guest post

I know, I'm behind on blogging.  Buuuut, check out my guest post on my dear friend Beka's blog A Beautiful Home!  Thanks Beka!! :)

father-in-law's retirement

Today my father-in-law retired from his career of 34 years.  His workplace threw him a luncheon which we were nicely invited to.  It was great meeting co-workers he has talked about and listening to their speeches about him.  He received some very thoughtful gifts, and gave a great speech.  The food was also delicious, the cake was from Savoia, and it was a great couple hours away from work with family.  Congrats Scottie!

2 year anniversary!

Today marks two years of marriage for us!  T.W.O.!  Crazy how fast time flies by, yet also seems like we've been married for much longer (in a good way!).  A lot of big stuff happened in our lives this past year:

-Col graduated from graduate school (debt free!)
-Col switched jobs after being able to find something full-time (hooray!)
-I quit my part-time job after 3 years (and am loving only working full-time instead of both!)
-We bought our first house (all I can say about finishing that process is phew!)
-We got our sweet pup, Mendon (love her!)

The second anniversary is marked by cotton, which represents durability and the ability to adapt.  I think we've done that well this year!

After much thought, I gave Col a badminton set (the net is cotton) that we can enjoy playing together in our new yard.  Col gave me new slippers (which I really wanted and needed, seeing as mine got caught in a tug-of-war match between two dogs).

Unfortunately, Col worked until close but when he got home at 7:30pm, we headed off to Olive Garden for dinner, after which we exchanged gifts at home and watched our wedding video.  He asked if this was another tradition I was starting (I'm big on traditions, Col, not so much, but we had watched it last year too), and I said of course!  I LOVE watching our wedding video!  I love thinking that two years ago at this time or that we were at our ceremony or reception.  Two years down, many, many more to go!  Love you babe!

2nd anni getaway trip

Col surprised me with a weekend getaway trip for our anniversary after our initial plans fell through.  Saturday morning after we dropped Mendon off at Col's parents, we headed East on the "scenic route," and I still had no idea where we were going.  I wasn't even allowed to help navigate, so I got to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

When we got really close, I had an idea of where we would end up, only because I had thought of the same place since it was on our list of places to go together.  Sure enough, we drove onto the main strip of Saratoga Springs and Col announced we had arrived.

We hunted for a parking spot for the day, then found an awesome coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, with huge bagels for breakfast/lunch, and mapped out our plan for the day.  We went to the park, visitor center, and then walked up one side and down the other of the main strip of shops, stopping down side streets to go into interesting places.  It was fun to browse in all the stores, especially a used bookstore which wound through rooms and rooms of an old bank and was full of dusty, old books.  I LOVE libraries and old bookstores, and Col was patient while I searched around and read handwritten names in books printed in the early 1900's. 

Nothing was planned until 6:45pm (and no, Col wouldn't tell me what it was), so after making our way through everything we sat down to figure out a place to eat dinner.  We first went to a small hometown sports bar, but after not being acknowledged and sitting at a table for 10 minutes without a word, menu, or visit from an employee, we left and made our way to an Irish/English pub, called The Local.  I'm so glad we did because the food was delicious!  I had a chicken sandwich on flat bread with sweet potato fries and Col enjoyed a burger.  After dinner we went to the next part of the surprise, the mystery event at 6:45.  It was...

...harness racing!!  Who knew that it's free to go to these races (for non-bidders like us)?!  Some of you might not know, but growing up I rode horses once a week with my dad, and basically a lot of things revolved around horses for me.  I had (still have at my parents' house) a bunch of Breyer horse figurines/toys, my favorite book series was Thoroughbred by Joanna Campbell (the main character's name was Ashleigh - which is how my name would be spelled if my dad had his way), horse movies were (and still are) a favorite (hello Horse Whisperer, Seabiscuit, Dreamer, Flicka, etc.), one of my favorite costumes to dress in is a cowgirl outfit, and I have my share of other horse paraphernalia.  So as you can see, I've always wanted to go to a race.  Col knew this, and so this part of the surprise was amazing!  We stayed to watch 4 or 5 races and it was such an awesome experience.  Even Col, not a horse fanatic like me, enjoyed it.  We would both like to go to a big race someday, but the chance to do this for free was unbeatable!

