The Reveal!

As you know, we are an Air Force family. That means we move often. We have been awaiting notification of where we will be heading to next and it finally came. Charles found out and decided to make a little game out of it to share the news with me. He created a scavenger hunt with some pretty awesome clues.

Each clue had some letters highlighted. I had to convert the letters into numbers and input them into Google maps to reveal the location.

We're moving back to South Carolina!!! By the way... it is not easy to get kitties to cooperate with a family photo.

Design: Burger Burn

The first time I heard the term burger burn was when I lived in Ohio. I have always referred to something like this as a cookout. Some people call it a BBQ. Our squadron booster club decided to do a burger burn as one of their fundraisers and I offered to make a flyer for them to share with everyone.

I wanted to find a fun background featuring burgers. This was harder than I thought. I actually found a lot of cute backgrounds, but a lot of them had watermarks on them. I am cheap and do not want to buy images. But I found this black and white burger background which worked out well and isn't too distracting.

Fonts used:
Cheap Fire
Copperplate Gothic Bold

SNO: Howdy y'all!

My favorite event of the year, Spouses Night Out, has come and gone. I think this was the best one yet! I am so sad that this was the last one I will be participating in, but maybe I will start up something similar at our next base.

Our group for the evening. Everyone did such a great job with their outfits!

Aren't these cows so cute? The planning committee did a great job creating this photo spot.

I had fun putting together my outfit for this year's SNO. I love, love, love this top that I purchased from Modcloth!

I have never in my life wanted to own cowboy boots, but I had to get some for this theme. These came from DSW. I've worn them several times already and have gotten a lot of compliments on them.

One of my friends who had been stationed at Goodfellow said that Ryan Gosling had been there, so I thought I would make a Hey Girl to share with folks at SNO.

Each group had to give a presentation about our base. I shared a lot of fun facts about San Angelo and Goodfellow and even pulled out a little Southern accent while doing it. 

Our Goodfellow side of the table. The sign is modeled after the entry sign at Goodfellow AFB. The table also features pictures of the Wing Commander, Vice Wing Commander and Chief of Goodfellow. I also printed out patches from various squadrons at the base and scattered them on the tablecloth. 

This is the back of the Goodfellow table. It features the Sheep of San Angelo. I love how it turned out!

I am very proud of my Texas table. The centerpiece is an old window frame that I purchased at a local antique store. I accidentally broke the glass and thought it was ruined! But I thought of a plan to redeem it. I strung fishing line across and was able to hang the Texas state outline on it. I received a lot of compliments last night and it made me feel great!

The back of our Texas table. For the table as a whole, I made sure to include some Texas favorite--HEB grocery bag, Whataburger cup and bag, Shiner beer, and more.

This year's event featured a Grog bowl...either a yummy or yucky one. I was lucky enough not to break any of the rules, so I did not get called up to the Grog.

I did partake in a few jell-o shots at our tailgating before SNO.

I was bummed that we did not win any of the awards again, but I did walk away with the door prize that I wanted. It included a free hair cut and style and a great Thirty-One travel toiletry bag.

Spouses Night Out 2016: Home is Where the Air Force Sends You

My favorite base spouse event is here--Spouses Night Out! This has been MY event the past few years and this is my last one; we will be PCSing (moving to all you non-military folks) later this year. My first year the theme was TV shows and we had Mad Men. Last year the theme was board games and we chose The Game of Life.

For 2016, the event theme is Home is Where the Air Force Sends You. Each group was tasked with picking a base to use as the inspiration for their table decorations. As usual, our spouses voted on the bases they wanted on our "Dream Sheet" and Goodfellow AFB was at the top. I thought our chances were pretty high for getting our top choice because Goodfellow is not a very well-liked base. And lo and behold, we got our first choice!

Because Goodfellow AFB is in Texas, I knew I had to go with a Texas theme for at least one of our tables. I have never thought so long and hard about the Lone Star state. I got to work planning out our tables with some sketches.

