A Friday Night.

As previously posted; here are some pics from Friday night when the best friends' and I friends from New York, Rich and TJ came to visit. They were uber fascinated by her remote helicopter and the 10 lb medicine ball. We literally sat on her couches watching Golden Girls and Family Guy passing around the medicine ball and discussing our cars.  Clearly, we are easily amused.

Cheryl on the phone before we went out for a bit while we waited.

TJ and Cheryl watching some television.

Rich getting his Wii on.

Making Miis!

The medicine ball Rich is modeling.

Rich, TJ and Cheryl chillen at her kitchen table.

Playing with the placemats, clearly I'm horrible at taking pics because poor TJs face is a blur. =[

Playing with the mats.

They were being weird.

The helicopter. 

Best Friend!

The awesome stress ball dude.

Miscellany Mondays v5

Oh hey, its Monday. So click the button above and head over to lowercase letters. It's awesome, I promise you.

-I only posted twice last week? I really should smack myself for that, I've been trying to post more, but work has been so crazy lately. I would post at home, but my computer only likes to work when it feels like it. =(

-I just bought boyfriend Yankees tickets for his birthday. His birthday isn't actually till the 23rd of the month; but unfortunately he only gets Sunday's off.

-So we are going THIS SUNDAY! since the only other Sunday game is at 8:05pm and I really didn't want to drive out that late. But none the less we are so excited. (cue happy dance!)

-I have been trying to figure out all morning if the tickets I got are better seats than last year when him and I went with our friend Matt. I can now decidely say yes, they are one "area" below. Which is good; because I hate heights and I think this time the players won't look like midgets.

Oh helloooooo down there! (I believe we are going to be one level down; still on this "side" probably where it juts out a bit)

Boyfriend watching the rain last year, in the middle of an hr and a half game delay.

-This weekend we saw 'Paul'. It's about an Alien that is trying to get home. Seth Rogan is the voice of Paul, and to be honest, it wasn't that funny. It was a very dragged on type of movie.

-We also headed down to Ikea. We bought some more stuff to go into our 'hope tote.' We bought a 2 pack of mixing bowls, some dish towels, a wooden cutting board and a 3 pack of scissors. hahah. Seriously though.

-Oh and Friday night, best friend and I had our friends Rich & TJ from New York over. They're my vw friendsss. =) We played some Wii, ate some Checkers and watched some Family Guy and Golden Girls, yes the guys watched Golden Girls. I have pictures on my camera, and I will post them tonight. I really need to upload the pics and use the darn thing more.

What did you guys do this weekend?

Me On the Map (via missblondiexoxo)

I just started following Michelle over at MissBlondiexoxo, her blog design is so cute and I love her fun posts! She is also is my pen pal! =) Cait over at Fit, Fierce and Fabolous came up with the idea of having bloggers write actual snail-mail to each other, which I am so excited about! She paired us up on distance with the hopes that one day we can meet!

Michelle came up with this amazing idea for everyone to tell about where they're from (hometown or town you currently reside in). It's great to get a glimpse into where everyone is from and some background on their town and their favorite fun spots to hang out at. Roadtrip anyone? So with further ado, here is a quick look at the city I currently call home: Bristol, CT.

My city is located roughly 20 miles southwest of Hartford. Our current population is just over 60,000. We are home to the main headquarters of ESPN as well as home to the oldest continuly operated amusement park in the country, Lake Compounce. Every year we have a "Mum Parade," celebrating how we were once the leader in the production of chrysanthemums. We were also ranked 84th last year in Money Magazine's "Best Places to Live" list.

Bristol is mainly a residental area, we have many two and three family homes as well "builders neighborhoods" or areas of undeveloped land that a builder bought out and started to build newer homes that had fairly all the same design. I currently reside in one of these neighborhoods. I love it!

Our commerical area is along a stretch of road called Rt 6. Here you can find most of the grocery stores, fast food places, banks, clothing stores, restaurants, etc. Our city is also home to one of the first Checkers (a fast food chain from the south) in CT.

I attended Bristol Central High School. I absolutely loved the school. We excelled in sports and we just had a great sense of pride and community. There are two high schools besides mine, a Catholic high school, St. Paul's and Bristol Eastern High School, our rival school and the school that Dan actually attended.
(we argue over which high school our future kids will go too.)

