Gingersnap Cheesecake Bars

I have been working part time at the Thrift Shop on our base. It's not a dream job by any means, but it has given me something to do (not that I really needed one more thing to do between all my volunteer gigs) and some extra travel money. We had a potluck for lunch in honor of Veteran's Day and to celebrate one of our regular volunteers who is heading to the States for the winter. 

I scoured Pinterest for some ideas of something I could bring that did not require being warmed up since I was coming in to work in the morning and wanted to make sure my item was still going to be tasty a few hours later. I had this recipe for Gingersnap Cheesecake Bars saved and knew it was the perfect time to try it! Charles is not a huge fan of cheesecake, so he would not appreciate it as much as my co-workers and volunteers would. 

I received many rave reviews on the bars so the recipe is a keeper! The original recipe was for a 13x9 inch pan, so I halved it for this occasion, but seeing how quickly they were devoured I should have made the full recipe. The recipe card below is for half the recipe so if you want a full pan just double all the measurements. Enjoy!

 

Tamale Pie

I have posted about this recipe in the past, but it was just a link to the original recipe I found through Pinterest. This has become one of my go-to recipes and it is so delicious! It's warm, gooey and packed with flavor so it is great anytime of the year. It's fairly easy to put together, but if you choose to cook the chicken in advance like I do, it takes a little bit of prior planning. My suggestion is to cook extra chicken so you have some for tacos, too! For tamale pie, three chicken breasts is sufficient for the recipe. 

You could also try the recipe with shredded pork or beef, but chicken is my favorite. 

Dressember 2021

For several years now I have participating in Dressember. Dressember is a fun style challenge where participants wear a dress or tie everyday during the month of December to raise awareness and funds to stop human trafficking and assist victims. 

I first heard about Dressember from my friend Ciara when stationed in California and was hooked after watching the founder's TED Talk. Since then Dressember has grown immensely! They have partnered with several charitable organizations that either help rescue and restore victims or help bring justice to those that have perpetrated human trafficking. 

One thing I love about the Dressember organization is the helpful info graphics they provide advocates each year. It makes it super simple to spread the word about the widespread, global problem of human trafficking and helps show why supporting the cause is so important. I love that individuals, working together, have been able to make such a big impact! 

I have my fleece lined leggings ready to go and excited to share Dressember with the new people I have met! Want to join me on this mission? You can join my team Break the Chains!

Below are some pictures from previous years. Even though I have quite a collection of dresses, there are still days where I have to get a little creative for my outfits. Don't own a bunch of dresses? That's ok! Ciara, my friend who introduced me to Dressember, and the founder of Dressember once participated by wearing the same dress the whole month to show that you do not need a closet full of dresses to make an impact. 

 

Anniversary Trip: Nuremberg

The final part of our anniversary trip was a little closer to home with a couple nights in Nuremberg. For dinner on the first night we visited a place recommended by our hotel and was really quaint inside. We were seated at a teeny-tiny table, but it was a great experience! 

Charles ordered the special drink. We think it's the area's version of Vienn'a strum. It was sweet and had a low alcohol level. I liked it better than the strum we had in Vienna, but I did not try the white version there. I had a Riesling from Wurzburg that was tasty. 

For my dinner, I had Nuremburg sausages with potato salad. Yum! 

The next day we visited the Toy Museum and saw all kinds of great displays about toys through the ages. I love visiting toy museums and we have been to several now including Basel, Switzerland and Kansas City. This one had a really great theme throughout that talked about racism shown through toys. They have several toys in their collection that are racist and the displays did a good job explaining the origin of the toys and why they prove problematic. The doll displays were fun and I just loved the face on the one pictured above. 

A tower of Playmobile figures!

Our hotel was located within the old city walls of Nuremberg and was really nice. It was so convenient to be able to walk down the street to all the restaurants, shops and sites in town. The hotel had a nice breakfast spread, parking (although we had to pay extra for that) and a nice comfortable room. 

It's not an old European city without some churches! We saw a few while visiting. 

On our last night we decided to try a "Tex-Mex" restaurant that was down the street from the hotel. Mexican food is not quite right over here, but the reviews were decent so we thought why not! We sat inside where the music was pumpin'. My Bahama Mama was delicious, but the food was definitely lacking the Mexican kick. But you don't know unless you try! 

