December 23

I was lucky enough to have December 23 off work this year, so we decided to do something awesome. We decided to finally take that trip to New York that we had to cancel before. We got up in the morning, made it to Chinatown to catch the bus, and before I knew it (since I slept on the bus the whole way there), we were in New York City. We began our excellent adventure on Times Square where we dined at Olive Garden (yum yum). It was the perfect lunch since it was so cold outside. We had warm soup, breadsticks, and pasta, and we were sitting up high right by the window so we had an excellent view of the goings on outside. We reluctantly left the warm restaurant to go stand in line for discount Broadway tickets. We had done some research about the various plays since you never really know what the discount booths will be selling tickets to. I had a particular preference, but it is a popular show so we weren't holding our breaths for them to be selling tickets. Well, they were. So after standing in line in the FREEZING cold (and not just by my standards, mind you), we got those tickets. We had several hours before the show started, so we headed off for Christmas festivities.

We decided to do a walking tour of the major department stores to see their window displays and the inside of the stores.

Macy's (it really was very cold)

We saw a ton of department stores (probably 8 or 9) and I won't bore you with a million pictures.

On our walking tour, we also made a little stop at the New York Public Library, which neither of us had actually been in before. All I can say is WOW. The inside was breathtaking.

We also stopped at the famous toy store FAO Schwartz.

And, of course, we saw the tree at Rockefeller Plaza... it was huge. I don't think I have ever seen a picture that does the size justice.

This little tour of ours took several hours, so when we finished, it was about time to go see our play. For years and years it has been my dream to see this play on Broadway. We saw...

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!

When I was young, I would borrow the CD from the library and listen to the entire musical from beginning to end and read the spoken lines and some of the stage cues found in the booklet that accompanied the CD. I got a CD with some of the more well-known songs later, which I still have and listen to. My parents saw Phantom on Broadway a few years back and I was very jealous.

Once, a friend of mine wrote on her blog about seeing Wicked. She cried because she was so blown away. When I read that, I thought that maybe she is one of those people who cries over everything. Well, I guess that was pretty rude of me. I didn't cry, but I really thought I might. When the opening song started playing, I was just overwhelmed that I was actually sitting in that theatre about to see that play. Some of you have probably seen the movie adaptation that was made of it a few years ago. I like it alright, but I was disappointed by the guy who plays the Phantom in the movie. His voice is fine, but it's just not Phantom-ish enough. So I was nervous that the Phantom in the play might be mediocre too. Plus I have listened to Michael Crawford sing the Phantom on the CD for years and years, and he is pretty much awesome. Well, the guy who played the Phantom stole the show. He was excellent. So, so excellent. Everyone was very, very good. Oh my goodness. I left that theatre floating on a cloud of awe and bliss. Guys, I loved Wicked, and it's a funner storyline and such, but the Phantom of the Opera is a Broadway classic, and I am pretty much happier that I have seen it on Broadway.

After grabbing a bite, we went to our hostel and slept (or was it all tossing and turning?) on a very uncomfortable bed, but oh well. It was right in Manhattan and it was cheap. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. We got up Christmas Eve and made our way back to Philly on the bus. That trip was so fun. Oh my goodness.

Maybe a little festive

Brittney did this on her blog and I thought it was cute so I will follow suit. I will do a post about what we've been up to soon (and we've been having a blast) but here's something festive for the holiday.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Mostly wrapping paper, but some things just work in gift bags.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. Easy to maintain and it keeps giving year after year.
3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? I don't think I have a specific date or anything, but pretty soon after Christmas.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yucky!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Oh brother, who knows. I remember these awesome pajamas I got one year, and my sister and cousins got the same ones in different colors.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Zack. He is very particular.
8. Easiest person to buy for? My parents. They get the same thing every year. We make them a photo book.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yeah. I have several things that would probably qualify as a nativity scene. My favorite is a little set that is very colorful.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Meh. Neither really. I sent some out this year because I got almost all the stuff free during my bargain hunting endeavors.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? My great-grandma had a way of giving.... interesting gifts. One year I got this enormous orange ring (I'm not in love with the color orange). Another year, I got this gigantic t-shirt (night shirt?) with a scary angel thing on it. One year we got this movie from her that no one was even remotely interested in. It was years ago. It's still in the shrink wrap at my parents' house as far as I know. It's kind of a running joke and memorial to great grandma. She was a really sweet lady though.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon).
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Whenever I feel like it, but early.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't really get this question. Does it mean have I ever regifted? I don't know if I have. Probably, but nothing comes to mind. I have probably actually recycled Christmas presents too. I try to be earth friendly when I can.
15.Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Hot chocolate. I guess that's not really eating. Turkey maybe. Or that toffee stuff with the chocolate and nuts on top.
16. Lights on the tree? Sure

17. Favorite Christmas song? I love O Holy Night.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Usually we travel, but not this year because of my job.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? yes

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have a Liberty Bell on the top of our tree. We live in Philadelphia after all.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We usually open 1 on Christmas Eve (often something bed related such as pajamas), and the rest on Christmas.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? That's easy. Winter
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I have gotten an ornament for Christmas every year since I can remember. It's usually something that sort of represents the year (a statue of liberty the year my family vacationed in NYC, a graduation cap when I graduated from high school). I want to carry on that tradition in my own family. It makes for a very sentimental and fun Christmas tree.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Home Town Buffet... or was it Chuck-A-Rama. Hee hee. Ok not really. Don't care really.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?

