Girlfriends...

While I really enjoy living with my husband and I LOVE married life, I miss having girlfriend time. Girlfriend time disappeared when I moved to Maryland with hubby. Of course, it's difficult to have girl time if you don't know any girls.

So, I must know.. for those of you who moved to a new place in your 20's, how did you make friends? I have a few friends here and there, but it's just SO hard finding friends. Any suggestions? Do I join a club? AND.. the other problem is finding girls who want friends. I've found a few girls around here, but they know a million people already and don't want to add friends to their group.

Seriously, I need friends before I begin talking to the dogs all night and taking them with me to get pedicures. I'm not sure the spa would like big dog sitting next to me in the pedicure chair. Just a hunch.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?

Yes, I know... I've been a terrible blogger lately. But I have some excuses:

• Computer(s) have been on the fritz. Hubby's was gone for service so we had to share, then my wireless stopped working. That meant we had to plug in for internet-- in the basement. We have a separate heating system for down there so it is C-O-L-D down there.
• We had guests in town-- that means not a lot of time for blogging. I have been reading yours though!

I know those aren't very good excuses, but it's the truth. My one reader has been very upset at my lack of posting. Thanks mom for missing me!

In other news, we've done some updating to the house. New furniture for the living room arrived on Friday and was set up on Saturday. We rearranged a bit and now we have to add a few things before it will be perfect. Next up? Tiling/painting the bathroom and new floors upstairs. I'm very excited. I've also removed the carpet from the stairs and stripped the paint off of it. Seriously, don't ever paint your hardwood stairs a horrible country teal green with a nice stencil. It's just not attractive and it's really annoying for the new owners to have to take off. Grr. But, it will be nice when they are finished.

Kids are doing well in school. They are just as funny as ever. Today's topic? Bling. Yes, they call my wedding ring/engagement ring bling. I believe the comment was, "Gee, Mrs. L.. you be blingin' with all that bling!" Then another one chimed in with, "Bling.. ring! Those are rhyming words!" Glad I've taught them something!

I Love Him, But...

I hate when he runs errands with me.

Seriously, the man thinks it's cool to be in and out of a store in under 5 minutes.

Actual conversation in Tarjay today...

Me: Honey, isn't this fun?
Him: Ugh.. what?
Me: Look at these pj's.
Him: They look like something my grandma would wear.
Me: Okay, maybe.. but I would like some new pj's.
Him: How about you just wear my old t-shirts to bed?
Me: Seriously?
Him: Are you ready to go?
Me: Um.. no. This is fun for me. I love to wander around Tarjay and dream.
Him: You dream in Tarjay?
Me: Ugh. Never mind.

He doesn't get it, probably never will. I love Tarjay. I love wandering and looking at everything. I enjoy just thinking about things I want, need, or hate. I make fun of things while I'm there. You know, like who uses the tacky hot pink Christmas lights? Or who buys a pumpkin wreath? I just enjoy wandering. I can often be found attempting to build an outfit and then putting it back. It's relaxing to me, I'm out of the house, and I'm doing something I enjoy: shopping. Even if I don't buy anything, it's still fun for me.

Not so much for hubby. And he rushes me and then I just get annoyed with him. It's a good thing he's cute, otherwise I might trade him in for a gay man who could join me on shopping sprees.

Random

Today is going to be pretty random. For that, I apologize. Here goes....

• I'm not scrooge anymore. Hubby decorated my laptop by adding a holiday background.
• Hubby made me clean up Little Dog's leg after he made her poop on herself. (he was running and made her start running before she was, ugh, done)
• I haven't even started Christmas shopping. Oops.
• I just thought of a great gift for my dad and hubby shot it down. Here I was all set to get my Christmas shopping started.
• I've been sick for two days, so I think that explains my foul mood and relatively negative posts prior to this.
• I'm thinking of hosting a giveaway because that seems to be the only way to really find out who is stalking reading my blog.

