USMC Birthday Ball 2015

This weekend we attended the 240th USMC Birthday Ball in Wilmington NC. It was an interesting weekend for us to say the least! I left my wallet at home, so I had no photo ID on me (no drinks for me!) or any of my cards. Not a good feeling. I also had a mini stomach attack in the car on the way down there that mercifully passed me by after just some very uncomfortable pain and nausea. Then we also thought the cocktail hour started at 6pm when it actually started at 5pm... and we found this out at 4:30pm. So needless to say I did not have time to do my hair this year! Oops. Luckily I got it cut and highlighted the day before so wearing it down wasn't too awful I guess? You would think we'd never done this before! But with all that going against us we still had a fantastic time.

We didn't really know anyone at our table, but we had other friends there to hang out with once the ceremony was over. This year's message from the Commandant spoke about the Legacy of the Corps and was really interesting to watch, as always.

We had some delicious food and were able to dance to a few songs together before it got pretty warm in the ballroom and we decided to call it a night.

Our professional picture... dang I wish I flipped my hair back or something!

Even though we had fun we ended up leaving earlier than we normally do... I realized that when we were snuggled in our pajamas in a giant hotel bed watching stand up comedy before 10pm! A surefire sign we are getting old. I can wear a fancy dress and heels and dance a lot or I can be in my pjs in a giant bed that is uber comfy? Hard choice! But we did have a great evening, I just didn't take that many pictures this year. We also ordered room service for the next morning to have breakfast in bed.

After we lazied about for awhile we met up with our friends Mark and Kayla to explore around Wilmington. We mostly ended up doing a lot of shopping and eating, but it was a lot of fun.

I love secondhand bookstores

We then found a painted mural that screamed photo opportunity! Mark and Ryan's came out the best I think... as nice as our couple-y shots were!

It was nice to have a day out with friends. We had a yummy lunch at Front Street Brewery, and I highly recommend their fried green tomato BLT!

Kayla and I enjoying downtown Wilmignton

After dinner Kayla and Mark introduced us to the deliciousness that is The Peppered Cupcake. Oh. My. Lanta. This stuff as heavenly good! All  natural ingredients, moist, delicious, wonderful flavors... I am a huge fan!

Hot Chocolate Cupcake

Shock O'lata Cupcake, my personal choice

After our cupcakes we headed home and watched the nail biter Giants vs Patriots game (SO. CLOSE.) and relax with some of the new tea we picked up that day. Even though we didn't get anything practical done (helloooo early morning vacuuming and laundry before work) it was really great to spend some time together and just relax and have fun. 

Very good weekend.

Polish Festival 2015

Last weekend I was super excited to be off of work because it was the Polish Festival down in Castle Hayne! Ryan and I went to the festival in 2012 during the first year we lived in NC but hadn't been able to make it back since... mainly due to silly things like work, shows, and deployments. So when this Saturday rolled around and we were not only both in the same country and off of work we decided to go back. It was super hot that day, nearly 80 degrees, and I was glad we both wore shorts. I don't think North Carolina got the memo it is November but I am so not complaining. The downside to the nice weather was that the festival was packed.

 

 

This was the line for food. Well, lines, one on each side of the booth. We sweated it out waiting for our chance to buy the mixed plate of food like we did last time and it was worth it. Ryan also got us some potato pancakes to eat while we waited. I was glad he did as we missed out on those last time!

 

I wanted them with sour cream but Ryan is on a health kick again and insisted on apple sauce. Sigh. My inner fat kid is so struggling to fight out!

 

We finally got to the front of the line and they loaded up our plates for us. The prices obviously went up a bit but it is so worth it. Sure, I just had Polish food with my Babci and Poppy a few weeks ago, but I can never have too many pierogies!!

The food was the same we got last time, sauerkraut with a roll, kielbasa, glumpke (beef and rice stuffed in a cabbage leaf) and pierogies with plenty of butter and onions.

 We also stopped by the bakery tent and got Chruściki (also called Angel Wings). My Babci's chruściki is definitely better, much crispier! This one was more like funnel cake strips than the yumminess that is chruściki.

