A Much Needed Weekend!!

 Oh, I am SO bad about blogging!!!!  Please don’t give up on me and my blog; I am not giving up on blogging just yet….

This past weekend was SO busy and awesome and I feel my son grew up in one weekend*!!  (Ok, perhaps a bit dramatic with the last one as he is technically only a couple days older, but still….exciting things occurred) 

It was so nice to have such a great weekend.

The past 6 months have sorta sucked between Henry and hisseizures and we have been sick and fighting sickness ALL. THE. TIME.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Valentines Day….Henry was sick ALL those holidays.  There have been multiple ER visits from October thru December 31^st.  The sicknesses we ALL have had in between the holidays.  Henry’s seizures and the diagnosis and let’s not forget that this has been THE worst and longest winter I ever remember and we have been stuck inside.  To say we have been cranky and tired of being cooped up is a HUGE understatement.

So what does this have to do with being busy this past weekend, well my point is we got out of the house did stuff and we were NOT SICK.

Henry had been sick the weekend before when we celebrated my sister and my birthdays (and the weekend before that, of course) so I thought the odds were in my favor that he would NOT be sick this past weekend.  

Then I heard rumors that it was suppose to be gorgeous outside.  Like, PERFECT weather.

Challenge accepted.

So I took action and I planned. 

I didn’t get my hopes up too much and played all casual, “oh yeah, we “may” do a couple things this weekend”.  (Something you should know about me, I am VERY superstitious.  So I thought if I didn’t actually speak too much about the weekend the cosmos would not know what I had planned.  Yeah, I am weird like that.)

Anywho, the weekend was to go like this:

1. Friday Evening – Goodbye crib and hello new big boy car bed!

2. Saturday – Trip to the Zoo

3. Sunday – First Hockey Game

And folks…..it happened. 

IT ALL HAPPENED. 

You guys, it was such a great weekend.  For most, maybe this is a normal weekend, but not for us.  And definitely not for us the past 6 months.  Sure, there were some snags like Henry running away from me at the Zoo, and him falling asleep on the 25 minute car ride home and then NOT taking a nap and hitting me because I was trying to make him nap, or him waking up at 4am Sunday morning and not going back to sleep.  But hey, it could be worse…..it HAS been worse.

The Bed.

We tried the transition to a big boy bed before Henry was even two.  It did not work.  He was way too young for the independence and actually loved his crib too much.  But we knew it was time now as he is too big for such a small bed.  We have a convertible crib, but again…our child is big and ALL over the place when he sleeps.  So we decided that we should get him something special and that he can grow into.  So we opted for a toddler to twin car bed!!  HERE  We used his toddler mattress and when he gets older we will get a twin mattress.  We also hoped that having a fun bed would make him stay IN the bed.

Verdict: the boy LOVES it.  When we tucked him in the first night he looked at terry and said “Thank you”.  Terry asked him for what and he said “Thank you for putting together my car bed”.  Sigh.  You are welcome sweet boy.  And note, there are no stickers on it yet as he pulls stickers off everything he owns!

Of course he loves to jump!

Yes, he does sleep with all those stuffed animals.

Night one went off without a hitch, plus he actually slept in** Saturday morning until 7:45am!!  Nights 2 and 3 he got up really early and was crying.  But, perhaps just because things were a bit different.  But the past two nights have been great and he now just wants to go in his room and play in his bed.

Makes me so happy to see him so happy!

Zoo.

Terry was working, but I decided to take Henry to the Zoo.  He HAD to have a wagon and best $10 spent as I don’t want to fight a 39lb, 39” toddler who refuses to walk anymore.  Plus, he had a pretty awesome set-up!  Popcorn, drink, being pulled around.  Ahhhh, the toddler life.  The day was great and the weather really was perfect.  We went early, right after they opened and got  a couple good hours in.  And except for him seeing something and running off (stomach sinks) and then the fact that he napped on the way home and refused to nap when we got home, it was a perfect day.

Life. Is. Good.

Hockey.

