SMBHD - Says He's Been Camping Before

via BustedTees.com

Ok, so I believe he's been camping, but... I believe it was when he was 5 years old. We're going camping this weekend in Maryland. He doesn't seem to know what to expect. Like... at all. As previously mentioned, he asked me how we were going to eat (and I told him hunting and gathering, obviously).

One thing for sure is he is SO lucky he has me - Mrs. ILIKETOPACKEVERYTHING. He complains about the amount of stuff I bring everywhere, but if I wasn't the way I am, he would be SCREWED if he ever wanted to go camping. Ok, yeah, fine, so if it weren't for me he probably wouldn't be going camping in the first place, but still. He cuts his finger? I got a bandaid. Needs sugar for his coffee? Got it. Bottle opener? Yup. Corkscrew? Ok, that's for my wine, but worth noting anyway. Pillows, blow up mattress, sheets, tent, tarp for under tent, cooler, ice packs for cooler, snacks, tools, flashlights/lanterns, camping chairs, towels, sunscreen, bug spray, FOOD, fire utensils, games, plates/cups/utensils, etc., etc....

BUT...

BUT! As much as I like to pack everything, for camping I go pretty minimal on the clothes. Like, I realize I'm not going to win any fashion contest (is that a thing, anyway?) while trekking through the woods. So all of my clothing fits into one small backpack. BH? MONDO duffle bag. I made fun of him for it last night, and he rebutted with how much stuff I had packed downstairs outside of my backpack. Right, BUT that's all camping supplies, not clothing and toiletries - those all fit in my tiny backpack. His duffle bag only consists of clothing and toiletries - which is an awful lot of clothing and toiletries! I'm wondering if he realizes that camping = being dirty and not having very many (or very good) showers for a few days. He finally let it slip that he doesn't know what to pack because he doesn't know what to expect. And when he asked me what else he might need and I rattled off a couple things, he hadn't even packed those, so I'm not really sure what he packed?? Hopefully not dress pants and shoes. I'd laugh so hard.

I'm glad we're going with other people this weekend, because while I enjoy camping, and have lots of camping supplies, I probably couldn't start a fire if my life depended on it. Pretty sure BH couldn't either.

Stay tuned to hear how this goes. Should be interesting!

-C
xxx

SMBHD - Makes My Birthday Special

Like a good husband should :)

I took off of work on my bday, and my husband was going to, too. Turns out he couldn't, and he was pretty bummed about it. BUT he came home a little early and had me open all my presents. I'm not one for opening presents early (unlike my brother). I like to save them and open them all at once. Since I was off yesterday, it was kind of hard walking past them all day and not opening them, though! But it seemed stupid to open them by myself when I knew I'd be opening Tim's later so I should just wait until he got home to open them. So I waited... and he came home, and I opened them all! I got so many great presents - British things, green things, guinea pig things (along with other things I'd asked for)... it seems my friends and family know me too well. :)

So what did the hubby get me? A trip to Boston - including tickets to see the Red Sox! Woo hoo!! I'm so excited! Plus, he's never been to Boston and I'm dying for him to see it. Sigh, if I could only convince my mom to move to Boston, we'd definitely live there... (ma? yes??)

AND THEN he "made" me dinner. Remember how he got all stressed out from that ONE time he made me dinner? Yeah. He kept telling me he would "take care of dinner" for my birthday, which I figured meant make it since he was also talking about bringing things home. Nope! Didn't make it, he "made" it! He brought home chicken parm from my faaaavorite Italian market - Dibruno's. YUM. He was like, "You didn't think I'd cook after I got so stressed out last time, did you?" Ha.

AND THEN we went to the Manayunk Brew Pub down the street for some beers on the deck. It also worked out (FOR HIM) that the NBA draft was on... even though I had banned it on my birthday. He's lucky I had beer and scenery to distract me. OH and PS, just found out that Brew Pub has a Photobooth?! I made him take pictures with me. For someone who was in the photobooth at our wedding like 10 times, he claims he hates photobooths. LIES. Although, I have to admit he's not very good at them. Note the same face in every shot - almost looks like I'm in the photobooth with a cardboard cutout. At least he's semi smiling!


