Thanksgiving 2011: Good Food and Good Friends

Hello everyone!
This year's Thanksgiving was wonderful. Micah and I both got to sleep in a little bit. When we woke up, we just lounged around the house for a little bit and then around noon I started cooking. This year I made Mountain Dew apple dumplings (again), strawberry banana pie, sweet potato casserole, and Martha Stewart's baked macaroni and cheese.

Now every year around the holidays, you always hear horror stories on the news of people blowing up their houses because they don't know how to use a deep fryer or people getting hurt while they are cooking their holiday feasts. Here is mine for 2011. In the midst of grating the cheese for the macaroni, I somehow grated my finger (OUCH). The funny thing about it was, a few minutes before that happened I thought to myself "Hmm, that would really suck if I got my finger instead of the cheese." Obviously, I didn't knock on wood because sure enough I grated my finger. Nothing serious though, just a little nick- but boy did it hurt! Not only did I "grate" my finger, I also burned my hand in a couple of spots while pulling things out of the oven. Again, nothing serious. I know I could have been injured a lot worse if I hadn't been paying attention. I think my injuries were just results of my clumsiness (everyone should know by now that I am accident prone). I'm thankful that nothing worse happened!

Around 4 o'clock, we headed across the street with all of our food to Esther and Mark's house. Esther made two 10 lb turkeys, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. All in all we had quite the smorgasbord of things to eat. We sat down around her dining room table around 4:30, stated what we were thankful for, and stuffed our faces.


My Thanksgiving Dinner: stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, turkey, sweet potato casserole, a dinner roll, green bean casserole, and baked macaroni and cheese.

After dinner we just hung out and watched movies. Usually on Thanksgiving I would be watching football but on Guam, football games are aired in the morning and since we are a day ahead of the mainland, the thanksgiving games hadn't even been played yet.

This year I was thankful for my wonderful husband, my loving family and friends (both near and far), my dogs: Snickers and Buster; the good times I've had so far and the good times yet to come.

On Friday, instead of waking up at 3 am to wait in line at the exchange for Black Friday, Micah and I took full advantage of another day off and slept in (again). When we woke up, we went to the visitor center to pick up the passes for my mom and sister so they can get on and off base when they come to visit in December. Then we went to the home gallery (the furniture store) on base to see what kind of deals they had on bedroom furniture. We ended up getting a queen mattress and box spring set for only $350! It was originally priced at $799 but since it was Black Friday it was on sale. What a steal!





Now that Thanksgiving has passed it is time to start decorating for Christmas. I have about half of my shopping done so far.


Buster in his Santa hat. He's excited about Christmas but not so much the silly hat I made him wear.


My mother-in-law recently asked if I was tired of living "the island life". To be honest, I kind of am. I mean, don't get me wrong, I LOVE the beach, 80+ degree weather year round, palm trees, and the fact that I get to wear shorts and flip flops every day. However, I am a city girl at heart (well, suburban girl to be 100% correct). I miss the big buildings, express ways, being able to drive more than 40 miles without seeing the same thing twice, and even the snow. Okay, maybe not the snow, but I definitely miss the different seasons. If I could, I would take the city (and Downers Grove), move it to this island and I would make it so that there would be Spring and Fall. Guam is only about 212 square miles (about 30 miles long and 8 or so miles wide) so it's a lot smaller than what I am used to. I'm not complaining, though, I do love my life here. I just wish it was a little bit more like home. We don't even have a Starbucks!

Until the next post,

Donna

BACK ON THE BLOG!!!

Hello family and friends!

After a year long hiatus, I think it's time I update everyone on what has been going on. First of all, I would like to apologize for not keeping up with the blog like everyone would have liked. I really have no good excuse.

So let's see...where to begin? Ah, yes- Thanksgiving 2010. Micah and I didn't do much in terms of celebrating. We ended up spending the holiday with our neighbors. We had two separate feasts; one with our friends Ashley and Brady, and the other with our friends Ashley, Mike, Esther, and Mark. I didn't make a turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, or any of the traditional dishes. Instead I made what I like to call, "Mountain Dew Apples". I got the recipe from my cousin, Melissa, and it was a hit! Everyone loved it. I'm sure I will be making it again this year.

In December, I was back in Chicago to celebrate Christmas. Micah stayed in Guam since he was unable to take leave. As much as I hate the snow and cold weather, it was a nice break from the island life. It was awesome to see my friends and my family for the holidays; however I was sad that I was unable to share that time with Micah as well.