It's a Lost Cause...

At least he's cute. Or he'd be kicked to the curb by now.

The following is our convo just a few minutes ago... baking break & bake cookies.

Hubby: Please help me, I can't bake like you can. (suck up.. it's not really baking) I just don't know how to bake cookies!
Me: Seriously? You break them apart and put them on the baking sheet.
Hubby: How far apart? What cookie sheet? Help me.

Me.... utterly annoyed, walking into the kitchen...

Hubby: Want a glass of wine?
Me: Sure.
Hubby: Only if you help with the cookies.
Me: Seriously? (Reading the package) Preheat oven to 350. Break apart. Place 2" apart... could this be any easier?
Hubby: I just needed your help.
Me: (Laughing at his horrible lying/baking skills) You know I'm going to blog about this, right?
Hubby: Yup.

I'm pretty sure it's a lost cause. Don't be jealous ladies, I know you want a helpless cook for a husband.

A little of this..

... and a little of that.

The weekend seemed to fly by too fast, again. In between working on papers for grad class, trying to plan for the week, and securing a new project for my internship... I did not get much accomplished in any other areas of my life. I'm just having a hard time being so organized and planned at school that my home life seems to really lag behind. Any other teachers out there have suggestions? I'm just exhausted when I get home, so cleaning, cooking, and doing other things around the house just don't seem to get done.

Today in school I overheard a conversation between two of my students:
A fight was brewing between a little guy (who is a huge tattle-tale) and my little mini-me. Here's what tattle-tale said,"I'm telling Mrs. Italian-last name what you just did!"

Mini-me says, "Oh no you're not! That's not being respectful!" (um.. what?)

Tattle-tale thinks for a minute, "Well, you're not being respectful so I'm telling!"

Mini-me retorts with, "Fine go be a snitch, but don't you know ain't nobody like a snitch... once a snitch, always a snitch."

My mouth was wide open. But, they solved the problem on their own and tattle-tale did not want to be a snitch.

Annnnnnnd... I'm having such a hard time with weight watchers. Sometimes a girl just wants the juiciest, fattest, delicious cheeseburger. And some fries on the side.

Basically, I'm a whiner today. Sorry. I promise to bring you back to our normal programming just as soon as I figure this all out.

:)

I might have a new friend! A real life friend, not all of you blog friends. Believe me, I love all my blog friends... but I also need real-life friends.

This is huge for me. I'm really hoping this works out. I know that sounds so silly, but it's true. I don't really have any real-life friends that I actually do things with. You know, the friend you call when you just need someone to run to the mall with. Or the friend you call when hubby is going to be out of town because she'll watch the chick flicks with you.

I grew up with lots of girl friends, especially some very close girl friends. Once I moved here, that changed. It became hard to meet people and make close friendships. Don't get me wrong, I have worked and currently work with some pretty cool people. But they have their own friends, or they live 40 minutes away, or they just didn't like me. I prefer to think it's the distance, I know I'm pretty cool.

So this is really getting me excited. Blondie from the couples date told hubby that she had a really good time and that we should go shopping together. Thankfully hubby played it cool and didn't make me sound like a nerd without any friends (which I am) and said, "Try and keep my wife away from a mall!" Whew. He didn't sell me out, yet.

So, I'll let you know how it goes.

Quirky?

Um.. so hubby just informed me that he might be starting a blog. I, of course, got all excited. He then told me it was going to be a running blog, just about what he ran for the day. I gave him a weird look... and he said, "Well, I'm not as quirky as you!"

Excuse me?

He then tried to explain himself, but the damage was done.

I think he just doesn't appreciate the quirks. Or, maybe he does.

**UPDATE**
Okay, hubby has done some more explaining. He would like you all to know that he doesn't mean quirky. He means witty.

Weekend Recap...

