"Today is the last day of being 26. What an awesome year."

My mom is right, my 26th year was pretty awesome. This past weekend, prior to my birthday, I was a little upset it was coming to an end & I would be celebrating my 27th birthday. It was my first birthday that I didn't require a week long party, fireworks to notify everyone, or anything over the top. I guess I'm starting to mature, finally.


While having my birthday dinner Heidi asked me to think of the five best things of my past year & it has taken me almost a week to get my thoughts organized, since it was so absolutely amazing. I've picked six moments for 26 that I will never forget.


1. All the wedding related activities. I realize this is a broad event but it was truly a fairytale. I loved all the little moments: picking out my wedding dress, having dinner with my bridesmaids, dress shopping & picking black, hugging my mom, my bridal shower (oh my gosh, such a memorable day), picking out save-the-dates, my bachelorette party, seeing Mark in the library at Normandy farms, our vows, dancing to our band, people telling me I looked beautiful & believing it. Our video is ready but we haven't picked it up from Clair Pruett. We are going to save it until our first wedding anniversary.

2. Our new home. I cannot believe Labor Day weekend we will be a year! I love that it is ours, to share, to build, to love...

3. David Gray concert to celebrate my 26th birthday! I've always loved this artist but to see him in concert made my heart dance. He looked like a bobblehead doll & it was my first concert to actually sing along (yes, I know most of his lyrics) & enjoy the music, rather than the scene.

4. New Years Party. This will now be an annual event at the McKee's because we had such a great time last year. We all drank straight from the champagne bottles, banged pots & pans, listened to Keith's rituals & participated, watched the ball drop in the basement, threw confetti, ate more than enough buffalo chicken dip. Such a success.

5. Picking pumpkins with Jaclyn, Winston, Dalia & Mark. We all met at a great farm, closer to our new house, to enjoy a hay ride, farm animals, wagon rides, & each other while looking for the perfect pumpkins & apples. It was such a perfect day. I remember riding in the wagon with Winston on my lap. In the middle of apple aisles, I told him I loved him so much & he said it right back to me in the most sincere voice. It made my heart melt.

6. Sledding. There is something about doing little kid things when you become an adult. It just feels more fun, slightly adventurous & silly! We went to this gigantic hill in Allentown with Heidi, Brian & seriously spent hours going down this hill - backwards, holding hands, kissing, on our stomachs, even all four of us linked together. We laughed so hard and I never wanted the day to end. We forgot about all the worries in life, talked about Bella, laughed harder than ever before, & I can say we felt so lucky to have this wonderful life & work closures.


I can only imagine my life getting filled with more love, laughs, memories of my loved ones in this upcoming year. Thank you for being a part of my 26th year & making my life so happy.

Dinner this week

I really try to go grocery shopping on the weekends, & before I go, I do my best to plan at least five dinners for week nights. I know I can be over organized but this is something that makes my life so much easier. On Sunday, I write down our dinner choices on a dry erase board and each night I ask Mark what he wants or just pick the easiest choice depending what time we get home from work. He wouldn't care if I always picked the dinners, but I think it is nice to ask & see if he has a preference. So even today is already Wednesday, I wanted to share our dinner picks for this week. I will continue this 'entry' each week if you find interesting or possibly share some of my favorite recipes. Happy August.

Monday - BBQ chicken pizza & green salsa with our home grown tomatillos. A must have.
Tuesday - Tomato soup & grilled cheese. I added edamames to my soup, & only half a sandwich
Wednesday - Brewery spiced (homemade) wings with string beans /or salad
Thursday - Stir Fry (with left over chicken) Super easy!
Friday - Breakfast for dinner (Turkey bacon, eggs & toast)

Trips!

Mark is going to San Fran at the end of August for business & I'm really hoping to join him for a few days, especially since we would only have to pay for my expenses. We are trying to enjoy all the wonderful things life has to offer, while we are fun & young. There are some things I would absolutely love to see since it is only 49 square miles! Obviously, the Golden Gate bridge, Alcatraz (which I heard you had to make reservations 3 weeks before), Fisherman's Wharf (marketplace & home to sea lions), Grant Ave (oldest street in San Fran), Union square to see the shopping! Sounds like fun, right? I ekkkkkkkkkkkk with excitement.

We are also headed to the windy city, Chicago, for Kiira & Nate's wedding late September, which I'm equally thrilled about. I need to start my research soon!

Happy trips. Happy memories. Happy life.

Life. Love. Happiness.

Lately, I've been feeling pretty lucky. I have been having some ah-ha moments & realizing how sweet life can be. Obviously, it wouldn't be this good if I didn't have all of you.

Mark & I went for a walk last night, about two miles round trip to the closest golf course, Hickory Valley, which is surrounded by beautiful horse farms. I love our walks. We talk about everything: babies, friends, trips, the future, our families, work, our life in Gilbertsville. It gives us time to put down the phones, emails, facebook & lets us be us without any distractions. As we were walking home the sun went down and without knowing the sky opened up with buckets of rain. I couldn't help but laugh & feel happy. It was so innocent, wonderful & refreshing. As we continued to head home in the pouring rain, we stopped to kiss on the bridge. I could feel Mark pulling away, & he began to tell me he was concerned since we were on a metal bridge. Again, I laughed & couldn't love him any more than this little moment. He is always looking out for me, letting me be me & loving me. Each time today I thought about this I smiled. It is in moments like these, life is so sweet.

