Where did March go?

It's funny how sometimes your weeks seem to drag like crazy, but then you blink and the month is over. These weeks in March have been sloooowwww and painful (mostly due to work), but somehow it's almost April? So weird!

Nothing big has been going on, really... Last weekend McGee and I went to brunch at his favorite place in Philly: Sabrina's Cafe. They always have a fun brunch menu with a new theme every week or two, and for last weekend the theme was "Saturday Morning Cartoons", so all of the brunch specials had fun cartoon-related names. I took a picture of the menu so you can see some of the fun titles.

I went with the Optimus Prime Cut Special ETA Burger, but now that I'm inspecting the menu again, I wish I would've selected Jambi's "Meka Leka Hi" Mexi Special! McGee got the Fat Albert Sandwich Special (it was fried catfish).

On Saturday night, McGee went into Philly to hang out with his friend Big Mike (the opera singer... who also works at one of Jose Garces' restaurants, and works part-time as a tour guide at Yards Brewery too!). So while they were hanging out, it was just me and Guinness hanging out all evening. I had taken him for a very long walk that day, and McGee took him for a very long run that day, so we were hoping he would be tired and just want to sleep in the evening for me!  But here's what our boy looks like after a very long walk and a very long run: 

He's bored!

He did nap on the couch next to me for a bit while I was watching The New Girl (I just started watching that show on Netflix! It's so funny), but then he woke up and was bored, so I played fetch in the house with him while I continued to watch my show. That was our exciting evening! My goodness I can't wait until we get our backyard back - Did I mention that we have about 3 trees falling apart in our backyard? There are tree limbs falling down everywhere. It's ridiculous and dangerous. Our landlord has been "working on taking care of it" for like a month...

Last night (Wednesday), a local bar (the Iron Abbey) was having a big event for the release of Ommegang Brewery's Fire and Blood red ale (part of their Game of Thrones brews). We had NO idea how big of an event this would be... It started at 7pm, and we got there at like 7:03pm, and the place was so packed!  We had to park blocks away, and we could barely find anywhere to stand. We met up with Juliff (McGee's friend) there, and we all had one beer (it was delicious!), and then we left to find a different restaurant where we could actually talk and maybe order food for dinner. I'm glad we got to try the beer (and we got a free Game of Thrones coaster!), but it was way too nutty to enjoy hanging out there. They were raffling off lots of GoT merchandise, but we decided we'd rather have some nice conversation and dinner. 

Here's McGee (contemplating something?) and Juliff (his first name is Kevin too) drinking the Fire and Blood beers. Sidenote: Juliff just bought a house! So excited for him!

That's our life recently! Nothing too exciting. We're somehow still unpacking our boxes from moving, and work has been really stressful for both of us. We're hoping the job stuff calms down soon... 

I hope all is going well for everyone! 

Happy Things!

So this post will be filled with all good things, because I'm sick of complaining about the stupid winter, and I'm sure you're sick of hearing/reading it! :)

First happy thing: Congratulations to my friend Shannon on her engagement!!! :)  I'm so so happy for her, and she reads this journal so I just wanted to give her a little shout-out!!  It's so exciting!  And Shannon and her fiance (!!) are moving from Florida to ALASKA soon!! And I thought moving from Southern California to the DC-area was a drastic temperature change! I'm so excited for her and all of her upcoming adventures.

Second happy thing: The Philly St. Patrick's Day Parade was this Sunday! McGee and I took a train into the city, and met up with his family. The Philly St. Patrick's Day Parade is always a super good time, and there's always a fair share of college-age people that are a little out-of-control, but for the most part it's a very family-friendly atmosphere. We always have a great time!

City Hall! It's so pretty. That's William Penn on top of the clock tower.

McGee's mom and sister (Maureen aka "Mo")

McGee and his uncle

This was a funny part during the parade. This girl wanted to cross the street, and her and this guy in the parade started dancing!

Third happy thing: We went to the Arcade Fire concert last night!  It was super fun, and wow do they know how to put on a show!!  They were so awesome to see, and we had a blast. 

So much confetti!!  Super fun. 

And the fourth and final happy thing for this post: Guinness got his 3rd Bark Box today!  He's having fun trying to destroy the rooster toy from it, and I've given him some of the bacon-flavored treats and he LOVES them.  It's his first bacon-flavored anything, so of course he's now obsessed with those treats. And those "calming" Licks treats have me intrigued! We'll save those for a time when we really need him to mellow out (because he's never naturally mellow...). 

He's got the rooster! Look at that blurry tail from it wagging so fast

I hope everyone had a happy and fun St. Patrick's Day! 

Is it Spring yet?

I think it's officially Spring now, because we had Daylight Savings "Spring Forward"... Even though this year it really feels like "Winter Forward", but that's not as catchy. Our high temperatures are finally feeling a little more reasonable, but our lows are still below freezing. I'm ready to see some birds and flowers, and I'm ready for the grass to start to recover from this terrible winter! McGee bought a BBQ grill yesterday, so I think as soon as that arrives we'll start grilling lots of our meals and that should force the warmer weather to come... Right??  Right. I loooove grilled food, so we're quite excited for our new BBQ!

