Wedding Day!

Psych! Not ours....but our good friends, Amber and Kevin. Last Saturday, Matt and I attended their lovely wedding ceremony followed by a happening reception with lots of good food and dancing!

Matt and I had a wonderful time and certainly put thoughts of our own upcoming event, making for some mushy hugs and sappy comments to each other. We were so happy for our friends and enjoyed the day with them and our other close friends. We cannot wait to share our special day with them next year.
I even got Matt on the dance floor after awhile....and a few drinks, haha!

and of course, what's a wedding without cake?!

yea, mon!

Can I just say that Jamaica has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world? And of course I know this because I have traveled to all sorts of exotic places....as in my two trips to myrtle beach, and one trip to Toronto. LOL.....yes, I am the worldy traveler.

Before this trip, I had never been inside an airport, much less on a plane. Thursday morning, we were up bright and early and out of the house by 3:30 am to be at the airport in time for check-in and security before our 7 am flight. Luckily, we did not encounter a single line or delay! The flight was very nice, if a bit cramped with three seats to a row.

If you read my previous blog, you would know that I won this 4 night, 5 day trip to an all inclusive resort in Jamaica from a radio contest. Needless to say, we were not expecting much and I kept waiting for the "problem" to occur. The "problem" being arriving at the airport or resort to check in and someone saying "you owe this many dollars"......BUT that never happened!

The resort...in a word.....amaaaaazing. We stayed at the lovely Breezes Runaway Bay and it was better than everything we ever thought it would be. We enjoyed bottomless drinks, delicious food, gorgeous blue skies, and water so clear it was like looking through glass. I have never seen anything or been anywhere more beautiful!

Now for some pictures!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

This weekend has just begun (already half over) and already its been amazing!

Last night DBF Matt told me he would be making dinner for me as long as I picked out what I wanted to have. Well, after much thought I couldn't decide on anything, so we just decided to get some takeout chinese. We were both tired after a long work day. DBF especially as he had to drive to North Carolina and back in one day for his work to pick up some parts for a work truck. We also decided to make it a movie night and stopped by the movie gallery and picked up a couple movies.

After watching "Law Abiding Citizen" and enjoying our chinese food, it was still early so we were settled in to watch some TV. Matt went into the kitchen and I was happily plugging away on my facebook when he walked back in with a wrapped gift. Mindful that it was neither a holiday or a birthday or anniversary I asked what it was for and he said "I just wanted to do something nice for you". Aww, what a sweetie! So, I immediately unwrapped the silver paper and inside was a photo book! Going through the book were photos of us and things that we had done together in the almost four years we have been together. It was so wonderful, thoughtful and sweet I was practically in tears. The surprise came at the end of the book when the last pages was taped to the back cover of the book. I eventually got the page untaped and attached to the back cover was an envelope, I was thinking "oh how nice, a card!". So, I get the envelope open and inside was a small gauzey drawstring bag with A RING! A beautiful and gorgeous engagement ring! Matt then got down one knee and popped the question! It was so perfect and exciting!

Back cover of photo book

Beautiful Ring!

(and no, this picture does not do it justice!)

The ring is so beautiful and it is so special. Matt told me the center stone is actually the stone that his stepdad gave to his mom when they were married. Matts stepfather, Jeff, passed away from cancer four years ago and he is missed everyday, so it is very special to me that his mom trusted me with something that was so important to her and her husband.

So after a few tears and shrieks of joy, I could not wait to tell everyone! Matt made a quick call to his mom and then we were off to tell my mom, who was not home because she is currently in Tennessee helping my grandfather move, but I was able to reach both her and my grandmother on the phone. Then we were over at a friends celebrating and sharing the news. It was such a great night and I am so excited to bask in the glow of engagement and the eventual planning of our wedding.

Today we did some shopping and I found two swimsuits for our trip to Jamaica so I am ready to go! The time is getting close and we are so ready for a bit of a break from the hubbub and the cold weather around here!

On the craft front, a friend of mine showed me some very cute crochet hook organizers she found on etsy and I thought to myself "I could totally do that!". And yes, I say this to myself often and yet never make any of those things, but this was different. I was determined to make one for myself and see how I successful I was. So after about two hours going back and forth between my ironing board and my sewing machine I have this!

I think it was very successful for my first attempt! I know what I will do differently the next time and how to improve the overall design.

Well, hope everyone is also having a great weekend! Off to use some of those crochet hooks!

The continuing saga......

So we got some more snow here in Maryland...Tuesday I went to work even though I technically was not required to go. But, I figured that I would not be there today, and I was not. In fact, stated government offices were closed. I left work about 1 p.m. on Tuesday as the snow had started again, and with liberal leave in effect, was allowed to leave early to get home before all the craziness of rush hour and those in panic mode driving like crazies tryin to get home.

And this morning, oooohhh this morning. We awoke to more snow, and more falling snow, and more snow to move....but where to put it after the 30 inches we got already, this additional 20 inches.....So my bf did a bit of shoveling. We got around the car and the snow off the car. By this time, the 40 mph winds they had been predicting were starting up so we went back in the house for some hot chocolate, relaxation, and periodic facebook updates about this new blizzard blowing through.

