Hello my friends!

This is {and probably only} post for December.  I kind of suck because I haven't made a post since before Thanksgiving!  Maybe my new years resolution should be to keep up on this blog:)

Anyway, I hope you all have had a great Christmas and upcoming new year, if I don't post again before January 1st!

Lots of love from the McAdam clan,
♥

Days 14 & 15

Hello!

So we wrapped up the weekend by being apart.

Jesse worked on his car, while I took Stryker to the park with my friend Ashley.

Stryker looooooved the water at the park (sort of scary since there was also a lot of trash in the water), and jumped in several times to swim.

So for day 14 I am thankful for Fall.

I am thankful for the beautiful colors and to be able to enjoy them.

Here are some photos from yesterday:

Stryker is the water, about the center of the screen.

Fall Colors

Brutus (Stryker's friend), and Stryker in the water

The dogs are just dots here...But they found a watering hole and left us;)

For today, Day 15, I am thankful for the weather.

What was the weather like today you ask?

Today's high was 81* and the low was 67*.

Now, I am with you if you think that's a bit

c  r  a  z  y  ,

because I think it is.

It doesn't even feel like fall.  Is it going to be like this on black friday when I'm buying

Christmas gifts?

Sheesh.

Don't get me wrong, tomorrow is supposed to be a smidge cooler, and by Friday it's supposed to be in the low 60's.

Still warmer than Washington, but whatever.

It sure would be nice to be standing outside and not be freezing my bootie off:)

Anyway, hope you all had a great Veteran's Day weekend!

♥

Days 10, 11, 12 & 13

Remember how I said I was going to have a hard time keeping up on my blog?  Yep.

So, covering the past four days....

Day 10:  Thankful for Glitter.

Now, I realize that that might be kind of strange, but that's sort of been my life for a few days.  For example:

Glitter Pumpkins 

Glitter Branches 

Martha Stewart Glitter

Glitter Corn

Basically, it's going to be a glittery Thanksgiving!  I seriously think I'll be finding glitter until the time we move out.

Day 11:  Thankful for Our Veterans

My Veteran:

For you who serve, have served, and are family of someone who served:

Thank you.

I don't think anyone could say that too much.

You're awesome!

Day 12:  Thankful for my brobie, who's birthday was the 12th

My Brother (and me):

Love ya, Taylor!

Day 13:  Thankful for Starbucks

Red cups are heeeeeeeeeere!

Yay:)

I enjoyed myself a peppermint mocha today...Makes me happy.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

♥

Day 9 & Funny Photos

So today I am thankful for my animals.

I was trying to hold off on mentioning them, but it's happening today.

Today I ran out to do some errands, and went to the pet store because the cat was out of food.

So I stopped at Petco.

I noticed that they still had Halloween stuff out, and it was on clearance.

I checked to see if they had anything good, and found a skull for Stryker (the kind that reminds me of the Day of the Dead skeletons) and a cape for Spuz.

If you know us, you know that Spuz is out of his mind.  You may know this even if you read the older blogs.  The cat likes to attack me for no reason whatsoever, and that's why I bought him a cape.

Like Dracula.

Or Count Spuzzula, as I like to say.

Without them, I don't know what my life would be like.

So here are a couple of photos that I love of my crazy and sweet critters.

Count Spuzzula

Stryker laying in an adorable pose;)

Happy Wednesday!

♥

Day 8 & My DIY Project

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 8

Today I am thankful for my alone time.

Yesterday didn't go so well for me, so today I am thankful for being at home, getting chores done, spending some time with the doggie, starting, and finishing some crafts.

One of the DIY (do it yourself) crafts I have done is a chalkboard.

So here's a frame I got from TJ Maxx (they also have some cool ones at Hobby Lobby):

I liked it because it had a silverish frame with grapes on it...I have a few wine themed items in the house.

Yesterday I took the glass, primed it (I think it took 3-4 coats) and then painted it with a chalkboard paint (2 coats).
Then I let it dry.

Then I took a piece of chalk and wiped it all over the board.

