Fabulous August

Holy Guacamole, was August a FABULOUS month! So much great stuff happened in this eighth month, it was hard fitting it all into one post!

1. First time home buyers
Our good friends Max and Whitney bought their first house this month! They nabbed a GREAT twin in right outside downtown West Chester that was built circa 1890. We are talking original hardwood floors, crown molding and the greatest windows ever- complete with shutters. They have 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and a walk in closet that I want to have sex with. Yeah, it's that amazing. We spent the weekend helping them paint, but don't worry- as soon as they have furniture I am house crashing!!

Max and Whitney

2. LOST

I have been a LOST fan since the show began in 2004. JEGs, on the other hand, scoffed at the show. However, he has recently gotten addicted to it. It has been so fun re-watching the older seasons with him and discussing the events of the show. Yesterday he sent me a text that said "I'd fight the smoke monster for you. Just fyi." If that ain't love then I don't know what love is...

3.Outer Banks, N.C.

As I mentioned in another post I had a ridiculously good time in OBX. It was the best vacation I have ever had and I cannot wait to go again next year

4. Cheer Camp

I haven't really talked about it much on here, but I am an assitant Varsity coach for a local high school team. I coached college for four years, took a year or so off and then coached the JV team for the same high school. This year they decided instead of having a small JV and a small Varsity to do one big Varsity and kept me on. I was super stoked.

I was even more stoked when I found out we were switching from NCA to UCA and going to the same cheer camp I went to when I was in high school- Pine Forest! Our girls did so great at camp and I was so super proud of them! One of our seniors won the jump contest, 8 of our girls qualified for All-American, we won first place for our pom routine, 2nd place for our cheer routine and 3rd for the dance routine they dubbed "Extreme Routine". Even though the song for the dance routine is STILL looping through my head , I had such a blast!

..and that's how you get it done.

5. Rocks.

.. and no I'm not talking about pebbles. I'm talking bling, baby, BLING! Not only did I get engaged this month, but so did my good friend JD! She was headed down to Myrtle Beach with her family when her boyfriend, Phil, flew down seperately and surprised her with a diamond ring! How romantic!

And there you have it-another one in the books. August, you were jam-packed with exciting news, new beginnings and fun memories. But pack up your bags and head out because Sepetemer is on it's way- along with my favorite season: autumn.

Always & Forever,

ME

JEGs ate one of my Smart Ones microwavable meals the other day and this was what he had to say about it via Gmail to me:

what a disgusting combination of shit
mango? bbq? pasta? ugh
it smelled like chemicals
almost everything in that pasta was un chewable
everything green was like a stick
on every piece of mango, there was skin that human teeth couldnt handle


however, the chicken was moist and quite tasty.

Well, at least the chicken was tasty ;) So note you all- stay away from the Mango BBQ Chicken from Smart Ones.

Always & Forever,
ME

October Sky(lar)

My brother Tim and his wife Bryn are expecting their second bundle of joy in late October. They are having a little girl (they already have a boy named Owen) and they are planning on naming her Skyler Allaine.

I decided to make a gift for my newest neice. They are going with a purple and green decor (my fav!) and the bedding is Pottery Barn Kids' Katie. Doesn't Bryn have great taste? I mean, she picked my brother, after all ;)

After throwing around a couple ideas (painting canvases, sewing pillows, framed fabric) I decided to do something more personal: her name! In Photoshop I did six individual files, each one with a letter and alternating between the stripes of the bumper pad with the polka dots of the crib sheets. I went to Office Depot and printed them out:


Next I went to IKEA and picked up their RAM picture frames. They came in packs of 3, so two packs was perfect! One slow night at work I took them outside and spray painted them all a pretty, glossy white.

before, obviously.

Next I picked up some scrapbooking paper from Michael's in Guacamole and traced out the glass from the frame. Again, six rectangles fit perfectly on one peice of paper!

I decided to matte the paper over the letters so I created a template out of scratch paper and traced out the area I wanted to cut:

I used an Exacto knife and cut out the centers, creating a boarder for each letter:

After the frames were dry, I popped them all in individual frames

Budget Breakdown:

Lettering- $1.05 for printing

Frames (@ 1.99 a set)- $3.98

Matting- $0.69

Spray Paint- free (already had it)

Total Cost- $5.72

So for under six bucks I made a personalized gift for my neices nursery.

