Only a partial fail...

For those of you who don’t look at calendars, tomorrow is October 1^st.  Last month I posted that I would be “wearing a pretty dress” twice in September due to my lack of wearing a pretty dress in August.  (#21 on my list in case you aren’t keeping track.) 

I have failed again.

I would offer up excuses like I’ve been moving, been busy driving between California and Arizona to see friends and family (none of which we did anything with that required a pretty dress), and I’m sure I could come up with more…but this is my Blog, my List, and therefore I’m giving myself another pass.

You may think that I’m slacking on my List, and you’d be correct.  But seeing as that I’ve had a crazy few months I’m letting myself not feel bad for that.  (I think this is actually taking care of #30 on my list…learning to be easier on myself…so really I’m getting things accomplished and should be given some kind of award, trophy, or maybe some miraculously delicious fat free/calorie free/won’t be seen on my hips tomorrow morning cookie.)

I HAVE, however, bought a pretty dress; I tried it on and everything so I DID wear it for all of 5 minutes in a dressing room if that partially counts for ONE of my two make-ups.  AND, Mr. and I have planned a nice date night next week so we can have some “us” time (something we haven’t had much of since landing Stateside) in which I will be wearing said dress. 

Now I only need to find 2 more excuses during October to wear a pretty dress and I can start November on a clean slate!  Wish me luck!    

Having without HAVING...

So I have decided I want to have kids.  Those of you who know me will not be all that excited by this revelation because you know I’m very fickle and could change my mind at any moment, but lately the decision of yes/no on kids is toppling towards yes.

I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a few awesome people in Spain who had absolutely amazing kids.  I know I will most likely be the one with the screaming, tantrum-throwing, takes-5-years-to-potty-train children (some call this karma)…but it was nice to see these kids and think, hey, I could do this!  In Spain, however, I didn’t want that.  Mr. and I were being selfish and wanted to take our time to be just us before starting a family of more than just our furry kids.

But now, being back surrounded by our family and friends and their awesome kids who I just adore (and who seem to shockingly adore me too!) I can’t help but think we may be closer to ready than I had thought.

Don’t get me wrong, I still am passionate about traveling and want nothing more than to hop a flight to anywhere new just to see it…but I’m thinking we can start to figure out a way to factor kids in to that dream too.

And again, for those of you who know me and know what our current situation is, you’re probably thinking “great timing Shana”.  In just three weeks you’ll be officially jobless and homeless (well, not homeless…but living in my parents’ house doesn’t exactly qualify us as “living on our own”…).

So I guess I’ll wait…which is good because I’m still trying to figure out the best way to have a kid without actually HAVING a kid.  Wish me luck.

Great news, I'm a genius!

Am I the only one that gets sick of online articles pointing out obvious facts like the people writing them are geniuses for coming up with it?  Today while I was enjoying some down time at the Howell’s I started doing what I love, perusing the MSN website for “news”.  (Quotes around news because MSN is probably far from what most would consider newsworthy, but it’s usually pretty interesting to me so I qualify it as news.)  However, today I read a couple articles and felt like throwing my computer across the room.  When I see an article entitled “How to Eat for $7 or Less a Day” or “Rules for staying trim all your life” I expect to find something that will actually educate me and help me to better understand what I should be doing to make my life better.  (Or at least make my figure better, which is one in the same.)

How to Eat for $7 or Less a Day

"Buy in bulk", "compare prices", and "shop discount" were some of the gems I picked out of this informative piece of work.  Well of course I’ve been spending too much on my groceries…I buy single items, only go to one store to buy everything I need regardless of the prices, and only buy things that are full priced…

Rules for staying trim all your life

My favorite snippet…”lean people move around”.  Um, really?  So you can’t lead a completely sedentary life and be lean?  Shocking!

There are many more articles just like these that point out the obvious like it’s a newfound brilliant idea.  I’ve come to only one conclusion about this dilemma. 

I’m a genius.  Clearly it’s the only explanation for me already knowing these facts.  Don’t worry, I won’t forget the little people when I win my Nobel Prize.

All grown up...

After finishing up our week in California, we made our way out to Arizona to see the Mr.’s side of the family yesterday.  We made it and it only took 6 hours of driving, an additional 30 degrees in temperature (77 in San Diego to 107 in Queen Creek…yuck!), and a quick stop at our FIRST fast food since arriving back in the States; In n Out!

Sitting at the drive thru...

I finished my fries and about 1/4 of my grilled cheese...so worth the extra running I'll have to do!

It was so great to get to Arizona, and even better to see our little girl Rory!!! 

So excited to see "daddy"!!!

The whole family back together again!

Me and my little girl!

