Social Networking

Oh dear oh me oh my!

Good Lawd it is insane the amount of social networking sites out there. I will admit I have my fair share of them and that I am trying to figure out how to get links to all of my different pages setup as icons here on my blog. I found the code for one of them but I have no idea where I am supposed to put it haha. 

Well lets see here...

Pinterest:

• When used correctly, this site can be an awesome tool on the internet. It has definitely allowed me to organize my blogs that I like and more specifically the different crafts I want to do and the yummy recipes I would like to try to make! Although it has added some crazy ideas of wanting to be insanely crafty! So a big thanks to my mother in law who is helping feed my inner creativity by sending me a sewing machine! I have so many ideas for things so make I can't wait to learn. I also have this crazy itch to start knitting my own scarfs! So thanks to Miss. White I have some new knitting needles and some pretty awesome yarn (which ironically was made in Turkey LOL)! I also can't wait to get the rest of our stuff so I can REALLY start cooking and baking here.

Instagram:

• I love this app turn social networking site! But it does give people an excuse to take random pictures and upload all of them and have people follow your pictures. Haha I'm not really sure what to say about the app, but I really do enjoy it!

Twitter!:

• Twitter has to be the most mind boggling social networking site I've ever partaken in. I've attempted to "get into it" for years now and I still don't get it. I don't understand the whole # sign followed but a cluster of words... I don't know. Maybe now that I have a twitter account, because Mark made me, I will get the hang of it. For the most part I've used my twitter account to just say stupid shit haha. I guess that's all it's good for?? Some one fill me on this while Twitter nonsense. 

Google+:

• This is one that I feel hasn't fully caught on, or it has and I'm just outta the circle... Ha! See what I did there?? {If you have a Google+ account you'll know what I'm talking about. If you don't have one, well then maybe you should get one and then you can laugh at my dumb joke :) } The only reason I check it is because my homepage is Google and my gmail account is always logged in on my computer (maybe I shouldn't say that on here... eeep!) and the Google+ app is in the toolbar. 

FaceBook:

• My main source of communication with AMERICA and the people here on base. I think it is INSANE how big Facebook has become! But I will have to say those 2-3months without a Facebook account was pretty nice. Now not having one isn't an option haha I wouldn't know what was going on on the other side of the world! {Like the moth invasions in NM, or the Rise against concert!}

Blogger:

• Last but not least my new best friend! I want to say Thank you to Jamie for inspiring me to start a blog! I really enjoy reading her blog and want to get in on the action.{http://www.bloglovin.com/m/2970034/450029950/fb}  I find that this is such an awesome way to let all my friends and family know what's going on in my life out here. Although not much has happened since we moved into our house, I still try to write something. :) It's also nice to know that a lot of you guys tell me that you like reading my blog!  I wish I had some cool picture to put up this time because I think pictures MAKE the blog, maybe that's just my inner child haha! 

Adventures of PanPan?!

So everyone here talks about how CRAZY it is to drive off base. They generally describe it as organized chaos. Which I would totally agree with them on that... there are no rules of the road here. People drive in the middle of lanes, off the side of the lanes/road, park your car in the street..anything goes! If they think their car can fit they will fit it, 2 lanes can turn into 5 lanes. It's pure madness lol (You don't even want to get me started on the pedestrians, they have no fear!) They also like to give you a "courtesy" honk to let you know the light JUST turned green and/ or is about to turn green. Apparently it's supposed to be a friendly gesture and we were told to not take offense. Honestly it kind of irritated me a first but now I just laugh and joke with Rene, telling him that he needs to pay attention to the light! All fun and games until you enter the dreaded ROUNDABOUT!!!!

 I made this picture nice and big for you all so you can see the traffic lights that are INSIDE the roundabout. WHAAAAATTT???? I have no idea why anyone would think this is a good idea. It literally turns a cluster fuck into a Mega cluster fuck! And heaven forbid you get caught in that circle and the person to your right wants to turn right when you want to got straight... BAHHHH!

