Scholarship awards brunch at CNO's home

On Tuesday the Naval Officers Spouses Club (NOSC) had the pleasure of awarding the scholarships to the brilliant recipients and their families at our annual brunch held at the home of Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Gary Roughead and his wife Ellen.

This is what our club works hard all year long to earn money for. This is the big, proud pay off day for the fundraisers, Chinese auction, raffle money, Temptations (our Gift Shop) annual sales, donations, etc. It's all for the kiddos.

Admiral & Mrs. Roughead live in Tingey House on the U.S. Naval Yard, Washington D.C.

Tingey House is a beautiful, historic home built in 1804 (Duh, I'm stating the obvious here) but still, I like you to have all the information. In case you weren't paying attention...

The building has recently gone under major renovation and looks gorgeous and proper as the Navy Yard's official "Quarters A." 

That's Clancy, The Rougheads' black lab. He's the official Navy Yard's "First Dog" and he's so cute! He brought everyone his bone and stood around greeting everyone who stopped by this morning. The admiral noticed me cooing over him and said, "So....you like my dog...."

 "Yes sir, I do, I loooooove dogs...." (Can I have him?) Then I proceeded to tell him all about my 3 Chihuahua girls and before I knew it the Admiral had disappeared {{poof}} into another small crowd of people. I guess he's not a Chihuahua man. That's OK. I had Clancy to keep me company.

The front of the home was all glassed in. Like a very large front porch, but instead of screens, all glass. Very beautiful ~ you can see it in the front view of the home 4 pictures up. Take another look. Go ahead. I'll wait.

See? Isn't it stunning? I want a glassed in porch like that.

 

I want one of these, too. This romantic fountain is in the front of the home.

As we waited for our guests to arrive I was able to walk around and tour the home and take a few pictures.

There's Miss Betty & Miss Cassaundra, in the blue dress, who chaired the scholarship committee this year and was in charge of this event.

And yes, the photographer in the background....we had a nice chat about our gear. He had a full frame, and he liked my half frame. It was a mutual adult camera romance.

And...I had flash envy big time....so you know what that means. I want one too. Even though I rarely use a flash. What does that matter anyways? It will be my next goal to blind everyone in the room. Hey. I dream big. What can I say?

Now, back to the party....

Aaaahh....the food table. My favorite part.

The guest were arriving and CNO was here (in the Khaki uniform drinking). 

I'm sure he's telling everyone how delicious my baked roll ups are and I believe I overheard him telling that man about my Chihuahuas. Or not.

CNO did ask me about my son, Josh. I told him all about his recent decision to join the Army, how he swore in last week and about his Airborne/Ranger slot. My insides get all balled up just writing about it.

CNO told me Josh made an excellent choice, that his service was appreciated, that I would be fine (did I really look that pale?) and that the Army will take good care of him. That made me feel calmer about the whole thing. OK, just a tiny bit. I have 5 months to work this through my head. Leave me alone.

I thought it was nice that CNO, with everything he has going on, you know, with running the entire Navy for the President and all, took the time to open his home to us for a few hours. He & Ellen told us that this scholarship brunch was one of their favorite things do and that it was their pleasure to be a part of it.

One hour after the brunch ended he and Ellen darted off for an event at the War College (in Newport, Rhode Island) and the following day they were flying to Hawaii for 2 days, then off to......who knows what else.

Busy, busy, busy.......back to the party ~

Nice try, Clancy, but she's not going to share with ya, kiddo.



Fancy china and silver for our guests.


And fresh hydrangeas from the Tingey House garden.  Hydrangeas are my favorite flower. I use this photo as my computer wallpaper now.


There are my baked roll ups that I made ~ in the middle on my 3-tiered server. 

I was praying that no one noticed that the bottom plate was my burned batch. My sister called me on her way to work and as we gabbed I forgot about my timer and....well, I put them on the bottom. No one will notice. Will they?

 


The renovations were done beautifully.


The home is decorated with such elegant taste.


Sparkling chandeliers hung in every room.


The home was filled with beautiful antiques...
  ....and exquisite Naval historical treasures.


Cassaundra did an exceptional job chairing the scholarship committee and presenting the awards on behalf of the NOSC.  She said she was nervous, but she looked cool as a cucumber. Beautiful, too!


One by one, she called the scholarship recipients up.
 They received their awards and told us where they would be attending school and what their studies would be. 

I was in awe of these kids. This is my favorite time of the year in the NOSC. To see their faces. To see how enthusiastic they are to conquer the world. So much hope in their eyes, wonder in their souls; joyous to get out there and lasso their moon. We were all so proud of them.

The pretty lady in the red shirt is Sam Kristensen, a fellow NOSC member. Her son Erik Kristensen, a bright young man who served his country honorably as a Navy Seal, was sent into Afghanistan as part of the Global War on Terror.

"On June 28, 2005, LCDR Kristensen led a daring mission to rescue a four-man SEAL reconnaissance squad engaged in a fierce firefight with overwhelming Taliban forces in rugged 10,000 foot mountains. Kristensen, seven other SEALs, and and eight Army “Nightstallker” commandos died in the heroic attempt when their MH-47D Chinook helicopter crashed after it was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade."

We lost 11 Navy Seals that day. Sam's son Eric, only 33 years old, was among them.

In his honor the NOSC established the Eric Kristensen Scholarship Award. Sam personally chooses the recipient from among the applicants and presents it to the winner herself. 

This is John, Sam's choice for her son's scholarship. She loved that he was studying music and Eric loved music. He felt it was the life of one's soul. It was an emotional moment in the ceremony and there wasn't a dry eye in the room. My heart goes out to Sam; she is a strong woman and I respect her so much for getting up there every year, keeping her son's memory alive.

Please take a moment to read Erik's bio. He was a true American Hero.

Admiral Roughead & Cassaundra Jackson.  Have I mentioned that she did an amazing job?


So after the ceremony the admiral invited us to tour the back of the house....the kitchen!


It was awesome....I had MAJOR stove envy. I love it. I want one.
TWELVE BURNERS! Heart. Be. Still.
 If Johnny were CNO I'd make him an egg on this stove every morning. No lie.
 I'd put a pot on each of the 12 burners and boil water. Just because I can!


You think I'm kidding? Oh, the casseroles I could make on this counter. Look at all that space!


They noticed.  Hahahahaha! No, I did not bring those burned up baked roll ups home.

Let's just say I gave them to the Navy Yard squirrels and be done with it, shall we?

Betty (the heart and soul of our club), Carolyn (who runs our Temptations gift shop) & Pauline who will be our Vice President next year.

And on the far right, we coaxed and begged and pleaded for our current NOSC President Kelly to get in the picture and she finally agreed after I blackmailed her. Those details are between the two of us and since she got in the photo I won't have to pull out the big guns in the future. She is so calm, cool and collected. I am always amazed around her; our fearless leader.

Our NOSC year is done for the year. We'll have our Welcome Coffee at the Army/Navy Country Club in September and until then we are adjourned for the summer! What a great year! Good luck to all of you graduates.

Now go find your moon & take on the world!