impromptu movie night

Well, Col's long-awaited pre-ordered birthday present arrived in the mail today.  A huge Phantom of the Opera fan, I gifted him with the DVD stage performance of Love Never Dies, the sequel.  And even though I had to work an extra shift until 9pm tonight, I thought we could live a little and stay up late to watch it since Col was so excited that it came in.  Tomorrow's Friday anyway, I can get through one day!

my personal chef

After working 12+ hours there is nothing that I love more than coming home to be greeted at the door by Col who says a quick, "Hi, the kitchen is off-limits!," and then scurries off.  While my hubby doesn't cook often, when he does, whatever he makes always turns out perfectly.  I told him he should always be the cook because of this amazing track record ;) Below was tonight's dinner [Don't mind the blurriness.  I was taking the picture quick because I was so hungry and couldn't wait to dig in!] :

Cheesy stuffed chicken and pepperoni

Happy Memorial Day Weekend 2012

Oh, what a fabulous, fabulous long weekend!  The kind of weekend that makes me wish they lasted forever (as if I need help with that), or at least that 3-day weekends were the norm.  That one extra day makes such a difference in my well-being.  Can I start a petition on that?

It was the perfect balance of relaxing and spending time with family and friends.  And, it was a completely work-free 3 day weekend because not only did I have Monday off, but Saturday as well since my part-time workplace was also closed.  Woot woot!

Friday we hung out with our friends who we don't see often but always have so much fun with when we do (and remember their pup from these posts?)  We went to Yolickity's for the first time and oh my, I could probably write a whole post about this.  It was such an awesome experience and oh so delicious.  A definite recommendation.  The amount of flavors and toppings alone snags you, add to that the fact that it's all self-serve and for a decent price?  You've got one patron who will be singing your praises and hopefully back for many, many more!  And P.S. Thanks for the awesome spoon that is now in my kitchen for future use :)

chocolate cake frozen yogurt with mini m&m's, crushed oreos, spanish peanuts, strawberries, and two types of chocolate syrup.  YUM!

[P.S. The photo documentation ends here for the weekend because no matter how much I regret it after the fact, I have not gotten myself into the habit of taking pictures.  I even think of exactly what I want to take a picture of and then never do it.]

Our hang out ended up becoming a sleepover (made possible by not having to work Saturday - a rarity) where we watched two movies and Col and I camped out in their living room.  My college roomie and I have been wanting to also have a married sleepover for a long time, and now I know all it takes is last minute planning to convince the hubbies (and this one wasn't even my idea - I'm the one who needed to give it extra thought).  So, we'll get ours soon, Teenie!

Saturday consisted of a nap and attempted laundry.  Then dinner, a walk, and ice cream round 2 with the in-laws to celebrate a belated Mother's Day.  This time we went to Indulge, new to Irondequoit.  The park-like atmosphere inside is so summery and fun.  Hubby and I have made three trips since it opened almost 2 months ago.  This time I had a blurry with mint chip crunch ice cream and crushed oreos.  We all walked back and enjoyed some rounds of kan jam before heading back home.

Sunday we enjoyed church and breakfast with Col's rents before cleaning the apt.  After being sick for 3 weeks, our apt. was starting to feel, no, more like look, neglected.  Afterwards, we went back to Irondequoit to walk to and enjoy the Memorial Day parade with Col's rents, my sister-, brother-in-laws, and niece.  The evening was spent with our friend Eileen who resides in New England and who was up for the weekend.  We enjoyed a lot more outdoor time as we walked to our neighborhood pizza place and ate outside, and walked to our nearby park to play some kan jam with Teenie and John as well.  We stuffed ourselves with ice cream round 3, making sundaes at our apt. and played some games.

Monday was full of more sunshine and the outdoors which we enjoyed during brunch at Teenie and John's with Eileen, kan jam, playing with their pup, Buddy, attempting to assist in herb planting, and a picnic with Col's new co-workers.  It was hot, but such beautiful weather, and I loved it!  We had fun with everyone, human and canine alike, and finished off the evening with another round of kan jam against the in-laws.

Seriously, does life get any better than this?  All I would have added would be some family time of my own, but other than that this weekend truly refreshed me.  I only have a little sunburn but a whole lot of relaxation to show for it.  And, bonus, I'm finally almost over this plague!  A slight lingering cough and morning stuffiness is all!  Hooray!

This is what happens when...

...the dryer breaks.  Which of course you don't discover until after you've already done one load of laundry and started a second in the washer.

Did I mention this only documents the first time this has happened in the past two weeks?  Thank goodness for in-laws who live close by!

How to: drop off the face of the earth...

...for 2 weeks.  About a month ago my hubby got sick with a sore throat/cough/sinus virus deal that took him until a few days ago to recover from.  I remained healthy for a week and a half while his white blood cells took on the challenge, downing vitamin C and everything else to keep myself healthy especially because my partner at work was fighting something as well.  Despite our best efforts (per Colin, no kissing allowed), I came down with the same fever/sore throat/cough/major sinus issue.  This thing is tough, especially because I'll feel a little better for a couple days and then BAM! it changes into something else and knocks me out again.  My antibiotic did nothing to help the situation and neither has downing mass amounts of water, keeping up with vitamin C, cold remedies, and sleep.  I've already embarrassed myself twice at work while having major coughing fits that don't stop for 20 minutes, once in front of a new patient at the front desk and once while on the phone.  Suffice it to say, I'm ready to be over this!

Long-story-not-short to say this: I apologize for being M.I.A. this past week or so.  Col says he recognizes the stages I'm going through from his own ordeal, so I should be on the up and up soon!

