Living in Houston

Hello Again Everyone, (All two of my followers; aka Dad & Holly lol)

I realized I haven't written on my blog since I got here and that is just not acceptable! I guess I've just been so busy soakin' up the texas sun, I forgot! :)
We arrived safetly friday April 8th to my new apartment in The Woodlands, Tx. Although everything got to Texas in one piece, it was still a battle getting here. Weather was perfect for us on thursday but as soon as we started driving through Little Rock, Arkansas, we had another story. I was sleeping in the passenger seat of the geo prism as dad was driving when I woke up in the middle of the night to what felt like waves crashing against the ship I was on and we were smack dab in the middle of a storm at sea. Turns out that was just a dream I was having but when I opened my eyes, all I truly did see was rain smashing our windshield and horrifying sight of a semi stopped directly in the middle of the expressway in front of us. Apparently he couldn't even see where he was headed and must have thought he had pulled over. How Dangerous!!! Anyways, Thank God dad was driving because I don't know how I would have gotten us anywhere. Chris was following loyally behind us and after a ways of trying to drive through the weather, we decided to pull over and take a couple hours to sleep and hopefully the storm would die down. When we woke up the next morning and got gas, the clerk had explained to us that their was quite a few deaths the night before due to some bad hurricanes & tornados. Once again, God was watching over us to make sure we were okay because we definately drove through some of the worst of it I think.
We continued onto Texas and as soon as we reached the border, we stopped for a traditional cracker barrell breakfast. Mmmm Grits, Country fried steak, eggs and their amazing hashbrowns were to die for. I'm getting hungry right now just thinking about it.
After our amazing breakfast, we continued for another 6 hours to Houston. About an hour before we arrived, the only things I saw surrounding us were fruit stands, rusty old beater pick up trucks and maybe a dollar store here and there. I was in the van with Chris at the time and I was like,"hmm did I make the right decision?? leaving my home in Milwaukee, to come to this beat up dirt road town???! Where's civilization?? Where's the mall? Any pretty landscaping, come on Texas?? Give me something pretty to look at!!" Chris laughed and I prayed.
After about 20 minutes, I started to see buildings, more cars and billboards and I was like, Thank you God, my prayers were answered!
We finally arrived to the Woodlands after about 24 hours in the car. It was a beautiful gated community with a gorgeous pool & amazing landscaping. I was in love!
My apartment is on the third floor and the balcony overlooks the pond behind us. Their is a family of turtles that lives below us too which is really fun to watch.
Chris, Jon and Dad were able to help me unload all my furniture within the hour and have everything set up by the end of the night. I am so grateful they were able to put a few days aside and help me get situated down here, it meant a lot to me so thanks guys! I hope you guys can come visit me again soon.

My roomate Nikki and I have settled in very nicely here. We are on reserve most days which basically means on call so we spend a lot of our time laying out by the pool or discovering new things to see in our area. I've had two trips thus far since I've been here, one in Bakersfield,CA and another in Toronto, Canada. I've grown quite acustom to the 80 degree weather that when I went to Canada, I nearly froze walking to and from the airport!
As far as flying and all that, I am loving it! I've had a few creepy passengers though. One passenger told me the other day that he loved my toe ring, the one on my left foot, middle toe and I was like "What!" How did he know i was even wearing one, my shoe was on! I told my pilot that I was kind of creeped out and he reminded me that I had to take my shoes off in security. So it turns out he must have had a foot fettish and was watching when I took my shoes off for 2 minutes going through security. Yikes! Gotta look out for the creepy passengers. lol but Anyways...
I am off Sunday, May 1st through tuesday May 3rd and am actually planning to come back to Milwaukee those days. As long as I don't get called in to work Saturday, my plan is to catch a 6pm flight and I'll get into MKE around 9:30. I have quite a bit of work to do over at my old apartment so I will be cleaning things out there but I would love to spend a good majority of the time with my family when I'm home. I'll keep you guys posted and will continue to update my blog as new things happen.
I've also experience my first holiday being completely alone and away from family. Easter sunday was not easy but I called a friend from class and her and I spent a few hours together so that we didn't have to be depressed we were away from family. My roomate Nikki and I found this pretty cool looking church by our house so we are hoping to go visit it on a sunday we are both off.
I think that's it in a nutshell for what's new and going on in my life. Oh yeah and one more thing, Nikki and I are applying for a golfcart position at the nearby country club. It would be a perfect job for some quick cash on the side and I'm sure I'd get friends&family golfing discounts :) So please pray for us that we get the job. And If you are reading this, I miss you a lot and hope I get to see you soon. Sending my love to Ya'll back home!
~Karissa

