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We are officially homeowners again!!

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After some last-minute drama (with getting the funds wired the morning of)…it’s a done deal. We are now the proud owners of a 30-year mortgage! But it’s seriously our dream house and we couldn’t be happier. Tom and I just keep saying What did we do?! Oh yeah, we bought a house THAT WE LOVE.

I mean, we have purchased two houses in the past and they were both great for us at the time but we never loved them. We. LOVE this. house. (Is it perfect? Of course not. But does it check all of our boxes? Minus a lazy river and a four car garage… Yes.)

And then Anna brought the kids over…and was our family photographer!!

Our agent got us this cool sign!

We will be homeowners again!

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It’s really happening, y’all. We will be homeowners again on July 8 barring any unforeseen circumstances! That’s two months from now!

I didn’t want this style of house again but that’s what 99% of the market here is.

From seeing the house listed Tuesday to getting pre-approved Wednesday morning to walking through the house Wednesday to making and signing an offer and getting the offer accepted was less than 48 hours!! We were only the second people to view the house!

This wasn’t something we were going to do until spring but we’ve been looking at houses for a few months and we know what’s out there and what we want…and this house had 95% of our wish list!!

This is pretty close to a dream kitchen. The only thing missing is an actual pantry…but there are tons of cabinets.
And something we didn’t know we wanted – a huge wet bar!

And look at my side of the master bath!

As soon as this Covid debacle allows, we will be having a MEGA housewarming/retirement party. Oh, yeah – Tom turned in his retirement papers last week so that’s official now, too (his official date is July 1, 2021).

We are still stunned. And excited. And exhausted.

Allure Day 4: St. Thomas

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This morning we ate breakfast at Johnny Rockets! Normally it has an extra fee—but not for breakfast! I kind of missed all the choices available in the Windjammer buffet, but it’s also nice to have limited choices.

Don’t ask why I didn’t take many pics—I have no idea. None of the ship, none of the wildlife, none of the excursion line or the catamaran we were on. Maybe because it was HOT and I hate hot. 🙂

We got on the boat and everyone had a seat with snorkeling gear on it. We traveled about 20 minutes to the bay where we were going to be swimming with the sea turtles. We got our instructions, safety briefs, and enjoyed the breezes. Then it was time to get in the water. And it was…not what we expected. The short version is that it was too exhausting and too short.

The longer version? It was described as

Cruise in comfort aboard a power catamaran to the waters off Buck Island, where you’ll snorkel amidst colorful fish, vibrant coral and maybe some sea turtles!” with the typical warning “Guests must consider their physical fitness level and medical history when determining whether this tour is appropriate.”

Which kind of sounds like you’ll hop off the boat and leisurely swim around looking at turtles and sea life, right? Well I am a healthy 46yo woman who is not a peak swimmer but I know how to swim and I’m not going to drown…and this was EXHAUSTING. We had to swim A LONG WAYS to see the turtles. They are protected, so the boat has to drop anchor way away from where the turtles are so you have to swim over to them. They did warn us that there was a long trip and a short trip…but if you wanted to see the turtles you had to do the long trip. They also offered the use of fins, but strongly warned against using them if you were not used to them (citing the possibility of leg cramps). But if you don’t use them, you are likely going to struggle in the water since you have SUCH a long distance to swim (but they don’t tell you that). And you are swimming with snorkel gear (that you are likely mostly unfamiliar with) and maybe a waterproof camera…and there are like 50 other people swimming along with you and you are dodging 3-4 other boats and excursion groups. Egads.

So some people are faster and get there right away (with the guide) and you’re left dragging behind, struggling to catch up. My dad had to turn around and go back (and Tom had to help him, so he had to double back) and thankfully Katie opted to stay behind—she never would have made it and there is no way I could have helped her as I was barely making it. Tom and Linda had fins and didn’t have as many issues (but they were familiar with fins) but Tom was still tired. So by the time we all made it to the sea turtle area…we had about 3 minutes before they were moving on to the reef…which, you guessed it…was another longish swim away. And I was already exhausted. So my plan of a leisurely snorkel off the boat to check out some sea life and take some pics was not happening and I was frustrated and exhausted—not exactly best case scenario for a Caribbean vacation excursion.

Oh, and did I mention that Katie had refused to get off the boat? Yes it ended up okay because the swim would have been too hard, but still. That’s not what you expect after you’ve paid a bunch of money for a snorkeling excursion. She said she didn’t like saltwater and didn’t want any fish to touch her. I kinda wanted to strangle her to be honest. She wouldn’t even hop off the boat and swim for a few minutes.

And then we were back on the boat. And it was time for unlimited rum punch. I don’t generally like rum but this stuff was delicious.

Then it was off to “enjoy an hour of swimming, sunning, and relaxing at this idyllic spot.” If by idyllic you mean having to jump off a boat into neck-deep water to get to shore and then share the beach with a ton of other people from other boats…and that hour was over WAY too quickly. We barely had time to grab a quick lunch and some more rum drinks… And I practically had to BEG Katie to get in the water and Papa totally refused saying he didn’t like getting wet (or didn’t want to get wet?) which was silly because he was already wet from getting off the boat! But we had fun just relaxing in the water!

All that said, the excursion staff was amazing. They were all witty, helpful, and nice. I felt safe the entire time, they were good with our kids, and you could tell they knew what they were doing. I just wish Royal Caribbean would have more than a boilerplate description on their site because this was NOT the relaxing experience I wanted.

Once back on shore, we split up. I took Katie and Papa back to the ship and Tom, Owen, and Linda walked around St. Thomas. Katie and I dug into the frosting dog. The other group shopped and ate lunch.

Then Katie and I headed to the pool—I stayed in the hot (warm) tub and chatted with a bunch of people. Katie was running around in the pools and eating ice cream and visiting me in the hot tub. I don’t remember what all we did the rest of the night…but I know we called it an earlyish night again since we had another early morning planned for San Juan.

