Dream Car - No Longer A Dream

At work on Friday, I ran into a woman in our parking garage that was driving a VW Beetle convertible & I commented to her that I loved her car. We chatted for a few minutes about it & she was nice enough to let me sit in it & take a peek. After that, I couldn't stop thinking about the car & even commented to my co-worker, Sandra, that I really, really wanted one. I told myself not to mention any to Dan because he would think I was crazy by even thinking about buying a new car; so I planned on not saying a word. That didn't happen. As we were eating dinner I told him about the woman & he said, "well why don't we go test drive one & see if you like it?" I almost had a heart attack. After a few moments of being in shock, we decided to search the web, i.e. Carmax & the local VW dealership that was a mile down from our house. Of course I found one that I thought I just had to have which was a 2007, Harvest Moon Beige, Beetle convertible. There were 14,000 miles on it & was previously owned by an older woman in Florida. So we made our way over there to test drive it. Now I have always loved the VW Beetle; I remember loving them as far back as middle school. When my Mom & Dad were planning on buying me a new car for my 21st birthday, I had been begging for a Beetle. After I got back from Myrtle Beach with my BFF, Erin, my parents surprised me with a 2002 Dodge Neon SXT. As I was hugging my Dad & thanking him for the surprise, he had whispered in my ear, "I'm sorry its not a Beetle." Honestly, that had never even crossed my mind. I loved the car that they picked out for me & I'm so thankful to have them as my parents.
So to get back on track...Dan & I went into the dealership to discuss financing options, etc. The entire time I was sitting in the chair, all I could think about was, "how am I going to fit a carseat in this thing?"; "is this really practical for our lives right now?"; "I can't believe I'm actually buying this car." I had a huge waive of anxiety come over me & I had to pull Dan aside to tell him what I was thinking. His response was, "babe, you've wanted this car since I met you; what's wrong with getting what you want & being happy?" As you have probably read in our "About Us" section in our blog, I am the worrier/stresser of our little family & Dan is the go with the flow/easy personality. He looks at something & thinks, "if this is going to make you happy, lets do it or find some way to do it." My thinking is, "oh my god, this car will probably suck at driving in the snow." After several texts to my Dad & a call to my Mom, Dan helped me realize that this is only a car & if in a few years we need to trade it in for something more practical, like a minivan (yeah right!), then we will; its not that big of a deal & that I should just enjoy it. I decided to seize the day & go for it & honestly after I did that my anxiety went away & excitement took its place. I love my new car & I am so glad we decided to go for it. Now, without further ado, here are the photos you've been waiting for:



I'll be sure to take some photos of Dan & I with the car as soon as it gets cool enough to stand outside without sweating to death. As you have probably read in previous posts, our family names our vehicles & as I was taking a shower this afternoon I came up with the name: Phoebe. It looks like a Phoebe, don't you think? And now to end this post I'm going to repeat the words of our car salesman, Charles, "happy cruisin'." :o)

Good Food & Good Company

This past weekend Dan & I went out to dinner with my co-worker, Sandra & her fiance, Santiago. We have been wanting to get the guys together for some time since the two of us get along so well & last weekend we were finally able to. :o)

Before dinner Dan & I went to the pool for a little while & after a few minutes of laying out Dan came up with a game for us to play. I usually listen to my iPod while I lay out & lately Dan has been taking his Blackberry & listening to Pandora (amazing radio website). His game was that we pick a song on our playlists & let the other person listen to it & they have to try & guess who the artist is after so many seconds - I agreed to play. Dan's first song for me was some country song that I knew immediately & the score was 1-0. I gave him what I thought would be an easy song by Jack Ingram & he didn't get it. He then started trying to search for harder songs, such as a Katy Perry song that was never released on the radio, but I still guessed it. After the score became 4-1, he then proceeded to try & cheat by using his phone to look up the song; I realized after a few seconds that he was cheating & put a stop to that. He eventually gave up which meant that I won & before we started the game we made a bet that if I won I would get to go buy a pair of shoes for dinner that night; Dan's bets are always something perverted so I'm not going to say what it was that he wanted. So we packed up our stuff & drove over to T.J. Maxx. I found a cute pair of wedges that were on sale: Since Dan was doing so well with being patient I thought I should stretch the envelope & take a quick look at some clothes. He waited for me while I went in the dressing room & as soon as I closed the door behind me I saw this sign: I had to take a photo to show Dan, & of course all of you, because this is the little push that I sometimes need when I'm on the fence about something - these words can get me in trouble. Although I tried on a couple dresses & Dan wanted me to buy one in particular, I left T.J.'s with only my shoes. Dan decided not to get anything.