A big storm

I know I have been neglecting my blog. Sorry about that. December is a busy month.

The pace has slowed down this weekend though as we were slammed by a HUGE snowstorm. We were supposed to drive down to DC to visit my grandma this weekend, but we decided to cancel on Friday when we read the weather report. It's a good thing we did because we got almost 2 feet of snow here, and I think they got even more than that down in DC. It was nasty outside and the roads were TERRIBLE. We only drove a couple of blocks total yesterday, and that was more than enough. We made plans to go somewhere for fun in the afternoon, but after going outside, we decided we would skip that and we rode the subway to the mall instead. Church was canceled today so we have just hung out at home in a terribly lazy state. I am glad that it is my weekend off work so I didn't have to try and brave the snow. We did take some pictures, which I will post later. Turns out that we got more snow in this single storm than Philly usually does in an entire winter. Does that mean we can get out of it snowing for the rest of the winter?

As for this coming week, we both work Monday and Tuesday, then we're taking off for New York on Wednesday for some Christmas fun. Thursday we will cook the free turkey that my work gave me and watch the Grinch (the cartoon one, not Jim Carrey). Friday we are planning on doing Christmas via Skype with the fam, followed by our annual tradition of going to see a movie on Christmas. No, we are not going to pick Avatar. Please don't suggest it. We are excited for a nice holiday week. Now if only it were warm....

Regular shift

This week is my first week working what will be my assigned shift- 3 PM to 11:30 PM. I already have mixed feelings about it, as I do about any of the shifts. I liked 7-3:30 because I got home at a really nice time and could spend the entire evening with Zack, but I had to get up so early. I like sleeping in for the 3-11:30 but I am at work when most events happen. For example, I will miss the ward Christmas party this week. Also, I am home when Z is at work then am at work when he is home. It's all good though. I will just try to make the most out of the shift I have. I slept until 9:30 today. :)

First snow

Dang. I was hoping winter might not come this year after all. It decided to snow today. First snow of the season. Maybe it'll be the last too....

We were supposed to vacay in New York this weekend. We decided it just didn't work out. So we rescheduled for next weekend. Then I got my work schedule and it turns out that I have to work. So we cancelled altogether. Looks like New York City at Christmas time might just have to wait until next year.

New Calling

It was nearly a year ago when I left my church calling working with the Primary kids and got moved into Young Women's. At the time, I waxed on about the change of heart that I had about working in Primary. You can read that HERE. Well, a couple of weeks ago, we had some big boundary changes in our stake, the young women president was moved to another ward, and I was released from my calling with the young women.

This time, I am not going to wax on all sentimentally about how it turned out to be a way better experience than I thought and I am sad to go. I will miss the girls, don't get me wrong, but that was a challenging calling for me, and I must admit that the dominant emotion this time around is relief. It's not because of the girls. They are completely awesome, and I love them to death. It's just that it was a time-consuming and heart-wrenching calling. We were working short staffed for most of the last several months. Plus I didn't top the favorites list of the president. I am ready to move on.

Looks like that opportunity has presented itself already because I am now the Relief Society secretary. Maybe I will end up eating my words later but I am thrilled. I love secretarial callings. I am a paper pusher extraordinaire. Also, I haven't had much of a chance to be in Relief Society since I have been old enough to go. I guess that makes me much less than an expert on the organization, but here's my chance to learn. So here's to a clean slate and a new chance to make a difference.

TSO

It's nice to hear from Z on here once in a while, even if he is not so fond of the whole Twilight phenomenon (note: he likes Buffy the Vampire Slayer... high school girl who falls in love with a vampire who is much, much older than her. Sounds vaguely familiar). For the record, we have not seen New Moon yet. We thought Twilight was, um, awkward.

On Saturday, we got to go see Trans-siberian Orchestra. Wowee, it was fantastic. Very much like I remembered. I haven't been the last 2 years, so it was nice to go back. The first half of the show is like a play of sorts, with a story line, a cheesy narrator, and lots of music along the way. The second half of the show was a showcase of some of their other music, some Christmas, some not. It's an interesting juxtaposition. While they can and definitely do rock out in the first half of the show (think "Christmas Eve Sarajevo"... that's the song you might've heard on the radio that starts with the lovely cello solo of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"), it's mostly a heartwarming, cheesy Christmas story. In the second half, they really go hard core and play a lot of majorly rockin' stuff with lots of lasers and flames and such. Trans-siberian Orchestra actually tours in 2 different groups- 1 hits up the west, and 1 is here in the east. I hadn't seen this cast before, so I was a little nervous. There is this one guy in particular in the other cast that I pretty much adore. The guy in this group did well though, and they put on a great show. Also, the lead violin player with the hot pink electric violin was in the group a couple of the times that I saw the show in Utah, but the last time, she wasn't. Well she must've moved to this group because there she was. Anyway, they are such talented musicians. Some of the stuff they play just blows my mind. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend this show. It's a fun, totally rockin' way to get in the Christmas spirit.

Twilight Review

Edward is a pedophile. Bella is a zoophile.

I think I'll pass on this smut for now.

We won!

So, today I finally went to the hearing for the bogus ticket we got a few months ago. I was nervous. I brought a tie which I put on in the waiting room. Someone else in the waiting room was wearing a t-shirt with a cartoon picture of a really hard-A-looking gun and the text "Original Gangsta." I suddenly didn't feel so nervous.

