A few more wedding pics.....

One of the bridesmaids gifts were these bad ass green heels (which we all wore in the wedding) custom "graffiti-ed" by a local Erie graffiti artist. Everybody's designs were different - specific to that person. Here is a pic of Sarah's shoes. I can't wait to see the one the photographer took of everyone's shoes!

One of Sarah's bridesmaids, Renee, made her cake. She also went to art school with Sarah. It looked and tasted amazing!

I loved, loved, loved my hair! Sarah's hairstylist, Gretchen, did a great job! Especially since my only requirements were "up" and "back!"

Instead of a guestbook, Sarah & Pat collected sea rocks from the beach and had everyone sign them/write a message on them with sharpies. They turned out so great!

Also, this, apparently, is NOT a frying pan.

Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Mazzone!!

My cousin Sarah got married this weekend! We made the trip up to Erie to see her and Pat tie the knot (hence the lack of blogging). It was a great trip, we were able to spend a lot of time with family, and as with any wedding trip, I am now completely exhausted! (And I leave in 60 hours to go to Boston for a work trip!!)

We got into Erie super late Thursday night and crashed at the hotel. Friday morning we went to Dominick's Diner to enjoy some diner grub....it's been a while since either Tom or I were at a diner. I spent Friday afternoon at the hair salon with Sarah (who else would have the guts to put bright red and copper highlights in their hair the day before their wedding??? love it) while Tom helped set things up at Aunt Judy's for the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal went off without a hitch and we enjoyed an amazing dinner with good company afterwards.

Saturday morning it was off to the salon to get our hair did, and then we were able to grab a quick bite to eat before getting ready for the wedding. Sarah & Pat got married on the Erie bay right outside of the Maritime Musuem. It was beautiful!!

Immediately after they said their "I Do's" the bridal party piled in some cars and headed over to Rum Runners for some, well, rum runners, and to take a few quirky pictures right on the bay.

The wedding was a blast and it was so good to catch up with family! As always it went by too quickly! (I love the pic below of Willow & Jacob fighting with the styrofoam weapons....and Kim and Joe each have a hand on their arms to keep them from slaying the neighboring tables!)

June Goals

Yikes! It's June already! When did that happen? So, I tried to accomplish May's goal. I think I did a decent job at picking up clutter and getting rid of extra crap. I loaded up 3 + bags for Goodwill, I sold a PT school book on Amazon.com, I'm about to get rid of 2 more textbooks. I cleaned out our extra closet (well, just put stuff away), and kept things relatively clean as we had a friend visit from out of town and had some people over.

I have about 18,000,000 things on my "To Do" list at work that are due this month and next, so I think I'm going to let my personal goals slide again and just try not to get too stressed out at work getting everything done!

I have some exciting events coming up in the next few weeks so stay tuned for updates! I'm not sure how often I'll be able to blog but rest assure there will be some good stories!

I heart weekends!

We had a very productive, yet relaxing weekend. It was really hot all weekend, but oddly it was cool enough in the mornings and evenings to enjoy some quality time on the balcony. The puppies enjoyed the balcony too, they were able to bask in the sun and watch as other puppies walked around the neighborhood. Saturday was a ridiculously productive day. You can read about it here. Sunday I enjoyed some relaxing time by the pool to try to even out my "tan" for Sarah's wedding. I ended up getting a wee bit burnt :/ Hopefully it will fade from hot pink to slightly pink by Saturday! At least my tanlines from our Destin trip should be gone!! Nothing like a little GTL to end a weekend!! (Ha!)

And so it begins.....

Puppy sleepover! We're keeping Jack for a few days while Paige goes on a mountain-biking/camping trip with a few friends! It should be an interesting weekend for the puppies! They've been going non-stop since Jack got here!!

Speak English, it makes sense to me.

Believe it or not, that is the main advertising campaign of one of the candidates for Alabama Governor. We've actually gotten some enjoyment out of the ridiculous ads for republican candidates in Alabama. Here are a few of our favorite quotes:

• "Driver license tests should only be given in English. We speak English in Alabama, learn it. It makes sense to me, does it make sense to you?"
• "Those liberals are trying to trick us."
• "I've been a farmer, a businessman, a cop, a marine. So listen up, Alabama Ag commissioner is one of the most powerful positions in Alabama, responsible for over 5 million dollars. I bet you didn't know that. Ya know why? Thugs and criminals!"
• "He's not a conservative, he's a liberal!"

Unbelievable.

First, watch this to see the ridiculousness that we have to watch during commercials, then, watch this spoof for a good laugh.

Yohanabama

Our good friend Mike from Philly came to visit this weekend. Tom and Mike originally met at Penn State and were roommates for a couple of years. We hung out a lot when we all lived in Philadelphia after college, but we had not seen him in quite some time. Friday evening we went to Jim 'n Nick's for a quick dinner before heading home for our High Gravity sampling party. We enjoyed spending time with some good friends and Bailey had fun running around playing Twilight with Casper.

