#OCAshinCSTX

Back in the good old days of recruiting duty, I tried to recruit this young man from Laguna Beach, CA.
If you remember the MTV slightly scripted reality show, Laguna Beach, you would know this area of Orange County is one of the more affluent areas (more affluent amongst an affluent county that is).
It's a difficult area to recruit from.
What 17-18 year old kid wants to join the Marine Corps when their parents offer them a brand new BMW to NOT join the Marine Corps?
Anyway, this young man I tried to recruit starting dating this young girl named Ashley from another high school in our recruiting district.
Whenever he'd come to visit us at the office, she'd accompany him.
I knew I liked her when she complimented by Vince Camuto patent leather heels I wore with my dress blue delta uniform.

**The issued uniform "pumps" are hideous, so I chose a more stylish black heel to wear with my uniform**

The young man never joined, and him and Ashley broke up.
Ashley, however, kept in touch with me over the years mostly via social media.
I watched her go from a little "high school" kid to a young woman all on Facebook.
I had been asking her for a while now to come visit us and my kids.
She works as a nanny, and is great with kids.
I always used to half-joke about her coming to nanny my kids for me here in Texas.
Well she finally took the plunge and came out to visit us this past weekend!
It was a short visit, but we packed it full of adventure and lots of Aggieland!

I wanted Ash to feel at home when she got to our house, so I arranged a toiletries basket for her!
I know as someone who travels a lot, I oftentimes forget the essentials like shampoo and toothbrushes!
I also came up with a clever hashtag to use for her trip here as we documented it on Instagram.
OC Ash in CSTX!

She slept in Dannika's room, and Dannika slept on the trundle bed.

The first night she came, we had some wine and watched reality tv on Bravo.
I was pretty excited to see her!

Of course, Mattis loves the pretty girls.
He was attached to her hip.

We took lunch to Dannika on Friday at her school.
I know she felt really special to have her guest from California have lunch with her!
I took her the College Station's famous Freebird's, but she didn't get a world famous burrito like she should have :-\ She ended up with a tomato filled burrito bowl. 

Then we took her on campus to show her around Texas A&M!
I FINALLY got to see Johnny Manziel's heisman!

I took Ashley on TAMU's sacred grounds...Kyle Field...Home of the Fightin' Texas Aggie football team!

We hit up the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

Mattis for Prez 2016....
Frankly, I think he may be a better President than any of the candidates we have running now.

Same kicks.

We took her to a new local taco join, Mad Taco, and had tacos (of course) and their famously delicious beet Margarita (tastes way better than it sounds)!

She got her first pair of Cowgirl boots....

Took her to Rudy's to have some fine Texas style BBQ...

We took her to the famous Dixie Chicken....

Bottle cap alley...

On her last night, we went to have drinks at the Saltgrass steakhouse.

Although it was a short visit, I think our little Aggieland can be packed into two days to experience it.
I told her she has to come during football season and tailgate with us to fully experience CSTX.
I know she had a great time, and we really enjoyed having her!

Until next time, Ash!

Christmas Party @ Messina Hof

I love Christmas time.

I love decorating...

It's the only time of year I really bake...

I love wrapping gifts...

I love shopping...

It's magical, right?

I also love the Christmas parties.

I know people who dread all the holiday parties, but I love them!

Any excuse to get together with people you rarely hang out with and socialize is a great time for me.

This year, the Texas A&M NROTC staff and active duty members had their annual Christmas party at Messina Hof.

They had me at "Messina Hof".

It's one of Nick and my favorite date night spots, and I love their Pinot Grigio more than any other Pinot Grigio in the world!

They had a buffet style dinner which was absolutely delicious, and of course, WINE!

The fakest Santa ever...played by one of the active duty Navy Lts.

Dannika caught on right away, and asked why Santa was so skinny.

He did a nice save and told her that he was, "Santa's helper".

She bought it. lol.

Mattis always seems to find himself a pretty girl to take care of him at these things.

This is Maggie (The CO's daughter), and our little man.

We had a great time, and the kids all left with gifts from Santa's basket of toys.

I have an ornament exchange party this week that I am looking forward to, and an white elephant party next week!

Do you like Christmas parties?

A Test of Marriage

There is no better test of the strength of our marriage than Christmas time.

Poor Nick gets tasked every year with putting up the Christmas lights outside of our home.

Although, I have volunteered to do it, and he refuses to let me, so I don't get why he complains....psh!

It usually goes something like this..

Me: Hey babe, will you put up the lights outside?

Nick: (begrudgingly) yeah....

Me: Well, if you're not gonna be happy about it, I can just do them...

Nick: NO...I'll do them. Just tell me how you want them.

Me: (gives him some sort of vague instructions like "just put them on the roof")

Then of course it's freezing the day I want him to put up lights, so I choose to sit inside my nice warm house while Nick freezes his butt off on a ladder with a string of lights.