See?
:)

Then you take a cloth, and wipe off.
I thought this was a novel idea after reading it on a blog, but they have it on the back of the spray paint can, too.

Assemble....And ta-dah!

Inspiration came from another blog, but I can't for the life of me what blog it was.  It was easy enough to remember, so I didn't have to reference back to it...But if you do an internet search you can find lots of inspiration, too!

Happy Tuesday

♥

Day Seven: Cookies!

So today I am thankful for Christmas cookies.

When I was looking at my to-do list of Thanksgiving, I thought that Christmas cookies would be a great idea.  Now, I don't really know if I would feel up to making cookies that weekend (we are hosting Thanksgiving again this year) or if I would able to get in that extra Christmas cookie shopping, but a girl can wish, right?

So here are some ideas I have for my special Christmas cookie box.

Chocolate Biscotti

Peanut Blossoms

Snickerdoodles

(Martha Stewart makes a mean snickerdoodle. And I was told by Jesse I never make them)

Fluer de Sel Caramels

(Been dying to make these)

Espresso truffles

Also on the "maybe" list are hoosier bars, chocolate crinkles, peanut butter balls, run or bourbon balls, and candy cane cookies.

I'm not going to make them all (and I'm not going to be making 5 different kinds of chocolate or peanut butter cookies) but I thought those would be a good starting point.

What are your favorite Christmas cookies?

♥

Playing Catch-Up

So on friday blogger wouldn't accept me to create a new post,

and yesterday we were out so late that I didn't have time to make a new post.

So getting around to what I'm thankful for....And I need 3.

1.  I'm thankful for baking, which I do waaaaay too much;)

Renee and I made scones on Friday and had a fun morning drinking coffee and making scones.  Then I came home and did some chores until Jesse got home from work.

2.  I'm thankful for our friends, the "P" family.

Which is our friend, Renee's family.  Our day started with the boys (Jesse & Renee's husband) heading to post to work on Jesse's car on post.  Renee and I went Christmas shopping (with her girls for the girls) then to do some extra shopping and lunch.

Then we went back to their apartment where the boys were moving some stuff around in the garage.

After being inside for a little while, we decided to take a walk to see the guys, where they were working hard on the garage.

So, we helped them out for a little while, let the girls play a little bit, then decided to take Jesse's ride and grab some pizza.

While we were out getting pizza (and making a wine & beer run) we decided to go by our place, pick up a movie and get Stryker.

We headed back to Renee's where we ate, they put the kids to bed, let the dogs play, watched a movie, watched storage wars, then headed home.

Whew.

We (or should I say, I) changed the clocks back and I went to bed (Jesse stayed up for a little while).

Oh yeah, and I forget to make a blog post:)

3.  I'm thankful for Sunday's and all it brings.

We got up at a decent time (sometimes that's a big deal for us), Jesse worked on his car (a lot) while I took the dog out, did some chores, and all kinds of other stuff.

Jesse then started to teach me how to cut his hair (which was interesting).

He finally got himself together,

we hit up the Fresh Market & Michaels, Panera, and Walmart.

Woot.

We took Stryker out to play, I made sausage egg muffin sandwiches, we watched Dexter, and here I am.

So there's a little catch up of what I'm thankful for and what I've been up to.

Hope everyone had a great weekend & have a great week!

♥

Do It Yourself

Today I am thankful for DIY (Do It Yourself) Crafts.

This is a little bit of a new thing for me, but after trying my luck in both baking and cooking, I expanded out to doing more crafts (people keep calling me Suzy Homemaker).

So I have my entire layout figured out for Thanksgiving

(super excited, by the way)

and I am excited to stay home and enjoy some crafts that keep me busy and, more importantly, keep me from spending money.

So I am thankful for that, and maybe Pinterest for giving me the ideas.

I'm really excited to show off my projects, which I will do after I display my final project:)

In other events, today ended up being a rainy day.

I made crock pot burritos....Or I guess I should say filling for the burritos.

