As You Wish

Oh sweet wounded baby Jesus do I have a story for ju!

I flew down to Virginia last night for the weekend. Jason picked me up and we had some dinner out but nothing special. We had Outback, for those of you who are truly thirsty for details. I had the Chicken on the Barbie with veggies (sans squash) and Jason had a steak with potatoes (he loves his meat n'taters) and we had a few margaritas.

Came home and Jason wanted to watch the Princess Bride. (Which in hindsight should have been a huge give away since he doesn't often volunteer to watch movies he'd rather play a game or go out and do something.) But I love the Princess Bride, in fact I can recite it word for word (I'm not proud), so it's not like I was going to say no to watching it.

He started the movie and said he needed to re-wrap his knee (he has a softball injury so this wasn't really odd). The copy of the movie he had though was awful, the sound was a good 3-seconds off and I was about to go find Jason and refuse to continue watching it but I figured I'd just wait for him to get back.

So cue to me, sitting in the living room watching the beginning of the movie well into the part where the kid is asking his grandpa if "This is a kissing book?", and somewhere along the scene this photo of us popped up. We took it in Canada when we were there on Spring Break. It's probably one of the only photos we have of the two of us on the day we got together (3/11/06).

At first I thought that he had been streaming the movie from his computer and his screen saver had turned on but then the song "Say Hey" started playing and that's kind of our song I guess. The first time I came down to Virginia to visit after Jason moved here we were stuck in traffic from Norfolk to Newport News (big shocker!) and the song came on the radio and we started singing it to each other. This turned into us txting lyrics to each other every once in awhile and it just developed from there.

Anyway...this photo montage started up of us throughout the years and he popped out of the bedroom wearing a suit and singing along a little to the song and that's when I knew I was done for.

After we finished watching the little photo show he took a knee and asked me to marry him. It was adorable. I'm still laughing (giddily) about it.

So those of you who are wondering, no I didn't cry. I was too busy laughing. But for those of you who know me really really really well, you'll know that when I'm excited or terrified I laugh. (It's kind of amusing to sit next to me on a roller coaster, I spend the whole time giggling like a school girl.)

The ring is perfect (ArtCarved Kayla) and has Nanny's diamond in it which Jason secretly got from Mom and Dad back in February! Apparently the weekend of his grandfather's funeral, after we drove to my house and we sent his three cousins off on the train, I had to get to work (gotta love that second job!) and Jason and I said goodbye so he could start back down to VA he didn't actually go anywhere! The sneaky little devil drove off at the same time and then doubled back after I was on my way to the store so he could ask my parent's permission.

According to Jason my Dad had Nanny's ring in his pocket because he "thought he might be asking for it". My Dad is almost as sneaky as Jason is!

A little additional backstory here: My grandmother's engagement ring was split between my mother and my aunt. My mom got the diamond and my aunt got the setting. My aunt has been proudly wearing the setting for years but my mother was waiting to reset the diamond until this year. In fact my mom has been really excited about getting that diamond into a new setting since her engagement ring has a chip in it and although I can't see the damage it bothers her and she doesn't wear it.

When my sister got engaged Mom thought I was so upset that Julibean (three years my younger) got engaged before I did. She knew that Jason and I were waiting till we were both financially stable enough which could be surmised as we were waiting for Jason to have a full time job instead of a contract position that could expire at any time. So cue to my mother and my grandmother worried that I was so upset that Julibean and Chris got engaged first. In reality (as I've mentioned many times) I don't take much personally. I was super happy for Julianne and Chris makes her happy and to me that's all that's important. If she is happy I am happy and I don't care if she got engaged first. But since my mother is someone who takes a lot personally, she thought I was upset.

Mom and Nanny both agreed (at the same time allegedly) that I should get Nanny's diamond so it was one less thing we had to worry about. I knew exactly how much this diamond meant to my mother. She was literally waiting for years until she lost some weight and got healthy again with skinny little fingers to get the diamond set into a new ring, so I knew it was sort of a prize at the end for her. The fact that she still wanted me to have it just makes me want to cry. And the fact that Poppy bought this diamond for Nanny is also really important to me given how close we were.

So Julianne and Chris also just happen to be around when Jason asked my parents so literally they've all be keeping secret what's been in the works for months. And apparently everyone else knew too! Laura and Chrissy knew, Casey would have known if she hadn't told my sister NOT to tell her anything because she'd probably say something stupid...even Jason's friend Shawn knew when we took him out for his birthday! THE INSANITY!

I love and hate you all for keeping this from me!

I had inklings. There were definitely instances where I thought Julianne was keeping something from me and after the last time I visited Jason the first thing my mom did when I got home was casually glance at my hand...like she expected there to be something there! *sigh* My family is special.

