Aha! Christmas

Our first Christmas morning solo, but together.

You can't tell, but Lilly has the much-loathed Santa hat on in that picture. This was taken right after we got up, presents still carefully wrapped under the tree. We dug in after the picture.

Here's a slightly better one of me and Blake. We weren't going to get dressed up for Christmas, but Blake bought me a dress and jewelry so we figured what the heck.



Fancy.

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The remnants of Christmas. In front you can see the box for the awesome pizza stone Blake got me which I used later that day to make delicious, crispy on the outside soft on the inside rolls. You can also see on the left, the box for Scrabble that my in-laws got for us. It's a really cool edition with slots in the board so the letters don't go flying and drawers under the board so you don't lose pieces, and wheels. Blake and I have played several times. We trade off winning. I'm a better speller, but he's so strategic he's hard to beat. Strike that. He's so strategic it's frustrating to play with him..... there, yeah, that sounds more accurate.

The other board game we played was one of Blake's presents from me: Guess Who? Yes, the board game with the cartoon faces that everyone played when they were eight. Well Guess What? Guess Who? Is still super cool so don't hate on me.

All in all it was a nice Christmas. Our first Christmas away from home. We didn't eat turkey. Didn't wait to open presents. And there wasn't any snow.

Although apparently, there might be later this week.

A complete Fourth

Fireworks, food, huge crowds... and the obligatory drunk.

Yup, our bases were all covered last night. Blake and I were, um, lucky, enough to have a live play-by-play, running commentary on last night's fireworks over Pensacola Bay courtesy of Mr. Harmonica-blowing, Coors-light-holding, slurred-words-saying, 4th celebrator. The fireworks were beautiful and very well synced with the radio. We had a good view from Bayfront Pkwy and sat next to a lovely family here visiting on vacation. The father was a serious Chatty Cathy and he talked Blake's ear off before the fireworks while I fell asleep. Don't worry, though, I was up in time for the fireworks courtesy of Elvis Presley, who looked surprisingly fit, trim and well, alive, as he walked his "singing telegram" bike down the road singing "It's Now or Never." Of course, some slightly intoxicated woman burst out into song with him, changing the tune to "Hound Dog." She was surprisingly on key, but unsurprisingly, every lyric was about two seconds shy of correct.

Our commentator for the night had a lot to say. Some fireworks were "$5 firecrackers," while he wasn't sure how much others cost, he felt sure someone else in the crowd did and repeatedly asked, "How much do you think that one cost." He was positive, though, that the state of Florida and the city had plenty of money to spend on fireworks. He also took offense to the occassional car that passed by. He expressed this by stepping closer to the car as it inched its way by the crowds, as if he wanted to fight the actual, physical car.

He was also a history buff. As he weaved his way down the street near the end of the fireworks, his commentary started to die out. It was kind of sad. Until, he shouted, "Down with the Redcoats! Down with the Redcoats!" Yeah, man, down with the redcoats.

Back home, in Upstate New York, we have an annual celebration called "Fourth on the Third." Don't ask me why, but our town's fireworks are always on the third instead of the fourth. Quirky small town life, what can I say. I love that celebration. It's been going on for many, many years. When I was little, we could see the fireworks from my house. No, my parents never took me. They're not into crowds and never felt like driving (sad, I know). I went occassionally with my cousins, but when I started dating Blake, I went every year because his family did. It was awesome. Cookout food, music, every single person in town comes out for this thing. That's not saying much. I mean, it's a town with a population of just over 2,000. We all sit in Wiles Park. The fireworks are set up close by (so close you can see the table where they're set off from. Is that dangerous, do you think?). The fireworks explode directly overhead. That's my favorite part. I love to feel that sound in my chest. I love how it looks like every single firework is going to rain down on the crowd. I love how everyone "oohs" and "aahs" the entire time.

Small-town fireworks are better. They're not as technically impressive, but they've got a lot more heart.

Happy *insert occassion here*

Turned 23 on Saturday. First birthday out of N.Y. (except for the teensy-tiny exception of my birth in S. Korea).

Blake and I went to the movies on Friday and saw "Observe and Report." Before seeing it, I read some reviews. They were not kind. I won't get into details, but it had its low (very low) points and its high (very high) points. So, it was disgusting, disturbing and inappropriately hilarious. It takes the award for "random funny." Seriously. Lots of things you just don't see coming.

Anyway, Saturday I made myself a cake (devil's food with cream cheese chocolate icing) and for dinner, Blake grilled a steak to perfection. It was a great night... until I got sick. Spent the last hour or so of my birthday seriously ill. Oh well. I was okay when I woke up for Easter.

What did we do for the big event? Well... I took an allergy pill, made fried chicken, passed out from said-allergy pill and then we watched a movie. The last half of dinner up until the movie-watching is blackout. Happy Easter. Thanks, Benadryl.

Just Plain Cute

Let me tell you about Sadie, my almost 3-year-old niece. She is adorable... and she knows it.


note: her OCD arrangement of a brand new tea set

When we visited in December, to my supreme happiness, she remembered me. We played tag, we hugged, we kissed, general merriment ensued. Blake, though... well, she was still kind of shy around him. You know, cute, little-girl shyness.

That's when we found out about her nervous twitch. We would encourage her to give Blake a hug. She would make shy eyes at him, put her chin on her shoulder and sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Actually, she would sing the words "twinkle, twinkle, little star" over and over to the actual tune until she felt comfortable enough to just back out of the situation. From then on, I would encourage her to interact with Blake just so I could see the weirdest nervous habit ever.

Eventually, she got used to him.


Blake asks for more tea

Today I get a call on the drive to work (temp job). I am proud to announce that she has learned the rest of the words to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and it is the cutest phone conversation I've ever had.