2014 Wrap Up

It's the last day of 2014. I guess it's time to visit last years goals.

First of I am very proud to say that we did get rid of our credit card debt, we did end up using our savings. but that is a huge weight gone. And we are saving hundreds in interest charges. I also think I may have forgotten my credit card number... hahaha. 

For the coming year I would like to regrow our savings, and continue to pay of our credit cards each month. 

The fitness was a fail. I think I just need to stop making fitness goals. I think that I may even weigh more than I did at the beginning of the year. Sad. Maybe my goal will be to track 450 miles on my fitness app. That's a little less than 9 miles a week. That sounds totally doable. Another healthy thing I have been working on is a gallon of water a day. I slipped up the last week, but before Christmas I was doing really good on getting almost a whole gallon a day. I would like to continue this. I am really bad about drinking water and have had some issues with it the last year. 

We did travel quite a bit, we got back east to see family, we got to the south west quite a few times to see family. We didn't get much travel done beyond that, but we have been busy. 

I didn't get much photography done. In fact I think it's safe to say I took less than half the pictures I did in 2013. But I got a video camera for Christmas, so I hope to work on both still photography and videography in the next year. 

I'm not really too worried about blog growth anymore. I am here to have fun and share my wisdom, silly stories, and photographs. 

My final goal for 2014 was to minimize. We did get rid of the big bed frame and the big entertainment center when we got here. We also got rid of the couch before we moved, and now we just have a love-seat. We still have some work to do, but I think we made great progress getting rid of stuff and lightening the load before we got here. I hope to unload some more stuff in the coming months and prepare for spring. 

Some new things for next year, I would really like to be more active with Evey. I feel like we have spent a good part of the last few months watching TV. Or rather her watching TV while I do school work, or screw around on the computer. 

I don't just want to work on my walking, but I would like to get her out, walking, playing, just getting exercise and being social. 

I hope to maintain my grades, and continue on with school. Keep on top of my work, and avoid waiting until 2 hours before something is due to do it.

Oh and spend more time at the beach.

Love my little family 

Do you have goals? do you do resolutions? Share 'em!

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Fours

I know I talked about trying to blog twice a week until the end of the year, but I got sick with a terrible sinus infection the last week of school. The endless sinus headache, and vertigo I have had has really limited my ability to do anything but watch Gilmore Girls. I am still not up to par, however today is the first day in a week I haven't been eating an enormous ibuprofen with my morning coffee, so that's a plus. 

I decided to do something a little fun this week. I found this last night on Scattered Seashells, and it looks fun! 

4 names people like to call you other than your real name:
1. mom

2. sister (my sister calls me sister, we are weird) 

3. Alana-Banana

4. Banana 

4 jobs you have had:

1. Manager at AAFES

2. Motorcycle sales person (I was terrible at it) 

3. cook in a takeout Italian restaurant

4. Courier for a real-estate company 

4 movies you've seen more than once:

1. Star wars series

2. Indiana Jones series

3. Harry Potter series

4. Strange Brew

Del Mar Beach Camp Pendleton December 2014

4. books you'd recommend:

1. Harry Potter 

2. anything by Chelsea Handler

3. Bitter is the new black - Jen Lancaster 

4. I have read so many books but my mind is blank

4 places you've lived

1. Tucson, Arizona

2. Chicopee, Massachusetts 

3. Okinawa, Japan

4. Helena (and Butte), Montana 

4 places you've visited

1. Washington DC

2. Mexico

3. Glacier National Park

4. Las Vegas, Nevada

4 places you'd rather be right now

1. Okinawa

2. anywhere else in Japan

3. my moms house in Arizona

4. Okinawa

Okinawa, Jp September 2010

4 things you don't eat

1. raw carrots, they are just gross

2. raw onions

3. radishes 

4. natto

4 of your favorite foods

1. Kraft mac and cheese

2. cheeseburgers 

3. french fries 

4. eggs

4 TV shows you watch

1. Gilmore Girls

2. Archer

3. Bobs Burgers

4. South Park
(I don't watch a lot of TV, we don't even have cable, just netflix and hulu)

Okinawa, Comprehensive Park 2010

4 things I am looking forward to this year:

1. making through it in one piece 

2. vacation to NorCal

3. summer 

4. how sad is it that I can't think of anything?

