Our Halfway Party

So we made it to the halfway point of this deployment! I thought this day would never ever come...especially that first few weeks, but I am thankful to say...IT'S HERE!!! So per my friend Savannah's request, here are pictures to fill you in on all our fun!

Carrie and Nicole were the first to arrive and I quickly put them to work making cake batter for the cakes in a jar I had everyone make. They all turned out great! Except for the jar the overflowed and then tipped over inside the oven. Ya. and the fact that I ran out of time and no one decorated their jar. But other than that....they were sealed to perfection and, hopefully, everyone will actually ship them to their guy! After I made the girl whip up some cake batter, I enlisted their help in making pizza dough. Carrie totally ruined the first batch cuz she POURED, not sprinkled, the yeast on top. Yep, that's right, I blame my guest :) Lol. Just teasing...it was a joint failure. Everyone had fun making their own dough and baking their pizza with a multitude of toppings. The pizzas didn't quite turn out the way I LIKE them to be since I forgot to turn up the oven from when we baked the cakes. Oh well, doughy pizza is still pizza and it was the memories of fun times we'll take from this night.

These scrumptious delights were one of two desserts we enjoyed. Nicole, our fabulous baker, made these raspberry lemon cupcakes and they were probably the best cupcakes I have ever had. I think I ate 5 total, ya, they were that good. I also made strawberry with dark chocolate cake pops. They are AMAZING also, and I sent everyone home with the leftovers because I knew I would eat the rest this week, if I didn't.

After all the baking and pizza making (wow, that totally rhymed), we settled in for a quiet game of Apples to Apples. Wait, did I say I quiet? Ya, ummm, that's probably the WORST word to describe this next event. I'm pretty sure we only made it about four people into the first round when we were interrupted by our curiosity to know how everyone met their Marine. I learned so much about my new friends! One thing Michelle pointed out, many of us have known our Marine as either a friend or something more, since we were young, like pre-teen braces young. I thought that was interesting. Regardless of how long we all knew our Marines, it is clear there is love in the air! Marine girls are passionate girls and their love is clearly strong and proud. No one was afraid to share their love story. In fact, most of use were jumping with ants in our pants to tell our story. The picture above would be our realization that we all (minus the two mamma's, which we'll let slide since their kids are pretty darn cute) had pictures of our man in their camis on their phone. We just HAD to stop to document this funny fact with a picture.

This has to be my favorite picture from the night. It completely and wholly explains the entire event, without the need for explanation. We laughed until we cried and built new friendships that felt like they've always been apart of our lives.  I know celebrating the halfway point was important to me and I am thankful for everyone that came. It wouldn't have been a party without all of you! and it wouldn't have been a halfway party without the all the love stories, wine, and laughter. Thank you all so much. I promise to improve my hostessing skills to perfection for our next halfway party, which I pray is in many many years to come. That outta give me time to practice anyways

Frozen Shrimp Wife Lessons

I am determined to be a good wife...let me clarify. I am determined to be a good wife that can COOK! Since Daniel has been gone for most of our engagement thus far (aka: wife training time) my dad has been enlisted to be my guinea pig. He eats whatever I make him and even pretends to like all of it. There was only one chicken dish in which he suggested that "salt can always be added later, sweetheart." So, I am cooking up new things, testing my skills, and being quite creative in the kitchen these days. I am excited to not just learn, but MASTER several key recipes before Daniel gets home so that I may impress him with my cooking ability.

The other night I got a little frisky and decided to throw a little wine in the pan where my chicken had been cooking for some time. I thought, hey, I hear people do this all the time, why can't I? Well, thankfully my dad's girlfriend came home just in time to witness me almost ruin my dinner by not having enough liquid. Had she not walked in when she did, I probably would have ended up drunk from all the wine I would have tried to use to get my chicken to finish cooking without burning. BUT, disaster was averted and I learned, on the fly, how to do a "red wine reduction" as she called it. And, might I say, it turned out AMAZING, moist and yummy and purple. I think even Daniel would have like this chicken since it wasn't dry or anything.

As I was scanning the shelves of the freezer tonight, I laid my eyes on a bag full of frozen shrimp. Inspired by the pre-cooked quality of those frozen shellfish, I jumped onto AllRecipes.com and typed in "shrimp" to see what might come up. Eenie, meanie, mineie, mo and I began pouring this liquid and that spice into a plastic baggie while my fishies defrosted under cold running water, in the sink. Now they are marinating in the fridge and I think this meal will be successfully complete with a side of Mexican rice from a recipe I also found on AllRecipes.com. I'll get back to you all on whether it turned out or not.

So, here I am, teaching myself to be a master chef, one that could challenge my other half's natural cooking ability. All I hope is that, with time, I will be able to make consistently delicious dinners for my husband-to-be, ones that he will be proud of me for (and maybe even invite other people to taste, if I'm that good).