail" by American Hitmen
• "Redneck Town" by Sean Bennett
• "Cut N Run" Dead End Echo
  

Hope you all enjoy as much as I do!
<3 11W

Kid in a Candy Store

This box is all about candy, especially candy you haven't eaten since you were a kid.



This site looks great for this type of package: http://www.oldtimecandy.com/

I basically went to the candy store and just bought everything I could find that I didnt think would melt HAHA.

Anyone with a sweet tooth would be sure to enjoy this one!

<3 11W

Favorites

Just wanted to let everyone know what the favorites were so far.

• Box O Boobies
• Mattress Pad, Sheets and Pillow from Home Sweet Home
• sexy calendar from If he thinks Iraq is hot...
• When Life Gives You Sand Make a Beach
  
• food
• pictures
• DVDs and books

Just wanted to note that even though they might not have time to use the packages right away they are nice to have around as a morale booster for when they do have time.

<3 11W