Our day has been a sea of boredom. We have both wandered around the house like lost puppies. My bf has thoroughly beaten the super mario bros. wii game and have finished a stitching project. In fact, it's the most stitching I have done in a week in quite a long time. Must have something to do with the seemingly endless bouts of snow and the fact that I cannot leave my house to go anywhere. The picture is not great since I did take it with my phone. The pattern is "bayside bungalows" by country cottage needleworks. I started it last year when I bought it. I got the houses, sky and trees done before I put it down. In the last week I finished the bottom half of the design. I ran out of the white thread for the waves and will have to order more to officially be done with the piece, there are also four buttons I will need to sew on. I love the colors in the design and liked the summer feel. Not sure what I will pick up tomorrow since government offices are again closed and both bf and myself will be home diggin out.

After stitching, while waiting for dinner to be ready I thought it would be interesting to get outside and get some night pictures of the snow. And yes, it is STILL snowing.....

I left the flash on the camera so the light would reflect off the snowflakes, its a nice effect, but it's getting really old in real life.

Hopefully tomorrow we can get outside and really enjoy the snow and get in some playtime or at the very least go on a walk to see what the rest of the town looks like.

Diggin' Out

So I have no idea how much snow we have gotten, it's all blowing around and we are getting alot of drifts so I don't see us be able to get an accurate measurement. LOL.

Anyway, I went to bed last night and it was comin' down pretty hard. Mr. weatherman had said it would be over by 8am this morning. Well, I let myself sleep in alittle since, obviously, I wouldn't be going anywhere today. Got up about 10:30 and it was still coming down....ah well, better luck next time weatherman! I came down to stare out the front door in shock and contemplate how the heck we would get outta here while I could hear dear bf upstairs moving around getting his snow clothes on. This is what we were facing!Thats not my car, it's our neighbors, but I'm sure you get the idea! While dear bf got started shoveling like it was his j-o-b I went upstairs to dig out some snow clothes that wouldn't instantly send me inside soaking wet. I wound up wearing two pairs of pants, a long sleeve tee, hooded sweatshirt, coat, two pairs of socks and my snow boots. I'm not a gloves kind of girl, so none of those. Dear bf had a good start when I finally decided to step outside.

I stood around for a few minutes just enjoying not being stuck in the house anymore. Then bf gave me a task to start cleaning off the car. I had a good start, but, well, it quickly became boring and tedious. haha. Plus, that was the only side of the car that was shoveled, I couldn't exactly walk around to the other side. So I decided to go ahead and start the car so it would get warm and make it easier for me to clean off. Then I started to feel bad for bf who was workin so hard and borrowed our neighbors shovel to start on the other side. Finally got a path around the car and started to clean off the remainder of the car. About halfway through we decided to leave a bit of decoration on the car, figuring we are just gonna have to go out later and shovel some more it would hurt to leave some of what was already there.

MOHAWK!

After that, we were just too tired to finish so we left it. Now we are warm and snuggly inside. Bf is scheduled to work at his parttime job today but I will be surprised if they are even open for business today and if they are, he has a coworker that can pick him up in their truck.

Not sure what will be going on for the rest of the day, but I have some choices....stitching or cleaning....oh thats a difficult one.....

Snowpocalypse Part Deux!

So we are getting a massive snow storm on the east coast this weekend. I am excited and bummed at the same time. Excited cause I love some snow, bummed because I had plans to go to the movies tonight with a girlfriend and with the accumulation expected to be up to 24 inches, we decided to postpone.....booooo!

I did go to work today, but luckily was allowed to leave at 12 when it started. Now I'm home with my boyfriend and my stitching, and my new favorite mug.....my perfect weekend!

Once you GO, you KNOW!

Jamaica Baby!!

Last year I won a radio contest for a 4 night stay at an all inclusive resort in Jamaica. Of course, there were a few hoops I had to jump through, but I have FINALLY been able to book our reservation and air travel for our trip.

So excited!!! squeeeee!!!

There was a time around the holidays when it was really tight for us that we had almost decided that maybe we would just let it go and not go on the trip. After all, neither my bf or myself have our passports, nor did we have the extra cash to pay the service fee that was due at the time the reservation was made. Plus, all the dang hoops I would have to jump through to even make the reservation. But, after much thinking one night, I was kind of like, "seriously, its freakin jamaica! I WON this trip! I have NEVER been on a plane! I have NEVER traveled to a place like this! I still have to pay TAXES on it whether we go or not!" So I told my bf "I am going, you goin?!" So, we are going!

We will be enjoying a wonderful 4 night/5 day stay at an all inclusive resort. The little researcher/organizer that I am just had to find all the information possible about the resort and all the reviews of people who stayed previously (yay, tripadvisor). It seems like a nice place, I wouldn't say five star rated, but we aren't exactly five star people, ya know?! As long as its clean, has running water, edible food, and a nice beach, I think we can make due for 5 days. Plus, we were randomly watching "Wheel of Fortune" one night and they gave away a trip to the same resort, so I'm thinking if it's good enough for "Wheel of Fortune" it's good enough for me! The resort does have excusions to make around the island, but at this point we have decided that since we are really only going to have three full days there, we probably won't go on one unless it seems like it would be really enjoyable for both of us.

We both have read/heard that a shopping trip off resort would be a bad idea as the locals are very aggressive (it is still a third world country) and its supposed to be a trip of relaxation, the last thing I need is to be robbed and/or assaulted in a foreign country. LOL! So we are just planning to take in the sun and some rum. There are alot of activities on the resort so we don't think there will really be a situation where we would get bored and need to leave for entertainment.

So, reservations made, passports applied for, and vacation time taken at work. We are sooo ready!

Anyone else have any interesting travel plans made for the year yet?!