AND THEN we watched my new Kenny Chesney concert DVD! I must've mentioned it to him, oh, only a couple HUNDRED times that I really wanted to go to the Kenny Chesney concert last weekend, but it was completely sold out, so he bought me the DVD for my birthday as well and I made him watch it with me. I got to sing it, loudly, like I was at the concert, because it was my birthday and he had to deal with it. :)

OH and also - he got dessert from Dibruno's, too! Key Lime Pie, because I'd told him once that I'd never had it and he thought I needed to have it (since apparently his mum makes a killer one). It was green AND sparkly! :) Oh, and super yummy.

British Husband done good, ya'll.

-C
xxx

Birthday Sparkles

So, they're not EXACTLY what I had in mind when I decided last minute that I NEEDED sparkly shoes for my birthday, but they worked. What I really wanted were these:

via Amazon

Didn't you just hear an angels singing when you saw those? No? Just me? Really?? Oh well. I heart them so bad. I love that they're multi-color sparkles instead of just gold, which is pretty much all I could find last minute at DSW this weekend. It really pains me that I saw these shoes at every Marshall's and TJ Maxx I went to over the winter, and wanted them, but couldn't think of one place I would wear them. STUPID! STUPID! One should always remember that one is entitled to sparkly birthday shoes. ALWAYS. Write that down.

Ok, enough with the shoes. Today is my 25th birthday. It may not be the first 25th birthday I've had (nor will it be my last). I'm forever 25, just remember that. There is no big 3-0 on the horizon for this girl. I'm going to continue to have 25th birthdays since it WORKS. I think the only people who actually know how old I am are those the same age as me, and my mom. My friends who are older or younger never quite seem to know... and I've even fooled myself. I seriously have to count if I have to write it on a legal form or something. I've tricked not only most of you, but myself as well! SUCCESS!

In my 25th year...

~Life in my THIS 25th year is pretty sparkly. No, it's not perfect. I've had to deal with deaths of three loved ones so far this year, and it's only June. I'd like a new job. My husband is stressed out about his. We don't own a house or a nice car. But for the most part I'm comfortable in my everyday life, and that makes me happy, which = sparkly. Some day I will get a new job and we will buy a house (don't really care so much about the car - you know why if you've seen the streets I have to park on). Then I will be SUPER SPARKLY. But for the time being, I'm happy in my life with my husband. I love seeing him occasionally in the middle of the day for lunch, and in the evenings when we get home from work (NOT IN THE MORNINGS). I love the things we do together. I have a permanent concert going partner (EXCEPT HE REFUSED TO GO TO BRITNEY WITH ME). I also enjoy the things we don't do, together - like sit on the couch and watch bad TV. I love how easy it is being married to him, every day. Ok, don't tell anyone, but I smile sometimes just walking around the house when I feel that easiness and that happiness. That's gotta reach my mush-quota for the quarter.

~I've been doing some reflecting recently and had a eureka moment the other day. Holy crap, I'm a grown up. Sure, I've pretty much always been a responsible, mature person, but I guess I just realized there are some things that are more important to me that weren't before, and there are things I used to tolerate that I won't anymore.

~I've realized who my friends for life are going to be. I'm sure there will be additions along the way, but for right now I know who I'll be talking to still in 20 years. It's a comforting feeling.

~I'm trying to just "let things go". It doesn't mean things don't bother me, just means I don't dwell on them because I've realized there's no point. I'm letting go of some of the things that stress me out. I have come to realize that people do the things they do, and there's a certain level of frustration you reach where you realize it's time to stop trying to make them not do those things. Apparently there is a point where screaming and yelling at your brother who just doesn't "get" the world gets you so frustrated that you just don't even want to deal with it anymore. At all. Instead of letting things like this continually frustrate me and stress me out, I'm letting them go or at least settle so that I can deal with them better and not irrationally.

~As we get older, we all change. I think the realizations I've been having are a direct result of me changing. Changing the way I deal with people (or don't), changing the way I view things, changing how I deal with frustrations, changing my general outlook on everyday life. We all will change. Some for the good, some for the bad. The problem is you can't, well, change someone else's change. You have to realize they've changed and they aren't the same person you once knew, and adjust the relationship you have accordingly. I've had to do some adjusting like that a few times in the past couple years.

