Merry Christmas HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Morning glories!

Gus and I arrived in VA safe and sound after hours upon hours of driving. It was fun to see the snow get thicker for most of the drive. It truly felt like coming home for the holidays :)

Now we are home and being spoiled rotten traveling and flitting all about to visit with friends and family. But tonight is the night of all nights. Christmas Eve which is I love so much better than actual Christmas day and here is my logic.

Christmas Eve is magical. It is full of possibility and absolutely anything could happen. Christmas Eve mass is gorgeous kids are dressed up and excited, all the fur coats in Richmond come out for one night and there is champagne toasts and bagel noshes. Christmas Eve is my favorite!

Christmas Day is also wonderful because it means tons of incredible family and wonderful food and loads of fun thoughtful presents. Plus having your Grandparents spoil you rotten for a few days is always a blast.

Anyways I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas celebrating all of the special traditions that are important to you :)

I wish you all a very, super Merry Christmas and a beautiful and very happy New Years!

Sooooo close!

Eeeek! I get to go home the day after tomorrow! I am so excited Christmas is going to be so wonderful but most importantly I GET TO GO HOME and be out of here thank God. I get to see the Bogeys and Jonny and the Greene clan and the menage-a and the Burg crew and all of my awesome friends. Eeek! The only fly in the ointment though is that Gus and I could not come to any compromise about dividing our Christmas time so he will be doing his thing and I will be doing mine. Oh well. You can't win them all all the time I suppose. But it tis no matter because I GET TO GO HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways in an homage to how awesome being home for Christmas is I am going to post some of my favorite holiday pics for your festive viewing pleasure. Enjoy!


Cutting down our Christmas tree, an annual family tradition where we all get together and play with saws in the forrest... huh.

The notorious penguin hat that when put upon ones head makes everything jolly and fun and wonderful. Seriously you should try it sometime. Its magical.

Who else do you know who would ride a kayak around his family room? No one thats who. Only daddy :)

Since crab legs were added to Christmas Eve dinner and we had no proper crab cracking tools we were forced to imrpovise. With tools from daddys workbench. Hence all the pliers :)

Pretending as if my nose is a succulent piece of crab meat... bahahaha

I want to go home for Christmas. Right Now :(

I am so homesick and ready to go home it is not even funny :(

Christmas Time?

I realize that I have not been placing a whole lot of emphasis on the fact that it is now the holiday season. To be honest I think it is because it does not feel very Christmasish to me here. We put up the cottage tree this weekend and it helps but I don't think it will really feel like Christmas until I am at home. Oh well.

So since I am being such a Grinch I thought that I would link you guys to the funniest Christmas web site that I have found thus far. It is all about sketchy Santa's and the pictures are hilarious.

Enjoy ....

SKETCHY SANTAS

Happy Birthday Bogey! Take Two :)

Happy birthday mommy! Today we are celebrating my super amazing mothers birthday which yes happens to fall within the same week as my fathers which was always fun growing up. Mommy is quite the jet setting rockstar and got to travel last night in high style all around Richmond in the Shaggin Waggin checking out all the fun lights and hanging out with her cool kid crew. I am sure you had so much fun Mom and I wish that I could be there with you to play but I shall be home very soon and there will be many toasts and adventures. I love you very much and hope that you have a fabulous birthday and are celebrating the fact that you don't look a day over 37 :)

Baby Tiny Bogey Baby. So freaking cute!

Mom and Uncle Hugh in what I am sure was quite the fun portrait session :)

Beautiful MEG.

Mirror mirror on the wall I have the most beautiful mommy of them all!

Mommy taking me out on the town to celebrate my 21st birthday. She has always understood my need to dress up and get all fancy :)

Bogey looking picturesque on our vacay to Prince Edward Island. She looks like something out of a postcard.

Kisses on the deck of Legends Brewing Company as the sun sets on Downtown Richmond. A perfect pair, delicious cupcakes and yummy microbrews. Life can't get much better than that.

WICKED! Our trip to NYC will long be remembered as the weekend the redheads took Manhattan and had way too much fun. Thank you again mommy for such an incredible trip!

Jonny giving mommy her dirty old woman painting :) Just kidding this is one of Jonny first nudes and mom fell in love so he gave it to her as a mothers day gift. I completely forget this boys name right now....