Pretty much after everything was said and done we called my parents and I told my Dad that Julibean and Mom could stop pestering Jason now. Again, the web of lies/secrets goes even deeper. Nanny was upset that Jason wasn't visiting for Easter and was in fact in New Hampshire and not at Zum's with us. Only after Mom told her Jason was in NH buying me a ring did she stop complaining that she wasn't getting to see him. (Jason is obviously very well liked by my family, Nanny adores him and expects him to be with our family for every holiday.)

So Nanny was calling like every few days to see if anything had "developed" and bothering my mom who in turn was bothering my sister who was forced to bother Jason lest she be publicly flogged by my family. Jason legit was getting the third degree from THREE generations of women in my family, but he maintained his resolve and did it his way in his time. I'm guessing if he can cope with my sister, my mother AND my grandmother, then he's a keeper :P

I also later found out his mother had told him to "do it properly" and wear a suit and make certain to get down on one knee. It made it even more adorable. I love his family and can't wait to be a part of it.

Actual photos of the ring to follow...eventually...

Basically right now I'm just giddy with excitement!
I'm gonna be a Koala!

A VA Weekend

Spent a wonderful weekend with Jason in Virginia.

Last time I was down there I realized how close he actually is to Williamsburg so this time around we decided to head up to Busch Gardens.

I've only ever been to Busch Gardens Tampa which I knew was an African Safari, so I had no idea what to expect out of Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Once we got there I realized that I had been there once in high school as part of a band trip when we had a competition in Virginia Beach. In fact I vividly remember going on Apolo's Chariot with my friend Joey and it was his first roller coaster ever and he was so excited/nervous about it. But anyway...

We decided to just go for the annual passes. They pay for themselves after two visits and since Jason currently lives 20 minutes away from the park we figure when people come to visit us we can take them there for a day of fun. PLUS you get things like free parking, 10% off some merchandise and food inside the park and discounts on tickets for friends. We figured it was a win-win-win situation and didn't look back.

I totally forgot that Busch Gardens is more zoological/conservation type theme park and less adventure/rides type of theme park. I love animals. My parents took us everywhere when we were younger to go bird watching and I surprise myself sometimes when I spout information like, "Oh that's just a hooded merganser" or "Hey check out this kookaburra!" What can I say, we're nature people...

So seeing animals like eagles and wolves and other wildlife that have been rescued from shelters or from the wild is nice. All these animals would otherwise have died where they were so I applaud people (and companies) who adopt animals and help conserve nature.

We wandered about and enjoyed the European Pavillions. We joked how if we wound up in Germany for lunch we'd make sure Jason would stay away from any salmon he saw.

We did in fact wind up eating in Germany and got to see the show, which is one of the things I really wanted to catch while in the park. (Don't worry, Jason was safe and ate a turkey sandwich. Although he said that if he could do it over again he wouldn't have gotten it. The meat was dry and sort of bland. My combination plate with three different sausages - we all know how much I love those - was excellent.)

There's something about an oompah band playing the polka that gets me every time!

The stage itself was awesome. Or at least I thought it was. The gazebo had all of the music stands set up and the band marched in with the dancers. Then the band sat down and the platform of the gazebo raised them up above the rest of the structure.

You can see them sitting up there near the really cool ceiling. Das Festhaus is actually a beautiful building on the inside. All of the ceiling are these fabric ribbonesque panels that are woven into patterns.

It was just such a happy environment. Jason even turned to me and said, "Man, your people know how to have a good time!"

Gotta love z'Germans!

We continued to wander around and sat down to watch another show in Italy. The singers were excellent. A traditional group of minstrels I suppose you could call them.

A lot of the songs were sung in Italian so I had a very meager understanding. It's similar enough to the other romance languages that I can gather the gist of what they are saying, and the tunes of the songs were familiar but I would have enjoyed subtitles :P

The guitarists that accompanied them around was extremely talented and hilarious. He actually started following around people with trays of food and wandered off chasing children. It was wildly entertaining.

When we were in Scotland we caught a show of different animals doing trained acrobatics. It pretty funny. They mathematician birds and jump roping dogs. Even a pig!

That's all folks!

The weekend was nice, I wish it had lasted longer and my feet are still killing me from walking around the park all day, but I heart roller coasters and we got our fair share of those!

Cooooool Runnings!

Feel the rhythm. Feel the rhyme. Let's get on up. It's running time?

Coooool Runnings!

One of my goals on my 101 in 1001 is to run a 5k. I have never run that long a distance in my life. Typically my family goes by the adage, "Why run unless something's chasing you?"

But then in college I used to have dreams - literally - where I was running. And nothing was chasing me. I just ran!

