Something about Nothing

The morning started off at 9:00, when I awoke. I slept in longer than I wanted to but at least I felt refreshed. Greg, on the other hand, was still dead asleep. Later I learned that he stayed up until 3am reading and playing computer games. When I woke up there was a text message from Michele informing me that she was heading into to town and wanted to know if I was available. So I called her and we chatted for a few and she invited Greg and me for breakfast while she was waiting for her truck to get checked.

Around 10:45am, Greg and I are outside cleaning out his car so we can fit Michele in the back seat. Yeah, his car was that messy! By 11am, Michele was picked up on the side of Rt. 2 and we head off to Honey Bee Diner for breakfast.

Breakfast was… eh at best. Service was so slow and our server wasn’t very friendly and made fun of Greg because he asked for orange marmalade for his toast (Greg could only have mixed berry or apple); she kept saying things along the line of “what do you think we are, a fancy breakfast place?” Hm… we won’t be returning anytime soon - if ever.

Around noon we were on our way to O.C (after we dropped Michele off at the Nissan dealership - she had a 10am appointment for a tune-up and oil change and didn’t leave until 5pm! And, her truck now stalls out. She’s taking it back in on Monday). Before me made it to 97 I realized that we didn’t have any cash for the Bay Bridge toll so we stopped at a gas station and filled up and got some cash. Finally, at 12:30pm we were en-route for Ocean City!

The drive to Ocean City was uneventful. I took a few pictures of the car ride (something to do while bored). I believe listening to the comedy stations on the XM Radio helped me a lot!

 

While on the way, via RT 50, we learned that the main bridge to Ocean City, the draw bridge, was closed due to repairs or maintenance and that we would have to take the RT 90 bridge in (the RT 50 bridge dropped you off around 5th street whereas the RT 90 bridge was around 60th street). Which actually worked in our favor because our hotel was on 56th street!

I became so giddy and excited when Greg told me that the lighthouse building that we could see from the RT 90 bridge was where we were staying!

Greg reserved a Lightkeeper suite at the Lighthouse Club Hotel. I have never stayed in a hotel that comes close to this place. It was simply magnificent. I honestly can’t put into words how amazing this place is!

The pictures don’t do justice for the place, but here they are:

Greg and I checked in sometime around 3pm. We hung out until about 3:45 just in awe of the place and talking about the plans for the night. I went through the phone book and called around to make sure some of the businesses and restaurants were still open, as it was off season, and only found one place that was open and serving crabs, Fisherman’s, and we made plans to go there for dinner.

Once we were done with the dinner discussion, we went downstairs and outside onto the deck and just stood there (taking pictures) taking it all in. I miss living on the water!

and I couldn’t resist taking a picture of Greg and me!

Now, it’s time to find us some mini-golf! Greg calls Tim to get the name of the preferred mini-golf location and then we’re on our way only to learn, once we arrive, that the place is closed for the season:

So, our quest continues and we find an indoor mini-golf place that was still open and (not) surprisingly wasn’t busy at all! So, we get our mini-golfing on!

The sun was setting fast and Greg had hopes to catch the sunset from our hotel, but we were still playing mini-golf. I offered to end the game in just go because I didn’t want Greg to miss watching the sunset on the water but he refused and wanted to finish playing; I was worried that Greg wouldn’t be able to see the sunset so I just played to get it over with. Greg won the game by about 5 or so strokes.

We made it back to the hotel in time to watch the sunset and take pictures. The sunset was beautiful…

it’s been a long time since I sat outside to watch the sun set. It was so beautiful and relaxing. It was at this moment Greg and I decided to come back every February for our anniversary and we talked about having our wedding on the water, as the sun was setting.

Once the sun was set, Greg and I talked about what to do next; go to the boardwalk or dinner. It was decided to go to dinner since the place closes at 9pm and it was nearing 6pm (I think). So, we went upstairs to our room and got ready and then headed over to the restaurant. As I mentioned, the RT 50 bridge was out so Greg and I had to drive all the way to the other end of the bay to get to the restaurant or any other place on the other end and then drive back. So, we spent and extra 1.5 hours driving each time we went anywhere that was on the other side.

Dinner was amazing. I was so surprised at all that we received with our meals! The all-you-can-eat crabs included shrimp, fried chicken, french fries and hush puppies, in addition to the crabs for only $25.99!! I passed on the shrimp and only had one order of chicken, french fries and hush puppies; I was here for the crabs! Greg ordered grilled salmon and teryaki wings. Here’s some food porn…

the crabs were delicious! Surprisingly, I only had one ‘bad crab’ out of the 20ish crabs I had. While I was still eating crabs, Greg surfed the interweb on my cell phone (because he was done eating and I wasn’t), and we talked about coming back this summer and I was telling him that if we come back, we’re bringing Mom and other family members and having dinner here, no matter what! The service was amazing and the food was great and priced very well.

