A little flocked

The whole reason I am back with a vengeance on this blog is that I am, once again, a full-time housewife! I could not be happier. I do feel a little guilty for not working while Charles is, but I'm trying to "earn my keep" by cooking, baking and cleaning...like every good housewife does. Sorry if that comes across as anti-feminist or too Donna Reid Show. I really do enjoy taking care of things around the house and Charles in no way expects me to be a Stepford wife. I'll have you know, he was the one doing most the cooking while I was working.

My last day of work was also fun because I was flocked! What the heck does that mean? (I know you're wondering). Well, the Officer Spouse Club here flocks yards as a fundraiser for their scholarship program. Someone (I have my suspicions, but no confirmation) had my yard flocked. I had no idea it was coming!

That morning Charles looked out the front window and said to me, "It must have been windy last night." I asked why and he replied, "Look what blew into our yard."

I was expecting to see some kid's toys or a lawn chair. It had been windy earlier in the week. But I looked out and saw a flock of flamingos. Well, I should say a flamboyance. That is supposedly the technical term for a gathering of flamingos. 

Let's go (Cornhuskers) (Bruins)!

A perk of being a military family is sometimes you get free things. In this case, we were given free tickets to the Foster Farms bowl game which was held at Levi Stadium, home of the San Fransisco 49ers. This was a real treat to see Levi Stadium since Charles is a 49ers fan.

Before the game started, we toured the 49ers Museum which is attached to the stadium. It was neat to see the evolving history of the team and take some photos in a giant helmet. 

Didn't know I was a member of the 49ers back in the day, huh? ;)

The game was the Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. the UCLA Bruins. Going into the game I had zero preference between the two teams. I have never been to Nebraska or Los Angeles. But you know what sold me on cheering for Nebraska? Their marching band. Yup... I'm a nerd. But if you had seen both marching bands, I think you would understand. Nebraska's marching band far exceeded the talent and skill (at least what was shown) of the UCLA marching band. They had a whole routine with movements and a theme. UCLA stood in a line. No joke.

Plus, Nebraska is part of the Big 10. In our house, we cheer for Michigan. M Go Blue! So it only made sense to want a fellow Big 10 team to take home the W.

It was a chilly night. But we had a fun time watching a bowl game. Levi Stadium is quite nice and has some really good food options. Charles enjoyed steamed buns and I had a pulled pork sandwich.

California International Marathon

I hope you saw marathon in the title and knew this post was not about me. I do not run (much). But I am married to a reluctant runner. I say reluctant because he is good at it, but doesn't necessarily love it. Although his constant signing up and then running in 10ks, half marathons, marathons and trail races would suggest otherwise.

One of Charles' goals has been to run a Boston Marathon qualifying time. To us non-runners, let me explain what this means:
To participate in the Boston Marathon you have to run a certain time.
The time you need to qualify depends on your age.
For Charles' age, he has to run a in a qualifying marathon in 3 hours and 5 minutes or faster*
     *and technically (for some reason that I am not very good at explaining), he would actually have to run it   a few minutes faster than that to be able to get a spot at the Boston Marathon

Charles is pretty fast, but he had not been able to run that fast.

Until...the 2015 California International Marathon! I have to admit that I got pretty emotional as he was crossing the finish line. Pretty emotional for me = teary eyes. I don't like to cry in public.

People kept walking in front of the camera, so I wasn't able to get a good picture of him ringing the BQ (Boston Qualifer) bell

 

Going back to giving thanks

Since I haven't written in a while I am going to play some catch-up, so forgive me if the next few entries cover events and information from several months ago.

Holidays... as a military family living hundreds of miles from family can be challenging. First you have to decide if you can afford to travel to them. Or you have to see if family wants to come to you. And as a married couple, you have to juggle whose family will get what holiday. Charles' family had originally talked about coming out for Christmas, but then decided on Thanksgiving. His youngest brother, Greg, had to work or be on call for Christmas which is what prompted the decision.

I love having guests! It gives me 1.) a chance to clean the house and 2). to show off my house. So we got the guest rooms all spruced up and cozy.

I'm sure we have all seen the little graphics on Pinterest where you can share your WiFi password. I finally had a good reason to make some for our guest rooms. I used a Beauty and the Beast theme.