Thankful for these moments [amidst the plague] from the past week:

~watching Sarah's Key with two awesome friends, Teenie and KT
~attending Col's cousin's wedding on a beautiful day
~having tons of fun playing outside with our niece at a family picnic
~long walk to and around the Lilac Festival w/ Col where we enjoyed kettle corn, a fried Milky Way, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and music
~sweet emails and generosity from someone who I haven't even met yet
~being able to spend small group outside

hubby's tale of success

As some may know, my hubby is an elementary school teacher.  Sadly, we graduated college during one of the worst times to find a job, especially in education.  While he does sub and has had a few long-term sub positions, it's always a constant struggle to find something permanent.  However, this also has given him time to pursue his other passion in life: dogs.  Recently, he's been observing training courses at Tails of Success and was able to interview for a position in the doggy daycare.  I'm happy to announce that he got the job!  It's part-time and minimum wage, however it's 1) a steady job for now, 2) flexible to work around his grad school clinic as he finishes up this summer (which was preventing him from working at all since it's during the day), 3) not at night or on the weekends, and 4) something else that he loves to do!  He's still pursuing teaching, but right now gets to expand on his doggy work :)

So even though the main roadway is closed for now, this side street opened up.  God has a plan, and we're both excited to enjoy what may seem like a detour, but really is another route to enjoy traveling down.  Who knows, it might end up being more than just taking a longer way around!

Mother's Day

This Saturday I was blessed to be able to drive down to Gowanda after work and spend some time with my rents (and Col got to join on Sunday).  Because I don't see them often, it was a real treat even though it was a very short visit.  Any time spent together is always wonderful, and I was glad to be able to spend Mother's Day with my awesome mom!  Saturday I went to church and participated in a small group that my rents host after service. 

Sunday was a mix of:
-a walk
-ice cream
-kan jam
-"girl talk" conversation on the back porch w/ mom
-steak cookout
-pie
-more kan jam [my mom loves this game now which is awesome]

Every time I visit it's so hard to say goodbye and drive back home (and I always put it off until as late as possible - often forgetting about the 2 hour drive back), but I'm so thankful for the times we do get to spend together, no matter how short in duration.  I love you mom, Happy Mother's Day!

what are the chances...

...that the same cab driver who hit me would walk into my workplace this afternoon to pick up a patient?

And that's where I wondered what lesson I was missing from that experience.

The day of extreme emotions...

What a day!  Here are the stops on the emotional roller coaster that I rode today:

Exhaustion: It started off with rolling out of bed at 5:40am to give my dear friend Beka a ride to work as her car was being less than cooperative.  Let me tell you, it was the best drive down Monroe Ave that I've ever had - no traffic!  And it was good to help out a friend who would tolerate my I-just-rolled-out-of-bed-and-only-got-four-in-a-half-hours-of-sleep status.  Getting up early was well worth the future Bruster's ice cream that I was promised as commission :) [plus I kind of cheated and went back to bed for an hour after I got home before going to work]

Tentative relief: Work was decent.  A miracle in and of itself on a Friday.  I didn't get out until 6:30pm, but my stress level was tolerable as opposed to the usual I-feel-like-I-am-getting-an-ulcer-every-day.

Elation: Today Col dropped off the last and largest payment for grad school...EVER!  We have officially fully paid for his entire grad school with NO DEBT!  Shout out to Financial Peace for helping us make it happen!  I could go on forever about how awesome of an accomplishment this is for us and how happy we are that we did it.  And how pumped I am to now be using that money that we've been saving every month to dump on my undergrad loans, but not to bore you because this all turned into...

Anger/disbelief/shock: I was rear-ended at a red light by a taxi.  And when I turned down the next side street to pull over and talk to him he proceeded to not follow me, honk long and loud, and keep on his merry way to which I then decided to see if he stopped somewhere else.  As I was driving my gas light came on but I kept going, saw him at a gas station a ways from where he had hit me, turned around, he pulled out in front of me with another long and loud honk and in a stupid act that my mom said comes from my strong sense of right and wrong which occasionally limits my ability to see anything else, I followed him (it did flash across my mind that I could get shot down, alas to no avail), waving my arms for him to pull over, all the way to the house of the lady who he was transporting, to which I pulled over, got out and confronted him, and his reply was that HE NEVER HIT ME.  I'm sorry buddy, but my car when sitting braking at a red light does not move forward, make loud thumping noises, and cause the seat belt to lock into place all on its own.  And unfortunately because it's a case of he said/she said and the damage on my bumper is minimal and not worth doing anything with insurance about, this dishonest man gets away with it all.  U.G.H.  And by the way, next time you drive someone home, don't take the long way.

And so after all that, I finally did get to run my errand, get gas before running out, make it home in one piece, have a lengthy phone chat with my mom, and am now enjoying Gilmore Girls and blogging.  All in a day friends, all in a day.

On a happier note, we had a visitor on our porch today when I got home from work :)

Happy Birthday, hubby!

Today is Col's 25th birthday!

This morning he was greeted with:

That paper there contains some riddles for him to solve to choose where we would eat dinner.  He solved them and picked:

Tonight he opened his card and this was his reaction to his gift (pre-ordered DVD of the Phantom of the Opera sequel):

Thanks for being awesome babe, and more importantly, thanks for erasing my cougar status for the next 7 months ;) I love you!

Sermon: Bitterness

I had to blog this past week's sermon.  We are currently doing a series "The Acceptable Sins of Christians" at our church, and this one was particularly good!  Follow the link below to listen/watch:

Bitterness : Sermon Library : Northridge Church, Rochester NY