just a little update

All week the weather has been bad. It's rainy, cloudy and super windy. It's hard to live on a tropical island when the only "tropical" you see for weeks on end is "tropical" storm. Sure, we have amazing weather and views and I can see the ocean everyday, but we miss the sun! We have so much we want to get out and do! We haven't even had a chance to take out our new paddle boards yet. 

I've been working on a few photography sessions and am getting ready for my birthday coming up. My friend, Hailee's birthday is 4 days before mine so we are celebrating together. We plan on getting pedicures, then going out to a fancy dinner, then brunch on Sunday. A lot more low-key than last year! 

George has been working like crazy, long hours and then still has work to do when he gets home. He did win an award at work, a pretty prestigious one! I'm super proud of him. Under all his silliness, he's pretty smart! 

Not much else is new around here. We're just trucking along! 

12 days of christmas part 2

Here's the second half of the 12 days of Christmas gift ideas.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 7 swans a swimming... I got a pair of swim trunks!

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 8 maids a milking... I went really cheap on this one and got a set of ball markers for golfing that came in a pack of 8.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 9 ladies dancing... George packs a lunch every day for work and in it he packs a little bag of nut mix. He was about out and it just so happens the can comes in 9 ounces, so that's what I got for day 9.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 10 lords-a-leaping... I made George a little coupon for a 10 minute back massage.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 11 pipers piping... George drinks a chai tea latte every morning so I got him a pack of chai tea K-cups and packaged up 11 of them so he could enjoy 11 cups of piping hot chai tea!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 12 drummers drumming... I already used beer for day 6, so I couldn't get him a 12-pack of beer. I did find that golf balls come in a pack of 12, so that's what I got!

So these were my ideas, but there are plenty more ideas out there, or you could always come up with your own!

12 days of christmas part 1

I've never been huge on exchanging presents for Christmas. I feel like a lot of the season is spent running here and there and spending money on things your friends and family may or may not want or need. It all seems impersonal to me. I would much rather have a night together with friends drinking wine and playing games. Take the time to slow down and spend time with one another, instead of racing around to the packed stores just to check off your list of presents to buy. Don't get me wrong, I am not unappreciative of gifts by any means, I just would rather spend time together. Years ago my sister and I decided we wouldn't exchange gifts and when George and I first started dating, we decided the same. 

This year, my friend Hailee wanted to do something cute for our husbands. She had read about the gift giving idea that follows the 12 days of Christmas. She wanted me to go along with her and we could spend time together shopping and planning out the 12 days of gifts. I told her we don't do gifts, but I would go along with it because it meant her and I got to spend time together planning something sweet for our husbands. It also meant a little surprise for George, which didn't require spending a lot of time or money on gifts.

There were tons of websites that had ideas on what to get for each day but I kind of decided to wing it and just let ideas come to me! I also decided to start on December 1st because we will be traveling mid December and I didn't want to lug the gifts with me. Not to mention the time change would mess with which actual "day of Christmas" it was. Here are the gifts I did:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree... I got a shirt from a local clothing company. Nothing too creative (1) shirt for the 1st day.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 2 turtle doves... I got 2 chocolate turtle candies.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 3 french hens... I got wine and fancy cheese to tie in with the "french" theme.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 4 calling birds... I got a DVD with 4 movies on it.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 5 golden rings... I got a tunu gift set. Tunu means BBQ in Chamorro and George loves to BBQ. The kit came with 5 different spices/seasonings.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 6 geese a laying... I got a 6 pack of beer!

These are the first 6 days, tomorrow I'll post about the last 6 days of Christmas!

george's dirty thirty

This past weekend I threw a party for George's birthday. He turns 30 this week and we decided to have a bbq at our place to celebrate. We made Filipino style chicken with a homemade marinade, grilled pineapple, homemade fried rice, roasted asparagus and of course birthday cake! We also had George's favorites pineapple salsa and chipotle hummus for appetizers. Of course we also had a bunch of refreshments, and my Tom Collins were a hit, we drank almost the whole pitcher! The cake turned out amazing too! I made a white cake with homemade coconut buttercream and had fresh strawberries between the cake layers. So yummy! Quite a few of our friends showed up and we had fun playing Cards Against Humanity. My friend won the first round, and I won the second! It was such a fun night!