With good reason. I waited maybe twenty minutes. My hearing lasted approximately five minutes (most of which consisted of me waiting while the official tracked down some papers.)

PPA Hearing Official: Can I see the ticket receipt?
Me: Actually, that's the main reason that I requested this hearing. I never received this ticket. In fact, the first time I heard about it was when I got something in the mail indicating that the fine had been increased due to failure to pay. I don't have the ticket receipt because I never received the actual ticket -- only notices that I had failed to pay it. I believe the officer may have accidentally punched in my plate number instead of another.
PPA Hearing Official: Just a minute. I'll go get a copy of the receipt. (Gets up. Leaves room. Returns about three minutes later, paper in hand.)
PPA Hearing Official: What kind of car do you drive?
Me: It's a Hyundai Accent.
PPA Hearing Official: Not a Toyota?
Me: No. A Hyundai.
PPA Hearing Official: Just a minute. (Walks out of the room. Returns a couple minutes later with another piece of paper.)
PPA Hearing Official: Sign and date this. (Hands me a piece of paper explaining that the ticket has been waved and I owe nothing.)
Me: Thank you. (exit stage left)

I hope the "original gansta" had similarly good fortune.

I love shopping

You all know that I love a good deal.

We have made some good finds in the past couple of weeks. Some are going to be Christmas presents for people so I can't really spill the beans about those, but I can highlight some of the stuff we got for ourselves.

I love shopping at Rite Aid. They have an excellent rebates program. This week was another success. We were running out of body wash and shampoo around here, and we like mouthwash as a little luxury when it goes on a good sale. Well, we got all this stuff pictured, plus a toothbrush and a gallon of milk, for $1.14.

Here's the receipt to prove it.

Not only that but we will be getting $2.99 back in the mail for this purchase, so we actually made a very modest profit. I had to argue with the checker for a while to really work this one out, but I think they got sick of arguing with me and they just humored me. I usually carry all the store's coupon policies with me when I go so that I have proof that I am right about a specific coupon policy, but I didn't happen to have the part I needed this time. I went right home and printed it up and now I will have it for next time.

We hit up the Old Navy outlet at the mall, and they were having a buy one get one free sale on their performance fleece. Then at the checkout stand, the cashier gave us a 30% off coupon which we used on our purchases, so we ended up getting some warm cozy fleece stuff for a fabulous deal.

A Christmas gift that we found for me (shhhhh, pretend like I don't know what I am getting) is this delightful little pair of shoes, which we got for $2.50. No joke. I know, I know, I don't really need any more shoes. But I love them. And they were only $2.50!

And perhaps our favorite deal of the week was on UP. We just saw it for the first time this past week, and of course we loved it. We aren't really big movie buyers (or watchers really), but when we saw this smashing deal, we knew we had to get it. We got a 4 disc combo pack, which includes the Blu Ray (no, we don't have a Blu Ray player, but we might someday), the DVD, a digital copy, and a bonus disc, plus an adventure journal. The total came out the $9.99. Then we have a rebate coming in the mail which makes it come to $5.99!

It's fun to bargain hunt all year, but I really like it at Christmas time because I feel like I can really share the love. Woo hoo!

Haunted Cape May

This was like 3 weeks ago now, but we went on a little getaway to Cape May for the weekend. It was a great time to get away to the shore. Since it's the off season, we got a hotel right on the beach for really cheap.

We drove down there and made it barely in time for our ghost tour. We rode in a trolley around the adorable Victorian-style town and heard ghost stories about various houses and hotels along the way. On the tour, we made a stop at a famous mansion called the Physick Estate (see picture below), which is also haunted apparently.

We were able to walk through some parts of the house, which was gorgeous by the way, and hear some ghost stories there too. It was very fun and festive. We spent the rest of the weekend just enjoying ourselves in spite of a somewhat rainy Saturday. We explored Cape May and the surrounding areas. The fall colors were just stunning. I didn't get a single picture that even begins to do them justice.

New Jersey is called the garden state for a reason. It really is quite pretty. I think I wrote in an earlier post about the wildflowers all over the place when we drove to the shore in the summer.

Anyway, it was a fun little getaway.

Here's a picture of Z with one of the scarecrows they had set up outside the Physick Estate.

And here's our very own proof that Cape May truly is haunted. Warning: horrifying footage

I am honestly not really sure if anyone is reading this regularly or not. This pretty much doubles as my journal so I just kinda do it for my own benefit. But if anyone is still reading, I just wanted to say that yes, I am still alive. I know I haven't written in a bit. Something somewhat more substantial will be coming along soon.

Philly>NYC

I guess I should admit upfront that I know that I'm the only person ever to visit this blog who likes hip-hop, R&B or rap music. Nevertheless, I will bore you all with some thoughts on the subject. (Unless, of course, you have the guts to ignore a rare post written by me.)

Next time you get that New York Jay-Z song stuck in your head, you can substitute the lyrics from this seemingly much more genuine version from NeeKo. I hated the Jay-Z song but I liked this one. I think that the reason is that the Jay-Z song is really all about Jay-Z, not New York. Meanwhile, NeeKo's version is actually about Philly. Then again, perhaps my city preferences are influencing my taste in music....