At the end of SNO 2015, they announced the 2016 theme and a bunch of people immediately thought Texas would be a perfect option for us. Even though we didn't pick our theme until early 2016, I had spent pretty much the whole year with Texas in the back of my mind and I knew I wanted a big Texas state outline on my table. This table was inspired by the little graphic at the top--Things Texans Love. My sister is an adopted Texan (she moved there and doesn't plan on ever leaving). She shared that graphic once and I knew it would be the perfect inspiration for my table.

 

 

This table looks pretty boring from my sketch and I ended up having to re-do the layout anyway. The past two years we have had enough people for 3 tables, but this year we were down to two.

I love sheep. I have several sheep stuffed animals and figurines. San Angelo has fiberglass sheep around town that businesses sponsor and decorate. I knew I had to use sheep in my design. Because we were down to two tables, I could not dedicate a whole table to the sheep. I compromised and combined the Goodfellow and Sheep tables. 

I had a lot of fun designing the place cards for our tables. I made three different designs. Originally I was going to have one design per table, but then decided to just alternate.

These are based on the Whataburger table numbers. This idea was given to me by one of our spouses and I love how they turned out!

These place cards feature a vintage Goodfellow image and patches from some of the squadrons at Goodfellow.

And these show some of the Sheep of San Angelo. I love these the best, but I am biased towards sheep.

I also wanted something to hand out to people at the event...bribes are OK, right? I created a recipe card for kolaches--a Texas favorite. I found the recipe on Pinterest.

Stay tuned for pictures of the final design!

Design: Food Giveaway

The base we are stationed at is in a rural area and there is a program through the USDA that comes to base and distributes food once a month. It has been in place for many, many years, but over the last couple of years participation had dropped. They were considering stopping the program. I was asked to make a flyer to help promote the program for the military families of this base. I had a lot of fun working on this one and absolutely LOVE how it turned out. It makes me really happy when I see it posted around base.

In previous years, this event was called the USDA Food Drive. However, that name was misleading. Food drives make me think of bringing canned foods to an organization that they will distribute to those in need. This program, on the other hand, distributes food and is not based on income or any other need. In creating the flyer, I was able to re-name it to USDA Food Giveaway.

I used a lot of bright colors to make the flyer fun and interesting. My goal was to catch the eye and attract more interest in the event. 

Fonts used:
Broadway
Century Gothic (this is my go-to font since it's one of my favorites)

 

Creamsicle Cake for the troops

Now that I am not working, I am able to do some volunteer things that I did not have time or make time for previously. One such occasion was simply to bake a cake and hang out with some Airmen. My husband's squadron will have "crew feeds" from time to time. These are often organized by the spouses. The most recent one included a contest for best dish and was called Crocks for Crews. Everyone could sign up to bring a crockpot meal or a dessert. I chose dessert since I am not confident enough in my cooking ability to force other people to eat my savory dishes. I thought and thought about what dessert to make. There are soooo many great options! I had recently ordered some essential oils including a tangerine essential oil. I thought it would be fun to make something with it. So I decided on a creamsicle cake. It turned out to be delicious! I'm going to have to make it again sometime soon.

The cake is just a basic vanilla cake, made from scratch using a recipe from the blog I Am Baker. Of course I found it on Pinterest. This recipe is neat because you can mix the dry ingredients together ahead of time and store in a mason jar or another container. Then when you are ready for some cake, you just add a few extra ingredients and bake.

The frosting is my favorite Betty Crocker vanilla buttercream with a few drops of tangerine essential oil.

Creamsicle Cake

Ingredients for cake
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 1/4 cups milk
2 T vegetable oil
1 stick butter, softened
1 T vanilla
3 large eggs

Ingredients for frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
3 drops of tangerine essential oil (orange essential oil would also work)
1 1/2 t vanilla
1  to 2 T milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place softened butter in bowl and mix on medium for 1 to 2 minutes.

Place dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) in bowl with butter and combine for 30 seconds.

Add milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs and mix on medium-high for one minute.

