Pennsylvania Adventures

On the 4th of July, we didn't go to any barbeques or fireworks shows; instead, we got on a plane and flew to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!  We had a wedding in PA on Saturday, so we decided to extend the trip a little since neither of us had seen much of Pennsylvania before.  (I had actually been to PA a couple times, but only because the most convenient way to get to WVU to visit JW while he attended there was to fly into Pittsburg and then drive into West Virginia.)

We did the traditional Philadelphia things, like the Liberty Bell, ...

saw Independence Hall, which is just a few steps from the Liberty Bell, ...

and visited the Constitution Center on the other end of Independence Mall.

We did all the Independence sites on July 5th.  It was kind of nice to visit those things so close to our country's 237 birthday the day before. 

We also made sure to try out the local fare: cheese steak, soft pretzel, and several local restaurants along the way.

At one restaurant, they served a head of garlic on a bed of bread as an appetizer.  I'd never seen so much garlic in a prepared dish - I thought it was picture worthy.

For the wedding, we headed into the heart of PA to Northampton and Bethlehem.  Marc and Karina Ripper had a nice and personal wedding - They made it their own in a classy way.

The ceremony was at the Roxy Theatre.  This picture is from before the ceremony started.

And the reception was at the Bethlehem Masonic Temple.  Continuing the film theme with spinning film like table decor, ...

and slides as table place cards.

It was a nice time and we were glad to celebrate with Karina and Marc.  I didn't actually get a picture of the happy couple at the wedding though, so here's a picture of them from our wedding a couple years ago:

Congrats to Marc and Karina Ripper!

The Waltons Take On Cayman

She's alive!  This has been my longest drought in blog posts since I started this blog, but never fear, we're alive and well... and busy with work and life... thus, reduced blogging.  Honestly, I haven't felt like I have much exciting to write about... just the same ol', same ol'.  I kept thinking I'd post when we had news to share, and I got a little bored waiting for there to be news.  (For those who get my hint, no, there's indeed nothing to share)

But some exciting stuff has been happening!  The Waltons (+ John -- because he only married a Walton) took a week long trip to Grand Cayman last month.  It was the first time the 5 of us traveled together, and it was a success!

The view from our condo.

Standing at the pool looking back at our condo.

We stayed in a 3 bedroom condo on Seven-Mile Beach.  There was a kitchen, washer/dryer, and nice living and dining space.  It was within walking distance of a grocery store and a few restaurants that we visited during our stay.  Best of all, our condo opened up onto the pool area with just a few short steps to get to the beach.

 

There were tons of these little guys running around

My Dad, brother, and I went diving almost every day... I logged 12 dives for a total of 9 hours and 45 minutes of diving.  We dove with a great company called "Living the Dream Divers" - If you're ever planning on diving Grand Cayman, you must dive with these guys... we saw several of the other dive operations while we were there and researched many before we left... these guys are definitely the best.  We had an awesome time! 

We saw turtles, sharks, eel, and sting rays... lots of sting rays.  We also drove a wall where the drop goes down to 6,000 feet.  It was beautiful - My diving experience is admittedly limited, but that was the best diving I've ever experienced.  I don't have any diving pictures though because Jonathan has a Go Pro camera that he used on all the dives, so I'm waiting on him to edit down the footage.

And we got to see beautiful sunsets every night!

When we weren't diving, we were relaxing on the beach, reading, watching Kindle videos, or exploring George Town (the capital city) to find a highly-recommended Jerk chicken booth.

All in All, it was a good time.  I'll post a little more if/when I get pictures from the rest of the family ;-)

12-12-12

Sometime in the early 90s, I realized that my birthday would eventually fall on December 12th, 2012 (12-12-12)... and I waited...

Finally, that day has come and gone.  John and I had a very nice time celebrating what would ordinarily be an un-monumental birthday made special by a trifecta of twelves.  I told John about 12-12-12 back when we were dating, and I think he took it as a personal challenge to make the day great... he spent all day calling it "The Birthday of a Life Time".  (I guess he thinks the odds of my living to be 127 aren't that good... not sure why)

Here are 12 ways we celebrated:

1. I took the day off of work and John didn't schedule any work.  It was a Wednesday, so that made 2, 2-day weeks on either side of my birthday.
2. We slept in... for a little bit at least.
3. John gave me a headset to use when I work from home, the honor of throwing away a shirt of his that I hate, and a bucket of Andes mints.
4. We drove to Glen Rose and ate lunch at a sweet little shop called Storybook Cafe.



Storybook Cafe is a bookshop and cafe in one.  It was charming and particularly cute with all its Christmas decor.



They had neat little table decorations and games... this one is holiday dominoes.



And there was a snowman!



