Saturday, October 30, 2010

New do!

Yesterday I got my hair cut! It was kind of spur of the moment. I was originally going to get it up over Thanksgiving but the timing just wasn't working out right so I canceled that appointment. My hair stylist's name is Sam and she was recommended to me by my friend Allyson.

Brian is SO not happy with me. Forgive the weird smile. She straightened my hair so the real test will be what it will look like natural


Friday, October 29, 2010

Show us your life!

So I have had to skip a couple weeks due to not being here but not much has happened. Last week was nursery's/dream nurseries. I don't have a nursery and it is WAY to soon to start planning one out so I just let that one go. The week before was offices and while I have one I was in Savannah (couple posts down) when it needed to be posted. Have no fear since you will see it anyway this week!

This week is guest rooms. Brian and I technically have two. It is cheaper for us to be in a 3 bedroom 2 bath then even a one bedroom in an area closer to work so here we are! One we have converted into an office type place, the other is Brian's "gym".

I am SO jealous of everyone who owns a house or has flexible landlords. We can't even put photo's up but here ya go!

Guest Room playing Office:

Notice the two monitors for one computer, that is Brian's computer

Apparently Brian has tons more of those trophies

Ya we like books and my computer has no monitor thanks to Brian :)

Guest room playing Gym:







The "gym" guest room is obviously the easiest to convert back to an actual guest room but we have used both rooms for guests in the past so we are not cheating! ;)

Thursday, October 28, 2010

X-mas wish list continued

Gift cards are always welcome and often work out best. Some stores/businesses we frequently shop at:

Target
Bed Bath and Beyond
Shutterfly (okay that one would be for me :) ha!)
The Company Store (okay another one for me)
Thinkgeek.com (that is for him, I think they do gift cards)
Jos A Banks

And that should do it. :)

Marley and Me

Today I got the movie Marley and Me in the mail via Netflix.com. I decided to watch it after gymnastics to keep the movies going (we only get one disc at a time and it takes about 2 days for a disc to get here so I try not to dawdle) and it is a movie that Brian probably wouldn't watch so why the delay?

In case you didnt know this is Marley and Me:

Marley and Me (Single-Disc Edition)

Bad mistake .....very bad mistake. I cant remember the last time I got so upset because of the last time. Oh wait, yes I can. It was at "The Horse Whisperer" which mom thought was supposed to be a comedy. She is still laughing about the error...I am still traumatized.   I really should have watched it with either my mom or Brian.

For those who live underneath a rock, the movie is about a young couple getting a cute puppy and their lives together as everyone gets older. The puppy is probably one of the worst but sweetest dogs you have ever known. Sweet because he isn't mean but he is very destructive. The sad part comes when they have to put the puppy down. This is something almost everyone has had to go through and is very very sad, but like my father I am not sure why this  story got so big. It is really just life, nothing special, nothing all that different. But maybe that is why it got so big? We can all relate. It was very well written, portrayed, played out. I have not read the book but the movie was very well done.

I know I can relate since I had to put down my puppy William.

William :)
William was sort of old when we had to put him down though Benjamin (puppy behind him) has now surpassed him in age. William was our pretty dog...the one that could have been bred and shown. Until Benjamin came along, we think he really thought he was human. William was my first puppy and was my doggy almost, kinda, in my own little world. Benjamin was my mom's though I have stolen him from her since William's passing even though I am in SC and he is in CT still. Always loved Benny boy but we didnt quite bond as tight until William went away. Benny boy still channels William sometimes.

Anyway, William got sick. He had gotten bloat and I think that was really the peak of it all.I was home from college, I forget what break though I think it was Thanksgiving/Fall and I think it was Junior year but I am really bad with dates/years. I remember playing on the computer late into the night... I think it was about 11pm at the time when I just felt something was wrong. Something was wrong with William and it had to do with his breathing. Went into the kitchen and William was up and all smiles (yes puppies can smile)  but his breathing was very shallow. Mentioned to Mom the next morning and went on with life. Except Mom noticed it too and it didn't stop. Mom brought him to the vet and he had a tumor in his rib cage that was causing his lungs to open fully hence the shallow breathing. I am forgetting the exact timing of this but William had surgery. I cant remember if this was surgery to fix the bloat or to help with the tumor. I really want to say it was the bloat so this is before I noticed the shallow breathing. I found out about the surgery on the way home from Easter Break. We stopped by to see William in the hospital before going home. He was so miserable. Wouldn't eat and he barely wagged when he saw me and wouldn't eat.

