N.S.P.D.

Yes, National Stephanie Pleva Day!! It's finally here. This year in honor of the 30th anniversary of this major holiday Adam, myself, King Richy and Lil Cub are taking a lovely Carnival, aka prices right on acid, cruise to Cozumel Mexico! Boat leaves tomorrow, coctails begin at six. I hope everyone enjoys thier NSPD and has a drink for me!!

North Kakalaki

Well that's what Adam calls it. Anyway we just returned from our 10 day trip up to North Carolina for Adam's brother Josh's wedding. We left after lunch on Thursday with a car full of luggage and two dogs. 10 hours later we were in Garner at his brothers place tired and with soar buts. After some sleep we woke up to...snow! Yes! for a short while on Friday morning they had big white flakes! the dogs were going nuts, it was their first time seeing it. Poor little bruiser was so cold. Friday brought lots off errands and last minute wedding chores. I was enlisted in helping to build the bouquets! And i must say we did a pretty good job. After all the dogs had been taken to the "doggie spa" we loaded up and headed to Benson where the wedding would take place. Leah and Josh had decided to hold the wedding at a b & b; Preston Woodall House. what was super nice was that the wedding party was staying in three cottages across the street. Ours, Lucy's Cottage, was a 3 bed/2 bath with a full kitchen and dinning room. Oh! and our bathroom had heated tile floors!!!

Lucy's Cottage


Adam, his sister Alyssa and brother Josh at the rehearsal

The rehearsal went good, the dinner was great and we played some cards into the night. Saturday was a lot of running around. Since i was not in the wedding i was official helper of all. But as soon as pictures started I was able to get myself ready. The wedding was beautiful, the reception a lot of fun and the family was in good spirits. After the reception the festivities continued in the Lucy house. And man did we pack it! Leah and Josh had hired a baby sitter, with wii for the kids, so there were a few parents who were free for the night and boy did they take advantage of that! All had a great time. The next morning we all awoke to the remnants of a college frat house. We quickly cleaned up and headed to Wilson where Adam's sister lives.

Josh and Leah Young


Adam and I at the wedding

Alyssa was going to be hosting family thanksgiving on Monday and had a houseful already on Sunday. Adam and I decided to order some Pleva's meats from my cousin Tommy and have it shipped over. We had quite the spread; brats, Pleva dogs, summer sausage, cedar sticks and JERKY!!! Everyone enjoyed the food it was nice to share with his family my families traditions. The rest of the day was devoted to resting and playing cards...which we did a lot that week!


Alyssa with the Thanksgiving meal

Monday's thanksgiving was great! and all were full. Tuesday Adam and I headed to Raleigh to go to the N.C. Museum of Natural Science. It was interesting and great to see Raleigh. After that I got a quick tour of NC State, where Adam went to collage, then we met up with old family friends for dinner in Graham then we headed back to Wilson.


In front of the Museum in downtown Raleigh

At the NCSU Bell Tower...i know it's sideways...oops

On Wednesday, believe it or not, we headed back in the same direction we went the day before, only this time to Kernersville. This is were Adam grew up and his good high school and collage friend was home so we had to go see him and his family. We also decided to stop by his mom's grave and leave some flowers since it had been a while since he'd been there. She now has a lovely pot of Mums adorning her plot. Then it was onto Jurgs house, Adam spent the day playing beer-pong! and i rested. Then after all day there I decided we needed to head back to his sisters. She was putting up the tree and we got there just in time to decorate it! I've never in my life put a tree up before thanksgiving. But it was the only chance I was going to get, Thanks Alyssa.

Thanksgiving was spent at Nicks Uncles house. They put on a lovely dinner and were very generous opening their house up to us. That evening Adam's dad Russ rejoined us one last time for a late night of card playing.

At the ECU game with Nick & Alyssa

Friday we went with Alyssa and Nick to their Alma mater, ECU, for a football game. It was my first one this year and we had a good time! When we got back Josh and Leah came over and cooked us a fabulous steak dinner! ooo it was soooo good. Then it was time for more...you guessed it CARDS! Josh invented a card game, needs a name, but it's fun and challenging. After stuffing our face with gourmet cheeses, homemade guacamole and nuts i waddled up to bed to rest up for our long trip home. As we were driving through N. Carolina Adam said to me, "It feels like I have two lives. " I totally understood, we have the lives that we grew up with and when we go back it seems like nothing changed and then we have the lives we chose for ourselves. It's odd that when we travel "back Home" we tend to resort back to that lifestyle and forget all about our new lives...Just a interesting thought that we both had.

All in all It was a great trip, I got a much needed break from "life" and enjoyed spending lots of time with Adam. Now it's count down to the cruise!



