Brad Paisley Lyrics

Now this might be a little self-centered but Dave and I agree that Brad Paisley seems to know us well and write his love songs after our relationship. Case in point - his new song Then. Here is just a snippet of the song:
"And I remember, taking you back to right where I first met you,
You were so surprised
There were people around, but I didn't care
Got down on one knee right there once again,
I thought I loved you then

Chorus

And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
Like a river meets the sea,
stronger than it's ever been.
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then"

This is the perfect way to describe our proposal evening in Grand Central Station - where we first met. People all around - but I didn't care. It was amazing!

Note: All the love sappy posts are because our anniversary is coming up this weekend and I have been preparing Dave's gift. It's brought back great memories! Thanks for indulging me.

Reality Check

As I have been quickly trying to finish my anniversary paper gift for Dave I stumbled across this link and I am reminded of the beautiful gift of life and the joy my marriage as brought me. Prepared to be saddened and reminded never to take the gift of love for granted.

Our New Home

Check out the sideshow of our new house all put together!

Flat Stanley

For those non-teachers out there - Flat Stanley is a series of chapter books about a boy named Stanley who was flattened by a board in the middle of the night. The books are about his adventures as a flat kid. I find them so cute!

Since I am not a classroom teacher I decided to adopt a 2nd grade class for the remainder of the year to do my Flat Stanley project with. The project entails taking this little cut-out boy with me everywhere I go, taking pictures with him, and documenting his journeys in a journal. All of the students are doing the same thing over this break, as well as 11 of my colleagues! I am so excited.

So far this spring break my Stanley has been to the CT & NY DMV offices, grilled out dinner at our new house, gotten contacts, been to Easter Sunday church, gone shopping, shopping and more shopping, as well as eating at some good restaurants during this break. Tomorrow Stanley and I are off to Austin to spend a few days with my family.

We're Moving!

Yep, you read that right! We are moving! I am so excited! We found out last month that our current landlords need us to move by June 1st so they can convert our 2 family house back into a single family one. This wasn't such a big shock to us because the house has been on the market for a while and we were just waiting for them to decide what to do.

We decided to look in Greenwich, CT because this is an area that we both love and it is close to Dave's work. It will be a longer commute for me, but it will be worth it. We are also excited because it is a single family home and even though we are renting it will feel like our own.

Now off to pack some boxes & order new return address labels...

Bachelor Finale...

Tonight is the finale of The Bachelor and I have mixed emotions going in. Do I even watch? If even a smidgen of what Reality St.eve alleges is true I will know the show is a scam and and possibly scripted. Only tonight and tomorrow night will tell...

Will you watch?

SNOW DAY

Yes, you read the title right - SNOW DAY in New York City!!!! 1.1 million kids and thousands of teachers off today. I am beyond excited.

I was up at 2:00am this morning looking out the window at the weather and the news - but no news at that time. All of the suburban schools were canceled but not the city. I woke up at 5:00..still no news. I shower, dry my hair...then my phone rings! False alarm- it was my friend Liz saying she didn't think she could make it in to work. She was going to call our principal to see what she should do. About a minute after we hung up she called me back and said that school was canceled! This is a rare event in NYC. The last snow day was before I lived here in 2004. When I hung up the phone I threw on my jacket and boots over my bathrobe and ran outside to tell Dave he could stop shoveling out my car. The nice husband that he is he decided to finish the job.

It will be a great extended weekend!

New Music

AND


This week I have been listening to 2 of my new favorite albums a lot! The 1st is Lady Antebellum's self titled album and the second is Darius Rucker's "Learn to Live" album. My favorite song of Lady Antebellum's is "I Run to You" & My favorite of Darius's is "It Won't Be Like This For Long." Darius used to be the lead singer in Hootie and the Blowfish if you couldn't quite place him.

I highly recommend both of these albums for you country music lovers!

Weekend Re-Cap

Yesterday I was so excited because I had been waiting all week for the delivery of our new dining room set from Crate & Barrel. We have been looking at tables and chairs for a long time and before we left for FL we finally found a set that we loved! We ordered it as soon as we got back and the delivery was set for this Saturday. They arrived right on time and unloaded the truck in less than 5 minutes. I was so excited to open the boxes and see our dining room transformed. Well...we started unpacking the chairs and all six were there and in great condition. Next came the table. Dave opened the box and as I was helping him remove the syrofoam I noticed that a piece of the table was broken. BUMMER!





So now we are left with 6 chairs but no table in our dining room. A small set-back but Crate & Barrel was very nice and we will have a new table next Saturday. Let's hope this one comes just perfect!

After our table mishap we were were both a little bummed so we decided to look on Craiglist for tickets to the Ranger's (NY's ice hockey team) game that night. Dave had thought to get me tickets for my birthday but my new UGG boots won out on that debate. He thought to do this for my birthday this year because 2 years ago on my birthday we went and I had strep throat and was miserable the whole game - although I tried to act like I was fine we had to leave the game early.
Last night was very different from 2 years ago and it was a lot of fun! We found really cheap tickets from someone who just needed to get rid of them and we hopped on the train an hour later. We made it into city in time for dinner before the game and headed over to Stout NYC for some pre-game eats. It was packed with Rangers fans but it's really big so we got a table and had great food so we were forced to eat overpriced arena food! Since neither Dave or I are Rangers fans it was nice to enjoy the game without any pressure. The Rangers scored 2 goals in the first minute and finished with at least 4 fights in the last 2 minutes. It was a fun game!