One funny story: the kids came home and said they had photobombed a video. So we had to watch it on the room TV…and sure enough… wait until the end. 🙂

Allure Day 1: Embarkation!

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Sunday—Fort Lauderdale, FL

We had a quick hotel breakfast and then it was time to board the shuttle at 9:30. Embarkation went really super easy and fast—our shuttle left the hotel about 9:40 and we were getting on the ship about 10:50! After we got through check-in, we were just finishing getting our group picture taken when our friends came around at the corner…so we were able to get a group photo together! It turned out really good so that was one of the six that I bought!

Some quick snaps while the professional was taking her photos.

Then a little bit of check-in (the kids had to get security bands that they would need to wear the entire cruise) and playtime (there was a playset in the waiting area).

And before we knew it we were headed up the gangway!

The first thing we weren’t expecting was NOT walking right onto the hustle and bustle of the ship’s Promenade. We actually had to walk down about 30 yards. But we headed straight to Boleros, the bar where we got our first drink on the Harmony—and the place we got our beloved wrist bands. AND LEARNED THERE WERE NO WRIST BANDS ON THIS SHIP!! WHAT?!?!?! Yeah, they don’t have the technology for it on this ship—they will (hopefully) after the upcoming spring 2020 renovation but for now it’s old school.

Well, it’s certainly first world problems but that was really disappointing because we’d talked them up so much to the kids and were excited that we’d actually managed to save our bands from the last cruise. But we didn’t plan ahead with lanyards because we thought we’d all have wristbands!! (Note: I did happen to throw in two lanyards so Owen and Katie were able to use those but Tom and I just used pockets or my purse.)

Since we were at a bar…we got our first drinks—of course a margarita and a mojito.

We sat down to gather our thoughts a bit since Dad needed to sit and rest. The kids went to check out the pizza place and our friends wandered in the bar. We then explored the ship a little and the kids and Grannie rode the carousel.

And I got a margarita from the Mexican restaurant…I started with the Sweet and Spice and it was yummy.

Then we all met at Chops for lunch. I had to sit in the big fancy chair in the lobby.

We really enjoyed it, but BIG SURPRISE Katie didn’t like anything. She did start with the jumbo shrimp cocktail but didn’t like it and it was downhill from there (she didn’t even like the mac and cheese).

You can see all our shirts!! Kind of.

When it was time for dessert Tom said he wanted nothing. He got it.

Then he and Mark were joking about it being the Marine corps birthday so Mark told the waitress that it was Tom’s birthday…

It was really fun, the food was excellent, and we all had a good time.

After Chops, the kids explored more with Papa and Grannie and went to the pool while Tom and I decorated the room door as a suprise.

And Papa and Grannie’s door:

We were also finally able to get in our room (though we had no luggage yet)…and we were really surprised by the differences between the Harmony and the Allure. We had thought it would be pretty much the exact same…ha.

The room was definitely a little smaller and not laid out as nicely (the bathroom and balcony were smaller, the closet was in an awkward spot, and the couch/kids’ bed was closest to the window), we didn’t have nice big desk drawers for clothes, and there were only two outlets in the entire room! (And you can’t bring extension cords so you’re stuck.)

There were other little differences that jumped out, too. For example:

  • The bar where we get our Bloody Marys doesn’t have the nice high back leather chairs we used for people watching (and drinking our bloody Marys) in the morning. And the Bloody Mary bar (shrimp, bacon, etc., is apparently somewhere else).
  • We can’t text. You have to use their app and it’s constantly logging you out and dropping the wifi signal.
  • They didn’t have the chili cheese fries at the pool Cafe!!!

Tom stayed in the room to rest and I went up to find everyone at the pool and sat on the lounge chairs for a bit. Katie had her first of many ice creams…

Ignore my lips. I put it on waaay too thick so it came off.

Then it was time to leave!!! Tom did make it up to join us.

We showed the kids the room and got changed for dinner. Soon it was time for dinner and it was great. Owen ordered from the adult menu and had steak and Katie got pizza from the kids menu. They had fun with their friends. We enjoyed French onion soup (Tom) and crab cakes and oysters (Jen), prime rib (Tom) and a seafood mash (Jen), and pear blueberry crumble (Jen) and molten lava cake (Tom). It was all good except the crumble was pretty plain (it was sugar free). At the time I thought I didn’t really need to take pics of the menus because I didn’t need to record everything we ate… But now, after the fact, I wish I had.

I do know we had dessert shots every night—our friend Mark had heard about them on his previous cruise (they aren’t on any menu). They were always very good and were always something mixed with Bailey’s!!

After dinner we went back to the room and the kids were excited for their first towel animal!

(They had been bummed there was no towel animal so we asked our steward about it. So we were nicely surprised after dinner!)

Then it was off for the big water show Ocean Aria. They did a little crowd warm up and this happened:

The show really was something to see—divers and acrobatics using a tiny little pool. The kids loved it, though, and eventually went and sat right up front and got splashed! After they went down, a huge group of kids joined them!

Afterward we let the kids roam the ship on their own (we wandered as well) and gave them instructions to be back to the room by 9:30 and they were! So then they were allowed to go out again on their own until 10:30. They were out playing ping-pong and who knows what else. We did sign them up for the kids adventure camp thing so they’ll do that later this week.

In one week our family will be on this ship…

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I honestly still can’t believe it’s real. This will be our first cruise with the kids and they are beyond excited.

And I am extremely thankful for SeneGence for providing me the opportunity to treat my family to this experience. Yes, you heard that correctly…this entire cruise from flights to excursions to souvenirs is MY TREAT—paid for totally by my little side gig. That was my main goal when I started doing this 2-1/2 years ago—totally a pipe dream and little did I know that the business would take off and I would be having so much fun and earning enough to spoil my family like this.

