My dissertation is getting published!

So last night I recived an e-mail from a small German publishing house (most of the publishing houses in Europe are situated in Germany) saying that they have been researching my University's library and came across mine, and a few others, dissertations and are intersted in publishing...YAY!!!

All I have to do now is send them my dissertation, they will read it and make a decision. If all goes well the publishing house will put forth money, which normally is unusual, I wont have to put a dime down. They will even give me a free copy and discounts on purchasing any extra books which I could in return sell them. BUT, yes there's always a "but" when it comes to good things, when researching this publishing house all the reviews I have read are either good or bad, but mainly they all round up to saying "it seems to good to be true".

I'm going to keep reseaching this publishing house and my mom is helping me out with the research too which is a plus. I have talked to another student who also got this email and she's like me...a little lost. So we'll see what happens. But all in all I cannot believe someone is interested in publishing my dissertation...I am beyond happy [insert happy dance here].

Dont forget to enter my CSN Giveaway

Ladies,

Don't forget to enter my CSN Giveaway for a chance to win a $35 gift certificate. Click here to enter.

G'luck!

CSN GIVEAWAY

Just a reminder, don't forget to enter my CSN GIVEAWAY for a chance to win a $35 gift certificate. To enter, click here.

Thank you and g'luck!

Our mini-Thanksgiving

Our plans for Thanksgiving changed about a hundred times and until they were finalized yesterday by DH's last minute thought, "well, maybe we should have a mini-Thanksgiving at home instead of driving an hour there to eat and come back." He did have a good point, I just wish that good point come to his head a couple days in advanced...not the day before! So running I went again to the commissary, I had literally just returned when the light bulb in his head lit up. Thank goodness both times I went there weren't many people there and I was able to buy a mini-"turkey" and some last dishes that I was going to manage to pull out of my a$$ :)

I woke up late cause I was just beat from the last few days without much sleep and got to cooking. Mind you this is my first time making Thanksgiving dinner, so I obviously had no clue what to put on the mini-"turkey". I eventually just grabbed lemon juice, salt, rosemary, thyme and pepper and rubbed it all over the turkey...I basically went with the smells I like :)

Here's our mini-"turkey" all ready for cooking:

BEFORE

AFTER

My first time making apple pie and I must say...YUM! Note to self, prepare the apple pie with a lot of time ahead of you:

When DH was growing up his Nana would always make pudding cake (ie: hot vanilla pudding poured over cut vanilla cake). That tradition was somewhat lost to DH since he joined the Marine Corps, so he revived it:

Here's our mini-Thanksgiving (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn muffins...and wine):

Stuffing (my fave!)

DH "carving" our turkey

corn muffins

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Its the most wonderful time for a...CSN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Is that of the year again for....ANOTHER CSN GIVEAWAY!!! (aaaaahhhhhh)

Since the Holidays are coming up I thought this giveaway was the perfect thing to do.

Need ideas, take a look:

I love bags...all sorts of them. Check out this great leather messenger bags:

Look at this beautiful woven throw to keep you warm this winter:

I love the Rachel Ray kitchen accessories, especially

this stoneware lasagna lover:

The winner will receive a $35 Gift Certificate.

And now, the tedious part of a giveaways....

THE RULES:

1) Be a follower of my blog. 

2) Comment below saying what you would like to

get with the prize from CSN and why you should be the winner. 

The giveaway will end DECEMBER 1st (WEDNESDAY) AT 12PM PST.


The winner will be chosen at random and in accordance that they
have followed the above rules.
 I will notify the winner via post, Twitter, and my Facebook page.
The winner will have 24 hours to contact me via e-mail.
If the winner does not contact me their prize will be forfeited and another drawing will happen.

**PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR EMAILS, I WILL NOT EMAIL YOU IF YOU ARE THE WINNER.** (for you privacy...thank you)




G'LUCK


CSN offers a great deal of items from their website (www.csnstores.com) and its partners websites: www.cookware.com; www.allmodern.com; www.allcoffeetables.com and www.luggage.com. CHECK THEM OUT!