Anyway I remember the vet being impressed that I noticed this especially since I didn't really live there anymore and I hadn't had much time with William. I dont think William got surgery for the tumor as the risk out weighed the benefit so we just had to wait. We didn't put him down then because he was still his normal self ignoring the shallow breathing. Slowly, but steadily he began the decline. He stopped eating. That was the craziest thing. This dog would eat anything...carrots, brie, ice cubes, his own food, tuna, meat, anything. And he just stopped eating. I remember being home again and just hearing him whine. William rarely whines. Benjamin, the baby of the two, has been all out of sorts since he knows something is not right. I go into the kitchen and I decide to try and feed him. I don't mind him dying but I don't want it to be because of starvation. Now when I feed William I have to feed Benjamin too since you can't just feed one of them. Benjamin had a feast that night since I didn't stop feeding William until William wouldn't eat anymore. They ate tuna, roastbeef, milk, grape juice, anything and everything I could find in the fridge. I really think this was his last meal so to speak. It was a bit after that we finally put him down but I don't feel like he ate much else if anything until we did put him down.

The day finally came when he was just too miserable to be around...we could not do that to our sweet boy. I was there of course, I got to help. I held his leg straight while the doctor put the sleepy medicine in. Back to the movie, I only really started crying when they were showing the night before when Marley's stomach twists for the second time and Owen is taking him to the vet. Owen and Jenn know what is going on and what will happen, the two younger kids have no clue other then Marley is sick but the oldest child knows exactly what is going on. That is when I started to cry. When I watched the oldest lean down and say goodbye to the puppy he had grown up with. I started bawling when they were at the Vet's and the vet put the sleepy medicine  in. I couldn't breathe during the burial scenes. I have watched all of the Special Features just because I wasn't ready for it to end yet.

I really liked the movie, given everything. Maybe it got so popular so quick was because it reminded all of us of moments like this. All I know is I still have Benny boy and now Daisy. Benny boy is getting older, he has surpassed William in age and Benny boy was the unhealthy one, and one day we will have to do the same with him. All I can say is I better be there Mom.

So to leave on a good note,

Benjamin wanted to remind all of you that the Giants kicked some Cowboy booty the other night

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Babies

Last night I found a documentary about 4 babies in completely different cultures on Netflix (did I ever tell you how much I love that company!). I am watching it now....

Very weird. At first I didn't like it as there was no narration...and really no talking. There is a baby boy from a tribal community..I want to say from somewhere in Africa but that could be wrong. Another baby boy from an Asian country...I want to say Cambodia but probably isn't. There is a little girl from Tokyo (I know thats Japan :) HA!) and a little girl from the US...I think NYC area.

When focusing on the little boy from Africa you actually watch multiple babies in the tribe. The boy from lets just say Cambodia lives in tee-pee like house in the middle of nowhere. The little girl from Japan lives in a high rise and the little girl from the US lives in a house. The documentary follows what goes on in the babies young lives.

The African tribe is all topless....and every time I see them I find myself covering myself even more then I already am. I am currently sitting on the couch fully covered by a queen sized quilt when it is 92 degrees out (yes I miss the fall, this isnt as fun as it sounds). You see the parents or lets say adults in the shots of them but it is just weird. Since everyone is just about naked there are no diapers to change. How they deal with potty issues? Apparently the answer is to wipe the babies bum on your knee and wipe your knee off with what looks like a dried ear of corn. Everything else is kinda normal. The older babies torture the little ones like expected, they have their tummy time and they drink from ponds. Lots of breast feeding.

The family in Cambodia is really bothering me. You RARELY see the parents so the kids are left alone. There is what appears to be a two year old also in their family and that two year old is just awful. So far he has tied a string around a cat's head and dragged it across the room, tried force feeding the baby (9mos ish at the time) a biscuit but ends up getting the kids eye over and over and over again, and has taken up hitting the baby, well more like whipping the baby with a purple cloth. Again, no parents, kids are left alone. You often see the baby just lying there swaddled with a string tied around the lower half to keep him swaddled. He is ALWAYS on his back and there are a couple of shots of him trying to learn to turn over but cant because he is basically a mermaid. Very little parent/baby interaction. Just unnerving.