SeneGence has also totally changed my self confidence, changed my look, given me a whole new set of friends, and showed my kids that when you set goals anything can happen!

#senethankful

Owen’s bucket list: the raft!

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Owen really wanted to go out to the raft in the middle of the harbor but Grannie and Papa were afraid to let him do it on his own because they wouldn’t be able to help him at all. I wouldn’t have had a problem with him going but they wanted to wait until Tom was there. Tom did agree to go out with him…even knowing full well that it was freezing cold water. So here is their experience.

Tom was ready to stop right here—that water is COLD—but he agreed, so…

We had one happy boy!!

And one cold daddy.

Who deserved a beer!

My one vacation bucket list item, year 2.

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Y’all remember last year when I got to go behind the bar and stick my head under the thimbleberry margarita spout, right?

Well, this year I wasn’t expecting that but I did want more of those delicious thimbleberry margaritas… The kids were at a birthday party so the four of us headed out.

But let’s start at the beginning…

Step 1. Thar she is. Thimbleberry margaritas. 💕

Step 2. Soooooo good.

Professional (me) vs Amateur (Linda) 😂 Round 2 coming shortly.

Step 3. Ask to go behind the bar to get a picture. Get told no because there’s a camera. Say “Well I’ve been back there before…” and get the response “OH THAT WAS YOU? I REMEMBER THAT! COME ON BACK!” 😍🙌

Step 4. Get a third drink because VACATION. They also aren’t that strong.

Step 5. Time to go home. 😭😂 See you next year!!

The story behind the biggest and best birthday present ever.

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So let me preface this announcement by asking if you remember what one of my business goals was? Anyone? Bueller?

Yes, it was a family cruise. (I think I specifically said Disney, but realistically any cruise would suffice.) And we hoped the grandparents would tag along—I mean, what a great experience for the kids, right? And we’d all get an amazing vacation where no one has to cook or clean, we all get to relax and have fun with the kids, and hopefully escape some yucky Midwest weather.

So we forewarned the grandparents (they weren’t quite as excited as we were but they promised to think about it) and let our travel agent know we were looking for a good deal on a cruise. But then life takes over and you don’t think about it and time passes and you know that if you don’t actively engage, nothing will ever happen. And then something happens out of the blue and before you know it, you have put down a deposit on a cruise and it’s convenient to wait a few days to tell the kids after their party!

So what happened in an instant? New friends of ours (from baseball) that we’ve been hanging around with (and the kids love) were talking about a cruise they’re going on this fall. And not having any idea that a family cruise was actually in the back of our minds, she (possibly mostly in jest) said “You guys should come with us!” So I took a breath and said “You know, that might just work!”

It was the cruise line we just went on last year (almost the same ship, too) so that was a plus. A quick check of the calendar and with Tom (who pretty much gave an immediate and unequivocal YES!), and a few quick messages with our travel agent…and the cruise was booked! (Our TA even said he’s never booked a cruise that fast before!)

Long multiple-day story short, my dad and stepmom decided to go, too, so that’s awesome and we’re super excited. (We really tried to convince my mom and stepdad to go but weren’t successful.)

In the meantime, Tom started watching YouTube videos about the ship, pretending we were just showing the kids examples of cruises. We reaffirmed that we would be going on a cruise before we moved again, but that still left us two years.

We honestly didn’t think too much about how we were going to tell them, so after the party I rushed to the basement and cobbled together a card with the cruise info on it so they’d read it and hopefully we’d get a great video reaction.

Well, as usual, things didn’t go quite as we’d thought…

Maine, Day 3

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Unfortunately a dreary day for sightseeing.

So let’s go candy shopping! Yummy caramels, toffee, and treats for the kids!

And let’s have lobster for lunch.

Day 3: lobster #3 — lobster BLT

Then it was off to visit the marina where mom and David left from on their honeymoon—they’re pointing to it!

Aaaand lobster rolls again for dinner. Mom makes them SOOOOO good we didn’t want anything else.

Day 3: lobster #4

I never expected to cross off two bucket list items tonight!

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So let me backtrack a bit and say that back in July I saw a news article come across my Facebook feed about the most unique margarita in Michigan. Of course I clicked the link…and was happily surprised to see that it was a thimbleberry margarita in a restaurant in Calumet—exactly where we’d be headed later in the summer to pick the kids up after grandparent’s camp. What are the odds?

I tried to figure out when we could stop, hoping it would work on the way through as it would be about an hour from where we were staying (and since we’d only be there two days, we didn’t have much time to be traveling two hours for a margarita…even if I REALLY really wanted to). We planned to be passing through about 9pm which was perfect…except we left later than anticipated plus ran into construction and rush hour traffic so by the time we were driving by it was after midnight and they were long closed. 🙁 And then I kind of forgot about it since we were busy with family.

But then we went on our date night—which was about 20 minutes from the house—and actually put us about halfway to the margarita. Tom suggested we go and I thought about it for a minute, thinking I’d love to but that would mean a 45-minute ride home afterwards and I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that. And he looked at me and said “REALLY?! Let’s go. We won’t be this close for at least another year.” #vacationbucketlist

I love this man.

So off we went. We walked in to the restaurant and headed to the bar. An older gentleman sitting at the bar welcomed us (which seemed slightly odd, but whatever) so we thanked him then ordered the margarita. It. Was. Delicious. Here’s me enjoying my first one.

I asked who came up with it and the bartender pointed and said “The owner—and she’s right there!” So we started chatting with them. They were a husband and wife (which, had I reread the article, I would have seen their photo) and they were really great and super nice.

