the consequences

As other women do, I have my little "emo" moods.  Although it is a once a month phase that tends to come and go after 5 to 7 days.....I have a feeling this one may last a little longer than that.  So being a military wife, one of the huge sacrifices that I subliminally vowed to do on our wedding day was lend the love of my life to the government, and have them deploy him for a few months, leaving me heartbroken and missing him dearly.

When the hubby and first got engaged and married, various married couples always gave us the warning that the first year was always the hardest.  The hardest being that, that is the transitional year of when you fight over toilet lids, changing old habits to please another, where things are put,  and just adjusting to another lifestyle.  Well, I would like to tell those people, that all of those situations were cupcakes compared to this huge cake that I have to consume.

Although, the man has left me many times before, and many of the times that he left were more than half a year and also during the holidays, and huge milestones in our lives, I think that these meesely 4 months of being husbandless are going to be the hardest that I have had to endure.  I think what's making it harder for me is the fact that after feeding off his face, sunshine personality,  and hearing his manly voice with a child like mindset everyday, to suddenly stop cold turkey will make me feel like an alcoholic ridding the drink so abruptly.  Very cruel.

Sigh.  I just wish it were time for him to come back.  I miss my other half already.....

Feeling Chipper

I've been finding myself roam around this little English town of mine like a mad woman on the search for one thing.  CHIPS!  I'm so addicted to these wonderful clumps of fried potato it's not normal.  I would have to say these past few days, the amount of chips I probably consumed would be the equivalent to 3 large potatoes.  Of course, rather than munching on these golden beauties with ketchup, I opted to munch on them the British way.  And that way is with salt and vinegar.  

I don't know what it is about the chips over here when comparing to the "fries" over in the states.  They just taste so much happier.  Maybe they sing to their potatoes or hug them before retreating them to the pool of hot oil.  Whatever is it, they make my taste buds dance and my tummy content with joy.  *sigh*  I'm gonna miss them....

English word of the week

I'm finding that I'm doing this blog segment as a weekly thing.  Therefore, I'm changing my English word of the day to English word of the week...for obvious reasons.  So here it is....the word of the week::

PLASTER

Earlier this week being the oh so careful woman I am, I cut my finger whilst painting a mirror.  Please don't ask me how, that would have to be another blog post.  So anyways, besides the automatic scream and jumping up and down with a flailing hand, I ran upstairs to grab me a band-aid to make everything happy again.  So during the few days of nursing this unwanted cut with a plethera of band-aids, I then found an equally careful lady cooking on British  cooking show and saw that she too cut her hand, involuntarily drawing blood with a foreign object.  Now, here's where the Word of the week comes into play.

So here I am, feeling this lady's pain (literally) after slicing her finger.  After recreating the same body movements that I have done, except hers were sprinkled with a few drops of bleeped out words (great for higher TV ratings), she then asked for a "plaster."  WHAAAAA!!!???   Yes, after hearing her ask for a plaster, I automatically registered in my head that she was asking for a full finger cast or something.  Then I thought, "Daaaaang, these Brits don't play."  It wasn't until the host of the show showed up with a "band-aid" where I mouthed the words "oooooohhhhkaaaaay" and carried on watching the show.

So yes, Plaster = band-aid.

Who would have thought of calling this little bugger a "plaster?"  Now let's use this word in a sentence. 

"When buying PLASTERS, I tend to go for the Hello Kitty designs."

I tell you, doesn't the English translation of English words sound so boggling yet cool?  I think so.

Dog's best friend

I have a secret confession.  In a previous post, I blogged that I love taking morning walks around my neighborhood because of the scenery and it's a time to reflect and blah like that.  Well, I forgot to mention another reason. I love catching sight of the different type of views that cross my path.  And I'm not talking about landscape or wildlife.  All I have to say is you don't have to go to a grocery store to find a decent man.  Yes, I know, I know, I shouldn't be getting all googly and giddy when I see a gorgeous body of testosterone.  But hey, God gave me eyes, and I'm gonna use them.....and possibly my neck if the view is worth watching.

I must admit, since I've been here, I have seen more gorgeous men walking their dogs than I have whilst flipping through a fashion magazine.  What's cool too is that most of the time these men come straight from work, which means they are all geared up in their yummy business suits or half buttoned shirts and hip trainers.  Although I haven't been and wouldn't want to engage in verbal conversation with these pieces of eye candy, I have, however, done the whole eye flutter/flirting move with them and the "oh, excuse me" or the little laugh when our 2 dogs want to sniff each other's behind...BUT THAT IS ALL!!!!  I'm a happily married woman who just appreciates all things beautiful.