Saturday hubby and I met up with some of my work friends in Annapolis. We had a good time hanging out, watching football, and drinking. The bar we were at has a special shot, the Oyster Shot. It definitely is a raw oyster with cocktail sauce and vodka, chased with a shot of beer. Because I never turn down a dare, you know I totally tried that. It was gross. It won't be something I try again.

After that we headed to meet up with one of hubby's co-workers. It was a total couples date. I don't always do well meeting new people and was not terribly excited for this, but it turned out great and I'm really hoping that she had as good of a time as I did. I know it sounds lame, but sometimes there just aren't enough good couples friends out there and when you find a good set, you really don't want to let them go!

Today we ran a bunch of errands and did some shopping. Now we're just watching football, eating nachos, and drinking beer. Seriously, what could be better than that?

Bread, Rashes, and Grad Classes..

This is what my life consists of.

Mom and Gram sent a bread machine our way. After one failed attempt at creating cinnamon swirl bread, I decided to start off easy. I just finished a piece of warm, buttery, white bread. It was to.die.for. We're really looking forward to trying some of the awesome bread machine recipes. I mean, rosemary bread? Hello Macaroni Grill bread, only way cheaper. Sun-dried tomato and mozzarella bread? Yummy.

Yes, I realize this purchase really makes me sound old. Don't laugh at me.

Rashes? Well... hubby had poison ivy a few weeks back. Fast-forward two weeks and a few creams later, he had a full blown allergic reaction to something. We're talking hives all over his body. I took him to the doctor and they loaded him up with some pills to get rid of the pain and the rash. Hello day off for me!

And now I'm stuck working on grad class stuff. Papers galore.

I'm beginning to sing, "Bread, Rashes, Grad Classes, Oh My!" You know.. like lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!?

I really think all this 'serious' writing for my grad papers has warped my sense of humor. Eeks.

Less REALLY is more...

So I'm hubby-less and puppy-less tonight. Can I get a heck yeah?!

Don't get me wrong... I love the hubby and adore the puppies. But it's been quite some time since I've had even a few moments to myself. Tonight I'll be indulging in some guilty pleasures that I can't always get away with when one or the other is around.

1. Being on the computer for as.long.as.I.want...without interruptions.
2. Eating cereal for dinner.
3. Catching up on my shows. Now, I can usually get away with this but it almost always involves at least one dog. Said dog usually has to go to the bathroom, or wants to cuddle just at the time the plot is thickening.
4. Going to bed at 8:30 and falling asleep by 8:45. Again, Hubby would be fine with this... it just doesn't usually happen.
5. Not doing the dishes, cooking, or cleaning. I could get away with this when hubby or dogs are home, I just know I shouldn't.

With that being said... I'm off to fry my brain staring at the computer and the television.

Ahhh... freedom.

Sunday, funday!

Hubby and I headed down to DC to check out the Afghanistan art exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. It was the last day for the exhibit and it was super-packed. We're talking bumper to bumper, looking at pieces of art. So packed that I was beginning to sweat profusely (partly because I was a panic-stricken mess and partly because it was 95 degrees in there with a thousand people crammed in 100 sq. feet of a room) and starting to wonder where in the heck we would all go if there was an emergency. Hubby must have read my mind when he suggested we look quickly and not read all the information provided below the pieces.

We wandered around a bit more and then decided to grab some dinner. After walking a bit, we finally agreed on a quaint little restaurant and sat down to watch some football and grab some grub.

Oh! A little random, I know.. but while we were walking around downtown, we totally saw a guy on a orange fuzzy motorcycle. We're talking orange shag covering his motorcycle. Definitely down played the tough-guy-on-a-motorcycle image.

We're thinking the zoo next weekend...

50th Post!

Wow.. hard to believe, but today is my 50th post! I'm not really sure how I had so much to say..

Well, where has time gone? School started and I'm just super-busy right now. Not that it's my excuse for not blogging.. it's my excuse for no material. Seriously, I used to have thoughts about which crazy thing that happened in my day I would talk about. Now it's more of a... what on earth will I talk about?