So I'm sure you are curious as to why I am writing about driving out here...{just like my last blog about flippin fruit and food, who does that!?} Today was my first day driving off base!!!

 IT WAS AMAZING!

I felt like I was in a video game or driving a go kart! I LOVED IT!

I had a blast, I was so scared that I would get all stressed out driving defensively since, in my opinion, I've tamed down as a crazy driver :)

Psshhh! I put all those aggressive driving and defensive driving class, that New Mexico made me take for all my speeding tickets, definitely paid off!! 

My friend Alyssa and I had talked about going to the mall in Adan to go to a walmart like store to get a few things that were a heck of a lot cheaper there, then buying them on base (paper towels, tp and junk like that). Plus I wanted to have a chance to drive off base in our crappy rental car before we got our car, JUST in case I did freak out and accidentally hit something :). So I suggested that we should go to the mall today, after the Thursday market of course! So me, Alyssa and 2 of her friends came a long with me on my AWESOME DRIVING ADVENTURE! *insert epic echo voice* Anywho with both mine and Alyssa's awesome observation skills we managed to get to the mall without the help of our handy dandy Garmin navigation. So proud of myself! Oh and not to mention I got us there safely! 

I got a little worried about the drive back because 1. it was just around rush hour time (weird they still have rush hour around 5-6pm in Turkey lol) 2. I had to go through the FULL roundabout in order to get home. I thought I did an awesome job, but I think I scared Roxy a little when I got pretty close to another car. I was just trying to avoid getting stuck going around and around in the roundabout (HAHA!) Alright so I can't find a picture of what their "organized chaos" looks like so I'll make sure to get a picture of it the next time we go out!

Gıda(GOO-Dah)

So one thing people keep asking me... "How's the food out there!?" to be quiet honest it's okay.  It's just like any other type of food, it's starts to get repetitive and rather boring. Not to mention that the food here is pretty bland. (sorry just being honest) It's a lot of tavas, shish, chicken doners and kebabs. Needless to say I'm over Turkish food.

I will say this though, I absolutely LOVE going to the market(s) here. They have a few throughout the week but I have only been to the Thursday market. Most of the 'stands' are produce but there are a few that have clothes, dishes, soaps...  It's almost like a tiny version of the flea market except with a lot more produce :) 

Why I love the Thursday market:

• The food is cheap ( <20TL!!)
• The food tastes DELICIOUS!
• The food is fresh!
• They will usually let you try the produce before you buy it (AWESOME!)
• Forces me to learn Turkish (or at least learn to say a few things)
• Better yet forces me to TRY and speak Turkish!
• It can be a nice social gathering!

Now for some reason I have had this crazy obsession with blood oranges. I have never tried one until I moved here, since they were non existent in New Mexico. Well when one of the wives told me you could get blood oranges at the markets I nearly peed myself from excitement! (not really but I was super excited!) So my 1st trip to the market I found 1 man that was selling blood oranges, well I have never picked blood oranges before so I had no idea what I was looking for as far as picking them out. So I bought 4, which quickly turned into 5 since that made a 1/2 kilo.. Well when I got home I was super excited to taste my 1st real blood orange. I cut it in half and realized that this perfectly round orange...was simply that, an orange. Talk about disappointment! 

So I cut another one in half, well this had a few red freckles in it but it wasn't a blood orange. I went to the bag, pulled out ANOTHER one and almost cut it in half but quickly opted not to since I had committed to eating 2 oranges already. Don't get me wrong they were the best oranges I've ever had in my life! But I was a little sad that they weren't blood oranges. Just as I finished the last piece of my freckled orange, Rene came home! (YAY!) I told him the story about my oranges so he went to the fridge grabbed an orange, peeled it and guess what! YUP a beautiful blood orange, go flippin figure! So I did a little research on picking blood oranges out and have had fantastic luck with them ever since! {I just googled how to pick out blood oranges and what I gathered was that the rind is supposed to be a little darker and a bit firmer then a normal orange. I just try to stick to finding ones that the rind is darker then a normal orange.}  Blood oranges will definitely be the one thing I will be sad about when we leave here.