Unfortunately, I cannot provide an original picture of the beautiful men that I encounter.  I find it pretty odd to approach a man and say, "excuse me, I think you're hot and I'm blogging about the hot men that I encounter when I walk my dog.  Would you mind if I took a picture of you?"  So.....the closest thing to get the point across is to just post a picture of an English actor walking his dog, because yes, they are that hot.

PS  for those of you single ladies looking for yummy men, you are free to come hither and use my dog to catch one of these hunky dog walking fishes...you're welcome.

Do as the English do...

Because I'm an adventurous heffah...I love to try out all kinds of food.  Nothing makes me more happy than to fill this jiggly tummy up with all kinds of foreign edibles.  Another thing about me is that I tend to follow the saying, "When in Rome," pretty religiously.  I like to blend in with the cultures, experience the true roots of things, and pretend I'm a local.  It's my thing.  So anyways...what I'm trying to get at is, I did as the English did and took part of a long British tradition.

So apparently, it is a tradition for British people to have a Sunday roast, well, every Sunday of course.  When I first heard of this dish at a pub, I thought is was just a slab of roasted beef that this pub made every Sunday, and that was their "special."  Well, until after about 10 more pubs....I found that this dish wasn't so special at that pub.....So instead of me boring you with the history and true definition of this popular English dish, I'll provide a link that will do it for me.  http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Sunday_roast  It's pretty interesting if you love food.

So anyways....what the HELL is in this dish?  Pretty much Beef or chicken, peas, veggies,  and potatoes,  all roasted (hence the name Sunday Roast),  yorkshire pudding (which is pretty much a little pastry shell), and all drenched with Gravy.  I do have to say, if this dish were sold in a department store, it would be one of those,  "it looks better on the hanger," type of deals.  I mean, when I first saw a  picture of this concoction, I had to sustain from wetting my chin.  The drool from my mouth was endless....it looked that good.  Now, when the food touched these open-minded taste buds of mine, my mouth was as dry as an armpit smothered with Sure.  My taste buds were not happy campers.

Let me do a play by play.  So the veggies tasted like frozen rubbish thrown into water. The potatoes were just a ball of starch with no type of flavoring ever.  The Meat had me flossing for days....so dry and boring.  The yorkshire pudding made me want to upchuck all the disgusting for some reason.  And the gravy....was just brown sauce with no gravy.  Absolutely no taste.  I even tried saving this dish with a generous amount of salt and pepper, but to no avail.  I do have to say though, the only thing I liked were the peas....which is a food that I hate, pretty odd.  If I were a food critic for this combination of food, it would definitely get an uphappy fatman.  Not a good rating in my book.

Maybe the cook at this chosen pub was having a bad day, or this dish just plain sucks, whatever the reason, my mouth will not be embracing it anytime soon....or ever.  But that's just me.


 

My anonymous #10

This man is absolutely gorgeous!  Again, I found this picture in the fashion blog http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/  This one is my favorite by far.  Simply because this man is FREAKIN SMOKIN with SEXINESS!!!!  holy toledo.  *catch my breath*  *put tongue back in mouth* *inhale, exhale.*

Anyways.....because he makes my mouth water,  this anonymous Italian man is currently my number 10.

BTW,  sir, whoever you are.  If you are reading this, fyi,  I live in England.  Super short flight from Italy......just to let you know....

The English word is.....

 JUMPER!

 Ok, this word is a mind-boggler to me.  First, let me use this word in a sentence as how an English person would use it.

"I just bought a new JUMPER today, and can't wait to wear it."

Question marks right?  I mean, if you are from the states, and you were to hear this sentence you would be like, "huh?  Your'e gonna wear what?"  And then this vision will pop into your head:

Then you'll probably think that these English chaps are crazy in the head.  Well....not exactly...maybe at times, but in this case no.  First of all, people over here do not wear these type of jumpers....NOBODY would be able to wear one of these and look good in it...unless your first name is "Lady" and your last name is "GAGA."

But if you are a true Brit, you would know that in fact the word JUMPER refers to this ::

and this::

and these::

Kapeesh?

Yes.  The word JUMPER in US english translates to sweater.  Why?  I have no idea Watson.  But just remember, if a British person were to say they love your jumper, don't look at them like they were some psychotic weirdo, just look at your SWEATER and say, "thanks mate!"

