Monthly Archives: July 2016

Pedi Party

July 28, 2016International Travel, New York, United Statesfamily, friends, mani, manicure, nail art, nails, New York, pedi, pedicure, weddingbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

There’s nothing a girl loves more than to spend time getting pretty with friends and family!

In preparation for Stevie’s and Kirsten’s wedding, all of us ladies went out for some pampering. Brooke, a longtime friend of the Johnson family, decided to treat us all! It was time for some fun and memory making. We all piled in the van and drove through the country, into the town, and to the nail salon.

Some of use decided to go for pedicures and manicures both, and others chose one or the other. I decided to get a gel manicure, because I’m pretty hard on my hands and tend to chip off my nail polish within hours. It’s been a week since I got it done, and my nails still look great! I chose a mint color with a bluish tint that matched my dress for the wedding exactly.

We all had a great time! It was the perfect way to relax and enjoy one another’s company before the big day. Don’t we look pretty with our polished nails?

The Last Wedding

July 27, 2016Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, New York, Third Culture Kids, Uncategorized, United Statesbarn, ceremony, family, farm, front yard, handmade, Johnson, marriage, married, New York, reception, romance, romantic, rural, weddingbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Well, it’s official—all the Johnson kids are married! Jesse and Joy were the first to get married 14 years ago almost to the day, and Stevie and Kirsten tied the knot last week, about two years after we did. The wedding was lovely, and it was a huge blessing to be there for it. My brother-in-law Jacob thought that “The Last Wedding” would be a good title for a blog post, so here you go!

Kirsten and Stevie met in high school at Rift Valley Academy, the Kenyan boarding school that Ben and all his siblings attended through high school. They met and started dating in 2010. I met both Stevie and Kirsten during my RVA visit in 2013. Stevie proposed on Lake Kivu in Rwanda last year, after their second year of long-distance dating in college.

Kirsten’s grandparents live on a farm in New England, and the wedding was held in the front yard.

The flowers are all wildflowers that Kirsten and her bridesmaids picked from the rural countryside around the farm. The orange lilies were particularly lovely.

Ben was a groomsman, and a rather dashing one! I loved the African cloth ties that the men in the wedding party wore. It was a nice touch of Tanzania to represent Stevie’s childhood.

The ceremony was beautiful. My nieces Esther and Emily were flower girls, they did a great job.

The pastor gave a wonderful message on love and the hand of God in our lives. Stevie and Kirsten’s relationship is and always has been centered around their love for God and for each other. It’s been cool to watch as their relationship has grown and finally come to result in the beautiful marriage we witnessed.

The bride and groom decided to do a sand ceremony, but with jelly beans instead of sand. One of our nephews, who shall remain anonymous, admitted to me in a whisper that he swiped one or two after the ceremony.

The Johnson family sang a song from Mom’s songbook during the ceremony. Unfortunately, my video didn’t catch everyone in the frame, but most of us are there!

Kirsten’s mom and aunt also sang a song together.

The parents gathered around the bride and groom to pray over them and their marriage.

And finally, the moment that Stevie and Kirsten had dreamed about for years: The vows and the pronouncement of husband and wife!

After the ceremony was the reception. We ate homemade chicken tika, rice, salad, and veggies. As you can see, the tables were decorated to reflect Kenya, where Kirsten and Stevie met.

We took lots of pictures with the barn as our backdrop. So lovely. I found out later that the barn was only chosen as a background because it was the only place with shade. It really couldn’t have turned out better, though. The red of the barn contrasted nicely with the bride’s white dress and the bridesmaids’ navy blue sundresses.

After the wedding paparazzi had subsided, it was time for toasts, cake, and celebrating.

One of Kirsten’s aunts made the wedding cake. She even made the edible flowers on top—they aren’t real flowers, believe it or not! They look like the Gerber daisies that the bridesmaids held during the ceremony. The cake stands are made from a tree that Kirsten chose in the forest, as are the stumps that lined the aisle for the ceremony.

The wedding favors were bags of Kenyan chai. This is the best kind of tea in the world. You steep the tea in scalding water, then add almost the same amount of milk as there is tea, and finish it will a ridiculous heap of sugar. A little chai masala sprinkled on top creates perfection. Then you dip your toast or mandazi (doughnuts) in it.

The bubbles on the table were intended for the getaway line, but the kids couldn’t help breaking into them during dinner.

All of the wedding party introduced themselves and gave a toast. As usual, Ben was hilarious. He has quite the collection of funny stories about the adventures of Ben and Stevie.

At the end, Stevie and Kirsten sang a song together. You can’t tell from the photo, but Luke and Lisa accompanied on guitar and drum.

When it was time for the bride and groom to go, we all stood at the edge of the driveway and blew bubbles for them. If was fun to watch as the grown-ups had just as much fun with the bubbles as the kids did! We waved goodbye as they drove away in a cloud of bubbles and balloons.