The little girl from the US and Japan are more comfortable and what we are used too. Both get breast fed (the US little girl turns to formula at some point), parents taking interest in their lives, both were worn (i.e. carried by sling), both taken to mommy and me classes etc. The only real difference is you see a bit more Hello Kitty in the Japan little one. The Japanese girl is SO cute! Both of these babies are hitting all their mile stones and the shots are things we can appreciate...in Japan there is a scene where the daddy is trying to do work with the little one in his lap and well it isnt working. In the US the baby girl is learning to make elephant sounds on the bed with the dad while the mom is reading a book about how to become the parent you want to be. Nothing really surprising here and I can relate to both little ones.

I have NO idea how the little Cambodia boy learned anything. In one scene he is screaming mommy and daddy clearer then I can and then next he is being punished/reprimanded for something and is looking completely clueless. Continuing to watch the Japanese girl it is obvious that they start the education young. Right after they show her at her first birthday they show her doing flashcards while the US little one is figuring out how to eat a banana and playing at the park. The Cambodia little boy still looks clueless as he is beating the animals trying to play and wondering around with nothing on underneath him. The African baby is clearly on all the milestones that he needs. He is learning by copying everyone else and they go under the idea that "it takes a village to raise a child".He is literally exploring and nothing he does knew seems to impress the adults. The Cambodia family really just confuses me. The baby is hitting all milestones but I dont know how it did it or how it is still alive or why all the other babies haven't mutinied and starting beating him the way he beats EVERYTHING he touches.

 The US girl is so typical it is almost sad. She tries to hit her mom, the mom pulls out a baby book that is titled "no hitting" and asks the baby if she remembers that. They take her to a native american class that the little one has NO interest in. There are shots of her when she is a baby baby in one of the older excersaucer type thing but it hangs from the ceiling while her mother is cooking.  Things I think of when I think of little one's growing up over here. Parts of it I remember from my own childhood.

The Japanese family is different but not really. The tribal family is what you would expect from a tribal community, thank you National Geographic. The Cambodia is the only one that is surprising and just weirding me out. The lack of parents is really the key. 

Very interesting but I think I would prefer having my babies in a western culture. Ah the credits are on  and its Mongolia not Cambodia. They are doing "What happened after" and they are all pretty cute. Totally want to adopt the Japanese little one And the Magnolian little boys are still dragging cats around with a string around it's head. *head desk*

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Random thoughts from last night

1) We were watching Mike and Molly, one of our favorite new shows on CBS I think. VERY cute! Earlier we were watching How I Met Your Mother, another favorite, when I noticed my father's old building in one of the scenic shots (going from central park). I excitedly pointed out to Brian "Look Daddy's building!". This is important. When Mike and Molly had a scenic shot of Chicago Brian goes "Look it's NYC"! At this point I didn't know it was Chicago but I REALLY didn't think it was NYC but I hadn't been there for awhile. So after some thought I said no it wasnt NYC and that is when Brian admitted that it was Chicago. I think I have been away from the city a bit too long....

2) I torture Brian all the time (hey it's how we show love, just ask our puppies) but this time it was about baby names. I asked him how he liked Amelia. He thought about it and said that it would definitely work if the baby took after me since I get lost all the time. *head desk* Also realized that I can never name a girl Tara for risk of the little one take after me and have issues with the R sound. Tara Carter would turn into Terra Cotta and I don't want people thinking I named my cutie pie after an object that plants grow in.

3) There was a third but now I have forgotten :-\

Monday, October 25, 2010

Brian is never going to let me go to Caroline's again

So Sunday was family night at Caroline's and Hayden, one of her sons, had gotten his birthday present. What is t?  A sugar glider! Think flying squirrel but cute. It is a marsupial so cats/dogs don't mind them, non-allergenic, VERY low maintenance, cute, not a rodent so wont chew on things and VERY doting. It will bond with it's owners and if it doesn't get enough mommy/daddy time it gets VERY depressed. It is tiny and will hang out in your pocket all day. OH and it is nocturnal so it will sleep while you are at work/school when you cant play with it and awake when you can :)



This is Maddy, soon to be God Daughter


Here are some videos:


The above video you will hear my voice, Carolines, Maddy's (the one who sounds like she is two), Kurt (Caroline's hubby) and Hayden


This video has me being VERY excited about the Sugar Glider jumping along with Alyson (you will see her in the background), more Hayden and more Caroline :)

