Wordless Wednesday

As I was getting ready to go to bed, I find Brownie sleeping under the blanket and using a dress of mine as a pillow...LOVE IT!

My perspective of the USMC: before and after

This past Friday I posted a feature on the infamous Semper Spouse (which I think was great idea but, as you all know, it took a wrong turn).
Since the site is gone I have decided to repost my post just because I thought it was an excellent perspective, only behalf, of what I thought the Marine Corps was before I married my husband.

I never thought that in a million years I would marry a military man, let a lone a Marine. My idea of Marines were those that you saw in movies, all gun-ho and tough looking men that can kill you with their pinky finger. Seriously, that was my idea of Marines. It wasn't until

I was living in Vienna, Austria with my parents that I realized they weren't the men and women you saw on TV, duh! I met Marines who were stationed in Austria through the MSG program. A good friend of mine was working at the US Embassy there and had invited me to go out with her and the Marines. Oh behold! They were different sizes (tall & short), different circumferences (round & skinny) and had very different attitudes (ie: not all the time saying "yes sir" or "yes ma'am). I began hanging out with them and learned a great huge deal about Marines. It wasn't until I met my husband though, about 3 years after meeting these MSG-ers, that I actually began to learn the significance and the value of the Marine Corps. I'm not saying that the others weren't moto or something like it, but dating a Marine is

very different than being a friend to one...they let you in. PLUS, back then I was honestly a little intimidated by them, meaning, I wasn't sure what I was allowed to ask and so forth. My husband taught me about the Marines. Not that he was trying to embed the concept that the Marines are the best - ok, maybe a little :) - but to make me understand the Marine Corps itself. Like I said, before I met my husband and these MSG-ers, I had the whole Marine-movie concept in my head, of course, I was WAY off track.

The closest thing I was to being in a Marine environment, before my husband and I got married and while we were engaged, was being around these MSG-ers. For instance, I had only been on one base in Germany and it was TINY, so you can imagine what my concept of what a base was going to look like. I had been to Marine Corps balls, but there were balls where there were only 5-6 Marines total. I had briefly met a Marine wife. And I had hung out with Marines who constantly where in abbreviation mode, or what I would like to call it: "The ABC to the CNN to the ESPN". My Marine Corps environment, as you can tell, was limited and very different. I knew when my husband and I would  get

married and head to California that I would hit some kind of culture shock on board the Marine base. I did, but I think it was more of an overwhelming feeling. But as I sit here and write this post I have to

admit to myself this, I feel it was a lot nicer getting to learn about the Marine Corps and these Marines in the MSG environment...it was different, but it was a good different, a lot less overwhelming.

Would I take back that experience in the MSG world and replace it with the "regular" Marine Corps, so to speak? Not in a million years. I got to know a lot of Marines, one of whom was the one responsible in introducing us and was the best  man at our wedding, and many others. Also, they didn't make me feel like "the girlfriend" or "the fiance", they made me feel like "one of the guys", its much better than it reads. I was able to view the Marines, and the Marine Corps, in much smaller and home-like environment, it felt like a little family. All of them taught me something about the Marine Corps. Whether is was good or bad in the long-run, it helped me get ready for my new life as a Marine wife. 

Just a little thought on Human Rights

(image credit: Human Rights Nigeria)

"so what did you get your master's in?"

"Human Rights"

"OH!...and your husband is in the Marines?!?!"

"YUP!"

That's the typical conversation between me and a perfect stranger who finds out I have a MA in Human Rights and I'm married to a Marine. I could've gone ahead an reiterated to the perfect stranger that the military and Human Rights have worked together in numerous and numerous times, but to be honest I'm tired of repeating this to people who I will probably never see again. In return, all I do is smile and walk away, if only some people would open their minds just a little more.

Recipe of the Day: Lasagna

Lasagna

Ingredients:
-1lb of ground beef
-1½ cup of tomato sauce
-salt
-pepper
-Italian seasoning (to you liking)
-garlic powder (to your liking)
-3oz of cream cheese
-1 cup of sour cream
-2 cups of shredder Cheddar cheese
-8-10 lasagna noodles

Directions:
-Cook lasagna noodle according to package
-Cook beef until no longer pink and then drain.
-Add tomato sauce, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and garlic powder; bring to a boil, reduce heat and summer for 15mins.
-In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth and then add the sour cream and 1 cup of the shredded Cheddar cheese and mix well.
-Once the pasta/lasagna noodles is done, drain.
-Place one layer of pasta/lasagna noodles in a casserole dish followed by the meat sauce and cream cheese mixture. Continue this process and end with the pasta/lasagna noodles.
-Cover the pasta/lasagna noodles with the remainder cup of Cheddar cheese.
-Bake at 350℉ for 25-30mins.

One Lovely Blog Award

Sarah at Adventures in Life and Audrey at Standing by Him gave me "One Lovely Blog Award"....THANK YOU [insert happy scream here]

The rules of the award are as follows:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass the award to 9 fellow bloggers who inspire you.