One of the nice things about being in the World Series is that the city tends to get some more civic pride, including the aforementioned as well as this song about the Phillies that I can't embed from a group called "Guerrilladelphia."

http://www.guerrilladelphia.com/

Finally put some pictures on my computer

Here's an update in pictures.

Here's me on my actual birthday. I got some scrubs for my new job.

And some shoes (woo hoo!). I counted and I have 29 pairs. Who wants to make it an even 30?

We went to Bartram's Garden for a picnic with Savanna and Jesse on my birthday. Here I am in from of Bartram's house.

Blowing out the candles

This was from free museum day that I wrote about previously. Here's me in front of the giant heart at the Franklin Institute.

Here's Zack at the aorta while we were walking through the giant heart.

Me with the T-rex at the Acadmey of Natural Sciences.

Scary!

Um, gorgeous. Enough said.

Maurice Sendack's original artwork for Where The Wild Things Are

Where The Wild Things Are

Megan with the Waterworks, Art Museum, and Skyline.

Eastern State Penitentiary

Megan at the junk garden

Megan at Christ Church

Megan on Elfreth's Alley

We've had fun.

October lovin'

I saw this on Facebook. I didn't carve it. I have no idea who did. But I thought it was pretty much awesome.

Staying up past my bedtime tonight to watch the World Series. The Phillies better win to make it worth it when I am dead tired tomorrow. Go Phils!

Someone loves us!

Yay! Megan, Zack's sister, came and put up with us for a few days. We are so glad she did because we sure had a good time.

She arrived last Friday, and we just spent the evening kinda vegging out. Okay, maybe not kinda. We watched like 7 hours of TV. Yeah, we really know how to start a vacation in Philly off with a bang.

Megan lives in rainy Tacoma and was probably hoping to escape some of that rain while she was here. Saturday wasn't very helpful in that regard. It rained all day and was pretty darn cold. We made the best of it anyway and saw some good stuff. We went to the Rosenbach, which is an historic mansion/rare book library. They own all of Maurice Sendack's (Where the Wild Things Are) original artwork and were having a display of that in honor of the release of the movie last weekend. That was pretty cool. Who didn't love that book growing up? They also had a number of other rare books/manuscripts, including Ulysses, Dracula, Alice in Wonderland, and we even spotted a 1st edition Book of Mormon on the tour. After that, we tromped through the rain to Rittenhouse Square just to check that out. Since it was so cold and wet, we made a stop at Naked Chocolate Cafe-- yummy! Megan said it was the best hot chocolate she has ever had. Ever. I am with her there. If you ever come visit, don't miss this one. We could even take you there in the summer. Their frozen hot chocolate is delicious too. After a wee bit of shopping, we went to Macy's, which was once Wannamaker's, Philadelphia's first department store. I think I have mentioned it before. It is a gorgeous building, and they have the largest playable pipe organ in the world there. They have free concerts every day, so we caught that, which was pretty sweet. We polished off the day with some delicious Mexican at El Azteca, and a play at the Walnut Street Theatre. We saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which was funny. We made it home that evening, tired and glad to get outta the rain.

On Sunday, church was cancelled and a special meeting was called at the stake center for our ward and a few others. We knew something big was in store. There were 4 wards and a branch when we arrived there, and 3 wards and a branch by the time we left. Our ward lost a small chunk (which starts just 1 block away from us... Phew, that was close), but mostly we picked up some areas, which is so great. We really needed some manpower in our ward. We won't be at church this Sunday because we are going on a weekend getaway, but we are excited to meet all the new people and see how the changes affect our ward for the better. (Just as a side note: the young women's president was in the small chunk we lost, so it looks like change is in the air as far as my calling goes). So that was all very exciting for us. Probably much less so for Megan. Sunday was another take it easy sort of day. We drove around in search of beautiful fall leaves, and just kinda bundled up inside (it was cold and rainy again).

Monday was finally rain free (although still somewhat cold). I had to work so Megan and Zack had some fun without me. I can't fill you in on the details but they went to Eastern State Penitentiary (the daytime tour, which is excellent by the way), and they explored a couple parts of the city like South Street and Old City. That evening, we got some delicious gelato and we went on a ghost tour. Tuesday was just gorgeous weather-wise. I worked again. While I was working, Zack and Megan went to the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, got some lunch at Reading Terminal Market, and toured the Betsy Ross House. That evening, we tried a restaurant that some of our friends have recommended called Scannicchios (it's Italian food). My opinion-- meh. Maybe I just ordered the wrong thing or something, but I thought Zack's food was just meh too. I think I could pass on going there again. I just don't see what all the hype is about. It was fine. It just didn't knock my socks off like people said it would. I think we'll stick to High Note Cafe in the future. I think that's my South Philly Italian of choice. After dinner, we went to Eastern State Penitentiary for their haunted house, which is called "Terror Behind the Walls". It is very well done, and I had a good time. Finally, we got some water ice. We had to get Philly Flavors since we couldn't find an open Rita's, and it's just not as good, but it was still yummy and we couldn't let Megan leave without having that.

We hope Megan had a good time, and we hope others might consider coming to see us in the future.

We took very few pictures, but I will try to post some soon.

ShaNae and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Wednesday.

Woke up at 5:45 AM.

At work, I shadowed the wound care specialist- most boring thing ever. She would flit around looking for supplies for 20 minutes, dress the wound in like 2 minutes, and then write a note about it for like half and hour. It went on and on. The clock seemed not to move. It dragged. But I survived it, and I went home feeling elated, knowing that my troubles were over for the day.