So as we were talking, I jokingly asked if they would let me drink from the dispenser (because who hasn’t wanted to do that with a drink or ice cream at some point in their life?!) and the owner said yes! WAIT, WHAT?! I was kidding. But they said it was a first and no one had ever asked! Ha! Free margaritas? I’m totally in. She said I’d have to let them take pictures to post on their Facebook page and I said that was no problem!

So I did it.

My first thought was it’s harder than you’d think to line your mouth up under it—the dispenser shoot is pretty close to the machine itself which doesn’t lend itself well to putting your mouth directly under it. Plus I had to hold my hair out of the way so it didn’t get in the machine, get covered in margarita, or get in the way of the pics being taken. Plus you couldn’t just crank it open full force or you’d choke—and it obviously have you brain freeze! So it was a delicate balance…but I handled myself like a pro. 🙂

Tom, the owner, and the bartender were snapping pics the whole time. Unfortunately noone took a video.

And from the bartender’s view:

It might have been dripping out of my mouth.

What a total riot! I mean seriously. I never would have guessed this is how my night would end. I told her I’m sure people would PAY to do that (I would!) and she joked that maybe that would be her new business model.

I took a pic with the owner and we exchanged pics and I posted them right then and there.

We even joked about me doing it again because we didn’t get a video and she said I could but then it didn’t go any farther. She said she’d let Tom do it if he wanted but he’s not a margarita guy. She then offered him the beer tap of his choice but as Marine Officer he declined. But, she did give me my second margarita on the house! Oh, and we also had a piece of delicious chocolate cake that the owner made!

We will definitely go back there…and I highly recommend the thimbleberry margarita.

Anniversary day in Chicago: a foodie adventure!

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Since the kids were away at grandparent’s camp, we decided to take advantage and go to Chicago for some foodie experiences to celebrate our anniversary a bit early. Of course I hadn’t thought far enough ahead about making reservations so the one place I really wanted to go had nothing available until September so we planned on walking in and hoping to eat at the bar (friends had done that so we knew it was possible).

Stop 1: Frontera Grill by Rick Bayless

We got there about 10 minutes before they opened and there was a line of about 10 people. By the time they opened there were probably 30 people waiting. We had a reservation and they sat us in the bar area at some reserved tables.

The menu wasn’t what I’d been looking at…I had downloaded the lunch menu, not paying attention that weekends had a brunch menu. (Rookie mistake!) So of course the two dishes I’d previously decided on weren’t available. I did ask if I could still get the dish I really wanted (one of their three ceviches) and he checked and said no. Dang. So it took me quite some time to pick what I wanted.

We started with drinks. Tom had a Chupacabra and of course I had a margarita. I really liked his and I’d order that above my margarita.

CHUPACABRA
Milagro blanco tequila, fresh and roasted vegetables (tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumber, celery, garlic, onion), fresh lime, Worcestershire and chipotle.

TOPOLO MARGARITA
Milagro reposado, Royal Combier, housemade limonada, shaken tableside.

FRONTERA CEVICHE
Hawaiian albacore, tomatoes, olives, cilantro, green chile. Crispy tostaditas.

The ceviche was amazing. It was a tie for my favorite dish of the entire day. I would eat that every day for the rest of my life. And it was one of the three ceviches they had that I didn’t think I’d like because I don’t like olives. But I’d never have known there was olives in it. I’m drooling now just remembering it. The tostadas were amazing—they stayed wonderfully crispy even with all that juicy ceviche on it.

I opted for two starters as my lunch:

GRILL ROASTED ELOTE CORN
Serrano mayo, cilantro, and fresh cheese

I had recently had Mexican corn at a farmers market and it came in a cup. I totally didn’t think this would come on a cob. LOL So it was messy but yummy!

SOPECITOS RANCHEROS
Crispy corn masa “boats,” braised beef shoulder, roasted tomato-serrano sauce, avocado, queso fresco.

Sooooo good. Unbelievably good.

Tom went way outside his box and got a vegetarian dish! I am not a huge mushroom fan so I’d never order it but it was good. (I forgot to get a pic once he unwrapped it and dug in.)

MUSHROOM MIXIOTE
Shiitake, maitake and oyster mushrooms, dark pasilla chile sauce, potatoes, chayote & local greens cooked in a parchment package. Creamy goat cheese, sunflower shoots.

And then dessert. We weren’t going to get any because we knew we had to eat again at 4:30 but…screw it. We both immediately went to this:

DOS, TRES, QUATRO CAKE
Dos candied nuts, tres leches, cuatro chocolates (chocolate-infused tres leches cake, house-ground chocolate ice cream, chocolate cookies, hot fudge), candied almonds & pecans.

We both love tres leches but weren’t huge fans of this. It was okay but we apparently like less fancy versions of this dessert (we joked give us your 9×13 pan instead of this crazy thing).

Stop 2: Chicago’s Original Architectural Tour by Wendella

We had asked friends for recommendations of things to do in the few hours between restaurants and this river tour was highly recommended. It was a quick walk from Frontera so seemed perfect. However, we hadn’t anticipated the hot and humid weather (it was probably 93° with 80% humidity) and we both decided there was NO way we’d enjoy any of it sitting topside in the blazing sun…so we each had a drink in the bar for most of the tour (they had margaritas so it seemed like fate). We will go back again with the kids when it’s cooler.

Stop 3: Hubbard State Cigar Shop

Because it was on the way back toward the car and Tom needed new cigars.

Stop 4: Firecakes Donuts

Because donuts. And it was right on the way.

From top: Espresso something or other, Pistachio old fashioned, Cherry fritter, Malted milk ball, Strawberry marscapone, Chocolate cake, PB cup, Creme brulee, vanilla with coconut

Stop 5: Three Dots and a Dash tiki bar

This bar was named one of The World’s 50 Best Bars so imagine the coincidence that it was ALSO on the way. It was only accessible via the alley—they had tiki torches outside (you can see them behind us).

