I felt it was time for a website pick-me-up. Hope you like it! I think website design & graphics can be like a new hairstyle- sometimes you need a little update to feel good. That was definitely the case here. I plan on blogging more often now that I feel like my website represents me better.
Enough about nerdiness.
This deployment is chugging along, albeit slowly. But it's still progressing. Summer just officially ended. Of course, for Hawaii I don't think that really means too much. :)
I made sangria a few weeks ago for a beach day at Lanikai with my neighbor and good friend Shannon, and made it again the following weekend for a potluck with the boat wives. I got a few compliments and requests for the recipe so here it is:
Nothing goes with a beach day quite like sangria!
Beach Bum Sangria Ingredients: 1 bottle red wine (or whatever is left of multiple bottles of red wine) 1/2 bottle rum (I use Puerto Rican- any kind would probably work) 4-6 oz. pear or passion fruit vodka 6-8 oz. pomegranate or pomegranate-blueberry juice 1 orange 2 lemons 1 lime 1 cup sugar or Splenda 1-2 liters of Sierra Mist or Sprite
Directions: Try to make one night before an event. Mix together wine, rum, vodka, and juice. Cut oranges, lemons, and limes. Mix in sugar or Splenda. Let sit overnight (the fruit rinds will flavor the drink more and the actual fruit will soak up the alcohol and be yummy to eat later). When ready to serve, add Sierra Mist/Sprite to taste. One whole 2 liter bottle will cause your Beach Bum Sangria to taste like it isn't as strong as it actually is. (Note: Personally I prefer Sierra Mist because I think it's a little sweeter than Sprite and I don't always need to use as much sugar/Splenda.)
Lanikai truly is perfection.
The great thing about sangria is that you literally just throw in what you have around. Another option instead of the Sierra Mist/Sprite is flavored sparkling water, such as the yummy ones they sell at Wal-Mart - which, if you have not tried yet, you need to do so asap! If you have white wine, use that instead of the red (you may want to reduce the rum so it doesn't look gross). If you use a more dry wine you may need to add more sugar and if you use a sweet wine you may need to use less. You don't need to use the rum or the vodka if you don't want a strong sangria. I've also heard of people using bourbon in sangria. This recipe makes a strong sangria so feel free to adjust accordingly. Makes about 2 gallons prior to adding Sierra Mist/Sprite.
This is a great all day beach drink- though I will warn you if you do the red wine version it can cause a killer headache later- keep Tylenol on hand!
Tips & Tricks for Making Friends on the Beach: Ask people if they have an extra plastic cup you can use. Borrow a bottle opener. Compliment someone on their swimsuit. Bring a dog. Wear a gorilla costume (I actually saw someone do this at Lanikai before. Not kidding.) Share your sangria. Bring a d*ck towel. (If you don't watch Always Sunny, Google it. A sure friend maker.) Wear your bikini backwards.
Okay...kidding about that last one.
Now go forth & make sangria! Comment or send me a message if you do- I'd love to hear how you made my Beach Bum Sangria your own.
"For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
As I was at work today, I realized that I said "ya'll" to my new co-worker just 5 minutes shy of explaining how to pronounce "E Komo Mai" (Welcome in Hawaiian) and talking about my growing up in Baltimore. Then on the ride home today, my iPhone music shuffle picked up a previously abandoned Muse song added to my collection years ago by an ex-boyfriend I haven't talked to in forever. I was never into Muse. At all. And suddenly I liked this song. And the others from its album.
It got me thinking about how I've changed in the almost 7 months since I've moved to Hawaii. I decided my list was long enough to warrant being written down (and laughed at). So here it is:
Things I’ve Lost since Hawaii:
One less non-broken bone. (I broke my toe last month when my sister came to visit. I was unsure if I really did at the time but a month later it’s still sore so I think that is a yes. Not a big deal, but I’ve never really broken anything before. There goes that winning point in the “Never Have I Ever” game.)
My single status…er, well engaged status.
My last name
My Maryland license (I do miss that little blue crab on it but my huge rainbow is pretty awesome.)
My tolerance for cold weather (I freeze when I walk in air condition now. I took two sweaters with me to breakfast this morning because I was shaking the second I walked in the door!)
My stereotype of military life & wives
My need to wear socks ever again (Long live flipflops.)
My car (Still heave a little sigh every time a silver Toyota Echo with all 4 missing hubcaps drives by.)
A few checked off items on my life goals list (Get Married, Drink Champagne on an Airplane, Get a Drivers License from Another State, Visit Hawaii- that was number 2 on my list!