Zack had class that evening. I thought I might be a nice wife and drop him off.

I forgot my house keys.

And I was in my pajamas.

And I left my cell phone at home.

I remembered that I had forgotten my house keys soon after dropping Zack off so I went back to the building where his class is. There is only on-street parking, and none of that was available, so I just pulled up to the curb in a non-legal spot and flipped my hazards on while I figured out what to do.

I got out of the car a couple of times in my red and white striped pajama bottoms, big fuzzy socks, and bright pink shoes to try and borrow a cell phone to call Zack. A few people got outta there as fast as they could. A couple of kind souls let me use their phones, but Zack was in class so he did not answer.

After 15 or 20 minutes, I decided that I couldn't just sit there forever. I thought about maybe driving to the church (just a few blocks away) where the other ward was having their mutual activities and see if I could convince someone to send a text message to Zack for me. He might look at a text in class. He'd definitely do that before he'd answer a call. So I started the car. Or I tried to at least.

The battery was dead.

At that point, I was basically stuck. I could not leave the car and walk anywhere because it was not in a legal parking space. I could not call anyone for help because I did not have a phone, people walking by were getting more scarce, and I was tired of people looking at me like a looney bin in my ridiculous outfit. So I had to just wait it out.

Zack's class was 3 hours long.

During those 3 hours, I went through a range of emotions- anger, freaked out, bitter, amused, calm, wound up, relaxed, crying, laughing- you name it. Mostly it didn't seem very funny at the time.

Zack finally got out of class, listened to a voice mail I had left, found me, we got a jump start, and we finally made it home.

I went to bed.

I was ready for that day to be over.

Of course, in retrospect, it just seems funny.

Haunted mini golf

Our favorite mini golf course in the whole world (check it out HERE) got even better, if that's possible. Last night, we went with Jesse and Savanna for some haunted mini golf! The course was decorated all Halloween-ish, with spiderwebs and such. There was a fog machine, Halloween music playing, and a creepy dude with a pumpkin head wandering around. Wow, it was pretty much a total blast. Even better-- we all got our tickets for half price! We all golfed exceptionally well and the game ended in a 3-way tie with one outlier (sorry honey, you'll win next time). I can't even tell you how much fun I thought that was. Who comes up with these amazing ideas?

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I pretty much love Halloween. I am almost done decorating my house. My cute friend Savanna is throwing an awesome bash this year.

The other night, we went to Haunted Poe. It was basically a haunted house style thing, except for you stopped for little theatre-like portrayals of Poe's works throughout. It was actually very well done, and we thought it was a fun way to kick off the month of October. It helps that we got discount tickets.

Stuff I love about Halloween:

- DECORATIONS! Oh my goodness... keep me away from stores right now. I already have a small collection of adorable Halloween decorations. I think my very favorite is my ghost oven mitt. My next wish is for bathroom decorations (glow in the dark shower curtain, candy corn shower rings, that kind of thing), dishes so I can throw a spooky Halloween dinner in the future, and an amazing Halloween village. Someone in our ward had us for dinner recently and they had this awesome haunted house thing that lit up and made scary noises. Yup, I want it.

- Candy- It's no secret that I have a sweet tooth. Just take a look at my figure. That gives it away. Not that I need an excuse like Halloween to stuff my face full of candy.

- Baby Halloween costumes. I think I've mentioned this before but Zack always says that we'll have a baby in July (9 months after October) because I think the little Halloween costumes are the most adorable thing and he thinks that one of these years, they will make me baby hungry. This year? Don't bet on it. I just committed 18 months full-time to my new job.

- Cemeteries- Okay, okay, I admit it, I like cemeteries all year round. But this is the month to proclaim that love loudly without people thinking that I am ultra morbid.

- Jack o lanterns- i like them

- Phillies world series parade. That was last year on Halloween. Hopefully we can do it again this year.

- Glow in the dark stuff- I mean c'mon. Who doesn't love it?

- The color orange- You know, most of my life I have grouped orange at the bottom of the color barrel with other putrid colors like yellow, but I think it's growing on me. Or maybe I just like it in October.

- Halloween socks- I have officially outgrown my sock phase, which began sometime in high school (or possibly before) and lasted until semi-recently. But I still break out the goofy socks for this time of year.

- Halloween scrubs- Scooby Doo is on the agenda for tomorrow. Wish I had more. Do they make glow in the dark scrubs? That'd be awesome.

-Halloween music- I honestly think that the theme song for the movie Halloween is the scariest song ever written. It sends chills down my spine any time I hear it. I can't turn it on now because I am home alone. Other favorites on my soundtrack: Thriller, Casper the Friendly Ghost, the track from the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland/world, oh my goodness, there are just too many to name (not really but a list of my Halloween soundtrack would be boring... not that this list isn't).

- Halloween movies. I have to be patient to see a lot of these because I have to wait for them to come on TV edited (gotta avoid that R rating you know). I just saw Friday the 13th for the first time. I was kinda disappointed. Turns out that he doesn't become the iconic Jason with the hockey mask until the 3rd movie. Still pretty scary. I love the movie Halloween. *shiver* And Nightmare on Elm Street is just terrifying. Don't worry, I also like the lighter fare like Hocus Pocus and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.

Stuff I don't like as much about Halloween:

- I don't really like to get dressed up. Kids in costumes=cute. Me in costume= waste of time and/or money.