Why I volunteer

A non-profit organization I volunteer for recently received some criticism on social media about how they depend mainly on volunteers rather than paid employees. One person even used the phrase exploitation in her criticism. I have been so tempted to respond, but I know that replying to negative comments on social media is rarely fruitful. 

Shaw Spouses' Club Scholarship Ceremony. As President, I had the pleasure of presenting the scholarship recipients with their certificates. But the scholarship committee work was completed by a group of very dedicated and smart ladies. It was a pleasure to work with them and then see the result of all that work in the appreciation and gratitude of all the recipients. 

I am a serial volunteer. At the moment, I am volunteering for four different organizations/groups simultaneously. This is not normal. Most people do not or cannot commit to that much, but for me it is what I enjoy most. I purposely chose a part-time job so that I could have time to focus on the volunteer work that I enjoy. I am lucky that I am able to make that decision and super grateful that my husband supports my volunteer habit. 

I don't know if this was so much a volunteer event, but we participated in Color for a Cause to try to win a prize for our organization. Coloring for a couple hours straight is tougher than it sounds, but was always fun to do with our group. 

Why do I volunteer? Ultimately, it is so rewarding! I love being able to put work into a project and see the result of that effort. One of the organizations I currently volunteer for is the USO. Our local USO office is super active and always has something going on. There have been many times where I have volunteered for a cooking/baking shift and then volunteered at the giveaway shift and it has been amazing to see the genuine appreciation and happiness that brings people. Another organization I volunteer for is the local military spouses' club where I serve as Membership chair. Seeing all the new members join and sharing all the fun things we do together brings me joy. The spouses' club, because of our well-performing Thrift Shop, is also able to donate a massive amount of money in welfare grants and scholarships to our local community. Being a part of that is exciting!

Chocolate chip cookie giveaway day was fun! Who isn't happier after eating a cookie???

Another reason I love to volunteer is because it is flexible. Of course there are hard deadlines even with volunteer gigs, but most of the time the work is on my own time and schedule. If I have a busy week or we are traveling, it is so much easier to put down a volunteer responsibility. It is not as easy with a paid position.

Creating graphics for MSAN has been so much fun! I feel so lucky to be able to do this for a globally impactful organization. 

Volunteering also helps me explore skills that I am not able to cultivate very easily in the workforce. One thing that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE is social media marketing and creating graphics. I am completely self-taught so there is little chance that I would be able to obtain a paid position doing that kind of work. But volunteer work is a lot easier to come by. Without volunteering, I would not have discovered that passion. I am about to pursue a Master's Certificate program in Social Media Marketing which could possibly lead to more opportunities of a paid position in that field, but without the volunteer work first I would not have known that is something I enjoy doing. 

Making graphics for the SCSC is not even part of my job as Membership chair, but I offered and they let me. When else in my life would I have the chance to make an 80's themed flier? This was a fun one to make because I could be a little crazy with the design.

Volunteers are also treated a little differently than paid employees. This was a discussion we recently had during a Military Spouse Advocacy Network (MSAN) meeting. Because volunteers are not paid, the standards and expectations are less strict and more flexible. It is nice not to have the same pressure that a paid employee has. There is something to be said for having goals and accountability and when I was President of my last spouses' club I struggled with how to keep volunteers accountable for their responsibilities while being mindful that they are volunteers. Being a part of MSAN has been helpful for me to see that modeled in an effective way. MSAN starts off every volunteer experience in a professional manner, as if it were a paid position. They have an HR department. We have required training modules. We have team meetings. We sign paperwork. It is all official. But they also understand that we are volunteers and have other things going on in our lives and are always checking in to make sure the requested workload is not too much. It is set up in teams so that if one person has a lot going on, we can lean on each other and pick up tasks from each other. MSAN also makes a huge effort to show appreciation to all of their volunteers which is a important key to successfully maintaining a volunteer "workforce". 

Handing out trail mix to the military community was fun! 

Last, for those familiar with the Five Love Languages, you will recognize Words of Affirmation as one of the love languages. That is my primary language and volunteering often fulfills me in that area. Volunteers are often recognized formally more often than paid employees are (at least from my experience in the workforce). This is another reason that I get so much enjoyment from volunteering. I enjoy being recognized. I enjoy being appreciated. It can be simple thank you's, a free dinner, a certificate or even a "major award." Sometimes, I will admit, this is a major reason why I volunteer. I feel a little guilty admitting that, but it does not negate the good that comes out of the time I give. The USO has a really great volunteer appreciation program where after certain levels of volunteer hours you receive fun USO swag. A friend and I volunteer at the USO together often and we always joke that we are working to get the fancy gold nametag that you receive after 100 volunteer hours. In the end, it is just a name tag, but knowing that we earned it is the exciting part. Sure you can earn a paycheck, but somehow the things you earn as a volunteer feel so much more special. 

