Trip to to Pittsburgh

FOR SOME REASON THIS SITE IS NOT ALLOWING ME TO MOVE THE PICTURES ONCE I HAVE ADDED THEM... I WILL TRY TO FIGURE IT OUT TOMORROW AND GET SOME PICTURES UP

This past weekend was my cousin Denae's bridal shower and my mom and I had planned on going up to attend, however we were unsure how we were going to get there. At first we entertained the idea of driving the 8 hours because tickets were so expensive, however Alisha found some pretty cheep last minute tickets and booked us 3. She was originally not going to go so she decided to keep it a secret and surprise everyone.

So off we went on the big jet in the sky. Preston did very well on the trip up there, he hardly cried and slept most of the way there. He even got his first pair of wings. So exciting!

Saturday was the actual shower so we rushed to get there as we hit unforeseen traffic coming thru the tunnel. We made it to Denunzio's in enough time for Alisha to make her grand entrance. The shower was being held on the enclosed porch and we were worried Grandma would see us walking in. Good thing she was sitting on the other side of the room because she never saw us and was SO excited she couldn't stop crying. She almost had me crying to see her so happy. Preston is the first grandchild on either side of our family and everyone has been dying to meet him.

The rest of the shower went great. There was about 50 plus people who joined us to celebrate Denae's up coming wedding. It was a sit down lunch and each table had their own cake. Everything was so yummy. While Denae opened her gift's we all played games for a chance to win one of 10 themed baskets or $5 gift cards to numerous places. It was a great time and Denae got so many good gifts to stock her kitchen and house in Tampa.

After the shower we went to my Grandmothers house to surprise my Grandfather. He was just as happy as my Grandma just without the tears. Seeing all the untouched snow in my Grandma's back yard, Alisha couldn't contain her self and quickly reformed back to a little kid. She got dressed in what looked liked the Maid of the Mist water proof suit's at Niagara Falls and headed out to play in the snow. She had a blast and I had a blast taking pictures.

After Alisha was done playing in the snow I headed to T-Mobile as my cell phone was not charging. Apparently one of the prongs was broken and it wasn't able to connect to the charger. (this is the SECOND time this has happened with my blackberry). I was available for an upgrade so instead of placing the insurance claim, paying the $100 deductible and waiting 3 days for the new phone, I decided to go ahead and purchase a new phone. I have been frustrated with the Blackberry since the day I got it and I decided to go with the T-Mobile Dash 3g. Before the Blackberry I had numerous Sidekicks and was always, ALWAYS, pleased with the phone. The new Dash is windows based but has a lot of the features the Blackberry does. Wish me luck.

That night we decided to go to my FAVORITE place for dinner, Jioio's. This is the best PIZZA hands down EVER! For some reason Alisha doesn't care for it, crazy child, but then again she doesn't really like pizza at all. The pizza was as good as I remembered but the service was not so good. But I guess that's what you get when you leave a bunch of teenagers to run the store.

That night I think we all passed out from exhaustion. Pdiddy slept 8 hours then fell back asleep for another 2 hours. GOOOOOOO PDIDDY! They even let me sleep till almost 1030am! It felt great. After we were all showered and dressed Alisha and I took my mom to meet a few of her friends for brunch and to show her Grandson off. I left Alisha there with them for a bit and went back to T-Mobile to ask a few questions about my phone. Once I picked Alisha up we headed over to my friend Tasha's house to visit her and her son Edward. He is getting so BIG and so adorable.

After visiting with her we headed back to my Grandparents so they could get some more time in with Preston. Angie stopped by and brought Preston a cute outfit before we all headed to Hoss's for a late lunch/early dinner. Hoss's is probably the only semi buffet I will actually eat at. There food is darn good!

After we all had our tummies full and said our good bye's we headed to the Pittsburgh airport to come back to Georgia. We thought we would have enough time to visit with Denae at the airport as we were on the same flight back to Atlanta, however the stupid plane decided to board early. Grrr what a mess, we got on and got our seats but still had to wait on the people that didn't know they were boarding early. At this point Preston had pooped and Alisha went to change him before we took off. Something either spooked him or the diaper cream irritated him because once he left the bathroom he cried and cried for at least 20 minutes. I know the people on the plane were cursing the fact that we were on their plane.