Check these bad boys out

Being on the blue shoe subject.  I forgot to post this one picture in my previous post.

How sick are these puppies?????  Now obviously these aren't functional shoes, BUT they are something that will catch a shoe lover's eyes...hence it being in my blog.  Ferosh!

I got the blues for some shoes

Alrighty.  Let's get all fashion column here for a minute.  So over here in Europe, the trends and styles tend to skip a grade ahead of the style back in the states....especially when it refers to the subject of West coast.  So for those of you West coast readers...here's a little tip, if you would like to call it a tip.

Being a suzy homemaker, where some of my job titles include:: cooking, cleaning, donating to the economy via shopping, keeping the couch warm by watching TV,  and supporting the internet,  I am then able to keep up with the fashion world....which is one of my favorite worlds.

So with intensive research and observation, I've noticed a fashion trend that I never thought would happen::

Blue shoes

And it's not the color blue that got me all surprised, blue happens to be an occasional color accent in some of my outfit choices, but it's the shade of the blue that has been picked.  It's an odd shade of blue to me, and being a lover of colors....I dunno some of the outfits arranged to be committed with these eccentric shades of blue just don't get my eyebuds all tingly.  

I do have to say, the pictures that I have chosen don't really justify what I'm talking about, because these  blue shoes actually look cute with the chosen outfit (well except for the dude and the vespa pic)....but being a TV supporter, I've seen a few blue shoe outfits that made me quite quizzed.  Maybe, I'm slowly losing my fashion sense, or I just haven't had time to let this trend settle in...but as of right now I can honestly say that this trend may be a "what were they thinking?" in my own imaginary fashion magazine.

Oh, Berlin....you stole my stomach

So I know it's been a while since I've done a proper blog where I lay out my thoughts about my adventures over here across the pond. I've noticed that my past few blogs were quickies with not enough foreplay. But I must say, for someone who's unemployed, life has surprisingly become muy busy.  So for the next couple weeks, you'll be expecting some real blog postings...with real thoughts, good or bad about life out yonder.

Anywho, as you may know from a previous post, my one year anniversary of being a happy wifey to my wonderful hubby has passed.  Being the unique couple we are, we decided to fly out to Berlin for a few days to celebrate this wonderful occasion.  Ok, it wasn't our first choice....but it was the cheapest...BUT  I must say, I'm so glad we went there.

Berlin, is such a cool and awesome place.  Not only was it full of beautiful sights, and history, but it was full of artsy fartsy eye candy with an urban flair.  So my steelo.  Although I can easily blog about the sights, sounds, and feel of Berlin....I'm going to blog about another sense about Berlin before the memory goes away.  Taste.

Yes, Germany has procreated some of the most delicious food my taste buds have ever encountered.  If I were to stay there for another week, I could have easily become a BMW (Big Military Wife), and we don't want that.  Before our trip, the first thing people would tell me to look out for was the food.  Forget about the sights and history, forget about the shopping,  but head straight for the food.  Honestly, because we live in England, where the food pretty much tastes like cardboard with a bit of sauce, I was thinking that these people were saying this about Germany's food because our taste buds were so deprived over here.  My oh my, I must say, I was happily proven wrong...

Germany's food is heaven on earth.  It's like a magical moment dancing in your mouth once you touch it.  I couldn't get enough.  Here's some of the concoctions I gave my heart to ::

Ok, so this right here is a beast that I conquered with sooooo much happiness and passion.  This is a Doner.  To me, it's a mix of a schwarma and a gyro.  The thing that I LOVED about this the most was the crunchy bread that engulfed this beautiful monster.  Also, my hubby added some goat cheese to it which made it THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD!

These next 2 pictures are examples if why a lot of German ladies can be a bit on the robust side.  Tons of Sausages and pretzel (which they call bretzels) carts are sprinkled all around the city.  I say, you need to have extreme will power to live here, seriously don't know how Heidi Klum did it.

One of the dishes that I was told was a must try were schnitzels.  A schnitzel is pretty much a slab of pork in batter.  I think it may be either fried or baked....I'm thinking both.  One way that this schnitzel is prepared is as a Jager Schnitzel.  Pretty much it's smothered with mushrooms and this sauce that makes me twitch if I don't have one for the day.  SO, addicting.  

Here are the Jager schnitzels

This is a Schnitzel plain.

