Spring?

Good afternoon blog readers! It would appear that I am very bad at keeping up with this thing. The good thing is I'm pretty sure that NOBODY reads this anymore because it would appear that EVERYONE is bad at keeping up with their blogs. I figure, if nobody is writing blogs, then nobody is reading them either.

Anyway, a couple of entries ago I wrote about the ridiculous back to back blizzards that hit our area. Today it is almost 60 degrees and sunny, and it's been like this all week. I am not sure if this means Spring is here, or if it's just a little preview of what's to come but even if it does end up getting cold again soon, I've tasted Spring and it has made me very happy. My favorite seasons are Fall and Winter because I love the cold, snow, holidays, etc... But even the most avid snow lover has to admit that it's always a good feeling to know that Spring is on its way.

Once the holidays are over and all the snow melts, it just becomes gloomy. It gets dark early, it's cold, and there's nothing too fun to do outside. It is almost impossible to be happy go lucky after months and months of cold weather. I find that in the winter I come home and plop down on the couch for the night. But in the spring, well that's a different story. Daylight savings is coming up and soon it will stay light out later. This means you can come home, eat dinner, and then go for a walk! Or, you can go to the gym and not feel like it's past your bedtime when you get home. OR for those of us who are so lucky to live in the Cock, we have the NCR trail right in our own backyards (not literally of course).

So anyway, my point was the weather lately has made me very happy and here is what I am most excited for in the upcoming months. Spring/Summer

in no particular order...

-Hiking the NCR trail
-Biking the NCR trail
-taking walks after dinner around the neighborhood
-Ice Cream and Italian Ice... You can't feel guilty if you walk to get it :)
-Beach Trips
-having the windows open in the apartment
-Watching Linus watch the world outside and actually get to see, hear, and smell everything going on out there
- NYC in May with Bryan
- My birthday!
- fun little day trips to places like Chestertown, MD and York, PA
- Eating outside... It took me 24 years to actually enjoy that
- Cookouts
- Hershey Park
- pretty nature that isn't snow lol
- Cute dresses, tank tops, sandals, etc...

And just being outside and enjoying the weather basically! I just hope it's not a rainy summer like last year.

There's just a feeling you get in the Spring. Of course, my Spring is usually spent sneezing, but we are not focusing on that right now.

Oh, am I supposed to be updating this thing??

Good morning blog readers! In case anyone was wondering, I am still alive and well. We had two major blizzards recently and I was off of work for over a week. Apparently, despite the fact that I said I was going to try not to blog at work, I do NOT blog unless I AM at work. SO here I am, back at work for my first full week in what seems like forever, blogging away.

Not too much to report. Valentines Day was last weekend and it was pretty awesome. We went out to dinner at Melting Pot, and then saw the movie Valentines Day. Bryan hated it lol. I loved it, AND Jackie and Evan were there! Jackie loved it too!

This was on Saturday, and Valentines Day was actually on a Sunday. For the actual day we went for a ride up York Road. We started in Cockeysville, and drove just past York, PA. It was a beautiful ride! Then Bryan made me dinner. Parmesan crusted tilapia, buttered noodles, and peas. So good!

I finally went back to work last Tuesday and had so much work to catch up on I didn't really have time to blog. I didn't really even think about it!

I'm back now though!

Bryans mom started Chemo on Friday, so we spent the weekend at her house and it was pretty awesome. It kind of reminded me of high school when you could have friends sleep over on the weekends. Linus even spent the weekend with us! He absolutely loved it.

We went to the Cafe Hon for dinner on Friday night and I got a really yummy crab cake. We got some cake to go and ate it for dessert when we got back to the house. Saturday we went to the Hagerstown outlets! It's such a pretty drive to Hagerstown! I think I'm destined to live in Washington County! Well, maybe Frederick. It's hard to say. Anywhere pretty with mountains! Anyway, I got two shirts from Ann Taylor outlet and I can not wait til it's summer so I can wear them!

After we got home from outlet shopping we ordered pizza and played games. We played a game called catch phrase, and it was one of the best games I've ever played. We also played Karaoke Revolution on the wii. I actually enjoyed that too once I finally sang. I was perfectly happy sitting out, but apparently nobody else was happy with that lol. After MUCH persuasion I finally sang some Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. It was fun. I admit it.

Yesterday was a day of relaxing. We ran a couple of errands and it was SO nice to be back to the apt. I layed around with Linus for most of the day.

Now, I'm here. Back at work. Sorry this entry was so boring, BUT this blog is about to take an interesting turn. Yes, I have a mission... You'll find out later.

Whoa There, Maryland. Calm The Eff Down!

Good afternoon blog readers! This past weekend the predicted blizzard arrived in full force. This was the second blizzard this winter, and we've also had various minor snow storms throughout the past couple of months. For some places (like Vermont) this is just a normal winter, but for Maryland this is unheard of! We have had our share of blizzards, but the last one was seven years ago, and the 6 winters since then have been mild. The blizzard this weekend brought about 26 inches of snow to Cockeysville, and 30+ inches in other parts of Maryland. Tomorrow/Wednesday we are supposed to get another foot of snow! It's crazy! I'm not necessarily complaining, but I have been in the house since Thursday night and it's starting to get old. However we did go outside to play in the snow on Saturday, and cleaned out cars off yesterday, so I haven't really been "stuck inside," just stuck in our neighborhood.