Overall I love Bristol. I just don't love living in the North, my heart has always been in the South. I want to move there so bad. If I could find Bristol in Southern form, I'd be down there in a heartbeat!

Miscellany Mondays v4

Oh hey, its Monday. So click the button above and head over to lowercase letters. It's awesome, I promise you.

 

-there was just a mouse in my office, he scurried behind my desk, I got up to tell my boss and as soon as she came in, he popped back out and behind the cabinets in my office.

-so we all screamed and freaked out. then he decided to come out once again and hide behind my door. then he scurried once again behind the cabinets.

-so we tried to get him in to this little mousetrap thing, it wasn't harmful, just a little sticky so he could chill in there, but he was smart and climed on top of it! more screaming and running.

-then he scurried into my bosses office and cornered himself, we tried again to get him out but he wouldn't budge and finally he got out. unfortunately, the big boss dropped something on him, and he died. =( he was so teeny tiny i wish we coulda captured him and let him go outside.

-but it is snowing. yea, it was 70 on Friday, 50s all weekend, yesterday was the first day of Spring, but it looks like a mini blizzard out there!

-I have class tonight, get my quiz #2 results back, I think I did well, I hope I did.

-more snow is forecasted Wednesday into Thursday. Sigh.

-I'm so ready for the spring and summer.

Weekend.

This weekend was pretty laid-back. I haven't been feeling 100% for some reason and its really annoying the heck outta me. I think its the Pepto Bismal's fault. Seriously. That stuff is evil.

On Saturday, I headed out with my favorite girl Kelly for some driving and errand running. She got her haircut, we got some Subway and I think we went to a store or two, but then I felt like crap so I brought her home, went to boyfriends, crawled in bed and snuggled up with his doggie.

He got home from work around 5; and we waited around for his coworker to come by so he could fill out paperwork for her so she could get an apartment. While we waited, we watched some HGTV. Dan always protests but then he eventually gives in and admits he likes it. His coworker showed up; he signed the paperwork for her and then we decided to see a movie. So we checked the times and Battle: Los Angeles was the closest. So we headed down the movies, and plopped down in our seats just in time.

It was an okay movie, the script was so cheesy that most of the audience (boyfriend and I included) laughed at some of the lines. It was nicely action packed and a bit suspenseful, I may or may not have jumped a couple times.

After the movies, we grabbed a bite to eat and then it was back to boyfriends.We had a little sleep over party and Dan fell asleep at 10pm. So I played on the iPad for a while before making myself go to sleep because someone is the loudest snorer ever.

Sunday morning I woke up at the unheard of time of 730am. Dan woke up so I did too. We got all ready and then headed out to grab some breakfast. Unfortunately that was interrupted because Dan is the "big boss" this week because his boss is on vacation. The opener of the Subway in East Hartford called out half an hour before he was supposed to be in, so we sat in the parking lot of Friendlys' where we were gonna get breakfast while Dan called around trying to get it all squared away.

Unfortunately, we had to head to Hartford to pick up a key from a girl, head to the store and Dan (not wearing his uniform, because its his day off haha) had to open the store and serve customers. Finally, the girl that was scheduled at 11 came in and the backup opener came in.

We left and headed back towards home. We went to the grocery store and got some food to make for dinner. Then it was back to Dan's where we both took a nap, watched Cupcake Wars and then I made dinner while he played video games.



We had the above. It was good, but the potatoes were kinda bland. (I think I just a mouse scurry behind my desk, will not freak not, will not freak out) Okay we all freaked out. He's teeny tiny. But seriously, we all jumped. It all good now.

Anyways, the chicken was really good. Then I played some video games and then watched some Family Guy, Cleveland Show and finally some Real Housewives of Orange County. I love Gretchen and Alexis. Then it was time to go home and to bed. Laziest weekend I've had in a while.

Awkward and Awesome (via the Daybook)

Sydney over at The Daybook is the creator of Awkward and Awesome Thursdays. How does it work? Head on over to her blog (she has amazing amazing fashion taste, like amazing) and pick up her button and add your blog to her list. Then, blog about you're awkward and awesome week. Simple enough right?