We had tickets from the firm I work at for the Walleye Hockey game Sunday.  We were not sure if Henry was old enough, but he loves hockey and always talks about it so we gave it a try.  Overall he really loved it!  He kept saying “my turn now” and did get a little upset until we gave him some popcorn to distract and calm him.  (yes, more popcorn…we are not above using food to keep him calm)   I do think it got to be a little loud for him, it was loud for me!  I think he also started getting bored.  We stayed about 45 minutes and then headed off.  But he kept talking about it, which is how we know he loved it!  And now I think we are starting hockey next fall…..

That smile!!!!  Pure excitement

(I teared up seeing how excited he was.  no really.)

HUGS!  Though he said he met big bird, heehee :-)

(He got walleye stickers!!)

YAY for great weekends!  I think mentally we all needed a weekend like this. 

*On a side note: Henry takes showers now.  Yep, on top of an already exciting weekend Henry decided he wanted to take a shower with me, now it is his favorite thing.  Sigh….kids grow up so fast!! :-)

**Since when is sleeping until 7:45am considering “sleeping in”.  UGH.  LAME!!!

NEEDED.

So last Thursday I took the day off.  I didn’t have anything special planned.  No, actually I took the day off because Henry was in school and Terry was working and I wanted to clean….you know since cleaning has been lacking the past few months.

It is probably a tad weird to WANT to take a day off just to clean.  I mean, really, how lame is that?!

But folks it was NEEDED.

And I don’t just mean for the house (though it was really really needed for the house) but I also mean for ME.

Explain, you ask?!

Well it is a good thing I have this blog….so let me ‘splain.

The thing is, I don’t think since Henry was born I have had an entire day ALONE.

Nope. 

And it is not just meaning away from Henry, but anyone really.  YES, it is true.  I need time away from my husband and child and friends.

I needed time to myself. 

So you know what, I took time for ME. 

But as I sit around the house most evenings, I didn’t want to take a day off to just sit around.  I wanted to DO stuff.  Feel accomplished.  Do the things that I am always complaining that I don’t have time to do.

So it started like a normal Thursday and I got up at 6am to get Henry ready and off to school.  I am learning that if I don’t want him to cry I have to drop him off after 7:30am because the kids are in the gym or outside playing and after some squeeze hugs he is ready to go play.  If it is before 7:30, then bring on the extreme tears from henry and extreme guilt for mom!  No fun for anyone.

So hoping I could prevent a breakdown and mom guilt on my day off I dropped him off at 7:35 and he went right outside, waving at me as I left.  PERFECT.  I then headed to Starbucks to get a venti-iced non-fat vanilla latte (yum) and tim hortons to get a breakfast bagel sandwich. 

I came home and sat down at the table and checked my email and had breakfast.  Funny thing was at first I was rushing to eat.  Do any of you parents do that?!  I have a post on that coming….eating once you have a kid.  Annoying.  So I slowed myself down and ENJOYED my breakfast and the quiet.

I then turned on my music really loud, got into my cleaning clothes, opened EVERY window in the house because it was a perfect day and not too hot (seriously, how awesome has this summer been!!!) and proceeded to clean the house.

I  took before pictures of the house on our real camera and as I probably wont get around to putting those on my computer for 7 months, I am using this photo I posted a couple months ago because this is pretty much our house 90% of the time. Sigh.

 This is my truth....our house is a constant mess.  

I think that is what people are saying these days :-)

So I picked things up and got down to business.

We had an old vacuum that I think did nothing more than push the dirt around as it pretended to clean.  Heaven forbid there was a cheerio or something on the carpet (which there always is) because the vacuum would refuse to suck it up.  We probably needed a new vacuum 3 years ago.  We finally got a new, reasonably priced one last week.  With the very first sweep I was in love!!

I could actually SEE it pick up the cat hair, dust and dirt.  I could see our beige/brown circa 1982 carpet!  AMAZING.

I swept the entire house and then it was time for the big guns.  The carpet cleaner.

 Hello lovelies! 

We own one, but only have used it when we bought the house (nearly 7 years ago) and the summer before Henry was born.  It was needed.

Folks….the result was gross.  Absolutely disgusting.  This was in our house.

 Ew.

You just don’t realize how much dirt and dust gets stuck in your carpet….especially with a vacuum that doesn’t vacuum!!

3 ½ hours later the entire house was vacuumed and the downstairs carpets cleaned and I was sore but feeling accomplished!!