Ryan Homes is on my S list.

We absolutely love our home, love our neighborhood, & love our surrounding community. Never did I think I could be this happy in a place called Gilbertsville. Around this time last year, we fell in love with our home & Ryan Homes. Everything went smoothly from asking a million questions, picking out our options, visiting our house while being built. As of now, we have been in our house for over eight months & it has been wonderful. When we moved in, our sales representative said for recommendations, more friends to refer & our project manager stated they want to achieve nothing but 10's on their survey. Happy to oblige knowing they did everything wonderfully.

Although, this past month Ryan Homes hasn't impressed me, probably more than annoy me.
Things which we aren't so happy about:

1. They never installed wires for the street lamp on our corner, therefore; they dug up the yard & part of the sidewalk. The lamp worked for a few days & now, it is out again. The sidewalk was never roped off which could have been perfect for someone wanting to trip & fall. Mark put up the tape. Mark & I also dug out the trench & removed all the extra dirt they threw on our yard. We have called a few times for the lamp and our sidewalk, considering this began over three weeks ago with no return call.
   


2. Due to the house & yard settling, our front yard made a huge crater. Mark requested the project manager inform him a day before they were planning on filling it, so he could pull up all the grass. Therefore, once filled the grass would grow more easily with the previous sod. So last Sunday (not yesterday) Mark dug & removed everything. They still haven't filled in the hole, & now the grass has died. Apparently, you can't buy mulch in the rain, or so they told Mark.



3. We were supposed to get our drive way top-coated today. We came home to find everyone else on our street beautifully finished, but ours. No note. No phone call. No explanation. Once we both got home, we had to make numerous calls to find out what exactly was happening. By the fourth call, a Ryan Homes representative informed us our entire walk will have to be dug up since it has also sunk. Therefore, they will have to do our steps & front walk-way before top-coating our drive. This is annoying but no one's fault. I am sad our beautiful garden could possibly be ruined.



4. We have mold in our basement, along the baseboards. I'm afraid there may be water leaking in from outside. Mark is thinking they will have to take down part of the wall to see if there is water.

None of the issues listed above are to be blamed but I do have a problem with NO one contacting us regarding issues impacting our home, & the work which needs to be completed. I am starting to feel neglected and once we got into our home, Ryan Homes has stopped caring about their customer, which they were once so worried about.

Our ten month inspection is quickly approaching which I'm sure will bring on a whole new adventure. Hope to update progress later this week. Thanks for listening.

DQ

Last night, Mark was craving a Butterfinger Blizzard from DairyQueen. He asked me to come with him, & I said I didn't want to. I didn't want to be tempted & also because the results of DWTS was on (pathetic, I know). Somehow, it became a family trip. We drove up to DQ & pulled around the drive thru, which you can hardly see the screen of all our options until you are at the speaker. Therefore, when we pulled up, I asked the guy if they had anything low calorie, predicting they didn't. He had a long pause, & said, 'Nope, I don't think we do." I told him I appreciated his honestly & said I didn't want anything. Then, Mark ordered his Butterfinger blizzard. (Please know, I also had to hold it while Mark drove home - such a tease.) When we got home, I pulled out a weight watchers popsicle and dreamed it was as tasty as the blizzard. I decided today to review the nutrition information.

A medium Butterfinger Blizzard is 740 calories, 26 grams of fat, 55 grams of cholesterol, and a whopping 114 grams of carbohydrates. They undoubtedly delicious. The mini still weights in at 340 calories. To relate, a regular, 5 oz. slendarita at Rita's is 230 calories.

This is a website lists the 7 healthy ice creams & frozen desserts: http:www.health.com/health/article/0,,20410308,00.html

Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels...

Related Events

Just an update:

1. I've got the best friends & family a girl can ask for... I truly believe I am so blessed to have so many people surrounding my life to make every memory seem brighter. My family makes me laugh & making them happy, makes me happy. I may not see my friends each & every day but they sure make me feel so loved. Thanks (wink).
   


2. Mark & I are officially looking for the following items on craigslist: bikes & a garage refrigerator.
   


3. Mark & I tried pear water ice last night at Rita's. It was life changing. It is only 3.6 miles away so on hot days I plan to run there!
   


4. We are going to have Mark's 30th birthday party on July 16th, anyone is welcome. I really think this birthday will be the best!



5. Things to finish before July 16th: buy a mirror for the living room, dining room table to be purchased, look into patios & bed. ahhhhhh.



6. I've signed up for the Philadelphia Half Marathon on November 20, 2011. So pumped!



7. I'm dying to do two things on my bucket list related to sports: see a Phillies game right behind the dugout & attend a horse race, either the Derby, or the Preakness.