Sunday, August 29, 2010

Food, Friends & Fun

On Saturday Dan & I drove to Ellicott City, Maryland to meet my girlfriend Nikki & her boyfriend, Dale. They live in Kent Island & we tried to find a place to meet somewhere inbetween. Dan & I had never been but apparently Nikki use to go there quite a bit back in the day. We decided on La Palapa, a mexican restaurant. :o) When we arrived, Dan said it reminded him of Colorado. We met around 5:00 p.m. & got to catch up for several hours while drinking margaritas & eating some great food. Here are the photos I took: Dan wasn't very happy about the traffic on the way there.
The guys - D & D.
Nik & Me.


Once the dinner crowd arrived, they had a mariachi duo walk around & play for everyone. The guy on the right had a scraggly tooth that stuck out & he kept making this "weeeeeee" sound which cracked Dan up every single time. It was pretty funny.
Around 8:00 p.m. we decided to walk around & take a look at the shops. Since it is a small town, most of the shops closed around 6:00 p.m. but there were a few still open until 9:00 p.m. (it really reminded me of Waynesburg.) The roads were brick & all the old houses on Main Street were converted into shops.
I loved this cafe that we came across - we didn't go in but it was pretty cool: Our last stop of the night was a shop that had some pretty crazy merchandise. When we walked in, Dan said, "this reminds me of the show Hoarders!" I don't think anyone would actually buy anything in there but it was fun trying on some of their crazy things: While we were looking at some Alice & Wonderland stuff, Dale came up behind us wearing this hat like it was completely normal & no big deal: I almost peed my pants when I saw him & had to take a picture.
Dan's hat choice (Bah Humbug): My hat choice (Tinkerbell): I wasn't quick enough to get a photo of Nik's hat choice, which was a very ugly looking fish. :o(
We had a great time catching up & meeting Dale. Dan & I really liked him & we even talked about going back there for the Fall Festival in September. Hopefully we'll be able to do that. Thanks guys for a great Saturday!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Just Another Day At The Office

So this summer The Duff Law Firm has been doing some fun things & I wanted to share them with you...in June we had an ice cream social that was thrown by the management company that owns our building. The girls, Sandra, Lisa & I went down to check it out & we realized that they also had funnel cakes! We were super excited. They also had music playing in the lobby. The ice cream flavors were very yummy; I ended up getting strawberry & cheesecake flavors with sprinkles. :o)
Before I started working at the Firm our office manager, Nancy, had started doing "summer hours" where the office would close at 3:00 p.m. one Friday a month. Towards the end of June, Cami reminded Nancy that we had not been doing our summer hours so now we close the office at 3:00 p.m., one Friday a month, & lately Sandra Lue & I have been going to happy hour & hanging out. The last couple times we even threw in some shopping.
On August 16th the Firm threw Peter (one of the attorneys) a wedding shower because he was getting married on August 20th in St. Thomas. We had a catered lunch, played the newlywed game & had them open their presents. It was a lot of fun. The shower was beach themed which is why we are all wearing leis. Here are some photos that were taken: Left to Right: Alanna (attorney), Me, Anne & Sandra Lue
Left to Right: Adam, Anne, Katie, Sandra Lue, Cami, Me (stuffing my face) & Alanna (just cheesin' away :o)
Peter & Jen opening one of their gifts from Dan & I
Cami & I - it never fails, I always have the zoom on & this was taken with S's camera!
I had to take a normal one
S & C :o)
Cami & I, again (behind us is Alanna & David)
While this photo was being taken, David kept saying "hey what's going on over there?! Hey!" because S was sitting on my lap.
So sweet.
Us again - I heart her.
*Unfortunately, our cute little Lisa is not in any of the above photos because she was sick for several days. :o(
David & Nancy Duff traveled to St. Thomas for Peter & Jen's wedding so I decided to post one of their photos: here's Peter & Jen at their rehearsal dinner: Congratulations to the newlyweds!
On August 17th we were suppose to celebrate my 28th birthday with some ice cream cake, but David grabbed the wrong cake that morning & brought in a chocolate ice cream log. Poor David. He got picked on for that. So instead of having 1 birthday cake, I got to have 2! One on the 17th & one on the 23rd, which was a Carvel ice cream cake. Yummy. I must be pretty special, huh? ;o)