The day after Christmas, my mom and I boarded a plane to London. As some of you may recall, Amanda and the DGN Bands went on a tour there for the London New Year's Day Parade. To say the least, London was a blast! We toured all of the major sites and even some local pubs! On New Year's Eve, our "tag-a-long" tour had a party at one of the hotels where we had dinner and counted down the minutes and seconds to 2011. When "Big Ben" hit midnight, we had a glass of champagne as we watched the fireworks over the River Thames. On New Year's Day we watched the parade. I can't express how cool it was to watch my little sister and my former band mates march down the streets of London!

We returned to Chicago a short time later where I spent the last few days squeezing in as many visits with friends and family as possible before I had to return to Guam.

Now, before I left for Chicago I begged Micah to get a Christmas tree. He was against the idea of decorating since I was going to be gone. I was a little upset about not getting to have my own tree. However, when I walked in the house the night I returned to Guam, I was quite surprised with what I saw. The entire living room had decorations. Micah had bought a tree, ornaments, lights, garland, stockings, etc. and set it all up without my knowledge. Despite the fact that it was about 2 am and he had to work the next day, we stayed up and exchanged presents. It definitely made up for the fact I was unable to spend Christmas Eve and Day with him.

In February, Micah went on his first underway since we'd been on Guam. An underway is just like a deployment, only it's much shorter. He traveled to Malaysia and from what I heard, it sounded like he had a lot of fun. While he was away, I got plenty of "Donna time" and even went out a few times with some of the other wives whose husbands were also in Malaysia.

In April, we celebrated Micah's 22nd birthday with friends. Micah and I both had been working a lot so we decided to take leave. We didn't leave island, but we enjoyed not having to go to work for 2 weeks. We spend a lot of time at the beach and we even went out in Tumon a few times.

In May, Micah went on his second underway to Hong Kong. Again, from what he told me it sounded like he had a good time.

A few days before he returned, we received news that Micah passed his advancement exam and that he was to become a 2nd Class Petty Officer (E-5). What this meant was that Micah would have more responsibilities at work and his paycheck would get a little bit bigger. Advancing in the military is something that is not always easy- especially for Micah’s rate (HT). Micah had previously taken the test a few times and every time he would get closer and closer to passing. Not only did he pass this time, he scored within the top 5% for his rate Navy-wide. Needless to say, I’m very proud of him.

Micah returned from Hong Kong just a few days before my birthday. We were very lucky with his early return since the original date would have caused him to miss my birthday AND our 1st wedding anniversary.

For my birthday, I made chicken schnitzels, mashed potatoes, and corn. (Yes, I cooked on my birthday because schnitzels are something I enjoy making and I wanted to show Micah how to do it for future reference) It was just Micah and I for dinner but we later had some friends over for a movie.

For our 1st wedding anniversary, we wanted to get away so went spent a weekend at the Outrigger Resort in Tumon. Although it was only 20 minutes from base, it was still really nice to get away from everything work related and just spend some quality time together. We went out to dinner, did some shopping, and laid on the beach. All in all, I couldn't have asked for anything more for my birthday and our anniversary.

In July, Micah traveled to the Philippines on an underway. While he was gone, the three girls that I hang out with all went back to the states to visit their families. To say the least, I was pretty bored for about three weeks. However, I spent my time wisely by picking up a lot of extra hours at work.

This past weekend, Oct. 28-29, was the one year anniversary for the pub I work at, Molly McGee’s. On the 28^th we had “Molly’s Birthday Party” which consisted of a raffle, a birthday cake, prizes, and a performance by the band Synthetic Elements (the same band that played on opening weekend in 2010). Although I didn’t win any prizes, I enjoyed eating birthday cake and hanging out with my co-workers. On the 29^th, Molly’s had a Halloween Party. I worked during the day so I got to wear my costume to work. I was little red riding hood. October 29^th also happened to be my friend, Esther’s, 21st birthday. We celebrated at Molly’s and then went out in town. We all had a really good time.

Last night was Halloween. Since Micah and I don’t have any kids, we went to our neighbor’s house for a barbeque. The wives sat outside and passed out candy while the husbands manned the grill. There weren’t many trick-or-treaters but we were still able to get rid of all of our candy. On our street, there aren’t many kids, but in other housing areas on base there are so I would imagine that houses in those areas got a lot more kids coming by for candy.

The past year has been crazy! Micah and I both have been working a lot. There have been ups, downs, and everything in between. The other day, someone asked me what my life would be like if I hadn’t married the military. To be honest, I think it would be boring. It’s very different from how I was brought up, but I like it. Knowing that Micah could be deployed at any time really keeps me on my toes and makes me appreciate my life and what I have more.

As far as pictures from the past year, I no longer have any of them on my computer…but Facebook is a wonderful thing! If we are not already friends, add me!

I have to be honest, I really don’t think I’m going to post anything until after Thanksgiving- but keep an eye out just in case!

P.s. - Does anyone know if there is a Blogger app for Android?