 

So if you follow me on Instagram you've already seen this picture of my beautiful delicious blood orange :) 

^^^ This up here is a delicious salad with fresh Strawberry's from the market and Romain lettuce from the market as well. (also some almonds, feta and a yummy raspberry vinaigrette that I bought at the commissary in case you were curious as to what else was on it)  

GIANT MUSHROOM!!!! They were delicious as well, I put them in my lasagna that we ate for dinner tonight :) 

Oh and one other thing that I think is pretty awesome that I can get at the market is fresh eggs! It reminds me of Ali when we would go to sunflower market and she always buy local stuff things and ALWAYS ALWAYS cage free eggs :) Some of the eggs here still have dirt on them lol, or at least I think it's dirt....*dun dun dun!!!*

One year ago

One year ago today my amazing big sister married the man that quite frankly is the only man that I think can handle her at her best times and he worst times. I have been fortunate enough to witness a love that I thought only existed in fairy tales. I couldn't think of any two people that were more perfect for each other then these two. I wish them both many many more happy years of marriage! 

I love you guys and miss you! Happy Anniversary Keri and Matt!

Oh how I wish we were all back in Vegas :)

Is this real life??

• HOLY shit Rene and I are married!!!
• OMG I live if freakin Turkey!!
• OMG I'M MARRIED!!

Alright alright alright so we all know this is not new news! It is still just crazy to me. Never in a million years did I ever think that I would be living in a different country! I always figured I would end up staying in New Mexico forever! Granted Turkey was never on my list of places to live BUT this is an opportunity of a life time! Even more so that I get to experience is with the man I love oh so very much! Which by the way who would have thought that 3 years ago when Rachel introduced me to Rene that he would be the man I would spend the rest of my life with :)  {well I guess she did lol}

 

**GET READY FOR AN AWE MOMENT** 

I'd have to say one of my favorite things about being married are those moments that I fall in love with my husband over and over again. <3

Month 1!!

I can't believe we've been here for a month already! As silly as it may sound I don't think that it really started settling in until we got our unaccompanied baggage on Wednesday. My pots and pans, and a few place settings came with it, along with the rest of my clothes YAY!!! Now that we have some of our stuff it's really starting to set in that this is home.. eeeppp!!

 

So my house is a disaster and as you can see the important stuff was unpacked first. Our little TV, Rene's Xbox and of course my heels lol. To be honest I wanted to make sure they weren't smashed in the boxes. Lucky us the guy who packed our closet was the sweetest man ever! He individually wrapped each pair of our shoes!! So my heels weren't any different from when I left them in NM! 

 I know I know it's spring, but I couldn't help but put on my ubber comfy uggs (I missed them so!!) and right after that I unpacked the pots and pans! Priorities people! Well now that all of our clothes is here I cannot wait to get the rest of the stuff, since I have no where to put all the clothes. Yippy Skippy! 

So last Wednesday I went on a day trip with a few of the wives from Rene's squadron to Gaziantep. I had a lot of fun. We went to a mosaic museum which was a lot of fun and very interesting! I have all of those pictures posted on my Facebook since I think I took a picture of literally EVERYTHING in that museum! After the museum we went shopping in the bazaars in Gaziantep which was SO MUCH FUN! You walked down tiny roadways that are designated for these shops. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures but it was such a cool experience to say the very least.

So I didn't do a ton of shopping there BUT I did get a kilo of pistachios and some baklava from a restaurant, where apparently they have the best baklava in Turkey... it was delicious! So I brought some home for Rene to try. (Go figure he didn't like it lol) I'm thinking I will have to send my dad some pistachios since I was unable to send him a birthday present.

I also got me a mini strainer, for my tea when I make my London fogs! And that is the Baklava that I got.  Yummy Yummy Yummy!