Monday, February 28, 2011

Molten Chocolate Cakes...oh and it's MOVING WEEK!

I'm back! It's been a few days but I was having such a great time with B! We always have so much fun...even if we are just sitting around watching The Notebook 15 billion times and Facebook stalking people :] That saying about true friends are the friends that can go long periods of time without seeing each other or even talking but as soon as they meet up again it's like no time has passed at all...that is B and I! Saturday we went to one of those places where you paint your own pottery, we painted mugs. Then later that night we somehow came across this recipe for Molten Chocolate Cakes and of course we HAD to make them! So it was off to Walmart at 1 AM! We used a regular sized cupcake tin and they were the perfect size for one person.
They came out of the pan so easy, and it was even easier to cut the holes in the middle for the hot fudge.
We also used dark chocolate fudge cake mix, it was super fluffy and moist and just delicious, for the hot fudge we used the Hershey's brand, because it tastes like Hershey's chocolate instead of having that weird hot fudge taste.



We put them in the bowls before we added the ice cream on top. For the ice cream we used mint chocolate chip because that's what B had in her freezer, we thought it turned out way better than it would with plain vanilla!
Next, more chocolate on the top! The recipe says to use chocolate topping that hardens on the ice cream, but we bought chocolate peanut butter flavored instead and didn't think that would work with the mint...so we just used more fudge!
They were AH-MAZING!!!!
B and her Molten Chocolate Cake!
Me excited to eat our tasty creations!




This is what delicious desert looks like.

These are the leftovers...that are still moist and delicious today!
About the time our middle of the night baking sessions normally end :]

It was a GREAT weekend and I was sad to leave but I was needed back at our apartment to help get it ready for the move. My morning of getting the apartment ready for the walk-thru with the manager started with the mini-blinds falling on me when I pulled them up to open the windows, did I mention I was getting the apartment ready for the final walk-thru? OF COURSE that would happen to me. While Ronnie was at work I started painting over spots on doors and walls, BUT the white paint they gave us didn't match, so I ended up painting most of the doors, door jams and baseboards! THEN that paint smells like cat pee and rotting wood, so of course when they came to do the walk-thru the lady was like "There is a definite pet smell, so you will probably have to pay to have the carpet replaced." Ronnie just spent the weekend steam cleaning the carpets and removing stains, the place smelled better than it did when we moved in, when I got home last night. Oh well, hopefully it smells better when the paint dries!

I am so excited to just pack the truck up and leave! I can't wait for my mom to get here on Thursday night, I hope we have time for her to see a little bit of Charleston before we leave on Friday. Before that, I want to collect some Spanish moss, and go down to the beach one last time.

I'm glad that Ronnie has a month of leave, and I'm glad we will get to spend it back home with our family and friends and I'm SO lucky to know, but not for sure, I at least have him until mid-April. But the time when he could just be gone is getting close, it's a sad feeling just hovering over us and I know he feels it too, but we can't let that get to us. We can't obsess and worry over the inevitable, we can only live in the moment, and make the most of the time we are given.

Tonight I have my husband home, and at this moment that is all I could ever ask for.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

The B!!!!

Packing Day 3: Exhausted! But our apartment is looking less and less like people live here! It's kind of sad leaving our first apartment together...but I am SO EXCITED to find out what comes next! As of right now we don't know where we will be living in San Diego, but we have a month of leave to figure that out, it was funny listening to the Hubby on the phone with the military housing people trying to convince them we are having babies soon so we could qualify for a place with more than one bathroom.  It's CRAZY, but I know everything will work out, only because it has so far! I just bought my mom a plane ticket to come out and help us drive across the country, that is going to be so much fun!

So far I've learned that being a Navy Wife takes a lot of TRUST, in God, in your Husband, in yourself and in your family and friends. And the more trust you have the more fun it gets. Personally, I love this moving every few years plan. A couple weeks ago when we didn't know where we were going yet, I was obviously anxious about it, but it was so exciting to me to find out. I think a lot of adjusting well to this life is your attitude. If you are negative about things, you wont be happy, if you stay positive then everything will be that much more exciting.

And speaking of EXCITING...
This weekend I am going up to North Carolina to have some much needed girls time with my bestie, B!

We have been really close since we met in 7th grade, B had just moved to Arizona from Georgia and she talked kind of funny, but she seemed really nice so I asked her to be in my group for a project on nuclear weapons, of all things. We pretty much clicked right away, and did just about everything together! Jr. High was awesome because of B, and her family became a second family to me. Her mom is a big source of inspiration to me as a military wife. B's dad was deployed with the Marine Corps right after 9/11, and it was rough on everyone but she stepped up for her family and was this great strength that kept them all together until he came home again. I hope that when the time comes I can be just as strong and level headed as her. :]
 After our freshman year of high school B's dad retired and they moved back to North Carolina. It was really sad but they asked me to make the move with them and spend some time in North Carolina over the summer! That was an amazing trip, I saw so many places and things I'd never seen before.
 
 Since then we have been back and forth to see each other at least once a year. So moving to Charleston was great for us because it's only a short drive instead of an all day flight! 

  We even spent Thanksgiving with B's family this year! So basically it's our last opportunity to spend some time together while live within reasonable driving distance of each other! 

We've already started planning our shenanigans.

I'm EXCITED! :]



Tuesday, February 22, 2011

They don't sell packing elves at Walmart

The packing has started!!!!
Not my favorite thing, but it's getting done. One box at a time. I didn't think we'd actually accumulated so much stuff in the year we've lived here but unfortunately we have, so that means a trip to the store to get more boxes and a few other "packing necessities"; trash bags, bubble wrap, packaging tape, extra large sharpies for labeling boxes, packing elves...I wish they existed! Haha, like the elves that made the shoes at night for the shoemaker in that story. It would be awesome if I just woke up and everything was packed neatly into labeled boxes ready to go. We are doing a DITY (Do IT Yourself) move so...no government movers to pack everything up!
The closest thing I have to a "packing elf" is Charlie and he does more of the finding new things to play with than actually pack :] But it's okay! I don't mind packing by myself because I like knowing exactly what is in which box and where it's going, since I am STILL just now finding things from the last move! My goal for when we get to our new house is to not have anything in boxes after a month...we'll see how that goes!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Finally.

I finally did it! I started a blog.
Of course I figure now is a good time, since we are getting ready to move from one coast to the other, no big deal right? Ha, I finally decided to do this because; I have a little extra time, and it's something I've been wanting to do for awhile. And here is the best part, it isn't an assignment for school or a requirement for life, I started it for myself.  My new creative outlet, since "art school" of all things took the creativity out of everything for me.
I chose the name of my blog (which took days) not just because I like sea shells, and I like taking photos. Sea shells come from the sea, and that is where my husband will be for months and months at a time. One of my favorite things about the Navy is we are always going to live near a beach (it may not always be one in southern California...but any beach is better than no beach!), which is one of my favorite places. And snapshots, photos, pictures, they not only can tell you so much about not only the person who took them, but establish a connection between the people, places, and things in them. With a blog, each post is a snapshot into the writer's life, and I think people are so drawn to them because of that same connection they feel.
So, this is for me, for my friends and family, and anyone else who feels a connection with what is going on, on this crazy adventure.