Friday, October 22, 2010

A typical three bedroom at work

So I missed "Show us Your Life" last Friday and today's is nursery rooms. I dont have any nurseries so I am going to show you what a three bedroom would look like at the hotel I work at. I was originally taking these for a guest but my boss made me retake them with his camera (easier to upload) so rather then waste them I thought I would share. Oh and forgive the visions of me in the mirror, I was trying to hide so was ignoring the camera. Oh and I have thrown in a picture of me that I took at Caroline's showing them my camera will take a picture by itself :)

Hallway going in

This is me at Caroline's

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #1

Bath #1

Yes they all come with full size washers/dryers

Hall to Bathroom and Bedroom #2

Bathroom #2

Bedroom #2

Bedroom #2

A great example of a Myrtle Beach kitchen

View of the Dining Room and Living Room

Door to Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

The door connecting Master Bedroom and Ocean Front Balcony

View from the bed in the Master Bedroom

His/Her sinks in Master Bathroom

View from Living Room

Living Room

Dining Room

Stand up Shower in Master Bathroom

Jacuzzi Tub in Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom

View heading out of the condo

View from Balcony looking North

View from balcony looking South

View from balcony looking East (towards the Ocean)


Blogger has put them in some random order but that is our three bedroom! They all pretty much look the same and the 1, 2 and 4 bedrooms have the same decoration/walls, etc as well. The ocean is always good to see as well. Oh it was also 80 degrees that day in late October

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Savannah Cont.

The pictoral review of the trip is before this one. I was originally going to just leave it as it is but I feel the need to talk more about my general feel of the trip.

The trip wasn't a bad trip. I am very glad we went but Savannah is probably not a place I would go back to. We love Charleston but had/have awful luck finding good restaurants (not counting Blossom since my mom found that one). We dont like Savannah nearly as much as we like Charleston but Savannah is full of good restaurants! Take Savannah's restaurants and put them in Charleston...we would be in heaven.

My old night auditor/new office manager gave me some advice before Brian and I left. "Watch out for the crazies". That was a bit weird but kind of shrugged it off as he can exagerate at times but he was right this time. I haven't seen so many pan handlers and homeless since I was up in NYC/CT. I know the south has them...but I havent ever seen it yet and in Savannah...they are everywhere! The first square we found they were just chilling out, one even suggested another square to go to as the best sqaure in Savannah. When we got to said square, we realized this was one of the few squares that didnt have any homeless people in it. I tried not to look to shocked so I dont think he was offended by looks from Brian and I but it was just weird.  I never felt that Brian and I were in any more danger because of them but it was just a bit unnerving seeing so many of them again.

Savannah is also very touristy. More touristy then I even imagined and dare I say more touristy then Myrtle Beach? I thought I was getting away to a nice southern city where I could go shopping at stores found no where else, eat at restaurants that were distinctly Savannah and seen their local commerce at work. Yes, they have great restaurants and yes it is very pretty (we could not have picked a better day to go) but that is really about it. We couldn't find any real stores. All of the stores called "antique" aren't antique stores...just a nice way to say tourist trap. I cannot for the life of me figure out what the locals do. Brian and I were running out of things to do after lunch! We were killing time between lunch and the dissappointing ghost tour. At least up here you have the beach if you like that and there is golf/mini golf and other things to do. (our problem is we either A) don't like the things, i.e. beach or golf or B) don't have the spending money necessary to make things fun, i.e mini golf, bowling). I really am dumbstruck on what locals do or heck tourists do for more then a day. There was one kitchen store we managed to find called "Kitchens on the Square" which was cute. I tried to get the wedding gift there but it was filled with gadgets and I couldn't really find a good set. Love the store, reminds me of Charleston Cooks! in Charleston but not a great store for gifts if you don' really know what other people already have in their kitchens.

When we go to Atlanta/Florida I will want to stop in Savannah to eat at Molly Macphearsons :)

Savannah Georgia

Our original idea to celebrate our 3 year anniversary was to go play with the tigers in a Tigers Preserve we have in the near by town. When planning the trip they never mentioned anything about closing for the season so we planned on going on 10/15. Went to by the tickets on 10/11 (they are non refundable so we couldn't until we were sure) and sure enough they closed on 10/2. *head desk*

Now what do we do? I suggested going to Savannah. It is about 4 hours away and part of the Georgia trips that I want to do before we leave. We decided to leave Thursday after work. Thursday wasn't a great day for me. I had lost my Gamma's wedding ring the night before, didn't sleep well, and didn't adjust back to the normal work routine of me doing everything and everyone else complaining on how it isn't slowing down when they aren't nearly as busy as me. We were going to look in the car for the ring before we left but it was raining and I guess I wasnt ready to give up hope of finding it.