I hope everyone has enjoyed their summer!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

My Birthday Weekend

Well, I am officially 28 years old & I'm feelin' great! Like I tell Dan every year on his birthday, "you're only as old as you feel" & right now I feel like I'm in my teens so life is good. :o)

I had a wonderful time this weekend & Dan & I even started celebrating a little early; on Thursday night we went to Red Robin for dinner because neither of us wanted to cook. Friday night we went to Outback for dinner because his Dad gave him a gift card for one of his birthday presents in Barbados so, of course, it was burning a hole in our pocket. While we were there Dan ran into one of his old high school friends that he played baseball with & he ended up being our server. I had ordered a frozen margarita while Dan got a tall Miller Lite & of course, he hooked me up with so much liquor that I could barely drink it. It was probably the strongest drink I have ever had. I ended up finishing it though because mixed with the food, I got use to the taste. On Saturday I cleaned while Dan was at football practice. Around 3:00 p.m. I got a text message from my friend/neighbor, Laura, asking me if I was free because she had something to give me. I went outside to chain Lexi up in the front yard & I turn around to see Laura & Audrey holding a birthday cake, birthday card & a picture singing Happy Birthday. :o) Audrey colored me a picture out of one of her books that had balloons on it that said "Happy Birthday" which was so sweet. Here is the cake that they gave me: And it was sooo good - chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. Like I sing to Dan all the time, "yummy, yummy, yummy I got love in my tummy & I feel like loving you..." That was so sweet of them to take time out of their busy day & bake me a cake. I absolutely loved it.
For dinner on Saturday I put together a small group of friends & we met at Don Pablo's for margaritas & mexican food. Our small party consisted of Dan & I, Sandra & Santiago & Laura & Evan. It was so much fun! Laura & Evan had to leave around 8:30 p.m. to relieve their babysitter for the night so we weren't able to take any photos of all of us together but before we went home Sandra & I pulled out our cameras to get some shots: S & S.
I was having some problems with my camera so Dan tried to fix it & ended up taking this pic:
I think my arms look huge (as in fat) in this pic but Dan looks good.
The girls!
They are so cute. :o)
And so are we. :o)
I'm sure everyone around us was getting annoyed with the camera flashes from taking so many pictures, but we were all buzzed so we really didn't care what they thought. I'm so bummed that I wasn't able to get any photos of Laura & Evan at dinner, so I went over to their blog & "borrowed" one of their photos: Laura & Evan with their kiddos, A & F. :o)

By the time Sunday rolled around for my actual birthday, I was completely exhausted & felt like doing absolutely nothing. I did open my birthday gift from my family & Dan though. My family got me several pieces of workout clothes which I was in dire need of & Dan got me 3 movies (In Her Shoes, My Cousin Vinny & Love Potion #9) & at least 15 tubes of lip gloss (I love lip gloss). We layed around all morning & watched movies & then at 3:00 p.m. we decided to go over to DSW & pick me up some birthday shoes which was the second part of my gift from Dan. :o) Here's what I chose: They are by Audrey Brooke & they are so comfortable. While Dan & I were looking around I asked him to keep his eyes peeled for a "nude pair of sandals" & his response was, "babe, I don't know what that means." :o)
While we were there I tried on several pairs of winter boots while Dan complained that he now has to be tortured through the winter with shoe purchases by me. There are some cute ones out there this season!

Now its time to thank everyone for my gifts: The Cline's ~ Thank you for my awesome Guess wallet, I LOVE it:
The Browstein's ~ Thank you for the adorable cake, card & picture!
S & S ~ Thank you for the Twilight birthday card & my cute eye makeup!
Suzanne (co-worker) ~ Thank you for my Sephora gift card, I plan on using it towards my new Chanel perfume.
Don & Vicki ~ Thank you for my beautiful necklace!
Mom, Dad & Ben: Thanks for my workout clothes - I totally needed them & they will be put to good use.
Lover ~ I love my movies & of course my shoes; thanks for a great 28th birthday. I love you.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Vacation :o)

We're baaack! Dan & I have made it home after our 8 days in Barbados. We had such a great trip & enjoyed spending time with his family. Here's a slide show I put together:



And here's the break down of our vacation...