4 things you are always saying:

1. Stop climbing on that!

2. You are not a monkey!

3. I'm tired, is it bed/nap time yet?

4. In or out dogs! in or out! 

Bates Nut Farm 2014

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Lessons I learned going back to school

1. I am really bad at time management

At any given time I can think of about two dozen other things to do, studying always falls low on the list. "Shit! dishes need to be done" or "We have no food, must run to the store" or the most common "oohh look at facebook, so shiny" (You can easily replace facebook with: youtube, pintrest, imgur, or the silly pirate game my sister made me download on my phone)

2. Really, really bad at time management.

I actually frequently end up doing my studying, reading, and especially online school work late at night and on the iPad while laying in bed. More times than I can count I have fallen asleep reading, or having Siri read to me on the iPad. 

3. No matter how hard I try to manage my time, the toddler has other plans.

Then there are days like today, where I am ready and rearing to go. Evey wants nothing to do with watching TV, or eating snacks, she is requiring 100% of my attention. So I stand in the kitchen, she can't reach me beyond the baby gate, but I can see her, she finally decides to play and I am able to stand there and go over my flash cards, while I load the dishwasher.

4. My brain isn't quite the sponge it once was.

I love to learn. But some things, no matter how hard I try I just can't get them to stay in my brain. I am really good at certain parts of Japanese, things you can picture, words associated with tangible things, nouns. But verbs, and parts of speech, are just hard. And without going into a Japanese lesson, Japanese verbs change depending on the use (positive or negative) and that just gets really confusing. 

5. Despite the fact that I know I could be doing better if I tried harder, as of this very second I have an A in both of my classes, and I got a B in my class that ended a few weeks ago (#historyclassfromhell).

I've got to be doing something right. I just hope that next semester I can assert myself better and manage my time at least a little better, and not go into finals fearing for my life.  

6. I am on track to graduate with my BA in History in fall 2016.

Unless I find some magic powers inside me that can push me into taking extra classes. Currently the university I am enrolled in does shortened 8 week courses, which sounds well and fine for someone in a hurry, but my poor brain just can't handle too much info at once. Also some of the classes (at the community college) I am taking are purely for my own enjoyment, exploring things that interest me, I have chosen to take advantage of some great grants offered here, and giving myself a well rounded education. But I don't want to overwhelm myself. Plus I am really in no real hurry. 

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Sister Smarty Pants

I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate my little sister. She received her Associates in History and Anthropology this weekend. 

I am so very proud of her!

You beat me this round sister, now lets race to the BA! 

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Gin Mule (or Gin-Gin Mule) Recipe

In today's installation of Operation Empty the Pantry, I bring you the gin mule. 

There are lots of recipes for this drink when you google it. If you found me through google I hope you like what you see here. 

It's a pretty simple drink, and quite refreshing. I would call it a summer drink, although I discovered it's parent drink (the Moscow Mule) the winter. 

I got a little artsy with the photography

1 1/2 oz Gin

1/4 squeezed lime

6oz of Cock & Bull Ginger Beer 

ice

combine in a rocks/higball glass and enjoy

I have seen most recipes add muddled mint and simple syrup, but I think those make it too complex. This is simple, flavorful, and goes down easy. It's not too sweet, the gin is very subtle. 

Maybe without all that shit mine isn't a real Gin Mule, but it's delicious, and I suggest you at least try it before you add more sugar and the mint. 

Just as good (maybe better) thank the vodka drink it's modeled after.