And I was happy in these dreams. Happy to be running in my little sneakers with my pony tail wagging behind me with each step.

I am not a runner however. So this dream seemed out of my reach. I mean I used to be "in shape" in high school. And I even did a little running for fitness in college when my roommate got into a marathon challenge with her boy du jour.

Perhaps my dream was obtainable and I was just going about it wrong? It was soon after that, that I read about the Couch to 5k Challenge (c25k) and it seemed like I was in fact, doing it wrong. I always just went up to the track and walked a lap and then just started running for as long as I could - which usually turned into a slightly pathetic half lap - before I was panting and had to stop and walk again.

With the c25k program though, it's more of a scheduled 13 week course of interval training, ending with you being capable of running a 5k!

Last summer I tried the c25k but I was overzealous and hurt my foot even after buying new neutral cushioned running shoes (apparently I underpronate/suponate). But now I'm ready to try again! And I'm taking special care to not go too hard too fast. And I'm going to keep a log of how I feel after each work out starting today.

Each Week I'm supposed to do the work out 3 times. It takes 20-30 minutes including the warm up and cool down. I go to my gym and use the treadmill but I've also gone down to the boardwalk and done these exercises. The treadmill gives me more control over my speed which I like.

If I don't think I'm ready to move onto the next week then I can spend an additional week at the same interval. For example, Week 1 is intervals of 90 seconds of walking and 60 seconds of jogging. Then Week 2 is 90 seconds of walking and 2 minutes of jogging. Each week the intervals increase in either time or frequency and at the end of the 13 weeks, you're actually running for 20 minutes straight.

My goal is to run a 5k, but really what I want to be able to do is run the entire length of the Long Beach boardwalk (2.2 miles) and back (4.4 miles total) without stopping. I figure if I can run a 5k (3.1 miles) then I can certainly work myself up to 4.4 miles!

Week 1, Day 1

I had to retie my shoes about 12 times before they were both the right tightness and I definitely had a lot of shin splints going on. Halfway through I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make all of the jogging intervals but I did. Also I was completely distracted by some of the other people in the gym. I went to high school with one of them. His name is Chris, he was the drummer in our class band and for the life of me I couldn't remember his last name. This was almost as frustrating as the workout. Plus a beefy tattooed guy who was working out with Chris kept on looking over at me, for the love of God I was wearing 2 sports bras! It's not my fault if I still jiggle too much!

I warmed up at 3.5, walked at 3.3 and jogged at 5.0 on a 0.0 incline. I cooled down at 3.5 as well and spent an extra few minutes in my cool down so I could finish off the second mile completely.

It felt okay. I'm not dancing in the streets but at least I got through the entire work out. I did a little stretching when I got home and logged my activity for the day into calorie-count and had some dinner.

I think tomorrow I won't do the workout again, instead I'll do something low impact like the bike or the elliptical. I don't want to injure myself.

Also, I'm thinking that since the dress I wanted for my birthday is no longer available, that I'll just buy myself a new pair of running shoes as a present. I'm pretty sure the shoes I have can last another month or so. Does anyone know if the New Balance 1064s replaced the 1062s? It's been a few years since I've worn out a pair of running shoes...

Ahhhhhhhh-lympics

The Olympics were everything I expected them to be an so much more!

Really. I mean that.

We decided (as suggested by the Olympic website) to park and take the train into Vancouver.

Let me just say I am so glad that I got to go to the Olympics in Canada. All of the volunteers were incredibly nice, friendly and helpful even if you didn't ask a question. We were walking around Vancouver and I said something along the lines of "We're going to this street, it's three or four blocks ahead." And a nice volunteer in a bright blue jacket that was waiting next to us at the red light to cross the street said, "Yes! You're right!"

I wasn't lost, nor was I even asking a question. But it was nice that he was there to reassure me that I was correct in my journey. Sometimes when you're traveling in a not too familiar place it's comforting to know you're doing it right.

Anyway, back to the Olympics. We rode the train for free. Originally we were worried that since we had our tickets through Will Call that we'd be asked by a conductor or something to see them while we were on the train since public transportation was supposed to be free for any ticket-holders.

As far as we could tell the entire public transportation system seemed to be on the honors system. It was crazy! Only in Canada, right? Anyone could ride for free since no one was checking for tickets but there were still people purchasing them at the station when we got there. Crazy Canadians, that would never work in NYC.

An RCMP at the station told us that the arena was a few blocks from the other train station and we could walk it or take a shuttle. It was starting to rain so we opted for the shuttle.

Let me just go on the record for saying that I love the whole design aesthetic and color choice for the Vancouver games. Really. The blues and greens were beautifully combined in multiple murals and enclosures as we arrived at the venue.