Saturday we slept in and then headed to Surin to enjoy some Thai food for lunch. After lunch we drove out to Morgan Creek Vineyards so Mike could sample some southern muscadine wine. Then we stopped by the Mountain Brook Creamery and the Botanical Gardens and then headed home to relax a little bit before the unfortunate excuse of a hockey game.

Sunday we woke up and headed to the Original Pancake House for a yummy Southern breakfast. Then we went to the Birmingham Civil Rights Musuem and then hit up Pete's Famous for some pretty gross hot dogs but an awesome Birmingham experience. Later on in the evening we went to the Mill for some Good People brews (Birmingham's own) and then our final stop was the Vulcan. What a great weekend!

Currently

Excited about Yohanabama, High Gravity night, Tom's birthday
Worried about Tom getting mad that I posted about his birthday ;)
Reading All You & Taste of Home magazines
Creating frugal tips for Frugal Made Fun
Loving weekends with nothing to do, Bailey
Hating busy busy busy work weeks
Wondering how things will go on Tom's next interview
Craving buffalo chicken dip
Hoping I can somehow get caught up on all of my paperwork
Watching on TV the FLYERS in the Stanley Cup FINALS!
Listening to Oceanship
Looking forward to weekends, my birthday, Sarah & Pat's wedding, Boston trip for work, not having a car payment

Awesome Weekend Part 2

Sunday our friends Tara and Wes invited us to go tubing with them down the Cahaba River. My first thoughts were "That sounds awesome!" but then my 2nd thoughts were "I have so much work to do, I really need to go into work and get caught up and I need to get caught up around the apartment too with Yohanabama* happening next weekend." Then my 3rd thoughts were "There are water moccasins in the Cahaba River and I don't want to die." Then I proceeded to have 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th thoughts and by Sunday morning when our friend Paige finally convinced me to go, I think Tom was pretty fed up with my indecisiveness.

Anyways, we were invited by our friends Wes and Tara, who were invited by their friend Dixon, who also happened to invite about 60 of his closest friends. So there was a massive amount of people floating down the river.

We drove down some serious country roads to get to this tiny little shack that doesn't even have any signs. You pay the $10 for your tube, sign your life away, and then hop on the back of a pick-up truck and hang on for dear life as you ride through cow pastures and pass Rosie, the BIGGEST wild pig I have ever seen in my whole life! Then without warning the truck stops and you're on your own!

I quickly scanned the bank for snakes and then launched onto my tube for the journey down the river. All in all it was pretty successful, I made it down the whole river without getting bitten by a snake (although we did see quite a few turtles) or thrown out of my tube (although I did have to walk down the waterfall as far as I could and then dive belly first onto my tube and hope I didn't flip over) without getting majorly sunburnt (although I ended up with a tiny patch on my left leg...I'll take it considering how burnt I could have been) and my right foot got tangled in a rock only once with some minor bruising. Tom has a pretty nasty scrape on his back from a few of the rocks. One lady had 2 sweet little puppies with her...they were hanging onto her for dear life. I think Bailey would have liked the river but she didn't get to make the trip. And we all decided to pass on any attempts to swing off of the rope swing halfway down the river. Our cooler survived the trip, but sadly there was no floating hot dog stand like there was the last time we went tubing back in PA. Still some good times. Good times were had by all.

*Yohanabama: Our friend Mike is coming to visit this weekend!

Awesome Weekend, Part 1

Yeah, that's right, this weekend was so awesome it requires 2 seperate blog posts! Friday night seems like so long ago I seriously can't even remember what we did! Oh, that's right, we made sushi, watched Friday Night Lights, and drank cheap Aldi wine. Perfection.

Saturday started out pretty productive. Thankfully, because nothing else got accomplished the whole rest of the weekend (I had big plans to be productive too). Saturday afternoon we watched the Flyers kick some Canadian butt in Montreal. So awesome. I wish they would play the whole rest of the series like they played in the 2nd period. After the game we drove downtown to the 1st Annual Rogue Tavern Music Fest. Since Live 100.5 went off the air, there hasn't been a whole lot of advertising for cool events like this, so there were hardly any people there...which was awesome for us, but kind of crappy for all of the musicians. We grabbed a few drinks and enjoyed dinner with some friends while listening to some of Birmingham's finest musicians including one of my favs, Matthew Mayfield. Then we went outside for a practically private concert with Oceanship. So awesome.



Stay tuned for Part 2 of Awesome Weekend!!

May goals?

Is it too late to do May goals? How about I do just one. Stay on top of everything at home and don't let clutter accumulate. I was on a role the other night after reading this post over at Org Junkie. I went through my closet and cleaned out 3 big bags worth of stuff.

I'm soooo not good at the "one year" rule. Another thing that I rarely do when I am going through old clothes is try them on. I did that the other night and it helped me to get rid of so many more clothes! There were quite a few sweaters, pants, and shirts that I have just been holding onto because they are "cute." Well, let's just say they're not so cute anymore. I'm glad I was able to get rid of some "stuff" and hope I continue this mindset in other areas of the house!

