Codependancy

Cecilia's been gone since Thursday to London to visit her cousin.

I'm having serious withdraws.

She's going to be moving back to the States with her husband a month before my husband gets home.  I've already started planning how I'm going to keep my nights full while she's gone: local Italian classes, more running, more devotion to my schoolwork.

A few weeks ago I was talking to my husband about it on the phone and started to get choked up.  He said, "Seriously, Nikki?  I'll be home a month after that.  That's nothing."  I whimpered a pathetic I know type noise.  "I feel like," he continued, "you're going to miss her more than you miss me."

"You're coming back!  She's leaving for good!"

Little army wife tip: Don't tell your husband while he's in Afghanistan (Iraq, Germany, Kuwait, insert your chosen deployment place here) that you miss your friends more than you miss him.  It tends not to go over so well.

She'll be home tonight.  Hopefully she misses the shuttle from the airport to post so I can pick her up.

I don't talk very much on here about being an army wife.  Even though it's a big part of my life (huge actually) it's not one of the things I use to define myself.  Christian? yes.  Student? yes.  Southerner? yes. Reader? yes.  Writer? most of the time.  Army wife? not really.

I'm not sure if it's the bad connotations that are attached to the stero-typical army wife or if it's that I have enough of being identified as my husband's wife in my non-blog life.  Either way, one thing that I do love about being an army wife are the deep friendships that are made.  I don't have family within 4,000 miles of here and don't speak the language well enough yet to feel completely comfortable.  Added by the fact that if I did have an emergency my family would have to use a passport to get to me.  My husband is gone 80% of the time.  I'm alone in the truest sense of the word.

Enter Cecilia.

Sunday on the Q

Last Sunday, my favorite girls and I met up for brunch at the DFAC (dining facility) on post. It was the first cool and sunny day we've had this year and I couldn't pass it up. So I invited them over for a BBQ. We all went to the commissary after brunch and decided on our menu. I knew I was going to be trying out smitten kitchen's hacked caprese salad because I had bought three rounds of fresh mozzerella the day before in anticipation of making it.



Cecilia bought a magazine (I forget now which one) that had pictures of 12 different ways to enjoy hotdogs this summer. One was with onion rings on top. I decided to try it. Because you know, trying one new recipe when entertaining company isn't enough. I like to live on the edge.

Plus the commissary had something like 1/2 a pound of pre-sliced onions for 60 cents. They looked at me from the shelf and asked me to please batter and fry them. I don't take the words of talking onions lightly, I obliged.



It was amazing. Please do this if you are going to have a hotdog again ever in your life.



To finish, Cecilia made brownie cupcakes.



With cream cheese frosting on top.



Cecilia loves brownies with cream cheese frosting.

Having the girls around makes things so much more fun and makes me feel a lot safer when my man is gone.

Luxembourg

We paid 50 euros for a tour to Luxembourg. We figured after buying a train ticket and the amount of time it would take us to figure out where the heck we were going it wound up being cheaper than going there on our own. According to our tour guide, Gabi, there is no poverty or unemployment in Luxembourg and the average annual income of a Luxembourger is 47,000 euros.





I guess that means they have plenty of money to pay for ridiculous signs.



Lunch was the first order of business. Our waiters did NOT like us. I'm pretty sure it's because we drained our water the first minute after we sat down. When we asked for more, they brought us tap water. Then they brought our food out after everyone else's in our group.

Chicken a la King is a typical Luxembourg meal, we got ours with a side of salad and fries. I'm not sure I've ever had Chicken a la King before. This one was shredded chicken in a mushroom gravy, with a soft croissant type pastry on top.

We kept asking for more water even after we ate. We kept drinking it even though I'm pretty sure people in Luxembourg spit in your drink if you make trouble like they do in the States.



After lunch we went on a train tour. It covered 8 kilometers in 50 minutes. Lighting speed. Instead of a real live person telling us about our surroundings we had an audio recording. They play acted out the history of Luxembourg. Once the extensive history of the country was over, they spent 5-7 minutes telling us that Luxembourg is "Small but grand!" in about 8 different languages. Then the audio tour ended about 10 minutes before the actual tour did.



Small...



but grand!

We got back from the Bourg just in time for dinner. That's right:



Mussels in Brussels.



Jean Claude Van Damme may THINK he's the muscles from Brussels, but he ain't got nothing on this girl.