When we got home I started getting ready for dinner & we took a few photos before we left to meet Sandra & Santiago in Tysons. Dan told me to test out the timer on him & this is what he gave me: As I proceeded to set the camera up on the mantle I accidentally hit the button & took this picture of Dan: (Hysterical)
Our serious one: And Dan posing, again: (LOL)

For dinner the 4 of us decided to eat at Maggiano's in Tysons Galleria mall. Dan & I had never been there before but Sandra & Santiago had. They had amazing food & they give you a lot of it. We went with the Classic Family Style Dinner & here's what we had:
Appetizers: Mozzarella Marinara & Spinach & Artichoke al Forno
Salads: Caesar & Chopped
Main Course - Pastas: Fettuccine Alfredo & Chicken Pesto Linguine
Main Course - Entrees: Chicken Parmesan & Chicken Marsala
Desserts: Apple Crostada & Creme Brulee
HOLY HELL! I have never been so stuffed in my entire life; the food just kept coming & even after the appetizers I thought, "there is no way I can eat another bite." Somehow I kept going. Our reservation was at 6:30 p.m. & we didn't stop eating until 9:30 p.m.(!) The main thing that shocked me was that all of the food that we ate was bottomless, meaning that if we ran out of anything, they would come by & fill it back up for us. Wow. All of our food included wonderful alcoholic drinks, of course. The 4 of us had a great time & were deep in conversation the entire dinner. I'm so glad we were able to get together; hopefully next time we go out we won't eat so much food.

Updates & More Movie Reviews

As you know, Dan went on a guys trip to Myrtle Beach last week & got home on Sunday evening. He had a lot of fun but as soon as he walked in the door I could tell he was exhausted. Playing 36 holes of golf every day in the heat & going out every night will take a toll on you. Apparently he didn't stay out as late as everyone else did; he was the first one back at the condo every night but he was still staying out late & calling me around 1:30 a.m. Dan is not camera happy like I am so I don't have any photos to share with you but I'm glad he had a good time & was able to get away with the guys.

This week was my recovery week for P90X which means you get a break from the DVDs that you do weekly & incorporate the DVDs that you haven't really used before, i.e. core synergistics, X stretch. I'm feeling good & am not self-conscious when I wear my bathing suit at the pool. My clothes are fitting a lot better & I have even been wearing outfits that I have not been able to get in to for several months because of my previous weight gain. I have already decided to take the P90X DVDs with us to Barbados, including the bands, so I can work out while we're there. Two years ago when we went on vacation there I got up early & worked out every single day. I can only take so much lying by the pool until I gotta get up & do something.

On Tuesday & Wednesday this past week I went over to my friend/neighbor, Laura's, house after work because her husband, Evan, was away on a business trip. She had asked me if I could come over & help out with bedtime; she has two kiddos, Audrey & Finley. I have helped out with bedtime before when Evan was out of town & I loved doing it so of course I had no problem going over. What usually happens is I give Audrey her bath & read books before bedtime while Laura is bathing Finley & feeding him. This time when I went over I played with Audrey & kept her entertained until bath time; got her bath out of the way & got her ready for bed. Each night I got home around 8:30 p.m. & I was always in such a good mood after getting to play with them. They are so sweet & constantly make me laugh. On Wednesday night I came home & told Dan, "oh my gosh, Finley's chubby little arms & legs are so sweet I can't stand it." Dan's response was, "what are you saying?" My response, "I'm saying that I'm closer to wanting a baby than I was a few months ago but still not ready yet." Dan's response, "oh, I thought you meant like right now." Of course a guy would think that & Dan would definitely - he's had baby fever for years, I've just been holding him off.

Friday nights have become movie nights at our house; we go out to dinner & then head over to Blockbuster. Here are the movies we watched last night:
Green Zone: I loved this movie. Of course it helped that Matt Damon was in it because he is just fine. I've always loved him - very nice to look at. In fact, a lot of people have said that Dan resembles him. I've also felt the same way but I think when Dan has more weight on him the resemblance is easier to see. Anyway, I highly recommend this movie, its action packed & has a huge twist towards the end. I'm kind of bummed that we didn't get to see it in the theater because I think it would have been a lot better on the big screen but it was still a great movie. You can't go wrong with Matt Damon, he's a great actor.

