Meet the Members Monday- Amanda B

Heya!  Amanda M. Baines here. My better half is 2LT Evan Baines, and he's a first-year student, prior-service Army guy. We met almost ten (10!! Holy crap!) years ago when he was at Ft. Bragg in the Special Forces Qualifications Course learning to become an 18D, Medical Sergeant.  I like to say "he ordered me up like a pizza," since we met on Match.com and he was looking for "a redhead over 5'9"." (I'm 6-feet if I just stand up straight!).  Our first date started at an art gallery and ended at a firing range and we've been having a blast ever since.
We got married in 2004 and the Army moved us to Clarksville, Tennessee. Later, after Evan had served for five years in the Army, did a tour in Iraq, and then decided to get out of the Army to pursue medicine and finish the prerequisites he needed to get into medical school, we moved to Nashville, TN.
Now, we are grateful to be here in the DC area as it's put us closer to our families and has put Evan on a track he feels extremely good about: taking care of soldiers! The Army was always very good to us the first go around and I for one am glad to be back in a very warm, welcoming community. It really is like nothing else and you miss it when you're not in it.
As for me, I am addicted to all things tech and I currently work as a strategist for a company out of Nashville, TN, where I write proposals and help plan programs and applications we want to develop for our clients. I have worked there for seven years, primarily with our client The National Guard. The company is fantastic and they have allowed me to work remotely while we're here, which gives me a flexible schedule and helps me help Evan when he's really swamped (which as all first-year SOs know is a lot, now!). I really like my work, though I am hoping to expand my abilities soon to acquire an advanced degree in Psychology: I love the digital space, but I'm eager to work more with people one on one.
When we're not crazed with work and school, we love to travel. In 2011 we went to Burgundy, France (our favorite wine region) and also Egypt (which I highly, highly recommend, though perhaps not like, this week). We love wine and food and I cook a great deal, and we also run a lot to ensure that we can drink lots of wine and eat lots of food. I've also recently taken up archery and I'm not half bad: I'm hoping to start participating in 50-meter and 70-meter tournaments in 2013. RIO 2016!  Hah!
And oh! No children yet for us, but we do have two gigantic cats, Carbon and Tungsten, who, if you combined them, would account for about 35 pounds of cumulative cat. Yeah. Big cats. Massive.
I look forward to getting to know all of you as we move through the years together. We're in a great place, all of us. I can feel it!