Sinbad and I rock the purple

Last night Sinbad the comedian came to post on his "Funny to the Corp" tour. And while this isn't really something I talk about a lot I'm a HUGE Sinbad fan. He came for a meet and greet at 1200 which I had to miss because of work. I tried to talk my co-worker into staying a little later so I could meet Sinbad.

"Can you cover for me?" I asked.

"Why? What's up?"

"I really want to go meet Sinbad," I said.

"Who?"

"Sinbad. The comedian. Have you ever seen First Kid?"

*blank stare*

I then proceeded to clock in.

We did get to go to his show that night though.

Cecilia and Melissa went with me. We had to wait in line for kind of a while outside. I didn't know there were so many other Sinbad fans. I'm not alone in my love.

Even though Cecilia only went because I told her a month ago to put it on her calendar and texted her about dreams I had about us not getting into this show and she felt like she couldn't let me down.

I'm pretty sure Melissa just went for something to do on a Wednesday night.

Unfortunately this is the only decent picture I have from the whole night. My camera broke a couple weeks ago in Copenhagen. All those beautiful pictures you see are Cecilia's. So I've been on the lookout for a new camera since the FRONT of my camera decided to fall off in front of that church in Copenhagen.

The other day I was walking through the PX and saw the majesty of purple wonder staring at me.

Y'all know how I feel about purple. It is currently charging and I'll give you an update as soon as I get a chance to use it.

Sinbad and camera pictures found via Google image search.

Swordfish Tacos

Night before last Cecilia had some of us over for dinner. Usually dinner parties are at my house and hang out movie time is at Cecilia's. It's good to mix it up. Mix and match. Salsa dance.


The first time I ever had swordfish was last summer in Palermo. We had it the one time we went out to eat. It might be my most favorite fish ever and if it wasn't so expensive I'd probably eat it once a week.


This is what fried swordfish looks like. Looks kinda like strips of pork chop. I bet your tastebuds are watering. Do tastebuds even water? I know mine are.


We got to enjoy swordfish tacos because when Cecilia's husband was home for R&R he bought 60 euros worth of the stuff. At the time that was over 100 dollars worth. Sometimes Cecilia's husband goes a little over the top. It's a typical soldier trait. Above and beyond. Army of one. Hoo-ah.


Jocelyn (who's pregnant belly you can kinda see here) made tortillas from scratch. They were fantastic. Makes me want to try my own soon.

Margo

I was going to prepare a celebratory post for being half-way through this deployment. Only 6 more months (give or take) to go.

But then Margo's husband died yesterday in Afghanistan. I know people die in this war every day and that is tragic. There's something different about it though when you go to that person's promotion ceremony from Major to Lt. Col. and when you saw that person dressed up for Halloween as a football coach (Margo was a football player) and when you cared for that person's child at the center where you work. You hurt pretty bad for someone when you were in thier Bible study class on marriage, which Margo was really qualified to teach since she and Tom have been married over 20 years.

Had been married.

That's hard to get used to.

Margo and Tom have two beautiful daughters. Please keep Margo and the girls in your prayers.

Can I refuse?

Cecilia and I have been wanting to go to Greece this deployment. Heck, I've been wanting to go to Greece since I got here. Last night she found a 6-night cruise for $300 in October.

Three. Hundred. Dollars.

Six nights!

You can't even fly to Greece from Italy for less than $350. I put in my leave slip today. I can't pass this up, right?

Trento

On Sunday Cecilia and I (plus some other friends) went on an ODR (Outdoor Recreation) trip to the Dolomites. First we stopped at a distillery that makes grappa. They showed us the barrels where the grappa is aged in different types of wooden barrels: cherry, oak or walnut.


After the tour we got a tasting. Then of course we got to browse the shop. I bought some grappa crema di nicciolo. It's a creamy grappa that's hazelnut flavored. I'm thinking a treat in coffee after dinner? Or a necessity in coffee before going to work with the kids?


This is a before picture. That's why I'm smiling. This stuff was no joke. It was 85% alcohol and my sinuses have been clear ever since I drank this glass. It's a good thing grappa is for sipping, not for shooting.


Next we went to Trento where they have a cute little castle.


More importantly (to me anyway) they had a cheese tasting and brewery. I bought some of this yummy cheese that is local to Trento. I asked the lady what it's called and have no recolection of the name. But trust me. It's tasty.


We ate lunch at the brewery and all got pasta typical of the area. Except for Brooke, who got french fries. I'm not sure that she knows we live in Italy.