Completing IOE & Now Leaving for Houston...

This past weekend I completed my IOE (Initial Operating Experience) where I had flown to California for the weekend and had an instructor observe me on an Actual Aircraft as the flight attendant working the plane for 3 days. I was so nervous to go on my first trip but it was such a great experience! I had an amazing instructor and awesome crew. Their were a few funny things that happened... as I was doing service for the first time, I had asked a lady 4 rows from the back if she would care for something to drink. She asked me if I had tomato juice and I said yes. Right as I poured her a cup and was just handing her the glass, we hit a sudden pocket of turbulence. I literally had it over her head and was going up and down, up and down and up and down as the turbulence hadn't settled. I had a look of sheer terror in my eyes as I tried to get the glass over my cart without spilling all over this poor woman. Thankfully, I was able to get it back on my cart without spilling a drop and as I looked up, the entire back rows of the plane were starring at me in amazement that I hadn't spilled. It was as if they were all about to start clapping. I looked over at the woman and said, "I am sooo glad I did not spill that all over you!" and gave a big sigh.... then continued on with my service.
Later on the flight as I was collecting trash... A young man (about mid to late 20's) handed me a piece of paper which I assumed was just garbage. He asked that I take it and to please consider. I said of course (once again, assuming it was trash). As I got back up to the front of the plane, I realized that the man handed me a note. Not just any old note,... a Love note! It read, "Karissa, You are absoluting Stunning! I would love it if we could go for coffee sometime, please call me or if you are more comfortable, you may email me as well. I live in LA but would fly anywhere to see you really :) Sid". I couldn't help but smile when I read his note and I had to share it with my instructor, Rocky. He read it and laughed out loud and said, "Get used to it Girl!" So that was my first love note experience from one of my passengers which I got quite a kick out of. After we landed, Rocky insisted I tell my pilots about the love note. I told them and after the next leg was over, my pilot walked by me and handed me a piece of paper as he passed by. It read, "Dear Ms. Knebel, Raul (the first officer) and myself are in awestuck by your amazing beauty. Would you please please please considering coming with us on a date to the in-and-out burger for dinner? I live in Fresno, CA but would be willing to travel to Houston to see you anytime. Yours Always, Rob and Raul xoxo" Needless to say, my pilots made my day that day and were such a fun group to fly with. My layovers were in San Fransisco, San Diego and LA. After my last trip of the day, my instructor congratulated me and told me I will make an outstanding flight attendant and passed me on my IOE. My first trip was a successful one! I made my way home to Milwaukee and started packing up my house in two days. Thank God for my brother Chris, I wouldn't have been able to do it without him. We moved all my big pieces of furniture out of my apartment and loaded up one of my dad's mini vans. We were supposed to leave wednesday but my apartment in Houston will not be ready to move in until friday so we decided to stay one more day. If you would like to check out my new apartment, you can view it at wildwoodforest.com. I am moving in with another flight attendant that I actually roomed with in Salt Lake City for training. She is a sweet girl and we get along great! We got a 2bedroom/2bath apartment and the grounds are really beautiful. Their are lots of pools and palm trees! So if you are ever in the Houston area, please stop by and visit! :) Jon, Chris, Dad and I are all going to head down to Houston this afternoon and we should arrive there tomorrow, early evening. I will continue to update you all through my blog and pleased pray for us for a safe trip. Love you All! XoXo