 Me carpet cleaning from the rocker...not a bad way to clean :-)

I then took a break and enjoyed lunch where I could sit down and eat at my own pace and without dirty little fingers trying to steal my food.  And I watched the very first episode of the Real Housewives of OC and didn’t have to worry about having to explain why to my husband or getting judgmental looks from him or have to worry about content for Henry.

I then straightened up toys, clothes and cleaned the shower and then was the FIRST to take a nice long, uninterrupted shower in a clean shower. Lovely.

I then headed to Hobby Lobby and Walmart to get pictures printed and frames and before I knew it, it was 4:30 and time to go get Henry.

And I have to admit, when I drove over to get Henry I was excited to see him!

I wasn’t drained from annoying things at work.  I wasn’t tired from sitting all day.  I wasn’t worn-out at yelling at a kid who wouldn’t listen.  I wasn’t exhausted from just the mental stress of a normal day.

Nope.  I was none of those things.

Yes, I was tired from a busy day but I felt accomplished and refreshed and ready to see my family.  And really, what is better than after a day to yourself and seeing this face?!  The answer…nothing.

I know I will take off days to spend with my family or go to doctors appointments or take care of a sick kid or just random errands that have to be done during working hours.  But to take some time for ME is rare.  But I think I need to start doing this more.  I need to remember ME.  I need to remember that if I don’t take care of myself, mentally and physically, it just won’t be good for anyone.

So do you take time for yourself?  ALONE.  What do you do during your ME time?

Ah….Home From Vacation!!

(A very long post)


So this past week Terry, my parents, my sister and her boyfriend all went to Hilton Head for a MUCH needed vacation! It had been a very long time since T & I went on vacation and some relaxing time away was very much needed.

Overall the trip was FANTASTIC! We had 7 nights at this beautiful condo and pretty much relaxed and ate for the entire trip. Yeah, my kind of vacation!!

We left at 1:00 am Saturday morning…yes ONE am!!! In retrospect, maybe not the best choice. The trip down was looooooong and even though Terry slept for about 6 hours before we left, just driving on the boring road in the dark made him naturally tired. Of course I stayed up as Terry can fall asleep anywhere so I figured we both needed to be up. Luckily, my doctor wanted me to stop every couple hours, so that gave us both time to walk around and wake up. We ended up making 10, yes TEN, stops along the way. CRAZY!! You know the trip is only about 12-13 hours, right?!

Reststop and visitor's center in TN. Our favorite!

Terry liked it :)

It was actually a nice trip down as we just took our time, enjoyed many of the rest areas from here to Hilton Head, and listened to music. Only drama came when we were in the hills of Kentucky and as we are driving up in the mountains with few to no exits we see the gas light come on. Now as I recall I suggested at our previous stop when we were at a ½ a tank we should just fill up, but someone else doesn’t like to fill up until we are at least at a ¼ of a tank. So in a mild state of panic knowing we hadn’t seen exits for awhile, we took our trusty TomTom* that our friend let us borrow for the trip and found the nearest gas station was 5 miles away. Terry usually doesn’t worry about that stuff, but it was a little tense as the last thing Terry wanted to do at 8am was to have our car run out of gas on the mountains! Longest 5 miles of the trip I must say. However we made it to the gas station and my 14 gallon tank drank up 14 and ½ gallons of gas!! Nice. Let’s just say we didn’t make that same mistake on the trip back.

The mountains after the gas situation.

We arrived in Hilton Head at 5pm. We unloaded our car, looked around at the awesome condo and ordered pizza for dinner since we were ALL exhausted. By the time I went to bed at around 9:30 that night, I had been up for 36 hours with only an hour nap during that time. Basically, everyone in that house was ready for an early night!

But the condo itself was really nice. (Great pick Mom & Dad!!!) Two full bathrooms, three bedrooms, full kitchen, dining room, living room, a deck with a grill, a balcony, about a mile from this cool plaza, and about .2 miles from the beach. It also had two pools and was really quiet.

Outside

Our Room

Turtles in the lagoon. See those three little heads? 

There were like 15 turtles in this little lagoon.

Getting Sun

Hello Turtle!

