235th Marine Corps Ball

Finally, the season of the Marine Corps Ball(s) has commenced. I love the Marine Corps ball. I love the dresses the women wear, the Marines dressed in their Dress Blues, the food (even though I wasn't too thrilled with this years food), the dessert, the Color Guard, the Ceremony and the dancing...lots and lots of dancing.

The ball took place in beautiful resort just an hour from 29 Palms. We arrived with enough time for me to shower, do my hair (which I obviously did a practice run a few days before the ball), do my make-up and stuff myself into my dress. This year I decided to not buy a new dress and wear last years dress because no one, except DH, has ever seen me in that dress...unless they went to ball in Munich, and that would be a very slim chance. I even told DH he is really luck to have me:

Me: "You know what? You got yourself a cheap date with me."

DH: "huh?" [insert confused look here]

Me: "Yeah! I didn't buy ball a dress, I'm doing my own hair and make-up, I did my nails...

I mean seriously, you got lucky with me."

DH: "DORK!"

After waiting for about 30mins to get our pictures taken we danced and drank the night away:

This is my "war" face and I don't know what face DH had...Goofy?!?!

And this is what happens when you leave me alone with the camera :)

The Cake:

Recipe of the Day: Zesty BBQ Chicken

Zesty BBQ Chicken

Ingredients:
-3 chicken breasts
-¼ cup of Italian dressing
-½ (12 oz ) bottle of BBQ sauce (Jack Daniels
-2 tablespoons of brown sugar
-1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
-Place chicken in slow cooker.
-In a bowl mix all the ingredients together and then pour over chicken.
-Cook on low heat for 6 hours (any higher and your chicken will feel dry).

Side Dish:
In the picture we had tater tots, but I would highly suggest mashed potatoes!

Wordless Wednesday

(image credit: Frantisek Staud)

Namib Desert (Namibia)

Deployment

Yup! you read it right...DEPLOYMENT. Not only are we going to be stuck here for the next 3 years, but we'll also have to endure a deployment while being here. This will be my first one. As you all know I met DH while he was on MSG duty and even though we were together for the first year, the last two of MSG duty where killers for us. At his second post we saw each other once during his year there. Luckily for us, his last post was in Germany and I was living in the UK, so that was perfect. So I can pretty much tell you that I am no stranger to distance and love so I know what to expect in that area, what I'm sure about is how I'll react to the "other" area...him being at war.
The good thing is that he's not deploying any time soon, who knew good things could come out of this, so that's a huge relief...PHEW!
It'll be hard, I know it. The worst part is that I don't know people have no friends in 29, so distractions are out of the question.
Now you must be asking the question of, "why not plan visit your family/friends/his family?" I would love to BUT I have Brownie, its not like I can drag her all over the county or travel overseas, his family lives in Louisiana, my family is either in Spain or Australia and my closest and dearest friends are in Boston and NYC.
Right now I'm just feeling very emotional and overwhelmed. I also can't think straight and I'm not in the mood to plan trips and such because if I begin to plan then it will mean that its real and honestly I don't want to think its real till the time comes.

Ps. I promise I will stop writing all these "depressing" posts, promise. I have the ball coming up this weekend and Halloween so I know I will have lots of great and happy posts!

Baby Fever

**I just wanted to thank everyone for their kind words on my last post. I'm still mad/sad/pissed/all of the above, but at least I'm not alone. Thank you all!**

Don't be alarmed, its not me. Its DH. I have never been one of those girls who knew how their wedding was going to be or the official names of her kids when she got married. I have been the kind of girl that would've loved to have gotten married in Vegas by a Elvis impersonator and having kids...well, I want some but I'm shit scared.

So when DH and I found out that we'd be stuck here in 29 for the next 3 years he decided it would the best idea to bring up the baby talk:

DH: "Maybe we should have a baby?"

Me: "Why?"

DH: "Well, we are going to be stuck here for the 3 years...and 

maybe it'll make you feel better."

Me: "Make me feel better?!?!?hhhmmm, the baby would 

make me feel worse cause then I have gained weight and 

can't drink"

DH: "Oh, c'mon!"

Me: "are you getting baby fever?"

DH: "getting it? I've been having it for a long time"

DH JUST turned 26 last month and I'm at the ripping age of 25....ok, fine 28. Shouldn't the female be having the baby fever and not the male? Did I miss something? Was there a class in high school about wanting kids ASAP that I didn't take? Why is DH having baby fever and not me?So many questions....