Happy graduation day! Mommy and grandpa after graduating from Ursuline.

Happy Birthday Bogey! Two years ago today mommy and her crew celebrating the big 50 in style. This was a great surprise and tons of fun!

Jonny loves mommy oh so very much. He smooches to prove it :)

Very bestest friends forever. Well in three day spaces at least :)

Cassada cake! My mother had introduced my to yet another delicious confection that you can only get made correctly in Cleveland. Wench :)

The tale of Anna

Alright so here is the puppy update. We found her owners and now I am crushed :(
Turns our her name is Anna and she is a repeat runaway offender according to her family.
The problem lies in the fact that I had fallen completely and totally in love with her.

I don't even like dogs, dogs don't really like me but this dog did. I refuse to call her Anna because that name just does not seem to fit her. I was going to call her Ginger. Sigh. It was not the fliers or the online ads but rather the call to the local SPCA that gave us the number of the puppies real true owners and my heart sank. I did not want to give her back. Which puts you in quite a moral pickle because even if the owners are negligent and let her run away all the time she still belongs to them. So I could not make the call I made Gus do it because I did not want to be the one responsible for sending her away and he is still technically the man of the house and has to do the hard stuff. I told him to add though that we wanted her if they didn't.

We can't have a dog. Gus wants a dog desperately but we are just getting our acts together and it would probably be irresponsible to get one at this stage in our lives. They require alot of work and love and money and are a big commitment. I know all this but I think destiny had other plans. I mean the puppy literally showed up on our front porch. She is cuddly and lovable and sweet and perfect.

So Gus called me back and said that the owner had literally called the universes bluff and that we could have the dog if we want her. Apparently this woman has lots of kids and 'Anna' is constantly running away and causing her headaches and she has been thinking of giving her up for awhile. Despite all of my reservations I was almost psuedo begging her to leave the puppy with us. It was like something out of an orphan adoption movie. She was admiring what a nice house we had and what a lovely couple we were (according to our digital picture frame) and it seemed like the deal was sealed. She was all set to give Anna a better life, but then at literally the last moment reconsidered and decided she wanted to give her another shot.

Now I am sad. A puppy is impractical and exactly what I don't need right now but so was Gus Diggs in the beginning and that turned out for the best. Maybe we had to move to Murphysboro to find our perfect puppy. Oh and for those wondering the puppy and Henry got along splendidly. They weren't exactly the fox and the hound but not for the reasons you would think. The puppy was terrified of Henry, as most dogs are. Henry can hold his own and won't take any crap from any animal. Small dogs included.

So the lady took my information and said she would talk to her husband and they would think it over. It would be easy to get wrapped up in thinking about vet bills and buying food and how we would take care of her when we traveled but for now all I can think about is her curled up in a ball in our front window waiting for me to come home :(

Look what followed me home....

Soooo this little bundle of joy showed up on my doorstep last night when I was heading out to pick up Herman from school. She was wandering around in the deserted street and had found her way up to our door step. Obviously she is adorable and I petted her and told her so and began to search around for an owner, or even another human being on the street. Finding neither I decided to just let her continue her roaming and got into the car however she decided that she was going to get in with me, and then not get out....

Instead of abandoning the poor pup she went for a ride to SIU with me where Gus was very happy to meet her. But we have no idea who she belongs to. She has no collar, no tags or identifying features. We have put up fliers and an add on Craigslist because I am sure she is being missed by a lovely family somewhere.

For the time being though she is bunking with us because the weather here is freezing, miserable and wet and inside with us she is at least dry and safe. Has anyone else ever been in the situation and if so what did you do? We are open for suggestions. She is absolutely crazy precious and cuddly and well behaved and sweet so I can't imagine she is not a beloved house dog but I am at a loss....wishful thinking that we will get this lovely girl home safely.

Little baby so and so. We don't know her name but she responds well to 'puppy'.

She is so flippin cute....

Happy Birthday Bogey!