I ♥ San Diego

This weekend DH had another escape from 29 and headed to San Diego to meet some old friends from MSG Vienna. These where guys who where in the same Detachment as DH and who were also very dear friends of mine. We have been planning on doing a mini-reunion for the longest time (I say mini because the rest of the people that where in that Detachment live on the East coast) but we have never been able to coincide our "busy" schedules, but since one of the guys is currently in San Diego for a short period of time we decided to get our butts in gear and make this mini-reunion happen.

Our way to San Diego the weather was horrible, and by horrible I mean: rainy, windy and a bit foggy. I was actually happy to see the rain, since I see the sun all the time, but of course it didn't make driving any fun. We did however, see a FULL rainbow:

We meet everyone at Stout (food there is so yummy):

6th Ave

I love the Street name plaques

Unfortunately because it was Saturday talking to the guys, even DH, was...well...lets just say college football was on. After Stout we headed to the Yard House for the first time that night and later decided to talk a little walk and eat some DEVINE cupcakes at Heavenly Cupcake, recommended by Elizabeth at The Young Retiree. They even had dog cupcakes. I was so tempted in getting one for Brownie but I held back.

BEFORE

AFTER

yummy

 

And back to the Yard House we went:

the beer selection was endless...

anyone want a yard beer?

That's my husband for ya! :)

The guys!

It was so great to get out of 29 and even better to see such familiar faces!

Video - Giving Brownie her treat

I thought I'd do something different here and show you a video of Brownie REALLY wanting her treat.
Enjoy!

Immigration Story - Japanese Widow of Fallen Marine

Last night I read a very touching article, forwarded by someone I follow on Twitter, about a young Japanese widow who married a Marine who was killed in action. They had one child together and where married in a proxy, she now wants to move to the US to raise their child in his hometown, as they has planned, but legal matters have intervened.

Here's the article from ArmyTimes:

House OKs proxy marriage in immigration cases

By Rick Maze - Staff writer

Posted : Tuesday Nov 16, 2010 14:39:42 EST

A bill recognizing proxy marriages involving service members in immigration cases passed the House of Representatives on Monday.

The bipartisan legislation is aimed, specifically, at helping the Japanese widow of a Marine killed in Iraq come to the U.S. to raise the couple’s child — but it would change the law for other military couples as well.

Because the couple, married by proxy in 2008, never lived together after the marriage, the marriage is not considered valid under U.S. immigration law because it was not consummated, said Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. “There are no exceptions,” Conyers said.

By voice vote and with no debate, the House passed HR 6397, a bill creating an exception for military members who married while deployed.

It is called the Marine Sgt. Michael H. Ferschke Jr. Memorial Act, named for a sergeant who discovered just as he was deploying to Iraq that his Japanese girlfriend, Hota, was pregnant. The couple married in a ceremony conducted over the telephone. About one month later, Ferschke was killed. One month after that, the child, Michael III, was born, according to Conyers.

The Defense Department recognized the marriage, paying death benefits to the widow, but the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration law, did not, said Rep. John Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., the chief sponsor of the bill.

“This is a tragic situation,” he said, noting that the couple had intended to raise their child in Tennessee. The widow’s petition to immigrate to the U.S. to raise the child with the sergeant’s parents was denied, Duncan said. “I think everyone sees the merit in this.”

Conyers said the bill does not eliminate the requirement for consummation of marriage for immigration purposes, but it creases a narrow exception “in cases where the failure to consummate the marriage is caused by a physical separation due to active-duty military service aboard by one of the parties.”

Duncan’s bill is on a fast track. He introduced it on Monday, the first day of the lame duck session of Congress after the elections. It now goes to the Senate, where Duncan is trying to line up support.

Jealousy...the good kind.

Jealousy. I'm talking about the good kind. The kind that you are thrilled for another person but at the same wished you were in their shoes.

The other day, on Facebookland, one of my good friends and fellow blogger -yes, Katrine I'm talking about you - updated her status to "Soooo happy!!!". Of course I wondered and asked. She sent me a private message that she got this amazing job. Yes, at this point the "bad" jealously could've entered here in my reaction (ie: pissed off at her, saying "why me, oh why me", etc) but I was truly happy for her. Yes, I wish I where in her shoes but at the same time she deserves this happiness and job.