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Okinawa Candy

During our time on Okinawa we did lots of sightseeing, and lots of eating candy and treats. One of our favorite places for both was the Nago Pineapple Park (official link). It was a lot of fun for visitors, I have a very brief post of pictures here, but more or less you go through the pineapple farm on a remote driven car and you listen to a short lesson about pineapples, and then you enter into the winery. You walk through the winery and you can taste wine and vinegar all made from fresh pineapple. You follow into a little store with cosmetics and then into a room with fresh pineapple, to buy and eat, and pineapple cakes, candies, all kinds of candies not just pineapple ones, lots of touristy stuff, bags t-shirts, stuffed animals. And that leads me to the point of this post. On of our favorite candies while in Okinawa was Shikuwasa Hi Chew. So shikuwasa is like a key lime, sort of.

Photo Credit: Naturally DIY

They go great on just about anything. They are a bit sweeter than limes. When in season they are used frequently in Okinawa, and even out of season you can find them bottled in juices all over the island. 

But we are here to talk about candy. So back to the Pineapple Park ( OkiHai link), well this was the only place Paul and I ever saw Shikuwasa Hi-Chew, so every time we went we bought enough to last us until the next time.  Hi-Chew is a chewy candy, like starburst.

Photo Credit: Ilubgrub

Since we are not making bi-yearly trips to the pineapple park anymore, it has been YEARS since we have had this candy. I have frequently put feelers out to get some, but not many people frequent the pineapple park, especially long term residents like most of my friends over there. Recently a SoCal blogger and her husband moved over there. Perhaps you have heard of her, Elizabeth over at The Young Retiree, if not go check her out! Well I mentioned the candy to her one night, and she knew what I was talking about, she had picked some up at a local mall! I was so excited! I asked her if she could send me a couple boxes, and she so kindly did!

Happiness doesn't even begin to describe the excitement of having these candies again. Thank you so much Elizabeth, you are awesome! This is truly the best flavor. We are rationing them now. Hopefully when we run out Elizabeth will send me more!

Golden Vlog

Woah! Two blogs today! But only because I found this Vlog and I want to join up and it ends tomorrow.

(click on the little youtube icon on the video to view in youtube!)

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2014 Marine Corps Ball

We recently attended the Marine Corps Birthday ball.

This year it was in Las Vegas.

before the ball

This was kind of cool because 10 years ago I accompanied Paul to our first Ball together in Primm Valley, just outside Las Vegas. It's crazy to think we have been together for 10 years.

I can't find that picture from that ball, but here is one from 2007, we were in Massachusetts. it's the oldest one I can find. 

But we had a great time in Vegas. Didn't take many pictures. My mom flew up and stayed with us so we had a sitter, which was super awesome of her (thanks again mommy). One nice thing, our reservation got messed up, we were supposed to have two adjoining rooms, and there were none available when we got there, so we got upgraded for free to a suite and a room adjoining! that was very nice. 

our suite

the vodka was flowing

I got my own fake eyelashes on! 

This last one is kind of funny. I have tried numerous times to get my fancy schmancy MAC eyelashes on, and never been able to. I was watching a YouTube video and the girl had cut hers in half. I was weary about cutting those expensive-ass eyelashes just to put them on, but I figured what the hell. And I was able to put them on! 

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Queen Bee Market

I had an awesome blogger date this weekend with Kara at Ramblings of a Marine Wife. 

We met up at the Queen Bee Market. I didn't really know much about it going in, but have some grownup time out of the house, sounded like a great time.  Kara and I actually spent more time talking afterwards than we did shopping, it was so nice to meet her and chat, she is just as nice in real life as she is online. I am looking forward to meeting up again. 

But... back to the market. 

There was lots of cool things, antique furniture, Christmas ornaments, hand made bags and jewelry. Lots of great stuff. But I made out with hair accessories, for me and Evey. 

First the bows, they are mostly for me but I can share them if Evey can not destroy them with dirty little fingers. 

 I recognized the Hello Kitty one right away. A bow with Hello Kitty bows on it? YES PLEASE! 

A Little Delight had some of the cutest bows, and other hair ties. Very cute stuff. 

Next up we have Bacon and Eggs. Seriously so cute. Also Bacon is one of Evey's new words (and favorite foods), so of course I had to get her one. 

The Bacon and Eggs clips are from SoCutie. And they are So Cute! 