Brian's idea was to stop in Charleston (about half way there and a favorite of ours) for dinner. Perfect! We went to Blossom's which is our new favorite restaurant there. We found it when my parents and I went to Charleston for my birthday last January and it is just as good now. We had their calamari for an appetizer and it was fantastic. It may have been better then Ruth Chris'! For dinner I had swordfish with a mustard sauce over fettuccine covered and rapini pesto (broccoli pesto) which was very good. Brian had the pork chop again. For dessert we had a red velvet bread pudding with strawberry cheesecake. It was sooo yummy! After that we walked around a bit and got into the car to continue heading toward Savannah.

The trip was uneventful other then people not knowing how to drive so it took us longer then we expected. Once in Savannah we found a Best Western but they were full. He referred us to a Sheraton but failed to mention it was a Four Points Sheraton with only Four Points being visible on the sign so we got a bit lost. It was the worst room we have ever stayed in...and it cost more then any other hotel we have ever stayed at. It had no mini fridge, no tv guide, half the channels didn't work, the AC didnt work, it was incredibly small and the walls were ridiculously thin. There were also some logistic issues as well. Brian and I got an awful nights sleep. It was very clean and the location turned out to be great. I still feel suckered into it though.

Haha Brian!



We woke up at 8am to a little child running through the halls and could not get back to sleep. We were exhausted. Checked out of the hotel and I grabbed coffee and Brian grabbed hot tea. I cant believe he grabbed tea. Next stop was to find a parking lot as we couldn't use the Sheraton's. We had passed one the night before which was very easy to find. We walk out of the parking garage and come to find we are exactly where we needed to be.

First stop was City Market. Supposed to have lots of shops and restaurants. It has them but I wouldn't call it lots. It was a lot smaller then I was expecting.

























After wandering around City Market we went on a carriage ride. We had also made reservations for a ghost tour that evening.

Justice (black) and Guinness (Chestnut)


Paula Deen Store



Our tour guide, real cute girl








The Sqaure where Forest Gump sat

Marble Courthouse





Oldest Jewish Cemetery on the east coast







The visible portion of the cemetery, the paved/built over the rest of it


Mr. Ogelthorpe



House covered in fig vines which actually grows fruit









After the carriage ride Brian and I walked down River St. Also supposed to be very pretty with lots of shopping and restaurants. Half of it is under construction (all of GA is under construction apparently) and all the shops are touristy. I didn't realize how touristy Savannah is.



The stairs are ridiculous













Our tour guide recommended we go to the top of the Bohemian Hotel for the view.










More River St.










We ate lunch and dinner at a place called Molly Macphearson's. Yup you read that right. We ate both meals at Molly's. We found it via Brian's iphone (what else?) and it was amazing. We were going to try a pizza place for dinner but it had a 30 minute wait and we wanted to get on the road.

For lunch we split a Scottish combo appetizer with a meat pie, a couple of onion rings and scottish eggs (hard boiled eggs with a sausage crust). VERY good. Brian had Molly's favorite (Turkey, maple honey, and apples on whole weat) and I had the fish and chips. SOO SOO SOO good! For dessert we had more bread pudding. OMG so good! For dinner we skipped the appetizer and I had the steak and Guiness stew and Brian and the Shephards pie. For desert we had Scottish cake. We cannot recommend the place enough. We loved both meals. At lunch we walked in and we were almost alone, by the time we left the place was PACKED!





Brian fell in love with this beer

After lunch but before dinner we hung out and went into several "antique" shops. I was looking for a wedding gift and was unable to find anything. It was a beautiful day and not a hard city to figure out. At 6pm we checked in with the ghost tour people and got on our way. This trip was less fun then the first one. We ended up being the only one at the first one and the ghost we had three older people with us. I think we heard maybe 2 full ghost stories? We got walked around the same route (that I kind of expected that) and our tour guide at night was very sweet but the other people would have rather asked her why she chose Savannah, what she is majoring in, etc. rather then letting her go on with the ghost stories. Brian and I enjoyed the carriage ride but had we known we probably would have A) skipped it or B) paid more for being by ourselves.




Cheney (left) and King (right) our Ghost tour horses


We left at about 8pm and got home at around 11:30. Overall, very good trip but probably couldn't live there. It is a lot more touristy then I had thought and I figure we would end up in the same problem we are in now.