Bean is a...

Here is our gender reveal! I was a little ecstatic (as was my husband) if you can't tell! We are so happy (and would have been with either of course). I hope the above video works, otherwise it is on my Facebook page here.

Saturday morning I went to the party store and got some decorations and may have gone a tad overboard since it was just Ryan, my parents, my brother, my mother in law, my sister in law, and our friend Donna who actually made the box for us.

I have a thing for giraffes and could not resist buying a pink and blue one. My sister in law took home the "not needed" color because she thought it was cute!

We had everyone cast their votes on our chart. Across social media (this blog, Facebook, and Instagram) girl was a big front runner, but for actual party guests and a few other write ins boy seemed to be catching up. Ryan was back and forth all day but finally committed to Team Blue right before the reveal.

I was in a show this weekend of A Time To Kill with a local community theatre, playing the judge. The production went really well (pictures perhaps in another future post) and our families came to the show since it will be my last one for awhile, and we did the reveal later that night at home. If you saw the video above you know the answer, but our Bean is a....

BOY!

The look on my husband's face makes me tear up every time. I was so happy I almost sound like a cartoon character in the video! Dup Dup was very excited too, although she wasn't really sure why I bet!

Oh, that smile! Excuse the post show make up and French twist hair style!

Donna went above and beyond making us a beautiful box and then got us gifts to boot! She put Bean's ultrasound in the frame, got us a giraffe that plays music and moves as well as three cute dinosaur outfits with matching hats. My friend knows me so well!!

We are so blessed and so very happy. Our little miracle boy is well on his way to being halfway cooked! This week I will hit 20 weeks officially (even though I was measuring ahead last ultrasound). My next appointment is Wednesday so let's hope all is still going well.

Thanks for all the well wishes both here and on Facebook and Instagram!

Great Scott!

Ok, if you're a long term reader you should know by now I am pretty much a nerd, so this entry shouldn't be too shocking for most of you. For new readers, well, surprise! I'm a nerd!

Today, October 21, 2015, is Back to the Future Day. On this day Marty and Doc Brown arrive from 1985 to the future.... after today Back to the Future will officially be in the past. Scary huh? Back to the Future (1, 2 and 3) have always been some of my most favorite movies. I have owned a BttF shirt for many years. In Universal Studios I bought myself a Hill Valley class ring (no, you cannot make this stuff up). In college I had a full size movie poster from the first movie that hung up in my dorm rooms and apartments until I graduated. I have owned the trilogy on DVD for years after scoring them for super cheap at a Black Friday sale years and years ago. Needless to say, I have waited for this day for ages!

Now it seems like a lot of BttF fans are coming out of the woodwork and I am totally ok with that. Enjoy it!

There are tons of news articles today...

Back to the Future II: What did it get right and wrong?
Test Yourself with this Back to the Future Quiz
Back to the Future: Queensland police deploy 'hoverboard unit'
Great Scott! It's Back to the Future Day
Universal Pictures released a spoof trailer for "Jaws 19"

And more. But seeing this video this almost made me teary...

Sure, we may not have hover boards or flying cars (yet), but we do have 3D movies, thumbprint scanners, flat screen televisions and more. And even though they may not be as prevalent, fax machines do still exist. I have to teach people at the library how to use them on a daily basis! The Cubs even made it to the playoffs!!! I don't think they will win the World Series though, the Mets are on fire, I hate to admit it! You can even buy Pepsi Perfect for $20.15 for a limited time only. Luckily I am a diet coke fan or I'd be tempted. Ok, I am tempted. But they sold out!

One movie theatre in town is showing a double feature tonight at 7pm, but my husband does have work tomorrow even if I am off. We compromised on our own double feature at home tonight after work, care of my DVDs. Fair enough.

The future is not yet written. Make it a good one my friends.