~I've been trying to eat right, and have been drinking less. I enjoy a good night of drinking, but I used to have a beer or glass of wine every night, and I don't anymore. No real conscious effort to do so, I just don't. I think it has helped my sleeping to be honest (I used to have to take Ambien every night).

~Time has flown in this past year, but I feel like I've grown a lot. I've learned that respecting someone means more to me than I ever knew. I've accepted that things don't happen immediately and you have to wait patiently (OK, I MEAN LIKE NEW JOBS. NOT SPARKLY SHOES. THOSE NEED TO HAPPEN IMMEDIATELY STILL.).

Ok that's enough realizations for me for the year.

Happy Sparkly Birthday To Me!

-C
xxx

Proof That I Totally Should Have Been Invited To The Royal Wedding

SEE - I told you I should've been invited to the Royal Wedding. My mother-in-law was clearly BFFs with PRINCESS DIANA.


They even called each other that morning and decided they would both wear red. Totally besties.

-C
xxx

Birthday Fun

So my birthday celebration was all sorts of fun! I'm so very, very behind on uploading pics to facebook. As in, last night I uploaded pics from NEW YEARS and a trip I took in February. (Yeah. I wasn't kidding.) So hopefully tonight I'll get a chance to upload pics from March to June, including birthday celebration pics. In the meantime, here are a couple to tide you over.

We started off at this cool place called Graffiti bar. It's pretty much just awesome. It's outside (but with a clear roof over most of it), and there's all this bright graffiti everywhere. Oh, and they had $2 foods for happy hour. Yeah, they were small portions, but still. Yummy and $2. ALSO, the men especially loved that in the bathrooms they played looping movie quotes. One of the guys was gone for like 15 minutes just to keep listening to the quotes. Also - how perfect is it that there was this one long table that fit us all? Meant to be.

PHOTOBOMBED!
(By Dave from my CHAMPIONSHIP WINNING volleyball team, not by some random dude. Oh, did I mention we won?? Guess what... we won! Seeded #7 at playoff time. Beat #3, then #2, then #1! Amazing.)

Non photobombed photo.

Shannon doesn't like to look at the camera.

Tim will hate me for posting this. I like to think of it as proof that we're meant to be. Why? Because we're singing Livin' on a Prayer. With gusto. And fist pumps. He swears he's British, but I think my Jersey is wearing off on him a bit...

-C
xxx

SMBHD - Thinks He's Going to Starve

For someone who is A - so skinny, B - used to live off of cereal and deli meat as a bachelor, C - is married to someone who likes to cook (and eat), my husband is apparently, for reasons unknown, TERRIFIED that he is going to starve/miss a meal. He won't admit this, but let me just show you some of the evidence. Just a side note: I make dinner, or decide what we're doing for dinner, every night. Lunches he makes himself (sandwiches), except on the weekends. Then that is also my job. My husband does not cook. Ever. Except one time (and it was actually really good), and he got so stressed out doing it that he vowed never to do it again (although I think he may be planning to cook me dinner on my birthday!). So I cook, he cleans. Works for me. Also, we do 95% of our grocery shopping at Target. Now back to the evidence that my husband is either a secret fat kid, or is scared to death he'll starve.

~When he moved into our place, I had already lived there for about a month and a half. When he first got there, he would make comments about all the food I had in the fridge, freezer, pantry, and baker's rack. He said we could probably live off of it for a year. Fast forward 9 months. Now, when our freezer is anything less than filled to the brim, he has a panic attack. "WE NEED TO GO TO THE STORE, WE NEED MEAT!" he says. Like the apocalypse is coming and we're going to die of starvation if we don't go to the store and buy a pound of ground beef.

~If we're going away for a weekend, he has to plan out when we'll have time to go to Target when we get back or, god forbid, the week after. He used to make fun of me for going to Target every week when he was in the UK and I was here. "What could you possibly need from Target every single week?" he'd say. Now, he's the one with the Target obsession... well, for the groceries at least.

~Before I go to bed at night, he wants to know what we're having for dinner the next day. If I say I don't know, I think he continues to think about it, which then leads to him texting or emailing me multiple times the next day asking if I know what we're having for dinner yet. Which, inevitably, will result in me responding "NO!!!".

