It's snowing!!!!!

I am a very huge fan of snow, so this morning when I looked out of the window and saw that it was snowing, I couldn't help but jump up down! Yay snow! Here are some pictures I took while Duchess was using the sidewalk as her toilet. It's her new thing since its cold and she thinks she should not have to walk further than our front door to use the bathroom. O, Duchess...

Enjoy the pictures! Because I am definitely enjoying the snow!

The Rathaus

Looking up the street

Rathaus x2

The 232nd Marine Corps Birthday Ball

Tonight we attended the Marine Corps Ball. This event marked the 232nd birthday of the Marine Corps. It was held at the Hilton hotel in the middle of Vienna. This was our first ball here (I'm sure there will be more....Vienna is known for it's galas). Linz looked absolutely beautiful in her gown, and I pimped out my tux (one of my co-workers even said Linz looked stunning.....maybe I should keep an eye on this guy). The evening began with cocktails.......we got a little tipsy off of our Coke. Then, the Marines began their ceremony, which consisted of the showing of the colors, the national anthem, a quick speech from one of our DCM's (Deputy Chief of Mission...aka the deputy ambassador), and the cutting of the cake by the Gunnery Sergeant. Then we ate dinner. I won't go into much detail here.......it was food. The rest of the night was spent mingling and dancing. In fact, we just got home about 30 min. ago. All in all, it was a pretty good night and a good first ball experience. Check out our pics...


I don't mean to brag or nothing....but we look good. Naturally we were the most popular couple at the ball. Everyone was like, "hey Linz and Ryan, come talk to us," or "hey, will you two take a picture with us?" Geez people, come on....give us a break! Just the price you pay I guess.....(and for those who don't know me too well, please realize that I'm being sarcastic. as you can see from the picture, my head is definitely NOT that big.)
This isn't a great pic, but this is the group of friends we went with....or with whom we went if you're a stickler for grammar.


The Marines singing on stage.....they were loud....and tone deaf. Not a good combo.

3 very lovely ladies.......

Here's the dance floor....I really felt like I was back at my senior prom. Complete with drunk people and bad dancing!

Here's a pic of me with my boss, Valerie.

Linz and I with the Brian, the Gunnery Sergeant (aka "gunny"). He's a good guy...we like to play volleyball at the Marine Base with him and the other Marines. He's also scary big...would not want to tick him off.

I just really like this pic....

Pumpkin Carving

Last weekend we went out with a few friends to pick out pumpkins to carve for Halloween. We drove about 30 minutes outside of Vienna and wound up at a little farm. They had over 300 different pumpkins...unbelievable! We ended up eating lunch there....they had a buffet with a pumpkin theme. Everything was made from pumpkins!! It was surprisingly good. After lunch we all picked out our pumpkins and went back to our friends Joan and Nate's place to carve them up. See if you can guess which one is mine from the pics below! I'll give you a hint....I really like VT.