Then it was down into the dark, cool depths of a basement bar.

The drinks were amazing…but expensive as hell. We only had one each. Tom said he has found his retirement job.

Stop 6: Girl & The Goat by Stephanie Izard (Winner of Top Chef)

So we got to Girl & The Goat way early. We wasted some time at a nearby coffeehouse since it was still like 90° and humid. At about 4:10 we walked down. The doors were locked but the revolving door was open so I walked in and asked the first employee I saw if it would be okay to sit at the bar until they opened since we’d just driven a long way and it was so hot out. He said he didn’t think legally we could do that and then suggested we sit in the waiting area. Okay, that was fine with me.

But my anxiety started kicking in as more people started lining up outside and then trying to come in (at one point a huge gaggle of like 20 people came in). You could see the manager getting irritated with people wanting to come in and wait but they obviously weren’t open yet. And the people looked at us sitting there like why did we think we were so special. I’m a rule follower at heart so I was torn between going to wait outside with the rest of the herd and keeping my seat (which no one was telling us we had to move…). I really wanted those first seats and we had been there first but I was getting paranoid that something was going to prevent it. Tom said he was ready to make a dash to the seats if need be. I know it’s just food and it would have been okay if we ended up needing to wait a bit, but I was still anxious.

Fast forward to 4:30 and a lady came over to us and asked if we had a reservation and we said no, we wanted to eat at the bar…and she said to go grab seats. Yay! So we were seated before anyone from outside even walked in. Phew!

That’s a goat topiary behind us.

And of course another margarita because why not?

I’d perused the menu ahead of time—as well as all the dishes our friends had ordered—so I had a good idea of what I wanted. I told the bartender that friends had been there and sat at the bar and had an amazing experience and he said he’d try to live up to the expectation!

We had drinks and picked four dishes. This is the order they came out (they serve them in the best order to eat them):

SWEET CORN PIEROGIS
Charred scallion sour cream, sweet corn-tomaro chimichurri

Everything was good, of course, but this was by far our favorite course of the night. The bite of pierogi with the chimichurri was pure delight.

SQUASH BLOSSOM CRAB RANGOON
Almonds, chive yogurt

We love crab Rangoon so had to try these. They were delicious, of course.

DUCK TONGUES
tuna and black bean poke, crispy won tons, piri piri

Just as delicious as our friend mentioned. (It was a toss up between this and the pierogi for the winning dish but the chimichurri pushed the pierogi over the edge.)

Then they surprised us with a dish, compliments of the chef, for our anniversary (we’d been talking about it with the bartender). It took me by total surprise and I forgot to get a pic. I’d never have ordered them but they were DELICIOUS.

SAUTÉED GREEN BEANS
Fish sauce vinaigrette, cashews

And the final course… We debated between a few and I let Tom pick.

GOAT NECK
Perilla marinated heirlooms, pickled grape tomato, green plums, tahini yogurt, wood fired pita

Mmmm. The meat was so tender and flavorful, the marinated tomatoes were perfect, and I’m not a tahini fan but it worked well together.

Before this dish came out we had discussed that we might need to order one more dish. While we’d had three planned dishes and one surprise dish, it really hadn’t been THAT much food. Did we need more? No. But we’d probably never be back so why not. But after the size of the goat neck, we opted to just go with dessert.

CARAMEL CORN & MALT BALLS
Vanilla malt ice cream, popcorn caramel, chocolate magic shell

When they delivered it (with the lit candle) they wished us a Happy Anniversary, as did all the bartenders behind the bar as they walked by! This was a crazy dessert that totally worked on all levels. Each component was delicious but a bite with everything was sublime. I’d order that again in a heartbeat. (They should really also add chocolate ganache squares to the description.)

We were there for almost two hours and we had a great time interacting with the bartender—I can’t imagine sitting at a table. When the bill came, they hadn’t charged us for the dessert, either, so we left him a huge tip. Overall an awesome meal. Just delicious all around. I highly recommend it…

And a last-minute photo as we were leaving!

It was such a great day and I’m so glad we did it…

Owen’s first MSU game!

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They’ve had tickets for months and have been getting more and more excited… Unfortunately it was coooold and required many layers but that didn’t hamper the excitement. 🙂

  
   
       

It was an exciting game, but unfortunately the outcome was an MSU loss in triple overtime… They ended their outing at Culver’s for dinner.

  

Happy 45th Tom!

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Tom got a half day off work so we celebrated his birthday in style at our first local Diners, Drive-ins and Dives restaurant: The Shanty. I started with Pineapple Sangria…

Then we tried one of the dishes they showcased on the show: Whiskey Shrimp. It was delish.

 

And another dish they profiled in DD&D: Blackened Conch Filet. Super yummy.

 
  

And a free birthday dessert!

 

Then we went to check out the Costco in Wisconsin—just a few miles away! 

Blue Man Group in Chicago!

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I’ve always wanted to see Blue Man Group and when I mentioned it to Grannie she said they’d like to go, too…so it was off to Chicago!

Photos weren’t allowed during the show so this is all I got beforehand.

The kids absolutely loved it and they immediately asked if they could see it again. 🙂

Edited to add some googled pics of what we saw: 

   
           

Mermaid hair!

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I saved this photo many many months ago as something I thought I’d someday like to do. Well…today is that day!

So this is happening!

I opted to go for teal instead of the pink in the original photo…so I’m going to be a mermaid!!

I’m leveling up! (Yeah, that was a new term for me, too. It’s going up the color chart to a lighter color.)

The parts of my hair that aren’t being touched—a bun on the top of my head and the under layers pulled to the side.

Leveling up (yes, bleaching) completed. YIKES!!! I have never seen my hair this color. The cool colors come next.

Stage two: More colors my hair has never seen!! The next time you see me I’ll be done!

