Necklace Giveaway!

Its worth a shot right?! They are giving a beautiful necklace away as a free giveaway. This jewelry looks great ...

Click for the website Jib & Genoa website!

A New Look.

It was about time for a blog "makeover" :) ... hope you enjoy it!

Michael's 29th Birthday!

Michael turned 29 on the 26th! He wanted some things that reminded him of "home" for this birthday so I made him a carrot cake with his Mom's recipe and we cooked enchiladas with his Dad's recipe! We made ourselves sick eating so much ... it was awesome!! (**I didn't feel so awesome at work this morning though!)

Here is the finished carrot cake:

I surprised him with an original iPod so we can watch movies on the plane together without having to get the computer out :)

Piglet was extra attentive to her daddy (she had a "spa-day" on Saturday b/c she got a haircut, her nails trimmed, her ears cleaned and a bath!):

about to dig in to some delicious enchiladas and Spanish rice:

hanging out with Pigdog and preparing for cake:

the fastest melting candles ever:

making a wish!

YUM!!!

Its so much fun getting to spend birthdays and holidays together - we still don't take it for granted and its been 2.5 years since a deployment!

Tattoo Update

Sooo ... we went to go get tattoos down in Naha, but we ended up mad so we left. They didn't like my constructive criticism ... and then they cancelled Michael's appointment on him. We went to another shop outside of Kadena and we should see the designs next Tuesday. We went to a small pub beforehand with some really good Weizens and wheat beers so the trip to Naha wasn't a complete loss!

and Pigdog is just cute all snuggled up after her haircut:

Let Birthday Week Begin!!

Its the beginning of Birthday Week for Michael!! The good thing about not having kids is that we can still be really selfish ... so we give each other a whole week to celebrate our birthdays :)

Michael's week starts tonight by heading to Naha for tattoos! I'm supportive so I'm getting one too (just kidding ... but I am getting a tattoo as well b/c I really want another one). So ... that being said - these are the last toe pics with only one tattoo b/c I'm putting one on my right foot tonight!

Domestic Saturday

Michael does most of the cooking in our household ... but sometimes I just really want to try some recipes. Especially since we only have a year left on-island, I want to be able to make sure I can get my gyoza fix back in the states!

Here I am making homemade gyoza:

Concentrating on separating the wrappers ...

Steaming the little bundles of goodness (we like them better steamed rather than fried):

the finished Mexican lasagna - SO yummy!

While I was being domestic (for once), Michael and his friend Chuck went to the hobby shop and built plyo-boxes so we can do our CrossFit workouts at home (we've been drinking the Kool-Aid ...)

They did such a good job! I'll post pics once they are painted/sanded and have the matting on top:

Chuck earned some well-deserved PS3 time (while the gyoza was finishing) ... and some gyoza/lasagna to take home to his family :)

Thanks for your help Chuck!

Peace Prayer Park

Michael and I finally went down to Peace Prayer Park last weekend. It was SO hot that we made sure to see all of the outside monuments ... but we'll have to go back to see the museum and really spend some time there. It was so beautiful ... and serene.

Peace Hall:

The monuments are shaped like folding screens and there are 116 of them with room for 250,000 names:

The Cornerstone of Peace was erected to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of The Battle of Okinawa and WWII. It is a place to remember and honor the 200,o00+ people who lost their lives during WWII and to pray for world peace...

Click on the pic to see what it says:

The Flame of Peace:

Looking at the Cornerstone of Peace:

This was the National War Dead Memorial Path ...

These monuments were off of the main path:

A GREAT DAY!

What a great day ...

Today is our 2 year anniversary of arriving on island - my oh my how the time has flown by!  We received great news early in the morning when the battalion XO told Michael that he did NOT have to be the General's aide!  WHOOP!!  He gets to stay at the company for a little longer!  To top off the day, the new MacBook Pro arrived that I ordered for Michael for our 5th anniversary (thanks Mom and Dad for shipping it over here so fast!).  He is ecstatic and its so fun to see him play with it.

Michael showing off his new toy:

P.S. - Happy Birthday Bruce!

Toes and Bailey

Here is Bailey-cat looking extremely angelic all snuggled up on the blanket:

My new toes.  They say "Mensore" in kanji on them - it means "welcome".  Like many things in Japan, they often put sayings where they don't really make sense.  If you've lived in or visited Japan you know what I mean.  The sayings on the clothing they wear are pretty humorous!

5th Anniversary!

The day of my farewell was also our 5th anniversary - WHOOP!  Michael took the afternoon off and so did I so we could head south past Naha to Cafe Caracuma.  It took some doing to find the Thai restaurant - but is was worth the drive!  Here are some pics of the sun-setting on the Pacific Ocean:

When you stepped outside on the balcony they had great furniture made out of big tree limbs to lounge on.

We ordered WAY too much food and all of it was delicious.  They even had really yummy hibiscus tea :)

Outside of the restaurant was a little museum with all sorts of dinosaur skeletons.

T-Rex head:

They also had some terracotta soldiers:

A triceratops head:

lounging on the swing after walking around:

Its been a wonderful 5 years ... here's to 75 more!

Farewell to the Marine Corps and FE!

I finally started my new job with the Army last week. I'm the new Support Agreements Manager for USAG - Torii Station. It will be a very steep learning curve!! Its been a great introduction to a new environment with really superb co-workers. However, before I left, my old division had a farewell for me down at the Laguna Hotel.

Here we are enjoying the yummy eats:

After everyone was done eating there were speeches (yeah.) and gifts (yeah!). Here is LtCol Wallace giving his speech about my assistance to the FRF and DPRI sections. His first words? "You. Dirty. Traitor. The Army??" followed by "we couldn't let you leave without taking one last shot at you" ... which was then followed by everyone there shooting rubber bands at me:

Me: "What the hell!?"

Reading the brilliant sign they gave me for my new office. Its not appropriate for the blog though :)

My branch gave me this beautiful Ryukyu glass hanging plate and a set of Ryukyu glasses. I already have the plate hanging in my office!

Michael was actually able to make it!

So he took some wonderful candid shots ... thanks.

Rachel and I ... I'm trying to work my magic to get her a job up on Torii with me.

CDR Fetters, Rachel and me ... I'm really going to miss working with these two :(

Both of my supervisors while working at FE - Mike and Rose:

Our branch:

but we aren't lame - we're complete rockstars!!

Pretend like you can actually see us b/c this was the best shot we could get in the light:

Thanks for the memories USMC! (I'm sure I'll be back sometime in my career)