After dinner we headed to the boardwalk (after having to drive all the way around the bay and then up Coastal Highway), but took our time getting there; we drove through Ocean City’s neighborhoods (as I was thinking out loud about homes in Ocean City and schools and such since all you see on the main road, Coastal Highway, are hotels and businesses) and arrived about 8:45pm. The boardwalk, when in season has a couple thousand people walking at the same time, was dead. Vacant. Desolate. Erie. I have never, in all the years of coming to Ocean City, seen the city so… shut down. It was cool but weird. When we arrived, Playland was still open and we talked about going in and play a few games but we wanted to walk around first.

Greg and I took a walk down to the shore and watched the waves crash. It was very peaceful. I was thankful that Greg packed an extra jacket (even though the jacket was a Christmas gift from his ex when they were dating) for me to wear. It was down right windy and a little on the chilly side (even for me, and I rarely wear a jacket/coat - even if it’s snowing). When we made it back to the boardwalk, Playland had closed so we just took random pictures. I wanted a picture of Greg, and me, by the huge tire that was at the Ripley’s Believe it or Not place:

And, for some reason, Greg had  to have a picture of Thrasher’s…

 Eventually we left and decided to find a local grocery store to get items for snacks and breakfast as well as some liquor. Well, we found a liquor store but no grocery store that was open. We talked about buying a bottle of wine

or maybe some items to make mixed drinks

but decided to buy a small bottle of champagne and pre-mixed bottles of mudslides and lemon drops. The next stop was the 7-11 where we bought some soda and chips and dip (so romantic) and then it was back to the hotel!

When we arrived at our room the lights were low and there was a candle lit, our bed was turned down and there was fresh fruit and orange juice in the fridge and some cranberry pound cake on the counter! I was a little freaked about the candle because I was asking myself if I lit a candle before leaving a few hours ago but then I don’t remember even seeing a candle in the hotel when we arrived, so it must of been the turn down service! It was very romantic.

Greg made me take a shower when we returned to the hotel because I smelled of vinegar and old bay. I was impressed by the soap and shampoo provided; the bar of soap was of actual size verses a mini travel size, and it was like something one would buy at Bath and Body Works (fresh smelling, bits of ’stuff’ in the bar to exfoliate, etc) - I loved the bar of soap and told Greg that we’re taking it home with us!

When I got out of the shower Greg was in the jacuzzi, with the fireplace lit and the candle still twinkling, waiting for me. Sadly, the jacuzzi had the opposite effect on us; we were way too relaxed while in the tub to do other ’stuff’ and believe it or not, we didn’t have sex - we talked about it, we kissed and did other ’stuff’, but no sex; we were too tired (it was nearing midnight) and too relaxed to put forth any more effort.

The bed was a queen; Greg and I are used to sleeping on a king. Greg slept well, I did not. It took a long time for me to fall asleep and I didn’t have much success staying asleep. I was up by 7:30am, though I would doze off for a few minutes every now and then. By 8:30, we were both up. There was a Washington Post (one of my favorite newspapers) at the door and I started to read the paper (Greg stole the sports section) and have some of the cranberry pound cake.

Once Greg was done reading the paper he made a few subtle hints about finishing what we started the night before in the jacuzzi… it was then that we ‘celebrated’ our anniversary the way it was meant to be celebrated!

Greg got into the shower and I got dressed, only to realize that I left my brush in the car. I was hoping my hair didn’t look too bad with the headband in…

when Greg got out of the shower and was dressed, we started packing and getting ready to check out and saying good bye to the best place either of us have ever stayed in.

we spent a few minutes on the balcony just thinking and stuff.

I believe we checked-out around 10:00 or 10:30. We decided to head over to Assateague Island in hopes to catch a few pictures of the wild ponies. One the way to Assateague we stopped at a off the road park that was on the other side of the bay from where we stayed. The day started off cloudy and cold, so the pictures were a little more challeging to take, but they turned out pretty well…

after about a half hour we headed over to Assateague Island. On the way there, there was a part of the road that was lined with these really neat looking trees:

Finally, after the long drive to Assateague Island we made it (my patience during car rides is very low)!

I wanted to go to the beach because the waves are usually bigger and better than the ones in Ocean City.

after about a half hour we head back to the car to look for wild ponies! Unfortunately, we only saw two from afar…

by now it’s nearing noon and we’re starting to feel hungry. So we head back to the main road and I start to recognize a few buildings and realize that we’re in the area that I used to stay when my family would visit Ocean City! We used to stay at these cottages called Coconut Grove for a few years until the cabins were bought out by the Francis Scott Key resort; seeing the old cottages brought back a lot of memories - and the strongest memory is when my family spent a week in Ocean City and I had a raging ear infection and wasn’t allowed to go swimming. I remember lying in the sand and having to lay on one side for about a half hour after I put my ear drops in and then getting a wicked sunburn on the side of my thigh (that was awesome to peel).

