Maltese Homes...

We had an absolutely beautiful day the other day.  After a few days of rain and crappy weather, I was thrilled to go for a walk.  Marshall and I really haven't spent much time walking around the area we live in, so we decided to go and check out some of the houses around us.

Malta has a lot of restrictions and guidelines when you build a home here.  I am not sure if it's because the country has a very distinct feel and style... so for tourist purposes, they aim to maintain that?  Regardless... the homes are really beautiful.  Some are pretty modern and unique and others are really old farm houses.  Enjoy the pictures!

Today I'm linking up with Nicole and her Thursday 5!!

Outstanding

Refreshing

Cheerful

Memorable

Cool

I think it is Outstanding that there is a "National Margarita Day."  So in honor of this day, we celebrated!!  Marshall even let us use his beloved Patron.  I also made a taco pizza to finish the day off right!  Delicious!  If you have never made one before its super easy...  Make your dough... spread a thin layer of pizza sauce on top.  Taco meat.  Cheese.  Bake it...  When it's finished, add your toppings:  lettuce, tomato, onion, more cheese...whatever.  Then top it off  with taco sauce!   

It is so Refreshing to FINALLY have found a banana bread recipe that I really like.  Growing up, my mom always made the most delicious banana bread.  The top had this like goey kind of banana-y top.  If you know what I mean.  And neither my sister or myself have been able to make it.  My mom thinks it weird that we use the same recipe but cannot for the life of us duplicate it.  Anyways, we have been on a hunt for awhile for a new recipe and I think I found one.  Its from this site and uses twice as many bananas as usual.  

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Marshall loves nuts so I threw in some walnuts too.  It came out amazing!  The amount of bananas is like 6-7 so plan on having that many if you want to make this recipe.  I definitely recommend it!!

So my momma sent me a gift card to Express for my birthday.  I'm so stinkin excited!!  When I started browsing their site, I came across these Cheerful earrings.  Aren't they so awesome?!  I'm definitely getting them.  Oh, and since they are buy one get one 1/2 off... I definitely need to get the same pair in coral and purple! :)

The other day it was absolutely beautiful out, so Marshall and I decided to go for a walk around our neighborhood.  Walking and talking is always so Memorable for me, and the view wasn't too bad either!  I'm going to post tomorrow some pictures of the awesome houses around us!  It's crazy what you miss when you are driving a car!

 I'm so in love with this girl.  My sister sent me this picture the other day of my niece Carrie in her Cool, new hat.  She is just the most precious, tender-hearted little princess.  I'm dying to get home and snuzz her little face!  Love you CarrieGirl!

It's almost Friday!!  XOXO

maltese carnival time...

The Carnival in Malta is a huge event each year.  People literally spend the entire year making their float and planning their costumes.  Some towns have huge street parties, others parades, but all of Malta dresses up.  

Unfortunately this year it rained during most of Carnival! :(  The grand finale parade was supposed to be tonight, but it has been raining and storming all day. We tried to go Friday night and Sunday, and got rained out both times.  I did manage to get some pictures of the floats to share with you!

Normally, the floats would have a ton of people on them, dressed up and dancing.  The floats also light up and have music playing... so these pictures definitely do not do them justice! They are pretty amazing though, and I definitely appreciate all the work that was put into making these!

These were all done by hand!  The detail work is crazy!!  I wish I took more pictures of costumes, but I'm serious when I say everyone goes all out!!

No idea why the "American" one is boxing and money?  Lol...

No alcohol under 17 really means under 12.  They drink crazy young here!  And it's just weird to me to see a sign like this!

Normally this area is packed with people and bands and stuff, but the weather really put a damper on the event this year!

The Wizard of Oz one was definitely my favorite...

But... I did scream when I saw the "OHIO" on this float!!!  I couldn't believe it!  I have no idea what OHIO symbolizes on this, or why they put it there but it made me smile and think of all my favorite people back home!!!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!!! XOXO

reason for the tears...

Ok... So I know some of you might have read my facebook ranting the other day.  I have been wanting to blog about what is going on, but honestly was just angry and devastated and I didn't want to say anything too harsh and irrational in the heat of the moment.

The whole story is pretty long, but I'll just try and sum it up.  Marshall and I are not allowed to be married while he is on the MSG program.  We have to wait until he finishes in October.  Although this might not seem like that big of a deal, its really a pain in the butt because I am not on his orders, insurance, access to military only family things... the list goes on.  Anyways... this isn't my current frustration.

Marshall is supposed to be finishing his 3 year contract in Malta.  We are scheduled to head home at the end of September/ beginning of October.  He has been the detachment commander in Malta for the past year, and we have six more months left.  

Well this past week he was told that they were sending him back to Africa.  They want him to leave in the next couple weeks.  If this was the only issue...it wouldn't be as awful.  Of course I have to purchase my own plane ticket to get there because I'm not on his orders and it gets so expensive after all the times they move us.  It's around $1000 for my ticket.  

