Something about Nothing

I am at a loss - where do I start?!

These past five days have been such a roller coaster; with Greg seeing his ex at Target on Friday (he’s lucky I wasn’t there or I would have confronted her about a few things), to a whirlwind weekend of Christmas surprises, my engagement, spending the day (today) with Greg’s mom and brother, Ken, and to end the Holidays with a drive through the Symphony of Lights.

So much has gone on over the last five days, I can’t pin point where to start! Also, I can’t believe I’ve taken close to 500 pictures over the past five days!

I am still working on the details of Sunday, I’ve already written about Monday (I made a special Christmas Eve dinner), so I am going to write about my First Christmas with Greg and Amelia (My Family).

Greg and I stayed up too late last night. I went to bed around midnight and he says he went to bed around 1am. When I went to bed, Greg was still playing The Orange Box: Half-Life 2 (something we bought on Black Friday), which is a good game (from what I’ve watched). Sometime between 12 and 1, Greg wrapped up two more presents and filled a Christmas Stocking for me and placed it on my nightstand (isn’t Greg the sweetest?!)

Amelia was up bright and early (guess I should be used to it by now) at 7am. Greg brought her into bed with us and we all fell back asleep. Around 8am, we were all waking up again (mainly Amelia), so we laid in bed goofing around. Eventually, I woke completely up and dumped my Christmas Stocking contents onto the bed.  Amelia had a good time going through everything! Inside, there were lots of chocolates and two wrapped gifts. The gifts were a pair of earrings (not real diamonds, but they will be replaced soon - my birthday is only 5.5 weeks away) and a new Nintendo DS game: Flash Focus (these were the last minute gift ideas Greg bought while at Target on Friday)! Amelia was being so freaking adorable in bed this morning; she would take one of the chocolates from the stocking, still in the wrapper, place it in my mouth as if she were feeding me and then take it out of my mouth with her mouth! Greg tried to get a video clip of her doing this but for some reason it didn’t work. There are a few pictures though:

Amelia is such a ham, as well as absolutely adorable!

Eventually, we made it out to the living room and opened up the presents from Greg’s Dad and step-mom. Greg received a desk calendar and Amelia received an Elmo outfit, which she wore today.

Greg and I were so freaking lazy today. Plus, the day felt weird because, in a sense, we celebrated Christmas this past weekend with my family. In any event, around 10:30, we all fell asleep and took a pretty good nap! It wasn’t until noon that we all got up to get ready. Pretty lazy, huh.

It wasn’t until 1:45 that we head out to Greg’s Moms. The drive was nice, the weather was really nice and we got to play with Greg’s XM Radio (which was my big gift for Greg; and what I am listening to as I type and upload videos). I took a few pictures of the receiver:

As I mentioned, the drive was great. Look at this picture taken on Rt 40:

Clear blue skies, very little traffic - the drive was great!

Once we made it to Grandma K’s house, we unloaded the presents and placed them under the tree and then hung out and chatted. Greg and I also brought our left over ham and green bean casserole to share.

We spent a good three hours at Grandma K’s. I had a good time too! I took a few pictures of Amelia and Grandma K playing around the Christmas tree:

This one is my favorite and I’m thinking of printing it and giving it to Greg’s mom.

We learned that Amelia L.O.V.E.S. banana nut bread. And, it’s a funny story of how we learned this; towards the end of the visit, Greg’s mom offers us some banana nut bread that she made and gives a slice, on a plate, to Greg and me. When I took my slice, Amelia practically attacks the cake and literally shoves it in her mouth! You’d think she hadn’t of eatin in three days they way she jumped onto that piece, when in fact she had just finished a 10oz bottle! We were laughing so much at Amelia and her instant need of banana nut bread! I wish we had taken a video clip of it or something, but we were laughing too much. And, I didn’t get the chance to try a single crumb of cake!

Once the bread was all gone, we watched a home movie (sorta) of Greg’s middle school band performace (he played the trumpet) and an old Christmas Claymation from back in the 80’s. It was cute.

Afterwards, we headed out to see the Symphony of Lights in Columbia and then came home.

It’s been an exciting five days, to say the least, and I am ready for 2008!

My divorce hearing is scheduled for DECEMBER 31, 2007!!!!

My divorce will be final 30 days after the hearing.

I will be divorced before I am 29.

I am so freaking excited!!!!!