Europe - At Sea and Tunisia, Africa

Day 9 - A Day at Sea

 

Our day at sea was rather uneventful for the most part. Honestly, we slept through most of it. When you have an interior room on a ship it is pitch black so it feels like the middle of the night even during the middle of the day. So after going to bed at about 5 am (for me, Ryan made it until almost 7am) it was no surprise that we slept until 3pm! We were even lazier after that and proceeded to order room service and stay in our room watching movies on the English movie channel until we had to get ready for the evening. The day at sea on Norwegian cruise lines is traditionally a formal night, but it isn't mandatory. They even call it "Dress Up (Or Not) Night" but how often does a girl get to wear a formal cocktail dress? Not often enough! So we showered and I tried to put my hair up in a simple sort of french twist (it kind of worked?) and put on a LBD I've had in my closet for forever!

 

We did decide to get some formal pictuers done and a lot of them turned out really nice, but the prints were expensive so we just got the one above. Yes that is a picture of our picture. Our friend Kristii took the one below on my iphone in the cigar bar and I like that one as well!

We all ate some dinner at Alizar where I had some delicious marscapone stuffed shells and managed not to get any on my dress! Then we all went up to the Spinnaker Lounge where they had the Ultimate Dance Party. We weren't out too late since the next day it was back to business and to be honest, we were still partied out from the night before!

 

Day 10 - La Goulette, Tunisia

 

I had mixed feelings about our stop in Tunisia. I was super excited because I would be able to check Africa off my visited continents list, I was nervous because it was not the best country for us to be in, they just had a revolution of sorts in the fall and being near Libya and Egypt it isn't the best part of the world at the moment. Ryan was briefed very carefully on this part of our trip and thusly I was too. Ryan grew out his hair and beard the entire trip for this stop alone. We wore no jewelry, not even wedding rings, and dressed in jeans, sneakers and sweaters. We carried no cash whatsoever, no camera except a disposable (*NOTE: Develop that thing!) and tried our best not to stand out.

 

Ultimate highlight, we rode a camel for five Euros near the ship, you can watch it here: Camel Ride Video

 

We did the buffet for breakfast before getting off the ship. It was super windy but not too cold. At the port the had a fake village set up that was supposedly very safe and secure so a lot of people (that didn't do shore excursions elsewhere) just decided to go there and look around. Ryan and I wanted to get on the bus and go to the actual city of La Goulette. Taking the bus it was about half an hour to the marketplace where we were supposed to go. A lot of people through the main city were shooting dirty looks at our bus for even being there and Ryan eventually told me to put my hood up and stop looking out the window. I did.

 

Eventually we got to the marketplace stop and got off the bus. We were near a large square and the market was down off to the side. The market place really was something else. Small, dark and cramped with shops lining the street in both directions. If I reached my arms out I could probably reach the stalls on either side. I held Ryan's hand pretty tightly and I could tell he was in super observant Marine mode. There were kids running around and shopkeepers yelling, incense burning as some men skinned a sheep in the middle of the street (literally blood running down the cobblestones to the sewer drain) and tons of people. The shops were neat to look at, scarves and spices and oil and artwork. Sensory overload.

 

As we strolled I suddenly felt someone grab my wrist and yank me backwards. Like I said, I was holding Ryan's hand pretty tightly, so he naturally came with me. The guy started talking about perfumed oils and having me try them and I politely tried to decline while tried to pull my hand back. He ended up pouring oil on my hand (and it did smell lovely) but we repeated "No Euro" until he let me go. Needless to say I was a little freaked out. But we walked through the market place some more before turning around to head back. Perfumed oil man spotted us again and stepped in between my husband and I and tried to pull us apart so we weren't holding hands anymore. Ryan swiftly reached his hand up under the guy's arm and triggered a pressure point until the man let us both go. Thank you Marine Corps for such handy tricks. After that I was done with the market place.

 

We wandered the plaza a bit after and I took some pictures carefully with my phone, but to be honest most of them I took from the bus. I will one day take my disposable camera in to get developed but you get the idea of La Goulette from the pictures below.

