Dun Dun Dunnnnn...

Well, I have been lacking in the blog dept because, well, my life just got put in speedy mode. The orders came and what followed has been nothing short of a cluster F!! Booking flights (a Family member gets left behind...I'm so sorry Poquito), making housing appts (couldn't make them without flights booked), getting Saige's school papers (sorry Mrs. Isla, but they are all still in boxes from the previous school...so just leave the country with her last report card they say, WTF?), picking up medical records I requested in June (hmmm again sorry, they never sent them from the states), and finally book a hotel for the last 4 days we are here (NO available rooms on any base ma'am, so just look off base...oh wait, none there either...CRAP). Effers, being short fused on a PCS really screws you in certain areas. BUT, I have faith and am hopeful...and well, just damn excited to see my family in FL soooooon. There have been some positives to come out of this however....

My dear friend Tammy and her husband have talked it over and decided they would love to adopt Poquito. I am over the moon!! They are such a great Family and I know they will pamper and love our little Quito like he was their child. I just can't believe it had to come to this. I told the kids we cannot have anymore pets because I can't do this anymore...it ain't right! And besides the guilt, I feel like a bad Mom. I mean how could I leave this....


It's All wrong. I ♥ you my little Quito....

The other positive is that since practically everything is booked as far as hotels next week....we have no choice but to stay in the Terrace Garden Mihama Resort. Yeah I said RESORT! Gorgeous rooms and right in American Village where all the action is....so we can spen our last days walking around the beach and the awesome shops nearby. Here is a lil peek...

You know I'll be taking more when we are checked in...I think we deserve the relaxed ambiance before our adventure begins.

So, Saturday we will be flying to Seattle (with two stops in between) and then staying the night there to catch a 7am flight the next morning to Dulles. From there we are renting a LARGE vehicle to take our first US road trip in almost three years. It should be fun actually! I see a boiled peanut stand in my future :o) and possibly an outlet mall or two!! Plus, we have been dying to play the alphabet game (the billboards are all in Kanji, so we have no idea what letter is what here)....travel games in the states are much more fun! So anyway, from there we will stop somewhere to sleep (or rather, stay awake from the time difference, who knows). Then on the 10th we will make our way down the east side of FL to the sunny Palm Beaches!! We are all so excited...It will be tiring, but hopefully the adrenaline will take over! After a week of fun we head back to Dulles and then off to Germany we go...adventure is the understatement. JD keeps asking, "are we going on an adventure??" Ummm YES, and then some!! I look forward to the brotchen, jagger schnitzel, and WINE! But first thing's first...gotta see my girl Farrah. I can't wait to hug her :o)

The reason why JD was asking about the adventure in the first place was because we decided to go on one yesterday...to Bios on the Hill. it is themed with buffalo (weird, but cool). It has great scenery and tons of child friendly spots. The pictures speak for themselves....(click to enlarge)






It was hot and SWEATY to say the least. But, it was a good time and I know the kids needed that "escape" from the chaos lately. Ok, so did I!!

Well, we are having our last karaoke night tonight with all the Oki peeps. It will be bittersweet. My singing partner Steve L is gone, as are a lot of my old friends, but I still have many peeps here that I know will make it a blast. I'm sure there will be pics later...

Well, that is all for now. I have a TON of things to do today (starting with separating two shipments in each room of the house). I will keep posting as much as I can. Tomorrow is Foodie Friday...and I have a yummy dish I made to share. Check back in...

Monday Mortals

I have some news that is coming to light this afternoon about our dates and so I am getting nostalgic in thinking about the people I am going to see when I return to FL. Mainly, I am speaking of my family because it has been so long since I have seen them. I cannot wait to hug my nieces and nephews and kiss them all over their faces. So here is a montage of the FL peeps I am eager to wrap my arms around...favorite mortals, if you will!



My slobbering kisses are coming sooner than you think....

I Heart Faces...on the Beach

This week, I ♥ Faces is doing a beach theme. I chose a shot of my Teagie and his first time in the East China Sea when we moved here to Okinawa. He was ecstatic, as you can tell by his face. He's been a water rat ever since. George got totally splashed by his kicking once his feet hit he water...that would have been a priceless face shot as well had I got it!!