Today we headed over to a wine and beer tasting at one of the local liquor stores. It was really fun. The wine was great, the beer was awesome, and the food? Simply divine. We're talking bruschetta and fried ravioli. The ravioli? My personal favorite. Delish.

Since I haven't been home in four weeks, I'm hoping hubby will agree to a night in with a movie or two and one of the bottles of wine we bought. Maybe even two? Bottles of wine, not movies. If you know me in real life, you'll know I fall asleep during movies. I definitely can't manage two movies in one night.

Here's to hoping the next few weeks will provide me with great content for the blog. I'd hate to lose readers (are there any of you out there?) because my life was... gasp!.. boring!

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down...

Okay, since I'm a teacher.. and all of us teachers are a rare breed... I'm used to playing the thumbs up/down game. You know, you give a positive part of your day and a not-so-positive part of the day. Since I can't really think of anything witty (the back-to-school tiredness has kicked in!) I'll fall back on the up/down.

So for the downer.. ucky training today that caused me to think (approximately 97,648 times..) "I have better things to do with my time than sitting here listening to x,y, and z!" BUT I did get a good lunch and there was a teacher's store right next to our lunch spot so I got the little footprints I needed for my floor.

The up? Well... I found just the cutest dog in the neighborhood (no we didn't keep him, Mom!) and he belongs to the cutest family in the neighborhood with the cutest Mommy in the cutest house (the Victorian ones, Mom!). Seriously, this little guy was just a gem! He walked up to us while I was taking Big Dog and Little Dog for a walk, joined our walk, and came all the way home with us. He didn't have an address on his tag, just a phone number. He walked with us the whole way without a leash and just walked right into the house when we did! He was seriously cute. So I called up cute Mommy and told her I'd walk him to her house because she had three kids eating dinner. After babysitting for three children for 5 years, I know just how hectic any time of day can be.. let alone dinner. So I hopped over there with him, with a leash on just in case he ran into the street, and met cute Mommy and family.

Just because she was so cute, I told her we'd dog sit anytime she needed someone. I suppose it wasn't just her cuteness, but also the cute dog and the fact that he got along so well with my hooligans.

And... hubby's taking me out to dinner tonight. So I don't have to cook. How nice of him!

Babies...

I swear everyone around me either has a baby or has a baby on the way. Weird that we're getting so old. Every time my phone rings or I get an email, I swear it includes the words "We're expecting!" Seriously, folks... I'm going to be P-O-O-R paying for all of those baby presents on top of all the wedding gifts we're buying. Oh well, at least they are baby presents for other babies and not our own!

On a side note, I'm starting to get a little anxious for school to start. For those of you who don't know, I will be working in a classroom that has all children with emotional impairments who were not successful in a regular school. I will definitely be good for a few stories this school year. You know, complete with f*bombs, hitting, kicking, screaming, biting, etc. While I'm totally looking forward to the challenge, I'm so nervous for another school year to start. I've been through this twice before. It's not that I'm not prepared (I've worked three days in my classroom this week!) but I just get so nervous for the first day of school. And, in the past.. being a special education teacher who just pulls kids, I haven't had to bring my A-game on the first day of school. We didn't pull kids the first week. So I had a week to put my feet in the water and get used to it. This year? Not so much.

But... I have a week of vacation with my hubby, the dogs, my parents, hubby's parents, and their two dogs, and my sister-in-law and her boyfriend. That's eight adults and four dogs. Camping. For a week. I'm going to be tired out after this.

Oh! I just remembered, to add to my anxiety-- I will be busy for the next four weekends. Unless hubby can find someone to take my place on the NY trip. Talk about stress!

Sunday "workout"

Okay, so hubby and I have been talking about doing Tai Chi at the gym since we joined (two years ago..) and just haven't gotten around to it. Since hubby is training for the marathon, he's looking for other things to do to keep him stretched. We totally thought Tai Chi would be for us. You know, relaxing, stretching, deep breathing. Fun, right?