As I was scheduling the hearing, I was informed that I would need a witness with me, someone who has been or known Adam and I before or during our marriage, or someone who has known me since being separated. I thought about Greg but I don’t know. So, I called my Mom and she said she would come up for the hearing, after all (and I quote her words exactly) “I was there when you got married, I might as well be there when you get your divorce.”

W00t!!

It was slow yet busy at work. My focus on anything was very short and not really there.

I just had no motivation to do anything today. And the fact that time seemed to slow down to a crawl.

And, what’s worse is that I really have nothing to write about. Oh, and that Ugly Betty isn’t on TV tonight, boo. So, Greg and I are watching Blazing Saddles instead.

Christmas Plans:

This weekend Greg and I are going to head down to my Mom’s on Saturday to spend the weekend with her, meaning we’re going to stay the night.

I don’t know about anyone else, but it doesn’t seem like Christmas. Even though there are 5 more days to go, it just seems different. I am hoping that going to my Mom wills kick in the Christmas Spirit within. Also, I am thinking that next year will be more exciting and fun as Amelia will almost be 2.

Although, my Christmas Spirits were brought up tonight when I got home because there were like 5 Christmas Cards in the mail for Greg, Amelia, and me; including one from Greg’s grandparents! I ahve to say that I love old peoples handwriting! I should take a picture of the handwriting of Greg’s grandma. Also, she addressed that card as “Mr and Mrs Gregory S********” is that sign?

Random Items:

At the moment, my girlfriend, Michele, and I are text messaging each other. She’s telling me that she’s going to drop Bob because he’s telling her what she can and can’t do; that’s a big strike, and it only takes one strike with Michele, Bob caused himself. After Michele told me about Bob and I replied, she sent a message that said, and I quote ”i hope i finally meet a good guy like greg.” I am lucky to finally have someone like Greg in my life. All my friends and family love Greg and vice versa. Greg is amazing. And what makes this whole relationship the best I’ve ever had is that we were friends before we started dating, so we already knew each others interests and things. It’s amazing how something so small (being friends before dating vs. meeting with the intent to date) has that much of an impact on a relationship. Well, at least for me.

Anyway, I need to go to Target tomorrow during my lunch hour to get a house warming present for Cousin April. She and Clayton found a place to rent! So, they now have their own little home like Greg and me! I going to get them a crock-pot; I love my crock-pot and thought I would share the love. Speaking of crock-potting, my spagehtti and meatballs (cooked in the crock-pot) should be done, so I am going to head off for dinner.

The company I work for has given all their employees a paid half day so we can catch-up on any holiday errands. I am so thinkful that my half day is today and that I am able to lay in bed, watch Fresh Prince of Bel Air while the washer and dryer are running and upload the videos from the limo ride onto YouTube so I can finally complete the post about the Holiday Party this past Sunday.

Also, while I am working on all of the above, I am going to try and make a few DVD’s with this amazing laptop of mine for Christmas presents. I just hope my plan works.

Another reason that I am so thankful today is because my cold, or whatever I seem to have, is getting a little better. Not a whole lot, but enough for me to notice a slight difference. I still have the stuffy nose and sore throat (as well as a voice that is about an octive deeper than normal) but my over all well being is better.

Oh, and ANOTHER reason I am thankful today is because my follow-up visit with the dentist this afternoon was great! The healing is going along fine and it looks like everything is great. I scheduled an appointment for a cleaning in Januay and then I am going to schedule an appointment for a few fillings after that. I can only deal with one dental thing at a time after what I just went through.

Also, ANOTHER thing that I am thankful today is my divorce update!!! I called the court house this morning to check on the status of my order of default and the judge granted it on 12.17.07!!! Now, I just wait for the letter with the Master of Something-or-other, shedule a hearing and then I’m pretty much done! Adam will have 15 days to respond (Accept or Decline) what the hearing declares (divorce final or needs more ‘work’) and if he doesn’t repond then I am granted the divorce! Isn’t that great!! Just when I thought this was never going to end…

So, today, dispite the cold I have, has been a pretty good day.

It’s been two years, to the day (and nearly the hour as I write), since Aunt Ellie passed away.

Here’s what I wrote before I left to say good bye to her at the Hospital and here’s what I wrote when I came home after being gone for a week.

It was that week that Greg (aka: Copyguy) and I became more than friends. Prior to my aunts death, Greg and I rarely talked on the phone, but the week I was at my Moms, we talked every single night. And, we never missed a night since (except on a few occasions).

Yesterday, as it was snowing, a memory came to me. It was snowing on the exact same day in 2005 and then a flood of emotions and memories returned.