yummy strawberries

"happy 30th jorge!"

fancy little table scape

the makeshift bar area

wedding wednesdays - our 1st wedding anniversary

the flowers George sent me

Our first wedding anniversary was this past September. The 28th, to be exact. Unfortunately, we were over 6,000 miles apart for it. I was in California and George was still gone on a work trip, so we didn't get to celebrate together until we both got back to Guam. He did however, conspire with my best friend, Casey, to deliver me flowers at my parents' house the day of our anniversary! 

the view from our room, the bay is so pretty

Once we both were back on island, we did a staycation to celebrate. We stayed 2 nights at the Hyatt, the same hotel we began our relationship 3 years ago. We have a hotel package that gives us free hotel stays, discounted meals and free bottles of wine so our hotel stay was free! 

anniversary cake!!

The first night we got dressed up and had dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel, Al Dente. It was so good! The server let us use 2 of our free wine bottle coupons, instead of just the one. Score! The food was really good and so was the service. Our server even brought us a little happy anniversary cake!

nice calm waters for paddle boarding

The next day we walked down the beach and rented some paddle boards. We had wanted to try it since we moved out here but never got around to it. They are so much fun! We would love to be able to own some one day. That night we walked down the street to our favorite pizza place and then got desserts at the cafe in the hotel.

our last day by the pool

Our last day there, we laid out by the pool for a few hours before headed home. It was such a pretty day. The sky was really clear and the air slightly drier than normal. We really love the Hyatt and their pool, it's always so relaxing! So while it wasn't ideal to spend our first wedding anniversary apart, it was nice to have an almost free staycation at our favorite place!

father's day part 2

one of the photos I took for George

George was lucky enough this year to have both of his girls on Father's Day. We were also lucky to have his mom and sister visiting as well. For Father's Day we got George the new golf bag he's been wanting and I also took some photos of the girls for him. 

We spent the day at the pool at the Hyatt swimming and relaxing. We had a lot of fun just playing in the water, going down the water slide and watching the fire dancers at the end of the night. As the pool was closing we went down to the beach and watched the sunset. Right after the sun went down, two guys rowed up on an outrigger. We were standing next to them and they pointed out a small nurse shark in the shallow waters. One of them caught it and the girls got to pet a real shark. They were soooo excited and are still talking about it. Here's a recap of the day in pictures!

photo shoot

little miss Kiera

little miss Meli

George's sister and I riding island style

Kiera at the Hyatt pool

George and Meli

perfect sunset to end a perfect day

alone time

Yesterday, George went off island for the first time since we've moved. It's a weird feeling being completely alone out here. It's one thing to have all your friends and family back on the mainland, but its another to have your partner be gone as well. It's only for a week for I already feel very bored! My conversations since he's been gone have consisted of the cashiers at Ross, Tommy Bahamas and the Payless. Luckily, tomorrow I have a client booked for a Father's Day photo session so that should keep me busy. Besides that, I'll spend my time at the gym and getting the house ready for the girls. I can't believe they'll be out here in just 5 days! 

one of the videos I caught of the storm

Last night (my first night alone, of course) we had a crazy thunder and lightning storm roll through. I've never heard thunder so loud! The lightning lit up the sky, it was so surreal. Thankfully we never lost power! Hopefully it clears up a little, so I can head on down to the beach to keep myself busy with George gone!

memorial day weekend

How can it already be Memorial Day? It seems like just yesterday it was the summer before our wedding yet it feels like ages ago at the same time. George has a four day weekend and it's also our last weekend together before the girls come out for the summer! I'm so excited to see them and share the island with them. 

Anyways, I just want to tell everyone to have a good Memorial Day weekend. Have lots of fun, enjoy your friends & family and be safe! Just don't forget what the day is about. May all the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice be in your thoughts this weekend. I know we'll be thinking about George's grandpa, Commander Robert C. Hessom. It's hard to conceptualize the sacrifice that George's family made for our country. We are eternally grateful for what you and your loved ones have given. We thank you for your service, may you rest in peace.