Soooo as you read above today is my totally amazing fathers birthday and I just want to give a huge happy birthday shout out to the most amazing dad in the whole entire world. It is absolutely killing me that I can't be there to celebrate with you guys in Richmond but freeze a tiny piece of carrot cake for me :)

Dad I am going to be honest and say that I have no idea how old you are today and besides you would probably not want me to put that on blast on the Internet anyways right? But I truly hope that this next year is incredible. You are the smartest, bestest most amazing dad ever and I love you oh so very much. Just picture me in the background singing all loud and off key just for you. Happy happy biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirthday! Muah

My Daddy is Cuter than your Daddy

Delicious french fries covered in vinegar in the lovely land of Vancouver BC. Look how baby tiny and cute we all look. Wow

They are on a boat! Well more like a canoe really, or something I have no idea. But they look adorable and very safe in their flotation devices

Daddy's are there to keep you bundled up from the harsh Ireland St. Patricks Day weather.

Hanging out on the boat house dock with my favorite people in the whole wide world :)

Off supporting BroJo and his quest to educate us all about the wonders of coffee

True Story....

So I just had to write about this because it was really funny. Since our fridge broke and we had no food we have had to look for healthy 'fast food' options which is really an oxymoron and is very hard to do.

Well if you have watched t.v. in the last 12 minutes you know that Kentucky Fried Chicken now makes grilled chicken and they have a new chicken meal that is 395 calories and cost $3.95 clever marketing right? Its a brilliant idea. So Gus and I decided to try to pick up this meal for dinner to see if it was any good. We pull into our KFC and pull through the drive through.

Our eyes roved the menu searching for the deal so we knew what to call it when we ordered but we could not find any sign of the plate anywhere. Which is odd because KFC is a big fan of huge sticker sized posters all over everything. Gus wondered aloud if they did not have grilled chicken and I laughed and said "no honey that's impossible that is their new big thing they have to have it".

When it was our turn we pulled up to the speaker box and I leaned over and ordered the new "395 grilled chicken meal" to which I got this response honest to God....

"We don't have grilled chicken here".

Said in a tone that implied, duh its Kentucky Fried Chicken you bourgeoisie bitch why don't you just go to Subway?

I am assuming he meant they did not have grilled chicken at that location and that it did not extend to all of Southern Illinois but one can really not be too sure here. That my friends is a true story.

Lifes little hiccups

As I told you guys previously we had a wonderful Thanksgiving until we drove back into Illinois and all hell broke loose. Again. It was a rainy and gross dark ride home made worse by that dreadful post holiday let down of knowing that the next day you have to go back to your everyday routine. Meh.

So we finally arrive home after our long drive and unload the little baby Saturn. Marcy and Mom had generously packed us a massive new cooler full of leftover and goodies and I went to unload them into our fridge only to discover that our fridge was defrosted and everything in it had spoiled. Not a lovely experience. Apparently something has broken or tripped the defrost mode and nothing was cold and it was all very icky. Think frozen fish and ice cream leaking out of the ice machine onto the floor. Yea. That was what we came home to.


These minor blips happen so we took all of the food that would really go bad down to my mini fridge in the basement to keep some of it edible. We naturally collapsed after the long trip only to awaken to the contractors back in the morning. I swear they can smell desperation and they just jump on it like wild dogs. So they are there making lots of noise and we are going back and forth trying to make some kind of salvageable breakfast from the mini-fridge while the hammering and sawing continued in the background. Gus had the sweet release of school but I stayed home and hunted for jobs online while trying not to crawl back into bed and wallow.

Gus came home with the news that his truck was broken and would have to go to the shop and the refrigerator would have to be fixed also if we ever wanted to eat in the house again. Ugh. Being a homeowner sucks. So this week I have played the roll of soccer mom driving Gus to and from school and clinical sessions all week but it does have its perks because it gives me no excuse not the go to the gym as I am already in town. In the midst of all the nonsense Gus has been sick, and stressed and the contractors have been lurking ever present in the background.

I for one have a theory. I think that Southern Illinois is a cruel bitch of a mistress and once she senses that you had fun off playing elsewhere she punishes you by raining down misery and inconvenience. Can't wait to see what happens when we come back from Christmas!

Anyways that is why it took me so long to blog. The fridge was fixed yesterday and we went grocery shopping to replace the crap ton of food that we lost to mold and melting. The good news was that we were able to salvage all of our delicious Thanksgiving leftovers and having an abundance of pie really can help get you through anything.

The truck is still sicks, and we are still stressed but there is a light at the end of the tunnels. The contractors will officially be done on Monday and hopefully one of these days we will get a Christmas tree up and the holiday season will finally commence. (*fingers crossed*)

I know that these little hiccups in life come up and that you just roll with them the best you can but I for one think that if this is a preview of life as a grown up I want none of it.

