"Perhaps this is a silly question - but how do you pay attention? Where am I supposed to be looking? Once I have the points do I just constantly check for what is available"

I read the Milesbuzz forum and the Delta Skymiles forum every day and participated in every single miles promotion I was eligible to participate in. 10 miles here and 100 miles there and 10,000 miles over there (thank you Dash to the Gate) really adds up over time. For my two skysaver awards (70,000 miles) I just barely had the miles but I think I earned less than 20k of those the hard, expensive way. I should also note that I was also doing everythig I did for my SM acct. for my SO's acct. If I read right you are in the same position/situation with two accts. accruing miles.

Surely I realize you'd need 30k more than what I had for a couple of award seats to Europe, but especially with the credit cards it can be done. Just be vigilant and don't think any amount of free (or mostly free) miles is too little to make a difference!

edited to add - Also, get comfortable with the idea of setting your alarm for 11:50pm to be on the phone with the awards dest 330 days before your desires fly date. This is key. It makes finding award availability so much easier.