Last but not least we have the Jellyfish. 

Holy Moley Jellyfish is the cutest ever. 

It also has a little bit of Velcro inside that helps keep it in the babies hair. This is genius. It makes it difficult for the baby to pull the clip out.

Jellyfish is made by Shining Stars Boutique

Please ignore dirty baby face. I didn't want to fight with her. She's still cute. 

We love all of our new hair clips. And we really hope the dog doesn't eat them. 

Sadly I guess this is the last QBM that will be held, but you can check out all of the vendors on the page, if you are looking for local vendors in So Cal, they are all listed on the vendor page. Lots of cool stuff. 

*this is not a sponsored post, I purchased all of the items shown*

More random college thoughts.

A nice unrelated pretty picture, because I hate making posts without pictures. 

I am finally wrapping up the history class that has been driving me mad. If you have been following me on any other social media you know that it really has taken a toll on me. I have had little life outside of the house for the last 4 weeks, besides attending Japanese twice a week I barely walk out the door. I have dubbed the class #historyclassfromhell. But it's almost over. My final paper is off to my sister for revisions.

That's a great thing about having a sister who is in college too, she's a great spelling/grammar checker. 

But she thinks I use too many commas, screw that, I'll comma all I want, , , , , , 

anyway. 

I just submitted my last class discussion, and once I polish my paper and write a conclusion I'm done! I hope to submit it by tomorrow afternoon. 

Then I can focus on bringing my Japanese grade back up. My A dropped down to a B the last exam because I am really struggling with verbs, they all sound so much alike! 

I am also trying to plan next semester. I know I am taking Asian Studies online through the University, so I need to pick a another class to take online through the Community College, and I will take Japanese 102 face to face.

Yeah two schools, it gets confusing. But I'll explain how I am doing that eventually. 

I am so excited to be done with that history class. I have been neglecting so much, household chores, cleaning, my poor child who learned to count to 9 from watching the most freaky cartoon ever made. Seriously Charlie and the Numbers is scary. But she loves it. 

Last night to celebrate finishing my paper, I cleaned and rearranged the play room, so Evey has a little bit more functional place to play and what Thomas the Train. Next week I plan to tackle the upstairs, laundry, bathrooms, Evey's room still needs to be decorated. I have a whole list of fun things I want to do with all my extra spare time. 

I have had a feeling something was wrong

apparently frequent beach days just aren't enough

Remember back in March I talked about my low vitamin D levels? I really thought that moving to California would solve my problems and I would feel never feel bad again. Unfortunately I was wrong. About 2 months ago I started having some feelings of sluggishness and the occasional dizzy spell. I have also been back on the weight loss bandwagon, I just assumed my issue was dehydration or not enough calories or carbs. It didn't take long for me to start having shortness of breath again, This was my first clue that my D levels were still messed up.

I finally got around to having my doctor put in an order for the blood work, and I got a call this last week saying, yes my levels were low again. Even though I have been spending more time in the sun, I am still at 25, which my current doctor described as a "grey area" between good and bad. Although he agreed that my symptoms were certainly not typical, they are not out of the realm of possibly related, so I am back on Vitamin D. This time as a lower, over the counter level, I will likely be on this for the foreseeable future. It's something that I can deal with if it means I will feel better.
I am also hoping that along with helping the shortness of breath, and lethargy, that perhaps also my inability to focus is also a result of my low levels and with just a few days of vitamins that I will have a much easier time with my studies. Because That one history class really sucks, maybe vitamin D will make it better. If not I've only got 4 more weeks. 

My journey to finding a babysitter.

Last week I needed a baby sitter for the first time since Evey was born. Besides once or twice being left with immediate family, she has never been left with anyone. I wasn't looking forward to it, and even with a few weeks notice I was still unsure how to go about it.Paul came home from work with  bad news, shortly after I gave him my school schedule, telling him the nights I needed him home, he found out he was going to be gone for an entire work week. Not that big of a deal, I can miss two days of school. Wait.... Nope.,... Midterm that week. If I miss it, it can seriously negatively impact my grade.