Anyway, I didn't make it to the gym so I slept in a bit and did chores.

My friend Ashley came over and discussed Thanksgiving plans,

then after she left I was tallying up all the flour, sugar, and butter I would need for the big day.

(19 cups of flour, if you're interested.

Holy....)

Then Jesse got back from work, tomorrow starts his official first day doing something new.

He will now be gone a lot longer than he has been since...we were in Washington.

Tomorrow's plans include the gym and some pumpkin scones.

Yummy.

Have a good Friday!

♥

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 2

Today I am thankful for...

exercise.

Today I went with my friend Renee and met my friend Ashley at the gym and we did some spinning.  Spinning really can kick your butt!

At the start of the class the instructor informed us that it was going to be a "race day"

(Thank you...not)

So the entire, and I mean, entire 60 minute classes were racing.

If you don't know much about spinning, racing is the equivalent to sprinting.

Sprinting.

Uggggggh.  Yuck.  Bah.  Ew.

Etc.

So, today I am thankful for that kicking my butt, because now I feel amazing that I kicked

that classes butt.

Oh and did I mention that the instructor picked me to pace herself off of for our endurance race?

Because I was doing awesome.

Muhahaha:)

It feels good.

In other news we got a new shelf for our hutch (movers broke it during the move) and I finally started organizing that.  It was a pain but I then reorganized the pantry, got rid of some clutter and old food (again) and then was finished.  Thank goodness.

Now for my counters...They're full of DIY (do it yourself) projects, which I will have to post when I am finished.  I am doing lots for our Thanksgiving centerpiece, which is going to be

AWESOME.

Anyway, I hope you all had a great Wednesday!

See you tomorrow.

♥

30 Days of Thankfulness

I saw the "30 Days of Thankfulness" from a blog a while back, and it was a little late to start

(like spring late)

So now I'm going to start and attempt to this for 30 days straight.

If you follow my blog you know I normally don't follow through.  Well.

When it comes to being persistent on the blog.

So today I am thankful for

my Honda Pilot.

As seen here:

I am not only thankful for the car, but I am thankful for being able to have the money to have the car, to be able to have a nice vehicle, a new one, Nav, etc.

I'm thankful we had it when we drove this beast across the US.

Yep:)

So the last couple weeks haven't been very interesting for us, we went to Birmingham a while back and saw some races (BMW ones, to be exact).

Jesse got the opportunity to go in a race car for a few laps.

Jesse's been trying to find a job here at Benning (which has been interesting)

to fill some time before he starts his MCCC (Career Course).

Yesterday we had plans to do a few things and then go trick-or-treating with our friend's kids.

I went for a run in the morning (my work out buddy had some issues with one or her kids...which I will go into a little bit in a second), then got myself together, let the dog out, went to Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's, then met Jesse over at Lowe's.  We bought some spray paint and then headed over to get some lunch.

I met up with my friend Renee and we went to post (her daughter has had a stomach bug) and we were on post waiting for close to 3 hours (shocker! Gotta love on-post doctors...not) then to the commissary.

By the end of all that I felt horrible, I had been developing a headache and feeling absolutely bad.

We got in the car, and I started feeling nauseous.

So I say, "I can start feeling this way, but have never thrown up."

Good one, Marissa.

I had Jesse unload the groceries when we got back to our place and went upstairs.

I immediately took some ibuprofen and got into bed.

Then I felt really sick.

Then guess what happened?  My stomach gave me a huge F-U.

Uggggh.

Long story short I felt better, at least with my stomach, anyway.

So I felt bad, Jesse woke me up after about 2 hours (it was probably 7:30)

and gave me some Tylenol

(I'm pretty sure there wasn't any more ibuprofen in my system).

I slept for another half hour before he got me up...And I finally felt better.

By that time kids were done trick-or-treating.

Jesse ordered a pizza, I showered, then we went to our friends house.

I love Halloween.

Just not yesterday's Halloween.

Maybe next year!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

♥

A Note From Stryker the Dog

Happy Halloween!