After the races, we stopped at Ben and Jerry's for some ice cream (which we got two for the cost of one somehow...), and headed out to our hotel for the evening.  It was outside of Saratoga Springs and the people were very nice there.  We enjoyed our king bed and HGTV :)

Sunday morning we slept in which was awesome (sorry Mendon, but it was nice to have a break from waking up early with your tongue in my face) and then headed out to stop #2, the Adirondack outlets!  We shopped (I made out with some awesome deals on footwear), and then I found out that there was another place we were going.  We drove a little ways more to Lake George, which I had never been to.  First stop: lunch at Pizza Jerks.  Col said his family went there once at their Vermont location and it was so good, but then closed down so they didn't get to go again.  We ordered a small CBR (chicken, bacon, ranch) to split, and got blessed with a medium which they said they made by accident!  It was delicious, and I'm kind of ashamed to say that we were able to finish the whole thing (don't judge...). 

We then walked through the town of Lake George and went into the stores/boutiques that were open.  Many were still closed or getting ready for the summer season, but it was kind of nice to be there while it was quiet.  We walked down to the water and also drove around the lake to get a few more views.

In the later afternoon, we headed out, but stopped for a snack for the drive home.  I saw this place while we were driving to Lake George and have always wanted to go to one of these!  Guess this trip is giving you a glimpse into getting to know me a little bit more, but I love the 50's.  I have often daydreamed about what it would be like to grow up then, and so, this fit right in!  You park and they get your order and bring your food right to the car!  We got some curly fries and chocolate milkshakes (sooo 50's!).

We had a pleasant drive back home and were greeted very enthusiastically by our pup who had a blast with Col's rents (we saw pics of her passed out in front of the fire and with her toys from her daily 2 mile walks).  Major kudos to my hubby for planning and surprising me with it all!  What a fun way to celebrate our 2 year anniversary!

anni surprise

Our 2nd anniversary is next week and so we planned to celebrate with a little getaway this weekend.  Unfortunately, our plans to use a free 2-night hotel stay that we had was denied as their terms and conditions had changed.  We planned to go somewhere within driving distance and just enjoy some time somewhere else together.  I was super bummed and worried we wouldn't be able to do anything due to this last minute notice that we got, but when I asked Col what we would do, he said it was all taken care of.  He asked if I wanted to know or have it be a surprise, so I thought, why not be surprised!? 

I wasn't sure if he really had something up his sleeve until I started receiving clues from "Mysterious Blog Reader" on my blog post from last year for our 1 year anniversary.  I got three in all this past week, and I am sooo excited to find out where we are going!!

on 4/5:

Here is an anniversary clue or two
But I'm only doing this to get YOU through
The first one I have is a time of the day
It comes in a month just before May
It will be a bit after you don't see a moon
But it will be sometime well before noon
This will start to get you on your way
But for now that's all I am going to say...

on 4/8:
So now you know when we leave
The next clue you are about to receive
We will begin our fun
When the work week is done
It will last for two days
Which will then end our phase
It will begin when the calendar hits three
But please add a one in the front so you see
You have just one more clue to go
It will happen before the big show
But for now all you'll have to do is wait
Don't worry the next one won't come too late!
 

on 4/10:

Now what to pack
Is what you're wanting to ask
The weather will be fair
But you may need more in your care
So predict to be wet, cold or hot
I know, it sounds like a lot
But prepare for the worst
I'll tell you this first
You may want a suit
But it depends on our route
Wear comfy shoes
You have nothing to lose
And bring something nice
As we may roll the dice
No worries, I'm not telling where we'll go
Once we arrive there, then you'll know
This concludes the clues given to you
Now you will wait for you know who!

 

{how awesome are these poem clues?!}

 

So far I've figured out that we leave in the morning on Saturday!  Woohoo! :)

puppy pic

I had a cooking partner at my feet tonight ;)

the neighbors

This past weekend we had some beautiful weather (finally!), so Col took some time to do some yard work on Saturday while I was at a work training all day.  When I got home he told me how he had finally met some of our neighbors. 