5. After lunch, we went to Dinosaur Valley State Park.

6. We saw fossils and dinosaur models.




















7. We took a hike.

8. We expressed our inner children on the swing-set.

9. Then we took a break to enjoy the nice weather at the park.  I read a book and John decided to take a nap.
10. After the park, we returned to Glen Rose for a nice dinner at The Riverhouse Grill, which is an old mansion converted into a restaurant.  
11. We had chocolate cake for dessert.
12. We drove home and enjoyed a movie on our early Christmas present to our-selves (a TV and DVD player in the master bedroom)

In my opinion, 12-12-12 was a great success... well worth the wait... not sure what we'll do to top it on the next 12-12-12 for my 127th birthday.  :)

Thanksgiving 2012

It feels important to take a little time this time of year to think specifically about what I'm thankful for.  It seems like once a month or so, John and I find ourselves saying to each other that we're incredibly blessed in our lives, so I know that as I set out to write this post, I have no shortage of things to be thankful for this year.

• Always first on my list: My wonderful family.  My fabulous husband of a year and a half, excellent parents who are still so encouraging in my adult life, great in-laws who hosted John and I on our Greek excursion this year, a brother I seem to love more with each year that we grow older (and further from our sibling rivalry years) and a brother-in-law that I'm still enjoying getting to know better.
• The prospects of potentially adding another heart to that beautiful family (no, there's not any news on that front yet, but the prospects are an exciting part of life)
• An extended family that sometimes seems even more eager than John and I about said "prospects" :)
• Many close friends that bring joy to our everyday lives through dinners, parties, UNT athletics, and many other get-togethers.
• A comfortable home with a successful renovation project this year (Thanks Hillary!)
• An employer that respects me and my contributions and celebrated them with a manager promotion this year.
• 2 adorable dogs - Happily, both now in good health!
• Randi, for introducing me to my new favorite hobby: Crochet.
• That John and I have no major trials or health concerns, and that those in our lives who do have health concerns are under the care of first-class doctors. 
• And... that I'm pretty sure the Mayans are wrong, and John and I will have many more years on Earth to celebrate our lives together. ;)

Thank you Lord for your many blessings!

Fall Crafting

John's been busy recently... working every day at the state fair, so I took some down time to work on some fall Pinterest crafts.

A couple weeks ago, Kim and I made this "Thanks" banner:

This weekend, I got some fall decor for the kitchen table and the tops of the cabinets:

And I made a few crafts:

This one is direct from Pinterest

This is my own creation from a little Pinterest inspiration.  It's yarn wrapped Styrofoam, a disassembled candle ring, and crochet flowers from a scarf pattern on Pinterest.

Some decor for the entertainment center

Closeup of the EEK I made.  This was partly from "BOO" letters on Pinterest... I already had a "BOO" craft though, so I went with "EEK".

I've really enjoyed being crafty... I'm already trying to pick my Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts to do next!

Also, in the last couple weeks, we had a refrigerator mishap that moved up our acquisition of a new fridge... My picture of the fall decor has the new fridge, so I thought I'd update my Kitchen before and after.

Great 2012 Remodel: Guest Room

I know it's long overdue, but I've finally got the before and after shots for the last room... the guest room.  We were slightly delayed in completing the guest room because we had to get a new bed and by the time we had it the new bed in place, I'd stopped thinking about before and after posts... better late than never I suppose.

Before:  (Looks like I took the before pictures without the light on... not sure what I was thinking... maybe the problem is that I wasn't thinking)

Best we can gather, they started work on the guest room the first day, but they closed the door and we didn't know.

Here's what it looked like on day 3:

On day 4, other than carpets, I think this was the first room "finished":

Before the painters left however, we discovered that they had broken the bed... we figure that's why they had the room closed off on day one and why it was so put back together by day 4.  The painters didn't put any other rooms back together so nicely.  Needless to say, the price of that Ikea bed was deducted from what we paid the painters.  Breaking the bed wasn't what upset us the most... it was that they tried to cover it up.

After the carpet:

Closeup of the broken bed... it was relatively well concealed when it's assembled, but you can see here that it's not just a crack.

After with a new, taller Ikea bed:

And the Before and After shot:

I think this room, more so than the others, really needs more decor help before it will be finished, but at least it's got fresh paint, new carpet, and a new bed.

Goal Achieved!

Back in January, I set out to lose 24 pounds, which would put me at a round number that's safely in the "normal' range for my height.  I posted about my goal on this blog in January, and I updated when I reached 10 pounds. 

My original target was to lose all 24 pounds by mid-June... I didn't quite make it.  I was somewhere around 22 pounds when I got to my target date.  That last 2 pounds was the hardest to drop, probably because I wasn't trying as hard by that point.  I had stopped tracking calories when I reached 20 pounds because, let's face it, that gets old after 4 months. 

Today, I finally reached my original goal. - Part of me thought I might never make it... that I might just stay 2 pounds away, but I did it!

Hooray!