However, cabin fever is not the point of this post. The point is, where has this weather been hiding??? In my opinion, this is how winter should be every year! I love snow and I couldn't be happier about how this winter has turned out. Earlier this year I said I wanted to live in Vermont because you would never have to wonder if you were going to have a snowy winter. I think the weather gods heard me loud and clear and decided to show me that winter in Maryland could be just as snowy as winter in Vermont. Actually, I think it's snowed more in Maryland than in Vermont this year!

I am afraid that after the snowstorm tomorrow it might never snow in Maryland again haha. Oh well, I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts! Hooray snow!

Bring It On, Mother Nature. BRING IT ON!

Good afternoon blog readers! Well, another blizzard is upon us! There is 100% chance of heavy snow and blizzard conditions starting tomorrow morning and ending on Saturday evening. Frankly, I'm excited. We've already had a blizzard and a couple of small snow storms this year, and I'm not sick of it yet. I've been waiting and waiting for a winter like this, and now that it's here I'm certainly not going to complain! Some people (who shall remain nameless... hint - I live with him and he's not a cat), THOUGHT they wanted a snowy winter, but have started to complain. No. Not OK. I do understand the disappointment though, because our Superbowl party is this weekend and if it is as bad as they say it's going to be, we will probably have to cancel the party. Not the end of the world, but slightly disappointing. At least we already have the food, so if all else fails we can have our own little feast this weekend!

My point is, the snow is coming and I say BRING IT ON!

Retraction - I'm Angry

I just looked at all of the nominations, and somehow UP is nominated for best picture AND best animated picture. How is this fair? It's not. It can't have both! It just can't! Now poor Coraline doesn't stand a chance :(

And The Nominees Are...

Good morning blog readers! Today is an extra special day! Not only is it Groundhog Day, AND the premiere of the final season of Lost (yay!), BUT it's also the day that the Academy announced all of the Oscar nominations! I haven't looked at all of the nominees yet, because they were being announced as I was looking for them. However, I did manage to find all ten nominees for Best Picture. Yes, that's right, TEN nominees! They decided after last year that they needed to expand the Best Picture category from five nominees, to ten, in order to give more movies a chance. I will admit that there have been plenty of movies that I thought for sure would be nominated and then were completely snubbed. The category expansion made it possible for those movies to have a shot.

As exciting as it is having ten movies nominated this year, it's a little aggravating for those of us (like myself) who make an effort to see each of the movies nominated for best picture. BUT I can do it! I know I can! I've already seen five of the ten, and I think I'll be able to find the other five.

SO, without further ado, here are the 2010 Oscar Nominees for Best Picture.

(here is a list of ALL nominees http://oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees#category_animated-feature-film)

Avatar - I have NOT seen this yet. I said I would see it when it was nominated, so now I have to. It will be in theaters forever, so this movie should be the easiest one to scratch off the list.

The Blind Side - Saw it, loved it, cried my eyes out at the end. I do NOT think this would have made the cut if there were only 5 nominees this year, but I'm glad it did.

District 9 - Saw it, loved it, never even thought for a second that I would see it at the Oscars! This was the only movie on the list that I am truly excited about. It wont win, but I'm glad to see it getting the recognition it deserved. My only question, can aliens be nominated for best actor?

An Education - I have NOT seen this. I've never heard of it. This might be hard to find in theaters at this point. Grrr.

The Hurt Locker - I have NOT seen this, but I've heard nothing but great things. Hopefully it's still around! If not, we will find a way to see it!

Inglorious Basterds - I have NOT seen this, but Bryan owns it so I think we'll be ok haha

Precious - Saw it, loved it, knew the minute I left the theater that I'd see this one at the Oscars. Deserves any and all awards that it is nominated for, and would not be surprised if it takes the award for Best Picture.

A Serious Man - I have NOT seen this, and know nothing about it except that it was a huge nominee at the Golden Globes. Can't wait to see it!

Up - Saw it. Too emotional to watch again, but Bryan needs to see it so I'm sure I'll have to watch it with him. I'm glad it was nominated for best picture, so that Coraline can get the Best Animated Picture award that it deserves. I still don't agree with animated films being nominated outside of the animated films category, but again, it gives Coraline a shot so I'm good with it.

Up In The Air - Saw it, LOVED it, and disagree with every negative thing that I've heard about it. I thought it was a great movie, much better than I expected, and it deserves the nomination.

So there you have it!

And the Grammy Goes To...

Good afternoon blog readers! Well, last night was the Grammy Awards. I can honestly say that I have not watched the Grammys in at least eight years... I want to say it was 2001, but it might have been 2002. Either way, it's been a while. Honestly, I didn't really listen to popular music during that time, so I had no reason to watch the Grammy's. This year however, I went into pop music overload, becoming especially obsessed with Taylor Swift. Ah, Taylor Swift. Nothing beats driving in the summer with the windows down, listening and singing along to Taylor. I'm not going to sit here and pretend that she's the most talented musician in the world, because she's really not. But her music is catchy as hell and it's fun to sing along with. Taylor herself is just as easy to love as her music. From what we see and hear about her, she's a normal 20 year old girl who just happened to take over the world of music this year with her 2nd album entitled fearless. There is nothing controversial about her, she makes absolutely no attempt to be "edgy" or "shocking," and she really comes off as a sweet girl. Well... until she gets dumped by a guy!

She cleaned up at the CMA's and the AMA's, so it was no surprise when she received eight Grammy nominations this year. Her album was, after all, the #1 selling album of the year, AND if I have my facts straight, the #1 selling country album of all time.