- The goo inside of pumpkins makes my hands and arms itch.

- Speaking of pumpkins, I am not a huge fan of pumpkin foods (pie, for example) and this kicks off the season of such things.

- The doorbell ringing every 5 seconds. Call me a pooper sport. Fortunately, I live in a place where I don't really deal with that. At least I think so. I didn't get any trick-or-treaters at either of my other locked down apartment buildings. But I also didn't live in such a residential neighborhood and I never had a door to the outside before.

- Cold weather. Not always though. Last year on Halloween, it wasn't even jacket weather in the daytime.

Despite those dislikes, I still think it's a pretty great holiday.

ShaNae Noyce, RN

Yes, I know I used that title for a previous post.

I now have 3 days of real, full-time work as a nurse under my belt though, so I guess it really is official now.

Since I am on an internship program, we are going to take our sweet time (3 months) to learn the ropes. I am very happy about that. So far, the team training us has been nothing but nice, and they are always stopping to make sure we understand things. They are never at all condescending if we don't know something or if we never saw it in clinical or whatever. I learned how to be a nurse in an 11 month nursing program, and it ended 6 months ago. Needless to say, I feel less than confident about a lot of my knowledge and skills.

This week has been mostly orientation. Tuesday we shadowed on various units so we could see a lot of the paperwork in action. Today we went over how to actually fill a lot of it out. I believe we will start on med passes next week.

The great thing about orientation is that I am working a regular schedule. I work 7-3:30 Monday through Friday. I still have my evenings and weekends, so I can actually see my husband during the 2nd half of the week when he isn't gone all day at work and class. That won't last. Once I have my regular assignment, there is little to no chance that I will get a day shift position, and I will definitely be working some weekends. That's okay too, but it's nice to dive back in to things with a more predictable schedule. The most difficult part of this week has been getting up early. I haven't had to do that in months. Almost as difficult has been going to bed at a decent time so I actually get enough sleep.

I'm still trying to keep up on my bargain hunting, although I have been working out shortcuts to make it all a little faster over the past couple weeks in anticipation of starting work. It is a fun little hobby.

Zack has been busy. He has decided to keep working full time while attending grad school full time, and he still has Tuesday nights and many hours on Sunday that he devotes to his church calling. That leaves a bit of time for homework, and that about wraps up his week. Despite both of us being busy, I can say that I am so very happy to have a routine again. We'll see how long that lasts. A couple of months of getting up at 5:45 AM might leave me wishing for the boring ol' days again. :)

I know, this has been a pretty dry and boring post. We have a lot going on, but nothing that's really exciting to tell about.

Free Museums

Yesterday, a bunch of museums in Philly were free so we took advantage and went to a couple that I hadn't been to yet.

We started out at the Franklin Institute, which is basically a science museum. It is mostly pretty kid friendly, but we had a great time anyway. We saw a planetarium show (Cosmic Collisions!), walked through a giant model of a heart, and played with various interactive displays on machines, sports, trains, and more. It was pretty crowded, but very fun- and FREE.

Next we went to the Academy of Natural Sciences (is that what it's called?). Anyway, it was basically dino bones and a bunch of stuffed animals in dioramas. The also had a butterflies section where you could walk through an area while tons of butterflies flew all around. Very pretty.

It really was a very fun day, and shrunk our list of things still to do in Philly by 2 museums at no cost to us. :)

I start work tomorrow. Finally. Except I am not excited about getting up at 5:45 in the morning. I'll let you know how it goes.

Grad School

For those who haven't heard yet, Zack got accepted to Drexel with a scholarship. Congratulations to him! He starts classes today. It has been pretty crazy for him since he just found out that he was accepted 4 or 5 days ago and has been trying to get registered and everything in that time. He is still working some of that out.

So congratulate him if you see him. :)

Swagbucks

Have you heard of SwagBucks? I have been using it for the past month or so. It's basically a search engine of sorts. You type in a search on their site (or on their toolbar) and you can earn swagbucks just by searching. You can then redeem those bucks for different prizes. I always just redeem 45 swag bucks for a $5 amazon gift card. I think it's the best value. Anyway, it's really easy, and it's a way to earn prizes for something you already do (searching the internet). I have had a good experience with it so far and just wanted to put it out there for anyone else who might be interested. I put a link on my sidebar if you want to check it out. Some people are hardcore and earn hundreds of dollars worth of prizes with this each year. I just earn a couple swagbucks a day and call it good. You can pick how much or little you will use it.

Check it out.

An honorary birthday

Since my birthday hit on a Sunday this year, we decided to do the bulk of the celebrating on Saturday. We went across the Delaware to Camden to go to the Aquarium there. We have been wanting to go for some time, but cost is always an issue for us, and the tickets are pretty expensive. Well we decided we could splurge for the special occasion. Then, by a stroke of luck, while we were waiting in line for tickets, a woman approached us and said she had bought a ticket online the day before, but the person who was supposed to use it didn't show up, so she just gave us that ticket. It was pretty awesome. So we basically both got in for the price of one. Woo hoo!

The aquarium was a blast. They had birds and hippos, sharks and seals, penguins and turtles. We loved it. We saw almost all the little shows/presentations that they put on. My favorite was the seal show, where they just kind of show off what they train their seals to do so that they can best care for them. For example, they train the seals to open their mouths on cue so that the trainers can brush their teeth. Pretty cool.