Only 21 days until Christmas!!!  I am getting so freaking excited!

Last night, Greg placed the order for the laptop. With the employee discount (his company has a special program set up with Dell to receive about 12% off), the special Dell is promoting, and some other discount, Greg saved nearly $400 on the laptop and this is all with free shipping. In addition to the laptop, Greg ordered a laptop bag (messenger style); a wireless mouse, and a cooling fan/docking station – all with coordinating colors to the laptop (which is Ruby Red). Now, the scheduled ‘build date’ is, as of last night, Dec 18 – two weeks from today – and the shipping date is Dec 21. I am really, really, hoping everything will arrive on time for Christmas (as I am sure Greg is hoping for too).

I am hoping that all of this will happen earlier than scheduled, mainly because I could really use the DVD R/RW +/- writer to finish the copying of the Huntt Family Home Movies for everyone as Christmas gifts. We’ve learned that if someone’s DVD player doesn’t support the DVD -R, then they can’t watch the DVD. If not, then I am going to have to do this the long way by copying the movies onto Greg’s computer and hook up the external DVD burner (a light scribe which would allow me to make a custom cover of the DVD) and burn that way; which, in a small way could be easier for all the DVD’s I have to make (about 7). Eh, maybe I’ll do that anyway and hand them out at the wedding reception; of course, this is going to be done after I’ve done my shopping (holiday clothes, Greg’s Christmas present, etc); Ugh, looks like my Wednesday morning is going to be uber busy.

The only downside to all my Christmas excitement is that it’s all over with on Christmas Day. As a kid, I rarely enjoyed Christmas morning only because I knew that Christmas would be over with by 10am. But, I loved that feeling of excitement waking up at 5am and sneaking out to the living room and seeing all the presents under the tree, looking at all the Christmas lights and seeing the stockings hung over the fireplace and filled to the brim with goodies – all the while listening to the Christmas music playing from the radio in the background. And then running into Mom and Van’s room to wake them up so we can open everything only to be told to go back to bed and wait until 7am. At which point I was just lie in bed and listen to Christmas music on my walkman. It was like this until my late teens (high school age) – seriously. And my brother was the same way. Lately (the last two or three years), I didn’t do anything for Christmas other than visit my Mom. The last two years I didn’t even put up a tree. This year, and all the years coming, is going to be completely different and not just because of Amelia. This year, I am with someone that I am madly in love with and gets into the Christmas spirit just as much as I do and those two factors alone makes this Christmas super special. Then we add in that this is Amelia’s First Christmas and she’s practically old enough to get into to, as in opening presents and just enjoying the excitement that we all feel.

Our Christmas plans, as of today, are to go down to my Mom’s on Sunday, the 23^rd, and celebrate Christmas together (including April, Clayton, and Olivia and I think cousin Danny) with my side of the family and then on Christmas Day, go to Greg’s Mom’s for the traditional Christmas Brunch that she cooks every year. Greg and I did talk about flying out to Detroit to visit his Dad and Step-Mom (and step sisters) but I don’t think it’s going to happen, at least for Christmas. We’re thinking of doing a trip in late January or early February. Denise, Greg’s step-mom, is dying to meet Amelia and me.

In other news…

I was notified by Schmap that my picture of the MD Science Ctr has been included in the guide on their website. Woo-hoo!!

And…

Yesterday I received the following (via emalil):

“Jessica,

After thoroughly reviewing and discussing your photograph, I am pleased to inform you that our Selection Committee has advanced your contest entry, “Drummer Girl,” to semi-finalist in the International Open Amateur Photography Contest.

Your photo will now be automatically entered into the final competition, where you now have an excellent chance of winning one of over 114 cash or gift prizes, including the $1,000.00 Grand Prize. You may even win the $10,000.00 Annual Grand Prize! And that’s not all! In celebration of your unique talent, we also wish to publish your photograph in our forthcoming anthology series . . . Endless Journeys.”

 Here’s the picture:

A few weeks ago I submitted a photo of Amelia playing the drums at the October RSC and titled the entry as “Drummer Girl”. The website, Pictures.com, hosts photo contests so I said why not and hit submit and then completely forgot about it, until yesterday when I received the above email. This is pretty exciting, in my mind. Makes me feel that I could probably submit a photo to CutestKid.com and maybe win!

I believe that’s all I have for an update. How is everyone else doing out there?