We're also starting to plan our trips for the rest of 2014, so that's giving us something really awesome to look forward to. I just booked campsites for my family to go to Yosemite for 2 nights in July, and McGee is coming too! I think he'll love Yosemite (how can someone not??). I love camping... The smells, the campfires, the fresh air, the scenery, the SMORES, the family bonding time... I'm so excited! I love unplugging for a bit, and being without laptops, cell phones, etc. I'm also just quite excited to get McGee back out to California again... There's so much awesome stuff I want to show him, and I'm excited for him to see my family and friends again. 

There isn't really much else going on... Work has been nuts, and is about to get even nuttier in the next few months. Guinness is doing well, so not much new stuff to report there... McGee and I have been doing a lot better with cooking meals at home, rather than getting takeout all of the time. Last night I made a pasta dish with smoked turkey sausage that was a big hit! It was pretty easy, and we both enjoyed the leftovers today for lunch. And this weekend I'm going to make some Guinness Beef Stew that we've made before, and I'm going to attempt to make some Irish Soda Bread too! McGee loves Irish Soda Bread, so we'll see how my attempt goes...

I hope everyone's March is off to a good start!  Here are some flashback Guinness pictures, since I don't have any new pictures of anything to add to this post. I'll do better on the next post, I promise!

 

Stupid Polar Vortex...

The title of this post is the EXTREMELY censored version of what I've been saying a lot to McGee lately (there are like 3 more curse words in the real version, but I didn't want to offend anyone).  The stupid polar vortex has decided to re-visit us this winter... The low temperature today is 8 degrees, and tomorrow we're down to 3 degrees.  Plus it's super windy, so it feels even colder.  Sigh...

We received our 2nd Bark Box in the mail a few days ago (Thanks Lindsey!)!  It's so exciting to see what new treats and toys Guinness will get.  This month included a few toys, and three treats! This picture only includes two of the treats, because the third one was a beef jerky-type stick that Guinness had already claimed and was devouring while I took this picture.  The rope ball didn't last very long... Because Guinness LOOOOVES ropes, but he's extremely good at dismantling them and shredding them. That little green rubber ball though is extremely tough, and you can shove treats in those pockets so he has to work to get them out.  He loves it, and we love that it keeps him so busy!

I've been slowly but surely getting into an exercise routine... This is my first week of it, and so far so good!  I really need to start working out again, so it feels good to be back at it.  I'm doing a "Couch to 5k" program that I found on Pinterest, so it starts you out REALLY slowly, which is ideal for me right now because my cardio is terrible.  I'm thinking I should do some sort of weights, etc too... but for now I guess cardio is a good start. 

I am SO excited for the Academy Awards this weekend.  I don't know why, but I really love them and look forward to them every year. I love seeing all of the pretty dresses and picking my favorites, and I love movies so it's just fun to see the good ones recognized (and sometimes the terrible ones are recognized too).  McGee and I kinda made it our mission to see all of the Best Picture nominated films this year, and we're gonna be pretty close!  Last night we went to the movie theater to see Gravity, because we'd really wanted to see that one in the theater.  It just seemed like the kind of film that would be better on the big-screen, and we'd also heard that the 3-D version of it was extremely cool (usually I don't enjoy the 3-D versions all that much...).  And let me say... WOW.  That movie was amazing, and the special effects were extremely cool (especially in 3-D!).  Sandra Bullock did a really great job too.  I highly recommend going to see it in the movie theater if you can!!  We've already seen The Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, and Her, so all we have left is Dallas Buyers Club, 12 Years a Slave, Philomena, and Nebraska.  I think tonight we're gonna watch Dallas Buyers Club at home, and we want to make sure we see 12 Years a Slave before the awards too... But I'm not sure if we'll have time to see Nebraska and Philomena.  

I'm also trying to think of some fun food to make for the awards show, but I have zero ideas so far!  If you have any ideas/suggestions, let me know! :)  

Officially a PA Resident

Well, I did it, folks! I'm officially a PA resident. It happened. I was stressing like crazy about passing the eye test (poor McGee had to hear me obsess about that for weeks...), because I'm about a year late getting my exam and definitely need an updated prescription. I stress about the oddest things sometimes... BUT, I'm happy to say that I passed the eye test (it was like a 5 second test...), and received my temporary PA driver's license. We got there pretty early this morning (about 15 minutes before the DMV opened), and it ended up only taking us 30 minutes from start to finish once we got inside. Not too shabby! And they only gave me a temporary license (it's valid for 15 days), because they have to run my picture through facial recognition software before they'll give me the real deal. I took a picture of my new license, but I cut off most of it (address, DL number, etc) because I don't really want that stuff on the internet...

I look extremely pale and washed-out (and I kind of just AM really pale and washed-out in real life...), but I'm hoping the actual picture will be a little bit darker (notice the bright red "TEMPORARY" across the card?)