I probably took at least another 20 pics of just turtles :)

The rest of the week was great. The weather was actually fantastic, sometimes even a little chilly in the evenings – PERFECT! Sunday it was in the 80’s but it wasn’t again until Friday and the Saturday we left that it got back up in the upper 80’s and was humid. The entire week it was in the 70’s/low 80’s. YAY!!

We also walked a LOT! (Which made me feel a little better about all the food I ate.) There was a shopping plaza about a mile away from where we were so we walked there a few times. Mom, Kristen and I even spent a morning at an outlet mall and had a lovely time together and got some great deals on clothes! Ok, Henry made out really well at those outlet malls…..but who can pass up a $5 pair of OshKosh jeans or $7 footie pajamas from Carters?! Not us.

And the food….oh the food!! We ate some really great food while down there. I think my favorite was Skull Creek Boathouse. It was the first place we went too and the food was AMAZING! T & I got hushpuppies & hot peel and eat shrimp as an appetizer (YUM!!), and then Terry got clam chowder and a mix of fresh seafood for dinner and I got Dungeness crab legs. This place had everything and I think everyone had an amazing meal!

We also tried the Old Oyster Factory one night and we had some amazing oysters Rockefeller, Terry had raw oysters and a seafood pasta for dinner, we had more hushpuppies and I had this spinach and crab stuffed flounder. Again, it was all wonderful!! Oh and for dessert we got 2 desserts to split between four of us. An amazing key lime cheesecake and a dark mouse with berries. *drool*

We found a New Orleans place called Kenny B’s and had some delicious Po’Boy sandwiches and beignets. Totally my kind of food and SO good.

There was also this cupcake place called Sweet Caroline’s Cupcakes…..it had awesome cupcakes. Only complaint there was the cupcakes are $3.50-$4 EACH! How can I get my cupcake on for that price?! Maybe it is good they were not cheaper or I would have eaten more than I should have!! I had the red velvet from there and this one which was a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting INSIDE the cupcake and then chocolate fudge ganache on top with vanilla frosting on top of that. Think a ho ho cake times 100!! Honestly, I would have paid more for that cupcake.

We also ate many many many other places while down there and most of them were really good. There were a few duds, but really no complaints at all!

One day we headed over to Savannah. My husband LOVES this town. I mean he wants to retire there or even move there tomorrow. I had never been, nor had pretty much everyone else, so we took a 90 minute trolley tour of the town which was great. It is a very interesting town full of lots of history. Very fascinating. We also ate at a great place called the Cotton Exchange Tavern….BEST clam chowder and BEST clam soups we had. DELICUOUS! We also got some pralines, which I had never had because there is nothing about pecans I enjoy. HOWEVER, the pralines there were amazing. Sorry pecans, when put inside a freshly made praline you are delicious! We walked into the candy store and you instantly got a cavity as the smell of cooked butter and sugar just surrounded you. It smelled amazing. We brought back plenty of pralines for us as well as some Honey from the Savannah Bee Company. Terry also had to get a drink and walk around the town so he got a frozen drink called “Call a Cab”. It basically was 151 Rum with a bit of fruit juice. Awesome. He was a bit tipsy after that. I really want to go back to Savannah. We didn’t realize that many of the tourist things close at 5pm, so you can’t get into the church and many buildings after that which was a bit of a bummer. But we did get an overall good look at the city which is great for first-timers. And there is no doubt in my mind we will be back to check out many of the places we didn’t get around to seeing.

So pretty there.

Besides eating ALL. THE. TIME. We also played putt-putt, went to the beach, and explored Hilton Head. It is a quiet place. Things close early and there is not a lot to do, but it is relaxing which is really nice. A week was a perfect amount of time to not get too bored there and to not get to too annoyed being in such close spaces!!

At the beach. Lovely.

Kristen and I

He will NEVER take a serious picture :)

And one last thing, during this trip I felt very much pregnant. I guess you don’t feel as pregnant when you just come home and flop on the couch, but it really hit me that I was pregnant. Between trying to get comfortable at different places, all the walking, sweating from EVERY PORE on my body (no human should sweat as much as I did….and it wasn’t even that hot), finding clothes that fit but were comfortable, being tired, always being hungry or really full, stopping what felt like every 5 minutes to pee, having to tuck my swimsuit top into my bottoms because my belly kept flopping out of the swimsuit (attractive), always breathing like I just ran a marathon, not enjoying having to bend down to get my golf ball during putt-putt and instead having T. get it for me…..yep I felt pregnant!!