We got through security and immediately had some Molsons. They had added extra bathroom facilities to the arena so when we decided to make a pit stop we walked into the bathroom and were met with a tent. It was so interesting. The bathroom door was really a door to the outside of the arena and you entered this semi-permanent tent they had attached to the building full of port-o-potties. And these were classy port-o-potties, you could actually fit in them. I was impressed.

Cutest little Zamboni ever!

Then we got to our seats and watched the venue fill up slowly. The officials were selecting the rocks and the maintenance crew was watering and smoothing the ice. It was wildly entertaining to watch the little Zamboni go up and down the ice.

Then the event began and the crowd was intense. There were probably about 30 Swedish fans in the entire arena. All the rest were Canadians with a sprinkling of random countries like the US.

We were surrounded by Canadian curling fans. And let me tell you, the know their curling. The lady sitting behind Dan and Julianne spent a little time narrating what was going on so they got it. And the two gentlemen sitting behind Jason and I were discussing the entire match's strategy. They were all super nice.

I got cold, so I used the flag as a blanket.

Medal ceremony.

All in all. GREATEST TRIP EVER. Really. I had so much fun. The Canadians were so nice and accommodating and really just the perfect Olympic Hosts.

Plus I got to ring my cowbell like nobody's business!!!

Vancouver, eh?

Got an early start and packed the car. Including Dan's American flag that flew over the Capitol so we could (as Dan put it) represent our country. Before we left Dan demanded that everyone take out their passports and wave them around so he could see them.

We had a little bit of a drama about the passports. Back in August when I visited Jason in VA and we booked our flights for this trip I told him that he needed to get a passport since it's mandatory for travel into Canada now.

I didn't really think anything of it until a month ago when Dan randomly reminded me that we need passports for our trip. So I called Jason and asked him if he had ever applied for one and of course since he's a Koala he hadn't. Basically he had to pay the extra money to get it in 2-4 weeks instead of 4-6 weeks and he had to run around and miss part of a day of work to do it. He's special, but I love him.

Anyway, I asked Dan to wave around his passport too, since he was demanding we did. Is nice, no?

It took us a little over an hour to get up to the border and we went straight through, making sure to switch the car's computer to kilometers so we weren't speeding through Canada.

The Peace Arch

We drove straight up to Vancouver and decided to park and wander around after we picked up the tickets. There were people everywhere. We wandered over to the mall because the Olympic Superstore was there and we wanted to do some shopping. After searching around a bit we finally found it but you had to go out of the mall to enter the area. They literally had the store blocked off with traffic barriers.

Dan: You know, this isn't the Berlin wall. We can just jump over it, it's not like they have machine guns or anything.
Canadian guy behind us: *laughs at Dan's choice words*
Me: Shut up Dan, we're representing our country. No international incidents, remember?

Our father's one rule for our trip was not to cause any international incidents that might bring shame to our family or our country.

After giving up on the line that was two blocks long just to get into the Superstore, we wandered up to Stanley Park. Dan missed the first turn into the parking lot for the totem poles and I'm kind of glad he did because we pulled off into another parking lot near the Olympic Rings.

It was pretty. And we made it over to the totem park a few minutes later. I knew from the last trip I'd taken to Vancouver with my parents that there was a little gift shop next to the totem poles and I was hoping they'd have some of the Olympic merchandise we were looking for without the lines we saw downtown.

There was absolutely no line, and spent a good hour picking out Olympic paraphernalia and gifts to bring home to people. The ladies there are super nice and incredibly helpful. I recommend doing any Vancouver-related shopping there. They have a beautiful collection of aboriginal art, I brought a print home for my parents to add to their collection.

Those red mittens were everywhere!

After our shopping spree we drove a little further north up to Capilano. I really wanted Jason to see the Capilano Suspension Bridge and Julibean hadn't been there yet either. We had a lot of fun wandering through the trees. And I think we all enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Enjoying the view from the bridge.

Classic.

The closest we got to a Mountie.

We spent the night in a hotel in Chilliwack which was about an hour east of Vancouver. It was the cheapest thing we could find for the night that didn't seem really sketchy. It was pretty nice.

Tomorrow:

• Gold Medalist Women's Curling!!!
  

More West Coast Shenanigans

Today was quite the full day. Jason and I went over to Bob's to look at a few couches and dining room sets. We liked one of the couches but they didn't have anything in the country kitchen kind of genre I want for a dining room set. (More on this later).

Then the three of us hopped on our JetBlue flight out to Seattle and we were greeted at the airport by Dan. I haven't seen Dan since Jaclyn's wedding since he couldn't come home for Christmas this year. I've missed Dan.

We killed some time at Ikea and Jason and I fought over tables. He's super picky...even more picky than I am about really odd things. (Again, more on this later).