Just as Greg and I predicted, the weekend flew by! Well, except for Sunday. Sunday was a little on the slow side, or at least felt so during a few moments through out the day.

Sunday started off with Amelia sleeping in until 8am (very rare) and her playing in bed with Greg and me. I snagged a few pictures of her in bed with us. It’s getting harder to take Amelia’s pictures because as soon as she sees the camera she wants it for herself, which you may have noticed if you’ve been following with the Flickr pictures (lots of blurry and hands in front of the lens). Once we were up, showered, and dressed we headed over to Costco for a few items (lunch and dinner items mainly and for a specific book that Greg wants to give his brother, Ken).  One of the items be bought was Cape Cod Chicken Salad to bring to the RSC. We wanted to try something different. After Costco’s we came home, changed, and fed Amelia then we were off to the Guitar Hero: 80’s Rock edition of the RSC!

I can see myself playing Guitar Hero a lot once Greg and I purchase our Wii (which will probably happen around tax refund time).  In the mean time, I’m tempted to ‘borrow’ the PS2 from my brother or just go out and buy a new one, just to get me some more Guitar Hero action.  The RSC has renewed my passion for console games! Speaking of the RSC, it was fun! There was a Jenga match going on, chatter around the buffet table and those who were playing Guitar Hero. Good mix of food (though I didn’t particularly care for the chicken salad we brought – it was too sweet for my taste), someone made a cheese ball that was good and Tim made a bean and sausage thing (can’t remember the name of it) which was pretty good. Greg and I didn’t stay that long (2.5 hrs); Amelia was cranky from having a small nap (maybe a half hour – the amount of time it took to get to Tim and Brooke’s place) and the fact that she couldn’t crawl all over the place like she wanted to. I believe we were home by 5:45pm.

I need to stop by Best Buy to get Greg’s Christmas present; maybe I’ll do that tonight.  I believe Greg mentioned that he was going to be a little late tonight, so this would allow me to get it without him knowing. Or, I could just wait until Wednesday. I have taken the whole day off due to the two appointments I’ve set up (one for a physical and the other with a dentist). In the mean time, for Wednesday, I think I am going to get my nails done for the upcoming wedding reception and two holiday parties and look for a dress or something to wear to the wedding reception and upcoming holiday parties!

Have I mentioned how excited I am about the laptop that Greg is getting me for Christmas? It’s going to be a little on the bigger side with a 17” screen, but that also means I’ll have a full size numeric keypad, as in a standard keyboard. Yeah, it’s something that small that can make me so happy! When Greg and I were at Costco’s yesterday, I saw the laptop my brother ordered off eBay. Sean bought an HP laptop that also has a 17” screen, so it was neat to look at the layout of the keys and whatnot. I hope Greg orders the laptop soon and will allow me to open my present early!

Well, I made the drive to North East, MD without any confusion or accidents! I’m even surprised, even more so since I did the driving.

Amelia slept the entire way up and the entire way down. Easy driving!

The drive wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was a little over an hour each way and I thought I was going to be bored to tears; but I seem to do better as the driver than the passenger for car trips that are more than 45 minutes long.

Jay and Leslee’s place is amazing! It’s the three level three bedroom townhouse. The first level is the rec room and on the second level is the kitchen, living room, and eating area, and on the third level are the three bedrooms. The kitchen is great; it’s big and open! The turn out for their Open House was pretty nice! I’d say, through out the 2.5 hours we where there about 50-60 guests arrived (not all at once). Oh, and the food was out of this world! The chicken salad on croissants was outstanding!

It was bitter sweet seeing Jay. I didn’t get to spend as much time as I would have liked catching up with him. He and Leslee were very busy hosts. We did get a few minutes to talk but it wasn’t enough. Jay looks great, and so does Leslee. They both adored Amelia, as did everyone else who met her. The first thing Jay told me as soon as we walked in was “The pictures of Amelia don’t do justice!” And Jay said that more than once. I was hoping that Jay’s grandparents were going to be there but neither could make it. I asked Jay if it would be ok to send them a Christmas Card and he said they would love to receive one from me (while I was working at Cypress Creek, Jay’s granddad became a patient and I was able to catch up with the family and such; those months before I left were also bitter sweet because I was going to miss them and I wasn’t able to say good bye). There were so many things I wanted to talk to Jay about; so many things I wanted to ask him but I wasn’t able to do so. Maybe it’s for the best, given our history together.