Here is me on vacation at 24 weeks. Look at the stretching on that shirt….It is giving it all it can, no?!

Honestly, at times it was a little annoying (like how much I was sweating – seriously, it was gross – I WAS GROSS). BUT I also embraced it too. I have really tried to embrace EVERY step along the way, and even the one where I had a break down in the car because I was tired, hungry and felt stupid because I had to stop every 90 minutes….it may have taken me longer, but I eventually embraced that moment of crazy as well. I embrace the fact that I have to wear panty liners EVERY day and when it was really hot I started to sweat and after I sat down the bottom of pants were damp. Nice. I embrace having to eat at least two prunes a day or else things just don’t move right in my body. I embrace that sometimes I have to walk at a pace meant for people 3 times my age. I embrace, for the first time ever, my husband rubbing my feet (under a blanket of course) because it actually feels amazing right now. I embrace that my skin is perpetually flushed and blotchy. I embrace that a portion of what I eat ends up in my now enormous cleavage and it is totally ok for me to reach down in there and pick it out and eat it. Don’t judge me. I embrace having to take a huge vitamins that make me gag EVERY single time I take them. I am trying to embrace the fact that I am hungry every 2 hours but there is a very fine line of eating too much which will most likely cause me to have to take Tums after I eat. And I spent most of the vacation embracing the fact that our lives are about to change and to just relax and enjoy this time because soon it won’t just be T & I anymore but we will have a little one in our life to take care of. And that this is totally worth EVERY SINGLE MOMENT of this so-called uncomfortableness I am going through right now. This vacation really helped me step away and take time to reflect on what is going on, spend time with my family and helped me to embrace this beautiful and slightly scary moment in our lives. This vacation was planned a year ago, but couldn’t have happened at a better time!!

So in summary: Vacation was great, I ate A LOT, I am sort of a gross person to be around right now, I am embracing pregnancy, and I feel so thankful and grateful that we all got to go on this vacation. Thanks again Mom & Dad….it was wonderful and we are SOOOOO appreciative.





*We borrowed our friend’s TomTom navigation device and I must say that I believe that thing saved our marriage. We ordered maps and a trip tik from Triple A, but I fully believe that human error is possible and can cause some heated discussions when you are already tired of driving and being in a car for so long. We have gone places like Ann Arbor or Cincinnati and had our “trusty” google directions, but it never fails that at some point those directions are wrong or one person think they know the route better or you miss a step in the directions and then let the arguing commence. But TomTom, in his wonderful British accent, told us with plenty of time to spare “in 2 miles you will exit on the right”. What, ok…thank you Thomas (we called him Thomas…seemed more fitting for such a wonderful English gentleman). His directions got us where we needed to go and he never tried to mislead us. That TomTom knew what he was doing and I thank him as it saved T. & I from what I can only imagine would have been inevitable fights and possibly one person left somewhere in Kentucky.

Boy or Girl, Which Will OUR Baby Be?! Well We Know……

So it is pretty darn official, considering our ultrasound tech handed us a circumcision brochure as we left the office (haha)…we are having a BOY!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Looks like most of you knew it too :)

No matter which it was we were going to be equally as thrilled, but actually SEEING our baby and now KNOWING our baby instead of calling him “it” just makes everything 10 times more real.  It is weird just HOW real this feels now. 

I was wondering about myself because up until this point I was excited but didn’t feel that strong connection to the baby.  I mean I called him something generic, couldn’t feel him move much or that noticeably, and didn’t always feel like he was “there”.   Over the last week the excitement for actually finding out made me feel so much closer to our baby and today, as I laid in the office and she told us, I filled with this emotion I had yet to feel up to this point.  Tears of joy filled my eyes because not only was our baby healthy but from this point on we will not be calling our piglet “it” but by his NAME, a name that holds so much sentimental value to both of us.  This is real and now feels real.

SO, are you sharing his name you ask? Yes.  We have had this name picked out for YEARS so no need to "hide" it any longer.

