Join us next Friday!

All UT family and friends in the DC area are invited to join the UT Team next Friday, February 17th at 2:45PM for a small, fun get together at a local Afghan restaurant in Arlington.   

Please email FLOaskUT@state.gov for details.  We hope to see you there!

        Appreciation is a wonderful thing:

It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.  – Voltaire

MHN Orientation Postponed

Many of you who attended the December reception received a list of scheduled 2012 UT events.  We are postponing the MHN Orientation Webinar originally scheduled for January 19th.  Once a new date is finalized, it will be posted on the blog.  Sorry for the confusion!

Serving Abroad...Through Their Eyes.

Do you love to take photographs of your travels?  Are you also a previous or current member of the Foreign Service, Civil Service, or U.S. Military?  Enter the Serving Abroad...Through Their Eyes photo contest before February 20th!  Submit up to ten of your best photos from your overseas travels since 2000 and have a chance at being honored in Washington, D.C. along with nine other finalists.  Some of the winning photographs will be displayed at U.S. Embassy Kabul. 

To submit your photos, click here.

Because we all want to start the New Year right...

Take a look at this great article:  30 Things to Start Doing for Yourself.  I think I am going to print it out and keep it where I can see it.  

My favorite point from the article:

"Start noticing the beauty of small moments. – Instead of waiting for the big things to happen – marriage, kids, big promotion, winning the lottery – find happiness in the small things that happen every day.  Little things like having a quiet cup of coffee in the early morning, or the delicious taste and smell of a homemade meal, or the pleasure of sharing something you enjoy with someone else, or holding hands with your partner.  Noticing these small pleasures on a daily basis makes a big difference in the quality of your life."

Read all thirty here. 

                                                                         Smile.

Did you attend the Diplomacy at Home for the Holidays Reception?

Check out this article and a few photos from the event featured in The Washington Diplomat. 

Reminder for the New Year

Unaccompanied Tours Employees and Families,

If you are not receiving updates from us and would like to, please send us an email at FLOaskUT@state.gov.  With this contact information we will reach out to those listed and explain our program of support for unaccompanied tours.  Remember we are only a few keystrokes away if you wish to talk or ask a question.  Hope to hear from you soon! 

Cheers to 2012!

Are you missing your family on New Year’s?  Here are some ideas to still have fun and ring in the New Year with a smile. 

• Put together a New Year’s Eve party for others. Gather your closest friends who are in the same boat and enjoy the celebration together.
• Call an old friend or your family. Spend some time talking on the phone, watching New Year's Eve specials together, and reminisce on the year gone by and discuss what's ahead.
• Cook a great dinner. Just because you're alone doesn't mean you have to dine on bad food. By cooking a swanky meal, you can enjoy the holiday and put a little spectacular into the everyday.  Consider combining this cooking experience with calling an old friend/family via Skype. 
• Indulge in your favorite hobbies or interests. If you're a reader, curl up with a novel. If you're a film buff, have an all-night marathon of your favorites. The possibilities are endless - just enjoy yourself.

Also, check out these funny New Year's superstitions.  Did you know that one superstition says the first person to enter your home at the stroke of midnight will influence the year you are about to have?  Preferably, *the superstition says*, the person should be a dark haired, tall, good looking man – bearing gifts….hmm…interesting.

 

Happy New Year!

Home for the Holidays

Thank you to everyone who attended Diplomacy and Home for The Holidays and we hope you all had a great time.  Sherri and I really enjoyed meeting everyone!  We hope to be receiving additional photos soon, but here are a few shots FLOsters Liz and Lycia took for us.

A glimpse of the beautiful hors d'oeuvre table

One of the most impressive gingerbread houses I've ever seen...

Frosty!

UT Team saying goodnight and handing out Hallmark Recordable Storybooks

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas! 

Today's Event: Diplomacy at Home for the Holidays

Today, The Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, will host Diplomacy at Home for the Holidays for 350 unaccompanied tour family members.  For those who are able to join us, we look forward to seeing you today.  For those who are unable to join us, we want to invite you to take part in some of the exciting virtual opportunities offered by our partnership with Skype and the Department of State.  If you have any questions about how to join via Skype please contact FLOaskUT@state.gov

You can learn more about starting to use Skype at http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/support/user-guides/start-skype/. You can also find more info about making video calls using Skype at http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/support/user-guides/video-calling/.

'Tis the season to...

...be stressed!  Being apart from loved ones during the holidays isn't always easy.  Take a look at this website with five tips about how to manage stress from separation and stay positive during the holidays.

Where in the world is Santa?

Track Santa this year here. 

How about a trip to Rome?

Planning your next R&R?  Check out Yahoo's article about the top five holiday destinations.

Or, maybe Paris?

Check out these hooches...

These hooches have a had a facelift.  Check out these creative contructions here. 

Take ten minutes...

...to watch this video.  We received an email from a UT daughter who wanted to share the video with fellow UT family members, and said, "for all the families out there who aren't physically together -we still share the same sky, the same earth".  

A nice thought for Thanksgiving...

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. 

One thing leads to another...click-click...

...and that is what makes the internet so entertaining.


I'm always interested in staying current with vast collection of Foreign Service blogs, so I make an effort to check out the official State blogroll.  After a few clicks here and few scrolls there, I landed on the well-known Life After Jerusalem blog.  This blog includes the longest list of Foreign Service blogs I've seen so far.  The list just keeps going...and I keep clicking...


What I found: 


A blog I'd never seen before- all about life in Kabul as a Cultural Affairs Officer.  It has some interesting pictures.  Click here.


Another find:  A NY Times article about biometric data collection in Afghanistan.  If you are an EFM, and have worked in a consular section before capturing fingerprints, you will appreciate this article.  Click here.  

Wing Tips On The Ground, one of our favorites, includes a packing list and tips (including some great pictures) before heading to Iraq.  Click here.  

                      

Happy Monday!

Quick Tuesday tip!

Getting ready for the holidays?  Click here for a well organized checklist to help you manage your time. 

4 days remaining...

...Until the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) which will take place at 2:00 PM EST on Wednesday, November 9, 2011.  The test should last about 30 seconds and will transmit via TV and radio.  For more information, click here.  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and thank you to everyone who RSVPed to this year's Holiday Party.

Tricking and treating...

                                                              ...Outside the box...

To show our support, we are collecting leftover candy from our colleagues in DC to send to our colleagues serving unaccompanied tours around the world to celebrate a belated Halloween - because a chocolate bar tastes good anytime of year...

                                              
                                             ...Inside the box... it is filling up quickly!