Currently Craving: Dessert{s} + Other Goodies

We have been gone for a little over two months now. Two--can you believe that??  Let me tell you the one thing I truly miss; my kitchen. I never understood before now how much I took for granted a full sized stocked fridge, multiple burners, and an oven that I have always had access to. Rest assured though it will never happen again!! Some moments occur where I miss the freedom of walking into my kitchen and whipping up a delicious treat for me and my familia. Like these ones below----->

{WARNING: may cause drooling}

On the other hand, I don't miss the piles of dishes that were usually left in the wake of the mama of the families occasional Mad Hatter ways in the kitchen. In my defense the results where usually well worth it! I haven't used an oven since we left...that feels so odd to me, yet there are so many people here in Colombia that don't even have one; have never even used one. I feel so blessed to have the simple things that make me so incredibly happy in life. Yes, like an oven.

Man I would kill for a good old fashioned American Cheeseburger!! And some BBQ chicken. And some homemade chocolate chip cookies. Don't misunderstand, you can get most of these things here, but they just aren't the same. I'm nor sure if that's good or bad, but there it is.

Now go into your kitchen and bake something for me your family. Anything. Get a move on now<33

xO-Etheline

Words To Live By

Seeing as how I'm married, this does not apply to me.

On the other hand, seeing as how I'm a {big time} Jane Eyre fan and was a tiny bit smitten with Mia and Michael after seeing them portray Rochester and Jane....Well it totally does. And come on...it's so funny.

Most importantly; this is for my single gal pals. {Bailey...this means you<3}

xO-Etheline

In Memoriam

Happy Memorial Day my American friends!!

This Memorial Day is a wee bit different for us. If at home I'd be gearing up for BBQ and wearing shorts and flip flops that mirrored the above picture. Instead Royal and I are going horseback riding, you heard me, horse back riding. The 7 year old little girl in me is crazed with excitement. Yes, I was one of those little girls who adored horses, but only rode a pony around a circle once. {lol} Tomorrow though all of her dreams will be coming true! Isn't Royal the best??

Moving On...

Even though we are experiencing life in a new way doesn't mean that we forget who we are. {Patriots!! Yes we are from New England} Tomorrow is a day to remember all those who have fought valiantly for our freedoms. It's a time to share stories of my pop-pop who served in the Korean War with my kiddos. I love the memories I have of this man and cannot wait to tell some of my great memories of him.I was lucky enough that he did not have to give his life, but I know others through out the many decades of our country's short life have not been so lucky.

It is my sincere hope that we can, amongst all the fun, take a moment of pause today and observe a moment of silence with our friends and loved ones to remember the brave men and women who have served fiercely for these United States. For our home.

xO- Etheline

Words To Live By

Over the weekend I was followed around by a metaphorical, as well as literal dark cloud, that taunted me with a torrential down poor at any possible moment. And therein was the excuse I needed to let the major chip on my shoulder loose on whomever or whatever I pleased. I knew I was being terribly irrational and cold to loved ones as well as perfect strangers, but I felt like I had hit my first wall since we had left home. It had been a little over two weeks since we arrived in Colombia and the romance of a new language had fizzled out for. Instead I found myself angry that I couldn't communicate beyond a "Hello, how are you?" I was tired of it being cold and rainy, and my never ending supply of patience with my kids was running low. Royal decided to come down with a gnarly cold and share it with Margot, and when she is sick...she flips her switch and becomes something similar to a raging little lamb! So we have been hulled up in our tiny apartment for what is turning into a long weekend and everyone is beginning to show symptoms of cabin fever.

During the minutes I was experiencing these hardships I wanted to cry to someone about how horrible life was, because at that moment I was so blinded by what I was feeling that I thought the sun would never reappear.

When I woke up this morning after being up with Margot for 3.5-4 hours last night I was expecting to be irritable and tired. To my most happy surprise though I felt well rested and chipper. I came down with the kids at 7am and made pancakes for everyone while Royal slept upstairs.

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While I was flipping pancakes I couldn't help but remember this quote I found a few weeks ago because you see I was acting ridiculous. Even though it wasn't the greatest of weekends of my entire life it forced me to stop and take a step back. I needed to look at the whole picture so that I could realize that I am truly blessed. My family is all healthy and we are traveling this great world. My husband and I had the means for him to quite his job and still be able to take care of all out other responsibilities. I get to spend every day for the next {at least 6 months} with my husband without anyone or anything getting in the way. How flippin' lucky am I??!?!

I'm so grateful for words like these that happily break into my thoughts when I'm in a rut of feeling sorry for myself. A real "pick yourself up by your bootstraps" kinda quote. So this week let's all try to shake off the negative we are thrown up against and focus on things we do have and are blessed with. Who's with me??

Happy Tuesday Friends--

xO- Etheline

Current Obsessions

Alright-- For those of you out there who know me I doubt it would come to you as a surprise that I'm not what one would call a "fashionista". It's not that I don't like fashion because I do. I love it. {well most of it. have you seen some of the stuff out there??}

Every so often something catches my eye that I just fall completely in love with. This season its scarfs. There is something so wispy and feminine about them that I just adore. However, after I bought one I found myself asking, "Alright, how exactly do I wear this?" I jumped onto trusty google and found the viral video 25 Ways to Wear a Scarf in 4.5 Minutes found here. With over 11 million hits how could you go wrong? This led me to stumbling upon Wendy's own site called Wendy's Lookbook. I immediately was drawn to her style. It was a wake up call that me that was saying It's Time! Time to start coming to terms with your womanhood. It's time to put away the jeans, tee shirt, and converse and have a more presentable looks. Please don't get me wrong. I love tee shirts and jeans and wear them whenever I can {I'm a mother of 3...lol} Finding this fashion wonderfulness was like the hand to hold I needed to cross over into fashion womanhood.

I watched a lot of her tutorials and looked at her outfits and started to apply them in my own wardrobe. While I was out over the weekend with Chaz we were are the mall and a woman who was just passing by looked me up and down, smiled and said, nice outfit. I don't tell you this to gloat by any means, even though I was tickle at the comment. This kind of thing has never, I repeat NEVER happened to me.

So now I am currently obsessing over several things for spring and I made a little collage below for fun over at Polyvore to share.

Current obsessions by cat-martin featuring sheer tops

Uhh! Isn't Julianne Moore ravishing? She is one of my red head icons. Which I will devote a whole other post to later in the week.

xO- Etheline