His name is Henry Donald H.!!! 

Henry was my grandpa’s name and Donald was Terry’s grandpa’s name and both of these men were strong and amazing individuals who met SO much to each of us.  Both of our grandpa’s passed away before Terry and I started dating but we are excited to carry on their memory and give such a strong name to our son! (OUR SON – AHHHHH!)

So the details of the appointment.

Well overall, everything went well and Henry is healthy. PHEW! I was more anxious about this than anything else.  At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what the gender is, as long as our little one is HEALTHY! 

The heartbeat was 143bpm.  He had a nice, strong heartbeat.  He weighs 12 ounces.  I forget how long he is or if they told us that….I was totally distracted!  He is still on schedule for his due date in September.  The only issue was that our sweet, stubborn baby boy was ALL CURLED UP IN A BALL!  His feet were above, yes ABOVE his head.  His knees were by his face and his face was pretty much buried between his legs.  Now while this gave a PERFECT view of his, well junk (seriously, it was all just hanging out there plain as day to see…that’s terry’s boy) it also made it difficult to see the rest of his body.  We saw some cute little feet and toes, a cute butt and his junk.  Great :)  We may go back in a few weeks for another ultrasound to see if the ultrasound tech can get a better view of the spine (she tried everything!).  Not that there were any concerns because she said everything looked great, just want to make sure.

I wish we had a picture to share, but because of how tight our baby was wrapped up and how incredibly LOW he was, the pictures make him look like a black and white blob.  Maybe in a few weeks! 

This is getting SO fun now!  A mini-Terry....well now that is just awesome.

On a side note: how can babies be comfortable like that?!  I get they are all cartilage and stuff but how was he comfortable like that?!  The wonderful ultrasound tech said she sees that a lot, especially at this age.  She said the positions babies get in is very funny to see!  LOVE IT!

A Sophisticated Date Night for Two “Sophistimacated” People.

This weekend T & I went on a rather classy date (since we are classy people………fart). We went and saw the Toledo Symphony perform Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony at the Toledo Museum of Art.  Yep, can you handle all that sophistication?!

I believe I have mentioned before that my dearest husband is a rather complex individual.  He really is an enigma that I am still trying to, and most likely will never, figure out.  There are tons of discrepancies with Terry’s interests, but that is of course why I love him.  So you could understand my shock and excitement when this metal loving, t-shirt wearing man text me and said he was buying tickets to see Beethoven’s 9^th at the Toledo Museum of Art. Really?!

Terry has always loved classical music.  He was in show/concert choir, played the violin in high school and he loves the symphony.  And he just doesn’t like the music he knows, understands and fully appreciates the music.

So it was planned, we would do an all day date together!  Wake up late, go get a late lunch/early dinner, walk through the Museum of Art (as I have never been there), and go to the symphony that night. Sounds lovely!  And as T.’s schedule the past two years has been so busy and left little time to have fun dates like this and even spend time together I think this was very much needed!

However I think we confused Mother Nature with our level of class as that day we got LOTS of snow DUMPED on us.  We decided that we would adjust our schedule slightly by sleeping in longer and just wait and see if this snow would slow down before we headed to the museum.  It did nothing of the sorts. So we changed our plans slightly and decided to save the museum trip for another day and just get ourselves some grub and go to the symphony.  After taking 45 minutes to dig out of the driveway, we were off in the shit-tastic weather to begin our half day date!  Half day dates are just as wonderful as full day dates!

We made the trek up to Toledo in the horrible weather and decided to eat at a place we had never gone before, The Mango Tree.  It was actually really good, plus no one was there for at least 30 minutes while we were there so it was a quiet and sort of a private dinner.  As we hadn’t eaten at all that day we enjoyed two great appetizers (crab cakes & stuffed mushrooms), French onion soup, and we both had steak for dinner.  We rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and waddled to our car to head off to the museum!