Check out the serenity of other beach spots at...

What'd Ya Learn...?

I am starting an installment...

The "What'd Ya Learn" series will encompass my life's lessons as they come to me. The old saying goes "You learn something new everyday"...and I DO make it a point to seek the fuel to keep this rusty brain of mine running regularly. Don't worry, I won't be on here posting that I learned how to use a new can opener (ok, maybe...it is possible that the simple things in life keep us going, right?). But, ultimately it will be tiny lessons I have learned, or time savers I MUST share, even a trivia question or two. Who knows...you get what I'm talking about though, don'tcha? I had this idea brewing from our upcoming and unreachable move. I really liked Okinawa. It's like no other place I have ever been or will ever go. I made some of my best friends here and said goodbye to mostly all of them already. This sparked my creative juices to remember all the things about this place I'm gonna miss. However, I decided to open it up to all my previous and future stomping grounds. I have learned lots from the places I have been, a lot about myself and a lot about others. Since this is my first post...it will be a little longer than future ones...I'll start with 10!

1. My Family will always be my Family...but the true friends I have made along the way, I also consider my Family because they have been my support system through and through.



2. Teenage boys aren't all bad...except the ones that hover around my daughter. They know who they are because I tell 'em so! Even if you are a parent to a boy and a girl...boys are boys!! I teach and will continue to teach my boys that girls are to be treated with good manners and great respect.


3. It is true......a Happy Wife does make for a Happy Life!! ($hit does roll downhill, ya know?...nobody that lives in my house wants to be on the $hitty hill) I'm just sayin'!!


4. Vegetables ARE fabulous anyway you cook them. I ♥ veggies! But if they are all fried, it doesn't have the same effect when you are trying to keep the chubby off. (Man, I like fried okra...and fried tomatoes, and fried onions, and fried zucchini, and fried eggplant.....ho hum!)


5. Raising and living with a toddler after you turn thirty feels really different than grooming toddlers in your early twenties. And by different I mean I feel winded and "old" after chasing my curious, tornado boy. I wonder if that is inapplicable if you have your first child in your thirties...hmmmm.


6. When you are a Military Spouse, you quickly learn and expect to be left behind here and there for the "mission" to go on. When they stay home for a LONG time because the mission is where they live, you start to ask..."Don't they have to go TDY to school or something soon?". (P.S. This is not to be confused with wanting them to deploy...because let me be frank, NOBODY WANTS THAT!!) Our marriage in a military lifestsyle works differently than our Family's and friends' do back home. We strive and thrive on reunions, long kisses good bye, and the anticipation in the middle...it's how we fight the good fight!


7. I think blogging was made for people like me. I have a lot to say...all the time! I think we all should write down what we think and feel. It is not only cleansing for the soul...but the thoughts I have now turn into lasting memories later on for me, my husband, and my kids. I know they will appreciate mommy's "journal" when they want to ponder on their past. So will my grandchildren...


8. Early in my adult life, I came to find that lots of people are weird when it comes to sharing good info, or a good restaurant find/recipe, or where they found that cutie summer dress. What's the deal?? I love sharing all my cool and thrifty finds with my friends, neighbors, strangers in the commissary...whomever. I assume people are stingy with their hidden finds because they don't want the masses to jump on the bandwagon and "use up" all the good stuff or follow them, but what's good about it if you can't share it? Isn't following someone's great idea a form a flattery, too? I mean , it makes for good conversation and keeps everyone on an even keel at the same time. I think people get w-a-a-a-a-a-a-y to wrapped up in "Keeping up with the Joneses ". Don't they realize Jones is one of the most common last names around...get it? We are all The Joneses!! Fall in line and be a sharer....


9. One of my kids (I'll be nice and not dime this one out) decided at a not so early age out of the blue to throw themselves on the floor of a public establishment when I said "No"...I learned that the best way to deal with that is to walk away and pretend that is not your kid. Don't worry, I tried the other obvious solution...stand there for eternity reasoning with my child about why they can't have what I already explained was a No, all the while still screaming and crying like I was beating them. Life lesson #9 is...Walk away! Yeah, I said it!! Then, turn the corner and peer so you can see them but they can't see you and watch them come crawling back to their mummy that they love and now miss terribly. It works!! But you have to be strong enough to walk away...that's the trick. Good thing we weren't waiting for a train or on an elevator that day, that would have been a tough one (for them...HEE HEE)!! :o)


10.