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake. For 9 inch pans, bake for 20-25 minutes. For cupcakes, start checking around 15 minutes. (I used a 13x9 inch pan and had to bake for longer than 25 minutes... I can't remember the exact time, but I did it in small increments and checked using my cake tester). Cool before frosting.

To make frosting, mix powdered sugar and butter in bowl with mixer on low speed. Stir in essential oil, vanilla and milk (starting with 1 tablespoon and adding more, as needed). I usually have to add more than 2 tablespoons of milk for the right consistency.

Aloha! Getting there and back

Part of the reason for leaving my job was so we could take a belated birthday trip! For Charles' 30th birthday, we took an Alaskan cruise. For my 30th birthday, I was originally planning to go on a Caribbean cruise. But Hawaii was on our West Coast bucket list so I figured we might as well go for my birthday trip.

Let me tell you...Hawaii is amazing! It is probably one of my top 5 vacation destinations. It was so beautiful and smelled wonderful. Plus, it was just slightly humid and I have been missing humidity. Call me crazy, but I prefer it to our dry heat here in California.

I will share about my trip over several posts so I do not overwhelm you too much. We (I should say Charles) took a lot of photos.

One of the perks of being a military family is that we can take a Space A flight. This was a huge reason we wanted to travel to Hawaii...free flight! Space A involves a little planning and a lot of flexibility. But it saves you hundreds of dollars. It is totally worth it! It does not always work out in your favor. Flights are not consistent and sometimes get cancelled or filled. But we were very lucky to get on flights fairly easily.

On the way there we flew in a C-17. It is like the military planes you see in movies where everyone is sitting on a fold-down chair against the wall of the airplane. It was not the most comfortable seat, but you cannot really complain when you are on a free flight. It gave me ample time to read.

On the way back, our flight schedule was not totally what we expected. We flew on a KC-10 (refueling plane). It stopped in San Diego first. We thought it would stop, refuel and then head up to our final destination all in the same day. No, we stopped for the night. We had to spend the night at a Marine base hotel. It was actually pretty nice. And again... you cannot complain when your flight is free.

I just about finished a whole book on this flight alone.

The neat thing about flying on the KC-10 was that we were able to watch in-air refueling. How many people can say that? It was pretty neat to watch. I am thankful for that experience.

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. 

Gilmore Girls Party: Coffee Punch

Coffee is a must at any Gilmore Girls party. They drink it morning, noon and night on the show! I am not personally a fan of black coffee, so I knew I had to make something a little tastier with a coffee flavor. I came across a recipe for Coffee Punch in a cookbook I purchased around the holidays. It was a cookbook fundraiser for the Officer Spouses Club and it is filled with great beverages, appetizers, entrees and dessert recipes.

The punch is amazingly easy and so delicious. You just need a big container, a coffee maker and the ingredients. So simple a Gilmore Girl could make it.

Coffee Punch

Ingredients
1 pot of brewed coffee
1 gallon of vanilla ice cream
1 pint whipping cream

Directions
Make coffee.

Put ice cream in a punch bowl. Let it soften a bit. Put metal spoon in the bowl to keep punch bowl from cracking as you pour the hot coffee over the ice cream. Stir continuously and slowly add whipping cream to thicken.

Almond Poppy Seed Bread

When I was growing up, I don't remember my parents hosting a lot of parties or attending a lot of things. Occasionally my mom would host or attend an event and would make Almond Poppy Seed Bread. I am sure she made it other times, but I always associate this recipe with parties. It is the most delicious bread on the face of the planet. If you do not agree, then you are just wrong. ;)

I have made it a few times thanks to the family cookbook my mom put together and gifted to me. Each time everyone says how amazing it is. Of course!

Today I hosted a spouse get-together. It wasn't well attended which was a bummer. But I made my bread and the three people that came all said it was delicious. The spouse event was a Potluck and Recipe Swap so I made a cute recipe card for everyone to take home. I figured it would be nice to share with all of you, too!