Now let it be known T & I are not as familiar with the Toledo area as we should be.  We knew how to get to the TMA from the highway but we asked the waitress if there was a quicker way and she said yes.  (Mistake) She told us to take Reynolds to Bancroft, make a right on Bancroft, and a LEFT on Collingwood.  Everything was going fine as we plowed our way through tons of snow and unfamiliar roads until we made a LEFT on Collingwood.  Now both T & I thought we should have taken the right as it appeared we were close to downtown, but as instructed we went left.  We kept going and going and realizing that this was not correct.  Luckily we called my sister and parents who managed to eventually (after somehow getting on Cherry street) get us to the museum with plenty of time to spare. PHEW!  It was an adventure, though at the time a little stressful as we traveled down unfamiliar, snow covered roads.  But we had full bellies and when we are full we are happy so no biggie!

We got to the museum and got seated about 10 minutes before the performance.  Our seats were fantastic!  Lower level in the last row.  

There was a whole row of seats missing in front of us so people could walk (which they didn’t during the performance) and there was a marble wall behind us so no one behind us kicking our chairs! Plus we were dead center.  And the room (sorry don’t know the name of it) was BEAUTIFUL.  Looked sort of like a Greek or old English outdoor theater.  The ceiling had a blue glow to it. Loved it.

The Symphony started and as I have never been to anything like this, I was blown away by how powerful it was.  Hearing things on TV or CD’s doesn’t do it justice.  The BGSU choir sang during the 4^th movement as well as did some soloists.  It was really amazing. 

I will say this though…..I am a multi-sensory kind of person.  Terry can focus on one thing and be lost in it forever.  Me on the other hand, well I get easily distracted and start thinking about other stuff.  Like I started thinking about all the people on the stage and what they were thinking about, I thought about how I want to play a musical instrument, I thought about how much the guy beside me was moving around, I started thinking about the dancing brooms/mops from Fantasia, I started to think how it would be funny if there were people dressed up and dancing around on stage…or better yet doing acrobats like in cirque du soleil. You know, just stuff like that.  Yes, I see a shiny object and I am easily distracted.  But, even so, it was still a great performance and I was excited to experience something completely new!

So this long post is to say nothing more than it was a wonderful day and though it is not something we do very often, I think it is important to find time to do stuff like this as to keep things exciting and avoid being in that relationship rut.  And we are already talking about when we can go back!

P.S. I don’t know if it was just because we were with people who were not drunk or maybe a little older and politer, but getting out of the parking lot was easy.  People were patient and taking turns letting each other in.  I am use to going to concerts and people are honking and cutting each other off….nope, this was a sophisticated and polite group. Thank you people!

Reason #1,368,942 Why I Love My Sister

Because after I am off work for a few days and come back in the “I don’t want to be back here already” funk I find a bunch of post-it notes all over my desk that cheer me up!

This was my favorite!

These are a few of the other notes I found scattered around my desk.

After I took the picture I found two more in drawers. Though I still am not ready to be back to work, this made it easier. I love working with my sister!

Thanks K.!! XOXO

Happy First Day of Fall!!!

Fall is my most favorite of all the seasons and now it is officially here! YAY

Oh my dear, sweet Fall…..I love you so. I am so glad you are finally back and I am looking forward to the next few months we have together. You bring so much joy and happiness to my life, you are truly the BEST of all the seasons…and I don’t care if the other seasons know I think that.

Here are some of the reasons I fell in love with you in the first place:


The weather changes and we have cooler days and nice chilly evenings.

Having the windows open to enjoy the cool, fresh air.

The leaves changing color – SO pretty. (I love going home during the fall because we have the prettiest trees back home)

Wearing fall clothes! Scarves, sweatshirts, jeans, boots, sweaters….ahhh – love it!

It is not light out at 9pm.

Those Fall days where it is really really sunny but really cool, perfection.

Drinking Apple Cider (both hot and cold)

The Smell of Fall

Halloween!

Apple Cinnamon Spice Candles.

Big pots of soup or stew for dinner.

Sitting outside by the fire…..we can do that now!

Thanksgiving!

Though it is not an essential or all weekend long activity, I do like watching football during the fall months.

Snuggling under the blankets on those extra cool nights.

Not sweating or freezing the minute I go outside. It is just perfect.

Pumpkins!

The return of new TV shows.

Hay rides, corn mazes and anything outside

Going shopping at outdoor malls in preparation for Christmas. The fall is the only time I really enjoy shopping.

Fall decorations

And pretty much everything else that I may have not mentioned!!


If you love fall, please share your favorite things.