Here I am in the bird/hippo/porcupine exhibit.

Zack with jelly fish.

Oh no! I've been eaten alive.

Open wide.

Penguins

Z with hippos

4-D movie

Z the octopus

Me petting a shark

After the aquarium, we went and ate some fish. We love Red Lobster. We split salmon and shrimp. Oh boy, it was delicious, and we were so freakin' stuffed when it was all over. I could barely move. But move we did, and we polished off the day by walking around the mall by the Red Lobster before heading home.

Today (my actual birthday) has been nice and relaxing. We did the church thing. I had to teach the lesson in young womens, which was kind of a drag, but it still was okay. Then we went to Bartram's Garden for a picnic with Savanna and Jesse. I should mention that Savanna made me the most adorable hot pink scarf for my birthday. Thanks- I love it! We ordered some pizza yesterday so that we could eat it for my birthday dinner tonight, and there are brownies baking as a sit here (mmm, they smell good). So it has been nice. I am sure getting old though.

Longwood Gardens and some other stuff

On Saturday, we went out to Longwood gardens. It was a beautiful day, and the gardens looked great. Thanks to Natalie and Robert, who left us their free passes when they moved. They made our trip possible, and we really enjoyed it.

Here are some pretty pictures.

Fountain show

I loved these big yellow flowers with pepper plants in the background.

Italian water garden

On our way home, we ran into nearly a million block parties. Okay, I am exaggerating, but it really was very many. Each block that was having a party was blocked off. It was a real nightmare trying to get home. We drove around and around, running into blocked off streets at nearly every turn. Traffic was ridiculous as everyone else in the area was stuck in this mess too. We finally made it to Chestnut street, which was, thank goodness, a clear ride the rest of the way home. I was so happy that I just couldn't help blogging about it. Thus my last post.

Here's a picture of that mural that is going up next door that I mentioned before. It has progressed a lot more since I took this picture. I will add more later.

We had a relatively quiet and enjoyable Labor Day. We spent it shopping and just kinda hanging out.

My shopping trip for today: I got 8 boxes of cereal, 4 boxes of brownie mix, 3 cans of soup, 2 boxes of granola bars, 2 boxes of pasta, 4 boxes of Gushers, 3 noodle mixes, 2 packages of Oreos, 2 cans of Pillsbury biscuits, 2 bottles of soda, and a gallon of milk for just barely over $30!

For those of you who are worried that we are living off of Lucky Charms and brownies, relax a little. When bargain shopping, you often end of stocking up on things while they are a good deal, and eating/using them over several weeks or even months. We took a grocery trip earlier this week and bought produce (pineapple, grapes, strawberries, limes... mmmm) and some meat for some real meals. I'm not pretending that we always eat the best things ever, but I feel like I should reassure my mom that we aren't just eating cookies for 3 meals a day. :)

And finally... I had to go get a physical today for my new job. I got there about 5 minutes after my appointment time, checked in with the lady at the desk, signed my name on the sign in sheet, and waited..... and waited.... and waited. About 45 minutes after my appointment time, a man walked in for his appointment and he went right back to see the doctor. It was about that time that I started thinking something was wrong. A bit later, more people that had showed up after me started going back to see the doctor. So I went to the desk, and it turns out that they had basically forgotten about me. Nobody really knew I was there. I had checked in. I had talked to someone and signed in. But I waited an hour and a half only to find out that they didn't even know I was waiting there. It was annoying and weird.

PS-- Go healthcare reform! (although I am not blaming the above situation on the current healthcare system. That was just an unlucky fluke)

Chestnut Street

At times, one of my least favorite streets to drive on. Today, a lifesaver.

Have a Six Flags day

We made it to Six Flags yesterday.

We wasted no time. We got there before opening and when it did open, we went straight to Kingda Ka, the tallest, fastest roller coaster in the world.

I don't know if it's because I hadn't been on a roller coaster for over 2 years or just because I'm old, but when I got off, I was ready to cry. It went from 0 to 128 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds, launches you 456 feet straight up in the air, and then you go straight back down. I honestly thought the rapid acceleration and uphill climb were scarier than the straight down descent. Anyway, we survived it, and moved on the conquer other thrilling rides.

Our (or maybe just my) top 3 favorite rides were El Toro, Superman, and Nitro... can't really put them in any particular order. They were all awesome. El Toro is a unique wooden roller coaster that feels as smooth as a steel one, and has a 76 degree drop.

It's a real nail biter. I think we were more surprised than anything when we first rode it because we were expecting your typical wooden coaster. We rode it again because we liked it so much. The Superman coaster is unique because you lay on your belly, just like you were Superman flying around.

It was very fun. Nitro is a steel roller coaster, it's nice and long, and has a ton of hills that leave you with an awesome weightless feeling.

We pretty much picked the best day on the planet to go. The lines were really short. I think the longest we waited was half an hour, and we got on most of the rides in under 10 minutes. The weather was awesome- I think we topped out in the low to mid 70s- and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. We are old and were pretty pooped after about 8 hours, so we went home before it closed. We really had a blast though.

Robert, we made sure we got our pictures by the Superman and Bizarro roller coasters just for you. :)

Happenings

I have always loved this time of year. I love the weather. I love my birthday. I love that this is often a time of year to embark on new adventures. Even though I am not in school anymore, this year is no exception.

