laundry soap

Since moving to Virginia in October I have been planning to make my own laundry detergent. Then in December I finally started purchasing the little supplies that it takes. Then in February I had everything I needed. And finally in March, I ran out of my store bought detergent and had no other reason not to make it. So I did. And it is wonderful. Smells like tea tree oil and is going to last us forever.
The process is quite simple. You will need: Washing Soda (not baking soda and it's a little hard to find. I ordered it online ... still quite cheap), Borax (find it just about anywhere, in the cleaning section of the store), and a bar of soap (any will do, but try something all natural with not much "perfume" in it ... I used an all natural bar with tea tree oil). 

Steps ... I'll use my measurements, but just make sure you use the same proportions when you make the amount you desire.
1. Use a grater of your choice to grate two bars of soap (should come out to be roughly 4 cups)

2. Mix in 2 cups of Washing Soda and 2 cups of Borax.
3. Stir together, and store in an airtight container.
-only use 2 tablespoons per load

It is quite easy and goes such a long ways. We go through a lot of detergent, especially when John comes home from the field and makes our washing machine look like this ...

Oh the joys!

In other news: Little Brettsy (Brett) is here this week. Got in Saturday and leaves tomorrow. It's been so fun having a visitor! We've done a lot of eating, and just went shopping yesterday at the Outlet mall. Friday my Vandament grandparents come for the weekend, hoping to do some DC sight seeing! Then the next week Brook will be here! So so fun.

Graduation is right around the corner! Can hardly believe March is just about over! Our time here is coming to a close. It's bitter sweet. I am thrilled about the next leg of our journey, but sad to leave all of my wonderful friends. Good thing the "Marine Corps is small."
Oh, a few other happy notes I almost forgot to mention,
1. John got off EARLY last Friday (1400) and we had a wonderful afternoon/evening together. That one day felt like a vacation. We went on a hike (in 77 degree weather!) after a motorcycle drive through a beautiful area and found a cute little bridge, ate some sushi, watched a movie. Man, I just love hanging out with that husband of mine. Hoping for more of these days.

2. We received our Girl Scout cookies!! (Thank you, Parr girls!) John is yet to know this (he is out in the field yet again today ... but just for one day ... and this will make his day when he is back).
That is all for now. Look for a post on the wonderful comments I get while subbing. Freshman are just as funny as Kindergarteners.

success all around

warning: this could be a long post. but could also include lots of great pictures.

I must start with last week (FEX III). I woke up Thursday morning and said to myself "is it really already Thursday?" To me this means I made it through FEX III successfully. I was able to fall asleep much earlier than past FEXs' and worked three days. I also co-hosted a fantastic party! Another huge success that must be mentioned. We had a bookmark-making-and-recipe-swapping party. Filled with stamps, stickers, recipe books, and a table overflowing with food.

Only one more "long" FEX left (and two little ones).

On to the next success ... our wonderful "honeymoon"! After much inner turmoil, I finally decided on Virginia Beach, then after many hours on the internet, I decided on a hotel (with a hot buffet breakfast and oceanfront king suite and indoor pool/hot tub). And once the hotel decision was made, it was time to plan everything between waking up and going to sleep. Much like our wedding, there is nothing I would change about the anniversary weekend. To start things off we stopped by Chipotle on our drive to Virginia Beach. I drove the second shift (less than three hour drive total) and let the tuckered out John sleep.

We arrived at our hotel around 2300 (11pm) and crawled into bed. [forgive me for the play-by-play, I just don't want to leave out any of the details that we loved ... and that's just how my brain works]. The breakfast was amazing (I knew John would love the hotel for the buffet breakfast alone). We then spent the rest of the morning shopping for anniversary gifts. We decided to make this a tradition (spending some time on our honeymoons to pick out gifts for each other). John bought me a sweet watch (Nixon ... love it, and so will Tori). He also bought me an awesome pair of summer shoes that I cannot wait to break out. I bought John some sweet sunglasses. He has been needing sunglasses and no one likes to buy nice sunglasses for themselves, ya know? Or maybe that's just us. I also picked him out a nice summer shirt that I cannot wait to see him in (other than in the fitting room). So that sums up the gifts ... well for now.

Next on the list was manicures and pedicures (after a snack at Sonic, of course ... can't pass up Happy Hour). We had lots of laughs there, and left with clean, smooth feet and hands. Such a treat. And the place was called NAILS "R" US ... with the R backwards of course. Ha, partially why we chose the place. We walked in laughing.