So, we’re driving around and I’m starting to remember things and we end up at a marina and there is a bar/restaurant called HarborSide so we decide to stop for lunch. I believe I’ve eaten there before many years ago because I remember sitting by the window and watching the big(ish) boats come and go.

I decided to try their signature drink, an Orange Crush

I forget what the drink includes (aside from the ‘fresh’ squeezed orange juice) but it wasn’t all that impressive. As you can see from the picture, it looks more like lemonade rather than something orange and it tasted a little diluted.

We ordered some buffalo wings (I’ve been on a buffalo kick for a couple weeks now) as our appetizer

and I was a little disappointed; the texture was right but it was lacking flavor (i like my wings with a little more spice and some vinegar).  For lunch Greg ordered a burger and I had the Crisfield Chicken sandwich (a grilled chicken breast topped with crab dip). Again, I was disappointed in the lack of flavor in the food (Bateman’s has a similar sandwich called the Chicken Chesapeake and it tastes so much better). Needless to say, I don’t think I’d be returning to this place anytime I am in Ocean City. But, it was nice to sit and watch the boats…

during lunch we looked up the address to the Sonic in Delaware (via interweb on my cell phone) and made that our second destination once we had our fun on the boardwalk!

I was happy to see that the boardwalk had a little more activity than the night before; I was also happy to see that some of the shops along the boardwalk were open!

We started out on the jetty; I was mesmerized by the waves crashing onto the rocks

Once we had our fun on the jetty we headed to the boardwalk.  I stopped in a jewelry store and bought my Mom a pair of earrings (pure silver and 40% off), then I bought a tub of Fisher’s famous popcorn, and a bag of cotton candy. Greg stops in Dolle’s and buys some fudge and truffles.

afterwards we head over to Playland to play a few games. My hands were sticky from the cotton candy so I wasn’t all that interested, but I did play a game of skeet ball and beat Greg!

After playland we head off to Delaware! The drive wasn’t all that bad. The only ‘issue’ was that Greg would drive the.exact.speed limit and it drove me nuts! I wasn’t being a ‘backseat driver’ by any means but I let him know that I felt he was driving too slow. I took pictures to keep me occupied…

I believe we hit Dewey, Delaware first and just kept driving. Eventually, we were in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. I’ve never been to Rehoboth Beach before, so Greg drove around the popular spot…

and Greg asked me to take a picture of this pub…

and then we’re on our way. Greg asks if I want to stop at the outlets and I say sure.

 We went into one store and didn’t buy anything. I wasn’t in the mood to do any shopping, even if it is tax free. By now I am exhausted and can’t wait to go home and sleep in my bed! But, we still had at least 3 more hours of driving!

Bridgeville, DE was our spot; this is where Sonic is located and Greg wanted to stop at Sonic’s to end our amazing anniversary weekend. The drive wasn’t all that bad; I liked driving through Georgetown, DE - I liked the houses. I like the older houses with the wrap around porches and turrets.

It was a long drive (and stinky at times due to the farms we passed). I was getting more and more tired (and cranky) as the drive continued on to what felt like an eternity!

And then I saw the sign!

Yay!! We made it - finally!! And you know what, neither of us were even hungry! We were still full from lunch earlier in the day and by now it was 5:45pm! But we couldn’t leave without ordering something…

the drinks were our biggest desire; given their commercials are about their drinks. So Greg ordered a Cherry Limeade and a Cranberry something or other and I ordered the light version of the Cherry Limeade - which, in all honesty, tasted like a virgin Sherlly Temple. But it was good. Also, we decided to order meals anyway; I had a bacon cheeseburger and Greg had a chicken sandwich…

the food was good, I guess. Nothing, aside from the drinks, stood out to me. Greg said he enjoyed his meal whereas I couldn’t even finish mine!

 I believe it was 6:07 when we left Sonic’s. We guessed how many miles we had left and around what time we would make it home. Greg guess that we had about 65 miles to go and I guess about 100 (the actual mileage was about 70 something) and I guessed we’d be home between 6:55 and 7:15 (we made it around 7:03).

We watched the sun set on the way home and then I ‘watched’ the skies and their colors…

The End.

I am still recovering from the busy, but oh so much fun, weekend!

Saturday, my day of birth (at 1:47am), was jam packed with everything. Greg and I left the house a little before 11am and didn’t return until a little after 10pm.

