Happy Birthday, Allie!

Today is my best friend, Allie's, birthday. Her and I go way back....to 2002 when we met at Messiah.

When I met her the very first day of college freshman year, she was flighty and I didn't really like her. She thought I talked too much and had a tinge of attention deficit disorder and didn't particularly care for me either. Perfect, huh?

But once we did more than glare at each other (I'm kidding, we didn't do that...haha), we became friends. Like good friends.

We roomed together for 2 of our 4 years of Messiah, and across the hall for a 3rd, so we had a lot of time with each other. We stayed up late, watched A LOT of Friends, went to Florida together for spring break, went for "runs" at midnight (to Wendy's, NOT to the gym). She came to my rescue when my boyfriend broke up with me on my birthday (on.my.BIRTHDAY!), and she KNEW something was wrong when her phone said "17 missed calls." She has laughed with me, cried with me, ripped a whole in her favorite pajamas when she was running to assist me in a crisis.

We have argued, disagreed, got along, and agreed. We have made up silly surveys for our roommates to determine whether or not we would go to Atlantic City, Washington D.C., or Philly for our roommate getaway. We have sung patriotic songs for hours until we were both tired, and we have napped like CHAMPIONS in a pitch black room at 2:30 in the afternoon. We eat at Pizza Hut whenever we are together for more than one day in a row, and have been known to make hamloaf and easy mac while soaking our feet in rubbermaid containers to give ourselves home pedicures.

We have more memories in the 7 years that I have known her than are characters allowed in my blog.

She's by far one of the best friends ever...one of those friends that you KNOW will be for life.

And she is moving to Atlanta. [join me in a moment of mourning, won't you?] Booo...

Anyway, I love you, Allie!!! I hope you have a great birthday.

No Need for Stress Anymore!

You know how it's so easy to stress about something over and over until you get yourself all worried and nervous? Well, I do. :) I'm the one in our family of two who pretty much does nothing with the finances -- Seth, for the most part, pays the bills, keeps track of our money, yells at me when I spend too much , lets me buy what I want, makes sure we always have more than enough in savings, back-up savings, emergency funds, etc.

Well, ever since we decided to go to Jamaica for our anniversary I've been stressing (like normal) about it because those trips are expensive(!!), and Seth has been laughing and telling me to chill out, man--"we have more than plenty for the trip!" We paid for half of the trip a few months ago, and still had well over half to go until November 27, when the final payment was due.

Tonight, we sat at the computer while I stressed out about having enough money happily layed (laid?) out our payment schedule for the next 4 months. I clicked on "make a payment" to set up the schedule, entered our credit card number, and hit submit, thinking it would take me to the "confirm" screen where I would take a look over everything, divide the amounts over the 4 months, and hit "ok."

No, that most certainly did not happen.

When I clicked submit, I saw the words no wife-who-doesn't-do-the-finances should ever see:
Thank you for your payment of $x,xxx. Your trip has been paid in full.

With one click of a button, I accidentally PAID THE WHOLE THING....AT ONCE.

Seth laughed. I breathed into a paper bag. Oh, I'm kidding.

Sort of.

But this proves his point that I should not ever touch the online accounts. HA!

Show us Your Life: Favorite Vacation Spots!

This week at Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life is favorite vacation spots!! And this is easy peasy, since I love all things Caribbean--or with a beach, gorgeous water, nice weather and spending time with my favorite people.

I've traveled to a good amount of Caribbean islands and non-Caribbean places, but here are a few places I've traveled that are hands down some of my favorite spots!

Hawaii - Hawaii was absolutely gorgeous. Aside from the dreadful plane ride from the east coast, everything was awesome. We spent lots of time on the beautiful beaches with pristine water, stood on top of an active volcano, and did so many fun things. We went to the observatory on Mauna Kea, and saw the sun set above the clouds. So cool!

Turks and Caicos - I have never in my whole life seen water so perfectly clear and calm (and 80+ degrees). It's pretty much the only way I get in the water, so it was amazing. The island was so pretty, and again, the locals were so nice.

St. Lucia - As I mentioned last week, this is where we went on our honeymoon. Since it was December and freezing in PA, it was so much fun to go somewhere hot! The weather was wonderful...even when it rained, it was just for a few minutes. The food was awesome, the locals were so nice, and I got to spend 8 whole days in a tropical place with the love of my life! :) It was so romantic and I distinctly remember being so sad when we had to go home. We're hoping to get back there for an anniversary (maybe 5 or 10?).

Those are just a few of my favorites, and I have many places on my wish list:

- Italy

- France

- Anguilla

- Antigua

- Alaska (preferrably a cruise!)

- Grand Canyon

PI-VOT

I get bored easily. I wish I was one of those people who could sit around and relax all day, but I'm really not. It sounds great in theory, especially when I try to lay out on the deck and get a tan. I'm probably out there all of 30 minutes and I'm super bored and hot.

Yesterday, I had a crazy (long) day at work, and I was looking forward to coming home, eating dinner, and plopping on the couch for a night of TV. I watched approximately 16 seconds of TV before I could feel the boredom coming on.

So I did what anyone would do....I did laundry and yardwork rearranged the living room furniture. Our living room is not all that large, so finding a way to move a couch, a love seat, coffee table, and 2 end tables without moving anything out of the room was....interesting.

Know that scene from Friends where they are trying to get the couch upstairs in a stairwell and Ross is yelling "PI-VOT"? That's how it was. Except it was just me, and no one to help. I'm pretty sure Bentley thought I was nuts because I was sweating and blocking him in all sorts of weird places.

But I did it, and it looks pretty good!! We're going to give it a shot and see how it works.