Once he settled down the rest of the ride went smooth until we arrived at the Atlanta Airport. Since we took off early and landed early our gate was not ready and we had to sit on the Tarmac for 20 or so minutes in the hot plane until they found us a gate. We were so happy to finally be off the plane, however that just meant I had to lug the 2 suite cases, diaper bag and purse thru the Atlanta Airport. I felt like a valet the whole weekend. Who knew you had to take so much stuff when traveling with a baby. I should say when traveling with Alisha and a Baby. Princes just carried the baby while mom and I struggled thru the airports, what a spoiled brat.

We had a great time on our short trip up north and I can't wait to do it all over again in April. Thank goodness this time we will have 2 men to help with all the luggage!

All you need is love...

Since the last time we updated we actually had a first in our relationship...

Our First Valentine’s Day (Yes we are that sappy)


So what did we do you ask? Well our wonderful weekend started with Snowmageddon in Atlanta. Yes that's right we got a whole 3 inches of snow in Metro Atlanta.



While we're happy for the mid Atlantic states being done with their snow, but when Atlanta freaks out about snow, it's the greatest of all time... Just saying...



That Friday turned in to a work from home day for me (oh yeah, this is a Lin post by the way), while Kara made her way down to work before the snow started. So much for spending the entire weekend together but we can still figure this out...

Saturday saw the final days of me cleaning my old apartment. I actually met up with Brent and Michelle to help Brent move his stuff down to their new place in the Midtown/SoNo/Va Highlands area (depending on where you are coming from to get there). It's a nice place and I look forward to visiting once they have the place officially set up. It appears to be in a great area.

Later in the afternoon I finally did meet up with Kara. We decided to go to Ted's as Kara was working her MOD shift. Bobby B. did decide to join us for the dinner. While at dinner a classic case of the difference between Lin and Kara came out.

Being the more "Laid Back" one (Yeah I said it Boo!... Love you) it appeared that the Meatloaf I ordered was going to be a little late. Bobby and Kara's steaks came out which was no big deal to me. Then our waitress came out and asked if I wanted to order something different. I don't know about you all, but that never seems to be a good sign when that happens. Jokingly I told our waitress that I still wanted my meatloaf but we could talk about a free dessert. Kara on the other hand I think was ready to start something with somebody. That's my Boo from the SoNo District. They Gangsta!

The thing to remember was I think they were having a bad night. The manager comped my whole meal. Can't beat that right?

Sunday... The official day. The day you've been waiting to hear about. We started off with Kara going to work in the morning. But not before giving me my gift. It appears somebody pays more attention to my Twitter Feed than I expected. I said a week or two before after walking the mall on my lunch breaks that I wanted a Kangol hat. This of course lead to her teasing me about one of those Fuzzy ones which I said No, I was thinking more of a Baseball Cap. Sure enough she got me one that was a plaid pattern which I thought was perfect!

The night before after bringing Bobby home, Kara didn't want to stop at her place. I did everything in my power to make sure that Kara went into her apartment to see the roses I hid there for her. She told me a horror story about having flowers delivered to a hotel so I figured not to risk it. The next morning I also delivered her card to the desk along with a CD I made for her. She claimed it was sweet. I made sure to throw a few songs in there that hopefully made her laugh as well.

Once Kara finished work it was time for the big celebration. What the day was all about...

We went to My Mom's to celebrate My Sister's Birthday!!! As you can see, this weekend was clearly not about us :-)

To be fair, My Sister Kristin's birthday is January 29th. Unfortunately we lost a close friend of the family 2 days before so Kristin spent her birthday at a Funeral. So we took this Sunday to have a few people over to celebrate my Sister's 33rd Birthday.

Kara did go back to the Hotel that night as there was more Snow in the forecast for that Monday. Of course, did it snow? No. Of course Tuesday Morning was a different story. But Anyway...

So now comes the big question... Lin... Where did you take Kara for Valentine's Day?

Answer... Back in Mid January I made reservations at this Restaurant called Veni Vidi Vici. This is a restaurant which is a part of the Buckhead Life Group in Atlanta which is known for really great food and atmosphere. I've been to the Atlanta Fish Market a few times for Family Events. I've been to Pricci, and to a few events catered by The Buckhead Diner as well. Being right in Midtown Atlanta, I figured that this would be a no brainer right???