Love, Stryker

♥

Isn't he good looking???

Road Trippin': Day Six

Day Six: Last Day in Arizona

The last day in Arizona was eventful, Jesse & I got up early, visited Rhonda's {fabulous} shop in Phoenix.

We then went out to Cooperstown {the restaurant Alice Cooper owns in downtown Phoenix}, which is always interesting.

When we got back, my Aunt had driven down from the northeastern part of Arizona, and visited with us for a while.

Overall, it was a relaxing and fun trip, getting to catch up with everyone.

I really really love visiting Arizona.

♥

Road Trippin': Day Five

Day Five: Fun in Arizona

Our first full day in Arizona was a blast.

We slept in, relaxed, and called my parents on Skype so that they could talk to David, Myra, and Rhonda.

No one knew how to Skype except for my mom, so it was a treat for them.

They talked for two and a half hours.

Basically, the battery on my computer died.

Anyway, mom had a collection of gifts she had not sent to any of them, but had collected for about five years.

They chatted, opened gifts, and David showed off some of his prized possessions.

We had dinner {Mexican food, yum}

and enjoyed some more pool time.

I love visiting Arizona and it was a great time,

100+ degree weather & all:)

♥

Road Trippin': Day Four

Day Four: Arizona Bound

So we left California, got some Panera, and headed south.

It's really interesting how the terrain changes in southern California and then when you go into Arizona the terrain changes again.

I wonder sometimes how people thought of where to place the state lines because sometimes the terrain, trees, and landscape completely changes when you cross a state line.

Weird.

Anyway, it was a nice trip, we drove around Los Angeles {instead of through LA}

where a cop kindly reminded Jesse he should be going 55 {think hand gestures...and not the "number one" if you catch my drift}.

It was at least in the triple digits way before we got to LA, and we almost ran out of gas partway through Arizona.

Oops.

Let me tell you, that made for an interesting 20 minutes...A black vehicle with pets, virtually no gas, and, in trying to cut down on gas usage, no AC.

Did I mention it was like 110?

Good times.

All & all we got to AZ without a hitch...went swimming and then to bed.

Good times.

More on Arizona next time!

Thanks for reading:)

♥

Road Trippin': Day Two & Three

Days Two and Three: California

The beginning of our California visit began with Jesse doing some fishing with the guys {Jesse's brother, nephew, and some friends of his brothers} and going to the Oakland A's game while I had lunch with the ladies {Jesse's aunt, sister-in-law, and niece}.

The ladies went to Panera, did a little shopping, and then came back for a little nap.
{Well, technically the nap was for Alana, Jesse's niece, but I zonked out too}
12 hours on the road will do that to you.
We finished off the evening with visiting with Jesse's Aunt Donna.

We started the next day the same way we ended the previous day:
With Jesse's aunt Donna.
And coffee.
Then was a little bit of fishing, Chipotle for lunch, and visiting with one of Jesse's elementary school friends.

I love it out on the west coast...The cool, foggy weather was a great sendoff!
A great visit.

♥

Road Trippin': Day One

Day 1: Driving to California

So I will be doing a post a day {or at least trying to} about our road trip for approximately eight days, telling you all about our lovely "little" road trip across the United States.

We took a more southern route, heading first through Oregon and into California.  I always really enjoy driving through Portland, but after driving through Portland the state of Oregon gets boring for a while.
Once you get past the fields, livestock, and a few vineyards you get into mountains and the landscape starts to change.  By the time we had reached this part of Oregon it was 90 degrees (quite a bit warmer than the Washington we left) and we refueled with some Starbucks.

We got to California, drove by Mount Shasta, and through most of Northern California.  It seemed like a long drive into the bay area, the sun was setting as we got close.  By the time we got to where we needed to be it was nearly dark.  We still got to see lots of water, bridges, and a beautiful sunset into Casto Valley.

Jesse's brother was just wrapping up a BBQ, and we enjoyed some leftovers before settling in.

More to come on our California trip!  Stay tuned:)

♥

Greetings from Georgia

Hello, friends!