AWKWARD

-not knowing what awkward things have happened to me this week. no really, i don't think anything awkward has happened. boooo. except (see below)
-my best friend talking rather loudly about boobs in Walmart and having this guy stare at us as we were walking past. the word boob really gets a man's attention!

AWESOME

-its gonna be 70 today. 70! i just cant even comprehend this!
-i am rocking flipping flops. first time this year. my feet have never been happier. =D
-that plans are almost set in stone for my NY friends to come out here next Friday!
-that its spring!!! okay not officially till Sunday but I am just so excited for warmer temps.
-that i got to take boyfriends doggie for a walk yesterday. he was so happy and i was happy to enjoy the warmth and fresh air.
-driving with the windows open.
-thinking of new creative ideas.

Interesting Night...

I was at boyrfriends, minding my own business when my mom called.Since it's pretty late, I was a little bit nervous and thought maybe something happened to my brother on his drive down to Miami with his friends. Thankfully it wasn't.

I was in the midst of watching House Hunters International, a couple was buying a beautiful vacation home in Costa Rica when my mom had called. She told me there were two cops outside our house and that the neighbors truck was at the bottom of the driveway. Of course me being ever so nosey, I decided to home in hopes that I could figure out what was going on.

As I turned onto the street which has a storage place on it, I happened to notice three cops sitting there. I began to wonder if it was related and shuttered a little bit about what could have happened since Dan's house is right behind it.

I finally made it onto my street only to be blocked by a SUV cop and I had to turn around and come around the block. I couldn't see much because at that time they were towing the neighbors truck away and the flashing lights were in my way. I turned into my driveway and headed into the house and heard my mom in her bedroom so I called out to her to come take a look and my dad got up too.

My mom was too afraid to look out the window but my dad thinks maybe the next door neighbors hit someone and took off since I guess they have been known to do that before. I did notice however that the house is eerily dark, I'm not sure if anyone got arrested or not. As soon as I heard the tow truck drive away I looked out my window and all the cops disappeared.

Which I guess is a good thing, and I'm just hoping its what my parents told me and not something worse. Still, I'm interested in knowing what happened and I'm kicking myself for not staying outside and watching from the safety of my driveway. Maybe then a cop would have told me what's going on to put my mind at ease. But I should really get to bed now.

The Uber Nerdy Side of Me.

When it comes to being a nerdy/enjoying nerdy stuff, I excel at it. I have this one HUGE obsession with a certain show that only (unfortunately) comes on in the fall, Storm Chasers.

If you have never seen it, there are some youtube videos of some of the episodes from past seasons. It features Reed Timmer, an extreme weather chaser, Sean Casey, an IMAX film maker, and Tim Samaras, a severe weather researcher on their quest to capture video and data of amazing tornadoes in the springtime.
I get giddy every fall when they announce it.

It all began when I was younger. I lived in a city about 15 miles south of currently where I live now. On hot summer days, when thunderstorms seemed more common and scary, I used to stare up at the dark clouds. I was fascinated and terrified of the spenldid power they held. I would watch the Weather Channel non-stop whenever a thunderstorm warning was issued. It was honestly (and still is) one of my favorite channels when severe weather struck. I was mesmerized by the radar, the yellow and red blotches going across the screen. I was moreso mesmerized by the tornado outbreaks in the South & West.

It turned me onto weather, severe weather that is. And when Storm Chasers was first announced on the Discovery Channel, I was in giddy shock. So every fall, whenever Storm Chasers is on, you'll find me glued to the television watching it, especially for Sean Casey. I grew to like him when I found out he was making an IMAX film of tornadoes so in dept, that will blow your socks off. (maybe literally!)

So patiently I have been waiting for his IMAX film, Tornado Alley. Finally, tomrrow is the day it comes out! Unfortunately, it doesn't have any showings in any CT museum or IMAX theather as of yet, but I'm going to email the museum in Hartford and see if they ever plan on brining it here. If not, then boyfriend has graciously agreed to go on a mini roadtrip with me to see the movie in Jersey City, Jersey.

Yes, that's how crazy I am about the movie. I am a tad disspointed though that the movie is only 40 mins long..but I'm still really excited! It will be amazing, maybe one of the most beautiful things I ever see. The man got inside of a tornado. I'm so ready for this.

Edit: I almost forgot to mention, Bill Paxton from the movie Twister, will be narrating the IMAX film. =O

Weekend Recap Finally!