4. Let them know about the award.

7 Things about me:

1. I cannot draw for the life of me. At training we had to draw ourselves...you damn right that I drew a stick figure of myself :)

2. Ever since I was born I have had the same breed of dogs, Schnauzer. Hence as to why I own one!

3. I hate coffee but I love Starbucks' frappuccino's.

4. I love bags/purses, its an addiction!

5. I love to doodle.

6. I love French food.

7. I'm into making cupcakes right now, so my "right now" dream is to own a cupcake shop :)

9 bloggers:

1. Carmen at We See the Same Stars

2. K at Our Navy Nest

3. Steph at Watching Airplanes

4. Nicole at Flip Flops and Combat Boots

5. Elizabeth at The Young Retiree

6. Amber at Goodnight Moon

7. Kaylee at Small Wonders

8. Reagan at The Mrs's Blog

9. Annoyed Army Wife

Wordless Wednesday

Engagement Pictures (Munich, 2009)

Missing "home"

Sorry for the long absence. I have started work and with the random schedule that I have I haven't had time to breath. Now I'm on a mini-break because I have a friend coming in China who is on her way home to DC after spending an entire year working as an English teacher over there (btw, this was planned WAAAAY before I got the job).

Today running some errands I came across something that I wanted to write...missing "home". I never thought, in a billion years, I would actually say that I miss "home" and my family. I'm putting "home" in quotation marks because I don't really consider Madrid as my home, but it technically is my home. You see, I hold a Spanish passport and I'm Spanish, but I only lived in Madrid 3 years of my entire life. If you read Reina's interview of me on MilGirl Live and Learn and my post The Foreign Wife that will give you a better understanding of me rather than me having to bore you with the same details over and over again. 

But at the same time I do consider Madrid as my home...or maybe the meeting point of my family and I. For the last 15 years or so my family and I, 4 of us, have always united, wherever we were in the world in Madrid to begin and end our summer. Whether we were in high school or college or living in the other side of the world, Madrid was our meeting point. 

It wasn't until 1994 when my family and I moved from Windhoek, Namibia to Boston, MA. Being that flight to Europe from the States where cheaper and shorter, we began to spend the summer's in Spain. It was more of my dad making us and us not wanting to leave our friends for the summer more than anything. I guess my dad didn't want to forget where we came from, so to speak since my mom is Argentine.

Over the years going to Madrid was a tradition and must, even though we didn't admit it. It became a routine that I gradually began to despise. Why? Because Madrid to me wasn't going to the Caribbean or some other fabulous part of Europe like my friends where doing. I was going to Madrid, I was going home.   I mean c'mon, what was fun about going home. 

The routine was broken, from my side, when I got an internship at an IO (International Organization) for the summer. The internship was a great opportunity and in return I got the house all to myself for a month...awesome deal!

The following year I met my husband and again, I didn't go to Madrid because we planned a trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia. 

Now that I'm married living on the other side of the US flight to Madrid are as much as flights to Australia! I didn't realize how much I would miss home until now. I actually miss going to Spain for the summer and seeing my family and going shopping at Zara or Mango and eating lots and lots of tortilla, jamón serrano or gazpacho or even watching the horrid Spanish TV and complaining about how commercials last 5 minutes!

But that's the part of growing up. Don't get me wrong, ever since I was 17 I have been living on my own, meaning that I haven't been living with my parents (except some years). Now that I'm married my husband and I will have to find a place we can go for the summer and call it my version of "home" :)

Recipe of the Day: Garlic Bread

Now I know this isn't anything extravagant, but this week I haven't been cooking anything crazy, being that I have to get use to my new schedule.

Garlic Bread

Ingredients*:

- 4 slices of white bread OR a loaf of bread

- 3 tablespoons of butter

- 2-3 garlic cloves

- 3 teaspoons of parsley 

- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder

- Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

- mince the garlic cloves and then mix it with the butter and parsley

- once well mixed spread on the bread and top off with Parmesan cheese

*NOTE: add or subtract the ingredients to your liking. If you don't like parsley sub it for something else or put less, your call!

Wordless Wednesday

Sorry for the lack of writing, but I'm trying to get adjusted to the new job and so forth...will write about it soon!

Here's my weekly "Wordless Wednesday"

(image credit: NY Daily News)

Dedicated to Spain's first World Cup victory!

!!!WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS: SPAIN!!!

Campeones de Europa

Campeones del Mundo

!!!ESPAÑA!!!

(image credit: as.com)

(image credit: as.com)

Recipe of the Day: Penne alla Vodka

I remember the first time I had Penne alla Vodka. I was in college in NY and one of my friends had ordered it, it was love at first bite!

Penne alla Vodka

Ingredients:

-1lb of dried penne pasta

-salt

-pepper

-1 can of diced tomatoes

-2 garlic cloves

-¼ cup of vodka (any type is fine)

-½ cup of heavy cream

-pepper flakes (to your liking)

-Italian seasoning (to your liking)

Directions:

-Cook pasta according to package

-Strain the tomatoes until the liquid has completely gone

-Dice the garlic and in a small pan fry it till its golden

-On a separate, and larger, pan add the vodka to medium heat. Once warm add the garlic (this will avoid the "spritzing" of oil when if you fry the garlic first and add the vodka later.)