Panic set in. What am I supposed to do? I need to go to class? First I asked my teacher if I could bring my daughter to class with me. HA HA HA! Yes I'm crazy. I can barely even get homework done with her around, let alone focus on a midterm. My Professor (obviously) said no. I was very concerned. I don't have many contacts here in California. I knew my parents were coming to visit the weekend before, but I didn't want them to delay and screw up their vacation by asking them to stay an extra 4 days.

So I turned to Facebook I know how crazy that sounds, and I didn't post in an open forum "hey what stranger wants to watch my kid". I have a group of ladies I really trust, we have similar parenting styles, and they are local. So I asked for recommendations. Right away I had a girl recommended to me. She is a Marine Wife, she previously worked in child care, and she was really close, like I could walk there close. Also she has her own baby, so Evey would have someone to play with. 

I had her come over for an interview, I let her play with Evey and she told me about herself. It actually worked out perfect, she showed up just as my washing machine started to vomit foam, so I was able to see her occupy Evey so I could handle the disaster in my laundry room. Okay, maybe that's not perfect. But it worked out anyway. I really like her, and I could even see us being friends, because we both have similar parenting styles. So I scheduled her in. 

The week of babysitting was stressful, not only did I have a heavy workload for school, and a midterm, but Paul was gone from Monday morning to Friday night. But despite all of the stress and anxiety, Evey's first (and second) babysitter experiences went off perfectly. Neither of us cried. I really didn't expect her to, but I was pretty sure I would, if I hand't been so distracted by school I probably would have. And I am going to schedule Evey for a few more days, during the day, for weeks I have papers due, so I can focus without her getting into shit and distracting me. We are also probably going to have a play date so Evey doesn't think every time we go the sitters house she is being left there. Only time will tell, but I may have gotten a friend out of the deal too!

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Random thoughts from college student.

Taking two history classes isn't a big deal. Taking two history classes, which are both set in different formats (two schools, two different online programs) can get a little confusing. Especially when the assignments start to mirror each other. This last two weeks both classes have been focusing on sources. Where you find your history, and I keep mixing up the assignments. Or forgetting which class I am currently working on. The classes are totally different too, one is World history and the other is Historical Methods, so learning how to be a historian and analyze the information history gives you. The historical methods class is reaallllyy boring. It's also a condensed 8 week course, so it's roughly double time. Twice the boring work in half the time. Lots of boring articles to read.

One class the teacher does not want discussion submissions to contain attachments, in the other class the teacher encourages them. One class One teacher wants sources done in one way, and another teacher wants them another way, and the methods teacher says that all history papers (ever) should be sourced her way (and I remember another history teacher telling us this too, so she is right, I think). One class wants submissions on discussions and assignments all turned in my Sunday night (the end of the "online class week") the other wants initial discussions in by Saturday and further discussion with other students until Tuesday. I know I am going to drop the ball on a deadline and have no one to blame but myself. 



On top of all this silliness I am trying to keep up in Japanese, and doing quite well I must say. And trying to maintain a household and happy child. Who is causing me to be a little extra sleep deprived this week, Mini Me has taken to waking up about 3-4 AM and trying to stay awake, and it takes quite a bit of work to get her back to sleep only to have her wake up at 7am totally wide awake and ready to conquer the world. And I have been up studying past 1am every night this week.I'm a bit overwhelmed at the moment, that's why the blog is particularly sparse. I'm still here, holding on.

Google image search overwhelmed, this guy doesn't look as overwhelmed. as he looks like he just found nude pics of someone he didn't want to see nude. 

Baked Avocado egg

I have seen this all over pinterest and a couple facebook friends have made it, so I thought I would give it a try. Avocado and Eggs, two of my favorite foods, what could possibly go wrong? 

I read these two recipes for my inspiration: All Recipes Baked Avocado Egg and Fit Sugar Baked Egg Avocado. They were the first two hits on google, and really I was mostly looking for baking temp and time. 