It has, again, been a while.  A long while.  I am sorry that I'm not more on top of my blog posts!  I have to say that things have been crazy for us, starting with moving out of our house mid-August.  We shipped our stuff, roomed with my family, left and maneuvered through Oregon to visit family in California and Arizona, drove through New Mexico, visited more family in Texas, and then made it in one {long} day through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and finally into Georgia.

Our awesome friends, the Pippy's, let us crash their pad {and their kid's room} before we found our new apartment in North Columbus.  The following monday after our arrival we received our stuff, and since then we've been trying to piece stuff together.  That's not including an awesome wedding between two amazing friends {Brent & Megan}, meeting up with the always delightful {and a little bit crazy} friend of ours {Ashley}, and lots of gym & spin classes!

So, am serious this time, I will try and keep you all posted on our adventures through this blog!  We're talking photos from our tip across the country, weddings, our apartment, Stryker & Spuz, Jesse and his training, DIY projects I undertake, more baking {I can't resist}, and anything else I can think of.  Really.

I hope everyone has an amazing week!!

♥

Starting to Say Goodbye

Today Jesse and I said goodbye to our house on JBLM.

Didn't it seem like just yesterday we were moving in?  Or I guess I should say, I (with a little help from some family and friends), since Jesse was overseas at the time.

This of course marks the very first of goodbyes that we have to say to our new friends, our family, the places we love to go.  It's strange because I'm not sure if it gets much easier, I don't know how I will be feeling when we get in the car one final time and leave Washington State.  I do know that we will be back, that military families never really consider friends "friends," they are considered more like family.  I am realizing it more now than ever now that this is our third move through the military.  It reminds me of something I read on Facebook:

An old military tradition is that true friends who have not seen each other for long periods of time never question their friendship. These friendships resume at the same place they left off regardless of distance and time between them. We call these friends 

"Family."

I hope everyone has a great week!  The weather here in Washington has been phenomenal, I definitely hope to get some outdoor time before we head southward:)

♥

Promotion Time

Hello friends!

Sorry it's been so long...

We've been busy!

Here are some photos from Jesse's promotion:

He was promoted before he went on leave in June, and I had the honor of promoting him.

Congrats, Jesse!

♥

Roasted Banana Cupcakes

Roasted Banana Cupcakes

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

• 3 ripe bananas, plus 1-2 more for garnish
• 2 cups cake flour (no self-rising), sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 strick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Honey Cinnamon Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 400*F.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Place 3 whole unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and roast 15 minutes (the peels will darken).  Meanwhile, sift together cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Remove bananas from oven and let cool before peeling.  Reduce oven temperature to 350*F.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Add roasted bananas, and beat to combine.  Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.  Beat in vanilla.
3. In another mixing bowl, with electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg whites to soft peaks; fold one-third whites into batter to lighten.  Gently fold in remaining whites in two batches.
4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full.  Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers come out clean, about 20 minutes.  Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely.  Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
5. To finish, fill a pastry bag fitted with a medium French-star tip (Ateco #863 or Wilton #363) with frosting.  Pipe seven scallops around perimeter of cupcake, and pipe a large starburst in the center. Just before serving, thinly slice remaining bananas, and place 2 pieces on top of each cupcake.

Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat all ingredients until smooth.  Use immediately, or refrigerate up to 5 days in an airtight container; before using, bring to room temperature and beat until smooth.

Photo Booth Fun

Lovin the photo booth, as you well know.

My most recent creation:

So work has been crazy and busy...

This week is Jayne Wayne Day!

You better bet I'm going to have photos from that.

Also coming, photos from our hike yesterday...

Which was beautiful and strenuous.

(I'm going to be sore tomorrow!)

I hope you all have a great sunday!

♥

Spring Cleaning

Today I have cleaned house which included

vacuuming, tidying, throwing away all kinds of stuff...

Our day outside was awesome...Even felt warm.

Jesse washed the car and did a ton of stuff outside.