As soon as they are done painting the room and have them hung I will update with more pictures!

Always & Forever,

ME

Date Night

I am away at cheer camp in the Poconos this week, but I scheduled a few blogs for your entertainment. Hope you enjoy, and I'll see you all on Thursday!

Since my work schedule is kind of strange, JEGS and I really look forward to the weeks I am on day work. I was on day work last week, but JEGS and I had been super busy. Monday night I had a cheerleading meeting that kept me out until 10pm. Tuesday we headed to his parents house so he could work on his car and I had dinner with his friends. Wednesday I went to a Trenton Thunder Game with my dad and two sister-in-laws and didn’t get home until 11pm. Friday afternoon we left for the shore as soon as we got home. Pepper in the fact that I have 2-3 chiropractor visits a week as well.

Ok, strike that. I had a busy week. JEGs- not so much.

Anyway when we discovered that we I had nothing to do Thursday night we (first checked the calendar to be sure and then) planned a date night. Money has been tight this month, so we had to plan this on the cheap.

It started off with a dip in our complex pool- which was the emptiest we've seen it! At one point we were the only ones there, so it was like our own personal oasis!

After we were refreshed we headed back to the apt and I made JEGs favorite meal- southwestern chicken. We already had all the ingrediants, which is amazing because we need to go food shopping in the worst way.

When I finished cleaning up from dinner we snuggled up on the couch together and watched Season 1 of LOST, compliments of Hulu. As we watched the trials and tribulations of of the survivors of Oceanic 815, we snacked on water ice that was already in the freezer.

After two episodes we packed our bag for the weekend and settled in for the night.

Cost of date night: 0 dollars and 0 cents.
Time spent together: Priceless

So what do you guys do for date night?? (keep it clean, my mom reads this!) Movies? Dinner on the town? I'd love you to share!

Always & Forever,
ME

On bended knee...

My father loves to tell the story of how he and my mother decided to get married. They were sitting on the beach one day and my mother says, "We are getting married next May" to which my father replied, "OK". They were, in fact, married the following year- May 1967.

Apparently, this apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

In June JEGs and I were in the car and talking about future plans. I was discussing my ideas for wedding and such when JEGs says to me, "It sounds like you want to get married next June." I turned to him and said "well, yeah. Is that rushing into it?" He shrugged his shoulders and said "when have we rushed into anything?"

Since that day we hadn't really discussed it much more. We had talked about rings and such, but nothing too concrete.

We decided to visit my parents at their shore house for the weekend. On Saturday morning JEGs really wanted to go to the lighthouse. I was totally down with it (Old Barney is my favorite spot on this earth) but I couldn't figure out why he wanted to go first thing in the morning.
We get there before the lighthouse was opened and meandered around the promanade for a bit.


After it opened we were one of the first people in. We huffed and puffed our way up those 217 steps to the top and took in the amazing view. What comes next was a little hazy, so this is the gospel according to JEGs:

J: I love you
L: I love you too
J: Do you think you could love me for a long time?
L: Of course. You know 'what are you doin for the next 50 or 60 years' (yes, I totally quoted Rocky)
J: I have a confession to make. I brought you up here for a specific reason.
(this is where I started hyperventilating)
J: (gets down on one knee) I was wondering if you would marry me
L: Oh.. my... god... are (huff) you (puff) serious?
J: Yeah, I'm pretty serious
L: YES!!!

At this point I grabbed for the ring to put it on myself, but JEGs requested that he get to do it. Heheh. What can I say.. I wanted that BLING!!!

I hugged him. And I looked at the ring. Then I hugged him some more. Then I looked at the ring. And so on and so on. I asked if my parents knew about this, and he informed me, yes and infact they were at the bottom of the lighthouse.

I have never walked down 217 stairs and out the door so fast in my life.
I just about tackled my poor mother.

For about an hour afterwards I was shaking and had to keep sitting down.

We spent the rest of day at the beach and smiling at each other like crazy. Later that night my parents popped some bubbily and took us out to a nice dinner to celebrate.

