The Photo Blog...

The promised beach pictures. It only took me a week to get the up! Thanks Steven for downloading them for me.

The happy birthday boy out on the deck waiting for birthday cake!

I took Steven out for a big slice of German Chocolate Cake. Yummy.

We were waiting to go to breakfast with the rest of the Family...they are missing in action. We are hungry. Where are you!?!
The picture that looks like I have no hair. Boo... At least the beach was nice.
Fog finally lifted at 4 PM each day. This is after dinner.

The beach...

Steven and I set out for the beach on Friday afternoon. He had the day off and he surprised me (on his birthday!) with a picnic and a bottle of wine. We got to the hotel and got settled, then went on a nice walk though the town. We walked about a mile and half to end of the main street area and then walked back. I got to peruse some of the shops and then we decided we were hungry. We went and had our picnic and then got some yummy desserts at a bistro down the street from the hotel. We relaxed and watched the ocean from our balcony before heading to bed.

We got up super early on Saturday and were ready to head over to Pig n' Pancake for a birthday breakfast with Larry, Marlene and Tara. We thought for sure they'd be early, so we got our walking shoes on and headed down for the breakfast place. I got coffee half way because it was chilly, but we were really earlier than we thought so we walked through town again. Finally we got a text saying they'd be another half hour! Ahhhh.... so we hung out on a bench and saw probably the entire town go by with their kiddos and doggies...then finally we see the car pull around the corner. Breakfast was good and then we went back to the hotel to open presents. Steven was very happy with his honeymoon clothes and Young Indiana Jones DVDs.

After presents, we decided to head over to Seaside to pick up some crab and visit the Nike Outlet. After finding shoes and hats we hopped back in the car and went back to the hotel. We took a nice little walk on the beach before they left us to get ready for dinner. Steven and I shared a nice dinner out and then had more wine and more ocean watching from our balcony. The sunset was pure magic.

And now I'm going to rant a little bit:

Sunday we headed down to Pig n' Pancake again (I know what you're thinking, but it is Steven's favorite)...there was seriously the rudest couple there ever. They had tied their dog up to a post outside the restaurant on the sidewalk. The sidewalk is the only way to get into the main part of town for people who are walking, and there is really no shoulder, just sidewalk, then road. Anyways, I keep watching family after family have to walk by this hyper dog that keeps barking at all the small kiddos and they all have to walk out into the road to get around it. The woman behind us says "Oh my gosh, do they have to look at him like he's a monster?"...she has no concept of the fact that maybe she shouldn't have left him there in the first place, but I digress. The waitress comes over and brings them their check and a "to-go" dish of water for their dog. She was a very nice lady, except when she forgot to bring Steven his juice. But we can let that slide.

Anyways, the people pay, take the water, and we watch them walk out to get their dog. I say to Steven, "I'm going to be so mad if she just leaves that dish on the sidewalk". We watch them try to get the dog undone from the post whilst being too caught up in their coffee to put it down. Then they give the dog the water and when he's done, there's still some left. I watch her just flick it on the sidewalk and then they walk across the street holding the 'to go' dish and their coffee.

Once across the street, she stops and I can see she wants to ditch this 'to go' dish. Side note: Which is funny because there was a garbage can about 40 paces from her back next to the restaurant, but who's counting? So she's looking around and her husband is trying to get the hyper dog to settle down. She walks up to our favorite place, the EVOO Cooking School and just puts in the middle of their walkway up to the front of their place of business!!!

By this time, I'm fuming! I can't believe how RUDE this woman is. Then I see it...her husband is shaking his finger at her!!! Maybe she should listen to him more often.

At any rate, we made it home ok. The cloud cover lifted about five miles inland, which is unfortunate, but it was a nice trip home and a nice day when we got home. We spent it chillin in front of the TV having an Indiana Jones Marathon. The perfect weekend.

I will try to post a blog with just pictures later. I still have to get them off the camera!

Win a Prada Wallet

So, I read this really awesome fashion blog called "Daddy Likey". I met Winona in college...her bff Rachel lived on my dorm floor my Sophomore year. She's really very funny. I don't know anyone else who could pull off an 80's style Prom Birthday Party. Complete with drinking in the bathroom (she rented an actual gymnasium) and someone dressed as a TI-83.

Anyways, scoot on over to her blog at http://www.daddylikey.blogspot.com/ for a chance to win a Prada Wallet.