The drive down to Waldorf was uneventful; Amelia slept the entire way. Van beat us to the restaurant and Mom arrived a few minutes after us. Here are some pictures from lunch:

Once lunch was over, Greg transferred the car-seat from my car to Moms. While Greg was doing that, Mom and I chatted and I told Mom how much Greg and I are thankful and appreciative of all the help (financially, emotionally, etc) she and Van have given us over the past year. Greg and I talked about helping Mom out (she doesn’t really need it) and gave Mom a check to kind of repay her and Van. Mom was taken back by the gesture (it wasn’t a huge check or anything) and refused to accept it but I enforced it and told her “if anything, you can put this away for Amelia or towards our wedding”. She accepted the check. Eventually the car-seat was installed and Amelia was sitting forward for the first time. It was a little odd seeing her sitting like this. It was so hard to leave Amelia; Greg and I delayed the departure as much as possible…

By 2pm we were on our way home. The drive was uneventful (no lights or traffic) and were ‘home’ a little after 3pm, earlier than we thought we would be. So, since the weather was so nice outside I decided to visit the Airport Park (also known as Friendship Park):

We stayed for about a half hour and decide to head to the mall. The plan was to kill time at Dave and Busters but they were so freaking crowded we ended up spending over an hour at Books-a-million. Around 5:30 we leave the bookstore (I bought another wedding magazine and chatted with the cashier as she was planning her wedding as well) and stopped at the food court to get something to drink and kill a little more time.

We were a little early at arriving to Medieval Times but we also had a good spot in the front of the line. I took a few pictures while waiting…

About 15 minutes later a procession of people came out and announced the show…

After the announcement, we checked in and had our photo taken (which I took to work and didn’t get a picture of our picture). Greg and I walked around and looked at all the decorations and gift shop items…

After Greg and I were done with the picture taking of all the decorations, Greg asks me if I am girly enough for a tiara. ?!??!! I asked him to explain and he asked how I feel about having a tiara. I asked him where this question came from and he was being all coy about it and questioned why I was questioning him and I explained that that question he asked me was out of character! He wouldn’t tell me what it meant. I gave up and told Greg that I wanted a picture with the King. Greg kept telling me that it wouldn’t be possible because the King was having his picture taken with all the guests that paid the extra $10 to have the Royal treatment. I rebuttal and tried to play the ‘it’s my birthday, I can do what I want’ card (sorta) and i wasn’t winning. About 15 minutes later the Chancellor (my MR DREAMY) called everyone around because there was going to be a knighting ceremony.  Little did I know…

Greg secretly met with the ‘Scroll Mistress’ and put my name on the list to recognize my 29th Birthday! That is why he was asking if I considered myself girly enough for a tiara!

I didn’t get a tiara, nor did I buy the thing I’m wearing in the picture. I didn’t see the need to buy either (and nor did Greg). But, I did get a picture of me and the King (as he ‘knighted’ me), which is also at work. After the ceremony we waited what felt like an eternity to go in. While waiting Greg snagged a picture of MR DREAMY for me (it was pretty obvious I was attracted to the guy)…

oohh baby! I so wanted a picture with him but each time I was going to approach him someone else would and eventually I gave up because I thought the last thing he needs is another interruption from a guest.

Finally at 7:30 the doors were opened and we were called in by color; Greg and I were on the Red and Yellow team.

and then the show finally began!! Here are some of my favorite pictures; you can see EVERYTHING here…

At the end of the show all birthday’s were announced and mine was the second one!! And what stood out was that the announcement and parchment all had my maiden name!! It was so neat to hear.

When Greg and I made it home we were so exhausted. We walked the entire mall (a little over a mile) one and a half times and just trying to relax after the busy day. I uploaded the pictures and putted around the computer and around 12am headed to bed. During those two hours (10pm - 12am) I went to check on Amelia twice only to realize that she wasn’t in her room. I was missing her!

On Sunday Greg and I were up for good by 8:30am. We couldn’t sleep in; Greg woke up at 7am worried about Amelia (because she wasn’t up yet) only to remember she wasn’t here. Yeah, we’re really missing Amelia.

Greg did something I didn’t expect him to do. He shaved off his beard/mustache thing!! I honestly didn’t expect him to do it. We were talking about it one night last week and he said he’s been curious and decided to do it Sunday morning!

I think Greg looks years younger (cute baby face)! He’s told me not to get used to it as he’s going to let it grow back. His excuse as to not keep his face hair free is because it requires too much work (meaning frequent shaving) and he’s too lazy.

Around 1pm Greg and I head over to Sean and Aaron’s place to take them to Ikea with us. Well, Sean didn’t tell Aaron and Sean was still in Baltimore where he spent the night at a hotel with some friends. It took forever to get the boys ready and out the door! So, to kill time I took pictures…

Finally, around 2pm we were on our way! Since I was driving (my car is cleaner than Greg’s therefore we can fit whatever we’re buying into the car) Greg took a load of pictures on the way up…

and finally…

we make it to Ikea!!

We immediately have lunch when we arrive (food porn can be seen on Flickr - I wonder how many site hits I’ll have now for writing ‘porn’..)