It's snowing today and we are expected to get 3-6 inches tonight. I really hope they are wrong! I am DONE with snow for this winter!

Hope you had a great weekend!

Daytona 500 & Disney Re-cap

Dave and I just got back from a wonderful week in Florida! We started the week off with my parents and the Daytona 500. It was forecasted to be a rainy day and I was a bit nervous! Lucky for us - the rain stayed off for a while and we were able to see them run more than half the race before the bottom fell out and the rain came down. My dad got smart and thought that as soon as it started to sprinkle we should go to the car to beat the traffic. I am sure glad we did because as soon as we got to the bus to go to the parking lot they called the race and the fireworks went off to signal the end. Overall, it was a great time with GREAT seats, and even though we didn't see the full race it was a wonderful event to go to and we had a great time with my parents.

The next day we started our week at Disney World in Orlando. My parents went to brunch with us at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. This is a really neat hotel with animals that roam around the grounds. The rain had gone away and it was the start of a "magical" week! After my parents headed to the airport we went to our first park of the week - The Animal Kingdom! It wasn't too crowded and we got a few rides in before we stopped for drinks and snacks at the Rainforest Cafe.
The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom early for our "Keys To The Kingdom Tour." This was a really neat tour that gave a lot of history of Disney and showed some of the "backstage secrets." If you ever go to Disney I highly recommend this tour! The Magic Kingdom was packed! The wait for Space Mt. was 180 minutes. It was a little insane! We enjoyed oursleves by getting a "FastPass" for the ride, going back to the hotel pool for a while, and then going back later that night to ride some rides.
Wednesday was spent at Hollywood Studios and once again we got there early to beat the main rush. This was a great idea because we rode the main roller coasters in the first hour and were able to see shows for the remainder of the day. My favorite show of the day was The American Idol Experience. This is a show where park guests can audition and 3 are chosen for each show to perform in front of the live audience (us). The judges give their thoughts and then we vote for who our favorite is. Each favorite throughout the day goes to the night show and the best from the day gets a "golden ticket" to go to the front of the line at any audition for AI when they have them. It really does feel like a real AI show. Pretty neat! Another favorite part of this park for me were the street performers that they have randomly performing along the streets. They are supposed to be reminiscent of old Hollywood and they are really funny and entertaining!
We spent the rainy day of Thursday at Epcot. My favorite ride was Soarin' which is an IMAX type ride that really makes you feel like you are flying above different US landmarks. We didn't really experience the World Showcase section of Epoct as I would have liked because of the rain - but no worries, we went back on Friday to get the full effect of the different countries. Also on Friday we spent the afternoon at Downtown Disney shopping and enjoying the water. We also finished our week with a nice dinner at Fulton's Crab House - a seafood restaurant that is built as a boat on the water. It was a great way to end the week!

Overall, the week was a wonderful get-away from the hustle and bustle of life here. Disney is so well run and anything you need is right there for you. I enjoyed the warmish weather and the time spent with Dave and my family. I would recommend this vacation for "children" of all ages!

A Few Thoughts...

I love my husband
I enjoy our president
My friends are wonderful
I am thankful for our life
My grandmother is my hero
I am ready for my 26th year of life...

"20 Degrees Above Average"

So what does one do when the temperature drastically rises from below freezing to 55 degrees in 2 days...
Put on some flip flops...
and get a pedicure!


I have started the Disney countdown and with T- 6 days I have started the prep with my toes! I cannot wait!

Moving...

Nope, not to another house but to a storage facility. Yep, in our search for a new dining room set we have come to the conclusion that we need to put things in storage to make room for a real dining room. We have currently been using our dining room as a dining room and an office, while the second bedroom has been used as a guest room and 2nd closet for my clothes. Since we have put the house hunting on hold for a bit we have decided to make ourselves at home here. We were only planning on being here a year but since it has been more time than that we have thought we should really settle down. Enter - the storage facility. Today we have moved a lot of boxes of seasonal items and the futon to the storage center and we have spent the last hour disassembling the desk and moving it into the second bedroom. The house is a bit of a mess right now, but I am taking a break while Dave gets all the electronics set up on the desk. We sure do have a bunch of cords!

I am excited that after all this shuffling has settled down we will buy our new dining set and have it delivered to be set up in our new and improved dining room!

Popcorn Party

Dave and I went shopping today. We are looking for a new dining room set and stopped by Crate and Barrel to look at their selection. We found some things we liked but my favorite purchase were the popcorn bowls we got (see picture above). I can't wait to put them to use!

Tonight we are off to our favorite Italian Bistro in nearby Bronxville to celebrate my birthday (coming up on Thursday!).

Enjoy your weekend!