(10 Minutes later)

Me: (walks outside and stands in the street to inspect Nick's work)

Nick: What? You don't like them. Something is wrong....

Me: No...well....nevermind. It's fine. Just leave them.

Nick: I can tell you don't like them. Tell me EXACTLY how you want them. I'll fix it.

Me: Well...if you insist. I wanted them this way (making vague gestures). You don't have to pull ALL of the lights down. Just that one section over there (pointing vaguely). 

Nick: (Rips whole string of lights down) I'm just gonna start over....

Me: You didn't have to get all pissy and pull ALL of them down.

Nick: Nope...I'm gonna do them right....

(15 minutes later)

Me: (walks outside to inspect)

Nick: What now?!

Me: Nothing! They look fine!

Nick: No, you don't like something.

Me: THEY'RE FINE! Leave them alone!

Nick: Whatever, they're staying up. 

It's truly an ordeal, and a test of the strength of our marriage.

I am happy to say that our marriage has survived every single Christmas light debacle. 

And he really did do a fantastic job.

Not only did he somehow manage to get this giant wreath hanging above our garage, but he strung lights on every peak of our house.

And he built this Christmas tree for me out of an old pallet!

I always try and get them matching Christmas jammies, but we decided to just go with a theme this year.

Fleece Christmas jammies....Mattis in green with Santas on them, and Dannika in red with snowmen.

 

My kids call this "mama's fancy tree".

We've always done a family tree and a Marine Corps tree.

This year, Nick let me have the Marine Corps tree to do as I please, and we combined the family and Marine tree together.

Coffee table centerpiece

Our family/Marine Corps tree

Dining room centerpiece

Above the piano .

Found these Christmas trees that are paper machéd with sheet music!

Decorating the house for Christmas is always such a fun time for me.

I know that Nick secretly enjoys being outside on a ladder hanging up lights for me too.

He may not admit it, but the look on his face when the lights turn on for the first time is priceless!

What kind of decorating do you do?

Thanksgiving Again with the Kims

I've been a horrible, horrible blogger.

Sorry y'all!

Classes have been kicking my butt, and if you have ever taken macro econ, you understand my level of pain this semester.

Seriously...I don't get why ANYONE would want to major in econ?!

I am done with finals, turned in my last research paper, and finally have a chance to breathe.

I figured I'd catch up on my blog, and update y'all on life.

If you follow me on Instagram (@domesticatedcombatboots), I pretty much overshare my life on there, so you don't need too much of an update on my crazy life. 

I figured I'd update y'all on my Thanksgiving!

I say it all the time, but Nick and I are so GRATEFUL to be stationed here in my hometown because of things like the holidays. 

Being a short drive away from my parent's house and extended family has been a blessing.

When we were stationed in California and Massachusetts, we rarely came home for the holidays. Flights were ridiculously expensive, and holiday travel is hectic and stressful with kids.

It's so nice to be able to wake up, go to the gym, shower, pack a few outfits, and drive on over to mom and dad's house for a few days.

We can leave whenever we want, and we get to see all our family!

WIN WIN!

We kicked off Thanksgiving week with Dannika's school's annual "Grandparent's Day".

My dad was working, but my mom got to come up and spend the day with Dannika at her school.

Dannika's Principal and my mama! My little sister and her daughter were best friends in high school and were cheerleaders together! She even went on a trip to South Korea with us the year I graduated from high school!

Me and my little pilgrim

Reading to her Gigi

Reciting a Thanksgiving skit!

Mattis always finds a way to make himself right at home in his sister's classroom. He got her teacher to give him a juice from her fridge, and conned some of the kids to read books to him.

Now onto Thanksgiving in Houston with the Kim Family!

Nick shot a buck a few weeks ago, and we decided to smoke the backstrap for Thanksgiving with my family!

My mom marinated it with Korean bulgogi marinade. It was heavenly!

On our way to Papa and GiGi's house! Cowgirl boots and all!

Dinner with the fam at our favorite Thai restaurant in Houston, Thai Gourmet!

Visited Grandma Kim

Mattis and his Papa. The turkey must have got to him.

My "baby cousin" Sophie

My Aunt Sharon

We typically do a Korean/American Thanksgiving....traditional turkey with all the fixings, and of course a ton of Korean side dishes!

Nick's friend from the Marine Corps, Tom. They served in Iraq together, and whenever we come down to Houston, we always get together with him.

Hanging out at GiGi's

My pretty cousins and me.

My mama has a little mini tree that she lets Dannika decorate!

It's Dannika's favorite thing to do!

I hope y'all had an amazing Thanksgiving and got to spend it with people you love and care about!

We are truly grateful to get to spend time with our family, as we know that most military family's are rarely afforded an opportunity to be stationed near "home".