Met Dan's friend Christina for Pho. We love Pho, if you haven't had it, what the hell are you waiting for? Just make sure you save me some bean sprouts!

Jason had a little spill at the condiment counter.

We hung out around the house and packed our bags for Canada. And now we're just enjoying catching up a little bit with Dan.

Tomorrow's agenda:

1. Drive to Vancouver to pick up tickets from Will Call Office.
2. Stanley Park!
3. Capilano Suspension Bridges.
   

Wilton Cake Update

I was holding onto my cake that I decorated on Friday. This happened for a few reasons.

Long story short, Jason's grandfather is not doing so great. He's been in the hospital for quite some time now and they stopped force feeding him/giving him his meds on Tuesday. When I say that I mean last Tuesday. The man has held on for a week without nutrition or the pills that were supposedly keeping him alive. We expected to hear word on Wednesday and were prepared for Jason to drive up to my house, his three cousins in the city to take the train to my house and the five of us to drive up to New Hampshire to be with the rest of the family. Right now these plans are on hold as we wait. It's not the greatest of situations but unfortunately this is what happens sometimes.

I planned on bringing the cake with me for the family to eat in NH.

Instead, I brought it to work since I don't want it sitting in my fridge at home for another week.

It was delicious. It was pretty. And I totally forgot to take a photo of it.

This is what is left.

The cake itself was a homemade funfetti cake with fruit preserve filling and the trademark Wilton butter-cream frosting. Problem was nobody in the office wanted to cut into it since they all thought it was so pretty. I had to do the honors and took the tiniest sliver just to see how it tasted.

This week I'm making a chocolate cake with Nutella filling and a chocolate/butter-cream/Nutella frosting. I anticipate it ALSO being delicious.

Wilton Course 1

Friday was our first Class of Wilton's Cake Decorating Course 1. It was exciting even though all we did was get an introduction from our instructor and watch her assemble, frost and decorate a cake.

I can't wait to decorate cakes and learn how to make flowers and stuff. I mean any skills I pick up will definitely make any cake I decorate in the future much better than the last one I made.

I guess what I didn't realize about this class is that we have to bake cakes and bring them to class with us to decorate. I mean, obviously what else would we be doing? But the thought escaped me at first and when Julibean and I decided it would be a good idea to bake ALL of our cakes at once and put them in the freezer (as suggested by our instructor) and mix ALL of our frosting at once and put it into smaller containers to take to class with us...I didn't think it would be such a daunting task.

I was so wrong! So.very.wrong.

Julibean and I literally spent the entire length of the Super Bowl (plus a few hours ahead of and after) baking cakes and trying to mix frosting. When Wilton says stiff frosting, they mean stiff frosting. It almost burned out our stand up mixer, it was scary.

But we'll frosting and constructing a cake to bring to class next Friday. We're decorating the top with a rainbow of piped icing and learning how to make borders. I figured since it'll be a rainbow on the outside it should be one on the inside too and made funfetti cake. They didn't have any actual funfetti cake mix at the store so I made white cake and threw some sprinkles in to the mix.

Basically I'm just super excited to learn these new skills and everyone who I've mentioned this course to seems just as excited for me. Plus I told everyone in the office I'll be bringing in random cakes each Monday to work so they're excited about that too.

A Stressful Calm

So I had a wonderful weekend with Jason in Virginia. I managed to get out of New York before the snow started falling in VA which was good. It snowed at least 3 inches though, possibly closer to half a foot.

In true NH style we went out in the snow regardless of the fact Virginians don't know how to plow. It's okay, the Hunter loves slush and Jason enjoys fishtailing on purpose. Ran some errands and bought Jason a DVD player for real cheap at BestBuy and hooked it up to the giant TV his friend grandfathered to him when he shipped out in November.

Before that literally the TV was just sitting in the middle of the room...it wasn't even a sad TV facing the corner like it had done something wrong...it was front and center screaming "I'M NOT BEING USED BUT I'M HERE AND I'M PROUD!" Not plugged into anything, just sitting there taking up space at an odd angle that really bothered me (one of my neurotic tendencies involves things being even (or sometimes completely odd)...I will go about straightening photo frames on walls and shifting papers so they are flush in a stack). So we hooked up the DVD player, moved the TV back into the corner and watched a few movies.

It was a nice low-key weekend and we did a whole lot of nothing and some good talking which is important in any relationship. Basically this whole long distance thing blows and we're going to be rectifying the situation as soon as penguinly possible. Jason is still waiting to hear if he got his full time position and if not my sister is trying to convince him to move to Baltimore and find a job in the MD so we can all live there like one big happy family.