So here is the other part...  My grandparents have had a vacation planned for months to come visit us.  This will be the first time they have been out of the country.  They are arriving on March 14th and leaving on April 18th.  Marshall will be leaving about March 14th.  We also have to have our pack out and be out of our house by April 1st.  So this leaves my grandparents and I homeless for 3 weeks when we planned on having a home.  Marshall will also miss out on their whole visit.  

We also had a vacation planned with them in Italy for the beginning of April.  We already purchased our tickets and bought passes for different events in Italy.  Now Marshall will not be there unless he spends $1500 to get back to Europe from Africa.  

We had to book 2 weeks in a time share in Malta so we had a place to stay.  We also had to buy all new plane tickets to Italy to work around accommodation conflicts.

So all this just brought me to tears.  I was devastated my grandparents special visit was ruined.  They were having to fork out a ton of extra money.  We are having to spend a ton of extra money.  Marshall most likely will not even be able to spend time with us...which was really important to me.

The reason for the move is the Detachment Commander that was supposed to go to "__,Africa" (will update when we are there or I'm allowed to say) has children.  This country does not allow children, so they are sending him to Malta instead and bumping us to Africa.  

Now don't get me wrong...I am deeply passionate and in love with Africa.  I am happy to go back there.  It just saddens me the timing and everything... And I think... the $4000 that we will probably end up paying in unnecessary expenses could have paid for our wedding in Thailand that we were hoping to have.  So now, I'm not sure if it will work out anymore.  :(  Boo...  

But... I know there is nothing we can do but embrace it and figure out all the little details as we go.  Sorry for the downer blog...  It feels good to get it off my chest though.  

I can't wait to blog tomorrow about the Carnival in Malta!  I have some great pictures so check back tomorrow for a happy post!!  XOXO

It's about dang time!

I cannot believe it's been a week since my last post.  We had a pretty crazy week, but I know a lot of weeks will be like that and I don't want to get out of the habit of blogging often.  So, I'm going to commit to blogging 3-4 times a week.  I am now accountable to you! :)

This past week Marshall had his big SAI inspection at work.  He had three of his command from region here inspecting him and the marines.  I'm so incredibly proud of them all!  They did a fantastic job!!

My sweet friend Cyd also returned from having a baby in the states.  She had her son 2 days before my sister had Christopher, so since I can't see my nephew right now, I'm taking every opportunity to love on their sweet baby boy.  I made these cookies to take over when we went to see him.  You can't really see the teddy bear but it did turn out cute!  I was excited because I had no clue how to do it!

Since Marshall's command was here this week, we didn't really plan anything for Valentine's Day.  It was fine with me because I knew he was crazy busy.  I did quickly make him this little Pinterest find.  I ended up covering the cover in clear tape to like laminate it so the cutouts wouldn't peel off.

It was so much fun thinking about all the things I love about him.  I really think I could have gone on and on.  I think that's a good thing :)

I also had a couple cookie orders for Valentine's day, so I was busy baking and frosting.  My kitchen gets so destroyed when I bake though!  I try really hard to clean as I go, but there is still always a mess in the end and that's when I walk the other way!

A couple of the cookie pops I made... (I wish I took pictures of everything without the bags on them!)

Cookie plate...

I've made these before with the round pretzels but can't get them here... so when I saw on Pinterest that they used the square pretzels I was excited and found some at the commissary!  Yummy!!!

A larger cookie bouquet that was purchased for the marines!

 I also made a cookie bouquet with these cookies...  I just loving playing around with the detailing!  

So Valentine's Day night, I went with all the marines and their command to one of the best restaurants in Malta... Bad Ass Burgers.  I seriously think they should take this chain to the states.  They are HUGE... and sooo stinkin good.  My favorite burger there is called The Daddy... it has jalapenos, bacon, onion straws, bbq sauce, and peppercorn something.  Amazing!!!  I only can eat half though (and I can usually eat a lot!).

On Wednesday night, I cooked dinner for everyone.  This is always so nerve wrecking for me because you really want it to turn out well.  I was so busy that I didn't get pictures of ANYTHING, but here was the menu:

Apps:

Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Warm Onion Dip (so good)

Garlic bread to eat them with

Beer Bread and Spinach and Herb Dip

Dinner:

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with a White Wine Sauce

Cheesy Potatoes

Green Bean Casserole

Biscuits 

Dessert:

3-tier Carmel Cake with Whipped Cream in between the layers and carmel drizzled on top.  I also crushed up some twix for the top

2-tier Red Velvet Cake with Whipped Cream and cherries/sauce on top

I think the dessert was the best :)

(If you want any of the recipes, just let me know!)

One last thing:  Is it just me or when veggies sprout like this, does it not just give you the heebie jeebies?  It like creeps me out... gross!

I have some big news to share with you tomorrow...  Its been a rough week for us, so check back tomorrow to read about it!  Also on Monday, I'm going to blog about the Carnival this weekend in Malta!!  Hope you all are having a great weekend!!!