Do Dah Day

Yikes! Sorry it's been OVER A WEEK since my last blog update! We've been slightly busy. This weekend we got to slow down for a bit and take Bailey out to enjoy her 2nd Do Dah Day. We had a good time and Bailey had a blast playing with all of her friends!! We got there early enough to watch the parade. We saw an 8 year old tortoise, named Franklin, who weighs 65 pounds and can live to be as old as 80 years old! And apparently Bailey doesn't like brown horses. She never barks, like ever, and when she does it is usually just one "bark." Well, she was hanging out, watching the parade, ready to pounce on the next treat that someone threw to her, when all of the sudden she started going crazy and would not stop barking at this big horse! She finally calmed down, but I've never seen her like that before. Maybe she had a bad experience with horses before she came to live with us? Who knows. Enjoy the pics. I promise to update more often!

Franklin the Tortoise

Bailey's enemy

Jack and Bailey

Bailey's not so sure about Briar

Taking a break in the shade

Me & Paige

Remmy & Wynn

This little puppy kept trying to climb on Bailey! He was so cute but Bailey wanted nothing to do with him!

Casper and his new lady friend

3rd Annual Destin Trip

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. We just got home from our 3rd Annual trip to Destin, FL. It was wonderful, everything a vacation should be. And it was much needed! I wasn't sure if we would be able to enjoy the beach or not because of the BP oil spill, and it didn't help that this was the front page of the paper the day before we left. We drove down Thursday afternoon/evening and sat on the balcony overlooking the ocean just taking it all in. Friday we slept in, cooked our own breakfast, and hit the beach for a day of relaxation. The weather was perfect and there was plenty of entertainment....from the college kids playing buzz ball to the little kid behind us who let his family bury him up to his neck in the sand and then tried to wiggle his way out! I enjoyed my beach beverage of choice (Corona) and Tom enjoyed some of the hoppiest (barf-i-est) beer we've ever had! (Hopslam - his favorite - and Hopsickle on draft from Dee's). Then we spent the evening on the balcony just enjoying being on vacation and watching a couple get married. I toasted them but I don't think they saw me :) Saturday was partly cloudy and the water was a little cooler but it was still a perfect day to spend at the beach. I finally finished (read) a book that I had borrowed from Stacy last August, so I'm sure she'll be happy to have that returned to her. Saturday evening we did a little shopping at the outlets and then enjoyed our own crableg dinner at home. Sunday we packed up and drove home to pick up our little one from her vacation.

Goal Update

Soooooooo I didn't do so hot in April with sticking to my goals. Work got pretty busy and then I tried to change my entire diet....long story. Anyways, here's the breakdown.

1. Complete an online Harvard Leadership course for work. Pass!! I only did one though.
2. Go to the gym before work every Tuesday and Thursday (Oy.) This would have to be a fail the way it is written. I did however make it to the gym several other days in the morning before work. Still impressive considering it's been probably close to a year since I've gone to the gym in the morning before work!
3. Not spend more than $50 for supplies for freezer cooking day (this includes chicken, which I need to buy A LOT of....hopefully it will go on sale soon!!!) I think I failed on this too. I was buying food when I was in the middle of changing my diet, and then I started having mental status changes (not really) so my judgement may have been clouded.
4. Take a break from all of my couponing. I'm not really sure what this will entail but Tom thinks I need to "give it a rest" for a little while. I actually kind of agree. Big fat fail. Instead I decided to start a frugal blog in the middle of my "couponing break."
5. File our taxes. Pass! Taxes were filed on time!
6. Keep doing back exercises at least 3x/week! We're going to say pass for this one. I don't know if I actually did them "3x/week" but I felt like I did them a lot.

Stay tuned for May goals!

Barons Game

Last night we went to the Birmingham Barons game with Tom's lab. Unfortunately, they lost to the Huntsville Stars, but we still had a good time. I really wish they were playing the Montgomery Biscuits instead, because, look at their mascot, it's a biscuit, with a piece of BUTTER as it's tongue!!! We had a little area off of the first base side complete with picnic tables, brats, and burgers. They even had fireworks after the game! Here is my favorite story from the night (and believe me, I heard A LOT of interesting stories...particularly about the fine delicacies like squirrel and racoon for Thanksgiving dinner).

Tom was wearing his Phillies World Series Champs shirt and went to go get some ice cream at one point. That's how he met his new little friend. The conversation goes as follows:

Philly Kid: Hey, are you really from Philly?
Tom: Yeah, are you?
Philly Kid: Yep.
Tom: What are you doing down here?
Philly Kid: Better neighborhood.
Tom: So what do you think about McNabb being traded to the Redskins?
Philly Kid: Good, I hate him, it's about time.
Tom: I dunno, you think Kolb is going to do much better?
Philly Kid: Who cares? Vick should be starting anyways.

Yep, the kiddo was definitely from Philly!