So I prepped my avocado, put in my egg, and popped it in the oven. 425* for 15 min (my egg actually took about 18m to set) 

topped it with Mortons seasoning salt, pepper and sriracha

Meh. 

It wasn't good. I think my problem was the warm avocado. That was kind of gross actually. I tried all the hot sauce in the world and I still struggled to choke down the warm avocado. 

I think I'll stick to For The Love Of Cooking's tried and true Mini Frittatas when I want baked eggs.

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My thoughts on college as a 30 something

I have been in and out of school as an adult for about 7 years now. Since we left Okinawa in 2010 it's been strictly online. This year I decided to complete some lower level classes at a local community college, to save money and to get a face to face learning experience. Especially with languages, I need someone talking to me, no way can I do that online.

So this semester I walked into a classroom, at a community college, as a 30 something. My first thought was that I was the oldest person there, even older than the teacher. "OMG I am older than the teacher" I think is was the text I sent my sister after I took my seat. Although this ended up not being true, she is the same age as me, and there is also one student older than both of us, at 35. Still I feel very old sitting in a classroom full of 19 and 20 year olds. I also found myself looking at some of the students and just shaking my head, "who would wear that", or "gosh you are so immature" are some of the thoughts I have frequently.

My class, Japanese 101, is mostly full of first year college students, who don't quite know how to behave in a classroom, but my teacher has to shhh! the class numerous times a day. Also they frequently interrupt the teacher or speak out of turn. Many students have a basic idea of Japanese culture from anime, and lots of students make anime references in class. I try to not sound pretentious, but there is so much more to Japanese culture than anime. I usually keep to myself in class because I don't want to stick out as the older student that thinks she knows everything.

So far things have been going well, I have my first of 4 exams tonight, which I should be studying for, but instead I am writing about. At least I have my oral portion memorized:

Hajimamashte Alana desu. 

_school name omitted_ diagaku no gakuse desu.

san nensi desu. senku wa rekishi desu. 

sanjuni sai desu. Yoroshiku onegoshimas.

can you read that? I introduce myself, state I am a college student at _university_, I am a third year student, and my major is history, then my age and nice to meet you. At least that's what it's supposed to say. I hope that's right.

My other two classes are online, both history classes, one is world history since 1400 and the other is historical methods, learning about why history is important and such. The methods class starts Monday and has it's first paper due Friday. The other one has a paper due this Sunday, and I haven't even started thinking about it. This is going to be a long weekend. Plus I need to find a back up sitter for when Paul has to work and can't be home when I need to go to school.

School takes up a lot of time, I didn't realize this until I recently, trying to do homework and study with a very active almost two year old, climbing all over me. Who is now waking up from her nap and I still haven't studied, or finished my homework. So I guess I shall sign off for today, I need to try to get her back to sleep and at least finish my homework. Tell me about your experiences going back to school as an adult. I'd love to hear about how you handle time management, especially with a toddler. 

How are we?

I feel like I haven't really done much of an update in a while. So here goes, an update, in mostly pictures

Evey has learned to be sassy and stubborn

"hey, at least i'm not standing on the table anymore..."

but remains cute as hell

We BBQ a LOT, like almost every weekend for the last month

ymmm Ribs

We have started to think about maybe potty training (someday)

We have breakfast with dinosaurs sometimes 

I am cooking much more frequently than in Montana

The weather is pretty nice 

I am still trying desperately to drop a few pounds

desperately

happy mornings (not too early usually, thankfully)

But all in all we are having a good time, and getting along pretty well in cali. 

It's not what we expected, but hey, it's not snowing either, so there's that! 

hiding those roots

Ikea is going to put me in the poor house, good thing it's over an hour away and surrounded by crazy traffic, or I would be there every day.

 I can't forget Little Red! We traded in my beloved Hello Kitty Mobile (Jeep Patriot) for a much more gas friendly Toyota Corolla! Also, Yay for no more transmission problems! (briefly mentioned here)

Oh and I am starting school soon. Gotta finish someday right? Two classes start this month, and one next month, and that's all I've got planned until spring. Wish me luck!