This is spaetzle allo speck. The green pasta is made with flour, peas (I think), and melted butter. The white pasta is made with flour, potatoes and melted butter, much like gnocchi. The butter flavor was really strong in this dish and really tasty. It made the texture different from gnocchi in a good, buttery way.


After lunch at the brewery we stopped into a little gelateria called "la Delizia" and picked up fresh crepes. Cecilia got nutella and banana and I got cream of chestnut. It was the first time I ever had that spread before, or even heard of it, and man. Delizia for sure.

Wii throw down

This man below is a pro at smack talk. I got emails at work in the middle of the day about how he runs a bowling club for kids and how he could beat me at Wii bowling no problem. Email after email, meeting in the hall one time after another basically saying to me, "Bring it."

It was brought.

the victor

I work for CYS. It's a big world wide, Army supporting company. I really like working for them. I'm pretty sure some of the reason is because of people like Tom. Tom is a 62 year old, tennis playing, fun loving, veteran and CYS employee.

waiting on the bench

Since Tom is a tennis champ, he thought it would be fun to challenge me and 2 other Army wives to a Wii Sports off. Oh, Tom. Wii isn't like real sports.

Bring it on.

defeat

He did get a knock out on Brooke in round one. But she came back to beat him in boxing 3 knock outs to one.

intense boxing

Cecilia beat him 2 out of three in tennis. Which I think really got him down, being a tennis champ and all.

she wins!

I bowled a 190 to his 122. He was such a good sport and agreed to another match soon. (I'll bring my camera for bigger pictures next time, too.)

Cecilia turns 25

Yesterday was Cecilia's birthday. She turned 25, as you can see by the crown we made her.

We also made ourselves party hats and found some cute animal noses to add to the festivities. I was the elephant. Even though you can't see it in that picture, I was smiling. Maybe you can tell from my smiling eyes.

Missy (the wearer of the pig nose) brought the salad. I made the Pioneer Woman's stuffed mushrooms. The mushrooms are filled with cream cheese, onions, garlic, white wine and sausage.

The chicken is from the new cookbook I got in the mail last week: Nigella Express. It has four ingredients: chicken, garlic infused olive oil, bacon and white wine. It was moist, it was bacony, it made me do my happy dance. (I'm not kidding. I do a little happy dance in my seat when I eat good food.)

Finally to top it off we had cornbread. When I asked Cecilia what she wanted for her birthday dinner the only answer I got from her was, "Umm.... Oh! cornbread." Cornbread it was.

The girls

Cecilia turns 25 tomorrow. We girls know how to throw a wild party. Will post the menu and details tomorrow.

Happy Saturday!

Fun night

This is Brooke. She runs a 7 minute mile. She also makes a mean banana cookies and cream chocolate liquor shake. I should know. I had thirds.

It's sad when the guys are gone to Germany. But it sure is fun hanging out with the girls.

Leadership Training

On Saturday I organized a leadership training for Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC) where I hold a position on the board.

That sounds a lot fancier than it really is.

PWOC is my refuge. This is the only group of women that I have experienced in my short time living in a military community that have welcomed me without once asking who my husband is. It's full of women that want to get to know me. It's refreshing.

This is me and Lou. She's british. She shared my table at the training. Notice how much bigger my head is than hers? My husband teases me about my "big dome". And then I tickle him until he says I have a normal sized head.

It's a beautiful cycle really.

We had a lot of team building exercises, which were a lot of fun. These five ladies are all acting as one finger on a hand.

It's a lot harder having 5 individuals working together than having 5 members of the same body working together.

A good lesson.

Although their result really wasn't bad.

I can't wait for the kickoff of the new PWOC year on Tuesday, September 8th. If you live in the area, please come!

Lumingnano Part the first

I went for a short hike this weekend with some friends of mine.  We hiked from JoAnne's house (JoAnne is the blonde in the picture) to Lumignano where there was a pea festival going on.  The hike was through cherry orchards and vineyards.  I know, I know.  The hard life I live.

  
While we were picking cherries, Mario came by on his tractor to give us a hard time.  I forgot to take a picture of Mario.  Picture an old man with white hair wearing a blue jumpsuit on an old tractor.  You can picture it?  Good.  

Anyway, as we were stuffing our mouths full of cherries Mario said in Italian, "You know we just sprayed poison on those yesterday.  I hope you don't die tonight."  

Oh, Mario.  Such a jokester.  Way to almost witness me go through a heart attack.  
He rides his tractor up and down this path a lot.

Only a few of the cherries were ripe.  In two weeks when they are at their peak, I'm going to Castegnaro for their sagra of the cherries.