For this USO project, we put together doggy goodie bags. Not mentioned in my diatribe, but volunteering has introduced me to so many new people! 

Volunteering is not for everyone. I have noticed in every organization that I have been a part of that there are some volunteers that give an exceptional amount of their time to the cause. Organizations thrive on those individuals. And I know that every one of those organizations wishes they could pay their volunteers their worth. Unfortunately that is not always possible in order to maintain the programs and projects that make up the mission of that organization. That is the nature of non-profits. And that is why I will continue to volunteer and encourage others to join me. 

Anniversary trip: Bratislava

 

Did you know that Vienna and Bratislava are the two closest capital cities in the world? They are only about an hour apart from each other. We took a bus from Vienna to Bratislava to spend the day and check off Slovakia from the list of countries we have visited. 

To get the most of our time in the city, we booked a walking tour through Airbnb. It was the perfect start to our day as it gave us a ton of interesting information and history about the city, but it was short enough that we could meander around afterward. 

The above picture is showing where the Jewish synagogue used to stand. You can see it outlined in stone on the ground and there are a bunch of displays talking about the history and showing pictures of it. I love that they memorialized it this way and it's a shame that it was torn down.

There are a few quirky statues around the historic center of Bratislava and this is one of them. It's located just outside the French embassy and is poking fun at the French. 

This statue, as was explained to us by our guide, is memorializing a man who was iconic to Bratislava. From my understanding, he was a homeless man, but he was always dressed to the nines as depicted in the statue. He was a very jovial and friendly person and I just love how the artist is showcasing an everyday person. 

This one is called Man at Work. In normal times, our guide said, this statue is surrounded by crowds for pictures. When we went after the tour to grab a picture, there were a few people but it was nice not to have to wait around too long for a picture. 

When researching Bratislava, we saw this blue church and chose to see it in person. It's just outside the historic city center, but it was so neat looking that I am glad we took the detour to see it. We did not go inside, so I'm not sure how it compares to the unique exterior. 

This is a fun statue of Hans Christian Anderson that is along the boulevard in the city center. This was a lovely tree lined area with cafes and benches. Great for people watching!

For lunch we found a restaurant that serves traditional Slovakian dishes and gave it a try! Everything was delicious!

Labor Day Weekend in Austria: Side trip to Liechtenstein

Another goal of our Labor Day weekend trip was to visit Liechtenstein. It's a small country that borders Austria and Switzerland and you can drive through the whole country in an hour (or less). We started in Vaduz, the capitol. It was filled with sculptures, like the one pictured above. 

We did not go inside the church since we had Suzie with us, but the outside gave us some good photo opportunities and they had a free bathroom that we took advantage of. 

We drove up the hill to see the Liechtenstein palace. The royal family lives there so visitors are not permitted inside, but there are hiking trails nearby that give different vantage points of the outside. On our way out of town back to Germany, we visited the Prince's winery and picked up a few bottles of wine. 

For our one night in Liechtenstein, we stayed in Malbun. It's a big ski resort town, but in September it was just beautiful and chill. We walked into the town from our hotel and snagged some pictures of this little church. 

We found a little free library with a Max & Mortiz book inside. I snapped a photo and sent to my sisters who I knew would appreciate it. There used to be a German restaurant in our home town that was named after these characters. I was tempted to take the book home with me, but thought it better to leave for a little kid to enjoy. 

For dinner in Malbun, we visited a pizza place. For some reason, the restaurant was decorated like a cave complete with cave paintings like the one pictured behind us. The pizza was pretty tasty and the ambiance was interesting. The place was pretty empty, but I imagine during ski season it is a happenin' place. 

This is what happens when you are an American living in Germany and visiting a country that uses the Swiss outlets. We did not realize that Liechtenstein did not use the same outlets as Germany, but luckily the hotel had an adapter that we could borrow. 

Our hotel had a great breakfast buffet! It had the typical sliced cheese and deli meats and breads, but also sausage, eggs and more. We also tried Ovomaltine for the first time. It's a chocolate and nut spread not unlike Nutella, but it was crunchy! I am going to have to look for it in the German grocery store next time I'm there.