~When we plan trips like, say... going camping in JULY, he wants to know what we're going to eat out the wildnerness. I told him we would be hunting and gathering for our food. I'm still not sure if he believed me at first or not, but eventually I got a "No, seriously." and I had to inform him that there are these things called "coolers" and that you pack food and drink in them.

~When we have tickets to a Phillies' game, concert, etc., he always needs to know what we're going to do for food before the event (because we usually leave straight from work and don't go home). Sometimes it's as soon as the tickets are bought (2 months ahead of time), but at the very least it's 2 weeks before the event (except if it's a last minute plan, then he asks immediately). He basically needs to know the food schedule as much as he needs to know any other plans in his life. And if I don't know, he keeps asking, so I've started alternating between a pizza place and a bar called Good Dog. Funny story - we went to Dollar Dog Night at the Phillies' a couple weeks ago, and leading up to it, at least a couple times, he would go, "What are we going to ea- oh, right, dollar dogs." Then he'd get all excited because, yes, they are $1 hot dogs and he wanted at least 3. The funny part is that the question of what we're going to eat must be such a reflex that he just couldn't stop himself from asking!

~When I go away, we have to stock up on oatmeal and mac and cheese ahead of time. From Target, of course. When I return, he whimpers and gives me puppy dog eyes because he missed me had to eat mac and cheese all weekend. I guess that means he likes my cooking!

~He brings snacks when he goes shopping with me and my mom. This is actually valid because my mom is notorious for just not remembering to eat when we're doing something. Usually that something is shopping. Then we'll end up eating lunch at like 3:30 in the afternoon, if at all. The funny thing about this one is just seeing him hop in the car with his little plastic bag of granola bar, chips, and some almonds or something.

Maybe it's the years of living on his own, where he ate cereal, oatmeal, and random other things that men who don't cook eat when they're bachelors (except when they go home for mom's cooking), that now he's like a rabid animal when it comes to food. It's completely unfounded.

He calls me a "feeder", but really, he's just an eater. He's the one who needs to know when, what, where, and how we're eating at all times. But, yet, I'm the feeder... riiiight.


-C
xxx

Bonnie's Wedding Runway

As I mentioned before, Miss Bonnie Quick (I believe she is keeping her name for clothing design purposes), made all of our bridesmaid dresses for her wedding. The dresses were so fun to wear! We each had a different one, but all in the same fabric.

Oh yeah, and she also made our hair pieces and jewelry for us!

The ball is actually a locket. Feathers and whatever those white plant things are, along with hair clips, all purchased at Michael's.

The balls on the necklace are also lockets!

Something you may not know about me is how much I loooove antique (looking or real) tarnished gold jewelry. Seriously LOVE. I was way too happy when she gave us this jewelry!

I also have been wearing it pretty much every day since she gave it to us.

To complete the outfit, she asked us all to wear yellow shoes. I MAY or may not have begged her to do so. :) We all know how I like colorful shoes!
(Mine are the back right below.)

She also made the flower girl dresses! Aren't they cute?

And since sewing awesome dresses apparently runs in her family, her mom made her wedding dress! Ain't it purdy?

Unfortunately I don't have any pics of all us girls (or Bonnie, for that matter!) walking down the aisle because Tim was on parking lot duty and didn't make it back in time for me to give him my camera, so I can't wait to see the professional pics of that!

The lovely ladies from Wedding Tresses (serving Massachusetts and Rhode Island) who did our hair (Jenn) and makeup (Kayla) kept saying that they could totally see this wedding ending up in a magazine because of the unique dresses, hair pieces, etc. Or on a blog? hehe. They were awesome, btw. The makeup looked amazing, and I loved my hair the first time it was done! Yeah, I had to get mine redone because it got messed up (freakin' wind) when I went back to do a couple more set up tasks. Then the hairdresser told me my hair couldn't be as big as it was before if I wanted it to stay. *tear*

Also, today is Bonnie's birthday!

Happy Birthday Bonnie (not) Quick (anymore)!

Unrelated to this post, but it's also one of my MOH's birthdays!

Happy Birthday Ryann!

-C
xxx