Comdr. Robert C. Hessom

the wall in DC

mother's day weekend

We had quite an eventful weekend considering George had so much school to catch up on. We started off Friday night by checking out a dive bar down the street for happy hour. It was such a relaxing place, just our style. It is kind of a dive bar, but it's right on the beach and it's low key. We stayed there for a while and then went next door to Meskla on the Cove for dinner.

view from our table at the bar, that's George and his friend going for a romantic walk

As we were walking up to our condo after dinner, I noticed there were water lilies growing in one of the little koi ponds. I don't think I've ever seen one in real life! I hadn't noticed them before because they close up during the day.

water lilies!

On Saturday, George spent all day working on school so I just hung around the house and did some photo editing. That night though we met up with friends for dinner at Al Dente at the Hyatt. We had a really good dinner and some tasty bottles of wine. 

my step-mother's day surprise

Sunday morning I woke up to flowers, cupcakes and champagne sitting on the kitchen table. I was so confused as to why George had done this for me. It took a minute, but I realized it was Mother's Day and it was my first one since we've been married and I was officially a step-mother. I totally didn't expect anything, but George wanted to do something for me. It was perfect, cupcakes and champagne, my favorite! He got me my two favorite flavors of cupcake from Infusion, the Pumpkin Cheesecake and Haupia. Yummy! The rest of the day was spent around the house since George had to finish all his finals for school. Hope everyone out there had a great Mother's Day!

day shift

Since we moved to Guam, George has been on swing shift and would work until midnight to 4am, depending on what was going on at work. Today he started day shift and he has to wake up at 4:30am, a time he's used to going to bed at. Needless to say, it's going to be quite an adjustment in the Engleheart home. Since I'm not working, I try to mirror his schedule so that we can try and have time together since he works so much. Before we moved here, I was always awake before 9am and it was hard for me to stay up past 11pm. Now that I am finally used to swing shift, he switched! So now I sit here, at 9pm, a time I would usually start making dinner and I'm exhausted! So no fancy blog spot for today, I'm going to sleep!

rip opie

I'm not talking about the Opie character in Sons of Anarchy. And please do not tell me anything about him actually dying in the show. We just started season four and I don't want to know any spoilers! I'm talking about our fish.

This morning we found our fish, Opie, had moved on to swim in the big ocean in the sky. He was the first guy George added to his tank less than a month ago. He was doing great until we added another fish, Prospect, who turned out to be a little aggressive towards Opie. Last week we decided to remove Prospect and return him to the fish store in hopes that Opie would start eating again and get better. Unfortunately, he didn't make it. So goodbye Opie, may you rest in peace!

Opie  

hy's steakhouse

George had to work again this past weekend so we didn't get to do any island exploring. My weekend consisted of the gym, a nice dinner and laying by our pool. Rough, I know. 

a little sunshine by the pool

On Saturday night we were invited to a birthday dinner for one of George's coworker's wife. Since George had to work, I went alone. I didn't know most of the people there, but luckily my friend Erica picked me up so I had a partner in crime good friend to hang out with all night. We went to a high end steakhouse in downtown Tumon called Hy's Steakhouse.

Erica and I at our fancy dinner

hobbies

It really is true what they say about island life. Everything moves at a slower pace. To add to that, I am not working for the first time since I was in high school. That leaves for a lot of time to fill for not only myself, but for George as well. So we both decided to pick up some hobbies to help fill the time over here. 

I chose to pick up an old hobby from years ago, photography. It's my first time working with digital photography so I've been able to keep myself busy learning and practicing this art. Luckily, I have friends back home who answer my questions and can help give me advice. I'm really enjoying it and can't wait until I get a chance to visit home and practice on all my friends. Maybe one day I'll even be confident enough to take on clients! For now I'm just trying to hone my skills and capture all the beauty that is Guam.

George's hobby is a little more tangible. He's started a salt water fish tank at our condo! It's a small one and it's still in the beginning stages, but it already is looking real pretty.

fish tank after George got his first fish, Opie

It's quite a process to start a tank, but its been several weeks now and George just started introducing fish. He also has about 15 hermit crabs, no joke. We wanted a theme in naming the fish and decided to go with characters from Sons of Anarachy.