The final product: I totally ❤️ it. I’m sooo thrilled!!

And here are some of the pics my stylist took to add to her album—she was SO excited to get to do it because people don’t often choose these types of colors!!

My poor poor hair.

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So, iFly was amazing…except my hair is just about ruined. Seriously.

I honestly didn’t think about my hair again until the morning after (this morning!) when I knew I’d have to really condition it in the shower and detangle it. I mean, I’ve had knots before, but you just really douse it with deep conditioner and then use a wide-tooth comb and yes it’s tedious but I’ve done this before and 20 minutes or so was all it took.

Ha.

HAHA.

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My hair was SOOOO densely knotted in the bottom 8″ that 30 minutes in the shower with two of my best conditioners and a wide-toothed comb did almost nothing. NOTHING. I eventually turned off the water and just stood there freezing my butt off while trying to untangle. I eventually gave up, planning to try again later leaving the conditioner in for awhile before I tried to comb through it (of course I had a doc appointment this morning so I couldn’t do it right then).

Fast forward to later that morning and this was my hair saturated with spray detangler, coconut oil, and heavy duty conditioner…wrapped in a warm towel. I honestly didn’t have much hope.

I undid the towel and just stood in the bathroom trying to comb out the nightmare. I’ve had knots before…but this is a whole new level I’ve never experienced. Wind speeds from 85-180mph. It’s literally a full head of this. And you know how thick my hair is.

I would dip my hair in a sink of water, spray it with more detangler, add more coconut or olive oil…and nothing. I even got out a fine-tooth comb and tried to do tiny 1/16″ sections at a time. Nothing. Well, I made a little bit of leeway, but every time I thought I was getting somewhere, I really wasn’t. So after maybe another half hour, I gave up and just ended up going brute force on it because I just couldn’t stand it anymore and I wanted to cry—and I pulled out a crap ton of hair. And my head HURT. If I had been making any decent headway, I would have painstakingly continued, but I wasn’t. I was already scheduled for a trim with my stylist, but I can’t wait to talk to her and see how bad it is and if I need more cut off. I may not end up needing extra inches cut off but I definitely screwed it up. The iFly headquarters is definitely going to be getting helpful feedback about dealing with guests with long hair.

Where are my iFly pictures and videos?! (Part 1)

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April 9—5:26pm

So we get home and I pretty much went straight to the computer to check out our photos and videos. If you recall, our iFly tickets each came with a free video and then Tom and I added on the High Flyer experience which came with a photo. So I login to get our videos and pictures…and guess what? There are exactly ZERO of either for me. Everyone else has a video (or two). Everyone else has a bunch of pics (Katie and Owen each had like 15). I HAD ZERO OF EITHER. The way their site is set you click on your location > date > flight time > name to see your associated media. Except Katie’s name wasn’t listed and my name showed all of Katie’s photos and videos! I flew right before her so had no idea how they could possibly have skipped me…twice? Including a high fly experience AND a double-length flight?!

I called them immediately and told them what was going on and they said they’d have to look into it and call me back. It didn’t sound terribly promising. They did call back within about 15 minutes to ask what color shoes I was wearing—I’m assuming so they could scrutinize the video feed and try and find my media. So I was a bit upset…but in a holding pattern hoping they would come through.

And what really gets me is that I didn’t take (or have Tom take) one single picture or video with my phone!! Why not you ask? Because I was thinking I didn’t want to keep it in my pocket while I was flying…but DUH I could have easily handed it off to Tom because we obviously weren’t flying at the same time. I was so pissed at myself about that for quite some time.

April 9—8:32pm

When we hadn’t heard anything back from them, Tom called to see what was going on. They assured him they were taking care of it.

April 9—11:24pm

I checked my email before bed and discovered they had sent the download links for two videos (so I actually got a free video!) but…they didn’t send any pics (!!) so I had to email them back about that. And after watching the videos…it’s two snippets from one flight and not a video from both flights! (Believe me, I’m very happy to have gotten the videos at all, but I am still very much hoping there’s a picture or two since they are much clearer than the video.)

We all flew at iFly!

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Today was the day I got to cross something off my bucket list—skydiving!! Or at least a close enough approximation of it to satisfy me!

We had about a 15-minute prep class where we saw a video on the basics, saw a brief demonstration of proper form, and learned the hand signals that they would use (since you can’t hear anything in the chamber).

There were only a few hand signals and basically you relax in the tunnel while bending your arms and legs a little and keeping your chin up. Easy, right? Of course! (Until you step into the tunnel, but I’m getting ahead of myself.)

After the class, it was time to get suited up. We all got jumpsuits, plastic goggles, ear plugs, and a helmet. I asked how to best wear my hair and was told braided or in a low ponytail so I took the easy way with the ponytail (I actually tried a quick braid but it wasn’t working and we didn’t have THAT much time to suit up). And I have to say: What a joke. They really should have stressed wearing a braid, wearing a cap (which I would have gladly done), or at the very least putting the ponytail inside the helmet. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We were each slated for two one-minute flights, plus Tom and I had added a “high flyer” package which meant the instructor would take us up higher towards the top (instead of staying at or below chest/head level); it also came with a photo.

There was a group of about 10 of us and we filed into the chamber. Katie was the youngest and there were a few older than us—and everything in between. A set of grandparents and a granddaughter went before us. The granddaughter was a previous flier because she started out with a bit more advanced moves which was fun to watch. Soon it was my turn—and as soon as I stepped foot into the wind tunnel my mind kind of went blank. How was I supposed to bend? What were my arms supposed to do? What did the hand signals mean? It’s amazing what 120-180mph winds will do to your brain as you’re being blown around like a leaf! 🙂 (I never once felt unsafe—the instructor is RIGHT THERE with you and your jumpsuit has handles on it for the instructor to grab—but it was FREAKY.) It probably took a good 20-30 seconds to calm down (maybe less, but time almost has no meaning in there) and start thinking more clearly, but by then you’re on the downswing of your allotted time. Needless to say it was VERY, VERY cool and I had A LOT of fun and my first minute was over too quick.