I really have been thinking about writing this post since Sunday night; but I have just been feeling horrible lately. Stupid weather. On Saturday it was soo nice out that I was like hey I'll rock no jacket. Then I stood outside on Sunday night; and it was kinda cold.

But the weekend over all was awesome. As I previously said, boyfriend got Saturday off. Which meant an entire weekend with him! (do happy dance!) It also meant he could get a lot of the errands he couldn't get done, done.

First, it was off to the Mazda dealership to get his car serviced. It has only needed to be serviced for like a bajillion miles now, but since he works Monday-Saturday & they're not open Sunday, it's kinda hard. But, we dropped it off, he hopped in the car with me and we headed next door for some Mickey D's breakfast. We spent about 1/2 an hr waiting in line & eating & then he got a call his car was done. (we thought it would take all day!)

So we headed back to our city, dropped his car off at home, he jumped in with me and it was off to Lenscrafters to get some glasses. He's wanted a pair for a while since he wears his contacts soo much. So we tromped in there & found a lovely pair of wire frames that fitted him nicely. We were surprised again when we found out his glasses would be ready in an hour.

We then headed to the Family Haircut place so he could get his haircut. His hair grows so freakin fast it's not even funny, he has to get a haircut every month. I feel bad for our future offspring, the kid will have a ton of hair. They took virtually no time, so we headed back to his house to wait to get his glasses. He took out his contacts & we waited around till it was time to go then.

Finally it was time. We headed back down to Lenscrafters and the lady told us one of the frames didn't pass inspection so we left and went back to his house. He took a nap & I played some games on his iPad while we waited. I finally woke him up around 4 and we headed back down. He tried on his glasses and I have to admit I giggled a little. The lady told us he would have thick frames but I didn't realize how thick they really were. From the sides they are monsterous, but from the front it looks fine.

He wore them for a little bit but by the time we got to Checkers (first one to open in CT is in our town!) he decided to put his contacts back in. So we grabbed some food & then decided to head to some stores to browse, which is really one of my most favorite things to do ever. Then I told him about the pottery painting place for the millionth time & decided to just drive there & make him get out of the car. (I'm evil I know!)

He relunctly climbed out and we headed inside the Pottery Piazza; which is a studio that has pottery pieces that already made that you can paint. It's one of my favorite places to go. I've painted four pieces so far. I can tell you I am no artist but my pieces don't come out half bad. After you're done paiting it, you write your name on the bottom with a glaze pencil and then they fire it in the kiln. The turnaround time for that is one week which isn't that bad.

Now if we just had a frozen yogurt place....

Anyways, I showed boyfriend some pieces I thought he would like. I suggested maybe he do a Disney piece since they have color guides with them. He finally chose Mater from Cars! I chose a Post-It holder.

(I'm reading theyre website apparently we could have brought some wine, WTF lol!)

An hour and 15 mins later we were done. I'm so excited for us to pick up our pieces on Saturday! After that, we headed back to his house, played some video games, and watched some tv. Then it was home for me.

The next morning I woke up and had to wait for my daddy to rotate my tires. Then it was off to boyfriends. We bummed around for a while, him playing video games, me playing on the iPad. Finally, we headed out with Mulligan, his Boston Terrier to the pet store to buy him some dog food.

All cuddled up

We bought him some dog food and I got him some cookies. Then we dropped him and the food off and then it was off to Checkers yet again. That's right, two days in a row hahaha. Then it was back to Dan's, to wait for my gay bff Jesse.

Around 5; he finally came and then we waited for my bff Cheryl and grabbed her and we were off to Port Chester, NY for a volkswagen meetup! It took us about an hour and 15 mins to get down there and we had fun playing the license plate game. We read the three letters on license plates (it goes ###-letterletterletter here) and come up with some funny combinations. Such as PCT, Pretty Cute Tattoos. We were laughing till we were crying!

We finally made it around 715 and said hello to our friend Rich. Rich introduced us to some of his friends, we talked Volkswagens and then slowly everyone started to head out so Rich asked us if we wanted to head to Dunkin Donuts to chill for a while longer. We said sure and headed out.

About five minutes we were there and we were just talking and figuring out what we wanted. As we stood there talking a rather large black spider crawled down from the ceiling and almost landed on top of poor Jesse's face. We all stood there fascinated and someone told Rich he should take a pic so he did.

