Food Fair, Baby Pics, Birthday, Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Farmers Market

I have had some busy weeks and I was trying to decided on if I should do multiple posts or just one big one. I decided on doing one big post so get ready! Here we go!

On Saturday afternoon I went to a food fair with some of my friends. For about $10 you get three tickets that you use to try different main dishes from the venders there.  After that, you take the red pair of chopsticks they give you and vote on your favorite! 

After that, I got to take new born pictures of Claire and Sean's baby! I had been excited for it all week! When I'm finished editing them I will have to post a few pictures. 

The next day, I got to pick up Logan from the air port!! I had to wait all day and then at 9:30pm drive about an hour down to the international airport (always a little scary driving somewhere you have never been and at night). I was pretty proud of finding the right gate he would be coming out of and then got to give him the biggest hug ever! I know he was only gone a month but it is just amazing having him back! I love that boy so much!! 

This week was full of birthday and Thanksgiving prep!! The day before my birthday, Logan and I got a hour-long aromatherapy couples massages! It was awesome and so relaxing! You got to choose the essential oils they used and I picked Frankincense, Peppermint and Grapefruit. I also loved the hot stones they used on our feet. It was a fun experience. 

For my birthday, Logan took me out to eat at the seaside restaurant and I got shrimp scampi pizza (it was really good!) and we ate dinner as we watched the sun set over the ocean. SO BEAUTIFUL! 

After dinner, we meet up with my new friends and saw Frozen. It was really cute, and very funny and I can't wait to watch it again! Then we went back to our house for blueberry cheesecake and ice cream! 

One of the couples know that I also love the show Friends and gave me a themed gift! I was pretty proud of knowing the exact episode they were referencing when I opened it up and pulled out a bunch of random things. It was actually pretty funny and I was impressed with their cleverness. 

The next day was Thanksgiving! We had my friends Claire and Sean and his mother Sue over so they could still have a nice dinner without having to cook it all with a new little baby or go to the church potluck with a ton of people. Sue was so nice and helped me get everything finished! I couldn't have done it without her help! I told her it was my first time doing Thanksgiving on my own but I was still glad I was able to borrow a mother to get everything done! 

The purple sweet potato casserole Claire made was awesome and everyone really liked my homemade dinner rolls. All the food turned out great! Claire also made a pecan pie cheesecake that was so good I will need to make for Thanksgiving from now on. Next year, I also want to work on presentation and to have some cute decorations. Baby steps. 

On Black Friday around noon, Logan and me finally made it out to see how crazy the shopping was. Here on the Island, only the American's have Thanksgiving and Black Friday, so the small stores on base are the only places that have sales. We ended up getting some tupperware and scuba/snorkeling boots! 

Starting on Monday, Logan and me are going on a healthy eating plan before our cruise in January! We learned last time that you need to be at least 5 pounds less going on the ship then you want to be coming off. Plus it is good to be in shape for all the adventuring! We went back to my favorite farmer markets today to get stocked up! 

 

We got lots of yummy, good-for-you food plus some new things to try and Okinawan tofu that was still warm from being made today! Can't wait to try it all out! It was the first time that Logan had been to one of the farmer markets and I have never seen him so excited to be in a grocery store before. He kept walking off and then bringing back different things and asking what they were. I'm actually pretty good at identifying different fruits and vegetables. 

One last thing we did today was find some cushions for the patio furniture. It has been hard because the seats are really deep and I can't get any sites to ship to me (too big) so we were pretty happy with what we found! 

 

Thanks for making it all the way through this post! I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and are getting excited for the Holidays! 

Tuesday

Tuesday is going to be a good day. I know, I already had it!! lol

After visiting teaching today, we were driving by another farmers market so me and my companion stopped to check it out. 

One of the things I got was a bag of Japanese Rice! They mill the brown rice there and the bag was still warm! I made some for dinner and it was really good! 

I got some peppers and tomatoes for my vegetable platter (I don't like them but others will). 

What I was really excited about was finding Hibiscus flowers! (we ran into another american couple and they said that's what they were). I looked it up when I got home and you can dry them and make them into tea or I also saw a recipe to make them into strawberry jam or a myriad of other things.