We flew out of Dulles International Airport on Saturday, July 31st, at 7:30 a.m. Our connecting flight was in Charlotte, NC & from there we flew into Barbados. The entire trip flying down there took about 5 hours. As soon as we arrived at The Crane, everyone went down to the pool, etc., everyone except me, I had to unpack & get our room situated; afterwards I went down to meet up with everyone though. The first 2 days Dan & I ate breakfast after working out (yes I brought my P90X DVDs with me, including the bands) & then we headed to the beach/pool for the day. We usually skipped lunch & then ate dinner out. The food was fabulous. They have 3 restaurants there: Zen (Japanese), D'Onofrios (Italian) & L'Azure (American). We later decided to change it up & skip breakfast & eat lunch & dinner out. We wanted to try out a little bit of everything.

On Wednesday, August 4th, it was Dan's birthday so as soon as he woke up I gave him the present that I packed in my suitcase for him. Here's a photo: He absolutely loved it. I bought it online at Coveroo. If you're a sports fan, I highly recommend this website & yes you can buy monograms for all types of phones.
So back to the birthday boy - we went down to the beach for the day & he spent the entire time in the waves. Around 4:00 p.m. we went up to his parents suite because they had planned a surprise birthday party for him. They had a cake made too:
I had promised Dan the night before his birthday that I was not going to harp on him about his alcohol intake...& I didn't; he was extremely intoxicated by the time we went to dinner. Here is a photo I took of the servers at the restaurant singing Happy Birthday to him: He, of course, was singing along with them.
The brownie was very yummy. I was more excited than he was to have chocolate cake & a birthday brownie all in one day!
After dinner we met Aurie & Glenn at the 1887 bar for some drinks & live music. I was very impressed with Scott & Sara (the entertainment for that night) who were a duo that sang great together. I did ask them if they had a website or any CDs but unfortunately they did not. :o(
After we got back to the suite I told Dan about a huge moth that was sitting inside our lamp shade & asked him to get rid of it because there was no way I was going to go to sleep with it in there. I hid in the bathroom while he tried to get his hands on it & the entire time he was working he kept saying, "holy shit this thing is huge!" After several attempts & no luck, the moth flew & landed right on the side of dan's head & he let out a scream that made me almost pee my pants from laughing so hard. I wish now that I would've taken a photo of it because no one would believe how big it was. Eventually the moth flew out the door on its own.
So I think Dan had a great birthday, what do you think?

On Thursday while Dan, Kelly, Arden & I were down at the beach relaxing, I ended up having a bathing suit malfunction. I was wearing a red & white bikini that I'd had since my senior year of high school (yes, it was pretty old). While I was trying to pull my lounge chair under the umbrella to get some shade my clasp in the back broke in half & my top flew up & hit me in the face. Yes, the girls were exposed for a brief amount of time before I could wrap my hands around them to give 'em some coverage. I did let out a screech which attracted more attention than I actually wanted. The 2 strangers that were sitting next to me started giggling & then asked me if I was alright. The 2 employees of the resort that were sitting directly behind me had covered their mouths with their hands during my whole ordeal so I know they got a peek. Kelly asked me after a few seconds if I needed some assistance & then she was able to tie the back strap into a knot to get me through the rest of the day. Kelly then made a comment that I was probably embarrassed by the whole thing & I said to her, like Jennifer Aniston says as Rachel on Friends, "that's alright I got nice boobs". :o) I later got a comment from my father-in-law that he had received topless photos of me by email a few hours earlier. Haha. Very funny, Don.

On Friday we all went on the Cool Runnings snorkling trip which we did the last time we were down there. We had so much fun the first time that my father-in-law decided to book another excursion this year. I was hesitant to go because Thursday night I had a dream that I was in the water & a baby shark had come up behind me & bit my leg off. This dream was on top of my fear of fish & open water. When I stepped onto the catamaran, I was still not 100% sure that I was going to get in the water. When the time came to make up my mind I sucked it up & walked down the ladder. After a few seconds of trying to swim & trying to calm my breathing & get rid of the tightening in my chest, I realized that the turtles that were swimming underneath me were coming to the surface to get fed by the crew members. I swam to the ladder as fast as I could & ran up onto the boat. My second attempt to get in the water only lasted for about 2.2 seconds because I saw that a sting ray was on its way up from the bottom & those freak me out even worse than turtles do. I was back up on the boat, again. Our second stop was a sunken ship where there were no turtles or sting rays. Dan went down in the water with me this time & I did stay longer than the first 2 attempts but after I saw a school of fish swimming right by my feet I was out of there. Our third stop was to have lunch & go swimming in a more shallow area. I actually jumped in & swam for a considerable amount of time because I didn't see any fish, etc. around anywhere. I wish my snorkling attempts had gone better but I just couldn't shake my anxiety this year. I was so scared. I'm glad that I forced myself into the water & didn't just sit up on the boat the entire time though.

