Another List?

So that last post got me thinking of other events I want/need to keep track of. So, let's see what I can remember.

Christmas 2010 - covered previously.
AC's Bday, Nov 2010 - went to mountains with PRJV. Her parent's came up and took us to Red Lobster. This was first time I'd seen her parents since high school when they told her she could no longer associate with me. Had a wonderful dinner and nice time with them. Came home wondering if it really happened.
Anniversary, Aug 2010 - AC got us a frickin' amazing day at the spa. We went to Escape Day Spa. Couple massage, bath soak, facials, lunch, pedicure. Locker room had amazing shower - it was huge! Absolutely amazing day. I don't remember what I got her - eek. I'll have to figure that out.
My Bday, May 2010 - I got an amazing box that inside had 100 pieces of tiny blue paper. On each piece of paper was a reason why my girl says she loves me. So very sweet! I have savored these and actually still have 2 left! I'm sure we went to dinner, but I don't remember.
Xmas 2009 - was an odd xmas. JS was still in hospital so we picked her up and drove her to Camden on xmas day.

Christmas List

So Christmas is over and it could NOT have been better. I'm horrible at remembering what I got for certain occasions or where I went for certain things. Decided to make note of it here so I'll always have it to reference. And no paper to keep track of - or more in my case, no paper to lose!
My sweet baby girl got me the following:
A bi-fold picture frame; one side had a pic of us on our Colorado trip, the other side had the following quote: "If you live 100 years, I want to live 100 days minus one day so I never have to live without you" Winnie the Pooh. This was BY FAR my favorite gift. I haven't gotten too many homemade gifts like that from her so it meant so very much. It was an odd sized frame too, so it took her some time to size the pic right. She put a lot into it and I definitely appreciated it!!! Made me cry.
Oakley sunglasses - my favorite non-homemade present. I hadn't asked for them and she picked them out by herself. I have a hard enough time myself picking out sunglasses so the fact that she picked them out and they are perfect is amazing to me.
Fossil watch - very cool, solid black.
Clothes from Buckle, with necklace and cuff
Lucky t-shirt
Long sleeve baseball type shirt
The makings for hot stone massage. Sweet thing that she is, my girl ordered the stones you use for a hot stone massage and some massage oil. A homemade certificate accompanied this for a massage whenever I want. It was too cute and very sweet. So thoughtful she is. Oh, and the coupon never expires - sweet!
Travel coffee cups
Miscellaneous fun stuff in my stocking - which was jam packed.
Mom got us a gift card to Escape Day Spa. Funny too b/c she said she didn't know that is where AC took me for our anniversary. It was orgasmic!! We looked at the menu, and we can get a couples massage and bath soak for the money on the gift card. Super excited!
Mom also got me some Clinique makeup, a picture frame ornament, and misc stuff in stocking.
Gram/Pop gave us a joint gift of money
Darren gave each of us a travel coffee mug with a Starbucks card and chocolates inside. He also gave us each a Cuban cigar. Really?? Did he have a momentary lapse that I have quit smoking?!?! I'm going to say that he had a momentary lapse of memory on that one. It's the thought I suppose.

We opened presents with each other Christmas Eve morning. After that, got ready and drove to Paris to AC's 'rents. It was us, her mom/dad, and sister/her family. Surprisingly, we had a really nice time! I jokingly told AC that I think she's been lying to me about how horrible her parents are. They have welcomed me in a way that neither of us ever expected. AC, her niece, and I played Just Dance 2 on her dad's Wii. Then, I helped her dad hook up his Cabella's game he got for the Wii. Has a rifle that was really fun. We played that for awhile; when we left, her dad said I'd have to come back and play again. Can't even begin to find the words to explain my disbelief. Overall a wonderful time with all of them. Her sis was better this time - she actually looked me in the eye and made small talk with me. We left the in-laws and went to the farm. Drove over to gram/pops xmas morning to open stockings and presents with everyone. Brunch was served at 11:30 and it was absolutely wonderful as always.

Fucking Sucks

Found out last week that my grandmother has stage 4 cancer - it's in her lungs, liver and bones. She goes Friday for an "official" diagnosis and to find out what's next. This fucking sucks. It more than fucking sucks. She is the beacon of our family, that of which everything is centered around. All birthdays, holidays, celebrations, everything is held at her house. I am so angry, so sad. I fluctuate between extreme sadness at the thought of her not being here and extreme anger at the fact that this is happening to her. FUCK

Bring On the Fright

Halloween weekend is here. Haven't been to a haunted house in years, but we'll be checking out Turbidite Manor tomorrow. Can't wait!! My girl hates everything scary and has agreed to go with me. It's gonna be great!!