 

After we ate we wandered back to the music tent to listen to the live Polka music and to try and at least dance together for one of them. It was crowded even on the dance floor so we mostly hopped around in a sort of two step that looked like it could maybe be a polka... if you were drunk enough.

 

Overall we had a fantastic time and I was super happy to indulge in some Polish food and traditions. It makes me feel like a little kid again visiting my grandparents. We didn't stay too long after that but it was definitely a fun afternoon.

Halloween 2015

We had a pretty busy and fun Halloween weekend this year! It kind of sneaked (snuck?) up on us but we ended up having a blast. First, on October 25th, the infamous Dup turned four years old. She celebrated with a day at the beach with Ryan and a candle lit cookie that night. The candle freaked her out a bit so we made sure to sing really fast!

The Dup turns 4!

Then we got on to Halloween weekend! On Mischief Night Ryan, my best friend Donna, and I all went to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show on base. I had seen bits and pieces before but never the entire thing. So when the base theatre had a free screening, with props encouraged, we couldn't resist! Especially since it is the 40th Anniversary. We had an absolute blast.

I loved the audience partici-(SAY IT!)-pation. We brought along most of the props allowed, including rice, toast, confetti, noise makers, flash lights, party hats (obviously), and toilet paper. At the very beginning when the rice started flying it went EVERYWHERE. When we got home that night we had rice falling out of our shoes, jeans, hair... it was nuts.

I only took one picture during the chaos, during the flashlight use.

Halloween itself I woke up early not feeling very well, but after lounging around for a few hours watching the marathon of The Librarians on TNT I started to bounce back. We went last minute shopping for costumes and I saw a bad wig that I showed Ryan. I jokingly told him he should be Donald Trump for Halloween and he instantly went with it. I decided to just buy some face paint and wrist bands and wore my good ol' Eli Manning jersey and was a football player.

 

It is kind of scary actually how good of a Donald Trump my husband was. It freaked some people out! Especially when he threw out some catch phrases like, "Make America great again!" and talked about building a wall... scary indeed.

 

Our first stop of the evening was at my co-worker's house where we watched scary movies, ate delicious homemade pizza and played Cards Against Humanity. Jennie made some delicious food and I was bummed we couldn't stay longer than we did. Ryan made plans to meet up with a friend of his so we had to bounce out earlier than I was happy with. We met up with his buddy and girlfriend and went to stop number two, the house of another friend of his. We played cornhole and had some more delicious food before making our way to my friends' house for stop number three. My friends were from the plays we did and they always have something crazy going on and it was a lot of fun. Ryan and his friend Derek tied for funniest Halloween costume too!

A full sized Donald and Eli.

Derek and Ryan ended up having to Rock Paper Scissors battle for the win of funniest costume and they had to duke it out about ten times because they kept throwing the same things!

Finally Derek won and got the fun prizes of a blow up girlfriend and a small beaker from Breaking Bad. Donna met us there too so we all had a great Halloween for sure! 

Even though we bounced around a lot it was still a blast. The extra hour of sleep definitely helped me out when the clocks went back an hour. Sunday we just did some chores and watched movies. We listened to the Giants game since it wasn't on our local channels (GOD what a game. Horrible loss.) and had Buffalo Wild Wings to go. We then watched Toy Story 3 since we've never seen it and I was a crying mess. Really Disney? An incinerator!? Come on! I know I am late on this but geeze, my poor heart.

 



In Their Boots/Jane Wayne

The first Saturday in June SOI-E held am "In Their Boots Day" or what was formerly known as a "Jane Wayne Day". I've always wanted to go to one of these and I was pretty excited when I heard I finally would be able to go to one! Ryan's old unit held one when we first moved to North Carolina but we didn't hear about it until it was too late and I was unable to attend. Even though Ryan was mid cycle he was told he should be able to join me, so I signed up. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, it is basically like "Take Your Child to Work Day" but for military spouses and children... except maybe a little more geared towards spouses for the most part as you do have to be 18 to go to the rifle range.