After lunch Greg and I pretty much loose Sean and Aaron. Greg and I already knew what we wanted so we headed over to that section to check the dressers out. The dresser I wanted was out of stock so I ended up choosing the dresser that Greg wanted, so we bought two - one for each of us and we chose the colors we wanted (I chose the birch veneer and Greg chose the oak veneer). Greg really wanted a nightstand but I didn’t feel there was enough of a selection for my taste. Greg found the one he liked and I passed - for now. We talked about dining room tables and chairs and a computer desk. Currently, our dining room table is really a waste of space - it fits but it’s more than we need. So we were looking at something a little smaller with room to grow (as our family grows) and would give a little more space to rearrange our current furniture settings to include a desk out in the living/dining rooms. We found a table that we liked and added it to our ‘wish list’ for later this year.

Once we jotted down the item numbers and isle location of the dressers and night stand we headed down stairs to the kitchen, textiles, and all the other goodies. Greg wanted to get some things that I felt we don’t need right now but would be great for the wedding registry (considering Ikea, along with Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target, and JCPenny - sounds like a lot but I feel it gives people a lot of choices). We picked up some new glasses and wine glasses for the kitchen. Then, it was to the bedding section (which I love). There was an awesome sale going on and I bought this quilt, a king size, for only $12.50!! I am seriously considering going back to Ikea to buy more for Christmas presents this year!! In order to get the additional 50% off the ticketed price, you had to ask a floor assistant for a coupon - which I did. And got extras!! But the promotion expires on the 10th so I need to hurry up and make up my mind. Anyway, since we bought the quilt so cheap I had to buy a new duvet and I chose this one. I have wanted an Ikea quilt and duvet cover so long long (I love how fluffy and comfortable the look in the tv commercials and catalogs) and I was so excited to finallyhave one!! I couldn’t wait to get home and put the duvet on the quilt and make the bed! After bedding we wandered into the lighting section (another part of Ikea that I love) and argued (not really) over changing the light fixture in the dining area; Greg feels we would need to hire an electrical contractor to change the fixture. I kept telling him he’s over exaggerating something so simple to do and that my brother could do it (as he’s done it before). Greg doesn’t want to change the fixture. Boo on him. But we did get a new lamp to include in the living room (high ceilings make the room difficult to light - when there are no lights from the ceilings). I can’t believe the lamp was only $14.99(which cost about $38 at Target for a very similar lamp)! Greg and I really did some good shopping at Ikea.

When we were checking out we were trying to figure out our total. Greg was estimating $600 and I was guessing mid $400. Our total was $473. Not bad for two dressers, a night stand, lamp and lamp bulbs, glasses, quilt and duvet, and a few smaller items (cookies, kitchen brushes, etc). Sean and Aaron met us at the check out and helped Greg and I bring everything up stairs (the dressers alone weighed 138lbs a piece) and to show our gratitude we took them out to dinner of their choice and they wanted to go to Old Country Buffet.

Greg assembled the first, his, dresser once we were home from dinner. Neither of us watched the super bowl. I talked to my Mom I believe for the 6th time that day and around midnight, again, we went to bed.

That is my birthday weekend in a nutshell.

Today, Monday, Greg sent me a very… hhmmm… I don’t know how to describe this… email from his Grandfather. We may not be going to Alabama after all…

to be continued…

yeah, nothing really comes to mind for a proper title as I plan on writing about whatever is on my mind. also, i am going to try to use pictures and referring links (i think it’s neat to see what other people are talking about via links to their local places) for this entry. We’ll start the entry around 12:30…

the first item on our list for this weekend was to take Greg’s car to NTB for new tires and an alignment ($300 spent). i followed Greg in my car so we could do our other tasks while the car was being worked on. so, once the car was dropped off we headed to lunch

i’ve lived in the glen burnie area for about four years and never ate at this little pizzeria until today. I remember when I first moved to this area with Adam that I wanted to try the place out but we never did.

amelia liked the pizza…

greg liked the pizza. but not me, so much. it wasn’t fresh nor hot enough for my liking. the cheesecake on the other hand was delicious! it’s been a long time since i’ve had a slice of cheesecake and i now believe that cheesecake is my favorite dessert (the real cheesecake) and i prefer my cheesecake plain (no sauce and no fruit, unless it’s fresh fruit without sauce). amelia LOVED the cheesecake!

she literally took the fork from me, stabbed a chunk of cheesecake, brought the chunk to her, took the chunk off the fork and shoved the chunk in her mouth! and i let her do it! she was being too cute to stop. after she took a few bites she decided to squish the cheesecake chunk in her hand and then rubbed the mess on my face, which you can sort of see in this picture:

but i find the expression on the lady’s face behind me more entertaining. the lady was nice and very chatty.