Colorado in October

So my girl and I went to Colorado 2 weekends ago. I had never been to that part of the US, but had always wanted to go. An interesting story how it came to be that we ended up in Colorado. We have some friends who invited us to their wedding in Boston which was scheduled to happen in October. As we looked for places to stay (ok, as my girl looked for places to stay), we (ok....she) quickly realized Boston was an expensive place to visit. There were 2 other couples who were also invited to the wedding and whom we are close enough to to entertain the idea of splitting a hotel suite with them. A master plan was formed! We booked our flights, friend booked the hotel.....a vacation was set for Boston....oh, and we'd attend a wedding while we were there too. Two weeks later, engaged friends send out an email  via Facebook to those invited. Unfortunately, they had decided to call off the wedding - they weren't splitting up, but decided to wait awhile.

Side note RE: these "friends" - at the beginning of January, one (call her C) finds out the other (call her H) has been cheating and they break up. 4 months later, H realizes she misses C and asks her to take her back, which C does the same day. A week after they've gotten back together, H proposes to C and we then are invited to a wedding. No surprise the wedding was called off.

So, we are stuck with plane tix that are non-refundable. We can change them for a fee. So, we (ok...my girl) starts trying to find a place for us to go similarly priced to our Boston tix or preferably cheaper. After much researching and looking on her part, we settle on Estes Park, CO. Voila!

I can't even begin to describe how absolutely gorgeous, breath taking, surreal that this place is. It is exactly what you see in pictures, and to be standing in person looking at it is something extraordinary. We were there on an extended weekend and didn't have much time, so we tried to pack in as much as possible. We drove through Rocky Mountain National Park both days. On Friday, we didn't venture too far in as we didn't have much daylight. We hiked about 3 or 4 miles of trails - thin air in the high altitudes had us both gasping for air! We then found a spot where a large number of elk had collected. It was the end of their "rut" which I learned was their mating season. Evidently, during the rut you are very likely to hear the elk "bugling" which I learned was the noise the bulls make to warn off other bulls and to let their cows know they are around. I guess bulls have a harem of cows and as I witnessed they keep them in check! We sat and watched them all for a couple of hours until we got too chilly then headed back to the hotel. On Saturday, it was off to drive Trail Ridge Rd which goes from Estes Park through RMNP and over to Grand Lake - it's about a 55 mile trip. We travelled to altitudes of over 11,500 feet, saw a sign telling us we were 2 miles above sea level, and saw breath taking views of the mountains. The road scared the shit out of me at times - no guard rails and an immediate drop to your death awaiting you should you swerve too far over. It was a trip that I will never forget and that ranks in my top 3 of all time! The company made it even better.

The other sweet part about this trip was the hotel. We stayed in the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. This is the hotel where Stephen King got his inspiration to write The Shining. It's the Overlook Hotel! Needless to say, I was more than stoked!! This hotel is in the top 10 spookiest hotels. My girl is not one for anything scary and had never seen The Shining. She agreed to stay if I didn't tell her anything about it until after we left. The place was gorgeous! And the best part....we went on a ghost tour on our last day...after we checked out. It was primarily a lot of historical information with a little bit of ghost tour. This was the ideal situation for my girl. When we got home, it was brought to our attention that we might have captured a ghost in one of our pictures. Look underneath the left light -

IS THAT A FACE??!?!?!?!?! Neither of us felt like we like we encountered any ghosts while staying in the hotel or on the tour.....but now we're not too sure!

This was the BEST non-Boston vacation ever!! Can't wait to go back!

Here We Go

Well, looks like I now have a blog. I first really learned about them a year ago when my girlfriend told me about hers. Never quite understanding the point, I didn't think too much about it. Also, I'm not known to be one that discloses all that much information. Things happen and I "file" them away. So, I started thinking recently about starting a blog. First to possibly talk about and release things I have never really dealt with or talked about extensively. Second, I thought it might help with my memory to take note of things that happen - big and small. Finally (and possibly most importantly), I stopped smoking 6 days ago and thought this might be a good outlet for any anger, frustration, etc that I am experiencing. Better to take it out on strangers than my girl, right? Here is where it begins....I'll see where it goes.