lots to share

It's been awhile since I've blogged so I thought I'd summarize the latest happenings via pictures.

My mom came and visited over Easter weekend. It was awesome to see her and we did a lot in the short time she was here. Cherry Blossom Festival, Crime & Punishment Museum, Newseum, saw 'Ace of Cakes,' ate good food, and enjoyed each other's company! I picked out and ordered my wedding dress while my mom was here to help...but the picture below is NOT my dress. :) You think I'm going to post my dress for Mike to see? NO WAY! But it does seem like my style, huh? YEAH RIGHT...I don't think so!

Mike and I went to a Nationals baseball game. Even though the Nationals aren't good, it was still fun and they had a fireworks show after the game. The Nats are red so Mike was decked out in his Husker gear and I certainly have enough red shirts to choose from.

Mike, Tim, Nikki, and I went hiking at Great Falls, MD and it was quite a hike. Though it wasn't super long, there were lots of rocks and boulders to tackle. Yes, the picture below was as steep as it looks. This was the most challenging part!

And finally, tonight was my HoCoBoCo(Howard County Books & Cooks) April meetup. We read a great book called "Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven" and everyone made a Chinese food dish.(The book is based in China) That's me in the center of the picture with the grey shirt on.

I think that sums it up! Hope everyone has a great week!

tampa & cherry blossoms

As I sit and drink my Apricot Caramel Torte Green Tea, I thought I'd provide a summary of happenings over the past week from Maryland. I'll try to keep this short.
We went to Tampa, FL last Tuesday through Friday and it was a blast. We went to the beach on Tuesday(got a little too much sun), shopped at the Ellenton outlets all day Wednesday, then went to Ybor City on Thursday and spent some time driving the coast and hanging out at Clearwater Beach. On Thursday it was super windy so laying on the beach, laying in shirts due to the sun on Tuesday, with sand ripping my face off isn't the most fun but we made the best of it. We ate some good food and enjoyed the great weather.
We kenneled the dogs while we were gone and they seemed to do pretty well. The facility is amazing and the dogs are able to be out a lot, not to mention they could run laps in their individual kennels. We thought we'd give Boulevard a break from Stuart so we had them put in separate kennels. The kennel owner said that the only trouble was that Stuart would run the opposite direction when it was time to go back into the kennel...and she said that he's a fast runner. :)
Yesterday, I headed into D.C. via Metro all by myself to watch the Cherry Blossom Festival parade. I got to my Metro stop ok but I get amazingly turned around when I'm downtown. The blocks are about 3 times the size of normal blocks so it took me a while to figure out I was going the wrong way. I finally found Mike(he was working at the parade) and the other USPP officers. Somehow I was able to get to sit in the actual bleachers for the parade...being escorted by a police officer has its perks. The parade was pretty good. They had some GREAT bands, not too many floats, and Alex Trebek was the Grand Marshall so I got to see him too.

Today, I'm doing laundry and cooking Sticky Ham Balls(recipe of my mommy) for dinner. Not going to lie, I don't think I've single handedly done laundry since we moved her. Mike is the laundry man and he needs laundry done a lot more often than I do. I have trained him that we don't need to put our clothes away right away. They usually lay on the spare bed for a couple days before they get placed in closets and drawers.
Ok, I guess "short" turned into long...Have a great day everyone!

"the one"

For all of you who told me, "Oh when you find your wedding dress, you'll just know it's the one," I COMPLETELY disagree. I felt like I had it narrowed down to two dresses. Then I found a couple at another bridal store that I went to try on today before finalizing between the two I had previously picked just in case I like one of the one's I tried on today. And now I have 5 more on my list that could be "the one." Of all the wedding planning, this has definitely been the hardest thing to figure out. AND it's even harder because I get to go try on dresses by myself...I do better when I have opinions so I'm really struggling. Not to mention I'm running out of time so I need to get it ordered...oh...probably a week ago. :) My mom is coming to visit in two weeks so hopefully she will help me make my decision if I still don't have my decision made.

eventful weekend

This weeked was quite an eventful weekend here in Maryland. On Friday night, I had volleyball. We made it to the semi-finals and won that game on Friday. Then we played in the finals right after that game on Friday and WON! We're #1!!! :) As I look at the picture above, I realize I am so pale...I need to get to tanning bed I think.