The hubby had  the same, but his was with boiled potatoes and carrots.  Wish I got his instead.

Now, of course I also had to try the infamous bratwurst.  This is how they serve it.

When I first saw someone eating it, I thought that they were on some atkins diet, since it was sans a whole loaf of bread.  Only to discover, this is how about 90% of the sausage booths serve their bratwurst.  Seems the main reason for the bun is so that you don't burn your hand when devouring this yummy piece of meat.  Germans are so clever.

One way that they prepare their sausage, which is my favorite, is in the form of currywurst.  I think that this is a big thing over in Germany, because apparently, they have a museum dedicated to this sausage.  And yes, I did attend that museum.

But anywho, this sausage is prepared with a type of curry/tomato paste, sprinkled with curry powder.  Please hold....I need to wipe my mouth.

Now, of course, you can't have your sausages without your fries....Germans call it Pommes Frittes.  I like that name better.  Anyways,  I would have to say, these are the best bunch of fried potatoes I have ever digested.  It's like they fry it in butter.  McDonald's got nothin on these bad boys.

So....what's for dessert?  Here, let me show you.  Please have a bib nearby...

Creme Brulee

A Vanilla and chocolate ice cream cake hugged with dark chocolate.  Pimple city.

And to match the size of their sausages, a Twix extra.  

Ok, for this next picture, you have to imagine a drumroll.....ready?

Ta Da!!!!  This masterpiece here is called Spaghetti Ice Cream.  What it is, is vanilla ice cream put through a spaghetti strainer and put into a bowl that already is half full of whip cream, topped with strawberry syrup and white chocolate bits.  With a wafer for good luck.

This was like fairy dust in a up.  MAGICAL.  

Sigh....although, I did come back to the UK 5 pounds heavier....I am 5 times happier.  No wonder the Germans are such happy people...

English word of the day

Alrighty....Here's another.  The English word of the day today is.....  QUEUE

Unlike the states, where this word would be used to let someone know it's their turn to go, here it's quite the opposite.  When someone uses the word queue, they are referring to a line.  Here it is in a sentence.

"OMG, the queue to get in is bloody long!"

Confused?  Yes I am.

*8809*

It's been a year....

For the special little princesses

So since I was being inspired earlier today by pretty visual things....I decided to put that inspiration to use.
Because my Princess invitations seem to be doing pretty well....I decided to design another type of princess invitation for my Etsy store.  Check it out and tell me what ya'll think!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Aimes88

This be cool

This song right hurrr is so hot in the clubs right now. Whenever this song comes on, you have all types of euro people moving in all kinds of crazy ways...including me. I don't know what it is about this song.... it may be the quirkiness and cool ass beats and horn tootings they have jumbled in this musical stew that makes my head bob, chest pump, guido fist pump and do some odd little leg hop move. It also makes me want to speak Italiano....not Americano.....hehe....

But yeah....check out the song and video, which btw is sooooooo visually orgasmic to the eyes. So creative and different!

Makes me wanna.....

...DESIGN!!!!   Soooo, loving the style of this bedroom.  I love looking at different types of interior designs.  It's also a great source of inspiration...

Mum's the word

OK, so the longer I stay and roam amongst the British natives, the more I discover that we really do not speak the same language.  Sure, both Americans' and Brits' original tongue is english...but it's just the way we label things that make it more confusing for both worlds.

I mean, despite the fact that I've been here for many months already, I still get lost when carrying a conversation with a British person.  Sometimes I feel like a dumb American who doesn't know anything or who doesn't know how to listen, because most of my responses to the opposite person usually start with the word, "huh?"  So to make it easier for people who plan on visiting this royal land, I've decided to do some postings where I will translate english into english.  You're probably thinking, "well, shouldn't be that hard," but after a week here, you'll thank me.

Anyway....the word of the day is::

HOOVER - in American english it means "to vacuum." Or they will refer to a vacuum as a hoover.

Here's the word in a sentence.

"I think I may have to hoover the house today." (as a verb)
"I need a new hoover, mine is broken." (as a noun)


Try using it today.  You'll feel British.

Oh how I love thee

One of the many reasons why I love Italy is this ::

Their swagger totally gets me.  I love how they present themselves, express themselves, through their choice of outfits.  Colorize themselves.  Bellissima!

Orange girl

This is an old youtube clip, but every time I listen to Peaches - Mommy Complex, the only thing that pops into my head is that girl in the orange. She's so F'in FIERCE!!!!