We had a great weekend with family! We saw some of the local sights, ate at my favorite local Italian restaurant and played games.

They did a Turkey Trot. I'm glad I didn't participate because I would have been the slowest of the group.

Because I have never cooked a whole turkey and didn't want to attempt it, we ordered our Thanksgiving meal from a local BBQ restaurant. It came with roast turkey and all the fixin's. It was so delicious! I do like to bake and even though the meal came with a sweet potato pie, I had to make a couple extra desserts. I'll share those recipes in upcoming posts.

Our Thanksgiving table

Check out all this deliciousness

The Thoennes clan

Epic game of Risk

Columbus Day Weekend

I was lucky to have Columbus Day off this year. Since Charles also had it off, we spent the weekend out of town. We drove up to Eureka to see what the northern coast of California had to offer. Our drive up took us through the Avenue of the Giants. It was wonderful driving through seeing and smelling all the redwoods. It really makes my heart happy to be around forests.

Eureka was a nice area to visit. Although, I was expecting something a little more picturesque. But I guess it used to be an industrial/mill town.

We ate at a bunch of places that Guy Fieri had been. I think only one place we knew beforehand that he had been to.

On the drive home, we took a different route. It was much curvier and had almost no places to stop along the way. Luckily, I did not get car sick. I have a tendency to do so on curvy roads. However, with the lack of bathroom facilities I did have to make other arrangements when nature called. That wasn't fun. I am not an outdoorsy person. 

Isn't this just the cutest little tree house?

Great little zoo in Eureka!

We were able to watch the red pandas at feeding time. They are so adorable!

Another place we really enjoyed in Eureka was the Botanical Gardens. They had beautiful flowers and nice trails.

We love collecting pictures of old churches. This one is in Ferndale which is a great Victorian town near Eureka.

A street view of Ferndale.

You should try this...

Yesterday Charles and I had a little date day. We started with a late lunch at BJ's Brewhouse. Even though it is a chain, they have some really yummy food. I love their fried artichoke appetizer. We both had small deep dish pizzas. Delicious!

Then we saw the new movie, A Walk in the Woods. It is based on the Bill Bryson book with the same name. We both read that book and love Bill Bryson books. The movie was really good. Of course, it was not as good as the book. The movie made me wish I loved hiking. The scenery is so beautiful.

We ended our evening by visiting the much-hyped Parlor Ice Cream Puffs. The concept is a donut stuffed with ice cream and toppings. Genius! I had a glazed donut with cake batter ice cream and Nutella. It was amazing! The donut is somehow warm while the ice cream inside is cold and melty (in a good way).

The season for apples

With the long Labor Day weekend, we intended to visit Eureka and check out the Avenue of the Giants along the way. However all last week I was feeling under the weather and had not quite recovered by the weekend. On Saturday, we spent some time in Folsom and stayed the night. On Sunday we visited Apple Hill which has tons of apple farms and other great spots for fall treats.

Charles love, love, loves apples so our first stop was to Denver Dan's for apple picking. They had a ton of different varieties. Charles filled two buckets of apples. We also purchased some apple cider to enjoy after walking around in the warm, September afternoon. It was so refreshing!

Our next stop was the Fudge Factory Farm. Near the fudge shop were a bunch of tents each with different handmade goods. It was fun to walk around and see all the different items for sale.

With our car full of apples, we headed home. It was a great day!

Gotta start training

Charles shared with me a great cartoon about running. It's called The Blerch and is so funny! It's about this guy that started running basically so he could eat whatever he wants. The Blerch is a fat little cloud that follows him around trying to convince him to stop running. You have to read it whether you love running or absolutely hate it (I fall more in the latter group).

In November, there is going to be a 10k race in Sacramento that is called Beat the Blerch. Charles convinced me that we should do it. You know how he convinced me? The race will have cupcakes and Nutella at the aid stations. I will do almost anything for cupcakes and Nutella.

I am not a runner. I mostly walk whenever I do go out for a "run." But to complete a 10k without being exhausted at the end I know I'm going to have to do a bit of training. Ugh! But it did give me a good excuse to buy some new running shoes. Charles uses RoadRunner.com to purchase many of his running shoes and I found a pair that I liked.

Now the hard part...running...