I'm still applying for jobs on an off base and once DH and I get a new car for me, we have a truck right now that's eating up gas like its nothing, I will start at looking at places in the Palm Springs area, which I'm trying to avoid because of the 1hour commute. So far, in the job hunting arena, I have gotten a rejection letter (ouch!) and phone calling telling me again that I'm "over qualified"...WTF?!?! I would rather get my money's worth out of someone over qualified than not, but that's my opinion. Other than that I'm trying to keep my head up.

MilSpouse Weekly Roundup #10

Hop on over to Allie @ My Marine and Me for this week's MilSpouse Weekly Roundup.

HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY: "THANK YOU"

TO ALL THE VETERANS...THANK YOU

(image credit: American Elephants)


HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY

HAPPY 235TH BIRTHDAY MARINES

HAPPY 235TH BIRTHDAY MARINES

(image credit: CrossFit St. Paul)


OOH-RAH

Shutterfly's 50 Free Holiday Cards

When I was little my dad use to draw a beautiful picture then print it to become our yearly Christmas card. I loved that and I loved receiving Christmas cards. Now its my turn to send out the beautiful Christmas cards, but I'll let the creativity be someone else's since I cannot even draw a decent stick figure to save me :)

Shutterfly is offering bloggers 50 free Holiday cards, in return all you have to do is blog about this awesome deal.

This year will be DH's and mine's first Christmas as a married couple and I REALLY want to send out cute Christmas cards to my family and friends.

Here are a few of my choices:

(image credit: Shutterfly)

(image credit: Shutterfly)

(image credit: Shutterfly)

(image credit: Shutterfly)

Shutterfly not only creates Holiday cards but its also designs great personalized calendars like this one (which is my favorite):

(image credit: Shutterfly)

And it even does personalized stationary like one with the fleur de lis:

(image credit: Shutterfly)

So hop on over to Shutterfly and get your 50 free Holiday Cards and browse other items they offer.

Remembering my immigration process....

This week I have been remembering where I was and what I was doing a year ago. A year ago I was going through the roller coaster of hell or as some of might call it "The Immigration Process".

Around this time frame I handed in my dissertation:

!!!YAY!!!

And was enduring hell because DH and I had the date set for the wedding, invitations sent out and everything paid for and YET I didn't have my fiance visa (for those who are not familiar with this process, if you are planning on getting married in the US and you are not a US citizen you need a fiancee visa). In some way I blamed DH, MEN!, for this and in other I blamed myself (the OCD in me knew I should've taken charge. Seriously, I plan what I'm going to wear on a vacation 3 months before the vacation.) So back to the visa. They tell you to apply at least 6 months ahead, you should actually just a apply a year before because its A LOT of freakin' paperwork...A LOT!
In order for paperwork to commence DH had to send everything, not me, because he's the one sponsoring me. Well, I love DH very very very much but man, he's horrible with his organizational skills. Like I said, I should've done this myself but at the same time its not like I could've. So in comes March, we were getting/got married in December, and he still hasn't sent in the paperwork (you should picture me here freaking out and crying at the same time...not a happy camper I tell ya!) So finally he send it and the whole drama ordeal commences. For months we go back and forth with immigration because either we didn't send a missing form or forgot to send in the money or because immigration was backed-up with visas and so forth (hence why you should apply with plenty of time). Now you would ask yourself, could you play the military card? Yes and no. If he was deploying he could but he wasn't and therefore we had to go back to the line like everyone else...makes sense though. So we were stretching for time and my stress-level was going sky-high. At the same time I had to deal with really tough family issues and writing my dissertation so as you can tell I was under a lot of stress. Due to my stress DH had to get the end of it...poor guy :(
So in comes November and, lo and behold, I get a letter saying my visa is ready to be processed...IN THE UK! (by this time I was living back home in Spain) This time its up to DH to work his magic. Since he's on MSG in Munich he approaches a colleague who might give him some insight. Instead this colleague does more than that and paves a way for the whole visa fiasco. (I am very grateful to that person for all their hard work). Let me just clarify this, the person didn't get my visa but just sped up the process in the embassy in Madrid. So with my paperwork getting send to the UK and me needing it in Spain they were able to "catch" it before it was send back to the US to get sent to Spain (I know complicated). So its in Spain and they call to squeeze me in. When I went to the consulate they knew my situation and they knew who I was marrying and as I was thanking them for squeezing me in they said to me "we always take care of our Marines"...I was so touched I almost cried. I ended up getting my visa a WEEK before I left for the States. PHEW!