Once we were done with lunch we headed to the grocery store to do some much needed shopping (as it’s been a little over two weeks since we did any real shopping). yeesh, we spent $200 on groceries! i picked out a lot of meat (chicken, pork and beef) and have plenty of dinner ideas (a couple roasts for the crock-pot, chili, and plenty of chicken to experiment with) and new spices to try out. greg and i love to flavor our meats with exotic spices (just wish the spices were much cheaper) so it was a lot fun to look at all the spices and marinades and pick out some that we’ve been wanting to buy for a while. also, greg and i have begun to shop healthier (and have been doing so since we moved in together but we’re going to be more serious with our grocery selections); we’re buying all whole grains and wheat products (such as pasta, breads, rice, snacks) to aide in our goal of being healthier (and hopes of loosing some weight for 2008); and finally during our shopping, greg’s car was finish so it was nice to be able to stop by the car shop on the way home rather than having to go back out later in the day, as we were expecting.

amelia was being a little bit… unhappy at the store. she was difficult to keep happy and occupied. we knew she wasn’t hungry as we fed her before we left the house and she snacked on some pizza and cheesecake so we chocked it up to being sleepy and cranky. and, sure enough she fell asleep in a matter of minutes once she was in the car and remained asleep for a good hour and a half!

the rest of the day was uneventful. greg and i talked a little more about our plans with the money and about next weekend. My Mom is taking amelia for a week (she was practically begging me to bring amelia down for a week long visit) and the plan is to meet with Mom, my brother and my cousin April for lunch to celebrate my 29th birthday. I believe we’re meeting at Longhorn (the one in Waldorf); i’ve never been there before.

i don’t know what the plans are once we’ve dropped off amelia with my mom - it’s all going to be a surprise; originally we were planning an Ikea trip (the one in College Park) but I don’t know it that’s still going to happen. Also, the weekend of my birthday, there is a huge bridal expo at the Baltimore Convention Center that I’ve been thinking about attending (mainly because I have free passes). Greg doesn’t want to go because he thinks we’ll run into his ex there; i have my doubts since it’s a huge expo and it’s two days long (what are the chances?); as a compromise, greg suggested we visit the Maryland Science Center to see the Body Worldsexibit. We’ll see - after all, it’s only a week away!

moving on… 

this evening, for dinner, i cooked two steaks. i bought a family pack of NY strip steaks, which, by the way, are my all time favorite steakes and I was so happy to see that they were on sale (even though I had to buy large quantities).

and the steakes were cut nice and thick! so i decided to try one of the new marinades/sauces that we bought (and i’ve been eyeing the bottle for a couple weeks now):

so i took out 2 (of the 5 steaks) and placed them in a ziplock bag with the above

the sauce has loads of nuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and other nuts) as well as a good amount of kick for spice ( and it’s a slow kick that you don’t feel right away). I let the steaks marinade in the bag for about 2 hours. Due to the thickness of the steaks, i decided to do a quick broil (about 15-20 minutes) and then bake.

while the steaks were broiling/baking, i fed amelia and then she was bathed. after amelia’s bath (and this has become routine) the three of us laid in bed (ours) and goofed off until amelia was on the brink of passing out (again), which usually takes about 15-20 minutes. Amelia is getting to be so funny! Right now, she’s mimicked me when I flap my tongue (kinda like going ‘la la la’ but really fast) on my lips but the way she does it and how it sounds cracks greg and me up! I am going to try and get a recording of her doing it tomorrow. oh! and amelia walked across the living room all by her self!  pretty soon she’ll be running all over the place.

once amelia was asleep, i started some more laundry (which, by the way, our washer/dryer is acting up! the dryer isn’t drying and the washer makes this horrible screeching noise when spinning - going to need to dins the warranty info on the item and call for service) and checking on the steaks. they’re ready!

and they turned out perfect! they were well done and juicy as ever! to complete the meal, we had a spinach salad and garlic mashed potatoes. the marinade had a nice flavor but i was expecting more. when the steaks were cooking, it smelt like i was baking bread (probably due to all the nuts). I am going to use the marinade on chicken (with a few added spices) next and see how that turns out. In the meantime, I have a few more new spices to try as well:

be sure that there will be more pictures of my cooking experiments later.

for now, it’s after midnight and I am pooped. I’ve been ‘working’ on this for over three hours (with a lot of interruptions and distractions). I was hoping to finish this by 10 and play some Diablo II or do some internet shopping for new games, but that never happened.

Tomorrow is up the in air. I don’t really have anything planned as of now, but Greg has to go into work for a couple of hours (he’s meeting Tim around 5, i think, and they are going to try and catch-up from the nightmare of a day they had this past Friday). I don’t want greg to go and i might join him (along with Amelia) or do a little window shopping in Columbia while he and Tim work.

