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Showing posts with label renn fest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label renn fest. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Leave - 2 Weeks

Before being married to someone in the military I never imagined I would like the word Leave. It usually means someone is going away, saying good bye... but in the military it is an awesome thing. It means my husband is home and not just home, but home for more than 48 hours! I had two whole weeks of having Ryan home. Man did I get spoiled!

Not only did I have my husband home, but he did so much around the house so when I came home from work we could just spend time together. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, dry cleaning, grocery shopping... see? Spoiled! We went out to dinner to some of our favorite restaurants, we played Monopoly at McDonalds (anyone got a Boardwalk? :P), watched Netflix and movies, watched the Gamecocks, went shooting, hiking... we had a busy two weeks! A lot of weekdays were low key as I did have work the next day but coming home to snuggle on the couch with Ryan and a glass of wine made my days worthwhile.

Of course Ryan flew into BWI, 45 minutes away, and his flight was due to land at 12:45 am. Yea. And it was delayed. So I didn't get him until almost 2am! It was so wonderful to see him again, I amy have jumped on him in the airport. It is becoming a trend.

We kept it low key Saturday but Sunday we went to the Renaissance Festival!



I wait all year for Cheesecake on a Stick. AMAZING



I am convinced the food makes it. Macaroni and Cheese on a Stick, Scotch Eggs... oh no I am getting hungry!



The Hubby enjoys Mac N Cheese on a Stick too!



Then we went to juggling school. Ryan was pretty good.



I on the otherhand look terrified of the tennis balls.



But my concentration was totally there!!!



Then Mr. Show Off did it one handed :P



Jousting!



Kyndra, Tim and Boyfriend Bentlee joined us too. Check out those eyes! He is such an adorable baby!



Husband and Boyfriend bonded a bit. The last time Ryan saw Bentlee he was only a few weeks old!



We're dorks and had a blast. We have gone the last two years now, and I hope wherever we PCS next has one close by! I need my Renn Fest fix, if nothing else then for the food!!!



I think Tim and Kyndra had fun too (:

Sadly I did have to work during the week when Ryan was home. We need to save my time off for the ball and holidays, so Ryan enjoyed sleeping til noon and running errands and watching Mad Men until I got off of work! We'd go out to eat or shopping (many shoes were involved in the process!) and then try and go out for definite on the weekends.

Like to Great Falls. It is a special place for us and we go every fall. It was here Ryan first told me that he loved me, so it is definitel uber special.



Plus with the leaves changing it was gorgeous. We grabbed some Subway sandwiches and made our way out to the park and enjoyed lunch on a giant rock in the ravine.



A lot of these are sort of dark, the sun was setting and on my camera display these looked a lot lighter than when I uploaded them :( One day I will know how to take pretty pictures darnit.



Ryan had to give me a heart attack and climb sheer rock cliff faces. No rope, no gear... just him. High in the air above the churning river. He went camping out in Joshua Tree Park while he was in school and climbed one big boulder so now he is an expert.

Oy.



Some perspective... the kayaker in the water, then Ryan, then me zoomed in way up top taking the darn picture.



But he made it. Thankfully!



I made him have to sit for a picture with me after scaring the bejeezus out of me on the cliffs! Self timers are a wonderful thing sometimes!


Insert another work week here. Then Halloween! (Well, a party Friday before) I used Color Oops to take the red out of my hair (sigh, I miss it) for Halloween and the Ball. My red hair just did not work with the dress I have so I knew I'd be stripping it anyway. The Color Oops got most of the red out, but it is definitely strawberry blonde ish more than straight blonde. I think it will get there though. I mean, I used washable dye in the first place!

What were our Halloween Costumes?



Alice and the Mad Hatter!!!



Alice is my favorite costume, this is the third year I have been it! Once I was about 5, then in college, and now. And probably next year. We actually spent money for costumes this year, they will be worn again!

Sunday we went to the shooting range. Because that is how we roll!



I did better this time! Even some bullseyes!



Of course Mr. Marine blew me out of the water. As it should be! There would be a problem if I could shoot better than a former infantryman!



I did ok though.



We also got a fun card game target and tried to get high scores... I just tried to hit the darn things!



After shooting we went to church and then to our favorite Italian place, Trattoria Franco. It was the same place we ate the last time he left... but we do love it. That cannoli was awesome. We also had calamari, veal, and wine. We even got to meet Franco briefly.

As we got home we realized it was Mischief Night and decided we wanted to cause some Mischief.