On Saturday we flew home. We left The Crane at 12:00 p.m. & our flight left at 3:30 p.m. We landed in Charlotte, NC only to find out that our flight had been delayed & that we were taking off at 10:30 p.m. After an hour of sitting on the plane & waiting for take off, the pilot came on the intercom to tell us that there was an issue with one of the monitors & we were going to have to deboard & get on a different plane. We didn't leave Charlotte, NC until midnight. Once we got a taxi back to our house we were home around 2:30 a.m. While we were gone Dan had parked his truck in a visitors spot so his brother-in-law could park his car in front of our house & when he went to move his truck back to his designated parking spot, his truck was gone. We found out that it was towed on August 3rd & had been sitting in the tow lot for 5 days. Dan was livid. I had to drive him over to pick it up & $245 later he drove it home. We are in the process of demanding reimbursement of that cost from our HOA & also demanding payment for the repairs that it is going to cost us to have the piece of Dan's undercarriage replaced because the tow company ripped it off during the towing process. Bastards. My head didn't hit my pillow until 3:30 a.m. on Saturday.

On Sunday I had made plans to meet up with my Mom, Dad & brother in Hancock, MD to pick up Lexi. They had her for the week that Dan & I were gone. We met around 2:00 p.m. so I wasn't too terribly tired driving up there because I got to sleep in. As soon as I saw my parents pull up I could see Lexi's tail wagging. I missed her so much. I know she had a great time with my parents but I'm so glad to have her back at home with us.

So that concludes our vacation break down...did you actually make it all the way to the end? I hope so. Thanks to all of you that check our blog on a regular basis, I love working on it & absolutely love getting all of your feedback. :o)

Monday, August 9, 2010

5 Years. . .

On July 28th, Dan & I celebrated our 5 year anniversary; we actually got married on July 29th but since Dan was going to be in PA the day of our anniversary we celebrated a day earlier. After work I picked him up & we went to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack in Fairfax. Yes, we could've gone to our standard Don Pablo's dinner but we wanted to go somewhere that we have not been in a while & we were both craving seafood, so Joe's it was. We both ordered an alcoholic beverage & munched on our appetizer as we opened our presents. We usually don't give each other gifts on our anniversary but this year we decided, 2 days earlier, that we would. Dan opened his first & I got him a new light blue golf shirt with white stripes & a matching white belt that he has been looking for all summer. He wanted one for when he plays golf but could never find one that he really liked & I was able to find a nice one by Nike at Dick's. Next it was my turn to open my gifts. Dan got me the open hearts collection bracelet & matching ring:
He's got great taste, huh? Right now you are probably thinking, "geez Danielle he got you such a nice gift & all you got him was a golf shirt & a belt?" Yep. He does this to me every year. I get him something practical & affordable & he goes & buys me something over the top. He's very sweet & I absolutely love my gifts but I did feel bad after the fact.
So after dinner we practically had to wheel ourselves out to the parking lot because we were so stuffed from our food but before we got into the car we took our traditional anniversary photos of the two of us:

So after our several photos I went to step into the car with my stiletto heels on & completely misjudged it & fell with my body half way in the car & half way out of the car - I had a little too many margaritas (which only equals 1 & 1/2) so Dan had to drive instead of me; we cruised home with the top down. :o)
Thanks to everyone that wished us a Happy Anniversary & a special thanks goes out to our neighbors, The Brownstein's, for their homemade anniversary card with special scribbles from my favorite little Audrey. :o)

To the love of my life, you are my best friend, my partner in crime, my shoulder to cry on & my personal comedian. I don't know what I would do without you. You make me happy every day & I'm so thankful that I get to spend my life with you. I can't wait to see what the future holds for us & as long as you're by my side I know it'll be an incredible ride. I love you always & forever.
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