SNOW

We got our first snow last week! I swore it was flurrying late one night when I took Eevah out, just add 6 hours to that and I woke up to a beautifully snow covered outside! While Eevah has walked in harder snow at my grandparents she's never experienced in fluffy snow before. I'm quite happy to report that she absolutely loved it! 

You can't hate cold weather when it's so beautiful and white outside. 

our little snow bunny

we decided to walk on the ice for a little bit 

::shhhhh don't tell mom::

our perfect little family

Oh, and here's a little video of Eevah running through the snow:

Army Navy

Finally, a blog post about America's game! I've been planning this post for a while now, I just needed the pictures to go with it and I finally have them!

Army/Navy was held in Philadelphia this year and Nic's family invited me to come with them. The Hajner's flew in Friday morning and came over to our little abode for dinner Friday night. I wish I would have thought of taking pictures because we rarely have people over for a nice sit down dinner. Our apartment really felt like a home -- Christmas decorations and all!

Leaving at six thirty Saturday morning we barely got Nic there on time before heading over to Vicki and Ian's families fabulous tailgate. I experienced my first Bloody Mary (holy spicy) and will officially stick to mimosas from now on. Ay.

It was wonderful to see my friends and spend some quality time with the future in laws ::pause for dramatic effect, yes, in-laws:: In what I feel like is typical Navy football, it came down to the last quarter of the game and a fumble from Army left us winning for the eleventh year. A perfect end to a super fun football season!

Sunday was a dreary day but we ventured into Philly so they could all get a cheesesteak. I will say my hot cocoa breakfast was just delicious. ;) Oh the life of a gluten free individual. Some men were selling trees on a street corner and they did what I only thought happened on tv shows for dramatic effect and made a fire in a trash can. Of course we needed a picture, and I just wanted to get toasty by the fire!

I'm glad Navy continued their winning streak I'm more thankful for such a fabulous weekend. Good luck to everyone dealing with finals this week. Towson doesn't believe in reading days -- lame.

Ciao. xoxoxo

FreeFest & The Weekend

I had a fabulously fun weekend spent with friends and lots of cuddling. It was exactly what I needed after the last two weeks of mayhem with school. After much convincing and perfect timing Nic finally dragged me along to a music festival. I was really hesitant on whether I'd like it or not since I'm not at all into Skrillex. It's a bunch of scratching and not a lot of words to sing along with and I like to sing while I dance. But much to my very happy surprise it was a blast! I got to dance around like I was at eighties night again -- SCORE -- and wear a crazy outfit. Yes, that is my "crazy", sorry I'm not sorry about it. Anyways, the lights were awesome, the base was loud and I was with great people. Oh, and I'm starting to like margaritas again which is most definitely noteworthy.

The rest of the weekend was a lot more relaxing. We had planned on going to Grape Stomp on Sunday which is this amazing festival at a vineyard we love where you actually get to stomp grapes!! I've been looking forward to going since we visited the vineyard in April but it rained both here and there and an outdoor festival in the rain just didn't seem worth the hour drive. :( Hopefully we'll be able to make the trek next week. 

The rain brought in a drastic weather change. Saturday I was wearing a skirt and tank in the day and today I'm in a Northface, boots and considering turning on the heat. Fall has finally arrived! 

I must share some shots of how absolutely adorable Eevah is with the two of us. I love her (and Nicy, of course) beyond belief.  

I'll bid y'all adaeu with another good quote. It seemed fitting after FreeFest. Whether it's country, rock, techno or a good ol' banjo make sure to take the time to step away from everything and dance for a moment or two.

Have a fabulous week and don't forget to break it down a few times.

Ciao! xoxo

Let's Play Catch-Up

I'm baaaaaaack! I move to Maryland and all of a sudden I drop off the face of the planet. I'm terribly sorry and we'll use this little post as a catch up. From Oriole's games to a wedding, a new job and pinterest cooking trails I've been keeping busy. Nic has also been living here since he came home from Africa in the beginning of June so it has been a month of "new". I also got a Mac and am loving it!

Here are some pictures for a quick catch up!

For the first time in four years Nic and I were able to spend the Fourth of July together! It was fabulous! We had a family picnic with both sets of grandparents and hick worthy amount of firecrackers. I love our country more than anything and it was so nice to spend time with the ones who mean the most to me celebrating our freedom.

My families cabin has been important for Nic and I. The first summer we started dating we visited my grandparents and sat on a swing that I had loved as a child producing one of my favorite photos of us.

2006

Last year the tree the swing was attached to rotted and the swing is gone. Since it was uncharacteristically hot up here (I brought the heat up from Florida) we decided to go swimming in the creek. Here's a picture where we were getting Eevah to swim between us.

I also started school this week and love it! I'm excited to finally be at a "big" college. I got lost my first day, and the garmin and I don't see eye to eye on my desire to not go through the $3.00 toll nor Baltimore city. . So much as it took my through the $3.00 toll when I specifically marked "avoid toll roads" and had no money. A mini break down complete with tears and a nice toll booth worker later I was on my way without a fine! Thank goodness. It's been a bit rocky but it's a beginning! We'll see if how long I remain enthusiastic. According to my Fiction class I won't be as happy go lucky come the first frost. We'll see.

Oh, and I got to eat those babies with my dad! There's a place by my house that cooks them for you and you get to bring them home and smash them with a mallet! I loved it!

Ciao love bugs!

So I moved to Maryland!