Also, I want to show the wedding dresses that i’ve found and are seriously considering but that’s going to have to wait. in the mean time, enjoy this teasing:

First, I’ve had a headache since about 4pm - so my temperament and patience has been slim to nil, although I don’t think anyone noticed.

Here’s how my Monday night went:

Immediately after work I head to the jewelery store to talk to the manager about my ring situation. The conversation and options went well. I was offered a new ring (same model and such) but I declined and my reasoning was because if the damage was done in such a short amount of time, it would more than likely happen again; so it was decided (after talking to Greg first) to get a whole new engagement ring (style and all). And so I did.

The price was a couple hundred dollars more than what Greg paid for the other ring, but the manager knocked off the difference and gave me (or us) a store credit of $175 (which I promptly hinted to Greg to purchase a set of matching earrings). The diamonds are emerald cut, except for the ‘circle’ around the center diamond. I was in the store for a good hour debating over the rings. I was more open with my searching but I just didn’t like the round or marque cut diamonds - which eliminated a lot of choices - and I was still searching for something unique and classic at the same time.  This ring was my third choice when Greg and I were ring shopping (the second choice was very similar to my previous ring except it didn’t have the pavé diamonds on the outside. I chose this ring (the new one) for many reasons; 1. clean cut diamonds (I like straight lines on the diamonds which is why I probably don’t like the circle or marque cut diamonds); 2. still unique enough without being too gaudy; 3. the diamonds in the band are channeled (in the band) instead of the pavé (on top of the band) which also allows more options for choosing my wedding band; and 4. I just love it.

I still feel bad that I exchanged my original ring for another one - but I knew that I would more than likely have issues with the first ring but i didn’t listen to reason and went with what caught my eye (well, both rings caught my eye - I just went with the one with the extra sparkles).

Now, the last half hour of my time at the jewelery store I received 6 phone calls; 1 from my brother, 4 from my Mom and 1 from Greg. Mom called first and I told her what was going on and then I had to go; then my brother called because he spoke to Mom and knew I was out and about so he asked if I could pick up some things for him as he wasn’t feeling well; then Mom calls back 3 more times ( i didn’t answer because I was talking to the manager about the minute details of the exchange and such) and then Greg calls. Once I was done at the jewelery store, I call Mom back as I was walking back to my car; she asked if I spoke with Sean and I told her I did and then she lectures me on what to buy for Sean - ‘he needs fresh fruit’ -bla bla bla. I know my brother, he’s sick and more than likely isn’t going to eat fresh anything.  After I get off the phone with Mom, I call Greg and tell him what’s going on. And, finally around 8:15 I make it to my brothers and give him the items he requested and then some (fresh peaches and nectarines and carrots with dip). While at Sean’s I copied over Amelia’s birth video clips and pictures (Sean recorded some video on his cellphone when she was born) with the intention of placing them on the laptop; so we hung out for a bit and chatted and what not.

Around 8:40pm I start to head home and call Greg. Greg had no motivation to make dinner and asked that I pick something up from Checkers.  Ok, not a problem. The drive-thru at Checkers was running mind-numbing slow so I decide to order at their window and wait outside. Also decided to test the night settings on the camera.

Yeah, it was 25° outside!!

It was after 9:00 by the time I got home. Amelia was already asleep so I wasn’t able to kiss her goodnight. I missed my baby girl! I spent a good amount of time watching and re-watching Amelia’s birth on the cell phone. I tried to transfer the video and images to the laptop but the computer doesn’t recognize the files (I think they need to be converted) which I’m kinda bummed about. I guess I couldread the manual that came with the cell phone… if I could find it!                                                                                                                                                                               

So, I had a pretty busy evening. I’m happy I was able to help Sean feel a little better by dropping off some items. I know he would do the same if I needed him; and Sean is one of those people that doesn’t like to ask for help (just like I am), so I knew he must have been feeling like shit if he asked me to get stuff for him. I’m also glad that we live about two miles apart, which made everything more convenient.                                  

The good:

This is my first picture taken with my NEW CAMERA!! Yeah, Greg can’t keep surprises from me. Oh! I don’t know which I luv more, the new camera of my new cell phone!! … camera is in a slight lead…

I can’t wait to take the camera out tomorrow and take some pictures (hopefully of the snow we might receive). I am so giddy!!

Now, onto the bad:

At this exact moment, I don’t know where the Sony camera is. I last had it when I was at the jewelery store taking pictures of the engagement ring (more on that later) and I don’t know what I did with it afterwards; I think I put it in the stroller. But, I don’t recall it being in the stroller as I was folding it and putting it back in the car. And, the camera isn’t in my purse and I don’t think it’s in the front seat of my car (I believe Greg would have seen it as he was getting a few things out of my car). Part of me isn’t so concerned about it but part of me is. I could run down the three flights of stairs and walk half way down the parking lot and check the car but I am too lazy and have so much to do (reading the books that came with the Canon, do my taxes as I am so freaking excited to see how much I might be getting back, etc).