Meanwhile I spent a good deal of my morning organizing our Olympic Adventure! I went through all of the confirmation emails and copied them into a neat little document and printed all that information out. Then I sifted through all the transportation around Vancouver and printed out maps for park and rides and bus/train lines. And in true Elise-like fashion I went into the maps and circled important points and labeled extra options and routes. Then I folded everything up nicely and put it into a brightly colored folder.

Most importantly I started our checklist on the inside of the folder, you know, things that are a must to remember to pack and bring along otherwise we're screwed.

• Passport
• Pants
• Student ID (for discounts at Capilano)
  
• Comfortable boots
• Light layers
• Flight confirmation
• Hotel confirmation
• Ticket confirmation

So far that's all I have. Yes, there are those of us who might forget to pack pants *cough cough* Jason *cough cough* if it's not on the list plus in my mind whenever I think "Passport" I recall the scene in Bridget Jones when they're taking her away for New Years and her friends are packing and one of them just says: "Passport Bridget, and pants!" "Passport, pants..." she repeats.

I thought that putting all of this information and organizing our travel plans would be stressful. And we still aren't 100% on where we'll be parking outside of the city but I feel a strange sense of calm now that all the information I could find is all in one neat place.

I'm so excited about this trip.
I'm so excited to see my brother!
And I'm so excited to ring my cowbell.

Wa wa wa Wilton

Basically for as long as I can remember my sister Julibean has wanted to do two things with her life. Well maybe not for as long as I can remember but we all dismissed her dream to be a dolphin trainer or a hula hoop instructor - whatever that is.

A pastry chef and a mother.

The mother thing will have to wait till after weddings and such, but the pastry chef thing might become a reality sooner than originally anticipated!

The Beaner went through a few life changing decisions the past few months. She decided to ditch the whole law school idea and focus on something she loved. It was a difficult decision and I fully support her in her new endeavor because I am a FIRM believer in doing what you love. If you are doing what you love you'll never really ever work a day in your life. You'll just be enjoying yourself :)

She is in the process of applying to a Culinary Institute but in the meantime we will be taking the Wilton Cake Decorating Classes! I'm so excited!

I've wanted to do this for a long time and legit learn how to make things like a lamb cake actually look like they are supposed to. So Hooray!

We're working on the skills. We've already got our bakery name, we already have our areas of expertise and now all we need is some training, a location and oh, idk, eight hundred gajillion dollars.

101 and counting

So today actually marks 101 days on my quest to do 101 things in 1001 days. Plus we're closing in on the end of the year and I guess that just makes me think even more of what I've actually accomplished this year....even outside of that list.

Somehow, despite the fact that for three months this summer I was furloughed down to 4 day work-weeks, I managed to double the amount in one of my savings accounts. (We won't dwell on the fact my other savings account isn't as happy.) I've also managed to pay off 1/6 of my car loan, woohoo!

I've been trying desperately this year to curb my spending. There are a lot of big important things I'll have to pay for in the not-so-distant future...weddings...homes...not to mention I still have student loans and the rest of my car loan to pay off. So saving has become almost like a game to me. Every time I look at something I want to buy I really ask myself if I need it, or if I simply want it. In fact I did need a new winter coat so I bought one. I do want new black boots but I'll have to find a really good deal on a pair to feel as though I should actually spend to buy them, even though I've been with out black boots for the past three winters *sadness*.

I've made lemonade when life handed me lemons, and I think I've grown in that department. I can easily step back now and look at a situation with a level head and not get overly angry, upset, or disappointed when it's unnecessary.

Pretty much my greatest accomplishment this year was maintaining. I've struggled for a few years now to get control of my weight. Right now I'm a good 20lbs heavier than I was the summer of my junior/senior year of college. That means the past three years I've gained a whole lot and I'm not happy about that.

Since January I've been attempting to eat healthier and move more but I kept hitting walls. Over the summer I tried the Couch to 5k and wound up hurting my foot and having to do things that were lower impact. For the past five years or so I've had a pain in my back that no MRIs or x-rays could attribute to anything and that hindered my exercising as well.

But now (although my foot is still a bit bothersome) my back finally got the kink worked out of it and I'm feeling leaner and meaner already. I quite literally started last year at the weight I am currently at so at the very least that means I maintained my weight this year. Now to build some more muscle and loose a little jiggle. If I continue on the path I've set myself on (weight training, really watching my caloric intake, tracking weight fluctuations, hydrating correctly, doing low impact cardio) I'm fairly certain I will begin to see the results within the next few months.

The holidays will be tough, but I managed to get through Thanksgiving without any extra fluff and I'm determined to see changes in the scale slowly but surely throughout the month and into the new year.

Basically although I've made a few leaps and a few bounds in certain areas of my life, and maintained in others, I'm ready to make a few more changes and tweak my life in small ways that I think will add up throughout the next year.

