James has been here since June and it has been a little over a month for me. It was about time we went to explore life outside the gates.

Since we live here we didn’t pack too much into our day. We spent the afternoon around and inside the Altes Schloss. The castle had a wonderful temporary exhibit honoring Christoph Duke of Württemberg. This marks the 500th anniversary from when he became duke of the area.

Many of you probably haven’t even heard of this guy. Don’t worry we hadn’t either till we went. His biggest claim to fame was unifying the Protestant Reformation for this area. In school I only ever learned about the Reformation going on in England so this was very informative to me.

On Monday, we took a much anticipated trip to Nuremberg. When we first learned we were going to Germany, this was one of James’ top places to go since it has some of the more pivotal World War II sights.

This was a very stressful day for us both and not at all what we had hoped it would be.

Our day started of very bumpy. Though we had a car reservation, there were none available for us. We had to wait over an hour and a half while they transported a car 10 miles to us. This put us behind our schedule which was very disappointing to us.

The first stop on our trip began to ease some of my disappointment in knowing we wouldn’t get to see everything. James was so excited to see the exhibit inside the unfinished Congress Hall. Inside of the building is an exhibit chronicling the rise and fall of their reign of terror. The museum, takes you through the history and impact the Nazi Party had on Nuremberg.

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

I’ll be spending my night doing some truly horrifying and wicked things fit only for such a night as this.

LAUNDRY!!!

Ok but seriously the amount we have is actually horrifying. One day everything was clean then BAM!!! Not so much anymore.

No horror films for me tonight though. Like any true book lover I have opted for a supensful novel that will hopefully keep me on the edge of my seat. Broken the first book in the series LOST (Last Option Search Team). They are tasked with protecting the only survivor of a serial killer, who has no memory of attempt or even who she is.

Have a spooktacular Halloween!!!

I found this while making my daily scouring of Pinterest, and thought I would give the Link Up a try over the next few weeks. Basically five things that have been on my mind lately. Here we go…

James and I have gotten OBSESSED with The Amazing Race this week. We are following along with the current season and binge watching last season. Blind Date Amazing Race? YES!!! Couples with history vs those who have just met by sending in a a video wanting to be matched up. It’s like The Bachelor/Bachelorette so you know I’m hooked. Currently I am battling with the don’t spoil it for myself since it is already over. The struggle is real.

Have any of y’all heard “Stitches” by Shawn Mendes? This song has been on serious repeat i our house and God bless James for not going crazy yet since I have to listen to it everyday several times a day. The video not my favorite but the song is AMAZING.

I have gotten so far behind on my reading and now Jennifer L. Armentrout has another book out to put me further behind making it four series I need to get seriously caught up on. Don’t even get me started on the other million and a half books there are to read.

It is that time of the week again where I need to do my menu planning and make the grocery list. At least from my madness, y’all will get some really great dishes (hopefully).

And finally, with October ending my Christmas planning has begun. If I could get away with it the tree would be up and decorated as soon as it became November 1.

 

 Hmmm… I wonder which one James is…

AGAIN!!! I have no pictures, I promise I am hanging my head in shame right now. Nothing went wrong with this one, unless you count the fact that we didn’t like ham and Swiss cheese combo. I just totally spaced on getting a picture. I promise from now on the camera will stay in the kitchen with me.

Stating the obvious: There isn’t a picture added to this post. Long story short, I really over cooked the bacon. I did not want to photograph the sandwich at all. Honestly I was so upset by it I wanted to cook more, but James wasn’t having it. Something about burnt bacon is still bacon and all that. Anyways, very “crispy” bacon slices later I did have a mostly delicious sandwich. I will be making this again in the near future and adding a picture for everyone. Until then here is the recipe.

Delicious, delicious, delicious. A summer must!!!

Crumb Cake is one of those things we always get when we go to Starbucks. Always. If they have a slice we’re eating it. James is so European and he doesn’t even know it. He loves having his coffee with the little pastry cakes. Honestly the crumb part I wasn’t too crazy about. I will however be using this recipe to make a certain puppy who will be three in December her birthday cake. We’re crazy dog people we know. If anyone makes this, or anything else on here for that matter, post a comment telling me all about.

Since our return from Heidelberg, my days have been filled with making this apartment our home. The other day I spent several hours arranging the furniture in our living room. When I first got here I had an idea of how I wanted things set up. I set to work on moving things around to make it just so. I proceeded to sit down and watch Beauty and the Beast (TV series not Disney movie of awesome-ness). That was when I decided I didn’t like the set up, so in a move my mother is very familiar with, I took the furniture on a tour. I tried out several different layouts and about two, maybe three hours later settled on one. Any guesses? That’s right, it is all back to where I originally wanted it to be. As I finish each room I will add photos for y’all to see. As of now the hall/entryway and the bathroom is to my liking.

Due to our love of chicken thighs I thought in this post I would share some facts about the poor over looked chicken thigh, that is considered unhealthy.

 

I made this yesterday for breakfast because it was so easy and incredibly fast to put together, which is perfect when you are on a schedule. I would highly recommend serving with a green apple or any other tart fruit. The combination of acidic fruit and  savory chorizo is delicious. Easily a favorite in our house.

I got to spend all day yesterday with James and it was amazing!!! We had a huge list of things to do and yet by the end of the day it really felt like we had done a whole lot of nothing. Bear with me this is a long post but it has pretty pictures.

I decided to make this because I am obsessed with Jambalaya that comes in the box and you add the sausage. Y’all know what I’m talking about. Anyways my love of that is why I made this. Heads up this can be a real sinus cleaner so if you’re a little stuffy whip this up and you’ll be right as rain.

This pie crust is from scratch. I had never made pie crust before Sunday morning. It was tedious and exhausting and by the end I wanted to cry and give up. I pressed through it all and refused to give in to buying pre-made crust and let me tell you something… It was SO worth it. It was the most delicious crust I have ever tasted. The temporary loss of my sanity was well worth it.

This is One of James’s favorites that I make. It is really delicious and it’s great because it’s so easy to adjust how spicy or how sweet you want it to by adjusting the hot sauce to honey ratio and the type of peppers you use. I make ours with enough spice to tingle your tongue.

Before I left for Germany, I watched The Chew on ABC, religiously. I would DVR it for watching convince. One day they were making a scampi dish and this is when I learned Shrimp Scampi has been a LIE. Red Lobster I am calling you out!!! Ready to have your mind blown? Take a guess as to what scampi means. Go on… Ok here it goes… The definition of scampi is the term given to shrimp when it is cooked!!! I’ll say it again: Scampi = COOKED SHRIMP!!! Yes it also adds cooked in butter and garlic and often times white wine but COME ON. Ok my rant is over. I hope I have enlightened at least one person today.

Back in May, James graduated from boot camp and A-School. After a brief eight days of leave, he went to Germany for his first duty station. Fast forward four months and tons of leg work to get me here as well, I FINALLY arrived a week ago.