Now, my engagement ring. I am honestly disappointed in the repair. Who ever worked on my ring did a horrible job - the soldering went over the diamond (one of the itty bitty ones on the side)! The sales guy that was assisting me even agreed and offered to take it back but I told him that I would keep it (I missed my ring so much) and will return on Monday when I can talk to the manager. And, it seems my fears about the small diamonds in the ring have come true. *sigh* I knew I shouldn’t have fallen in love with this ring, but I just loved how the little diamonds made it extra sparkly without being so obvious (meaning no big diamond) and gaudy. But, it looks like I am going to get a different (most likely the same ring without all the small diamonds in the channel) ring. I am feeling a little heartbroken, but I don’t want to have to keep returning to the jeweler for minor replacements/repairs (I am so rough on my jewelery). So, while we were at the store I was looking at their current display and commented on how the selection was so sparse compared to before and the sales guy said their supply is in the safe at the moment and suggested to come back on Monday (as the manager and I will have some talking and negotiations to do).

Other than that, the day has been uneventful. Greg’s loan is all said and done and we have a pretty good chunk of money to play with - we’re going to open a savings account this weekend, pay off one of my credit cards, and then we’re going to do some shopping (weather permitting) for me (new clothes and bras; oil change), Amelia (second car seat) and Greg (tires, car inspection (for exhaust) and clothes) and then next weekend we’re thinking about heading up to Ikea in White Marsh for some furniture (dresser and night stands) shopping! So, really not that much planned.

 Ok, going to work on my taxes - wish me luck for a huge refund!

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!

“Oh, what a night.
Late December back in ‘63 ‘07.
What a very special time for me,
‘Cause I remember what a night.”

Anyone else humming that Frankie Valli song?

Greg and I had an A.M.A.Z.I.N.G night. We had so much fun, and I ended his streak of bad luck when he brings a date to a company party! I knew I was special. If only he’d listen to be for the previous two years (’05 and ‘06)!

Riding in the limo was fun! It’s like sitting on the floor, but comfortable-ish. The car was packed with all of us in it but it was still fun. Here are some photos…

Outside the limo:

Here we are inside the limo:

A couple Couple’s shots:

 

 

The ride up was fun! We arrived at 6:00, employees got to wear name tags and we collected out game cards and we were ready to par-tay, but we had a to wait for the speeches. In the meantime, we gathered around the appetizers and started our free drinking. See below…

Thankfully, the speeches were short and very sweet! Within about a half hour (of when the speeches began), we were off to play the games! I started off with skeetball, one of my favorite games. We played so many games! Eventually, we ate dinner but neither of us were really that hungry since we ate a lot of the appetizers (cause they were so damn good), plus the dinner (buffet style) wasn’t all that good. Rather disappointing actually. Here are pictures of our first round of games…

Then, Greg and I found the game of the night (in my opinion). The game is called “Lets Go Jungle”. Really, a fun game! You get to shoot and beat at bugs, fish, frogs, big ass spiders, (as far as we know); it was so much fun. Of course, I tool pictures…

 

 

Greg and I played until our hearts content! We had so much fun! There were a few down sides; the wind was so powerful that the power flicked out a few times and we lost our games. This happend while playing “Lets Go Jungle” and Greg and I were bummed! We were offered to have the credits placed back onto our game cards but we declined as we had so many credits left that it wasn’t a big deal.

Before we knew it, it was 10pm and the party was over. Greg and I were the firsts to get back to the limo ao we got a few pictures of the empty limo…

The ride home was a little more fun; as we all had some alcohol in us (not a lot). During the ride, a few songs came on that we started to sing along with, those songs being Prince’s Purple Rain and Kansas’s Dust in the Wind. I took video clips of the singing. Listen if you dare. And, as usual, you can see all the pictures on Flickr.

Greg’s extended family now knows about Amelia and me. Greg finally spoke to his Grandparents in Alabama this evening. He told them a secret (that I’m not suppose to know but I think I’ve guessed it) and about Amelia - they are eagerly awaiting to photobook that we’re working on. I was able to get their address and tomorrow our Christmas cards are going out (at least the ones I’ve completed). Greg was also able to talk to his Dad tonight and they talked about the secret and about Greg telling his grandparents (Greg’s Dad’s parents).

So, I am sure the news about Greg, Amelia, and Me is spreading like wildfire throughout that side of the family.

Now, we have to plan a trip to Alabama and soon.

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?

I have received an amazing message on Flickr today:

“Hi Jess,

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides“

The picture that is in the running is this one of the MD Science Ctr:

Personally, I didn’t think it turned out well because I had used the zoom on the camera and I hate using the zoom (the pictures aren’t as sharp or clear, in my opinion). But, apparently, someone likes it enough to include it in their guide!

This email made my day!