Maybe if you don't mind not talking for an hour (which I CANNOT do!) and trying not to make eye contact with your husband for fear that you'll break down into a fit of laughter.

I'm sure it's great for some people, but it's not for us. We're not all about the slow-motion martial arts, finding our "chi", and deep breathing. I spent the whole time wondering if I could find my chi even though I wasn't breathing correctly. At least we had a good laugh AND he took me to breakfast!

A side story... yesterday, hubby comes into the house and tells me that something is wrong with his car. I immediately panic (because that's what I do) and think, "Crap! Ashley just spent like $1,000 on her car.. we can't be doing that!" So I ask him what's up. He explains that when he stops, especially suddenly, there's a loud clanking sound. Crap! That can't be good, right? Breaks shouldn't clank. I tell him we'll keep an eye on it and if it continues, we'll have to take it in.

Later on in the day, we're heading to the store in his car. He reminds me to listen for the noise. Well, we break and I hear it. But it totally sounds like it's inside the car and not coming from the car itself. I reach under his seat and pull out.... a HANGER! Yes, a plastic hanger.

I about died laughing and proudly proclaimed, "That's blog-worthy babe!" and he gave me permission to tease him on here. He's so wonderful.

August?

My goodness, it's August. August? That means we start school this month. Ugh. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were just letting out for summer break!

So much to do this month, too! Next week, I will be working hard in my classroom to get it organized and put together for the school year and making sure I have everything I need for a successful school year (please note, this will be my first year setting up a classroom on my own.. the past two years I have had help and lots of it). Hubby's parents will be here either Tuesday or Wednesday, and we'll kick off the start of our vacation. Then on Friday we'll head down to Shenandoah and meet up with my parents. It'll be one big happy family vacation. I'm really looking forward to it!

On another side note- hubby and I have never been on a vacation just the two of us. We've always had vacations with other people... my parents, his parents, both of our parents, friends... never just us. Is that strange? I think it is. What if he finds out he hates going on vacation with just me because I'm boring? Eeks!

Anyway, back to the month of August. So we're on vacation, then we come back and we're supposed to head up to NYC for a Yankee's game. Then I head back to school for Teacher Work Week. Which isn't really teacher's working.. it is more like training and meetings. After that, I head to Chicago for a family wedding. Upon my return? The First Day of School!

So August will be a busy, busy, busy month. And one full of stress, stress, stress! I don't do busy very well and I don't do stress very well... so it'll be interesting.

If I tell you next year that I'm cramming all of my summer adventures into one month.. or 3 weeks... remind me that I'm crazy. Thanks.

Sunday

So today has been your typical lazy Sunday, which is my favorite thing about Sundays. Today hubby and I had to run to the mall to pick up a gift certificate for one of the little kiddos I used to babysit and he wanted to check out new cell phones. We left for the mall at 10:00 and arrived about 10:10. We walked up to the JCPenney entrance only to find a locked door. I swear the mall used to open at 10:00. Nope, not this one. 11:00 on Sundays. So we walked around a bit.

We wandered around and decided that we should look at glasses. It's been about three years since I've gotten glasses. In fact, it might be closer to four years. Definitely time to get new glasses, considering big dog ate them when we moved to Maryland two years ago. I found a pair that hubby loves, two random people in the store loved, and I think I love. I'm just not quite sure. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm so indecisive about EVERYTHING. I mean, how can I possibly pick out a pair to wear everyday? What if I get a new outfit and they don't match? Not that I wear them everyday because I always throw my contacts in, but what if I wanted to? What if I woke up one day with the perfect outfit in mind and I had an eye infection and was forced to wear my glasses and they didn't match? Seriously. This is a huge decision.

Oh well. Hubby loves them. He's the one who has to look at me in them every night. It's probably best that he likes them.