I did become a little sad when I realized that there wasn’t going to a chance for Jay and I to catch up.  But, in all honesty, I wasn’t expecting to do so. The party was exactly as I expected it to be, but I was hoping my expectations were going to be wrong, for once.

On the way home I told Greg my feelings of the party and when I mentioned something that Jay told me a few years ago, and Greg replied “Oh, he’s that guy…”. Yeah, Jay is that guy… and that is being said in a good way.

Time to move onto another subject - no point in dwelling in the past … at least at this moment…

We didn’t go to the Science Center. Instead, we went to The Maryland Zoo! The weather was too nice to spend the day inside.

The zoo was practically empty and apparently the zoo is under some renovations so all the exhibits were not open. Greg and i were slightly disappointed in our visit (especially since we paid $30 and only had half the place open), but at the same time we were able to spend more time looking at what animals were out rather than be rushed because there are hundreds of other people wanting to look at the same animal. The most action Greg and I go to see was from two cheetahs which were a little grumpy and hungry, according to the caretaker, and were growling and roaring at each other. I never realized how loud their roars were, even though it wasn’t a full roar. It was neat nonetheless. By 4pm, all the animals were in their ‘rooms’, thus ending our trip. All the pictures from the zoo can be seen here.

After the zoo, we headed over to Costco’s for one item: Frenches Fried Onions as I was making the green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. They were sold out. D’oh!! Instead, we ended up buying three presents for family members and other household items.

Then, Greg and I went on a shopping spree at Target for all things Christmas Decorations! Oh, we had so much fun and spent $290!!! Of course, we bought other items such as diapers and wipes, the ingredients for the green bean casserole, some Pyrex dishes and many other items, but about 75% of the things bought were for our Christmas Tree, which as I write is up and decorated!! Which, you can find the pictures of our tree here.

Yes, we decorated early. The reason we did so is because we were able to do so without having to keep Amelia off of the tree. Though, we are curious as to how Amelia is going to react to the tree when she comes home tomorrow.

Anyway, it’s almost midnight and I’m pooped! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have some cooking to do in the morning…

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This is weird, again. Greg and I have nothing to do; we don’t have a baby to tend and care for, we don’t have anyone to feed (other than ourselves), anyone to change, or entertain (other than ourselves). It was weird waking up this morning and not have Amelia is bed with us, playing with our noses or hair, not laughing as Greg made silly noises and so much more. It’s pretty quiet at the moment.

I asked Greg this morning if he could ever go back to the ways things were before Amelia and his reply, without thinking, was no. Greg is feeling slightly miserable without Amelia. He misses her so much. Seeing Greg like this is really sweet; it shows how much he loves Amelia and never wants to be without her. That is such a strong emotion.

Here’s how our Saturday went down:

Amelia had us awake bright and early, as usual. We were all showered and bathed by 9am, I had finished all the laundry and layed all of Amelia’s clothes on the bed to start packing. Greg and I made it out the door by 10:45am, right on schedule (surprisingly).

The drive down to Waldorf was uneventful. No accidents to witness, no traffic and no extremely slow ass drivers. We were at our destination (a different buffet, believe it or not) by noon. Lunch with Mom was great, she loved the JC Penny pictures and took three (one 8×10 and two different 5×7’s). After lunch, we headed over to Giant so we, Greg and I, could get more formula for Mom. Once we were done with Giant, we headed our separate ways. Greg and I debated if we wanted to go to the Best Buy in Waldorf or the one by our home. We decided to go to the one by home. The drive home was just as uneventful as the drive to. It was weird. And, neither one of us brought our cameras to take pictures of the wonderful scenery along Rt. 301.

Greg and I wondered around Best Buy for about an hour. We didn’t buy a single thing. The items that we wanted to buy we wanted to make sure we didn’t have them at home. Ran into Aaron at Best Buy, hung out for a few minutes and showed him the family pictures. He said we all look adorable.

Then, we came home. Neither of us were really hungry so we didn’t have any dinner to make. I came online, chatted with some family members, created our Holiday Cards (gotta love Snapfish), which are ready for pick up as I type, and finished my book.  Greg and I didn’t go to bed until about 1am.

Today, we’re heading out to Colmbia to a bar to hang out with some of Greg’s friends and then we’re going to head up to Valley View Farms (I’m sure it’s going to be busy). We thought about going to the Science Center today, but since the Ravens are playing at home, we know there will be no parking in the city. Science Center is going to be on Tuesday.

Time to get ready to head out. I’m sure I’ll be back later and with pictures!