He was pretty big in person!

Around 10, we said goodbye and headed back to good ol CT, getting home by 1115. I really had a great weekend! How was everyones weekend? (more pics below of the Sunday night Volkswagen meet!)

Cheryl

Jesse

Ny Friends (with my car peeking in the background)

Port Chester, NY (so cute!)

Awkward and Awesome (via the Daybook)

Sydney over at The Daybook is the creator of Awkward and Awesome Thursdays. How does it work? Head on over to her blog (she has amazing amazing fashion taste, like amazing) and pick up her button and add your blog to her list. Then, blog about you're awkward and awesome week. Simple enough right?

Awkward

-my pants. wait what? yea, theyre a little too long and I am horrific at rolling them up all nice, nice.
-the tension in this office. it sucks. its high. booo.
-when boyfriends dog almost hurts himself being so excited when I pick him up from doggie daycare.
-when in Walmart staring profusely at someone because I think theyre someone else; when in actuality they are who they are and I still know them so they say hi awkwardly. way to go Nickie.

Awesome

-boyfriend gets tomorrow off. paid. that means two WHOLE days with him. i'm giddy over this.
-buying goodies at Target for our future place of residence together. yea its a tad early, we still don't know if we are even gonna move this year. Dan really wants a condo; but we have to save for at least another year so that we don't become housepoor.
-HGTV. Nuff said.

80s Baby At Heart.

I am a shameful blogger; I totally forgot to do the Reading Wednesday post. I am currently in the middle of a book at the moment; the Glass Castle. My bff Brian wrote a post about this last week when he guest posted for me. Read it. It's amazing. Click here.

Anyhoodle, being a 20 something I was obviously born in the 80's. (86 to be exact, eek the big 2-5 is coming up soon!). In my opinion I have horrible music taste. I am a very mainstream kinda gal. My iPod is filled with songs that everyone has heard/continues to hear on the radio. I'm not ashamed though; hip music is hip. haha.

But two nights ago I was laying in bed browsing the iTunes store when I came across songs for .69 cents each. I went into the 80's section & started jamming out to some of the songs. (i bought a couple as well). It made me think of when I was younger.

I am very thankful to still have both of my parents together. (28 years I believe this year!) For the first ten years or so of my life; my mom was there 24/7. Then we moved; got a bigger house and she went back to work part-time. She worked nights at a trucking company doing billing. Which meant time spent with my daddy!

Friday nights in the summer my dad would take us out to do various things. I remember watching my first professional sporting event. It was soccer. (I actually detest soccer but any kind of sports in person is cool in my book). I remember on the drive to the stadium (which isn't THAT far away, but ya know when you're a kid everything seems so far away) my dad was blasting Lite 100.5, which is our local 60s, 70s, 80s station. I fell in love with the songs of the 80s especially. I remember staring up at the clear night sky and envisioning what life held for me.

Every now and then, I rock out to that station singing along to the songs that were a staple in my childhood. It's usually with my best friend on long car rides. We sing at the top of our lungs and laugh. We think of songs to call into the radio station and wait anxiously till its played. I still look up at the night sky wondering what life has in store for me.

Now I leave you with my favorite 80s song. "Is This Love" by Whitesnake. What's your favorite 80s song?

Miscellany Mondays v3

Oh hey, its Monday. So click the button above and head over to lowercase letters. It's awesome, I promise you.

-this is not a good Monday at all. I am stressed to the max of my stress limits. I love my job, okay let me try that again, I love the people I work with. My actual job duties; not so much. I work for a restoration company (we cleanup/repair after fires, water damage, puffback, etc). We have been swamped since winter has started with losses. I am honestly so sick and tired of getting the brunt of the workload. I have about 3 HUGE estimates to do; while my coworker has 1. Why why why must I do everything? It's really getting to me and the main reason why I am going to school.

-other than all that jazz up above; class tonight! hoping we get our quizzes back from last week. i think i did pretty well; i studied my butt off. but i am not the greatest at test taking. i freeze a little. but than i just think about what I learned & try and apply it to situations in my life & it really helps.