I thought maybe he has baby fever because his little sister just gave birth (he's got a total of 3 nieces/nephews) and well, he's a softy. But he said "no", MEN! and they say we females are the complicated ones.

Don't get me wrong, I want kids. I'm just scared that when we decide to have kids that I'll break one or they'll come out with my genes or they'll hate me or any of the above. Also we just got married (December 2009) so we are still on this honeymoon-bliss and well, I wanted it to last a little longer till we bring 2.0 version's of DH and I. 

So we made a deal: in 6 months we will have this talk again. I think that's fair. 

We Got Our Orders...

So last night we DH got his orders...well, we'll be stuck in 29 for three years! So including this year, I would have been living in 29 for a total of 4 years...yeah, I'm not happy at all. The majority of DH's class is staying here while about 1% of the class got orders elsewhere, lucky them. One thing I can say is that DH got what he asked for, he requested the West coast so its not like we didn't get what he asked for.
When he told me last night I cried and locked myself in the bathroom, that shows you how much I don't want to be here. On the plus side - yes, I do have a plus side on staying here - we don't have to move and I love this house AND Brownie gets to keep her backyard. Also, I can finally start hanging things on the walls, which I was completely trying to avoid because I thought we had to move, and finish decorating our guest bedroom and add some more touches in our bedroom. Like I said, I didn't do much of decorating in the bedroom or hang up pictures because, foolish me, I thought we were moving.
When I'm ready to be done with this "funk" (ie: realizing that we are staying here for 3 more years and get over it) I'm going to "put on my batteries" (as my mother would say to me in Spanish "voy a ponerme las pilas") and search for a better job.

Love to travel?

Today I would like to brag and of course promote a friend on mine in the blogworld.
A dearest friend of mine has just started to blog about her travels, especially the traveling she encountered while spending a year in Wuxi, China teaching English as a second language.
Along with living in China for a full year, she was able to travel within in China and its surrounding countries like the Phillipines, Hong Kong (even though its not a country but it is) and much more.
Katrine, like me, LOVES LOVES LOVES to travel and would do it for the rest of her life if it paid as much a job. Right now she is working her toosh off in D.C. in order to feed her traveling appetite and get on the next plane to wherever she pleases.
If you get a chance and would love to read her amazing stories check out her blog at katrineswanderlust.blogspot.com.

Headaches/Migraines

Ever since I was 15 or 16 I have suffered headaches and/or migraines. I remember going to the doctor and she prescribed me something to take everyday. A week later I came back to the doctor for a follow-up and she took me off the medicine because she said she didn't want me to become "addicted". ODD. I mean forget that it was making me feel better, she just plainly assumed that I would become an addict...great! that makes me feel better...hhhhmmm, NOT!

So its thirteen years later and I'm not doing any better than when I walked into that doctors office. I have however learned, thanks to my mom, to always have Advil in my purse and alway, ALWAYS "nip the headache in the bud." Which I do, 95% of the time.

(image credit: Work It Mom)

But lately I have had enough. I get headaches/migraines about 2-3 times per week, sucks. And on occasion, I get a massive week long migraine (this normally happens every 2-3 months). But in the last few months it has happened on occasion. Now I don't have any blurry vision, no light sensitive, no noise sensitive. I will drinks lots of water but it wont help. I will sleep but it would do me no good. With this massive week long migraine I feel drained and at time dumbfound. I feel like all my energy has been knocked out of me.

(image credit: Chiropractic Life)

So I finally went to see a doctor. He was pretty cool and suggested a few things. He said the latter of my migraines, the week long ones, could be due to sinuses, especially if they are occurring more now than before. So he prescribed me Nasonex, where I squirt my nostrils with some icky fluid and feel it go in the back of my throat...YUCK! Along with that he prescribed me with a medicine that I take only when I feel the headache and follow it up with another tablet every 30mins. Last, but not least, is an antidepressant BUT if used in small dosages (ie: 10mg) its known to help migraines. Now this one you take at night and because its so strong it actually knocks you out quick. Great, huh? NO WAY! I slept for a good 10 hours and when I woke up I was still feeling weak and shaky for at least 2 hours after. The rest of the day I didn't feel so hot and well, lets just say that was the last time I'm taking those pills. Good thing is that I have a follow-up and I'm going to tell him that I don't want any medicine that makes me drowsy or of that sort (ps. the one that he prescribed to nip it before it starts also makes me drowsy) because I have to work and I hate doing a half-ass job and because I just don't plain like it.