I don't care for ice cream soup one bit :)

Whoop there it is!

Wow guys first off let me tell you how flattered I am that you guys stalk me at such a highly evolved level :) I am so sorry that I have not logged on to tell you all about the amazingness that was my Thanksgiving holiday but the minute we got back in to Illinois life got a little hectic for Herman and myself. Now that it is finally starting to slow down a little bit I can tell you all about my awesome adventures in Cleveland.

I can only hope that all of you had as wonderful a Thanksgiving as Gus and I had. Major love and thank yous go out to my parents and the one and only Ms. Marcella T. McGee who bent over backwards and every which way to ensure the we were happy, full and to be honest a little buzzed :) I really. really. really. needed that vacation, that break and to be around my loved ones and with the exception of BroJo not being able to be there it was absolutely totally and completely perfect.

We had a fun road trip up, after the 14 hours to PA everything else seems like peanuts so the nine hours to Cleveland was no big deal at all and as with everything the anticipation gets you though the worst parts, like massive traffic around Columbus. Eww. But it was worth it all to pull into the Brandy Wine Preserves and straight into the loving arms of mom, dad and Marcy. I had not seen my mom since the move which is simply not right and it felt so good to have them right there in Marcy's kitchen which is really just another one of my happy places. Is it awkward that most of my happy places are kitchens? Hmm.

Anyways that night is just a blur of delicious appetizers, laughing, catching up and of course light up geese with clothes. You see the 'it' thing to do in Cleveland and probably other parts of Ohio as well is to get these ceramic, or plastic geese and dress them seasonally and then put them in your front yard. We always joke and mock these geese because I mean lets face it they are wearing bonnets and frilly petticoats, who wouldn't mock that? Not us that's for sure. We have been telling Marcy (who is notorious for her lack of decorating) that we were going to get her geese with clothes for years and this Thanksgiving the threat became a reality. A lovely light up reality :)

So by the glow of the geese we fell asleep only to wake up the next day to the joy that is Thanksgiving. I have always been pretty relaxed on Thanksgiving choosing to give all the stress of the holiday to my mother who every year handles the pressure in different ways. I like to watch the parade and perhaps sip on a mimosa but all that stuff with the food looks like really hard work, so naturally I opt to stay out of the kitchen. Until this year when Gus and I took on the task of making the mashed potatoes. I have a great Weight Watchers recipe and we brought all kinds of garlic and potatoes to make our delicious dish. Surprisingly no one was murdered with a knife normally reserved for turkey carving. The kitchen is not huge, tensions run high and counter space is limited but somehow 5 grown ups were able to sashay around the kitchen in an intricate dance of food and produce a huge, delicious Thanksgiving dinner.

Gus was happy because the Cowboys won, we were all happy because my awesome uncles Dennis, Brian and Hugh were all able to come along with my Aunt Mary Ann and super fun cousins and over pie and wine numerous conversations were held about memories, music, movies, moves and life. It was brilliant. It felt nice to be able to tell stories about what we are going through here in Murphysboro and laugh about the things that normally make me so upset. It was lovely to have some perspective and of course to realize how much support I have from all around. The only person who thinks I suck is me, it def. is not coming from around Marcy's dining room table where everything was positive and hopeful. Sometimes you need to get out of your bubble to realize that. I have alot to be thankful for and it was a welcome wake up call.

Once all of the turkey and such was packed away soundly we were able to explore other parts of good old Cleveburg. Friday instead of doing massive, crazy ass shopping we instead choose to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame where there was a huge Bruce Springsteen exhibit which I had been dying to see. Duh. We had never been to the museum before despite many years of going to Cleveland and we did not really know what to expect but the place is flippin incredible. The exhibit was awesome, the museum was gorgeous and fun and full of really cool things everywhere you turned. I would highly recommend it to all, if I were to have one of those Super Sweet 16 birthday parties like on MTV that is where I would want mine. Yes I realize my sixteenth birthday was nine years ago I am just saying it would be cool.

