Happy Valentine's Day

Day 45
Monday, February 14, 2011

I took my recumbent Bike out of the laundry room and enjoyed a nice long ride in my living room while watching "Maid of Honor."

Since today is Valentine's Day, the AFN Movie Channel was playing romantic comedy's all day long, which just so happen to be my favorite genre. I probably could have stayed glued to the TV all day long but I had some things to do today so I got dressed and headed over to the Patch Clinic once again, to have my PPD shot read. I guess I was in the clear because the nurse let me leave :) and I finally had the paperwork (1 of about 25) I needed for the Red Cross.

Sadly, my husband had to work until after 1700 today and I still needed to do some last minute laundry and he needed to pack and do a homework assignment before his trip to Hohenfels in the morning. I have no idea why he waits until the last minute to do things sometimes. We decided to stay close to home this year because of the time constraints so we went to Dinner at Bella Italia in Böblingen. We both had Bruschetta, Spaghetti Carbonara, and Chianti for dinner.

Bruschetta

Spaghetti Carbonara

After Dinner we walked over to a local Gelato shop where they make everything from scratch, even Ice Cream (Gelato) Cakes. Matt tried a scoop of both Hazelnut and Chocolate, and I tried Stracciatella for the first time and I'm in love!

Gelato

Not a bad Valentine's Day! Next year I really hope we make it to France, we are only about an hour and a half away from Strasbourg.


Most of us spend our lives as if we had another one in the bank.  ~Ben Irwin

Make new friends, but keep the old

Day 29
Saturday, January 29, 2011

On this beautiful Saturday in Germany, I slept in until about 0900. My thoughtful husband made us some coffee with "Real" cream and we enjoyed some quiet time together before getting ready for Yoga.

Our dear friend Shannon was having her "Moving back to America" night out tonight so I knew I wanted to eat healthy before enjoying an Italian Dinner at Bella Italia Gastronomie. When Matt and I first moved here we would walk around everywhere; we had  passed this restaurant many times but never made it in to eat. I was so excited when I found out this was where we were having dinner.

Matt ate Pasta Carbonara

I tried the Pasta Bolognese

Both dishes were delicious and they reminded me of the food we had in Italy. The house Chianti was also well worth it, I had two glasses! I was too stuffed to eat a dessert on my own and nobody wanted to share, so I didn't get one but they looked amazing. This place also serves lunch and this would be a good place to visit just to have dessert.

Tiramisu

About 20-25 people showed up to dinner, some with small children. Only eight of us continued the night at O’Donovan’s Irish Pub. We had a nice walk in the chilly air which helped us "work off" some of those carbs from dinner...yeah right!

Once we arrived at OD's, it was packed from wall to wall, and there was a band who was playing everything from Jimmy Buffet to Garth Brooks. For some reason they didn't know the words to one of my favorite songs, "Can't You See" by the Marshall Tucker Band, so I asked them to learn it for the next time they play there and they agreed.

Chelle and I

Mandy & the squid, he can hang w/Marines any time!

This night we may have said "Good Bye" to one dear friend, but we also made some new friends. This is just a part of the military life! One thing I've learned over the years, is that the Marine Corps may be small, but they are a large family, and a family I have known my whole life being the daughter of a Marine and now the Spouse of a Marine. I am so thankful for this new group of people to add to my Marine Corps Family.


You will never find time for anything.  If you want time you must make it.  ~Charles Buxton