JACKPOT!!!

A BIG shout out to Chris & Mel for hooking us up for Easter!! =)

They sent us two packages, one full of, get this - two 4 pound boxes of twizzlers,

and another box with a magazine for me (Better Homes and Gardens) and one for Joe (PlayStation), an awesome pink journal (perfect!)

and lots of Peeps!!!

Thank you so much guys!!!! xoxox

(P.S. Photo of Chris & Mel courtesy of Nikki Kauzlarich. She so kindly has kept it up on her Facebook page from our trip down to FL, which was awesome, because all of my pics from that trip are stored on our other computer, which is still on it's way over here, and I therefore didn't have a pic of Chris & Mel to post. But now I do 'cuz I stole it. So yay. =)

Joe's new favorite toy

Shout out to Dad...

(shown getting ready to play with his grandsons at Thanksgiving =)


for taking the time to mail Joe a new game he ordered. Thank you, thank you!!


And yes, Joe is fast becoming the new God of War. =)

xoxox

want to be silky smooth?

"EVOO isn't just for salad. Drizzle it on strands for a silky effect stat.



For strong, nourished strands:

Warm 1 cup olive oil in the microwave until it's lukewarm, then pour over wet hair, combing it through from roots to tips. Wrap a towel around your head, and hang our for 20 minutes. Then rinse, shampoo, and condition to lock in moisture." - Feb. 2010 COSMO, pg. 190



(I have tried this weekly for over a month. The results? GREAT! =) xoxox

Double Date

We went on a double date with one of Joe's KATUSA's, Chun, and his girlfriend, Jeeyeong!

They took us to the Village of Traditional Korean Houses, kinda of like their version of the Jamestown Settlement. It had tons of traditional Korean houses with pretty little pathways, trees, and streams weaving throughout.

Just like at Jamestown, they have all the doors of the houses open and you can look inside and see the typical furniture and layout of their homes. They had weavers sitting in booths working on mats and other useful things they would create, such as shoes, baskets, dolls or egg holders.

They also had a bunch of traditional Korean games set up that we played!! Rolling big metal hoops like at Williamsburg, only with a hooked metal rod instead of a wooden stick, tossing poles into small jars from a distance, whipping tops to make them spin, and a board game that you use big wooden logs to throw into the air as dice! They also had a time capsul!

I don't remember when it was created, but they put a lot of common things from that time period into it, along with some gifts for the future generations. They will open it 1,000 years after it was burried. It has been gaurded for a long time but is now on display here. The items will be given to a museum once it has been opened. Pretty cool, huh?!?

At the entrance they had these...

We had fun. =)

We also got snacks from a street vendor - fish on a stick, woven strips like teriyaki finger steaks, and fish cakes, kinda like waffels in the shape of fish, but kinda like a doughnut, filled with either custard or a sweet bean paste. They were FANTASTIC! =)

Then we went shopping in some famous Korean retail stores, along with Forever 21 (and we saw H&M!), and had a delish dinner of Korean chicken and pasta. Mmmm! I can't wait for our next double date!!!! =) xoxox

Sleepover!!!

Speaking of my sweet friend, Jessie...


We had a sweet sleepover!! =)

(For those of you who don't know, Jessie and I went to elementary school, church, and high school together - and now we've reunited in South Korea of all places!! We played volleyball together and were in all the church and school plays together too! She's here teaching 6th grade at GCS, a Christian Korean school only an hour away from me!)

So, she met me at Seoul Station and then we had dinner together at Ali Baba - an exotic Middle Eastern restaurant with the most fantastic lamb chops I've ever eaten!



Then we went to The Coffee Bean and had green tea lottes and cheesecake with the young woman she's tutoring. Mmmmm. After that we went back to her place and did facials (we're such girls! teeheehee! =).
The next morning she took me to the Express Bus Terminal where we went shopping in the underground mall!! It was awesome! We had lunch and splurged on gelato too!

Then we went back to her place to drop off our goodies, and had dinner at a little Korean restaurant right by her apt. Yum! Then we went to the Korean market right across the street and got some yummy local favorites to snack on. She was even sweet enough to take me back to my subway line in Seoul Station so I was sure to find my way home. =)

I had such a great time!!! So happy to have a friend from the states here, and so happy that it's her! Can't wait to get together again next month! xoxox

We've Got MAIL!

So my sweet friend Jessie always does a post on her blog whenever someone sends her mail, and I love it! So I'm copying, and sending a shout-out to my MOMMY!!! =)

(Yeah, she's up on the roof - she's that kind of fun.)

She's allowed us to use her and Dad's address as our forwarding one until we got our own over here, and has been nice enough to take the time to sort all the mail that comes to her house for us, throw out the junk, and send us the good stuff! Yay Mom!! So, here are picks of what we've gotten so far...

The first one is turned sideways and I don't know why and can't fix it - sorry. I think my favorite things were all the personal letters from people I love, and COSMO!! =) Oh, and my unaccompanied baggage. Yeah, that definitely tops the list. Thanks Mommy!!! =) xoxox

My favorite thing about President Obama

Just finished our taxes...so free, so quick, so easy! We only have to file 1 federal and 1 state this year!!! And we get to use H&R Block online for free because we're in the military!! They were awesome. Highly recommend them, BTW. (And we're getting quiet a hefty refund - Cha-ching! =) This may seem normal to most, but being in the military, doing taxes is a nightmare...and I actually truly enjoy doing my own taxes.

See, last year I had to create a married filing jointly federal return that we actually filed. Then, because state taxes take information from federal forms, I had to create 2 married filing separately federal forms that we didn't actually file, but just used to input information onto our separate state forms. (Tally is 3 federal forms so far, for those losing count.)

Then I had to file two separate state forms - one for Joe in PA, because that is where he enlisted in the Army - and one for me in VA, because that is where we were living at the time.

Soooo, I had to do 5 tax forms last year, but only file 3. Annoying is an understatement.

But, check out http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Web/20092342.htm to see how our President made tax season SOOOOOO much easier for military families! Yay!!! =)

xoxox