Hooray determination! Hooray for an uneventful year!

Atlantic City or Bust

Months and months ago (sometime in May methinks) while we were at Chris' beach house we somehow came up with a large colossal idea. Our friend Jim is probably one of our best and closest friends from college (and when I say our I mean collectively my sister and I). He's an audiophile, brilliant, has a good job with a renown company, has a fantastic voice, an insane memory for roads and transportation systems, a sharp sense of humor and can imitate an irritated old lady perfectly. (If any of these qualities appeal to you, please inquire about dating Jim, he'd make an excellent boyfriend if you like nerdy guys.)

Playing mini golf on the strip...
this was when we decided AC would be a nice change from the OC

Problem is, now that we've all graduated we live so far apart and only get to see everyone together once in a blue moon. So we thought it would be a good idea to plan ahead and decide what we'd do for Jim's birthday in November. Somehow in our celebratory drunken wisdom we decided renting a suite in Atlantic City and dressing up and acting like high rollers would be the perfect way to go.

We put out some feelers to see who of our friends could join...this was back in June...and sometime in October we realized we're poor and can't afford a suite. So our plans switched gears and we wound up crashing at Jim's place in Philly and driving the hour to AC for the day.

Friday night found us in a pub a few blocks from Jim's apartment and we had a delectable dinner with a sprinkling of local beer. Might I interject here with a raving review for PBC's Joe, it is fantastic and if you are a fan of dark beers and/or coffee...TRY IT. We headed back after dinner, more friends arrived and then we took a nice stroll to a bar approximately 2 miles away from Jim's apartment. Hey, it was his birthday, I was going wherever he damn well wanted to go and SEPTA was on strike...again...so like responsible motorists we walked instead of flipping a coin to see who would DD.

Enjoyed another nice stroll approximately 2 miles back to Jim's apartment at around 3am. To which in the morning we all admitted "We're getting to old for this shit."

Saturday was the day! We decided to start off the day like true champs and have some Jim's. If you've never been to Philly, or have never had the pleasure of consuming a true Philly Cheesesteak in all it's glory, Jim's is truly the place to go. Don't be afraid if the line is down the block...it's worth the wait!

No it isn't cannibalism for Jim to eat a Jim's Steak.
But he likes his with extra wizz and onions if you're wondering ladies.

Morgan and Andrew chow'n down.

Then it was off to Atlantic City! I've actually never been there before, in fact it's on my 101 in 1001 list so I was super excited. We started over at the Trump Plaza and I was determined to lose no more than $40 for my first casino experience. Which limited me to the slot machines, err electronic gaming machines, the penny slots specifically.

I sat down at a fun looking machine and put in my first $20 and wailed away on the button! Too quickly for my friend Andrew to stop me since I had played the max bet on like 20 lines. *sadness* I had lost $5 on my first spin! Frustrated I printed out my ticket and moved on. How dare they not explain the rules of the game clearly before I play?!

Wandered on and watched Andrew play craps for a good half hour. The nice high school math teacher next to him at the table explained the rules to me and what the bets meant. As Andrew put it later he got me a $140 education. He wasn't so lucky.

Afterward I cashed out my $11.95 and we met up with everyone else who had gone over to Caesar's. Julibean and Chris (and one of Jim's friend whose name I cannot recall) were over by the penny slots and having a grand old time playing the fishy themed one.

I decided to try my luck at put $5 into the random machine next to my sister's. Now I was down to $2.45 on this ticket. We were about to give up, I was rather content with my ~$9 loss for my first experience...hey, it could be worse, I could have lost $140 at the craps table...and we soldiered on to find everyone else.

Except once we got to the aisle Julibean sat down at another machine, determined to either win big or just lose all her $40 she came to play with. Bored, I sat down at a cute little Hindu Goddess themed machine and decided to just throw my $2.45 ticket in and piss away the last of that $5.

This machine actually made sense and the pictures were really pretty and after two spins I found myself in a bonus round giving me 10 free spins. Woohoo! Exciting! I sat there watching the game literally play itself...woohoo! Another 5 free spins! The game continued and continued and I just sat and watched...$30.95....$49.45...$60.75!!!

At this point I had gotten my sister and Chris' attention and they came to see what all the fuss was about and were in awe as the game continued to play all by itself and rack up more and more money for me. By the end I was looking at $79.75 and immediately hit the cash out button and skipped over to the ATM/cash out contraption to grab my prize!

Seriously...it was awesome. I was the only one who walked away from AC with extra money, Jim broke even, and everyone else lost anywhere from $10-140. We drove back to Philly and had some dinner at Nodding Head which again had some excellent house beer (and one of the largest collections of bobble heads I've ever seen). I especially liked the Grog, delightfully dark, and the dessert we got Jim by surprise was one of the most delicious things he had never eaten.