Naturally once I heard about her 8 nominations, I figured it was time to tune into the Grammy's once again.

Of course she won the award for Best Country Album... That was a given. The biggest surprise came at the end of the show. She won Album of the Year! She beat out Lady GaGa, Black Eyed Peas, AND Beyonce. Everyone (including myself I'm sad to say) thought that Beyonce had this one in the bag, but apparently not! In fact, when they were announcing the nominees during the show, people in the audience were already screaming Beyonce's name! Well, sorry Beyonce, but you did NOT win. When they said Taylor's name I screamed so loud that I scared myself! YAY!

Of course now that she won all the haters are coming out in full force saying that she's talentless, and did not deserve to win. As surprised as I was that she won, I never once said that she didn't deserve it. Say what you want about her musical abilities, the award was for ALBUM of the year, not female artist of the year (which she did not win), and her album was HUGE! So there you go. Yay Taylor! Boo haters!

Tomas who?

Good morning blog readers! As most of you know, I got to meet Tomas Fleischmann last night! For those of you who do not know, Tomas plays Center for the Washington Capitals, and has been my favorite player for over a year now. I bought his jersey last year right before the playoffs, which prompted some teasing from people (who shall remain nameless), as well as a lot of "Who's Fleischmann?" from various other people. Yes, as sad as it is, this time last year Fleischmann was not a household name. He was a rather obscure player, often fading into the shadows of the great Alex Ovechkin, as well as Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Nick Backstrom, and all of the other players whose jerseys were commonly seen throughout Verizon Center.

But, despite everything I had decided that he was my favorite player, and I was going to stick with him whether he was ever to become a big name or not. It's not that he wasn't good, he just wasn't very well known. Mostly anytime you would see his name on message boards it was on a not-so-nice post. Though I did find a female only message board devoted to him... I posted on that quite a bit last season, but even that only had a few members.

Anyway, long story short, he missed the start of this season due to a potentially life threatening health scare (blood clot), and when he finally joined the rest of his team on the ice, there was a fire inside of him that could not be diminished. He is already up to 17 goals and something like 19 assists, averaging around a point per game, and he has officially been switched to center. Yes folks, Fleischmann has arrived, and the world has taken notice.

Suddenly, I'm getting articles emailed to me focusing on the wonder that is Tomas Fleischmann. All of a sudden people are interested, and he is often interviewed and written about in various sports publications. Who is this amazing player, and why did we not know he existed?

Well he does exist, and for the past couple of months I've watched as more and more Fleischmann jerseys have popped up in Verizon Center. I used to be one of (maybe) two or three people (who I'd seen) with his jersey, and last weekend at the game I saw at least 8 or 9.

As if the Jerseys weren't enough proof, last night Fleischmann was at ESPN zone in DC to do a little meet and greet type thing, and the place was PACKED. Most of the people there with his jersey on were women, but there were a couple of men donning the number 14 as well. It was so packed that people had to share tables. We shared with these 4 people who obviously had come straight from work, but they were really cool, and they were Fleischmann enthusiasts, so they were good in my book!

At the start of the night Tomas did a question and answer portion, and his personality really came out. I have always liked him, but to be honest I wouldn't have ever considered him to be Mr. Personality or anything. I was wrong about that! he was actually really personable and REALLY funny! I mean, his English is limited, but his answers were really witty! He also spoke very enthusiastically about his upcoming Olympic experience.

He is also A LOT cuter in person... Very tall, and a little skinnier than I would have thought. Just thought I'd throw that out there :)

Anyway, after the Q&A there was a bit of Tomas Trivia and if you answered a questions correctly you got a prize! One of the questions was "What team has Tomas scored the most goals against in his career?" and lo and behold, my wonderful boyfriend raised his hand, answered the question correctly (Tampa Bay... How he knew that I have no idea) and won me an autographed caps shirt! Needless to say I am eternally grateful.

After that it was time to go meet Tomas! I didn't really say much to him, and I made Bryan go up there with me, but it was pleasant. We got our picture taken with him, and he signed my jersey. It was evident that he is still not totally used to his new found popularity, because he seemed more nervous than most of the fans!

All in all it was pretty much a perfect evening, with one of the best players on the Washington Capitals!

Chaos At The Caps Game - Why I'm never using Stubhub Again.

Good afternoon blog readers! Has anyone out there ever used stubhub? I'm sure if you haven't, you know someone who has. I had never even heard of them before, but for Hanukkah/Christmas Bryan and I decided to take my parents to a Caps game, and so I ordered four tickets on Stubhub. We have a guy from whom we usually buy tickets, but he admitted that we should try stubhub for this particular game because we might be able to find a better deal. Our guy is strictly business and isn't one to lower his prices, so I looked on stubhub and lo and behold I found four tickets at the very top level (of the arena) for a lower price. I told Bryan and ordered the tickets. They arrived a couple of weeks later and we gave them to my parents on Xmas morning.

Yesterday was the day of the game and we decided to leave around 10:30am and have a fun filled day in DC. We went to the Natural History Museum, the Art Museum, and then walked around DC for a bit. We went and got Cupcakes at Red Velvet, and then went to a bar and my parents got a beer before heading over to the game.