Contact with a few people I probably wasn’t meant to stay in touch with anyway (…so no real loss there.)
Any desire EVER to waitress again. (In fact I’m considering gouging my eyes out with forks before doing so again. I still have nightmares from my one evening spent working in Outback where the words “NEVER AGAIN!!” echoed through my mind all night like a crazy person.)
Any sense of consistent dialect (I still say, “hon” from Baltimore, “ya’ll” from Charleston, and now end every sentence with “yah?” from Hawaiian pidgin. Plus I really like to say “Aloha!” )
Two bank accounts. (No Bank of America’s or Baltimore County Credit Unions here.)
My white pasty complexion and dry skin (Don’t miss either ONE bit!)
My previous favorite necklace (A mother of pearl four leaf clover I paid a quarter for at a flea market when I was 10 and a horse-shoe charm with “Good luck” written in it I bought for myself when I moved out of my mom’s house officially for the first time…come to think of it that’s probably not good luck.)
2 Tupperware lids. (No clue where they went. Wonder if you can order that specifically….Hmm.)
Things I’ve gained since Hawaii:
A wedding band
A husband (!!!)
A boatload (literally) of friends
A tan J
Greta (My “new” car…a ’99 beat-up aqua-colored Toyota Corolla who acts kind of fussy sometimes and likes to tease me by putting on her Check Engine light every 3 weeks or so but still kinda feels like a caring, worried Grandma.)
One more state added to my roster of states visited (Now at 44!)
A HOUSE of our own!
An insatiable desire to bake cupcakes frequently (And an even more house-wifey obsession for cute little aprons. I think I used to watch Girls Next Door to often- you know how Holly always dressed up for doing silly little things? Totally becoming me.)
An appreciation for always having lived on Eastern Standard Time….and an anger for when companies on EST call me at 2am.
14 new bikinis
A passion for non-profit work & at least for now a job that makes me pretty happy
A big expensive white dress
Occasional awesome care packages from Mom (Which ALWAYS contain about 15-25 dog treat coupons which show me where her loyalty really lies.)
A new pen pal- my sister!
A new language (Well, not completely, but I do know a LOT of words now. Plus, ever since moving here I made myself say every single street name in Hawaiian out loud to practice and I have a real knack for Hawaiian pronunciation now I think….although I did JUST learn how to pronounce my street name after 6 months of saying it wrong. Oops.)
An amazing new ability to “man up” and handle tools. (I’ve hung pictures, drilled, and even assembled a TV stand…in only 4 hours….um.)
A new love for red wine. I currently have 5 opened bottles. (Sorry, Mom.)
A newfound appreciation for military wives (and kids)
A longing for Charleston I didn’t know I had.
An herb garden (Which reminds me…I’m having fresh eggplant for dinner tonight!)
An underlying fear of tsunamis (following “The Tsunami That Wasn’t” back in February. I still keep meaning to buy a tshirt that says I survived the February 27th Tsunami.)
My Constants:
My dog Maggie. (Don’t know how I’d survive deployment without that dog. The neighbors seriously must think I’m nuts. I raced her down my street back to our house the other day, the whole while yelling at her like I would to a person: “I’m going to beat you. I’m almost there. Ha! In your face!” I did beat her but it was close. …Only to see my neighbor across the street outside looking at me and smiling awkwardly. Ooops.)
My family.
My hair color.
My love for beaches….actually that has definitely increased with the overabundance of clear, turquoise waters and white sand beaches, and trade winds that keep the weather perfectly balanced….(Sorry. ;))
My silver palmetto palm tree necklace I got at Rainbow Street Market in downtown Charleston that I pretty much wear all the time.
My phone number. (I’ve had it since I was 17. 410 forever, baby. Although I am forcing Nick to convert from his 314 St Louis area code. Sorry, Nick.)
My slight obsession with photography. (Only now it’s developed into an obsession with iPhone photography apps.)
My appreciation for Maryland crabcakes, cream of crab soup, and Old Bay. (If someone tells you Old Bay does not go with everything they are WRONG!)
My love for Nick…I take that back. That’s definitely changed. I only miss him and love him more every day.
You have to let go of some things to make room for others…but in the case of my two missing Tupperware lids I’m not entirely sure that’s true. But for the most part change has been good to me.
I couldn’t be a more happily married woman. Unless Nick was home from deployment but I’m taking one day at a time. And twice in the past two weeks I have had comments from two different people that couldn’t believe my age. Not that I’m old by any means but it was nice they thought I was a college kid.
Enough reflections. I need to go race my dog around the block. Aloha! ;)
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