Immediately following the museum of rock was my mommy's favorite part of the trip. We went to her favorite restaurant in the Little Italy neighborhood that is frequented by mafioso types and sat in the banquet booth where no one can shoot you from behind. Now the thing about this place called the Tratrorria on the Hill is that nothing is bad. The word 'meh' simply does not exist there because everything is the best you have ever had. The waiters are these gorgeous Italian men and they bring you bread, and wine and pasta and casada cake and there can be no pain or sorrow when you are there. Unless of course there is a hit on you or something. Then you might not like it so much. That was not really an issue for us though and the food kept coming and the wine kept flowing and the night just glowed. It was so wonderful.

Unfortunately that was the last night my parents were there :( They chose to go get lost in PA instead of hanging out with us and Gus and I were left to the whims of the strict and domineering Aunt Marcy. Bahahaha. Not. Totally the other way around. Since it was still early in the afternoon we decided to hit up some fun bars in the West Side of Cleveland and made it to a delicious bier garden called the 'Bier Centro' where we had Rosemary Garlic Pomme Frites which actually made us want to lick the plate. It is very undignified to be faced with the prospect of having whole sprigs of Rosemary stuck in your teeth and simply shrug your shoulders and dig in. Totally worth it, hey I told you the dieting was on hold for the moment :) Then we skipped down the street to the Great Lakes Brewery where we had reservations for the best seat in the house and we cackled in a corner over Delicious pints of micro brewed Cleveland beer. It was sunny and relatively warm and everything was yummy and abundant. Who would ever think of Cleveland, Ohio as being the land of culinary decadence (*raises hand) I sure do.

We capped our trip off with a lovely karaoke spree with my Uncle Dennis (Who did not sing) and Mary Colleen (who rocked it out) and Gus's little brother JoJo and cousin who were also in town. We made quite a merry eclectic band and even though MC and I were the only ones who sang there was pool to play and sporting events to watch and everyone had a really great time.

Unfortunately there is that stupid cliche about all good things coming to an end which is painfully true and the next day we had to pack up and go back to So.Ill. Bah.

That was tough trust me. Cleveland is such this untouchable wonderland in my eyes and you want to know where the exact opposite of an untouchable wonderland is? I don't know exactly but I am sure that it exists somewhere in the 62966 area code. But as Gus was quick to point out that was indeed a vacation and it is perfectly natural to prefer those to the everyday trials and tribulations of life. Sigh.

But Thanksgiving was the best. I wish Jonny had been able to enjoy it with us but I had a blast. I really want to thank all of the Cleveland kids and my parents for treating Herman and I like such V.I.P's. Its true that a girl could really get used to that :) I hope the rest of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well and I am now officially really looking forward to Christmas and being home back in the 804 with Jon Greene and getting to visit (*fingers crossed*) with lots of you!

Cleveland Rocks (Thanksgiving edition)

Nom. Nom. Dad always has to finish off the Malleys deliciousness, and everyone knows the best part is on the bottom right Daddy?

These are actually like Gallon steins off beer. My favorite was my mother cornering them both and telling them not to drink it all that night. Then they went ahead and did it anyways :)

Screw black Friday sales. Malleys is where you really need to be!

I love the look on my moms face in the picture. Her ice cream is clearly all gone and she is looking like quite the scavenger....

Posing outside of the lovely Malleys, we are so cute and goofy

Cheers at the Great Lakes Brewing Company! For a wonderful lunch and beer sampling in the beer garden. So fun

Loading up on the delicious Thanksgiving buffet. Gotta love moms apron!

Just the way she rolls :)

Things to be Thankful for

I am not going to lie to you I am in a terrible awful mood but a very wise woman suggested that I look at pictures from last years Thanksgiving to get in a cheerful mood. Good call :)

I am completely and totally looking forward to this Thanksgiving. Once again it is going to be in Cleveland at the most incredible amazing Marcy's house. I am not going to care about dieting, or Southern Illinois or being such a loser.

I am going to focus on how awesome my family is and how great it is to be spending time with them. Heads up to my family who are sure to ask with the most sweet and sincere intentions how I like it here/am adjusting/ hows the job search going. I will go ahead and answer you right now so we can skip the painful formalities - it sucks out here/ I am not adjusting well/ and I am still unemployed.

Whew now with that out of the way lets look back at some happy moments from yesteryear :)

Quote of the day ~

I am on this big 'Absolutely Fabulous' kick lately. Probably because I am really missing my amazing girlfriends and our wild and crazy antics. Sigh. LIOMFB.

