About Me

Hi!  I'm Brittney!

Let's start at the beginning...

Where I'm From

I grew up in New Hampshire, and still consider myself to be a New Englander (Go Red Sox!), even though I've lived south of the Mason Dixon Line for about ten years now!  I had a GREAT childhood in NH! 

(Me in my NH yard!)

I pretty much grew up in the middle of nowhere (my husband teases me because he's seen my home town) in a VERY small town.  I literally drove a half hour to get to the nearest movie theater/grocery store/etc..!  I couldn't wait to grow up and live near a big city!  Even so, I loved growing up there.  I was near lakes, mountains, and endless forests.  I spent most of my childhood running around outside in the years before electronics took over kids lives.

I went to boarding school for high school in Massachusetts, but didn't live on campus, I was a day student.  I credit my high school with largely shaping the person I am today.  My high school had an extremely diverse student body from all over the country and world that attended school there.  I was exposed to so much culture I wouldn't have gotten otherwise.  It was pretty life changing and also made me want to see more of the country and the world (still kinda working on that...)

(That's me on the left.  Prom pic...  I had bangs til I was 20 years old!)

I lived in the state of  New Hampshire til I was 20 years old.  I went to University of New Hampshire for a couple years but got antsy in New Hampshire and decided to look into transferring so I could experience life outside New England.  This ended up being a major cross road in my life because I felt like I had to choose to live in the state where I grew up forever or leave forever.

(I'm on the bottom far left)

I went for it and transferred to THE Ohio State University!  Ohio State ended up being a great place for me.  I met several life long friends, I loved Columbus, and I finally figured out my major and what I wanted to do after graduation.  I graduated in 2000 with a BA in Sociology and Criminology.

Me and one of my best friends Melanie!  We were assigned as roommate as OSU and have been friends ever since.  We were in each other's weddings :)

After graduation, I moved to the greater DC area and lived mainly in Northern Virginia for 6 years.  During that time I met my husband.

We got married in May of 2006.

Right after we got married, we moved to Charlotte, NC.  I loved DC, but we were kind of ready to live somewhere more low-key with a lower cost of living.  My hubby's airline went out of business and he no longer needed to be in DC.  To read his story, click here.  Charlotte came up on our radar as a possible place to live and after a bunch of trips to check it out, we decided to move here in fall of 2006.  Charlotte is where I currently live with my husband, my dog (Clyde), and our two rabbits (Cinnamon and Baxter).  

My Family
I have awesome parents that live in Hilton Head, SC, which is about 3 hours from Charlotte.  I also have a younger brother who still lives up in the northeast.

 Some Other Fun Facts About Me

I was once a police officer (for two years).

 My husband and I met in a chat room online.

I have never had a cavity.

I make awesome blueberry pie.

I got married in Hilton Head.

Clyde is my first dog!

I've known one of my best friends since I was a year old!

 Jen and I grew up across the street from each other :)  We were also in each other's weddings!  She still lives in NH and we try to visit each other at least once a year.

Why I Started Blogging

I started my blog to explain my life as a furloughed pilot's wife. When I started the blog, my husband had been furloughed from a commercial airline for a year and we were both pretty depressed about the state of the commercial airline industry and how it had affected our lives.  We had big dreams to start a family and keep things moving forward/upward, but the furlough put a huge wrench in our well-oiled machine.  In case you don't know- when a pilot is furloughed, it means they are laid off with out pay, but are still affiliated with the company.  They may still get some benefits such as the ability to fly free (stand-by) on the airline.  They also may get called back to fly for the company again when and if the staffing needs increase again.  We're basically waiting to see what happens with the industry and my husband's career.  I regularly frequented forums on JetGirls.Net and The Pilot Wives Club looking for other people going through furlough and how they were coping.  I did not find a lot of resources anywhere on this specific topic, but did see a lot of Pilot's Wives blogs about the life style.  I decided to create a blog so I could at tell our story.

What The Blog Became

As I mentioned in the story of why I started blogging, I was kind of depressed when the blog began (hence the name of my blog "Life in a Holding Pattern".  I wanted an outlet to deal with all the stress our situation was putting on me.  Blogging became my journal and outlet.  I also found Healthy Living Blogs- which is quite a huge niche, and started reading and relating to these blogs.  I found myself blogging more and more about the healthy living aspects of my life.  It felt kind of therapeutic to channel my negativity about the airline industry into a healthy appetite for life.  I have always been a relatively healthy person.  I love to eat (and can put it away!), but thanks to my mom, I was brought up eating nutritious healthy food before it was really popular.  We didn't have sugary cereal in our house (oh how I longed for Lucky Charms as a kid!), and I always liked broccoli from an early age, even when my friends thought it was gross.  I was also lucky enough to be brought up in an active family.  We actually went through "fads" of biking, sailing, golfing, etc... as a family.  I was always active in sports, and later in life I chose to run, bike, hike, do yoga, play tennis, etc...  I don't have a profound story of weight loss, or an epiphany of all the sudden changing my eating habits, but I think the way I've always eaten and stayed active has helped me to always maintain a pretty consistent weight and overall healthy body.  But- I have pushed myself to become even healthier in my eating habits and working out.  I signed up for and ran my first half marathon in June 2010.  

I've incorporated even more healthy food into my diet (hello Green Monsters and Chia seeds!).  I eat much less meat than I used to.  I regularly run, do yoga, and try new fitness activities.  I also found an AWESOME network of Healthy Living Blogger friends, in Charlotte and beyond.  In August 2010, I attended the 2nd Healthy Living Summit.  It was AMAZING!  I met a ton of great people and love being a small part of the network.

Basically the blog has is still about what my life as a furloughed pilot's wife is like, but it's taken a turn for the positive.