So that is how I found myself getting up earlier on a Saturday morning than I do normally on work days when I open! By 7am I was on base signed in and ready to go. Ryan's friend Mark, also a Combat Instructor, had his girlfriend Kayla sign up as well and I was thankful for a familiar face.... especially since Ryan got held up at work and ended up not able to meet up with me. I thanked Mark and Kayla profusely for letting me be their third wheel, and to Mark for taking so many pictures and carrying our bags for us!

Our first stop was the rifle range. My husband has talked about rifle ranges since our dating days so I was pretty stoked to be able to finally do one. They had everything set up for us and we basically just had to lie there and shoot!

We were given flak jackets and kevlar as well as ear and eye pro... I think we did pretty well but Ryan made fun of me when he saw the picture. Apparently my kevlar was crooked. We had to wear long sleeved shirts, pants and closed shoes for the range so I was glad it was done early in the morning before the day got too hot. I know my husband will be on the range for hours and come home hot, sweaty and exhausted with interesting tan lines, so our one hour in the early morning suited me just fine.

We were only given fifteen rounds and I was proud of myself for hitting targets on the 50, 250 and 500 yard line! If I had know the "score" they were tracking was just based on hitting the targets in general versus the distance I probably would have stuck with the closer one! :P I won't share my score but I will say that I hit three on the 500 yard line!

After the range we took the bus back to base and got to try all the other activities, including a night vision goggle obstacle course and the ISMIT. The ISMIT is basically a simulator that they do rather than a live fire range. Above I am using the grenade launcher and below the 50 cal. machine gun. The grenade launcher was a ton of fun and the whole thing shook back and forth, it was crazy powerful! The .50 cal rattled me around a bit too!

We also got decked out again to ride in a Light Armored Vehicle, or LAV, which made my husband jealous as he even said he's never gotten to ride in one! 

That LAV went fast too! Kayla and I were standing in the back (we decided to be good grown ups and let the ten year old kid take the gun turret) and we had to hold on to keep from falling off our perches as we flew around the turns!

They also landed some helicopters in a nearby field that we were allowed to get on and explore.

I got to sit in a Huey! It was a tight squeeze, not gonna lie. No wonder they have height restrictions for pilots! When we explored the CH 53-E I nearly wiped out three different times since the floor was slick with hydraulic fluid and my sneakers have basically no grip. The crew at least got a good laugh out of me, happy to help!

"Get to the choppa!"

I had a wonderful time and I am so thankful SOI-E went out of their way to plan such a fun event for the families. We all received t-shirts, SOI-E canvas bags, and Jane Wayne day dog tags too. I had a blast and even though I was bummed Ryan couldn't make it I was grateful Kayla and Mark kept me company. If you ever get the opportunity to attend an "In Their Boots Day" go for it!!

Dining In 2015

On Friday the MCT portion of SOI-E had a Dining In that we were lucky enough to be able to attend. Ryan and I have been married nearly five years and together over seven and this is the first time we have been able to attend one! Other units had them scheduled and then cancelled over the years so we were looking forward to an evening out together. Plus, I always love a reason to see my husband in his dress blues! Dining Ins are a little less formal than Birthday Balls, so cocktail attire is encouraged, but I did see a mix of dresses for sure. Most women were in cocktail dresses, some were in long formal gowns, and one or two were in very casual dresses. It seemed anything semi dressy was acceptable, but I googled the bejeezus out of it ahead of time to make sure! I rarely have an excuse to wear a little black dress, particularly one as comfortable as the one I did wear, so I was all about the cocktail attire.

We clean up pretty good! I worked half a day and then used the extra hours to work on my hair and make up, always a challenge for me, but I thnk I did ok. The Dining In was held on base and it was a beautiful evening. The last time we were at this pavillion was for our first Ball in Lejeune, and the docks were under construction. A backhoe does not a romantic backdrop make! But three years later it looked really nice. We arrived for the cocktail hour and were early enough to take advantage of the limited open bar... as in we each got one free drink before the free part ended! Works for me! We mingled and I met some more of Ryan's fellow instructors and their spouses, which was nice.