If you are unfamiliar with the hit BBC program I suggest you NetFlix it real quick. I fortunately had a library card and Bon Air Library was stocked full of AbFab VHS tapes. I think this is before they censored what minors could check out. Romance novels and Absolutely Fabulous never did a tween any harm right?

Anyways this is from one of my favorite episodes and I know that its out of context but this quote has had me giggling all day, enjoy :)

"Yea alright darling .... well listen to me were coming home now... didn't you get my note? Well alright that's fine, we'll come home now darling ..... yea, lets forget about education shall we sweetheart? D-Dio... bio... versity and everything like that sweetheart. We will just come home now and live in the domain of ignorance shall we and watch Teletubbly videos if that's what you want! Yea alright we'll see you in a minute... no I am not drunk! How could I be drunk? I'm at the bloody zoo!" (Eddie, Absolutely Fabulous)

So this one time at the gym....

In an effort to keep you better updated I feel like I should mention that several weeks ago I joined my local Golds Gym. It was a controversial decision because I did not join the SIU Rec Center which to be quite honest with you is just a big, terrifying multi colored labyrinth. I did take the tour but I think it was at the point where we walked by the set of cardio machines that faced THE POOL that I realized it was simply not the place for me. When I want to workout and watch people in far better shape then I am parade around in swim suits then I can just turn on CSI Miami and feel comforted in knowing the Horatio is a ginger who does not tan .

While the Golds Gym is nothing like my wonderful, perfect Y it does have some redeeming qualities. Everyone has been very nice and despite the fact that most of the people there are crazy hard bodies I never feel too self conscious or out of place. The other downside is that there is no Zumba. Sigh. You can't win then all though and they do have lots of other faux Zumba like classes so I should be okay *fingers crossed*.

Okay so I know that I have told you some of my awkwardly humorous gym tales from the past, who can forget the classic pearl fiasco right? Well I guess a new gym means a whole new set of embarrassment. Soooo here it goes ....

As part of the new member incentive package you get an hour with one of the Golds Gym personal trainers to go over your goals, take your measurements and basically get yourself acquainted with the machines and such. As some of you know due to my love of Zumba and the awesomeness of my former Y I have to date lost 30 some odd pounds and am aiming for 30 more by the time I turn 26. The ultimate goal is that I would like to wear my senior prom dress to my birthday party. Its good to have goals right? Its even better to have someone to hold you accountable for reaching them. Enter Kyle.

Kyle was my assigned intro personal trainer and even though he was short in statue he was a very pretty physically fit young man. Which made the part where he measured my hips and thighs a little awkward. Ugh. Just like being back in the middle school locker room. Anyways once we did all my measurements and such we began to talk about goals and dreams. He was excited about my weight loss and was very inspirational. Kyle wants me to try to lose another 10 pounds by Christmas and we went back and forth exchanging diet and nutrition tips.

I was beginning to really like Kyle.

Until we went into the "studio". Kyle has an unconventional training method that included but was not limited to kicking my ass. I was using muscles that despite the fact that I had formerly been working out nearly every day of the week I did not know I had.

And let me tell you those forgotten muscles scream bloody freaking murder.

But I kept going I wanted to prove to him that I was in it. I have watched enough 'Biggest Loser' to know that trainers feed off of your failure and despite the fact that I had really enjoyed Kyle I was not going to give him that pleasure. So I kept going, and sweating. Profusely. Which Kyle commented on. He seemed proud that he had squeezed all of my hydration out of me.

I did not get his train of thought though and thought he was referring to the dark splotchy stains on my work out pants. Which just so happened to be hash brown grease.

With my 10 pound exercise ball precariously poised over my head I then relayed this little bit of information to him. Bad call. I blame the endorphins.

At this point Kyle took my ball away from me and asked me to repeat what I had just said. Head held in shame I then told him the tale about how at the beginning of my fitness journey I had thought that if I had some carbs right before a workout I would do better and go longer. With that mentality in mind I had packed a bowl with left over Williamsburg Manor Bed and Breakfast hash browns (the really greasy delicious kind) and then hopped in my car. Apparently driving and eating hot greasy hashed browns is not one of my better skills and needless to say my new grey workout pants did not make it out of the car unscathed.