The Bounty Hunter: After getting a serious movie like Green Zone, we decided to get a comedy & this movie with Jennifer Aniston & Gerard Butler fell short. The only plus for Dan was that he got to stare at Jennifer Aniston for a little over an hour but he was complaining about the actual acting mid-way through. It really wasn't that great. We watched it from start to finish only because I told Dan I wanted to see what happened at the end - he was ready to turn it off after 30 minutes. After the movie was over he looked at me & said, "great pick, babe." It's funny how he blames me for a bad movie when we both agreed to rent it; I definitely didn't have to talk him into it. Besides, he has chosen some bad movies, i.e. The Hangover which I thought was absolutely terrible & didn't laugh once.

We hope everyone enjoys their weekend & stays cool!

Justin Bieber Fever

Well I am going to confess something here & I may be judged & I may not be but I gotta confess...since I saw Justin Bieber's Baby video I have been obsessed with the song. I think the video is adorable. The first time I saw it was when I posted it on our blog for "Arden & Skylar: In The Spotlight" post. I've heard it several times on the radio & was never too excited about it. Now I have completely changed my mind & I know now why my niece, Arden, likes him so much. He obviously has other songs out but Baby is my favorite. I remember several months ago I had tried watching him on MTV Diary & I only made it 25 minutes in because every 2 seconds he would flip his head to the side so that his hair had that perfect side quaff. It was very annoying.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, probably only Arden will be, you can go to his website: Bieber Fever. If not, here's the Baby video, again:

Here's his One Time video which is cute too but not as cute as Baby:

Movie Reviews

Last week was a big movie week for Dan & I. We watched several & here are our reviews:

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - On Thursday, after work, I went & saw Eclipse with my friend/neighbor, Laura. We both really liked it & were so excited to see it. The fight scene alone is reason enough to see the movie; they did a great job with that part of the movie. During the entire fight scene, Laura kept whispering "this is awesome" & it made me laugh because that's exactly what my brother says when he's really in to a movie. The only thing that I was a little disappointed with was how the movie started. It basically picked up in the middle of a conversation between Bella & Edward. If someone had not read the books or didn't see the other movies, they would have been lost. On a high note, Edward (aka, Robert Pattinson) looks amazing in the movie & I gotta give it up to Jacob (aka, Taylor Lautner) he looks great too but I'm still Team Edward all the way. I totally recommend seeing it & I can't wait for it to come out on DVD so I can add it to my collection.

Shutter Island - On Friday night Dan & I stopped at Blockbuster after dinner & picked up Shutter Island. We both have been wanting to see it since it was released in theaters but we just never made the time to go see it. The movie was definitely intense & not spooky like I thought it was going to be. There were some pop outs in the movie that made me jump but it was entertaining the entire time. I definitely didn't see the movie ending like it did, total shock to me. Dan & I had different takes on the end of the movie; he believed that one thing happened & I believed that the opposite happened. I don't want to go into detail in case some of you haven't seen it. All I can say is I would recommend this movie & I know Dan would too.

The Crazies - This movie was scary. Plain & simple. We had not planned to rent this one when we got to Blockbuster on Friday but Dan saw it & said, "Ooo The Crazies, we should rent this one". My response was, "absolutely not; my brother told me not to see that movie because it would freak me out". Dan eventually talked me into it. We put this movie in second, after Shutter Island, & there are some creepy scenes in this movie. I had nightmares that night that one of the crazies got into Dan & I's bedroom & was staring at us while we sleeped. Yikes. At our office meeting on Tuesday morning, my co-worker Lisa, said that she watched The Crazies the same night that Dan & I did & she said she loved it & that it was very entertaining. I thought it was way too scary.

She's Out Of My League - This was one of my picks at Blockbuster; Dan didn't watch this movie with me & I'm sure he probably wouldn't like it. It was basically a love story & even though there were some pretty funny parts I think Dan would've said it was gay. I thought it was alright & at least a little entertaining. I would recommend this movie if you had nothing else to do on a weekend & had some time to kill.