-this weekend boyfriend & I saw Rango. While Johnny Depp makes a pretty cute lizard, the film was lacking I guess you could say. It kinda dragged on and wasn't as funny as I expected it to be. Hopefully boyfriend's pick next week of Adjustment Bureau will be good. Matt Damon is an awesome actor in my opinion.

-it rained for all day yesterday + really hard. that equates to some serious flooding in parts of the state. this is the time i'm glad I live on a nice big hill, although sometimes we our basement gets a little bit of water inside it.

Awkward and Awesome (via The Daybook)

Sydney over at The Daybook is the creator of Awkward and Awesome Thursdays. How does it work? Head on over to her blog (she has amazing amazing fashion taste, like amazing) and pick up her button and add your blog to her list. Then, blog about you're awkward and awesome week. Simple enough right?

Awkward

• i guess there was a reason why I didn't do this post yesterday; i awkwardly tripped UP the stairs at work outside. i didn't get hurt though; just my ego is bruised. i hope no one saw.
• my hair. everytime i try and make it wavy; its wins. sure its wavy and BIG (I hate it) and all over the place. no matter how much product I put in; it still poofs big time.
• trying to be funny when we were having my coworkers bday lunch yesterday. sometimes i can pull it off and sometimes I'm just weird.

Awesome

• having my best friend back in my life. we had a falling out a couple months ago but now we are all good. =)
• that tomorrow is going to 50. I know it may not seem that warm to some but it's gonna be incredible to me.
• that it's finally March.
• that it's finally staying light out longer.
• that hopefully spring is right around the corner. come on 60!
• the people that have commented on my blog. thank you! =)

On Life..

First off, I forgot to do Awkward & Awesome Thursday and I'm extremely mad at myself for forgetting; but I'll do it today! Promises.

So in the past month for so, something strange as happened to me. Something very strange indeed. I'm...becoming...a...woman. (gasp). I know, I am techinically a woman by age but I haven't felt like I've been an actual grown up until now. All of sudden, its like my woman flower blossomed.

I have become obsessed with finding things for a future "home" with boyfriend. I am obsessed with HGTV. I am really obsessed with cute blogs with cute families, with or without children. I want to move out and in with boyfriend immediately. I want to paint and decorate. I want to do projects. I do not want a baby right now though; I'm very content on waiting.

I think a lot of it has to do with reading your blogs, and reflecting back on my life. I am a diffucult person at times and I am okay with that. I am bratty and stubborn and so many other not so flattering things. But slowly, I've been trying to change. Slowly I am figuring out ways to make my relationship (well all of them really) better.

I also think school has helped. I am finally doing something I want to do and everything is coming together so nicely. I'm learning and I love it. I also love that I could possibly have a job in less than 2 years. I know if I had tried regular college again, I'd probably be 30 by the time I'm done. Not that that would be bad but I def need more money.

Finally I can't forget to thank my friends, family and boyfriend. I think they all have had a big role in my becoming a full on woman. (i cook nowadays, what!?) They have been nothing but supportive and loving and without them I'd probably still be stuck in the little kid world.

I am extremely happy for this change and I can't wait to see what life brings me.

Reading Wednesday V.3

*Disclaimer: I have purchased all the books that I am reviewing. None of these books were given to me to review by any company. I just want to let people know what I'm reading so that maybe they will want to read these books as well.*

This week on Reading Wednesday, I am featuring an up and coming book. Due to low funds in my bank account, I have not purchased anything new. But, I have preordered!

Two Kisses For Maddy by Matt Logelin is due out on April 14. You can preorder it here, here, here and here! I have preordered through Barnes and Noble on my e-reader, the Nook.

Two Kisses For Maddy is a memoir on love and loss. Matt Logelin was married to a great girl, Liz. Unfortunately, she had passed away twenty four hours after giving birth to their daughter, Madeline due to a pulmonary embolism.

*A pulmonary embolism is a blood clot that travels from parts of the body (such as the legs) and up into the lungs. Most of the time, they are caught because there are symptoms associated with them. (Shortness of breath, chest pains and a cough that made be tinged with blood).*

I learned about this book via Matt's own personal blog (here). I have been a follower of it for sometime now. If you have a chance, head on over. Read the story. Look at the pictures. Watch the trailer for his book. His blog will make you laugh, cry, and remember how important life is. I highly recommend at least taking a glance at his blog and if you love it, preorder the book!