I had not even thought about it when I had put them on and now my fat kid past was coming back to haunt me. Kyle began to giggle (not a cute sound coming from a man with no body fat) and shook his head at me. After this revelation I think he actually made the work out harder. I can't say I blame him. I almost could not walk out of the gym. I have not been that sore since the first week of softball practice when I was like 17 years old.

Today, after having regained feeling in my legs and wanting to put my breakfast blunder behind me I returned to Golds Gym. Unfortunately I had to wear the same pants because my lovely contractors have hidden my dresser in a unreachable location. Also unfortunately Kyle was at the check in desk. He looked me up and down with his piercing blue eyes full of glee and once again began to giggle. If he was not so big I swear that I would.... blog about him. When you have nonexistent upper body strength your repercussion options are very limited.

Someday I will be the cool kid at the gym who isn't falling off ellipticals or walking into massive multi-colored walls but today I was the girl with the grease stain on her pants and the faint aroma of sauteed onions trailing behind her. Who knew that shame could taste so delicious:)

Boo hiss

I am so sorry that I have been so M.I.A. guys I really have no actual excuse for why I have not updated you lately. Perhaps it is because it has been so surreal here these days.

I may or may not have mentioned in passing that the house is under siege. An army of country fried contractors arrives promptly at 8 am every morning and proceeds to beat, bang, saw, nail, sand, paint and essentially destroy any sanity or joy that I once possessed. 2011 Elm St. used to be my only sanctuary in this new and strange land. I was unpacked everything was clean and put in its place and life was beginning to be settled.

Until the contractors arrived.

Now all of my stuff is in a corner in the basement. Stacked on top of itself and strewn about. I have completely given up cleaning because the minute I pull out my Swiffer I know that four twenty something pot heads will be in with their muddy boots all over it yet again. I got that memo real quick. So Gus leaves and goes to work/school for ten hours a day and I get to stay at home. With the contractors. As we speak they have torn apart my closet and are slowly but surely wearing away what little sanity I have remaining.

The reasons why our house is under attack is because Gus and his Quaker ass self managed to haggle and finagle himself into 30,000 dollars in home repairs through our city and some kind of crazy home renovation loophole. Someday these repairs and upgrades will add value to the home and increase the profit margin so when we can finally move to the beach we have more money to do so. All of this nonsense is really a good thing. In the long run.

But right now it really. really. really sucks.

It will be nice to be able to walk around in my nightgown again, and to eat lunch and watch my Criminal Minds without a motley assortment of scraggly boys judging me for being a desperate housewife. A leisurely Diet Coke and popcorn snack just dos not taste the same when there is condescension afoot.

Also since they have until Christmas to finish..... ( you heard that right CHRISTMAS) Herman has made the executive decision that we need to help them along to get them out faster so I spent my Friday night painting the basement floor with a lovely waterlock, gray textured paint. To think I used to fritter away my weekends singing karaoke. Silly Erin this whole time I could have been using all that free time perfecting my woodworking skills or learning the fine art of jack hammering a big hole in the floor (*hangs head in shame).

I am a whiner, and ungrateful. I don't mean to be a bitch about it but I hate them and I shouldn't. I should welcome their simple hearts, pick up trucks and vast array of power tools into my life with open arms. There are people who have to either do their own home maintenance or at the very least have to pay someone else to do it. With the exception of the painting and the cleaning up after them I don't have to do either. Plus they are allegedly making things better and Gus gets school girl level excited when he comes home and sees that they have blown more insulation into the attic, or installed a sub pump. So it goes.

Anyways now you know why I cannot very well sit around and update my blog while there are people all around me using their hands to alter the landscape of my life. I will try to be better and keep you in the loop. Life here is bananas and I really should tell you more about it.

My apologies. Its not my fault people are not meant to function amidst so much noise and drywall dust. It is simply unnatural.

Wedding Bells!

Well lets start at the beginning shall we? Really that is the best place to begin. Not so long ago I had just returned from the land of Eire and was less than welcome in the 804 so I did what any self respecting 23 year old would do and moved BACK to Colonial Williamsburg, went back to my old job and lived.... well that was the problem I had nowhere to live.