Anyone else ever get these random urges to move things/rearrange?

Date afternoon

I'm desperately in the mood to get out of the house and "do" something today (you know what I mean, right??). After church and lunch, I've managed to talk Seth into going to see a movie.

Of course it will be a chick flick, but I can't decide which one. I've heard great things about The Proposal and pretty good things about The Ugly Truth.

Has anyone seen either of those? What do you recommend?

Show Us Your Life - Wedding Reception and Honeymoon

Kelly at Kelly's Korner is doing a thing called "Show us your life" where each week has a different theme. This week's was wedding reception and honeymoon. I just couldn't pass this up! :)

We got married on December 16, 2006 in Lancaster, PA. Our reception was at Willow Valley Resort, which has a lot of meaning to my family, since we've gone there the weekend before school for as long as I could remember when I was a kid. I loved having a winter wedding -- so pretty with all the reds, greens, and whites. The temperature was fairly warm though (in the 50s) for December so it didn't feel too winterish.

Just me!

Post-ceremony on the way to the reception

Again


Smoooooch!


being frisky...haha


Bouquet toss...I think Seth's cousin, Jessie, caught it

Then it was off to the honeymoon - We went to Sandals Regency St. Lucia, which I would hands-down recommend to anyone who is planning their honeymoon. I loved that it was all-inclusive and we never had to carry any cash, especially since tips were prohibited! It was so fun and romantic -- and lots to do...and eat. :)

Gorgeous, huh?

The Pitons!

Seth and I at dinner one night - with our "miniature leather sandals." During your stay, you can play games and do all kinds of stuff to ear points for prizes and those things kept coming up over and over. We had no idea what it meant until we got some at dinner!

The view from our room - it was like heaven! We can't wait to go back!!!

I've Been Thinking...

My sister probably has her hands very full with the twins...

...so she probably wouldn't mind if I stole one, would she? ;)

Cupcakes!

A lot of times, when I find a new blog I like, I can hardly remember how I got to it because I click on links in other people's blogs to get there.


This was one of those blogs. They own a bakery in Las Vegas called Retro Bakery. Seriously, could their cupcakes be any cuter or more creative?!? And, ohmyword, they are good icing decorators. I was so jealous when I saw it.


Tonight, I made cupcakes to take to camp tomorrow. I decided I wanted to try to make my cupcakes look as good as hers. I failed miserably (perhaps it was because I was using a ziploc bag??), but had fun anyway. haha!


I made white cupcakes with a chocolate chip cookie dough center with buttercream (plain? vanilla? I have no idea...) icing...all from scratch!


Here is the finished product:



I'm on my way to deliver some to Seth and his co-workers at work now because Bentley and I are bored!

Was I Talking in my Sleep?

Last night I was tired. Like, really tired. Seth was at work and Bentley was out cold on the couch, so at 8:30, I decided I'd get comfy on the couch with a nice blanket and watch some America's Funniest Home Videos. Well, needless to say, I saw about .2 seconds of it, because the next thing I knew, it was 10:30 and Seth was home from work.

And, ironically, what followed probably could have been submitted to AFHV if it were taped.

So Seth walks in the door. I didn't hear him at all so I know I was in some deep sleep. But when he got to the living room, Bentley saw him and they started getting all wild and crazy like we always do when we get home to Bentley.

I sat up and said in my meanest wife whispery voice, "Be quiet! They already went to bed!!!!"

"Um, who? (or something along those lines), he confusingly asked.

"Matt and Erin."

"Babe, no one is here, we're here alone."

"Oh." At this point, I was super confused because I was fairly certain Matt and Erin were there (I guess this may have stemmed from the fact that they were here last weekend after vacation). Either way, he told me to go get ready for bed and he'd shut everything down and be back to say goodnight.

Apparently, the confusion majorly continued as I got into bed. He kissed me one the lips (important in a second) and said goodnight, and went to walk out of the room.

"Aren't you going to kiss me goodnight?" I asked. "I just did kiss you goodnight." "Not on the lips."

At this point, he must have thought someone drugged his wife because I was clearly not there. But he lovingly came back and kissed me on the lips again.

And then it was 5:30 a.m. today and my alarm was going off.

What an odd night...

Vacation Wrap-Up: The Short Version

Well, we're back from vacation, and like all vacations, it seemed to fly by too quickly! We had a lot of fun though.

The weather during the week was so-so--never really seemed to get a full day of sun any of the days. We were able to hit up the beach Sunday and Monday, and then again Wednesday I think, and one last time on Friday. The rest of the time was filled with outlet shopping and whatnot.

We had yummy food and took into account the many restaurant recommendations people gave to us--one night we ate at Big Fish Grill, Blue Contemporary Seafood, Dos Locos, and a few other places for lunch and whatnot. At Dos Locos, I got the filet steak on their famous stone grill. It comes out on the plate raw and you cook it to your liking. It was DELICIOUS! The rest of the time we ate dinner in and packed our lunches for the beach. And snacked...a lot. All in all, I think it's safe to say that we gained weight.

Our house was decent but not luxurious; it did everything we needed it too, which is all we asked. Lots of bathrooms and bedrooms and a nice, fully stocked kitchen. Oh, and a pool just a few steps away!

Other than hanging out and playing games, we went to the boardwalk, mini-golfed, went go-karting, mini-golf some more, outlet shopping, and ate ice cream.

Here are a few pictures:

We had lots of fun and are glad that we were able to vacation with Seth's brothers and their families.

We did miss this little guy though...seriously, I couldn't WAIT to see him!

Jamaica is next--the countdown is on!