Hard to explain, but the way that our lot is, our backyard backs up to the backyards of houses on both sides but that face other streets.  We only have one house technically next to us which faces the same way.  Anyway, since the weather was so nice on Sunday, we spent the afternoon (other than our box spring adventure) outside playing with Mendon.  The neighbors that Colin had met on Saturday came out and introduced themselves to me as well.  They are a cute Italian couple in their 80's who have lived in their house on our street for over 60 years.  We chatted over the fence for a while, after convincing the gentleman that there was nothing to fear from our gentle giant of a dog (and no, she won't eat your son's tiny white pooch that you are watching).  It was delightful talking to them, and they ended the conversation with, "If you ever need anything, with the house or something, you let us know, and we'll help you.  That's what neighbors are for," which we thought was very sweet of them.

That evening, I let Mendon out one final time before bed and was in the bathroom brushing my teeth.  When I came out, Col was outside and I heard loud talking.  I peeked out the window and saw him down in our yard chatting over the fence with Mrs. neighbor.  When he came back in, I found out that he had heard yelling so he went outside to see if Mendon had gotten out somehow.  What he found was her standing on our deck (which is kind of second story level because we are in a raised ranch), staring down at our neighbor who was standing in the corner of her yard near our fence yelling, "Ash-ley!"  Mind you, it was 10:30 at night, and I assumed our dear 83 year old neighbors were well on their way to dreamland.  When Col went out to find out why she was yelling for me (she said she didn't call him because she couldn't remember his name), she told him that all her phones had died, she had given her cell to her son, and she needed to call her other son.  So Col let her borrow his phone, and came in with a, "I'm glad we have nice neighbors and that we met them, but if that's how they are going to be, I don't know if I can handle it!"

I do find it humorous that even though all their lights were off, she must have seen me let Mendon out.  I guess it's good that we have neighbors who will be on the watch and see all the goings-on, but I hope they don't try to spy on us too much!  We are at a disadvantage since we are the only raised ranch on a street of ranches, so our house towers over the rest.  Gotta love quirky neighbors!

box spring adventure

Today we went to get a box spring for the bedroom that we are going to use as a guest room.  Thankfully, my sister-in-law drove us in her van.  No thanks to the employee at the store, but with the help of an older gentleman observing us, the three of us were able to get it to perfectly fit, despite high winds, as long as all the seats were down.  This was how Col got to ride back home :) Now I'm super excited to get the guest room set up!

 

Jeremiah David

Baby E was born!

4/3/13

8 lbs, 11 oz

 

 

new use for Peeps

I came across this hilarious Peep Show when reading the email newsletter from my former part-time job, Writers & Books.  And I was lucky enough to work with these people!  Love it! :)

Happy Easter 2013

Easter weekend started off Friday with me enjoying a quick, sunny walk down East Avenue toward Col's work as he and Mendon picked me up.  We headed straight from work, stopped in Batavia to see Deanna for a visit (she came home for the weekend!!), picked up Grandpa, and headed down to visit my parents.

(Mendon was excited, but exhausted from her day at daycare with Col.  She slept, snoring, the whole trip down.)

 

We enjoyed eating a ton of great food (mom always feeds us so well!), watching some interesting movies on TV (gpa picked Cowboys and Aliens, Monsters and Aliens, Godzilla, and some version of Cat Woman), taking walks with Mendon (where the three of us got scared by some giant chickens that were just chillin' in a neighbor's driveway), learning a new card game from gpa called 7's, and putting together a puzzle (Col and I finished this 1000 piece in the 2 days we were there...and yes, don't mind the Christmas theme).

We got an Easter basket (I love that I still get one even though I'm 26 and married; they just added stuff for Col too!  And I got him a chocolate dog in honor of our new addition.)

 

One of the best parts was going to church all together.  Honestly, I was a little grumpy that morning due to the dog waking us up early (in her defense, she wasn't used to hearing others in the house) and being the one to get up and take care of her two early mornings in a row.  But when we got to church and started worshipping, a little girl started dancing in the pew in front of us to the music.  This small act grabbed my heart and reminded me of what I should have been doing; wholeheartedly worshipping our Savior for He is alive!  Thank you Lord for moments to re-direct us!

 

Before we left, we even got to all Skype with Zack which was awesome.  It completed a great weekend!