I know, you wanna see the ring, right. Alright, alright- I've kept you in suspense long enough. Here it is!

He did good, right? It's the perfect ring for the perfect proposal by the perfect man.

Alright now. We've got a wedding to plan. Let's get crackin'.

Always & Forever

ME

Arrivederci, boys.

The Italians left today. Whatever work they were doing here is done and now some are headed to Alaska and most are headed home to Italy.

Pack it up, and haul it out.

I have mixed feelings about this. One one hand the parking will be easier, I can have the bathroom back and I don't have to fight my way into the galley to wash my dishes. However, on the other hand there won't be anymore yummy lunches or cookies to steal. In a strange way, I started enjoying these guys. They were always polite to me and said hello or made small talk.

Well, have a safe trip boys, and ciao.

Always & Forever,

ME

PS... next week I am away at cheer camp (wee!) but I am scheduling some posts so make sure you check back!

OBX 09

Ok, so it took me a week and a half, but I am finally posting about my vacation to OBX. I tried my best not to have too many pictures, but what can I say- I'm a visual person. So sit back, grab a snack and enjoy my week of drinking, eating and swimming.

First, lets' start off with the cast of characters:

1. Me and JEGs. You know and love us by now.
2. Connie and Joey- my bestie and her boyfriend.
3. Bonnie and Andy- possibly the cutest married couple you will ever meet.
4. Tim and Lisa- got engaged in OBX two years ago, so this is a special place for them.
5. Mike and Lauren- JEGs best friend and secret lover (Mike, not Lauren). I'm teaching Lauren the way of "the beard".
6. Mandy and Evan- these two are hysterical and I love them.
7. Matt- Andy's brother and super nice guy. We had a moment in the hot tub. Then I broke up with him after he stopped feeding me cards during Rummy.

Alright now. Let's do this.

Saturday Aug 1.
I was on the night shift so I didn't get home still about midnight Friday night/Saturday morning. We had to be up at 4 am so I opted to stay up all night. Since everyone was coming from different places we all met up at the Christiana Mall in Delaware. After a quick stop at Dunkin’ Donuts, we were on our way
It was a 9 hour drive, and we sure saw some sites:

This is the result of being stuck on a bridge with no air conditioning.

Yes, that is a BBQ AND yardsale. Way to multi-task, Virginia!

All of our cars in line

I GOT YO CRABS RIGHT HERE!
Our house was rocking. Six bedrooms, 5 ½ baths, pool, hot tub, hammock- you name it we had it

As soon as we all pulled up and got our rooms situated, the drinking, swimming and debauchery began.

That's a lot of beer.. but there is water in there too!

Since I had only had a couple 45 minute naps in the car, I turned in early. It seems I missed a few events including Andy wearing the sofa cushion, and others dropping beer bottles into the pool.

Please make me a bird so I can fly far, far away...

beer in the pool

all the rage on the Paris runways..

Sunday Aug 2.
After waking up and battling the repercussions of the night before with coffee, we suited up and headed to the beach. After a couple dips in the ocean we buried Mandy

and Tim meandered down by the water with his book

Jesus walks with... a google towel

After a delish meal of Ham and Mac and Cheese we topped the night off with a heated game of TABOO- Girls Vs Boys. To tell the truth, I have no idea who won. Probably the girls- and if not, we should have won.


Monday Aug 3
I was not in a beachy mood so Connie, Joey, Lisa and I decided to explore a little while the others went to the beach. The four of us decided to check out the lighthouse. Here is a fun fact: it IS possible to get lost on one road, and Connie’s GPS will do it. There is literally ONE road (Highway 12) that runs the length of the island and we went 10 miles out of our way because the GPS found the wrong “Lighthouse Rd”. Thumbs down to Garmin. But after asking for directions (which included, “Turn around and go 10 miles the other way”) we finally made it.

Anyway, as we are walking around there are some nasty storms looming in the background and while we were touring the Light Masters Home, the rain came pouring down

Lisa and I waiting out the rain

After dinner all 15 of us tried to play Rummy. After we realized that wasn’t going to work we decided to do tournaments to 250. The other group got bored around 100 and stopped. My group was in it to win it- or kill each other. Whichever came first. Evan threatened Connie’s life over the 10 of diamonds, Matt stopped feeding me cards so I broke up with him, and Lisa refused to pick up the Queens. Good time was had by all

Billy Jean's not my lover...