Jordan, Casey and Bruiser in his new coat

Acts of Love and Tradition

So I come from a family with lots of traditions...whether or not obvious to everyone else there are certain things that just are. One big tradition that as we've gotten older we've lost is our holiday family get together's. Growing up we always spent days with my moms sister and her family and my grandma. We would take turns at each others houses for each holiday, but we were always together; all the same jokes were told, the same games played and the same rolls served. My grandma, god bless, her was always good for a few laughs, lots of help where needed and her fabulous rolls. As we've grown old and moved all over the country we've spend the las few Christmas's apart. And it was just never the same. Well this Christmas we are going back to our old ways. All 13 of us will spend the holidays on Marco Island at my aunt and uncles house; grandma too! She's now 92 years old and loosing her mind (sometimes) her balance (a lot) and her stamina (she sleeps at the table). However I have taken it upon myself to make sure that we have rolls! I called my mother, who has the recipe and has tried to make them before. She said o.k... they're not easy, they take a while... So I planned to practice many times to get it right so that on Christmas morning we could have grandmas rolls. I also told my grandma of my plan and this is was her reaction; (it makes smile) "ooooh you are? (she chuckles) Good Luck!" She still has her spunk.
This past weekend I went to the store and got all the ingredients...and while Adam watched football on my couch I began the arduous task that is Grandma's Rolls.
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4 hours later.........(they have to rise!)

Adam helped by cutting the rolls "make them pretty" the recipe says :)
then you wait......another 3 hours!!!!
Finally @ 11:30 p.m. I finished the now infamous rolls...and they came out perfect!!

Now I just hope that when I make them again, for Christmas, they come out as good. This batch is going to N.C....after Adam and myself "tested" 4, just to be sure.

The whole process of making these rolls really is an act of love, I appreciate all the time my grandma put into to make these for us 3 x's a year...and making sure that we always had them. I am proud to keep this tradition alive this year. I just hope she's proud...and that she remembers that she didn't make them....cause that would be the start of a whole new story to tell!!

October

So I promised to tell of the good times in my last post...and times have been good. It's been a few weeks full of get together and day trips and Neil Diamond! Yes I was lucky enough to get offered free box seats to see Neil Diamond...and when i say seats i mean plural...18. So I called everyone I know and found some takers. We had originally planned to attend the annual pumpkin party at Mankow's, but Adam straightened me out and said, Let's go! It was a lot of fun and very random. We did make it to the party later, no pumpkin to carve, and there weren't many people left, but we enjoyed good conversation, SNL clips and beer.

The following day I had signed us up for the AIA modern home tour. Something I've attempted to attend in the past, but actually made this year. I didn't give Adam much of a choice in going, and was very happy when I realized he was enjoying it. He used to work on houses and someday soon will work on his own, so he liked looking at all the neat add-ons that go into a custom home. I just enjoyed it because it inspired me...and I'm an archidork :)

And that shower is completely surrounded by curved glass, it's hard to tell but the only thing protecting the gardener from seeing you is a whole lot of plants. It was by far the coolest thing.

Later that night we attended the annual Smith Halloween Party. That's always a good time and there are some great costumes. Adam and I went as Jack and Jill. And believe it or not most of our costume came from target...in the children's dept!

After many hours of fun and a nap in the guest house it was time to go home.

The following day brought us beautiful weather and Tara took us all sailing. Here a couple shots of that:

As you can see it was a great weekend.

We've enjoyed other great weekends...and tours. Trick or treating with the kids, attending my first National Frisbee Tournament (they GIVE you beer!) and Logan's 9th birthday party! at which I got to get my baby Maddox fill and had dinner with my Auntie and Uncle. I also beat Adam in bowling!! 130.

I guess that's were I'll leave off for today. There are much more fun times to enjoy and I hope to share them all.

Seven Things...

So I saw this on my friends blog and enjoyed it...so I snatched it for myself :)

Seven Things I Plan To Do Before I Die:
1. Get Married
2. Start a Family
3. Go to Paris and learn french
4. Rent a sailboat and sail the Caribbean
5. Become a registered Architect
6. Get my very own Golden Retriever :)
7. Design and build my dream house

Seven Things I Can Do:
1. Lick my elbow
2. Make people laugh
3. Dance
4. Drive stick
5. Sail a boat
6. Design a 1 bedroom 1 & 1 1/2 bath 600 sf apartment to code.
7. Find the good in everything

Seven Things I Cannot Do:
1. 32 fouettes on pointe
2. Speak another language fluently
3. Resist candy
4. Drink tequila
5. Understand bigots
6. Shoot an animal
7. Sit still

Seven Things that Attract Me to My Mister:
1. His smiling eyes
2. His dedication and determination
3. His kindness
4. His understanding
5. His ability make me laugh out loud
6. His love of children and the way he lights up around them
7. His spontaneity

Seven Things I Say Most Often:
1. Huh?
2. Ok, when do you need it?
3. Pointe your toes
4. I'm hungry
5. I'm tired
6. Is it time to go home yet?
7. Uggg move over!!