 

This was the plaza our bus parked near and we walked around for a bit. We were high up so we had some interesting views of the surrounding city as well.

Ryan said to be honest it reminded him a lot of Iraq in many ways. There was garbage piled everywhere with goats and sheep grazing wherever they could.

We took the bus back to the fake village and decided to eat lunch there. Kristii and Debbie met up with us and the first thing we did was ride the camel! The video is linked above.

I was super excited to ride the camel (mean hissing thing it was!) and it was such an incredible, unique experience. What a weird feeling too! Lots of swaying, especially getting up and down!

My husband hissing back at the camel. I am serious. You can also see our ship in the background.

After the camel ride we went in to the one restaurant in the fake village to eat lunch and it was pretty good. We had black tea with orange that was so sweet and delicious plus chicken, sauces, salad, fries and bread. Very good!

Once we ate we decided to go shopping in the market place. We got some of the black tea we had at lunch for 97 euro cents (since it was all the change we had even though it cost 1 euro she sold it to us), two scarves (one was for me and one for our friend Kristii who paid us back) that were 5 euros each for 7.50 total, and a 40 euro painting for 12 euros... they love to haggle and my husband does as well. He was really good at it as you can see!

After that we fought our way back to the ship... literally. The wind was blowing so hard by this point we had to severely lean in! We laid around in our room for a bit and watched the Smurfs 2 and just relaxed until dinner. That night was the "White Hot Party" where the lounge becomes black light lit and you're supposed to wear white and dance all night long. I had white pants and a black and white tunic and Ryan just wore his white tshirt. After the alcohol was flowing a bunch of the guys just took tablecloths off the tables (it was a lot emptier at this point!) and made togas. And yes, I am serious.

My husband and I went to a toga party back when we first met and started dating about six years ago... I never imagined the next time I'd see him in a toga would be on a cruise ship in the middle of the Mediterranean sea as my husband! It was a fun night.

Next up - Palermo, Sicily - Italy



You can follow along with all of the entries from our trip here!

DWMM: Favorite Interview

Day 27: Favorite Interview

Now I have to admit I haven't seen a lot of interviews, but this one has my favorite singer, favorite companion and one of my favorite Doctors! WIN. It isn't a Doctor Who interview per se but it is still hilarious and has two actors! Skip ahead to the 9 minute mark for Doctor Donnaness.



Edit:  I had to add part 2 because it is equally hilarious!



What is your favorite Doctor interview?

Tiny Prints Review and Give Away

Tiny Prints has a wide selection of Photo Holiday Cards that are making me anxious to order them even though it isn't even much past Halloween! This year they have a new feature, the Premium DoubleThick™ Matte Paper, which is their most luxurious cardstock yet. Check out the video below, it makes me want to get it just to have my friends and families struggle with their fridge magnets too!




There are tons of options, everything from generic holiday to Christmas to Hannukah to New Years. The cards are different shapes and sizes and are filled with bright colors and designs. I have narrowed down the selection of cards I am considering buying... what do you think? I tend to be more classic when it comes to my cards, but the last one was too cute to resist!

Card One:

 Card Two:

 Card Three:

 Card Four:

Tiny Prints has wonderful prices, a great selection and they normally have a lot of special offers going on nearly all the time!! They even have a Special Offers page with all of their discounts and deals in one place for you to check out.

Now as a special offer I am giving away a little something that may help for the holidays: $50 off your total order (expires 12/14/2012 – no extensions). Just note it does not include shipping & cannot be combined with any other promos, but it is still a great deal! Enter below and Rafflecopter will walk you through it. Give away ends November 7th.
a Rafflecopter giveaway


This is a sponsored post and give away, all opinions are my own and although I was compensated for this post it did not reflect my opinion in any way.

Vegas Again

Ryan and I had a great time in Vegas yet again. We had one rough night (which is to be expected, we don't get to properly argue for weeks so we had to let it out once) but overall it was a great trip. I got out of work on Thursday and went to the airport... I had my first stop in the midwest in the lovely city of Milwuakee (I was singing Laverne and Shirley the whole time) before making it to Vegas.