Tuesday Aug 4

Originally we were going to go jet skiing on Tuesday, but at $65 for a half hour and only two actual jet skis, we all agreed that $9 per hour kayaking was the way to go. Just a short ferry ride and we were in Ocracoke

We started in this little inlet that lead out to the sound. There was a little island off in the distance and Evan decided to go all Jack-Shepard-we’ve-got-to-go-back-Kate on us and took off for the island. Mandy and JEGs tried to keep up, but eventually turned back when the rest of us realized our time was almost up. About 20 mintues after we were out of our boats, paid and on our way to the restaurant for lunch, Mr. Evan showed up. Turns out you weren’t allowed to walk on the island because it was a nature preserve. Bummer.

We headed over to The Jolly Roger (or the Jolly Rancher as I kept calling it) for some beers and food. This is the establishment that I shall forever remember as the place I discovered Hush Puppies. Mmmmm. So doughy. So fried. Soooo good.

After we got back, we headed to the beach and, inevitably Andy’s trunks are gonna come off in the ocean

Wednesday Aug 5
A bunch of people decided to try another location for jet skiing, but JEGs and I opted to stay back that the house. When they all returned, we did the usual beach, beer and dinner at home.
However, after dinner we filled up some canteens with alcohol, stocked up on firewood and headed to the beach for a bonfire. It was a great night of quite time shared with your other half, passing around some spirits and a couple people strumming on guitars

Thursday Aug6
It’s FlapJack Thursday! And what’s FlapJack Thursday without pancakes shaped like a penis??

When we got back from the beach we realized no one had a key to the house except Connie and Joe- who went hang gliding that day. We were all locked out of the house. Well, Evan climbed up the decks in the back to one of the bedrooms and ran downstairs to unlock the door for us. That earned him the Chuck Norris Award for the day

I didn't get a picture of him climbing, but he had to climb up to the second balcony.

After dinner was the official OBX Peer Bong Tournament and I was paired up with Bonnie. Our first competitors: JEGs and Joey. Outcome: We killed them

However, during round two we were taken out by Team Mike and Lauren, who ended up winning the Tournament. Since I was knocked out and looking for something to do, Connie and I created crowns for the winners

Don’t they look great? You two better remember to bring them next year!

Friday Aug 7

*sigh* Our last full day was spent on the beach in the beautiful, crystal clear water

Connie and Joe had brought two kites with them to fly at the beach. Connie’s was a simple butterfly design, but Joe decided to purchase a Millenium Falcon replica that needed a team of engineers to assemble.

The kicker of it all?
Neither of those kites would fly. And I’ll tell you, we tried our hardest to get those suckers in the air

That night, instead of cooking dinner, we all got a little sassed up and headed out to a restaurant for dinner. The boys: Joey, Matt, Tim, Andy, JEGs, Evan, Mike

The sexy ladies: Lisa, Me, Bonnie, Mandy, Connie, Lauren

At dinner we had the best waitress, and an unexpected guest

This is Harold. He was in one of Connie's muscles.

After dinner we came home and went on a mission to finish all leftover alcohol. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Saturday Aug 8
We packed up and headed home with heavy hearts and happy memories. We have to do this again next year…

A couple things that I need to add as a post script:
I can’t talk about this week without mentioning the mosquitoes! O.M.G. You had to RUN to your car, get in as fast as you could so you wouldn’t end up with a swarm of them in the car (which you did anyway). On the first night JEGs counted 46 bug bites on his left leg between his ankle and knee. JUST HIS LEFT LEG.

Connie brought Press and Seal with her and swore by it. JEGs decided to test it’s wonderfulness by making a bag of water. It worked- until we played hot potato with it. Then Matt got wet

This week was also the birth of the “Ocean Beer”. The object? Drink a beer in the ocean without spilling it. I know, we are champions.

Overall it was just a wonderful week. I could not have asked for a better group of people to share it with, and I CAN.NOT.WAIT till next year.

..and the best part? I got to spend the whole week with this guy

Always & Forever,

ME