Meandered after dinner to another pub with some live music (couldn't tell if the two front men were twins or just looked really really similar), and then eventually scampered back to Jim's apt.

These are the weekends dreams are made of...literally, it was that amazing a time.

Chill'n in the MD

When Julibean and I realized the only weekend that Jaclyn's bachelorette party could be planned was Labor Day Weekend we really had to change our plans around. Originally we were going to head down to Delaware to Chris' beach house and spend a nice relaxing weekend in Ocean City with our men.

Have I mentioned lately that we're both in long distance relationships with our menfolk?

Yeah. So having to postpone the trip for an extra week was slightly annoying but we decided to take one for the team and change our plans to accommodate the other bridesmaids/friends schedules.

Anyway Jason came up from VA to meet us Friday night and we enjoyed a fine home-cooked meal of fettuccine alfredo (my absolute favorite pasta dish EVER). Andy definitely did it up right and it was seriously yummy.


The next morning after two of us (who shall remain nameless) stupidly almost got swept out to sea when they didn't think the current was too bad and thought it was okay to go out further and further...we sat around safe on land reading tabloids and making sand castles.

Or in Cynthia's case, sand boobies.

Jason hadn't been to the beach in years so he paddled around for a little longer than the rest of us. He's just so adorable sometimes.

Eventually the sun disappeared and we hopped over to Rosie's to find some board games. Yes, we love board games that much and decided since we left all of ours at home accidentally we needed to go out and buy one or two just to leave at the beach.

Long story short, we walked out with a ghetto off-brand Jenga and a Barrel O' Monkeys kind of game. Once we got back to the beach house, treasures in tow, we decided the ghetto Jenga would be a perfect set to create drunk Jenga out of. As we wrote all the instructions on the blocks, the boys entertained themselves hooking monkeys onto the chandelier.

If you're unfamiliar with drunk Jenga it's basically a game where things like, Drink 1, Drink 2, Motorboat the person to your left, Remove 2 articles of clothing, etc. are written on the tiles and as you play Jenga you do whatever the tile commands. If you knock over the tower you lose and you have to finish your drink. Most of the tiles are simple enough and they can be as dirty or as PG as you want them to be. Apparently the last set they had at school said things like, Eat an English Muffin, and random things like that.

My favorite tile was probably the one that said, If you do not already have a mustache, hold your finger over your lip like one for the rest of the game.

Ridiculous? Yes. But fun as all get up!

At some point we actually got the boys to sit down and watch The Sound of Music because none of them had ever seen it and because yes, we like to torture our men from time to time. But, it counts towards one of my 101 in 1001 since Jason actually sat through it!

For our last morning we went to Big Pecker's. So totally delicious and they have the same biscuits as Brass Balls down on the boardwalk but they are conveniently on the strip away from lots of people. Must have when in OC, the biscuits!

Jaclyn's Ridiculous Night Out

As I mentioned when we were baking, Jaclyn isn't your typical bride to be. So having a typical balls to the wall - clubbing, dancing, drinking, stripper extravaganza - bachelorette party was not in the cards. Instead we went to the wonderful 27 Om Spa for a day of pampering.

My facial was incredible it was the oddest feeling. I'd never had one before so it was definitely an interesting experience. My massage was wonderful and she finally worked that darn kink out of my back that has been bothering me forever. The ladies at the spa were fantastic, the service was excellent, and most importantly of all Jaclyn got to sit back and relax.

While she was out running errands though, we broke into her condo and decorated. Yeah...we went a little crazy.

That is totally a penis pinata and I totally put stickers on him
to make him a one eyed monster with his tongue hanging out!

After the Spa we met at the Cheesecake Factory and had a delicious dinner full of even more penes. We had a little giggle over the fact that our waiter took our glasses with these ridiculous straws sticking out of them back and forth from the bar as we got refills. He was a good sport about it at least.We got back to Jaclyn's and the night of fun continued with a few more drinks, some snacky foods, and the penis pinata. Turns out he makes an excellent hat when split down the middle and emptied.Originally we were just going to watch 80s movies like Girls Just Want to Have Fun and Sixteen Candles but somehow we got quite involved in the extended Purity Test and spent a lot of time ridiculing everyone's answers. Final scores ranged from 71% all the way down to 27% yeah, that's right 27%.

Then we went for a few rounds of Pin the Macho on the Man.Let me tell you, this was AMAZINGLY entertaining. Especially when Jess wound up about four feet away from the poster.All in all it was a fantastic night and I couldn't have imagined Jaclyn's bachelorette party any other way. Can't wait till October 25th!!!