From One Sunday with Mom, to the Other Sunday... With the other Mom

Things never seem to slow down with us. Last Sunday after Kara told me to go fly a kite, we made our way down to visit the Natics and hang out with Kara's Mom. Kara's Mom offered to take us to dinner. Naturally we couldn't refuse.

We made our way over to the Avenues and Kara made up her mind that we could go to Jim N Nicks. Great BBQ and even better, they have great Beer Specials on Sunday nights. Can't beat that right? After a great dinner, I made my way back down to the city as I had to be at work at my normal time.

Tuesday wound up being a special day as it was my Mom's (number deleted for my own safety) Birthday! To celebrate this we decided to go to McCormick and Schmick's. I've heard so much about this place from everybody but never got to go, so now here was my chance. Being a Native of New England when it's supposed to be great seafood you never turn it down.

Earlier in the day while Kara and I were exploring Kennesaw and all it had to offer on a Saturday (quit laughing people), we made a stop in to Hobby Lobby so Kara could get her Creative On with the gift below. All stemming from (no pun intended) my Mom talking about her love of Grape Tootsie Roll Pops. As you can see, Kara loves to take an idea and run with it. Well done!

Speaking of well done, now comes the Epic Fail of our Waitress for my Mom's Dinner. Our waitress reminded me of Kerri Kenny from the beginning. For those of you who don't know that name, she was on the shows "The State" and "Reno 911".

All night she was busting her ass to make sure that we were kept happy. She even made a blonde joke at the beginning of the night about herself; little did we know it might become true. The time comes around for dessert and Marsha and my Mom decided they wanted Coffee. No big deal as the wait staff normally offers dessert and coffee. The first time around... The Coffee wasn't hot. So Kerri (as she'll be known from here on out) says

"I'll go brew a fresh pot right now"

She comes back about 15 minutes later and while trying to rush to get everything on the table... 2 cups of coffee fall on Kara. Now that wasn't even the worst part. When you brew a fresh cup of coffee you'd expect it to be hot unless you order it "iced". Now Kara did jump up in shock, but I was quick to notice that she calmed down fairly quickly which lead me to believe the Coffee once again was not hot.

Finally Kerri comes back and successfully gets the coffee to my Mom and Marsha. She then turns and says to Kara "I've taken your dessert off of the tab"

Really??? The Dessert??? Most times when this happens, the person's entire meal is free. But it turns out that Kerri decided not to tell her Manager. Well to make a long story short (too late), Kara had a talk with the Manager and we have a gift card coming our way. Because of this we will make sure to go to the one Downtown at CNN instead of the one at Perimeter.

With the exception of the Coffee incident, the evening was great as it was the first Birthday my Mom has really enjoyed in 3 years. I would recommend McCormick and Schmicks but if your waitress looks like this woman...

get placed in another section.

Today had Kara continuing her shopping with her Mom and Alisha, while I had to brave the office post DST. As I have 30 minutes left in my shift so far things have been good. We hope you have had a great week.

Take Care Everyone and See You Soon!

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!

Slumber Parties, Chicken Wings and FootBall Things

This weekend was supposed to be a lazy weekend for Lin and I but you know we can never seem to sit still!

Friday night I worked until 8pm as we had a large group of Cheerleaders check into the hotel for Cheersport. Once I got off of work I headed up to Cumming to join the girls for a birthday party/Slumber Party at Nicki's. Nicki, Kristin, Tracy and Kelly were all there when I arrived. We had a blast that night playing games, drinking Champagne and celebrating Nicki's Birthday.

Since Jeff was in Florida she had invited us to stay the night, however both Kelly and Kristen began to miss their beds (or men) and decided to head home late that night so we all decided to call it a night. I had such a blast, thank you Nicki for inviting me. All of you girls rock!

Saturday mom said she was going to make Ham Loaf for dinner and coaxed me in to staying for it. For those of you who don't know Ham Loaf is like a meat loaf only it is made with a mixture of Ham and Pork. You cook it like a meat loaf but then drizzle this mixture of Brown Sugar and Vinegar on in the end. So yummy I am almost drooling over here.

Lin had decided Friday he was just going to relax and play PlayStation in bed and he did just that. Saturday was supposed to be a lazy day for him as well however once he heard mention of Ham Loaf he decided to make his way up to Alisha's for Dinner as well.

I definitely got in my much needed Pdiddy time, I miss him so much when I am at home during the week. He seems to miss me a lot also seeing as he spits up on me every chance he gets. It's funny, when he is done eating and needs to burp Alisha gives him to Grandma and he burps, when Grandma hands him off to me he spits up on me. My shirt from Saturday night was not pretty.

Later on that evening Mike, Aubree and Kaitlin came over so Alisha and Aubree could make Super Bowl shirts for themselves and the babies. They did a wonderful job! The shirts came out so nice. Bobby even made his way over for a few beers before the guys decided to go "Pick up" wings. In our men's mind going to "Pick Up" food means order it, have a few beers, eat the food then come home an hour or so later. Needless to say they were in a bit of trouble. Shame on you Lin and Neil for dragging poor Mike and Bobby into your web.

Since the boys got back so late Lin and I decided to spend the night at the Natic's on Saturday and woke up Sunday morning with a craving for breakfast. Lin had suggested going to The Original Pancake House again but Neil had heard about this bagel dinner off of exit 12 called BB's Bagels. We all decide to head there to see what the hype was all about.

Once we got there Neil and Alisha realized they had been there before with some of Neils family. They were Uber excited because they had such wonderful food the last time they had been there. Let me tell you, they had every reason to be excited. The food was AMAZING and came with so much that you could barely eat half of your meal. They even had unique cream cheese; carrot cake, kit kat, chocolate sunday and yes those were all cream cheeses. Their home made corn beef hash was the best I have ever eaten. I totally suggest if you are up by exit 12 before 2pm you check the place out. You won't be disappointed.

After we ate Nicki stoped by on her way home from church so her and Lin could catch up a bit and for her to try the amazing food I had been texting her all morning about :) Once we were all stuffed Lin, my mom and I headed to Lin's mom's house to watch the football game while Alisha, Neil and Preston headed off to the Daily's Super Bowl Party. (Nicki had to get home because Jeff was coming home that night)

The rest of the night went well. My mom and I enjoyed catching up with Linda and Lin enjoyed watching the game. I think the team he was pulling for won? Who knows.. All I know is a made it through my FIRST Football season with Lin. WHOOOOO HOOOOO GO KARA!

Ahhh the joy's of an Emergency Room the day after Christmas

First and foremost, YES I am ok, Alive and Kicking. :)

I had been having some serious abdomen pain which started Christmas Eve night and continued thru Christmas day. I was barley able to eat the wonderful Christmas Dinner my mom cooked for all of us. I was supposed to help, but the pain was all I could focus on. Sorry Mom.

I have come to have a HIGH tolerance for pain through out the years and have been able to put a smile on my face and make it though it, but I knew something was wrong Christmas Night when I couldn't eat and had a hard time walking without pain. I was so thankful that the medication I took before going to bed helped me sleep thru the night.

Saturday morning was a different story. When I woke up I was barely able to walk down the stairs. My mom then suggested that I go to the ER as it could be a number of things including my Appendix. So away we went.

The ER was FULL of people, I had never seen it so busy. Luckily we got back into a room quickly and the doctors ran their full spectrum of tests. After 5 hours in the ER the doctor came to tell me that it wasn't my appendix (phewwww) but instead a cyst on my ovary had ruptured (OUCH). Now I have had cysts rupture before but NEVER had they been this painful.

I am just happy it wasn't something worse :)

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