I thought I would share some more details about my new job. I start near the end of September. It begins with a 3 month full-time, paid internship followed by full time employment. It is at a nursing home in the city. It is a really great situation for us.

As I previously mentioned, because I got this job, we have decided to stay in Philadelphia. We will be here for 2 more years at least. I think we have mixed feelings about this. We sure love Philadelphia and we are excited to have 2 more years to be able to do more of the things we have been wanting to do. At the same time, a change of scene would have been really fun, and we know that other places would hold other fun adventures for us. But the decision is made, and here we will be. It is a relief to just have that decision made.

We are toying around with the idea of moving to a new part of the city. We love this apartment a lot, and there are so many good things about it, but the manager of the property is not our favorite and has been very difficult. This almost outweighs all the good things about the apartment, so we might just try our luck somewhere closer to my new work. We'll be thinking about that.

Lately I have just been practicing my bargain hunting. I think I am getting better and it's becoming less time-consuming. I also have been leisure reading. I read the second book from the Wicked series, and enjoyed some Jane Austen by enjoying Mansfield Park. I liked that so much that I decided to read Northanger Abbey, which I just started. It's so nice to be able to just kick back and enjoy a nice book.

There is a big huge wall outside our apartment, and a new mural is going up there. I will take some pictures. That's fun. Philly is definitely a city of murals, and it is fun to have one going up so close to us.

Other than that, not too much going on. Just enjoying the last leisurely month before Z dives back into school and I start real life as a full-time working adult.

The Job

I got it so we're staying in Philly for a couple more years.

Bargain Blog

Thank you to those people who answered my poll about creating a bargain blog. It seems like there is a little bit of interest, or maybe a lot of you are just being nice. I have made the decision not to start a new blog at this time for a couple of reasons. Change is in the air for us. One way or the other, I will be starting work in September. Bargain hunting can be time consuming and blogging would just add to that time. While that is something I may be interested in doing in the future, I feel like I need to jump back into the routine of actually having a life before I commit to writing that blog. I don't want to start it and then never write on it. In the mean time, I may write a couple of posts on here about my bargaining adventures, but I don't want to go too crazy with it.

Staying or Going?

After much thought/prayer/discussion, we have come to a decision about if we will be moving in January or not.

I suspect we will know the answer in about a week.

I have a job interview this afternoon (boy am I nervous) and we have officially decided that this will be the deciding factor. If I get it, Zack will start grad school at Drexel (possibly even this fall) and we will stick around here for another couple of years. If I don't get it, it's time for me to start focusing my attentions elsewhere. As all you faithful readers of my blog know, I have been looking for a job here for several months with little (no) luck. At some point, I need to just cut my losses and start looking for jobs in other cities that we might move to. It would be nice if I could have something lined up before we moved, and now is the time to start looking for that. If I don't get this position, I would just work my flu shot job for the next couple months. That job is seasonal and ends in December, just in time for us to move. So here goes nothing. It's weird to have so much riding on one little afternoon.

Not to get too political, but...

I just read this headline. So sad. So true.
"Congress Deadlocked Over How To Not Provide Health Care"

Though there remain irreconcilable points, both parties have reached some common ground in recent weeks. Senate leaders Harry Reid (D-NV) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) point to Congress' failure to pass legislation before a July 31 deadline as proof of just how serious lawmakers are about stringing along the American people and never actually reforming the health care industry in any meaningful way.

"People should know that every day we are working without their best interests in mind," Reid said. "But the goal here is not to push through some watered-down bill that only denies health care to a few Americans here and a few Americans there. The goal is to recognize that all Americans have a God-given right to proper medical attention and then make sure there's no chance in hell that ever happens."

"No matter what we come up with," Reid continued, "rest assured that millions of citizens will remain dangerously uninsured, and the inflated health care industry will continue to bankrupt the country for decades."

An anniversary retreat

We actually got to celebrate our anniversary last weekend with a little retreat to the shore. Z cut out of work a little early on Friday and we drove down there. After our obligatory episode of getting lost (we can't go anywhere we've never been before- and some places that we have been before- without this happening), we arrived in Wildwood, New Jersey. It was not really a cute little shore town at all. I found it rather tacky, in fact. But our bed and breakfast was absolutely adorable, so that made up for it.

We spent Friday evening exploring the boardwalk, which has 3 amusement parks. We did not ride any of the rides. Those things are always so expensive, and we were planning on hitting up Six Flags soon anyway. We did enjoy the carnival-like atmosphere and we ate some ultra cheap (and pretty nasty) boardwalk food. There were fireworks in the evening, which was really fun.

Saturday was our beach day. We actually went in the ocean this time. We usually dip our feet in and stuff, but this time we went in much farther. The water was so pleasant. In fact, it was downright warm. We also played wiffle ball, which Z loved. He was like a little kid, so happy and excited. And we got sunburnt. We really are way too white to be real beach bums.

After the beach, we made a little trip down to Cape May, the adorable little down on the southern tip of New Jersey. We went and saw the lighthouse there,

checked out the cute (but not free) beaches, and window shopped a little. It was much more charming than Wildwood. That's probably why it would have cost so much more to stay in a bed and breakfast there. After we got back from Cape May, we enjoyed a quiet evening sitting in the hot tub on the veranda of our bed and breakfast, and then watching DVDs. Sunday morning we got up and came home. So now we are back from our relaxing vacation and back into the real life swing of things.