Katie was next and HOLY COW she REALLY flew around like a leaf! (They can adjust the wind speeds on the fly, so they probably calmed them down a bit for her once she got in, but she took off like a shot!) She did very well and appeared to be having a good time…but after her turn was over, she said she didn’t want to do her second flight, so I would use her time instead and get a two-minute flight for my second time!

Then it was Owen’s turn. He actually did better than I expected, considering he’s generally afraid of anything out of the ordinary.

Then it was Tom’s turn. Then it was time for the second set of flights. And let me just say that two minutes practically feels like an eternity in the wind tunnel! But, since I was now somewhat experienced and was getting the hang of it, the instructor let me do some hand movements that made me spin around. It was completely amazing how the tiniest of finger tilts could send you spinning around and around—tilt to the left, spin to the left; tilt to the right, spin to the right. It was also super cool to be zoomed to the top of the chamber with the instructor—we did that two or three times in fairly rapid succession (as seen in Tom’s video after mine below).

Then it was Owen’s turn again, and he didn’t have as good of a time on this go-round. His legs were like spaghetti and he just couldn’t seem to get them under control. Again, there was no danger and he didn’t seem concerned or scared, but the instructor pretty much had his hands on him the entire time.

Then it was time for Tom’s second flight. This is a picture from his instructor-assisted high fly as they came down to the bottom of the chamber:

So, you may be wondering why there is no good picture of me. Funny story, but I’m getting ahead of myself. 😐

So after all the participants were done flying, we filed out, received our certificates, and eventually disrobed.

We also took some pictures. 🙂

And it was at this point that I realized my hair had a big knot in it—I had tried to take out the ponytail to wear my hair down (we had plans to meet friends for lunch afterwards) but it was nothing I could fix with my fingers so I just put it back up in a pony tail and honestly didn’t think much of it.

Of course they had a sales pitch at the end as well, offering more flight time at a pretty good discount. With the assurance that we could use it at ANY location…and since there are three in the Chicago area…we went ahead and bought it. The kids aren’t interested, but I certainly am. Tom might or might not—he enjoyed it, but it really messed with his back (though he thinks that if he stretches out more ahead of time it might be better).

So we left and I was excited to get home and check out our photos and videos—remember, our package had come with one video for each participant plus Tom and I each upgraded to the high fly which came with a photo. But first we had to go meet friends for lunch…

And you will have to keep reading to find out what happened with the photos and videos…

White House Tour

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Touring the white house has been on my bucket list for awhile but I’ve been too lazy to do anything about it…so through a chance encounter, we met someone (a friend of a friend) who had two openings for New Years Day. At the time I was even MORE geeked because I thought the holiday decorations would still be up and Christmas is totally my thing…but unfortunately, the decorations were already down. 😥 The only slightly bad things were that 1) we would have liked to take the kids, but I wasn’t going to pass this up and 2) we had New Years Eve plans in New Jersey that would be cut a little short. But again we couldn’t pass this up. Uncle Rob was staying with us over the holidays so he watched the kids for us.

First stop: The Ellipse…and The National Christmas Tree.

“The walkway surrounding the National Christmas Tree features 56 state and territory trees decorated with handmade ornaments that are unique to each tree.”

Workers were maintaining the trains…

Vacuuming the tracks (I thought this was funny but if you think about it it has to be done).

There were so many people milling about that it took a few minutes before we could get in front of the White House with no one else in our selfie. 🙂 It was also hard to get the White House lined up between us because it was VERY bright and we could barely see the phone screen.

See? White House placement fail.

The hordes.

I just had to. 😆

Potty break. We sent it to Owen and told him it was a Pidgey (Pokémon) nest.

Starting the queue to get to the tour.

First ID and ticket checkpoint.

Through that building was the dog who sniffed everyone one at a time.

We couldn’t take pictures in one building, and then we were spit out here.

Entering the White House!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t so much a tour as a regular museum experience. There were lines and hordes of people just like every other museum so you had to wait your turn to poke your head through a doorway for 10 seconds or wait for people to get out of your way to see something on the wall.

I like that you can see my reflection in this one.

Gift shop at the start of the tour! We got a White House ornament.

This was literally a 3′ doorway to poke your head in to take a sweeping look around.

And look what was in the middle of the tour… 🙂 We each caught a few Pokémon and hoped they’d be good ones (they weren’t) but I now have a few I caught in the White House.

We opted not to wait in the huge line to take a picture directly in front of the Presidential Seal and doors so we got this instead. Had we not been trying to hurry, we could have tried to move to the side ever-so-slightly and hidden people behind Tom’s head. 🙂

And then it was done! They weren’t kidding when they said it only takes 45 minutes or so. I’m glad we did it, of course, but it wasn’t what I expected (though I don’t know why I was expecting an actual TOUR, like with a few people at a time—this is DC! Nothing happens without hordes of people!). The other bummer is that all the Christmas decorations were down. You were also encouraged to ask the guards about the house and the individual rooms and whatnot, but with as many people as were there and how crowded most of the areas were, you almost felt guilty if you held up the line just to chit chat with the guard.

We quick had someone snap this before more people walked out and ruined the shot.

See? The lady took a minute to reframe the shot and…people.

Fun with photoshop.

So, since we were in DC, we had to pick somewhere cool to eat—the Old Ebbitt Grill was on our way back to the parking garage!

The French Toast Breakfast Club (bacon-wrapped ham sandwich, apple compote, pecan butter, Vermont maple syrup) was DIVINE.