Don't EVER mix Family and business!! I don't care how much you love them or want to help or need the help....DON'T DO IT!! It always ends with someone either annoyed or worse! Plus, it is crippling to both parties involved in the long run. Family is there to support your hard work not assume an active role in it. Spoken from experience and from stories I've heard along my journeys.


Ok, that's all for now! I will pop in every now and then to add my two cents, or to share a recipe, or to give a 'how to' on something I tried. Check back soon....Love Ya!

Wednesday without Words

I Heart Faces...I mean Feet!

This week at I ♥ Faces, the theme is feet. And while I am sure baby feet will steal this category....I decided to enter my favorite thing about feet over here in Okinawa!! The pedicures!! You have never had a pedi like one from a Japanese salon. They are meticulous about their nail art for starters, plus they give a mean leg massage. Here is my very first experience 2 years ago...and it is still my favorite design so far.

Check out other people's feet (that sounds weird) over at...

Monday Mortals

This week's mortal is none other than myself. The Fam Bam and I ventured off to Kinser pool Sunday and they have not one, but two diving boards. I'm all about getting my dive posing on!! It brings me back to my childhood and the days of backflips, backdives, front tucks, and oh yeah I forgot about butt busting (don't ask...the ones who know what it is appreciate a good butt buster). So here is my best pose that George managed to get (I did a toe touch, and a front flip as well...but he didn't get them).


I'm sooo going back....

Sanity in Photos

I have been keeping my sanity lately by diving into my photo hobby. I spent most of the weekend taking and editing pictures...it calms me! And I needed that! Friday I went out with my neighbor to look for some good photo ops. We stumbled upon this really awesome Buddhist Temple, visited the Nakagusuku Castle, and also the "Haunted Hotel".

I guess the Haunted Hotel is off limits to Army peeps (I thought it was only Marines), but George tells me when I start uploading, "You know an order just came down that we aren't supposed to go there...", OOPS! I thought I was over the whole "breaking the rules" phase. Hee Hee! I guess I can't hide who I really am. It was creepy there and cool. FULL of spiders and graffiti. Imagine this place after sunset though...I don't think I would have went in.


But there were some great spots...and shots!



The castle is before you get to the hotel. It was definitely what you would call in "ruins". I almost busted my a$$ several times from the uneven steps and such...but the view from the wall was amazing!!

I may have been channeling my inner diva once or twice...I mean come on, it IS a castle right?!


The temple find was a total fluke...all we could see was this pretty red building in the distance and so we made a quick turn to be nosey! What a payoff...

Tara got some good ones here (b/c she is savvy with her camera and took pics like a spy even after the lady told me no pictures). She got one of me kneeling in the temple...believe me, I had PLENTY to pray about!!


I tried to act on her stealth-like photo skills, but only came up with this one...but you can see the two guys from the above picture praying to the three monks(?) chanting away. I wish you could have heard it...it was astounding and piercing.


They had some shrines located at the bottom of the steps that you could cleanse your hands and also one that looked like a fertility shrine...

...this is about how close I went to that one (with the zoom on). I don't need anymore free fertility, thank you!

There is also a bunch of good luck charms and wishes spread throughout the entrance way and leading up to the Temple. I can't imagine how old some of these are....

Very cool adventure...

Saturday, Geo had a softball tournament (shocking, I know)....so the boys and I (Saige was at a friend's), decided to make a trip to the Botanical Gardens. JD was our tour guide (he would like me to call him "Explorer JD")...and Teage was our bird/insect finder. We happened to go about 2 hours before they closed, so we ended up having the whole place to ourselves practically. It was nice! More priceless shots...

This dragonfly landed right in front of me...I ♥ dragonflies!!

My new favorite things to shoot are lotus flowers...they are always so flawless!

These carp were everywhere, and the lips on these things...I'm talking Angelina all the days!!

Gotta love some outdoor recreation...thanks for looking!!