The Fat Rabbit Public House

Last weekend we were in the Sacramento area for a marriage retreat. The retreat sessions ended earlier than we were expecting and we were left to entertain ourselves for the rest of the day. It was a million degrees outside which limited what we were willing to do. We were near Folsom which has a nice farmer's market. The other times we have been to that farmer's market there has been a food truck that has the most amazing waffles. I have been craving one. Unfortunately, the waffle truck was not there. Bummer!

But that part of Folsom has a nice area to walk around with stores and restaurants. We decided to grab lunch at the Fat Rabbit Public House. It was great! Right when you walk in you are met with that old building smell. I'm not talking about that gross, dirty old building smell. I am referring to that wonderful smell of a vintage place with all the character and memories that come with it. We found a spot and glanced over the menu before deciding on what to order.

I had a delicious Aspall's cider and chicken pot pie. My favorite type of chicken pot pie is with puff pastry on top and this one had that. Yummy, yummy, yummy! Charles had a beer and the Ploughman's Platter which included cheese, meat, apples, pickles and a salad. He enjoyed his, as well.

The whole time I felt like I was back in Dublin, Ireland. Dublin has been one of my favorite European cities.

Pineapple Princess

I love being a military wife! We make up all kinds of excuses to get together for girl time. Our latest social was a painting party. The group painted an American flag. Since I did that last year at another painting party, I decided to bring my own project. I painted a pineapple!

I printed this pineapple out on cardstock and cut out the black parts to make a stencil

Everyone did such a great job. See my tiny pineapple in the background?

My and my peeps

I'm still alive!

I used to think that people who said they were too busy were lying. Now I understand. It's not like I have a lot going on. I do work a full-time job and I have a husband to hang out with in the evenings and weekends. I feel the biggest time waster is my commute to and from work. Without that drive, I feel like I could accomplish soooo many more things. But what can you do?

We have had some things going on recently. One was our amazing trip to Monterery. I loved it! The weather was beautiful and it was great to be back near a beach. I have to live near a beach again soon. It will probably be a while, though.

It's hard to tell, but there is a sea otter swimming with the surfers. This was taken in Santa Cruz where we stopped on our way to Monterey.

Hub cap cake at LouLou's in Monterey.

Sea Lions at the Coast Guard Pier

Outside of the Monterey Bay Aquarium

In Carmel

The excuse for the trip was for Charles to run in the Big Sur marathon

Spouses Night Out: The Game of Life theme

It is that time of year again...time for our base's annual Spouses Night Out! I had the pleasure of heading up the planning committee again. This is something I absolutely love doing! This year's theme for the night is Board Games. Back in October, the planning committee got together to come up with ideas for which board game we should choose. I really wanted The Game of Life and we ended up deciding on that game. I was beyond excited! I grew up playing that game and knew it would be a fun one to customize to the event and to military life.

Over the past 5 months we have been busy coming up with ideas and making those ideas come to life. The last two weekends were spent working on projects for our tables and everything has come together wonderfully.

Last night was set-up and I was finally able to see my vision come to life. Everything was exactly as I wanted it and it looks fabulous. Tonight is the big event and our team is coming in all kinds of costumes. I am very excited to see everyone.

Here are some things that inspired me throughout the planning:

Vintage version of the game

I found this image through Google, but it was in greys. One of our spouses was able to change the colors. I added words on the board and thus created our own version of The Game of Life. One of the ladies is going to walk around at the event and offer to let other groups play our game. We printed our own money!

I created money in several values to be used during the night. It was fun recreating the money from the game. 

This was my sketch for Table 1. I ended up being very close with a few changes. The little houses are adorable! I'll share more pictures from the event so you can see what we did with a couple of them.

My sketch for Table 2. We made a paper mache mountain range. Thankfully I had no part in painting it, so it looks amazing! I cannot wait to share a picture of it. We surrounded the mountains with little cars and blue and pink peg people.

My sketch for Table 3. We ended up going in a slightly different direction, but I'm so glad we changed the plan.

This is the logo for the event. We had to incorporate it into our table. We did so in several places.

One of the places we used the logo was on the place cards. I created 3 different place cards. The one shown here is the Fire Insurance card. There is also a Life Insurance and Auto Insurance card (each a different color). These were inspired by the insurance cards in the game and I am very happy with how these turned out.