On Saturday, we took the dogs on a trail walk by historic Savage Mill which is close by where we live. The trail runs next to a river and about half way through the walk, we took the dogs down by the water so they could a drink of water. Stuart got really close to the water and THEN...he started to run into the water. If he wouldn't had been connected to leash so I could pull him back, I wonder how far he would have gone. :)

Last night I went to see Duplicity at a theater in Baltimore with Adena, Jig, and Tiffany. Adena is my Book and Cook Club organizer and Jig and Tiffany I just met last night. Then after the movie we went out to eat at an Italian restaurant called Della Notte. It was absolutely delicious!

Today, I'm taking the dogs to Dogtopia for a free dog gathering. Stuart's(for little dogs) was at 9:30 this morning. He did pretty good. He played a little bit(with the other 15 dogs there) but for the most part he stuck next to my side. After an hour, Stuart was more than ready to leave. He's already zonked out sleeping on the couch. Boulevard's(for big dogs) is at 12:30 and I know he will LOVE it. He probably won't want to leave.

After 3 1/2 weeks of delays...

I am finally closed on the sale of my house.
Enough said!!

Much better than yesterday

I'm not going to lie, yesterday was a really rough day for me...as in feeling homesick for my Nebraska peeps! This was really the first time since I've been here that I felt so homesick. I think it was the fantabulous weather(70 degrees yesterday, 77 degrees today) we had and I just kept imagining what I would be doing in Nebraska. So I thought maybe I would have gone on a run with Stacey, maybe I would have gone to the dog park with Jen, maybe I would have hung out with my family, maybe I would have been playing volleyball, and I KNOW I would have been sitting in a beer garden with either Jen, Kim, Stacey, Emilie(or maybe all of them) last night having a few adult beverages?! I have quite impecable timing because as Mike is about ready to leave for work last night at 4:30pm, I just burst into tears...poor guy! What guy wants to leave his sobbing fiance alone?! Well, actually probably quite a few men would like to do that but I like to think Mike isn't one of them. LOL! I basically felt sorry for myself the rest of the night. :)
So TODAY was much better than yesterday. First of all I slept in until about 10:30am. I'm quite amazed at how patient Stuart is in the morning. He sleeps in bed with us(I know, I know!) and he will lay there patiently until I get out of bed even though I can tell he is wide awake. Then I went WEDDING DRESS shopping! Woo woo! This is something that I've been putting off since I moved here. But low and behold I found four dresses that I love and I think I've now narrowed it down to two. YAY! Then I just got home from the gym(that always make me feel good) and now I'm chillin' in the living room with the puppies.
Anyway...much better day than yesterday! Miss everyone!

TV

I've decided that I think I watch too much TV and I think it's causing me un-needed stress. I am addicted to The Bachelor. Last night was the 2 hour finale and the 1 hour 'after the final rose' show...Yes, I watched 3 hours of the Bachelor last night.
To summarize for all of you that don't watch the show: At the end of the 2 hour finale, Jason(the bachelor) picked Melissa and proposed to her on the show. The taping of the finale occurred about 6 weeks ago. Then the 'after the final rose' show is present day to check in on the happy couple. So, on national television, Jason breaks up with the Melissa(the girl he chose on the finale). Also on the 'after the rose' show, the rejected girl(Molly) comes on and gets to confront Jason and ask him question about why he chose Melissa, etc. So, to make matters worse for Melissa, Jason goes back to Molly and asks for a second chance. WHAT?! Not a very nice guy if you ask me.
All of this resulted in the following:
1. And men wonder why women act crazy sometimes...THEY do it to us. :) Ok, that's not really a fair statement but poor Melissa.
2. Mike was working last night and I was so worked up over the whole thing, I couldn't even fall asleep until super late.
3. I think I need to stop watching the Bachelor.
So...back to my original point. I think watching TV sometimes causes me un-needed stress. Hopefully the TV will remain in the 'off' position more often now.