We left for the 7:05 game a little before 6, and ran to put our coats and stuff in the car before heading to Verizon Center. We got there with a good 45 minutes left until the game started, and were anxious to get inside and receive our free travel mugs! Bags were checked and we got in line to get out tickets scanned. Lines were going quickly and my parents got to the tickets checker first. Their tickets were scanned and instead of the cute little beeping noise that the scanners usually make, it made a scarier noise and my parents were told they could not go in. Our turn came and we were told the same thing. We were all told that our tickets were no good and to go to the box office. We ran to the box office where we were told that whoever sold us our tickets had double sold them and had sent the tickets in email form to someone else, thus voiding out the hard tickets which we were currently holding in our hands. She wrote void on them, gave them back, and told us that we could either call Stubhub or go visit their location which was only a couple of blocks away.

Bryan called because I was frantic at this point, and he said that when he explained the situation to the woman on the phone she said "This is the absolute worst thing that could've happened." Very comforting, lady. Eventually I had to get on the phone because it was me, after all, who placed the order.

She said to please hold while she called ticketmaster and we decided at this point to start walking to the stubhub office while I was still on hold. The office was basically just a room with three guys sitting around a table, and they could tell the minute that we walked in that their night was about to become chaotic.

Long story short, they told us that we had a fan guarantee and that we WOULD be going to this game. They all got on their phones at once trying to make it happen. One guy called the person who sold us the bad tickets and of course they didn't answer. The other two started trying to find us real tickets.

They eventually got us two pairs of tickets but the seats were not together. The seats were AMAZING though, and it appeared to be our only option so we took them. The guys said that we of course did not have to pay for the upgrade, because apparently they had the guys (who sold us the tickets) credit card information... Not only would he have to pay for the new tickets (which were literally twice as much as the old ones) but he would NOT be getting paid from stubhub.

So we get to the game and decided to give my parents the better seats (center ice, section 214, front row center!), and we went to go find out seats. Our seats were just as close, but ended up being two random folding chairs that weren't really even in a section. Whatever. We didn't have time to ask why the hell we had these random seats, and to be honest, they were probably the only seats at Verizon Center that hadn't been sold.

We all enjoyed the seats but Bryan and I felt bad because the game was a gift to my parents, and after the Caps scored their first goal we felt really bad because we wished that we could all be celebrating together. SO we came up with an idea. At intermission my mom and I would switch seats. Bryan and my mom in the folding chairs, me and my dad in my parents seats. THEN at the second intermission Bryan and I would switch and I would sit with my mom in the chairs, and Bryan would get to sit in the good seats. We made the first switch and all got to enjoy the second period. Luckily, the third period was the best because there were two empty seats next to my dad and me, so Bryan and my mom moved into those and we FINALLY all got to sit together!

The caps won 4-2, and my parents had a great time. I of course spent the first two periods stressing over who was going to sit where, how we were going to work it out, and if we could possibly get in trouble for any seat switching. With all the worrying and running from one side of the arena to the other, I didn't have time to get food until the 2nd intermission and they were out of any real food, so I ate popcorn.

By the end of the game I was exhausted, starving, and generally grumpy.

the game was fun, and the drunk people in my section LOVED my Fleischmann jersey. I ended up having a very long conversation about why I love Fleischmann, why i decided to get the jersey, and how he's all of a sudden one of the top scorers on the team. That was probably the highlight of my night.

I did fall asleep on the ride home, and then FINALLY got to eat something around midnight (McDonalds... YUM!).

The night ended up being just fine, but I will NEVER order from Stubhub again. The chances of something like that happening are slim, but still... NEVER AGAIN.

Seriously??

Good evening blog readers! Bryan and I took Linus to the vet tonight to get his last round of shots. He did beautifully (except for one scream that all of Reisterstown probably heard when they were clipping his nails). While we were waiting for his turn to go back and see the vet, we were sitting in the waiting room/entrance area with other pets and their owners. It's always fun to see people interacting with their pets, and it was especially entertaining because there was a dog getting one of those lampshade collar things and even his owner was laughing... Poor thing. Aside from lampshade pup, there was one other dog in the waiting room with us. Visibly old, he was having some trouble walking, and I could be wrong, but I think he smelled a little bit like pee. He was old, but he was cute and still a bit fluffy, so we smiled at him and did the whole "aww" thing. No. Not aww, because as we quickly learned, he was there to be put to sleep. Now, it's bad enough thinking about a pet being put to sleep. There is nothing happy about it. BUT it was worse this time. First of all, the dog's owners were old. I'm sorry if that sounds wrong, but the fact that it was two old people bringing their beloved dog to be put down somehow made it more sad. It's almost as if, had it been two young people bringing their dog you would look at them and know they had their whole lives ahead of them, more dogs to love, etc... With old people... Well... yeah. As if this whole thing wasn't bad enough, the old people were TALKING TO THE DOG! That's how we figured out why they were there. It went something like this.

Old woman - (puts hand on old mans shoulder) "Are you going to be alright?"

Old Man - Yeah, I'll be ok...

Both OM and OW look at the dog

OM - "He doesn't even know it's coming (or something like that)"

At this point they are both staring at the dog and talking to it telling it that everything will be ok, etc... and I'm sitting in between Bryan and Linus crying my eyes out. I was discreet of course, I didn't want them to think I was listening, and more importantly I didn't want THEM to start crying too.

It could be easy to feel stupid for crying about someone else's dog, but it was the most heartbreaking scene... I can't even explain it in words.

It made me thankful that Linus is SO young and we wont have to deal with this for another 15 years or so... But at the same time it gave me the feeling of "What the hell have we gotten ourselves into??"