Recipe of the Day: Roast Beef (slow cooker)

If you have no time to cook a big meal and have a slow cooker, this recipe is for you. I love trying out new recipes. Why? Cause somehow I feel accomplish that I can make an elaborate meal. 

Roast Beef

Ingredients:

-3 to 4lb of chuck roast 

-1 onion

-5 garlic cloves

-pepper

-2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

-2 packets of onion soup mix (Lipton brand is the one I used)

-¼ cup of red wine (any red is fine)

-½ cup of beef broth

Directions:

-Chop garlic and cut onion is circles. Place this in the slow cooker.

-Cut of excess fat from the chuck roast then rinse and pat dry. Rub pepper on the chuck roast and set aside.

-In separate bowl mix well together the wine, broth, onion soup mix and the mushroom soup mix. Set aside.

-In a frying pan fry the chuck roast for 3mins on each side and then place in the middle of the slow cooker. 

-Pour the mix over the chuck roast until fully covered.

-Slow cook on low heat for about 6 hours.

Side Dish:

I grabbed some OreIda Zesty fries!

Arizona for the weekend...and yes, I took my green card with me :)

Me: "babe, I should bring my green card this weekend right?" [insert smile and giggle here]
DH: "HELL YEAH!"

This weekend, as you can tell, DH and I headed to Arizona (Tempe to be precise) for a much-delayed birthday present to DH. As you all know, DH is fr southern Lousiana and therefore a hardcore Saints fan. Last month was his birthday and I promised him I would get him tickets to see the Saints play in Arizona...the promise was made! We stayed with some friends, which had alleviated us with costs one endures when traveling...thank you friends!
We arrived late Friday night and relaxed for the rest of the night, which was much needed.
Saturday we all woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and started of with some sightseeing. We end up at the top of a mountain, which of course I forgot it's name, and took in the view of Phoenix and its surrounding cities:

See those tall buildings? That's Phoenix!

Afterwards we had lunch, did some shopping (hey! I gotta take advantage of what we dont have in 29!), went to "Dave and Busters" for drinks and games and finally headed to DH and mines tradition: Hard Rock Cafe...this makes #9 on our list (#12 on my list.) We also stumbled upon some bugs:

As you can see the scorpion is being attacked! 

Not sure what those hockey-puck looking things
were, but we come to the conclusion that it was
giant bug poop!

!GAME DAY!
Now I'm a Pats fan (after having lived in Boston for 6 years I better be...same goes to Red Sox, Celtics, etc.) BUT this past Sunday I betrayed my Pats fans and became a Saints fan...FOR A DAY people, FOR A DAY! (sorry Pats fans, this will never happen again [insert sad face here]).
Even though the Saints lost, it was quiet interesting attending the game. There were a ton of Saints fans, being that it was an away game and a lot of craziness, like, of course, the Who Dat chant. All we needed was some Gumbo and we would've been all set!

I told you DH is a hardcore Saints fan!

"Welcome Saints"

There goes Mr Colston

"ready, set, hut!"

There goes Mr Brees

Wordless Wednesday

Today I was thinking about how I miss Vienna. I lived there for two years not so long ago and I miss it. I was over at Amanda's blog @ Don and Amanda and she mad me miss it even more as I looked at her Salzburg pictures. 

Maria Theresia Monument (Vienna, 2007)

Recipe of the Day: Chicken Tikka Masala

Back now to our regular programing of "Recipe of the Day", but don't be surprised if another Spanish version arrives :)

The other day at the wonderful commissary I was trying to figure out new dished I could make for dinner. I have been dying for some good curry, but onbviously been stuck in the middle of nowhere that's kind of impossible. Then I stumble upon something heavenly Tikka Masala Curry, and not just any brand, its the UK brand...Patak.

You see, in the UK their national dish used to be "fish 'n chips" now it has taken a complete 180 and decided to adopt Indian food as their national dish. I remember when living there going out to eat at a million and one Indian restaurants, and by far Chicken Tikka Masala is still my favorite

Chicken Tikka Masala

*Ingredients:
-3 Chicken breasts
-1 jar of Tikka Masala Curry
-2 cups of Rice (doesn't come with the curry

*Directions:
-Heat and brown the chicken for about 5mins.
-Add the curry sauce and simmer and mix for about 15mins.
-Cook rice according to packet.

*Note: the ingredients and directions are found in Patak's Tikka Masala Curry jar.