Puppy Photos

July 21, 2016Uncategorizedadorable, black, coconut retriever, cute, dog, funny, mutt, photogenic, photos, puppybreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Dogs are funny. They know when they want attention, whether or not you’re ready to give it! This week, I have been busy preparing to move out of our apartment. For me, that meant scrubbing the walls for hours with Magic Erasers to get rid of all the marks. Kito was apparently pretty excited that I was on floor level, and she spent most of her time standing directly in front of the wall where I was trying to clean. I tried to take some before and after photos of the wall to make myself feel better about my progress, but she hijacked those, too.

At this point, I finally gave up and took advantage of the rare opportunity of catching Kito in a photogenic mood.

I sure am going to miss this puppy during my travels! She is the sweetest.

New England Lobster Rolls, Caribbean Style

July 19, 2016CookingCaribbean, cooking, countries, cultural, culture, Eating, food, foodie tuesdays, lobster, lobster rolls, maine, new england, ocean, recipe, seafoodbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Did you know it’s easy to make lobster rolls? If you have ever been to Maine, it’s 99% certain that you’ve tasted a lobster roll and loved it. I was in Maine several years ago, and I haven’t forgotten how delicious they are. So yesterday, when I accidentally thawed lobster instead of fish for dinner, I knew that I had to try my hand at making my own.

Ingredients:

Two lobster tails. We catch our lobster fresh at the beach near our home.
Six oblong bread rolls. You can use hotdog buns in a pinch.
1 1/2 cups of mayonnaise. If you’re really hardcore, make your own using this recipe.
2 Tablespoons of ketchup
1 Tablespoon of lemon juice
Half an onion, minced
Black pepper to taste
Parsley for garnish

What you do:

Prepare the lobster. Boil the lobster tails. This takes about ten minutes. The meat should be white and opaque when it is done. Let it cool for a bit, then dig out all the meat and tear into small chunks.
Make the sauce. I like to call the sauce that goes in this “Bear Flag Sauce.” It’s my attempt at creating the famous dipping sauce from Bear Flag Fish Co in California, and it’s a tangy twist on traditional lobster roll sauce. Mix the mayo, the ketchup, and the lemon juice together. You can add a hint of mustard, if you like.
Mix it up. Combine the lobster, sauce, onion, and pepper in a bowl.
Put it together. Make a large slit in the top of the rolls, longways. Spoon a generous amount of the mixture into the rolls. Garnish with more pepper and parsley.

Yummy! This is a great meal for summer evenings.

It’s been a while since I posted a Foodie Tuesday, but I’m planning to be back at my weekly recipe posts for good, so stick around and head back next week! Subscribe or like my page to find out each time I post a new recipe.

5 Signs You’re an Expat

July 16, 2016Expats, Expats and TCKsadventures, countries, cultural, culture, Expat, International, learning, Med school, moving, overseas, TCKbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

If you’re an expat, some things that aren’t too typical start to look normal. Can you relate to any of these?

Duolingo

This screen has become very familiar as you desperately try to re-learn all that Spanish you never actually absorbed in high school. After a while, it turns from a language learning tool to an obsession….

As a bonus, buildings without emergency exits do, in fact, become commonplace. As do the lack of smoke detectors, hot water, and electricity.

2. You drive like a maniac

Right side of the road, wrong side of the road, middle of the road, not even on the road. Everyone else drives like a kangaroo on seven Red Bulls, and so do you, now.

3. Your change purse looks like this.

Seriously, if I take that Kenyan shilling from Ben’s high school laundry money stash to the laundry room one more time, I am going to fling the entire washing machine out the window.

4. Knock-offs

You can’t tell me this isn’t J.C. Penny in disguise.

5. Your passport is like our third arm

Your passport is literally worth more than your entire net worth combined. You would rather fall off a cliff into a moat full of hungry sharks while wearing a flaming straight jacket than loose that thing.

What are some other signs that you might be an expat? Tell me in the comments!

Taco Macho

July 11, 2016AUC, Caribbean, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, Uncategorizedfood, mexican, restaurants, Sint Maarten, st martin, SXM, tacobreanamjohnson@gmail.com

And another big block test over for Ben, and other date night for us! Gebe, the power company, is having struggles lately, so the power has been spotty. Think every day for two hours. Today it was six hours. When it went out 30 minutes before dinner and ruined my cooking plans, I suprised Ben and took him out to Taco Macho!

Taco Macho is located in Maho, past the airport beach. Parking in the Alegria complex, where the restaurant it located, costs $4, but you can park for free outside the gate on the airport side of the road.

I had heard a lot of good things about Taco Macho, expecislly about their $2.50 tacos! The place reminded me of home and places in Mexico that I love. Arizona has the best Mexican food in the U.S. (Sorry, Texas). It’s hard to find tacos on St. Martin, so I need my taxo fix sometimes.

So if you’re looking for a good Mexican place on this island, try Taco Macho. My suggestion is to stay away from the combos with their tablespoon-sized sides and go for the delicious tacos. Yum! We will be back.

Breana's Blog

A writer's adventures around the world