The whole thing was just so upsetting, and I hoped and hoped that I would NOT have to see them walk out without that dog. Luckily, we did not run into each other after our appointments.

My point is that I think Vet offices need to have a separate room for people who are putting their animals to sleep. I mean, seriously... It was just all too much. If they had their own waiting room, they could cry or whatever, and it wouldn't upset the other people. In a way I felt guilty for feeling so upset, and I felt even more guilty for thinking that they shouldn't be allowed to be with everyone else... But seriously... Yeah. It was a bit much.

3 Day Weekend! Woo!

Good morning blog readers! It's Monday morning again, but this time it's not a typical treacherous Monday. It's a Monday off from work! YAY! Yes, it is MLK day. Banks are closed, post office is closed, and therefore, we are closed!

Three day weekend are always exciting, and yet when you go back to work it feels like it was just a regular old weekend. I guess that's normal, but still a little irritating. The best part is that three day weekends result in four day work weeks, which means the next weekend is sooner than usual!

Ok but enough of this stating the obvious stuff. Let's reflect on the weekend.

Friday night Bryan and I went to dinner and a movie with Jessica and Jamie. We went to Panera for dinner because if I don't eat Panera at least once a week I might explode. I used to be that way with Strapazza, but Panera is a much cheaper obsession. After dinner we saw The Lovely Bones. I actually have the book, but never read it so at least I didn't have to worry about whether or not the movie was too different than the book. As it turns out, according to people who have read the book, the movie WAS a lot different. I loved the movie and thought it was a lot better than the rotten reviews made it out to be. It inspired me to read the book, but it will have to wait because I just started reading Coraline. ANYWAY, after the movie Jess and Jamie came over to chill and play with Linus. They left around 12 and Bryan and I watched an episode of Six Feet Under and cuddled on the couch (aww).

We let ourselves sleep in on Saturday and finally got out of bed around 11:15. We watched tv for a little bit and then Derek came over and Bryan and Derek went out to lunch and ran some errands. I took the opportunity to catch up on some shows that I had dvr'd. I watched Real Houswives of Orange County, and What Not To Wear. The boys came home and played their video game and around 4:30 bryan and I left for Reisterstown. We went to dinner with my parents and then went to their house to watch the Ravens game. I think at this point everyone knows how that game went, so I'm not going to write about it.

Yesterday Bryan went to the bar in Columbia to watch the Cowboys game, which was even worse than the Ravens game (haha), and I went to the movies with Karen and Lia. Before this I may or may not have spent two hours in bed watching Jersey Shore. Yes, it way a lazy kind of weekend. Anywho, Karen, Lia, and I saw Youth in Revolt and I liked it a lot. I actually had read the book, but I didn't remember any of it so once again if the movie strayed for the book I didn't even know.

The best part of the weekend for me was last night. The Golden Globes! I made Taco's for dinner and then we watched the red carpet coverage and the awards. I think I'll wait and write a full entry just about the Golden Globes because... Well, because I love that kind of stuff and I want to write more and don't have the patience right now.

Today Bryan and I woke up at 8:15 and watched Saved by the Bell and had a great breakfast. Then we cleaned a little bit and now he's at Ikea and I'm waiting for Jessica to come over so we can go spend a lovely day getting our nails done and playing with Linus.

We have to take Linus to the vet tonight to get his last round of shots. That should be interesting since he recently started biting. Oy.

Well this post was pretty boring. Sorry!

VERMONT!!! Be prepared for a long read...

Good morning blog readers! You had to know this blog was coming eventually... Yes, this is all about Vermont! Anyone that knows me knows that I have recently developed a slight obsession with Vermont. I guess it all started when my friend Lori moved to Portland, OR. We would email back and forth when she first moved, and she would always tell me that everything reminded her of me. She would say "Portland it so you!" and it made me happy. I of course started having fantasies of moving to Portland, regardless of the fact that I'd never actually been there. I then decided that Portland was too far away, but thought maybe there was an east coast city that was similar. So I googled "East coast cities that are like Portland, OR" and a whole bunch of message boards came up. A lot of them talked about the Carolina's, but one mentioned a small town called Brattleboro, VT. At this point I knew nothing about Vermont, but I liked what I read. From there I googled "Should I move to Brattleboro, VT" and got another handful of message board posts. One post said that they preferred a town called Burlington, VT. SO I googled Burlington and the love I felt for it was instantaneous. Of course I knew nothing about it really, but judging solely by the pictures, I knew it was the place for me.

I would sit on the computer every day looking at pictures and imagining my life in a city that was voted "the best small town that has it all," by A&E television. I imagined living in the state that was voted "the healthiest state in America," and thought about how different life would be with beautiful scenery all around me, clean air, and friendly health conscious people. Nobody would laugh at me for buying organic products, and instead of going to the NCR trail when I felt like I needed to get in tune with nature... Well, I could just hike on a beautiful mountain instead.

Vermont became an outlet for me... Every time something annoyed me about Baltimore I would mentally check out and head to Vermont. Whenever something bad happened, my first response would be "That never happens in Vermont." Of course I was kidding since I had never been there and had no idea what it was actually like, but I did know that there was practically NO crime and that the average murder rate for one year is... are you ready for this? Zero to one. Yes that's right, zero to one murders a year. Coming from a city where there are more murders than days in a year, that seemed unheard of to me, but oh so nice.