Really? Has anything else on this post gone according to a typical plan? Don't get me wrong, the company was great, our service was great as well. The food was not as great as we hoped. Definitely a popular place, but both of us expected more. I don't think we'll be making reservations here again anytime soon, but I still believe in the Buckhead Life Group.

So that has been our past week. Kara is currently back home in Pittsburgh for Denae's Wedding Shower and visiting some Friends and Family. By now I hope the surprise is out that Alisha brought P. Diddy with her.

So I'm living the Bachelor Lifestyle again this weekend and as you can see it's off to a wild start.

I hope everybody is doing well, and we look forward to keeping you updated again soon.

My Birthday Weekend

This past weekend was my birthday weekend and I decided to start it off at my Local Bar where everyone knows my name "MidTown Tavern." I hadn't been there in a long time and since Lin went without me last weekend I was anxious to get there and see everyone.

I had to pick up my dad that night at the Airport around 7pm and take him up to Exit 11 to meet up with Anne and the Kids. I left my house early to stop and get gas, but he arrived early and I headed strait to the airport without getting gas. Once Dad made it thru the busy airport and out to the car I told him we needed to stop for gas. He looked at my gas gage and said we would be able to make it to Exit 11 and then I could get gas up there. As we passed Exit 9 my gas light came one. Once I dropped him off at Wild Wings I headed to the BP station up the road. I was so afraid I was going to have to push my car at this point. As I got to the pump I realized I had left my wallet sitting next to my Laptop all the way back in the city. Thank goodness my dad was right down the street and had some cash to save my night.

Dana, Bobby, Angie and myself made it to the Tavern right after Lin arrived from his work Christmas Party at 300 Atlanta. (300 is an upscale bowling alley on 285 by Peachtree Industrial.) Check it out here http://www.3hundred.com/atlanta.html

I had a blast at the Tavern that night. Everyone had a good time singing Karaoke and so many people decided to join us. I wasn't the only person celebrating my birthday, Friday happened to be Dana Munson Birthday and she came by after her birthday dinner and birthday Margarita's. Thank you also to Maloof, Emma, Brent and Michelle for driving ITP to help me celebrate.


Around Midnight Lin decided to "Embarrass" me by getting on stage and dedicating a song to me. For some reason he chose to sing "You lost that loving feeling". Thanks babe but I haven't. LOL but it was cute and the whole bar got up and sung it with him as they pushed me closer and closer to the stage. Once he was done I turned around and had a beautiful cake and a few presents waiting for me. Thanks Lambie for remembering the WONDERFUL Publix cake Bobby got me last year for my birthday and arranging it again this year.

Saturday I got up and headed to the Nail Dynasty for Pedicures and Girl talk with Angie, Dana and Abby . We had a blast, it was so nice to be pampered for the day. If you are ever in town and need your nails done you really need to call Lisa and set up an appointment. Dana and I have been going to her for over 2 years now and we have never been disappointed. (Thanks Lisa for the $10 gift certificate)

After Pedicures and Girl talk I went back home to find Lin had bought me a GORGEOUS bouquet of roses for my birthday and a funny but oh so true card.

We then got dressed and headed up to visit his mother in Marietta. We had hoped she would be able to join us for dinner that evening but she wasn't feeling well so we just went and spent a little time with her.

We had dinner reservations at Maggiano's at 8pm at Perimeter. We met Alisha, Neil and my mother as Maggiano's is our favorite Italian place and we had so much to celebrate, My Birthday, Neil's Birthday, a Brand New Car for the Natic's and Alisha having Preston soon. As usual the food was amazing the service was good but the management couldn't seem to figure out how to use the $10 coupon Neil brought with him.

After dinner we headed over to CheeseCake Factory for desert. MMMMM it was so yummy. I had the Banana Cheese Cake and boy was it amazing.

Sunday we headed up to Anne and Dad's house for dinner then took Dad to the airport so he could head back down to Florida.

I truly enjoyed my Birthday Weekend! A BIG thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate this weekend, it made turning 29 a little easier.

My "short" trip to Pittsburgh and other happenings of this past weekend

A few months ago my mom decided she wanted to move to Georgia since Alisha was pregnant and to be closer to us. In less than a months time she had an offer on her house. (Who knew it would happen so fast, especially in this economy) 2 months later she was all packed up and ready for the move to Georgia.