My very kind employers let me live in their b&b but it was never meant to be permanent and I really needed a place to live. Unfortunately for me the cost of living in Williamsburg is out of control and my little Euro's savings was dwindling... enter in my red headed hero. Through an intricate and random connection I was asked to meet with a potential roommate at a local Barnes and Noble to see if we would be compatible. It was exactly like going on a blind date and all I wanted to do was impress this girl and have a place to live. She walked in and I was instantly in love... and it was mutual :)

Her name is Beth Shatto and we immediately bonded over how much boys suck and how there is nothing to do in Williamsburg. It was fate. She is a redhead and brilliant and she loves corny Zac Efron movies. We were perfect roommates. During a strange transition in my life Beth provided comfort, advice, Taco Bell and a place to sleep. Rent was affordable, all of her kitchen appliances were Hello Kitty and pink but most of all she was a kindred spirit. We were both young, single girls in the revolutionary city and we had a blast.

Eventually I was given an opportunity to move into an adorable (and free) cottage and I no longer lived with Beth but she still remained one of my best friends. We saw each other through Internet dating, through Marines, through Valentines Days and through High School Musical premieres, she is objective and opinionated and is the big sister God forgot I needed.

I am telling you all about my amazing friend Beth because she just got married this weekend, and Gus and I made the quite amazing journey to the nuptials. Beth met a boy at her sisters wedding who was different than all the other rude and ridiculous boys she had been in the habit of dating before. His name is Ellwood Bobby and he is smart and insightful and the perfect compliment to her red headed madness. Oh and he loves her very much. They were engaged on New Years and in that time bought a house, moved to Toano and this weekend officially started the next chapter of their life together.

Beth and Ellwood got married at their hometown of Mechanicsburg, PA which is about 4.5 hours from Williamsburg which would have been an easy, breezy trip. However, as you all recall I just moved to Nowheresville, USA which means that driving to the wedding was now a 13.5 hour trip. You read that correctly. Since you read all of the above you understand that I could not miss this wedding. It was simply not an option. Nevermind that I have no money and Gus has no time it had to be done. So Friday morning we set off on our adventure to the altar (not like that!).

The drive is very long. Very. Very. Long.

We went through Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Ohio and then right into PA. Oh after our 2 hour wrong turn through West Virginia. Sigh. We arrived at 3:30 Saturday morning, and let me tell you that spending that long in a car with someone is the true test of love. Or patience. Or something I don't know but we arrived and were able to talk in complete sentences so I would say we were a success.

While the drive was long it was well worth it. The wedding was beautiful and it was important to see biggie come full circle. I could not help but sit in the beautiful church she got married in and reminisce about the days of eHarmony and how boys in the bar would buy us drinks because they thought we were sisters. It is easy to be very cynical about relationships, Beth and Ellwood moved pretty fast but standing up there watching them giggle/cry throughout their vows it just made sense. They had a traditional reception, everyone had a blast the cake was delicious and the bride was radiant. Everything that you could ask for out of a fabulous wedding.

It was great to see my friends from the burg and have a bit of a reminder of myself as the independent, crazy girl who met and befriended Beth. Since I have moved I have felt very detached from what I consider 'my world' but this wedding was a reminder that your friends never really go away, they change and move and their lifestyles change but they are still at the core the same phenomenal people you fell in love with :)

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman, I am so excited for you both and I cannot wait to see what the next chapter brings for you guys. No babies though. They cry alot. Seriously.

Also, thank you to Herman Diggs whose incredible night time driving ability and endless patience made the 26 hour road trip possible. It is not many men who could literally spend a day in a car driving with me. We will always have our fountain bevs, deer carcasses and Cracker Barrel signs darling and as always you win:)

This crazy massive cross that was in Indiana on the way to the wedding. You could see it from forever away and you can't see it in the picture but there is a HUGE sign that says "The giant cross welcomes truckers!". Oh what you see on 70 East!

Gus snapped this picture really quick. It is a atv with massive deer horns on the front which seems incredible dangerous and clearly redneck. It does not help that the trailer is also filled with propane. Like a disaster waiting to happen right dad?

The beautiful bride and groom. Her dress was like this massive poffy princess dress that was sparkly and gorgeous. It was funny though because the more she danced the hotter her legs got so towards the end of the night she was walking around flashing mad ankle. We called her the 17th century porn star :)

the new Mr.and Mrs. Hoffman. So flippin cute!