Of course I talked about my dreamland all the time to Bryan who promised me that in the next couple of years we could actually go visit the green mountain state. Then, on my 25th birthday, he surprised me with a trip! He had booked a room at a cute little bed and breakfast in Burlington, planned out all sorts of activities, and the best part, we were going at the peak of foliage season! Did I mention people come from (literally) all over the world to look at the Vermont leaves in Fall? Cause they do.

I'd be lying if I said that Vermont was everything I hoped it would be from the second we crossed the state line. It was actually quite the opposite. Everything I thought I knew about the wondrous state was slowly slipping out of my brain and reality was setting in. We passed an olive garden, some more chain restaurants, fought through some of the worst driving I've ever seen, just to get to a town that might as well have been in Maryland. But, it was my present from Bryan and I was doing everything I could to hide my disappointment. Little did I know he was thinking all of the same things that I was.

We decided after checking in and unpacking, that we should to check out Church St. in Burlington. That was, after all, the majority of the pictures that I had been looking at. I prepared myself to be blown away, but alas... More disappointment. "Umm... I kind of feel like we're in Towson or Federal Hill right now..." Yeah, lots of bars, little cafes, and a bunch of college students who were a whole different kind of pretentious. Baltimore kids are annoying in their own way, but Vermont college students seemed to have a more "I'm better than you" kind of attitude. Again... Hugely disappointed.

At this point the weather was getting bad and I was doing everything I could to stay positive, but I could feel myself starting to melt down. Where was the Vermont that I thought I loved?? What is this place? Why did we think this was a good idea? And for goodness sake, where is all the pretty scenery?? I went to bed more disappointed than I'd ever been on a vacation. "This," I thought, "Was NOT a good idea." Vermont was better as a fantasy than a real place, and now I'll never think of it the same again.

Boy was I wrong. As quickly as the disappointment set in the day before, day two redeemed everything. Why? Because of a little town called Montpelier. The capital of the state, and a culmination of everything I thought Vermont should be. It was quaint, adorable, friendly, and absolutely beautiful. I was finally starting to renew my faith in my dreamland, when out of nowhere it became the most beautiful day I've ever seen. I think god was just waiting for me to cheer up haha.

I was FINALLY as happy as I always thought I would be, and it just got better when we went on a driving tour of the country side. I can't even begin to describe the scene that unfolded before us as we drove. I have NEVER seen anything so beautiful, and nothing I say, no pictures I took can do it justice. My brain did not even know how to process what I was seeing because I'd never seen anything like it. I felt like I was dreaming. "Is this heaven? No, it's Vermont, and it's just like I thought it would be!"

The next couple days were a whirlwind of beauty, good food, and touristy fun. I left Vermont with the feeling that I hoped I would have, and cried for a good part of the car ride because I was so sad to leave it.

I can't begin to describe the feeling that I had when I was there, and i honestly spend at least a few minutes of every day trying to get that feeling back. I look at pictures, and google the cities that I visited, and count down the seconds until I can go back.

Ahh Vermont. Do you have room for one more??

Another Weird Coincidence

Lindsay and I often say that we are very in tune with the Universe. The number 9 holds a lot of significance to us. Often times we'll be taking about something and then whatever we were talking about will start popping up randomly all around us. Mt. Rushmore for example. We were randomly discussing Mt. Rushmore one day, and then suddenly it was on tv. A couple days later we were picking quarters to use as good luck charms (we were playing the lottery) and lo and behold, the first quarter we picked up has Mt. Rushmore on it.

I wrote about a strange coincidence a couple of days ago, and now I have another one.

Last night Bryan and I were lying in bed talking, and for some reason a thought randomly popped into my head. Jackie and I were in Hershey Park a couple of years ago and we were standing in the store in chocolate world. We had been standing there for what seemed like forever while she decided whether or not she wanted to buy a giant kit kat bar. She was holding a shopping basket, and since Silence of the Lambs is one of our favorite movies, I knew she would appreciate it when I said "It places the Kit Kat in the basket..." She found it hilarious and it was instantly one of our favorite things to say to eachother.

Naturally I started laughing last night and had to explain to Bryan what I was thinking about. I explained the scenario at Hershey, and we started talking about Silence of the Lambs and reciting lines that Buffalo Bill said. Bryan accidently said "She puts the lotion in the basket," so I had to correct him and say "No no, he says IT puts the lotion in the basket." We then discussed why he says IT and not SHE (because he doesnt see her as a person...) and we eventually went to bed.

To make a long story even longer haha... I was listening to the radio this morning and the little girl that plays Susie in the movie "The Lovely Bones" was being interviewed on my morning show. Adorable girl with a thick Irish accent (who knew??). Jo-Jo (the DJ) played a clip from the movie and he couldn't stop talking about how creepy it was (It was when Stanley Tucci lured her into his house to kill her). Jo-Jo asked the girl if it was difficult for her to do such a terrifying scene, and she said it was more difficult for Stanley Tucci because in real life he is such a nice guy and loves his family, etc... She mentioned that Stanley was thankful that he was in such a full costume so he could take it off at the end of the day and not have to deal with the character when not working.

This escalated later into a conversation about if there was ever a character in a movie that was SO freaky to you, that you could never enjoy them in other movies or tv shows cause your mind always goes back to the creepy character.

Here's the coincidence... Sarah (another dj) said that Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs really freaked her out and when she see's him in other things she can't even appreciate him cause she always thinks back to when he was Buffalo Bill. The real coincidence - It evolved into a conversation about how he says "IT puts the lotion in the basket," instead of "SHE puts the lotion in the basket." Pretty much the same conversation that I had last night.

