Trip to the Motor City

I Love love........ And nothing is better than spending a weekend filled with wedding festivities as someone's guest. No planning, no stress, and no pressure.

Scott and I went to Dearborn, MI (right outside of Detroit) this weekend for Ryan and Ashley's wedding. The weather was perfect and it was so much fun to meet some of Scott's buddies from College. We flew out at 6:30 Friday morning, which meant a wake up time of 5 AM!!! I was so excited to travel with Scott as this was our first airplane trip together. As the plane was getting ready to take off, I turned to Scott to find him sound asleep against the window- a position that he kept for the next hour and a half until we landed :-) Our layover in JFK was a little hectic as we booked it to our terminal only to sit on the plane for an hour due to an "electrical system malfunction". Once things were "working" we were apprehensively in the air and on our way to our destination. Upon our safe arrival in Detroit, we were picked up by Ryan and Ashley (as if they didn't have a million other things to do on the day before their wedding) and they took us to The Dearborn Inn, a gorgeous hotel across from the Henry Ford Museum where out of town guest were staying and the reception was to be held . We settled in and Scott went to get his tux as I explored the hotel and gardens. Once the men arrived with their tuxes, we went bowling with the bridal party, went to the rehearsal, had a wonderful rehearsal dinner at a deep dish pizza place, and watched the Stanley Cup finals at a bar with a bunch of RedWings fans {YIKES!}. Exhausted, we went back to the hotel where I crashed from our early morning departure and Scott stayed up to finish his best man speach.

The wedding day started bright and early with breakfast for the bridal party @ 7am and a departure time of 8:15 for Scott and 9:30 for me for a 10:30 wedding. The ceremony was beautiful, Ashley was gorgeous, Ryan was in attendance, and Scott didn't lose the ring- altogether- a very successful morning :-) The afternoon from 12-4 was filled with lunch, Scott's perfect best man speech, and lots of dancing and mingling. We left the hotel for the airport and flew back to Norfolk at 7:30pm with a stop in Charlotte for dinner, getting us back home at exactly midnight. A very quick weekend that was packed with fun and memories.

A few examples below ;-)

Scott's Bday and Callie update

This past Sunday was Scott's 25th Birthday. Even though the ability to rent a car should be present enough, I decided he deserved more so I got all of his favorite people together and threw him a surprise party. It was so much fun keeping the secret and he had absolutely no idea. I decided on Tortilla West in Norfolk so it would be convenient for all of his friends and they have a nice spacious back room. He had a wonderful turnout of about 40+ people. Matt, Amanda, and Callie were there and you better believe I showed off the Munchkin (she turned 2 months the next day). I will never get tired of proud Aunt moments! Scott's brothers Mark and Jeremy were able to come down and spend the day at the beach before meeting us for the surprise dinner. The next day I got off work early and we all went to Busch Gardens before the boys had to head home to Staunton. All together, it was a very successful surprise and turned out even better than I could have imagined. Only negative, I catered way too much food and we have been eating mexican all week!!!!!

Mark (just graduated from Wheaton), Scott, and Jeremy (going to Samford in the fall)

I also got to spend time with Amanda and Callie last night to watch SYTYCD while Matt is in D.C. I got to give Callie her first bottle :-) After some confusion, flailing, and nonharmful choking she got the hang of it and did really well!!!! I still make it a point to give the boys plenty of love when I go by so they don't feel left out.......
Scott and I leave tomorrow at 6:30am for Ryan and Ashley's wedding in Detroit. Scott is the best man and I get to meet all of his college buddies. I can't wait :-)
Happy Early Birthday to my Rashy!!!!!!!! <3

Off to pack............ Wedding pictures and stories coming Sunday.

New Car.......

I am currently taking suggestions for names :-)

Happy 9 Months :-)

I have the best boyfriend ever.... no seriously, I do!!! Ok, I know everyone will argue with me that THEIR significant other is the best, but I think, when you feel that way,that is how you know you are with the right person.

This Friday we celebrated our 9 months. Scott went out of town for the weekend so we celebrated on Thursday with dinner at PF Changs and then went to a showing of Angels and Demons (which is a great movie BTW). Monday, Scott and I went with his friend Jeff to the Ocean View Pier where we spent the entire afternoon and evening looking out on the bay, having a few happy hour specials, telling stories, and discussing plans for their last year of Med School.

It was a wonderful weekend, and a perfect celebration of the past 9 months!!! However, Scott, who is always so thoughtful, surprised me Tuesday after work with 9 stems of flowers and two tickets to see Wicked at Chrysler Hall (with no hinting involved on my part). We went to a preshow dinner at Byrd and Baldwin where we absolutely stuffed ourselves and then enjoyed the amazing musical. The set was intricate, Glinda's role was very comical, the Wicked Witch's singing voice was phenominal, but I must say that my date was the best part of all :-)

Callie Mae

The Little Love Bug kissing her giraffe from Great Aunt Lynn and Great Uncle Walter

One of the best gift I've ever received

was my graduation present. A 1998 beautiful white pontiac sunfire with only 17 miles on it. I knew it was a fun car to drive since I had been cruising around town in my brothers red sunfire while he was in europe the summer after my junior year. I also knew I was going to get a car for graduation and needed to start looking. One evening, while car shopping with my parents for their new ride, I saw my baby sitting in the showroom. It's the closest I had ever been to love at first sight. Needless to say, I got my graduation present 11 months before graduating and have enjoyed every minute of the last 11 years we have spent together. This past weekend, I made the decision to purchase a newer, larger, more reliable car and cried my eyes out as my dad drove my sunfire home to Richmond. It made me question if I should ever have children........ If I can be so emotionally attached to an automobile and feel my heart breaking as I see her driving away, how will I ever let my kids go to summer camp, vacations with friends, school trips, or even worse, college?!?!?

The wonderful part of the story is that both of Scotts brothers need a car with fewer miles on it so his dad is buying the sunfire from me for one of them to use. At least we are keeping her in the "family" and I will be able to watch her from a far :-)

A moment of silence to remember all of the wonderful times and memories with my RAE OF SUN.............

Thirteen little ducks that I once knew.......

....fat ones, skinny ones, itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny, cute and furry one's too......lalalalalalala

I need to start carrying a camera with me when I go for my runs like Zooey Deschanel's character in the movie Yes Man :-)
Yesterday, I was running down the cape henry trail I saw a pretty duck with a green head crossing my path. "Where are your friends?" I asked the duck. Worried about him being so close to the road, and being a total goof for animals, I stopped my run and stood to see where he was going. He started heading along the edge of the path between the trail and the creek. Then, about 10 feet away, I heard a "quack". Happy that his friends were nearby, I went to see how many there were. To my surprise, it was a mommy duck with the cutest little pack of baby ducks I have EVER seen. They were SO little that I think this may have been their first outting. I continued on my way so I wouldn't make daddy duck angry.
On the way home the sun was setting in the distance. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and puffy white cotton ball clouds. The sun set cast a pink shade on the edges of the clouds. It was such a peaceful run and reminded me how fabulous life is and how important it is to enjoy the small things.