The Dining In is all about rules and ceremony... including lining up and marching in to your seat. Once you are seated, you do not get up until the break otherwise the Vice can make your spouse pay a fine and visit the grog bowl. Other infractions include rudeness, breaking ceremony, uniform infractions, or anything else the Vice and the President deem to be punishable. Needless to say if you have to pee, you hold it! The dinner was nice and once the guys got into the spirit of fining the heck out of one another it was pretty entertaining. The grog bowl is pretty disgusting. The liquid inside almost looked like a bloody mary and was kind of thick with chunks of unidentifiable things floating in it. The poor Marines who had to take shots of it (some only had one, others had as many as five or more) looked pretty green afterwards!

 

Other traditions, besides staying seated, include the President having to taste the beef (to make sure it is "fit for consumption") as well as the wine. The Marines are usually pretty mean and do something to the food and wine to make it gross (I believe ours covered the beef in super hot sauce but I have heard of it even being covered in cat food before) because the President has to eat it. If he doesn't, no one else is allowed to eat anything! So unless you want a hundred or so hangry people, you stomach a small bite.

After the break (and a huge, mad dash to the bathroom) the fines are closed and you do the traditional toasts and the guest of honor speaks. Ours was a Sgt Major who has been in many years and nearly moved me to tears at one point when he spoke about some of the amazing men he served with and lost... including one of his good friends who was killed in the recent helicopter training accident in Florida a little while back.

Everyone is given a cigar to enjoy for when the smoking lamp is lit. Ryan and I have been smoke free for over eight months now, so we didn't even chance it with a cigar... I was pretty proud of us for sticking to it.

 

After the toasts and speeches the President dismisses everyone to the bar to join him for a drink (and a cigar) and you are free to mingle or go home. We hung out a little longer and chatted with some people before heading home again.

 

It was a lovely night and we both had a really nice time. I do have to say, as much as I love dressing up, it was super nice to change in to my sweat pants when we got home. We snuggled on the couch and watched the Simpsons and ate grilled cheese sandwiches.... you can't beat that!

 

Wine Cork Wreath

So, one of my favorite bloggers (La Tache over at Smiling is Good For Your Teeth) posted awhile back a Wine Cork Wreath DIY that she found here. Ryan and I have been collecting wine corks for ages and I have been trying to think of something to do with them... this seemed perfect! We love our red wine, so much that our kitchen is even wine themed! We save corks from special occassions (and write on them what they are from) in our bottle shaped cork saver, but our everyday corks were just getting thrown into my old jars until I found a project for them.

I was pretty excited so I sat down to do our wreath about three weeks ago. I got the first layer done pretty quickly too.

 

It was looking great and I hadn't burned myself yet. All good things for sure as hot glue and I tend to have a rather bad history together. The scar on my left hand from third grade can attest to that.

 

So for the whole first layer you do a flat covering to hide as much of the straw wreath as possible. Now you remember I said I started this three weeks ago? Well... I ran out of corks. So I ordered more from Amazon. Ryan made fun of me for spending money to buy used corks online but hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. So I waited a week before starting the next layer.

 

The next layer was a lot more fun so a week ago, when my 130 extra corks came in, I began the hodge podge second layer. And I ran out of corks again. The initial site said she used about 180 corks for her wreath. I used heck of a lot more. I had close to 100 to start, ordered another 130, ran out of corks again, and just did another order of 130. I did end up with some corks left over but truth be told, not many. So yes, you will more than likely need more than 180 corks. I did anyway! My second shipment of corks came in yesterday and I finally finished my wreath and proudly hung it in our red wine kitchen.

Ta Da!

I was debating getting a red wine colored ribbon to add a bow to it, or maybe a large L for our last name, but for now it is proudly hanging in our kitchen. I enjoyed doing something crafty again, it is definitely something I think I need to get back into! Have you done anything crafty lately? And not too hard? Share in the comments, I need some more ideas!