It wasn't supposed to be nice outside, just overcast, but it ended up being mostly sunny.

Jesse & I ate our lunch outside,

went to Barnes and Noble,

(I bought Eating Well -with a good article on being a vegetarian- and Clean Eating which has an amazing recipe for crab cakes).

Jesse is at a Sounders game right now,

I enjoyed an awesome salmon filet with strawberry salsa

(view recipe on my blog)

with Israeli couscous, spinach, and some french bread.

Now I'm watching myself some NCIS (Season 7) and spending some much needed R&R with my adorable pooch.

Our sunshine turned to rain....

I love it when a beautiful day turns to an awesome spring rain,

the smell is great.

I know it sounds strange but spring & fall rains have a specific smell.

After a few episodes of NCIS

(and maybe vino)

Starbucks Ice Cream:  Carmel Macchiato.

Yeah, I feel like I'm obsessed with food too.

Mmmm....Food.

Anyway, I hope you have a great day...

Weekend...

Saturday night.

Oh and check out my other blog!

♥

Tulip Festival 2011

I thought I would share photos of lots & lots of flowers here in the Pacific Northwest!

If you ever have a chance to go....You should do so!

♥

Cupcakes!

Yay for Cupcakes!!

These are banana with a honey vanilla frosting:

 These are a strawberry with strawberry frosting:

These are devil's food with a dark chocolate frosting:

So if you're wondering why in the world I wait so long between blog posts, it's probably because I'm making cupcakes.

I am Marissa and I am a Bakeaholic.

Anyway, last weekend was fun-filled and crazy.

Friday we went up to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival,

(see last year's photos here)

Visited Jesse's mom and brought her lunch.

Then we went out with friends...

Saturday we slept in, went and saw the movie

Something Borrowed

(I love you Emily Giffin but the book is better!)

Saw Jay Leno do a concert for the troops,

and baked the lovely chocolate cupcakes that you see above

(they were good too).

Sunday we met up with my family, had breakfast in Seattle,

then enjoyed some cupcakes.

More time with family.

Worked. Worked. FRG Meeting.  Work some more.

And here we are!

I hope you all have a lovely week this week,

happy hump day,

tomorrow is thursday!

Goodnight.

♥

America.

I know that it has been awhile, my friends, but I have to say it.

Osama Bin Laden is dead.

A friend of mine on Facebook posted this, and I think it sums it up what people are thinking:

Thank YOU to our troops for everything that you do.

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." -Thomas Jefferson

Have a great night.

♥

Field Time

Waking up at 5 AM is not something that I enjoy.  Actually something that anyone likely enjoys.  In the military life waking up this early as a spouse never gives you a good feeling.  Even the way the dog acts when he gets up shows nerves.  He stretches, pants, then sits.  He anxiously watches me.  Watching someone pack up he wonders what in the world is going on.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a deployment.  I am not going to lie; in our brigade, my husband's unit is one that has not left for any long-term training.  Not to mention, so many infantry battalions have been gone for two weeks or longer.  My husband has spent a few nights away, but nothing like anyone else.  Still when he starts talking about going away I get that tightening in my chest, I have to tell myself this isn't an anxiety attack.  It's just a little field time.


My advice for spouses new to this lifestyle or for those who haven't been through a deployment has always been this:  Keep Busy.  I do practice what I preach, I will have my week full of this.  Some of it being organized without my control.  I have an Easter Egg Hunt, dinners, work, more dinners, and a lists of groceries and things to do.  Not to mention planning for next [Easter] weekend.

Today though, I am blessed with a beautiful day outside.  I get to snuggle with my dog who keeps me company always.  I know a great group of milspouses who always keep me grounded.  As difficult as this of a military spouse life is, there is a lot to be thankful for.

And for me, I'm thankful for today.

♥

New 'Do!

My new 'do that I got last week:

I'm still mastering the art of styling it again...But I'm lovin it!  I can just see my bangs getting super long, super fast...Right now they're perfect!

Anyway, I hope you all are having a great week...Tomorrow is hump day!

♥