Weird?

p.s. I really want to see the Lovely Bones now.

Things that were worth the money

When you get older you start to realize that maybe, just maybe, there are some things on which you don't need to spend money. These things are unnecessary luxuries that you wouldn't think twice about buying when you were still living with no bills or financial responsibility. Thinking back, I have wasted a ton of money on things that I didn't need, but sometimes there are purchases that make you look back and say "Wow, that was SO worth the money!" Here is a list of things that I have bought in the past couple of years that I am really glad I bought. Some were impulse buys, some were planned out for months. Some were cheap, some were expensive, some were even discussed with my parents first because I wasn't sure if I should spend the money... but they were ALL worth it.

1. My water bottle. I use it every day at work and sometimes at home too. It's a camelback BPA free water bottle, in hot pink. I got it from REI a little over a year ago.

2. My coffee mug from Starbucks. I will admit it was an impulse, and overprice, but worth every penny. It is stainless steel (no dangerous plastic/chemicals) and it keeps my coffee hot for hours. It has a lid that is more secure than most other coffee mug lids that I've seen. Leslie at work has the same one.

3. Uggs. What can I say. They are black and go with everything. They are comfortable and I literally have worn them every winter/fall day since I bought them two years ago. This was a long awaited purchase.

4. Fleischmann jersey. Totally worth it. I've gone to a ton of Caps games and wear my jersey with pride. This time last year I got laughed at for having Fleischmann as my favorite player, now he's one of the best players on the team. It cost extra to have the jersey customized, but it was worth every penny.

5. LL Bean boots. Very expensive, but excellent boots. I felt stupid at first because I bought them and then it didn't snow again for the rest of the year. This year, there was a blizzard and two minor snow storms. Boots have gotten a lot of use! On that note... My LL Bean Jacket was a good buy too.

6. Laptop. I needed a computer. I bought my laptop. The end.

7. My ipod. Not at all a necessary purchase, but I dont regret a thing. It's a 32 gb ipod touch and i love it. I will NEVER have to worry about running out of room on my ipod again.

8. Sheets/Comforter. The perfect adult bedspread and sheets for our new adult apt :)

9. Bike. Yes I know, I've ridden my new bike maybe 3 times, but I still say it was a good buy. It was really not too expensive, it's pretty, and it fits me perfectly... Well, I guess I fit it perfectly. Now that I live 10 minutes from the NCR trail, I'll have a lot more opportunities to take it out.

10. Linus. 100 dollar adoption fee's. 500 dollar security deposit. 100 dollars nonrefundable pet deposit, and 35 dollars extra a month for rent (yes, we told the leasing office). Not to mention vet bills and food, litter, toys, etc... SO WORTH IT. Best "purchase" I've ever made.

A stress-free morning at last!

Good morning blog readers! As all of you know, I have an adorable little kitten named Linus. Linus is cute, friendly, playful, cuddly, and just all around awesome. Yes, he is everything a pet owner could ask for, except for one little thing... He likes to run out the door every time you open it. Since we're in an apartment building and he can't really get outside, it shouldn't be too big of a deal, BUT since my cat Maddy ran away in October (and never came back), I'm a little paranoid. We got him a collar in case he ever does actually get out, and we got the microchip put in him when we first got him.

Ok anyway, back to the point. The most annoying thing EVER is when I am trying to leave in the morning and he runs out the door. When Bryan leaves, I can come get Linus out of the way so he can leave peacefully. When I leave nobody is there to help and quite honestly it can become very stressful. I started throwing a toy to get him away from the door which worked for a while. The only thing is, you have to really slam our front door to close it, and sometimes he would come running back towards the door as I was closing it. The door is so heavy that it would seriously injure him if he ever got stuck in the door while I was slamming it. Needless to say that made me nervous every morning. We eventually tried shaking a tin can with coins in it to scare him away from the door. That didn't work at all because it just made him wild and he would run out the door and all the way down the stairs. It was getting to the point where I was so stressed about leaving in the morning, that I would think about it before I went to bed, and then would be stressed all morning about it.

I talked to everyone at work yesterday and Jessica suggested feeding him right before I leave so that he's too busy eating to want to run out the door. Why I never thought of this, I have no idea.

I went to sleep excited at the idea of possibly leaving the house like a normal person... Not having to make loud noises or chase a 14 week old kitten down 3 flights of stairs (I cant imagine what the neighbors think).

I told Bryan PLEASE do not feed him when you get up. He did. He quickly remembered though and put his food back in the bag.

Linus was exceptionally calm this morning which made me nervous... Every cat owner knows that mornings are when cats like to play and be crazy.

I got ready as usual, and then literally the last thing I did before I left was feed him. He came in and started eating, and I walked quickly but quietly to the front door. I already had my keys in my pocket so he couldn't hear me taking them off of the hook by the front door. I opened the door and glanced behind me to see if he was running towards the door like normal. Nothing. I closed the door behind me, locked it, and was on my way!

It was literally the least stressful morning I've had since we got Linus. I just hope he doesn't wise up haha.