-Once you see that the vodka has been reduced, add the diced tomatoes, pepper flakes, pepper, salt and Italian seasoning and cook uncovered for about 10mins stirring occasionally

-Once done, add cooked pasta to skillet and add the heavy cream (make sure you cover all the pasta, add more if needed). Cook, uncovered, for 2mins. 

Wordless Wednesday

This has to be my favorite picture of my family's dog (ie: mom, dad and brother). 

Madrid, 2008

On another note: SPAIN IS IN THE FINALS!!! [insert happy dance here]

Back to Reality...

This long weekend DH and I got headed to Las Vegas to enjoy a little freedom from 29 Palms and to also enjoy some great 4th of July festivities, or so we thought. Well, that didn't happen as planned, the festivities that is. You see, since Vegas is...well, its Vegas, I expected great 4th of July festivities and feel around. None of that was visible, sans the few people wearing red, white and blue outfits...oh, and they less than 10minute fireworks that were only seen from Caesar's Palace. DH and I were highly disappointed, we expected more from Vegas. We expected fireworks from a lot of hotels, we expected 4th of July themed venues or restaurants or what not...didn't feel that nor see it. Oh well, I guess we know that for next 4th of July Vegas is out of the question. But we did enjoy Vegas in general, this is our 3rd visit there, so its kind of obvious we enjoyed it.
We went to see Cirque du Soleil's "Zumanity" which was absolutely amazing. I couldn't stop laughing, its a fun-filled sex show....basically. I also went to see the Titanic exhibition, which was incredibly. Parts of the exhibition reflected the ship: the grand staircase, the deck, 1st class bedroom, 3rd class bedroom and the hallways within the ship. I have an obsession interest with all things related to the Titanic, so when I saw this exhibition I had to go see it. I highly recommend seeing it....they even had a small replica, obviously, of an iceberg.

So today was my first day at work. Well, it was actually my first day at training/orientation and then I will start work officially. It was ok, a lot of forms had to be filled out and a lot of boring people came in to talk to the point that I couldn't stop moving nor fidgeting to stay awake.
To be honest I was rather pissed off. We were about 40 people in the at training/orientation with different jobs and I come to find out that most of the jobs I applied for, which I was was over qualified or qualified, where given to people who didn't even come close to it and also, to top it off, I am stuck with a job where I am the only one holding a Master's degree. You can only imagine how I am feeling. Yes, I know I, and only I solely, accepted the job and I could've said no, but I'm honestly sick and tired of being home and doing nothing and I knew, when I accepted the job, that I wasn't going to have much luck any other way..."you gotta take what you can get!". I just have to suck it up, as I keep telling myself. It just gets to me how someone who doesn't have any type of degree got a better job, one of many that I applied for, than me. Please excuse me if any of you might get insulted by reading this, but this is, of course, is not directed at any of you...I'm just upset and pissed off that I have been down graded after putting years and years of education before me.  

!!!WOOSAH!!!

Raspberry Muffins

Raspberry Muffins

Ingredients:

-2 cups of flour

-1 cup of sugar

-1 cup of frozen or fresh raspberries (I used frozen)

-2 eggs

-½ cup of warm milk

-1 to 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (to your liking)

-4 tablespoons of baking powder

-½ cup of butter

Directions:

-warm oven at 450℉ and line cupcake pan 

-cream butter and add flour and baking powder to the mixer

-add the eggs one at a time

-add sugar and milk alternating

-add lemon juice (remember, to your liking...more for sweet, less for not)

-once all well mixed stir in the raspberries

-fill cupcakes a third of the way and bake for 15 minutes

Recipe of the Day: Chicken Teriyaki

Those of you stationed at 29 Palms, or have been stationed there, have heard of their magazine "Desert Lifestyle". A couple of months ago the magazine had a recipe contests, so I submitted a couple of recipes and one was chosen for the summer issue (I wasn't the only one chosen, a bunch of other ladies' recipes' where chosen as well).
I'm actually pretty psyched that I have something of mine published (I know corny).
The recipe is for Chicken Teriyaki, check it out here.

ps. my name is not on the internet site but it is on the actual magazine, just an FYI incase you notice that my name isn't on it and are thinking "hhhhmmm, I doesn't say her name anywhere. did she really write this?!?!?" :)

Chicken Teriyaki

(image credit: Desert Lifestyle*)

Ingredients:

-3 chicken breasts

-Teriyaki sauce

-chili powder (add as much to your liking)

- 3-4 cups of rice or Chinese noodles

-1 bag or can of bean sprouts

Directions:

-cut the chicken into semi-thick strips and let it marinate in Teriyaki sauce for about an hour

-Cook the rice or noodles, whichever you prefer, according to the package

-One the chicken is marinated, cook it in a skillet or wok and occasionally add Teriyaki sauce and chili powder (to your taste)

-Add the bean sprouts

-Once the chicken is done, serve with rice or noodles

*I have made this recipe so many times that I have forgotten to take a picture. When my recipe got chosen, I had the chance of making it again and getting the picture taken or they could make it and take the picture themselves, I was lazy and opted for the latter one.