I didn't want her driving 12 hours here all by herself so I offered to ride/drive with her. So I packed my bag and headed to the airport Friday night after work (thanks Dana for driving me there). I got to the airport pretty early and decided to grab a bite to eat at TGI Friday's. I hadn't been there in so long but I love there Sesame Jack Chicken Strips but to my surprise they were no longer on the menu. I don't know if the menu is different because they are located inside an airport but I was seriously disappointed.

Our flight got in early as we caught a tail wind and it only ended up taking us an hour to get there. Mom was waiting for me in baggage claim and once we got back into Greensburg we stoped to see Chrisy, Shawn and Paige's new house. It was so nice, so much charm and attention to detail. I had brought Christmas presents for Paige and we stayed around for her to open them. Since she was up past her bedtime she had what I would call the shortest temper tantrum know to man but that was still my cue to get going.
We spent the night at my grandparents house that night and visited with them and my aunt and uncle before we got going in the morning. We ended up leaving a little later than I expected but it was great to visit with everyone and I got a great care package from grandma full of cookies and Jioio's pizza.

I got a chance to stop at my FAVORITE gas station "SHEETZ" before we got on the road. This place is seriously the super bowl of gas stations. They have everything you could ever want. Made to order food, do it yourself milk shakes, 20+ fountain drinks, the old fashion Slurpee's and so so much else. Oh and they have gas too.

It took us a little longer than 11 hours to get to Alisha's house due to the 3 hour snow storm we had to drive 45 mph thru and the numerous pee stops I had to make. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner and got a chance to stretch our legs while we shopped a little bit.

I actually drove the whole way and we ended up reaching Alisha and Neils house around 1030pm. Neil, Lin, Bobby and Dan went to Athens so we stayed up chatting till they made it home. (WAY later then they should have come home, 2am)

Sunday was a lazy day for me. Lin had to go to work at 2pm so he left around 1230 or 1 and mom and Alisha left not too long after that to go to Target and Publix. Neil and I stayed at the house watching Hoarders (love that show). Once the women got back we started to make Hard Tack Candy (a northern tradition). The first batch which we made Cherry flavored but it didn't turn out well and we had to throw it away. Alisha underestimated the amount of work it took to make the candy and it took us till 7pm to finish. Not only did it take forever but it created a HUGE mess.

After dinner mom, Alisha, Neil and Envy drove me back to the city. It was a good but long weekend! I can't wait till next weekend.

ENVY BEING LAZY

Damn Really??? (This Weekend as a whole)

So I (Lin) am posting this today just to let everybody know that I wasn't killed or that I didn't kill anybody. Despite the title this has been a pretty good weekend. I'll take you back to Kara's last post though and fill in some blanks.

How did I know that Kara and I would be together for awhile?? She fell in love with my Nissan Altima I bought a month after we started dating. (She fell in love with me eventually too... I think ;-) ) so she always referred to it as "My (Kara's) Car" even though I was making payments. (Fellas, isn't that funny how that works?).

So Thursday night after getting out of work, I was heading by my apartment for my daily stop by. Those of you who have been by the apartment since Brent and I have been living together coming North on 75 know how bad the Roswell Rd exit on 120 can be backed up. Traffic was stopped way back on the hill at the exit ramp. I slammed on my breaks cause the person in front of me did the same thing. Then I heard tires screeching and being rear ended 3 times in the past 7 years said out loud "Damn... Really?" and sure enough BAM!!! "Our" car was pushed forward. Luckily I did not hit the car in front of me like with my first Altima and Elian Gonzales.

Marietta PD showed up and also informed me that I don't have the proper registration sticker on my Car (Thanks Cobb County)

This weekend was spent mostly with Kara's Family in North GA. Yesterday had us going to watch Paul's Soccer Game in the morning after doing a few errands. The afternoon was full of Fun and Football for the guys while the girls did their Anti Football thing. Apparently Neil and I aren't allowed to hang out anymore according to Kara and Alisha.

Today we find ourselves getting ready to head back to the Metro Atlanta area to spend time with my Mom who just had a back procedure done. Turns out she's going to have to go back again in December. All is well with her right now which is a blessing, but I know she's loopy which is always interesting.

I hope you all have have a great weekend.