We left the nail salon to go walk on the beach (right outside of our hotel). And wore flip flops! Spring has already reached Virginia Beach. The weather was perfect (high 60's) and the majority of the trees were already green and some even had flowers blooming! So wonderful. Not quite as wonderful as Cayman Brac, but it was pretty perfect nonetheless.

We just love us some beach! Even if there is no actual swimming in the ocean. It's just so peaceful to hear the waves crashing in through our sliding door. Ah, I wanna go back!

After our walk along the beach, we started getting ready for our anniversary dinner that will never be forgotten.

The dinner deserves it's own paragraph. We went to Terrapin. I am sure that means nothing to most, but it was breathtaking. We enjoyed the four course dinner. The restaurant is intimate and has an opening for the kitchen to be seen and candles at each table. Once we were seated we started looking through the menu and this was printed on the "Entree" page ...

Such a nice touch. I will try to make the food descriptions short. It was so amazing that Sunday night, as we were laying in bed, I whispered, "John?"
"Yea, babe?"
"I can't sleep. All I can think about is that amazing food from Saturday."
It was that amazing. For our first course, I had an arugula salad that had this oh-so-yummy caramelized apples! John had a pear salad with candied hazelnuts and so many other perfectly blended flavors. For our second course, I had the truffle mac-n-cheese and OH MY WORD, is all John and I could mutter about this dish (as usual, we shared our plates with each other). John had the Frito Misto, which was tempura shrimp and veggies. The shrimp were huge and amazing. Ah, this is making me hungry. Okay, our entree's. My, my, my. I had the Sea Scallops in this intoxicating mushroom sauce. Honestly, I could have had just the mushroom sauce and been overly happy. John had the Veal Short Rib and didn't even want to share ... but did. He loved it and cleaned his plate quite quickly. We finished with dessert (and this is the point I remembered to take pictures of the plates ... the presentations were better than anything I have seen on Food Network). So, dessert. Double chocolate Sherbet (made in house) for me. Apple tart for John.

We both kept saying, "this is the nicest restaurant I have ever been to." It is going to be hard to top.

After dinner ... we went to a dance class! That's right, folks, we learned the salsa. It was right around 45 minutes and we were the youngest by about 15 years. But it was a highlight to the weekend that I will cherish forever. Neither of us are quite experts (yet), but I can say I know the steps to salsa and had the cutest dance partner there! Sadly, we were busy dancing so there are no pictures.

Dancing wore us out, so we spent a while relaxing in the hot tub and pool before bed. SUCH a perfect Saturday and the weekend didn't end there! Sunday (after the breakfast of course) we checked out of our hotel, spent some more time on the beach. Then headed to Williamsburg (which is on the way home). We lucked out and happened upon the Art and Music festival happening downtown. It felt like summer in Omaha. Spent some time at the adorable little shops (bought a few more 'gifts' we just couldn't live without) and had dinner at a quaint restaurant downtown.

I just love how much we laughed. We truly enjoyed ourselves.
It took us awhile to leave Williamsburg (didn't want it to end!). But once we were home we cut into our wedding cake. I thought it was gross, and John ate it up. Ha!

It was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend. Like I said, success.

More pictures:

down the beach, we found this military aviation memorial

bikes in downtown Williamsburg

John enjoying the cake

all ready for dinner

John and our hotel in the background!

the water got him ...

and the water got me ...

from our balcony

unreal, from our balcony, 13 March 2011.

love love love.

Our one year anniversary is almost here. One year already. I have been calling it "our honeymoon" on accident for the past month or so, i.e. "babe, what should we do for our honeymoon?" or after seeing a great restaurant on FoodNetwork that is nearby, "ooo, maybe we should eat there for our honeymoon" ... it's honestly on accident. But John has caught on and is now calling next weekend our honeymoon. Which is ironic considering John has always celebrated our anniversaries (back when we dated in 2003, especially) and we have only had one honeymoon (well two, technically). But I think our anniversary celebrations will be called honeymoons from now on. And sometimes our honeymoons may just be a weekend getaway, but other times I am really hoping it is a trip to Italy, Ireland, Canada, etc. This year, it's a weekend getaway and I am thrilled about it.. In good ole Virginia. And I cannot wait to spend the weekend away with my hub.

But before we get there, there is another FEX in the way! John will be gone starting tomorrow till Friday. Thankfully, I already have two subbing jobs lined up (praying for a couple more). Pray for no rain and an "easy" week for John. And pray I can sleep at night. Already have a few nights planned with the ladies ... and after making it through two of these, I am feeling like a semi-pro. Bring it on!