Officially Official

So you may have notice, but things look a bit different around here. I loved my original design by Marquis at Simply Clarke, I couldn't resist getting a new one when I won a giveaway over at Niecior's Notes. Amanda did such a great job! I was super picky because I knew exactly what I wanted. She worked with me through all of my crazy demands and hundreds of changes and gave me exactly what I was wanting. What is it about a new blog design that feels so refreshing? Also in the giveaway, I won a domain name. Amanda hooked me up and I am now officially bellblissblog.com. I never felt like I needed to have my own domain name, but now I understand why bloggers say it is so important. Thank you Amanda!!

Now onto my weekend. Friday was a half day at school, but after a couple of meetings, all I did was come home and sleep. Thank you sickness and thank you children with germs. I slept for a significant amount of time and woke up Saturday morning feeling so much better. Saturday I attempted to get up early to clean and workout, but that didn't really happen. You win some, you lose some. It was a beautiful day so after making food for a cookout later in the afternoon, Lexie and I decided to go for a walk. The men working in the field behind our house decided it was "take your goat to work day" and had a goat tied up along the sidewalk. Lexie was really interested in it, until it made a really scary noise at her.

On our walk, we like to climb this huge hill, just for this view. It was a perfect day in the bay, as I like to say.

Later that afternoon, my friend and I drove up north for a little BBQ and bowling. I hadn't been bowling in such a long time. I am still as bad as I used to be, but I randomly bowled a 90 one game. That is probably the highest I have ever bowled. And how did I forget how ridiculous bowling shoes are?

Sunday I spent the entire day in my classroom. I planned on going in for a couple of hours, next thing I knew I had been there for eight hours. We have this important visit this week and I had to make sure my classrooms and lessons were ready. I feel like my classroom is finally coming together and I hope to share pictures here in the next two weeks or so. It has been a long process, but I am really enjoying it. 

As much as I have been enjoying teaching, I feel like I haven't gotten to enjoy this beautiful island lately. I have been feeling a bit down about it because I want to make the most of every moment we live here. When we first got here, we were exploring every minute of the weekend. I haven't even tried many new restaurants lately. I miss our adventures every weekend. Maybe once Jake gets home and I have gotten in a better routine and balance with teaching, the adventures will resume. Until then, I still enjoy waking up to this every.single.morning.

Get in Touch With Your Adventurous Side With Gipsy Dharma

At the beginning of the year, I did a guest post on finding adventure in 2014. One thing I suggested was going out of the box and buying or wearing pieces of clothing you love but are a bit different from your day to day wear. I recently was introduced to an online boutique that exudes adventure and excitement.

Gipsy Dharma is an online store based out of England that specializes in handmade, unique clothing and leather boots. The boots that Gipsy Dharma provide are truly one of a kind. Each pair is handmade from genuine leather. There is something about quality, handmade items that make wearing them that much better. Not just that, because of the quality of the materials and the durable soles, these boots will last a long time.

As soon as I saw these boots, the first word I thought of was whimsy. They are so exciting and bring fantasy to every day wear. Go on over to Gipsy Dharma and check out all of the wonderful items that await. There are so many options, from ankle to above the knee. They even have handmade, leather flip-flops.

High Five For Friday 3/21

Last week I pushed myself to the limits, staying up late and doing nothing but working, and then staying out late with friends on the weekend. I was feeling fine and the lack of sleep didn't seem to be bothering me that much, so I kept pushing on. This week, it finally caught up to me and real bad. I have been super tired and now I am sick. My immune system hasn't adjusted to all of the germs that come along with elementary school kids yet I guess. And then on Thursday, I had one of those days where everything seems to not go right. I woke up late, Lexie was sick, I got my key stuck in my front door, and then later that night as I was making meatballs, I spilled them all over my oven and floor. As I looked at my wonderful meatballs in pieces all over my oven, I wanted to cry. But instead, I just sat down and laughed. I mean really?? How do you drop your meatballs everywhere? Thankfully, I had a whole tray of perfect meatballs, and they were delicious. But here is how the rest of my week played out.