Now you might think that "that wasn't so bad"...oh, it was! I had to gather up so much paperwork that at times it was hard to get ahold of (btw, I have had numerous visa's prior to this one, so this whole process wasn't new to  me...just a lot more overwhelming.) I was also planning a wedding. Finishing up my Master's and moving way, way, way across the massive pond we all know as the Atlantic.

As DH said, "everything is going to be fine" and it was. I got my visa, PHEW!; headed Louisiana; got married; went on our honeymoon; moved again to 29 Palms.

The next stage was getting my Permanent Residence Card (aka: Green Card). I was told, through the grapevine, that it would take about a year, so in my head I was like "shit! I can't leave the country to see my family!?!?" Well, that was a lie. I submitted it in January and in April I had it in the mail.
Now when I travel all I have to have is my passport and my Permanent Residence Card. Which looks somewhat like this:

(image credit: Path2USA)

So this was what I have been remembering this entire week.

Facebook Bandwagon

For a few days now I have seen a ton of blogs have their own fan pages on FB and since I {heart} FB I said, "I WANT ONE!".

So if you are on FB become a fan on my page and the other lovely bloggers pages AND suggest yours. Its another way to network and keep us updated on one another.

MilSpouse Weekly Roundup #3

Go on over to Kaylee @Devil Dog Darling for this weeks MilSpouse Weekly Roundup!

Awards!

Thanks to Kaylee @ Devil Dog Darling for this fantastic award.

10 things I like

1) I love my husband and pup!

2) I love my DVR, I don't know how I ever managed without it.

3) I can't get enough of Bath and Body Works hand soaps.

4) I love old movies (ie: Rear Window, In the Heat of the Night)

5) I'm addicted to reading.

6) I love blogging.

7) I love Motown music.

8) I'm addicted to Coca-Cola. I don't drink coffee, so I consider this my "coffee".

9) I love decorating for Christmas.

10) I love sleeping.

10 blogs you like:

1) Taryn @ Mainely-Taryn

2) Sebs @ Newlywed and Deployed

3) CJ @ The Rose Garden

4) Liv Kit @ Simply Sunshine and Daisy's

5) Brie @ The Wifey Blogs

6) HC Bishop @ Life as a Navy Wife

7) Amanda @ Amanda + Don

8) The Young Army Wifes Life

9) Mrs Griffin @ In Love with a Soldier

10) Nicole @ Sailor's Sweetheart

AND

Thanks to Melissa @ Under the Same Moon and Stars for the fabulous award!

7 things about myself:

1) I was born in Kenya.

2) I plan on reading 3 books a months. 

3) I'm extremely OCD to the point where even 

my canned foods are in order...LAME!

4) I learned to cook on my own.

5) I cannot draw for the life of me. But I can 

draw one cool stick figure :)

6) I have had the same dog breed since I was born.

7) I carry a sewing kit in purse.

7 newly discovered blogs:

1) Dee at A Southern Belle's Thoughts

2) Smiling is Good for your Teeth

3) Crystal @ Soaking up Life and Love

4) SLM @ Army Dogs

5) April @ The Hooyah Wife

6) Birdie @ No Model Lady

7) Mrs A @ Sending Our Love From Hawaii

Wordless Wednesday

Halloween

DH and I didn't do anything crazy for Halloween except decorate the outside of the house:

Dress Brownie up in her costume:

She's guarding the candy.

And set up our station to hand out the candy to the trick or treaters:

Unfortunately we ran out of candy not even an hour into trick or treating. We bought a lot of candy, but apparently not enough. I felt horrible. But this just means that next year we better be prepared with a truck load of candy, not a shopping cart of candy...a truck load. Also, next year DH and I are planning to go all out for Halloween...I can't wait!!!