4th of July & Some Updates

To celebrate the 4th, Dan, Lexi & I drove up to his parents house in WV. We got up there around 2:00 p.m. & ended up staying until around 7:30 p.m. It was a family cookout & it was very relaxing & HOT. My father-in-law, Don, set up a slip & slide for the kiddos: (JT got his turn on the slide with a little help from his Aunt Kelly)
(Arden taking a turn)
(& of course Dan had to get in on the action)

Some more cute photos from the day:

(So adorable)

Dan's Dad gave him a t-shirt to put on after he used the slip & slide, we were in shock that there was a quote from Groucho Marx on it & instantly made us think of P90X because there is a Groucho Marx move that Tony Horton makes us do. Dan then proceeded to do the Groucho Marx pose: ("Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog its too dark to read!" - Groucho Marx)
(Lexi begging for JT to drop some pizza)

(Just having a good ole time)

After spending the day with Dan's family, we drove back to VA to catch the fireworks display in Herndon. We dropped Lexi off at home because she was completely exhausted. We ended up getting the royal treatment & getting to watch the fireworks on top of the Dairy Queen & had a great view. We hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July!

Some Updates:
Several weekends ago I was working in the front yard & got the itch to tear out the large set of bushes that we have just below our main front window - I have always hated them & finally got up enough nerve to take them out. I dragged Dan out of the house that day to help me & he was not too happy about it because golf was on. After some griping on his part, we were able to finish the project. It looks soooo much better. (Notice the large shrubs to the right of Evan & I?)
(They're gone!) We do plan on putting different shrubs in & landscaping a little better, eventually.

Dan will be leaving tomorrow for Myrtle Beach with a handful of his buddies & will get back on the 11th. They are going down there for a guys weekend & plan on golfing probably every day & going to the beach. He's pretty excited about it & he should be; I know he'll have a great time. I will be working all week which I am totally fine with because I love my job. Lexi & I will be fending for ourselves this week & having some girl time. As you can see from our vacation countdown above, we leave for Barbados on the 31st & we are super excited about that trip.

On Saturday, after coming home from the pool, I decided to hit up DSW because they were having a huge sale & I found the cutest shoes by Madden Girl. I can't wait to wear them to work this week: There were so many cute shoes there but I promised Dan that I would only come home with one pair. :o(

I am starting my third week of P90X today & am seeing a lot of improvement in my arms, legs & mid-section. I have a lot more energy now & am still enjoying working out, although I absolutely hate the legs DVD because I have horrible knees & have pain the entire time I'm doing it. I'm hoping I see even more improvement by the time we leave for vacation.

Arden & Skylar: In The Spotlight

Last Sunday, Dan & I drove up to WV to watch our nieces, Arden & Skylar, dance in their recital. Arden had invited us last Friday & we just couldn't say no to her. We ended up taking 2 cars because Dan had already made plans to spend the night at his parents house because him & his Dad were playing in a golf tournament that Monday morning. The recital started at 2:00 p.m. & we got there just in time to see everyone take the stage. There were so many dance numbers that they were going to do & I was so proud of Dan because he complained only once after he realized that the recital lasted for 3 hours. Now, of course, Arden & Skylar weren't in every dance number because there were age groups from first year dancers, toddlers, all the way up to seniors in high school. Arden's first dance was to Adam Sandlers - Lunch Lady Land song which was hysterical. Here's a photo I took but it didn't turn out too great because of the constant moving: (Arden is the one on the far right.)
Skylar's dance was called "Little Women" & she was one of the ones dressed in all purple: (Skylar is on the right, third one in with the big cheesie smile.)
Here are a few more I took:

One of the cutest dances was the first year toddlers group that were dressed in polka dots & danced to a song called Gummi Bear; here is the video if you've never heard the song:


(Aren't they adorable?!)
They also danced to Justin Bieber's song - Baby:
(Dan & I were singing along to Justin Bieber :o))

(The little girl to the left of the senior dancer was really getting into it - so cute!)
Arden's second dance was called "Shadow" & she was dressed in a head to toe black jumpsuit. Here's a photo I stole from my sister-in-law, Aurie's, Facebook page because none of mine turned out: (You rock girlfriend!)

During the intermission Arden came & got me out of my seat to take me back to her dressing room. She introduced me to her friends & their Moms that were there helping them. It was very sweet that she wanted me to see all of her things & where she gets dressed & ready to go on stage. She gave me lots of hugs & held my hand the entire time I was back there; she was so excited that Dan & I were able to come & that made it more enjoyable for me. I got to stay back with her while she got ready for her tap dance & ended up refreshing her make up before she went back on stage. Her tap dance was one of my favorites:
Dan & I weren't able to stay for the entire thing so after the tap dance we left & I drove back home. It was great to be able to see Arden & Skylar in action. They did such a great job & we were so proud of them. We love you girls!