{one}

Last week I bought a juicer off of someone on the Craigslist-type website here. That website is awesome because all the Americans here use it and you can find so many great things on it. I got the juicer for $15. It was old but had only ever been used once. I have been drinking juices all week but I am looking for more recipes, so if you have a good one, please share! My current juice is carrot, cucumber, kale, spinach, apple, lemon and ginger. It is pretty tasty. But I will tell you one thing, juicing is not cheap. 

{two}

I had to give our inherited class pets a bath the other day. I hadn't ever really paid much attention to them, they are just hermit crabs found at the beach here and they just kind of sit around and eat stale popcorn. When I was getting them out to give them a bath, I discovered there were 25 of them. 25! It was so interesting to see them climbing all over each other. 

{three}

I love living in the more rural area part of the island. Most people live down towards the more populated area of the island and where there is a concentration of bases, where as we live further out where everything is more spread out and quiet. Every day when I am driving home from work on cute little back roads, I see the local farmers out tending to their crops and the bull trainers taking their bulls for a walk. It is so fun to see how daily life plays out here. 

{four}

With all of the birthdays and special events, teaching has not been good for my clean eating. I really couldn't resist when a student brought in red velvet(my favorite) cupcakes for their birthday. I have been making some yummy, clean meals for dinner. My two favorite recipes this week:

Baked turkey quinoa spinach meatballs (These were THE meatballs that fell all over the oven. But they are absolutely delicious and my newest obsession)

Quinoa Pad Thai

It wouldn't be a favorite meal without quinoa!

{five}

Today Jake and I have been together for 6 years (and married for almost 2). SAY WHAT? That seems like forever. So cliche, but I can't wait for the many years to come. 

This picture was exactly 6 years ago. I share this picture all of the time, but it is my very favorite, so I probably won't ever stop. I knew that day something exciting and real was starting, but I never knew we would be where we are today. Love you Jake!

Have a good weekend!

Linking up with Lauren, Darci, Rebecca, Casey, and Jennie

Best of Both Worlds

This post was originally a guess post over at Niescior's Notes, but I wanted to share it on here today because I don't know how many of my readers got to read it. This post really explains my life here in Japan and why it isn't a typical "expat" experience.

When people ask about my life here, I always explain it as having the best of both worlds. No, I'm not actually a popstar living a normal life (Hannah Montana anyone?).  But I am kind of a poser. Yes, I'm calling myself out. I am not a "real" expat. At least I can admit it, right?

Here's the deal, my husband is in the Marine Corps, and they moved us to Japan. Living in another country on military orders provides the best of both worlds. We get to have all of the experiences of living in another country. We experience the culture, the food, the sights, and all the wonderful things that this country has to offer.

On the other hand, we get a lot of the comforts of home. I can buy all American groceries at the commissary on base. There is a store on base that sells any American product we may need; furniture, electronics, make-up, clothes, etc. I can go to the doctor on base whenever I need to. We can go to restaurants, movies, and bowling on base, just like being in the States. We have so many resources available to us to help make our lives in another country easier. We also have tons of other Americans in the same boat that we can be friends with.

These American comforts are what make me feel like an expat poser. I feel like we don't have to face as many hardships that other expats face. We didn't have to be super brave and make the decision ourselves to move abroad, we were sent here. We don't have to experience adjusting our cooking to not having any American products. We don't have to navigate a foreign healthcare system. Not that we wouldn't want to be friends with locals, but we have Americans to be friends with as well. We are given money from the military to help offset the cost of living, which we wouldn't get as regular expats.

I am not going to lie, I kind of like being a poser, because I don't know if I could be a real expat. I don't know if I would have had the courage to drop everything and move to another country without knowing what was in store for me. I am so thankful that the military has given us the opportunity to have the best of both worlds. It has been such an incredible experience so far. This place is incredibly beautiful, the culture is so wonderful, and the food is unforgettable. This experience has been so great, maybe someday I will want to be a "real" expat!