We shipped her out to LAX and then on to Arizona exactly a month ago and we’ve both missed her so much!  I’m so sad about missing a month of her life (I know, ridiculous, she’s a dog…but she’s my kid) and it’s so strange to have these “mommy” feelings about her.  She has all these new routines with her “grandparents” and it’s weird to not know any of them yet.  I feel so left out of her little life.  We had specific routines at our house in Spain and now I’m watching her run around with her cousins Jax and Sam and doing her own thing…she’s all grown up!

She did sleep with us and her brothers last night though, so slowly back to “normal”.  I can’t wait to get our own place and have all our kids in one place again so we can start new routines and I can lovingly smother her and have her all to myself again.  I’m already such a selfish “mom” with her…I’m afraid of what will happen when we have little human kids!  For now I’ll focus on my fuzzy babies and enjoy my couple of weeks here with her! 

Yay Vino!

Yesterday Mr. and I got Iphones.  It’s VERY exciting.  Especially since it’s been 3+ years since I’ve had my own phone, and when I did there was no such thing as “apps” and “smart phones”.  (Okay, there WERE smart phones, but I couldn’t afford one so it didn’t count.) 

After spending about 3 hours programming numbers into the phone, downloading the Facebook app, and syncing my email account I started perusing the apps. 

Voila!

I found EXACTLY what I needed!  #7 on my list is now complete! 

7.  Learn a lot more about wine.  CHECK!

Two apps (both FREE, bonus!), which are now in a cute little folder on my phone titled “vino” have helped me to accomplish another task on my 30/30 list.  And just in the nick of time since it’s been A WHILE since I’ve been able to check anything off the list!

App #1: Corkbin.  A-MAZ-ING!  I can instantly learn what wines pair well with what foods, or what foods pair well with what wines (which I’ll probably use more because generally I order wine before food).  PLUS, there is an entire dictionary of wine terms which I can use to learn what people mean when they say a wine is “angular” or “unctuous”.  I’m already sounding smarter!

App #2: Wine Notes.  Gone are the days of buying a bottle of wine and realizing it’s the same bottle I bought two weeks ago and hated.  I can take pictures of the label, enter all the information about it from the producer to the country it’s made in, and then I can add my own notes so I can remember if I liked it, loved it, or hated it. 

I have a feeling apps are going to be my new obsession, but if I keep finding ones like this I’m a happy camper!  If only I’d had this app 3 years ago!  Yay vino!

We're baaaaaaaack!

It’s amazing how much can happen in just FOUR days!  Since I’ve been horrible about blogging daily, here’s a quick recap of our busy weekend:

-          Flew from Rota to Norfolk military bases, taxied to Norfolk civilian airport, flew from Norfolk to Atlanta, then from Atlanta to San Diego!  Got in at 9PM instead of 10AM like we were originally supposed to, and it all took ONLY 26 hours!!!  (Email me if you want my travel agents card, clearly they are awesome.)

-          Ate breakfast out at a real American restaurant where I literally finished half of what was on my plate and was full.  The portion sizes are ridiculous, but eating out in the morning was VERY exciting (especially since breakfast in Spain is pretty much a tortilla of some sort and café con leche…not as good as a big ole American breakfast!).

-          Went to a grocery store and spent $100 on basically nothing.  Shampoo, conditioner, a case of beer, some bread, and a few other things somehow added up to $101.97.  After I picked up my jaw from the floor, I paid and vowed to go to the commissary at Camp Pendleton to stock up before Mr. gets out.

-          Went to Campland by the Bay in Mission Bay to have a BBQ with my side of the family.  We finally got to meet my cousins beautiful wife and their absolutely adorable little girl as well as my other cousins girlfriend, all of whom we’ve heard so much about.  It is great to finally put a real, live face to the names and it was a great night of yummy food, beer, and camp fires (that eventually stopped smoking…)

My cousin smoking out Mr. by the campfiresmoke

-          WENT FOR A RUN.  We’re back in America, we’re eating American food, we don’t want to gain all the weight we’ve worked so hard to lose, we ran.  Enough said.

-          Travelled up to see my Nana in the rehab center she is currently staying at.  (No, not like Lindsay Lohan rehab; she broke her hip and had to get it replaced and is working on walking again.)  The entire family warned us that she was looking older and to not be surprised, but she looked absolutely gorgeous to me!  I don’t know if it’s that she’s had some time to start healing, or that she cleaned up especially nice for us, but she looked as put together as always and absolutely stunning!  (Although she pointed out she couldn’t be put together because she wasn’t wearing earrings or nail polish!)  It was a great hour sitting, talking, catching up, and just being with my favorite person…someday I want to be just like her with all her humor, grace, and beauty.

Mr., Nana, and I in the "fish room".