Precious, Hairspray, Ravens and Monday

Welcome blog readers, to Monday morning! Today is already a typical Monday morning and it's only 9:25 am. First of all, Linus (my cat) jumped in the shower with bryan this morning, and then proceeded to scratch at our bedroom door until I got out of bed. Fine, I'm used to that, but it's really annoying when I have ten minutes left to sleep and they get interrupted. ESPECIALLY on a Monday! Then, it was a gorgeous sunny morning which resulted in excruciating traffic because nobody can see anything with the sun in their eyes. I don't know about you, but I'm too short for the sun visor to actually block the sun from my eyes, so that was awesome. THEN the elevator at work was broken so I had to take the stairs.

Weird coincidence - On the radio this morning, Dr. Oz was being interviewed and he was saying that there is no reason to have to work out after a long day if you do things during the day to stay fit. For example, taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Since my stairs are usually inaccessable to us, I responded (outloud to the radio...), "Yeah I wish I had that option!" I come into to work to find that taking the stairs was my only option today! Weird...

Ok, so Monday of course is also the time where you reflect on the weekend. This particular weekend was pretty awesome actually. Friday night Bryan and I went to dinner and movie with Lindsay and Kevin. To be honest, in the 18 months that we've been together, I think this is the first time we have EVER gone to dinner and a movie with them! We went to noodles and compnay and got buttered noodles. Yum! Lindsay ordered macaroni with broccoli and it somehow came out with chicken in it. Weird, but delightful surprise! After dinner we went to caribou. Kevin and Bryan played checkers and Lindsay and I had a nice heart to heart chat. After about 20 minutes the boys came back and said that we had to go because the movie was starting at 9:10 and it was already almost 8:40... Movie is downtown, we were in Hunt Valley... You do the math.

We managed to make it with a few minutes to spare by parking in the lot across the street from the Charles theater. It's only two dollars for unlimited parking. Awesome.

We saw the movie "precious" which I had heard a lot about. There is literally NOTHING that I can say that will do that movie justice. It was just an incredible work of art and the acting was second to none. In fact, Monique (she played Precious' mother) should just be handed the Oscar right now. It's funny because as far as I can tell she hasn't had any major acting experience. Just some comedies here and there. She seriously blew me away. She has a monologue at the end of the movie and I'm telling you, I got chills the whole time she was talking.

Whoever played precious herself was a great actress as well, but kind of difficult to understand.

The movie as a whole was phenomenal. Super depressing, but inspirational all at once. I loved it but will NOT be seeing it again. It's a bit much.

Saturday afternoon Jackie and I went to Teavolve for brunch. It was delicious as always and made me really excited for Summer. In my opinion Harbor east is so much nicer in summer, and the idea of getting brunch, and then walking around in a sundress or skirt on a gorgeous summer afternoon makes me very happy. I love winter though, so I'm not in too much of a hurry.

Saturday night Bryan and I went to see Hairspray at the Lyric. I was worried he wouldn't like it because he was dvr-ing the Cowboys game at home, and was very concerned that he would accidently overhear the score. In fact, he brought headphones and listened to his ipod during intermission and while we were walking to the car afterwards. However, much to my surprise he LOVED the show! He couldn't wait to listen to the soundtrack in the car, and was still talking about it even after his cowboys crushed the eagles :)

Speaking of Football, that brings me to Sunday. I had my dad, Laurie, and Dustin over for the Ravens game yesterday. Bryan made pizza and we got ravens cookies and some other snacks. As usual, Linus was proving to be the center of attention, and even my Aunt (who is not a cat person) thought he was adorable.

I think my favorite was when my cousin Dustin was watching him play and said "Ok, now I understand why you take so many pictures!" haha. I'm not crazy, he's just so cute!

But yes, Linus was NOT why everyone gathered at my apt. The Ravens were playing the Patriots in the playoffs. I did not have a good feeling because A. We have NEVER won against them period ( I don't think), and B. The patriots haven't lost a home playoff game in YEARS! Well, my concerns were quickly fading away while I watched my boys score touchdown after touchdown eventually beating the patriots 33-14. GO RAVENS! We have to beat the colts next week. I'd say we don't have a shot in hell of winning, but I didn't think we did this week either so who knows!

Last night Bryan and had a nice relaxing evening and he said since I was so understanding about the Cowboys game I could pick any movie for that night. I picked Hedwig and the Angry Inch and I think he actually liked it!

Ugh, and now we're back to reality... Monday morning. Why must weekends fly by???

2009 in pictures

St. Patricks day... Our traditional dance

Ocean City, MD

Lindsay and I made caps players and then the caps won game 7... Coincindence? I think not.

We were in attendance at the orioles game with the LOWEST attendance of all time.

Asexual Woods debut performance

4th of July

Ocean City with Jackie in August

my 25th birthday party at Patapsco State Park

Cape Cod!

Moms 50th birthday

Vermont!

Church St. in Vermont

Race for the Cure

Janelle's Birthday celebration in Alexandria, VA

DazzleDash!

Linus!

Blizzard

I took this picture at the Baltimore Zoo... It won first place in one of their monthly photo contests.

Superbowl!

A brief introduction

Welcome to my blog! To begin, allow me to make my intentions clear. I do not have remarkable insight about life, I don't have anything all that exciting to share with the world, I am not looking for a following, nor am I looking for fame. I am not on a mission, I have nothing to prove... I am bored. I am bored, I like to talk, I like when people respond to what I have to say, and facebook statuses can only be so long. That is how this blog was born. Well, that and Lindsay gave me the idea :)

I will try to update regularly, sharing all the wonders of my ordinary life. Oh, and to clarify, I use the term "ordinary" in the most endearing way possible.