I'm sure quite a few of you are going to be caught off guard by this blog post. . and if you aren't I'm sure you were caught off guard by my "Holy Hell I'm moving" status on Facebook last Thursday. . So let me provide y'all with a quick explanation on why I'm now living in Maryland and how it happened so quickly. .

I applied to transfer to Towson University in the spring and was admitted but only given a week to move. I couldn't find an apartment fast enough nor could I just up and move that fast. So I waited to see if I could start in the summer and could. While this seemed easy enough we ran into an apartment disaster. Apartments up north are nothing like they are at home. To make matters even worse I was moving around Baltimore which means prices were even higher and the looming fear of possibly moving into the ghetto grew even bigger. I quickly learned that washer/dryers are not standard in every apartment, getting any apartment that slightly resembled all of my friends from home that I feel in love with was impossible, and pictures/websites are extremely deceiving.We sent Nic on what could be called a needle in a haystack hunt. The poor kid went to countless apartments that looked promising only to find they were ghetto. It's not a big surprise that I wouldn't do good in the ghetto. I have terrible street-smarts (mom says I have none, slightly true) and I scare easily.

Now enter my apartment complex. It's 30 minutes from school which isn't terrible since I drove 45 minutes to high school for four years. Quite frankly I didn't want to be right in a "college town" anyways. I'm over partying and I don't think I could stand living in a complex with a bunch of partying kiddos. Not to mention I feel a lot more comfortable with older people than kids my own age. Everyone here is amicable but not overbearing. And sadly most college kids -- especially boys -- are obnoxious and living on my own by them would get annoying. Mind you that's just my own opinion, I love all of my college friends who are boys, but y'all aren't typical. . Anyways back to the point: the complex is built by a little creek, there is a dock for fishing (and tanning in my opinion), and I have a balcony.

The only one bedroom in the complex was open for move in April 21st (my golden birthday) or June. . classes start May 29th so I had to take the earlier one, hence my ultra quick move.

I promise a post with pictures of the apartment, and a birthday post will be up soon! It's just been a wee bit hectic!

Ciao darlings! xoxoxoxo.

President's Day Weekend

After a long bout of tests and being sick a long three day weekend with Nicy is exactly what the doctor called for. President's Day Weekend was spent in this GORGEOUS hotel right in Arlington. It's really pretty, has a Starbucks within walking distance, the shower is to die for and it’s only 5 minutes from Reagan Airport, 20ish from Annapolis and 10ish from DC. It’s fabulous. After my flight to Atlanta and a three hour layover there I was finally in DC. We spent the night going to the academy for Nic’s friends boxing match (I learned I just don’t get boxing, at all) and then I got my gluten free PF Chang’s. It really is the simple things in life.

Saturday was spent with brunch at our favorite little restaurant Fire Fly in DC and finding gluten free cupcakes at Hello Cupcake! They had banana cupcakes with peanut butter and chocolate icing. The chocolate was better. Like deliciously perfect. (We went back another day and they had gf tiramisu cupcakes. . not as good). The rest of the day was spent driving to and from Baltimore in a failed attempt at going to the Baltimore Aquarium and watching Happy Feet 2 with pizza. Gluten free pizza that was delivered. I was happy.

 

I would like to say that the Happy Feet movies and Wall-E are quite possibly the best movies if only for the fact that they are addressing problems that are happening in our world and are marketed towards children. Yes it is making a child believe robots can fall in love and penguins can talk but it’s also showing the importance of our environment and how much of an affect we have on it.

We finally got to the Baltimore Aquarium on Sunday buuuuuuut couldn't see the dolphins or jellyfish exhibits because we got in too late. . . complete bogus. But who doesn’t love the aquarium and smiling turtles?! We had a well deserved date night at Morton’s where I realized Nicholas doesn’t know the difference in water types when he answered “distilled, sparkling or Arlington’s finest?” with “yes”. It was adorable.

Monday was the touristy day with visits to the National Museum of Air & Space and Natural History. Both of them (I’m actually assuming all of the national museums) have IMAX theatres which are so much fun! We saw a video about how stars form  in the planetarium and then a movie about apes and elephants being rehabilitated and released into the wild in the Natural History Museum. It was in 3D. Go see them!


As always goodbyes are hard. The ticket man let Nic walk me to my gate (a first!) but I think we both decided we like it better when we’re running late and I have to run through the security gate to make my flight. It’s less heart wrenching and I’m less tempted to miss my flight and stay with him.

Ciao! xoxooxo

Forty-Eight Hours

The last forty eight hours have been absolutely crazy. About a week ago I discovered Harford Community College in Bel Air, Md. It has a nursing program that starts in the summer and is the only school I've been able to find that has a time line that fits perfectly with the plan I have in my head. That being said, I applied to take two prerequisite classes at the school in order to get an extra point on my nursing application because I "attended Harfod for regular classes". This went swell. . I got into my Micro class. . and had to wait for the Dean of Sciences to give me permission to get into the A&P2 class. . . this permission FINALLY came on Thursday and I decided that I'm moving up. . .

My next issue to tackle was an apartment that would allow Eevah, and not have a full year lease in class I ended up getting into a nursing school back in Florida. Well, for the last forty eight hours I've played email and phone tag with about fifteen people, and none of them work. They're either not available, or a whole year lease, or they won't allow a dog. . . So low and behold I have the opportunity to go to Maryland be happy and live there, but the means (or would it be livelihood? now that's a question. . ) isn't there.

All in all, Florida really needs to just let me go already and Maryland needs to get it's shit together.

Ciao. xoxo.