-          And lastly, we went to a BBQ with my girls last night.  It was like I’d never left.  I’m so very lucky to have them in my life, and so glad that Mr. already has so much in common with B and Potter (because regardless we’ll be spending a lot of time with these people).  Great food, awesome drinks as always, and the best company.  It was so nice to finally have a GN where one of us wasn’t drinking at 4AM because of the time difference.  Crossing my fingers we’ll be in this time zone, and close to Southern California, for a while because I’m definitely not ready to give up the face-time yet.

Not sure what the jazz-hands are about, but we're super cute!

All this and I’m amazingly not jet-lagged!  Well, I’m up at 6 even though I only got 6 hours of sleep last night, so maybe that’s my jet-lag??  Either way I’m happy, we’re back baby!

Hasta Luego!

Today we leave Spain.  After 1,168 days of living here in Rota we’re boarding a plane and taking off for the States.  (Okay, technically TOMORROW we’re leaving Spain…but we are supposed to check in to our flight tonight, fingers crossed, so I think leaving today still fits.)  Family and friends State side keep saying we’re “coming home”, but to me it doesn’t feel that way.  California will always be my home State, but for the past 3+ years SPAIN has been my home…or more accurately, Mr. has been my home and we’ve built our house in Spain.  Tomorrow I’m leaving my house, taking my home with me, and hoping that in the next 3 months we can find somewhere we fit in the world and learn to love it as we did Rota. 

My plan was to write a blog about Spain…what I’ll miss, who I’ll miss, what I’ve loved about being here, what I’m looking forward to…but my emotions are all over the place and putting together one coherent thought it proving more difficult than I expected.

Instead, I’ll go quietly with just a few thoughts to express.  I’m going to miss living here and I feel so lucky to be taking back with me the memories and experiences I have had living overseas.  We have seen more than we ever expected of Europe and I feel we’ve really made the most of our time here.  It has been the perfect first chapter in my life as Mrs. Howell, and I’m excited to take on chapter 2 head on!

Lastly, thank you to the amazing people we have met…the friends that have become our extended family.  You all have made our time here unforgettable.

Hasta luego Rota!!!  On to more adventures in the States…or wherever it is we end up.

Pack-Out Loaners

We finished our pack-out today and it went much more smoothly than I could have hoped for.  The movers were really nice, packed our things incredibly well (as in bubble wrapping everything from our dishes to our shoes) and were completely done in just over 6 hours.  I like to think my “Monica Gellar” style of cleaning and organizing our things before the packers arrived had a lot to do with it.

Now we’ve got nothing in the house except the stuff we’ll be packing for our journey back to the States, a TV Mr. took from work for us to use, our laptops (crucial), and 6 pieces of amaaaazing loaner furniture.  (Sense my sarcasm???) 

Our loaner furniture consists of a lovely vinyl couch circa 1980, a small dresser that weighs as much as a baby elephant which we have decided to use as a TV stand in the living room, a miss-matched set of two dining chairs and a dining table that smells like cheap Spanish cologne, and a microwave that is so huge I’m pretty sure I could cook a turkey in it if I had the craving. 

Say what you want about this base, but Naval Station Rota really knows how to send you off in style!

Trashy

This weekend Mr. and I were packing royalty!  We absolutely rocked getting our house ready for the move and although I’m sure there will be another hundred panic attacks between now and Thursday when the movers come I feel much more prepared than I did before our long weekend.

However, one thing irked me incredibly this weekend, and it happened today…lucky for you I’m in a sharing mood. 

 Trash rant: 

Today we had three completely unkempt children literally playing with our trash.  We have disposed of a lot of stuff that we didn’t want/need and was not donate-able; broken umbrellas, holey clothes, old dishes, our broken Christmas tree thanks to our cats, and TRASH. 

When looking in my backyard I saw that there were children playing with the broken umbrellas.  Worried that they would get hurt (or leave them all over the playground behind our house) I sent Mr. out to tame the animals.  When he got there he found all three trash binds EMPTIED and the scavengers playing with not only the umbrellas but the rest of our trash!  Old Beggin’ Strips, scarves that had been pulled out of trash containing thrown out leftovers, etc…disgusting. 

Mr. stood there and had them clean it all up and I stood there waiting to see parents come out to see what was going on.  Waiting, waiting…no parents.  Where were these kids parents?!? 

I get it, kids get in to things.  I also get that bases, especially overseas, are a lot safer than the norm and that kids can go and play on their own in the neighborhood park.  I DON’T get why kids would go through GARBAGE like it’s Santa’s toy bag and I DON’T get why parents can’t teach their clearly-old-enough-to-know-better-children to NOT play in trash (let alone some strangers trash!). 

Rant over.

Overall a good weekend.  Hope everyone else had a great Labor Day!

P.S.  The most important thing I realized this weekend:  Patience is something that is learned, but like Chinese and anything above basic math skills, it is NOT something I will be able to learn.  I think I’ll stop trying and instead focus my energy on something more attainable.