After that, we ran over to the Tags place to get my title and registration (yep, you have to go someplace other than the DMV for that stuff here...), and we got that all taken care of too!  So, I have a driver's license (temporary) and my license plate and registration. Now I just have 10 days to get my state inspection and my emissions test... and then I'm all done! Whew! It's tough to become the resident of a new state, and be all legal and stuff. 

McGee and I also ran a bunch of other errands, and were quite productive today! I also got a menu planned out for most of the week and we got groceries, so hopefully this week we won't resort to getting takeout like we have been doing a lot lately. Now, it's still pretty early, and we're all done for the day! We're treating ourselves to some movie-watching and drinks (Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA for McGee, and a rum-based mixed drink made by McGee for me!). We're starting our evening by watching Cool Runnings (confession: I have NEVER seen it... McGee was quite shocked and disheartened), and then after that I think we might give the show House of Cards a try, since EVERYONE seems to be obsessed with that show right now! 

And, just so you have something cute to look at, here's ANOTHER picture of Guinness sleeping. Happy weekend, everyone!! 

Sleepy puppy

We've been able to take Guinness out to the yard quite a bit (at least a few times per day), and he's loving it. It's kind of EXTRA exercise for him right now, because the snow is so deep that it's really quite a workout to try to run in it! McGee and I get exhausted even just trying to walk around in it. And I'm so awkward in my winter boots that if I try to run in that deep snow, I end up just tripping and falling! I don't know how Guinness runs so well in that deep snow... We're loving that it makes him oh-so-tired though!  It's really great. He spends a LOT of time napping now, and he's so gosh-darn cute when he sleeps! I thought I'd share some pictures of our little (big) guy doing his new favorite activity.

Please excuse the mess in this one!  We're still working on unpacking everything and getting organized. Having dog toys everywhere is quite normal for us though... That part won't change anytime soon.

We're supposed to get MORE snow tonight - another 1-3", which at this point is nothing. Last year that 3" would have been about half of our total for the season... But this winter is just ridiculous. And it really feels like all McGee and I have done since we moved into this house is shovel snow and ice, because our neighbor (who we share a driveway with) doesn't believe in shoveling. He says he just prefers to drive over everything. So, as a result of him driving over all of the snow and ice all season, we had at least 3 inches of solid ice and compacted snow that we've had to break up and shovel over every square inch of our driveway (and it's a long driveway that leads to the back of the property where we park). Yesterday, McGee was a beast and somehow broke up the ridiculously thick ice that was at the entrance to the driveway (it met up with the street). It was a huge speed bump of slick ice that you had to try to get your car over. We were the only house on the block that had that "speed bump" though, because every other house would just deal with the ice and snow after each storm hit, but we had a whole winter's worth of ice and compacted snow to try to battle. I think now that we're all caught-up on shoveling, we can try to get some more boxes unpacked!  

This weekend I tried to (finally) get my PA Driver's License (yes, I was technically supposed to do that like a year ago... ), so that I can register my car in PA (again, yes, a year ago would've been the appropriate time to do that...). However, the stupid DMV decided to take Saturday off so that they could have an extra-long holiday weekend. Lame. So now I'll have to do that sometime this week (I wish they were open today!) or I'll try again next Saturday. I always dread the whole Driver's License and Car Registration state switch... I've had CA, MD, DE (my DE registration expires in March...), and now I'll have PA. It's never a fun process... But I'll be sooo glad when it's done and I don't have to worry about it anymore. 

I hope you're all doing well, and I hope you have today off from work too!  

We survived the crazy storm!

Well, that storm was nuts. I did not enjoy myself... McGee went to work even though it was snowing like CRAZY in the morning, and so I spent a good portion of my day trying to keep the sidewalk and driveway properly shoveled.  My back muscles are definitely feeling it today!  The weather today seems a lot better, but I heard that we're supposed to get MORE snow tonight or early tomorrow.  Have I mentioned that I'm over this winter???  Here's a graphic I saw on the news BEFORE this crazy storm hit (so you'll have to add another 12-18 inches to that total for this year so far.

Kind of ridiculous when you see it like that!  I knew it was a really bad winter...

The good news though, is that with the massive accumulation from yesterday, it covered all of the sticks, etc that were still in our yard, so we were able to let Guinness run around for the first time!  He had such a blast, and now he's obsessed with going out there.  He's almost constantly whining to go out now, and he used to only whine to go out when he had to go to the bathroom!  I'm hoping he'll calm down about it soon (but still love it, of course).  Here are some pictures of him enjoying the yard!

Look at his ridiculously curly tail!  It's so weird and cute. 

There he is running!  You can get a better idea of how big the yard is now.

McGee was throwing snowballs for him.  It's the best game EVER, because we never run out of snowballs, and Guinness can never find them! 

He had to do this funny bouncy kind of run, because some of the snow was so deep!

Still bouncy running! 

They both look so happy!  And Guinness is looking tired!  Yay!