Fun Weekends

Each Friday is bulk trash pic up day so a lot of people put out large things like furniture that they don't want to sell/don't want to move with etc. Apparently it is a thing here to drive around base and look what people have left out to take if you want. So on Friday morning as I left to do some errands I saw this wicker furniture set! It is in great condition and just needs some cushions! 

Two car loads later, I had it home (I was actually impressed that I could even get them in the back of my car!). After looking online for new cushions I have realized why they threw it out: they don't make cushions that fit them!! Believe me, I looked! So I will have to get creative but I'm up for the task! 

That evening I went on a girl "date" with some friends. We went out and got curry. I got a category one spicy level because I thought it was the lowest but there were actually two even below that (mild and normal). So it tasted good but I couldn't really eat much of it. I seriously have no spice tolerance. I think the spice level actually went all the way up to an 8!

After that, we went to this store called the Big 100. It was like a Walgreen's on crack. Seriously there was just too much to look at! One wall I thought was funny, was the "snack" isle. They eat some weird foods here like little whole dried fish and almond slices? No thank you! 

Saturday Morning I got up and went on a run for the first time around my neighborhood. It is nice and quiet here. The only thing I'm not a big fan of is that I live on top of one of the tallest hills on Kadena, That means I always have to run up hill to get back home! 

When I was out, I saw this tree. If you look REALLY closely you can see some yellow leaves! I thought It's fall!  And then I thought:  It is a really nice day, maybe I will go to the beach.   Haha I love it! 

I met up with a friend after that because we had our pedicure appointment later that afternoon. We went out to this really cool tea shop/cafe where we sipped on mango juice out of homemade mugs, ate blueberry cheesecake and looked out over the beautiful ocean. 

The place was also a pottery shop. It is a pretty big thing around here. Some of them were so pretty!  

The pic below was my favorite! Unfortunately it is also very expensive! The little plant holder below was about $18. If you wanted a set of plates, be prepared to spend several hundred dollars. 

After our little brunch, we still had some time to kill so we wen to my friend's favorite place to buy blown glass. Blown glass is also a big deal out here and one of the things that Okinawa is known for! There are some big places that do it but I just loved this little Japanese guy we went to. He does all of it himself and it is all out of recycled glass. Some of the things he is able to make are just amazing and so beautiful! 

One last stop until we went to our appointment. We checked out a new little farmers market. It still is so funny to me to see all the fish and ocean animals just sitting on ice. Just last week when I went snorkeling I was seeing all these fish underwater! I can't imagine eating the beautiful blue parrot fish I love seeing so much! (Check out that octopus just sitting in the styrofoam box! Eww.)

So getting pedicures is what all military wives do out here! This was my first time going to Cocok's. They do an amazing job on the massage and toe nail painting! You can see the book in front of me below. It is several pages long and has all the designs they do but they will paint anything you want if you have a picture! 

I was so happy as she massaged my feet! That is one of my most favoritest things in the whole world! And because it was their 11 year anniversary they gave us complimentary Ice Cream AND it is my birth month so I also got a discount! Fun!  

It is crazy how detailed they get on them! They actually use acrylic paint and a paint brush to do the designs. What do you guys think of them? (I love the big tow but from far away you can't really see the design on the little ones). 

After that, we had to leave real fast to pick up our other friend and went to the adult session of district conference (like stake conference). They did a dinner and had some really good talks.  Then we went and saw Thor with several others!

I love all my friends here! They take such good care of me! But I can't wait until Logan gets home this next Sunday night!

House Part 2: The Upstairs

Still working on things but here is my upstairs! 

I finally finished the curtains and accent pillow for the guest room. You can't tell very well but I added the burnt orange to the bottom of the curtains so they would go to the floor. I was very happy that I didn't waste a single inch of fabric. I made the pillow with the left overs and it magically fit a pillow form I remembered I already had perfectly!

The furniture and art over the dresser are new but I was able to decorate the rest of the room with stuff I already had and one square yard of fabric I got for $3.75. 