"What should we do?"

".... Tape Adam into his apartment?"

Genius. I surprise myself sometimes!

We had some painters tape/masking tape stuff that has sat in our closet for over a year, so we used that. Ryan cleaned the gun and I made long strips of tape to hang from our doorway and bookcase. Once we used up the roll we carried them upstairs. Sure some got tangled and we were whisper fighting up the stairs trying to be stealthy, but we did it! Adam said later he thought he heard something, but we didn't alert him or his neighbors dog!



Adjusting the first layer.



We ran out of tape so we thought we could use something more...



Paper towels and duct tape it is!!! Job well done!



Adam was a little surprised when he got Ryan's text asking him to come outside and smoke! We just heard "What the ****?" And saw him slowly punch his way out!


Saying goodbye was hard as usual, but at least we don't have to go too long. I go out to 20 Palms on the 17th for the ball. Cannot wait!

OH! We got IPHONES! No more flip phone for this girl! I am so addicted... and Tango is the best app ever, it is like facetime/video chat but it can use 3G or wifi, best ever!

Sorry for the picture heavy post, I had some ground to make up!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Renn Fest

This was from last weekend, during the Columbus Day 72, and I just had to share some of the fun pictures I took at the Renn Fest up in Maryland!

Lovin' the hat Mister!
Flower Garlands for your hair
Jousting!!
Oktoberfest!!
Steak ... on a Stake!
Hack N Slash, the BEST comedy performance there every year. They crack me up!
In the audience at Hack N Slash!
So close.... Ryan tried to do Jacob's Ladder...
... and failed.
The moon at the end of the night.... it was gorgeous and my amazing new camera can actually take a picture of it!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Weekend Errands

Our weekend, as wonderful as a 72 is, was a lot of errands! Grocery shopping, bank, CVS, dry cleaners for tailoring someone's Alphas, shopping for all our winter clothes, physical therapy (for my back), and laundry. Whew. Shopping was great, we both got winter coats and I got clothes for work, sweaters and pants, black flats (since my old ones had no heel left and nearly killed me) and some gorgeous brown boots.

We did have our fun though, we went to the Maryland Renn Fest on Sunday... aka the Renaissance Festival! I love those things and have gone since my freshman year of college, but I was nervous to see how the hubby would react to it all. It may be a bit too much nerdy overdrive for him, but he loved it. We had amazing food, steak on a stake, macaroni and cheese on a stick, turkey legs, huge stuffed baked potatoes, cheesecake on a stick, ale, hard cider... and mead! We had a great drink called a Bee Sting which was half mead and half hard cider and aside from the few bees that followed us around a bit (*shudder*). We saw Hack n Slash, my favorite comedy duo, perform as well as some very good jousting. Fun times!

Yesterday I had my first bout of PT (Physical Therapy that is, not what my hsuband does a couple times a week!). It was pretty good. We spent most of the time figuring out what I needed and how my back was, I got some exercises to work on my flexibility and proper ways to sit and stand and walk... re-learning to posture yourself is not fun at all. My back was so tense it was actually making my left leg shorter than my right one! So my therapist had to shake me a little loose. Some of my "homework" stretches I actually have done before in yoga or Alexander Technique so they should not be too hard. I just need to make time and do them. I have appointments twice a week starting officially in November so fingers crossed!

After I went to David's Bridal and my wonderful husband helped me pick out a dress for the ball... what do you think?



I wore a blue dress when we went two years ago (and when I went three years ago with my Poppy I wore a black one) so I figured now would be a good time for a red dress! It arrives 10/21 so if I do need it altered (Ryan said it should be taken in, I said it was fine!) I have some time... but not a DB! Because it was less than 30 days to the even they charged me a "rush" fee of $30. Lame. Luckily the dresses are usually cheap enough to work it out. I'd rather order online next time and not worry about that at all, but I am so hard to fit I needed to get my size in the store first. I love that this dress is an illusion halter, but it covers up my chest enough so I am not inappropriate. It fit me very well and I am not gonna lie, when I was in there I was having major wedding dress shopping flashbacks. I was so tempted to ask for mine and try it on but I knew Ryan would think I am a little crazy! But it was in there somewhere (:

After work today I am heading to the Design Run of the Magic Flute I am the Production Stage Manager for... wish me luck! It is going to be a long night. I am praying I can get home and in bed before midnight, but since the run is til 11 I doubt I will...

(Note to self: Stop using ellipses (...) so much!