And then it was back to the car and off to New Jersey where we were going to be surprise guests!

National Museum of American History

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One museum down, 43 to go. 😆

Original Cookie Monster and Elmo!

It called to me.

Julia Child’s wall-o-cookware.

A model of the cruise ship we first cruised on—the Holland America Zuiderdam.

Three attempts at a family photo in front of the presidential hall.

Our little DJ.

Three hours and done!*

* I’m just not a huge museum fan (or history in general, which is why being in the DC area is pretty pointless for me). This was probably my first choice of all the museums and while I think some of the stuff is cool I just don’t care enough to read about all of it. I probably could have spent a bit more time in the First Lady and Presidential halls but most of the rest was easily done with a quick walk-through. I also very much dislike hoardes of people and being crowded and not able to see things easily so that’s a huge issue here. It wasn’t too bad when we were some of the first 500-1000 people in when they opened but after a few hours when the entrants have doubled? No thank you. The kids also weren’t very interested so they would have really been bored to tears if we took any longer.

Also, Uncle Rob was supposed to have been with us, but he wasn’t thinking and had a pocketknife with him…and since these are federal buildings everyone has to go through security and he could not bring it in with him. He tried to go back and put it in the car, but he would have had to go back through security to get to the car…so unless he wanted to toss it or hide it, he was out of luck (we entered through the parking garage so the car got a cursory check but we didn’t get personally checked and we didn’t have to exit through security so it passed—but to re-enter the building to get to the parking lot, you had to pass security). So he wandered the area seeing the sights and taking pictures.

Bucket list lunch: complete

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We lived in Troy for three years and I wanted to eat at Zingerman’s Deli the whole time but we just never got there. Today, since we were literally right down the street, it happened.

Linda and I split a large reuben and it was still too much (we should have split the small).

Then we sampled this $26/lb cheese and it was VERY tasty. I was sad I couldn’t take any food home…

I wish I could come back here because there were A LOT more sandwiches I wanted to try…

Vacation bucket list item (food truck): complete

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This place—Food at Northbound—came with rave reviews…and it didn’t disappoint!

Smoked pork torta (with pork, lime aioli, jalapeño slaw, cheddar, and sweet & spicy jalapeños) and BBQ fries (with beer-battered fries, BBQ-rubbed pork, white cheddar, sweet & spicy jalapeños, and bourbon BBQ sauce). TOTALLY AMAZEBALLS.

Finally, after 26 years…

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…I got to see Top Gun on the big screen!!!

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Why didn’t I see it in 1986? Because I was 12 (or 13) and my mom saw it first and said “It’s just a bunch of planes flying around and it made me sick.”

I KNOW, RIGHT?!

So I’ve watched it about 25 times on VHS…then DVD…just waiting for the day it MIGHT come back to the theater.

And that time was now…for a special limited release in IMAX 3D!

To help promote the films upcoming 3D Blu-ray release on February 19, Paramount decided to re-release the classic in a six day run that started on Friday, where the film averaged about $6,600 per screen.

And it was only an hour away in Wilmington so HELLS YEAH I was going! WOOHOO!!!

We considered it an anniversary [of when we met in February 1997] / Valentine’s Day outing so ate a sushi lunch first then walked down the street to the theater where I saw this:

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And had to have some!

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Yum!

Then it was off to the movie. Aren’t the 3D glasses stunning?

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And the movie was AWESOME! Wow. The 3D aspects didn’t blow me away…but there were some cool aspects and the actors felt very close and sometimes it felt like you were IN the cockpit with them!

Also, interestingly, with the awesome THX surround sound, I heard A LOT more of the background noises that just melted away in TV showings even with a decent home surround sound system (like a running shower and background music that were never as pronounced).

It was my first actual 3D movie (other than Honey, I Shrunk the Kids at Disney about 20 years ago or 3D/IMAX attractions at Cedar Point) and I’d have to say 3D has come a long way. And it took a good 20 or so minutes until I finally stopped noticing that I was watching the movie through glasses and just enjoyed it without distraction. Well, except I had to pee about 30 minutes in but hell if I was going to miss one second of the movie after waiting 26 years!

We ended our day’s outing with a trip to Costco…so it was a great day! And I can cross See Top Gun on the big screen off my bucket list!

Garth Brooks Rocks!

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Through a bizarre set of circumstances, I ended up flying to Nashville to attend a Garth Brooks charity concert.

And wow. Just…wow.

He was AMAZING. A. MA. ZING. He did a 2-hour show which included (I think) three or four encores.

It was an awesome experience. Especially since I haven’t gone to many concerts in my time… But to hear ~16,000 people singing every word to every song just blew me away. And his energy? Holy crap. I was exhausted just standing, singing, screaming, and applauding for two hours…he had to be dead. But he just kept going and going and going. As I said in my Facebook post, he was “balls to the wall for two straight hours.”

It was just pure awesome, and I am very thankful to how everything worked out in a matter of hours…and how things all came together in the end!

  1. Seeing Garth on Oprah and thinking how I’d love to see his acoustic concert in Vegas.
  2. Me tweeting that if anyone wanted to know what to get me for Christmas, it was “Garth Brooks Vegas.”
  3. A friend of mine from Alabama, Jen, posted a reply that she had an extra ticket for one of his Nashville shows if I wanted to fly down.
  4. My dad and stepmom were planning on being here anyway on that date, so they would be able to babysit (Tom had to work).
  5. Tom agreed I could spend the money—Merry Christmas to me!
  6. A week later I tweeted that I arrived in Nashville—and my friend who lives in Nashville (Laurie, who I graduated high school with) called me to say “I didn’t know you were coming to see Garth HERE! We have to get together!”
  7. My friend with the extra ticket had another extra ticket for MY friend…so we all went together!

Everything was apparently meant to be. And I am a very, VERY happy woman!