I still haven't done much with the office. I decided to let Logan decorate it when he gets back cas this is kinda his space except the computer. 

That's mine! 

Guest Bathroom. Nothing too special. 

Master Bedroom. I think it needs some kind of accent color! I realize that I'm pretty bad at actually putting color in my house. Everything I buy seems to be a neutral color! 

Master Bathroom. I do love this color in here. 

My shells and sea glass and new little Japanese jewelry bowl. 

Working on a picture wall. It needs one more on the top right I think. 

Ta-DA! This is where we live!

House Part 1: The Downstairs

So here is a tour of my house with some fancy panoramic pics! 

Walking into the front door (sorry the kitchen is kinda bright) 

Dining room

My new Buffet table 

Kitchen- it looks funny because it is "L" shaped but I love all the counter space! 

Downstairs bathroom 

Under the stairs/food storage and emergency preparedness stuff

Closet...still working on organizing this room. 

Living room with my new rug! 

The rug was on a super good sale so even though I couldn't see it I bought it! It turned out to be pretty good. It is almost 8 feet wide by 10 feet and I wasn't sure it would fit in my car but it totally did! Yay for my Honda fit!

Backyard with two storage units. I actually got some wicker patio furniture yesterday and need to take a new pic with them in it! I was driving off base and saw that someone had put them out on the curb for the bulk trash pick up! So I put them in the back of my car (seats were still down from the rug) and took them home (it took me two trips). They are in great condition but just need new cushions. I'm so excited for my awesome find!

Mini Zoo and Egg Farm

This week for the LDS Adventure Seekers Group we went to a mini zoo and egg farm. The zoo really was just in a little building, maybe the size of a full size basketball court. They had some fun animals but mostly turtles, bunnies and chinchillas.

Right next to it was an egg store where they sold eggs and pastries.

They are well known for their cream puffs and for good reason! They were so good!

Snorkeling

On Saturday I went snorkeling here in Okinawa for the first time at the Meada Flats. Yes, I went on the 9th of November and the water was still great! I love it here! 

When we got there, it was a little overcast so I was a bit skeptical but my friend said we should wade out and see how it felt. I'm so glad we did because once you were in it took just a few seconds to adjust and then the water felt warmer then the air!

It was amazing that there was a deep pool right next to the shore (about 20 feet in front of the kayaks) that had tons of amazing fish including a Lionfish. Then, if you walk out to the past that spot, you can really walk all the way to the reef (but be careful, there are sea urchins EVERYWHERE!).

Out at the reef there is a drop off that pretty much goes straight down and there are fish and creatures everywhere! It was amazing and the water was so clear. I will have to get an underwater camera for fun sometime to show you all how amazing it looks! The coral was not as bright as I expected but the fish made up for that and more! They are so colorful!! I really liked the bright teal parrot fish.

Some New Food

I've had lots of "new things" going on in my life right now. Cooking in my new place has been fun too but I can tell that I'm a little out of practice but I'm going to blame it on being at a different altitude.

The first meal I made in the house was Yakisoba. I used all Japanese ingredients from a little Japanese store. It was pretty good for not using a recipe (IE I couldn't read the Japanese instructions on the sauce or noodles). I also made Flavored Rice balls. I got a variety pack and so far they all just taste like fish food. Seriously just open some goldfish food and eat it. That is pretty much what it tasted like. lol. I'm going to work on making my own version.

Another food I want to learn how to make is Melonpan! It is a bread wrapped in a cookie crust and baked. So good! I tried one recipe and the taste was good but the bread dough was flat and it didn't get all crispy. Total fail. I will have to keep trying!

My failures on the left and what they are supposed to look like. haha. I usually am pretty good at making things but the dough in the recipe was too soft (I could tell before even baking them). 

One of my favorite and easiest recipes I like to make right now are pumpkin cookies! And they only have three ingredients!

Small can of Pumpkin
One box of Spice Cake (or Gluten free cake mix with Cinnamon, Cloves and Allspice - I just made that up, but I'm sure it would work!)
1 C or half a bag of Chocolate Chips

Combine and cook at 350 for 12-15 minutes. See, I told you that was easy!