The only catch is...its a competition. You have to come up with a High Fashion Haiku. For those who don't read her blog, its a three line poem about high fashion (Chanel, Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc)... the first line is five syllables, the second is seven and the last is five again.

Here's mine:

Oh Prada Wallet!

you would look so delightful

with my wedding dress.

And it would, it really would!! :)

PS She did ask for publicity for her contest.

Happy Birthday Steven!!!

Today is Steven's Birthday!

In case you were wondering, he's already celebrating with a day off, sleeping in, and presents from me: a trip to the beach, a nice dinner tomorrow and Season 1 of Monk on DVD.

Expect a larger post when we get back from the beach on Sunday! :) Think nice thoughts of perfect weather for us!

Something Blue...

After seeing SATC this last weekend I was thinking about weddings a lot...because a bit of the movie is about Carrie and Big's impending nuptials and well, because of my impending nuptials.

I have to say I love the way the movie ends up because, well its just perfect and fabulous.

Just in case you were wishing for a bit of "Carrie" in your wedding, you too can own "Something Blue":

Manolo Blahnik "Something Blue" available at Neiman Marcus $945.00

A new Wiki to love...

I was getting ready to google something today on my google start page...when I found wikiHow....

I love it, the first thing I found was this. But I have to say I already have a lot of these things down:

How to Be Like Monica Gellar

The 90's sensation sitcom "Friends" took America by storm with over 10 seasons. But what would the witty one-liners and touching blossoming romances be without the classic characters that we've come to love? One of the most quirky of said persona's has to be Ross' younger sister, best friend to Rachael, ex-roommate to Phoebe and wife to Chandler, Monica's over compulsive habits are what make her so unique!

Steps
Decide which of her great traits you'd like to evoke. Is it her impeccable cleanliness? Or her professional cheffing skills? Or her incredible packing addiction? Whichever the Monic moments you admire, start by assessing some of the more "kooky" ones.

Make a huge body change! Everyone knows Monica used to be a pudgy child and not always the slim seductress she is now. Between a love for puzzles and an obsession with food, she didn't keep in shape. But after meeting her brother's roommate in college, one of his comments telling her she should be a chef hurt her enough to motivate her to not only self correction and her new career path.

On that note, work on your cheffing skills! Start from the bottom rung of the ladder and work your way up to head chef at a hip restaurant (Alessandro's) in downtown New York.
Learn to love your label maker! Monica has labels for everything, and everything has a place and it needs to go there.

Your new mantra is how to make the world a cleaner place. You should have a solution to every stain and products to clean everything. Make sure not to skimp on car cleaning: even if you don't have a car!!

Live to lead! Your way IS the way. And the only other way IS the highway.
Be competitive! If you aren't a winner, you're doing something wrong. Remember that "rules control the fun!" And since you always win, you'd be willing to gamble anything. Say, even your apartment?

Keep an eye on strange men. Old pals of your father, your brother's roommate, or even a strange millionaire who chooses to harass you. Remember, Monica doesn't believe in soul mates.

Tips
If you aren't thin or popular right now, DON'T WORRY! Neither was Monica, but she eventually did something about it and made things happen for herself. She also was without a job for a good while and cut her ego and borrowed from her brother to make ends meet.
Remember that even Monica isn't perfect (though she'll never admit otherwise). She has her faults too: her ideals in the stock market are less than ideal, her massages inflict pain, and not everyone understands her neurotic habits.

Warnings
The world does not come with a soundtrack: do not be so cruel that only a laugh track would right you.

Many people do not understand little things that just have to be done "that way." Expect criticism.

The insanity...

Things are pretty insane at work right now...both for Steven and I. Steven's website is trying to go live and I've got a pretty big job that's nearing completion. Both situations spell S-T-R-E-S-S.

But despite all the things we've got going on right now, I try to find things to laugh about.

The latest:

Yesterday I was working with a coworker on reviewing a design for one of the pieces of equipment our client is purchasing. This equipment is pretty integral to the final design and it obviously needs to work as we've written the specification. Otherwise, why would we bother with a detailed spec?

So we get a design to review and we're looking through it when we find a pretty big flaw. We let our project manager know, and she sends emails to our client and the vendor.

Next thing I know, she's in my office this morning telling me that the client called her last night saying, "Well that design is wrong, tell them fix it"... Yeah, you think? I thought that was what we just did.

I'm still laughing about this.

"If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane"
- Jimmy Buffet