Even though I got to sleep around 2am my time I was up at 7:30am Vegas time (so 10:30 for me) ready to go. I got myself breakfast and over to the Hard Rock Hotel where I picked up a bottle opener magnet for my friend Britt from Bunco who collects them. Mostly I just wandered around, Vegas isn't as much fun by yourself (and as a married lady!).


The Strip


Inside the Bellagio


Inside the Bellagio


Elvis at my hotel


He was a frequent guest ;)

After my wander I went into the Bellagio again and won myself ten bucks playing roulette before I got tired.



I went back to the hotel and ended up taking a 3 hour nap! I woke up when Ryan called me to tell me he was there! EEK! I hurried and got ready (luckily for me he went to the wrong hotel first) and met him and his room mate downstairs (since his room mate drove him out there). He had a big box of chocolates and bottle of champagne waiting for me for Valentine's Day as well as a card!

We had dinner and played some roulette before exchanging presents. It was a low key night. The next morning we got up and went to the buffet again... SO good. Then we got on the monorail to go to the Strip.



We did some more wandering, including Caesers Palace and outside in fake Rome.



Outside Caesers Palace



By the fake Trevi Fountain





The hard thing about going away together is the lack of pictures of you AND scenery. I do not trust many people in Vegas to take my camera for us :P

We then went back to the Bellagio and we were wandering the shops (which I NEVER go in, I window shop) when Ryan and I decided I needed a new wallet. Apparently 24 year olds are not supposed to have zebra duct tape wallets... Anyway we went into Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Louis Vutton and Tiffany (just for kicks) and I had mini heart attacks every time I saw a price tag. We ended up back in Gucci and I got my new wallet which I will use for the next twenty years!



BIG step up from duct tape!! I was pretty excited.

We played some more roulette and then we met a few Marines in Ryan's class who were also there for the weekend. We gambled a bit and then went and watched the Bellagio fountain show again.





The five of us crammed into a cab and went into Old Vegas for the first time to go to Fremont Street. It was about a ten minute drive but it was worth it!! The place was all lit up and there were street performers and cheap food (and booze) everywhere. But we were on a mission... the zipline.











Well first a drink...



THEN the zip line! It went right over all of Fremont Street and was totally worth the $15, with military discount, to do. We ended up keeping an eye on these kids in front of us, one was quite mouthy but hilarious. He told us he wants to be a Marine too, but a GERMAN Marine. I had to reel the big kids in a bit, these kids were 8 after all the language had to go, but it was entertaining.







After we got back in the cab and headed back to strip. Jeanette, our cab driver, was probably my favorite person. She was from Ethiopia and she put those boys in their place, my husband included! We exchanged many high fives on that ride.

Then Ryan and I fought and were up late and thus stayed in bed most of the next day. We were so lazy we even ordered way overpriced room service. Then we remembered we picked up half priced tickets to Cirque de Soleil LOVE and got a move on. Our tickets came with a free VIP pass to the Revolution Lounge where we enjoyed some champagne.





The show was AWESOME. It was my first Cirque show and I decided I want to be in one when I grow up. I will be taking trapeze lessons and dance lessons ASAP.





After we went to the Carnegie Deli in the Mirage and had a HUGE sandwich, which we shared. It was tongue (I had my reservations but it was really tender) turkey, corned beef, coleslaw, thousand island and lots of good stuff. We also got free pickles anda HUGE potato pancake. YUM.






I left the next morning to head back to DC via Atlanta. I hate saying goodbye to my husband and trying not to cry as I walk through security. At least this is the LAST time we have to do this. Ryan graduates mid-April, we are in the home stretch! Less than eight weeks to go. My dad is meeting with the realtor tomorrow to look at our house choices and we are hitting the ground running.

This got longer than I planned, thanks for reading it all!