Seven Celebrity Admiration's:
1. Marcel Bruer
2. Gelsey Kirkland
3. George Balanchine
4. Kathy Lee Gifford
5. Pope John Paul II
6. The Beatles
7. Heidi Klum

Seven Favorite Foods:
1. Crab legs
2. Moose Tracks Ice Cream
3. My grandmas baked Chicken
4. Mom's spaghetti
5. Pleva's Beef Jerky
6. Carrot Cake
7. Uncle Doug's Jalapeno Sweet Potato soup

Hard Times-Deep Thoughts

So it has been an up and down week. First off last Wednesday, 29th, my office laid off 13 individuals. It was kind of a shock and especially a shock of reality. Early in the week we had lost a big job that we had been told was our and we, me included, had been working our butts off on. When we lost that it really set us back. that was the job that was going to take us into the next years and keep us afloat. I am grateful to still have my job and i feel for those who lost theirs. As that horrible day went on in our office i recalled reading my friend Erin's blog and something that I thought was very inspiring. As i reread it that day I realized that i needed to share with everyone those words and remind us all that we will get through this. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and that God will get us through the tough times. So here is what i had read and i thanked her for sharing it as did so many of my colleagues who really needed some light at the end of their dark day.

Scripture tells us that God is unchanging. He is the same today as he was yesterday, as he was thousands of years ago as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Think about the things that once consumed you with worry-last year, five years ago, last week-and then how He saw you through. We can look to the future with confidence in believing that the same God who saw us through the past will see us through the future. Because He says that He will. The same God who delivered Moses, who parted the Red Sea, is the same God who is with us today, who wants to take all of our worries, our doubts, our insecurities about the future and envelope us in His perfect Grace.

I will continue to remind myself of this as I work through other hard times in my life. Which is inevitable.
Yesterday I got a call from my dad informing that a very old family friend had taken his own life Sunday night. Mike was two years older than me, but I had known him my whole life. His mother used to watch me when i was first born, our family's visited in Denver, for a short while he attended my school and our biggest tie was our love for sailing. Both of our families where active in the Yacht Club. I was told his reasoning's were over the breakup of a girlfriend. However I have to wonder if there was more. I just CAN NOT grasp the idea that someone would take their own life over another person. I know that having your heart broken feels horrible but you will get over it, you will make it through, and life will go on. I will always remember him as a smiling happy guy. Every time I'd run into him he was always happy and chatty. But it just makes me sick. My young cousin did the same thing last year over a girl. And it literally tore my cousin (his mother) apart. People need to realize that their lives effect so many others. They may be hurting, but by ending their hurt they are in turn hurting so many more. It is such a selfish act. I hope that i never have to go through this again, but I'm sure i will. Such is life and such is our society.

So this post has been a real downer. I'm hoping to see the light at the end of all of this. And in time I'm sure I will. I will save the happy parts of my past week for another post. Because like I said within all of this sadness I have had some happy times. And for that I am grateful.

Pops, Dogs, Beer and More!

So what a great change Friday night brought about. The Florida Orchestra was giving a free concert in the park Friday night, so Adam and I packed a bottle of wine and some gourmet treats grabbed a blanket and enjoyed an evening of music under a clear sky. It was very nice and a great date night. Saturday brought about another beautiful day. After Adam made a batch of blueberry muffins we loaded up the dogs and headed to fort De Soto. I was determined to take these pups swimming! Jordan had only been when she was younger and bruiser only in a pool...so it was interesting. Bruiser, being the tough guy he thinks he is was on a leash the whole time and getting him in the water required dragging and carrying. But he did his best to swim back to shore as quickly as he could. And after some coaxing with Jordan she actually would come in swim in a circle and then swim back. I was very proud of her.

After the beach, it was time for baths and Adam went to work cleaning and scrubbing and presenting two fluffy soft doggies! Then it was time for the most anticipated part of the weekend...Beer Fest! We had VIP tickets which allowed us to enter 2 hours earlier and their was food pairing, discussions...and more! And what a food spread! we were expecting cheese, pretzels...but we ended up with everything from beef tenderloin to toll house cookies, which by the way were AWESOME with the "milky" beer. We had a good time trying beers (BELLS TOO!) and listening to the band...well short of us disagreeing on events when we first met, but with that much beer that's bound to happen. :) We ended up calling it a night when the festival ended instead of meeting up with friends...it was just too much and I'm getting old.

Sunday brought church, after much pondering, a little bit of football for Adam reading for me and then the beach. Now going to the beach is a love that Adam and I both share. However for different reasons. Adam like to be very active at the beach I like to read, tan and sleep. This being said I did my best to keep Adam entertained, since his attention span is short. I did my best attempt at playing Frisbee, we each won a game of bacche ball and I attempted to build a sand sculpture...i just got really sandy...no thanks to a certain someone.
After a trip to both Target and Walmart in search of Halloween stuff we headed back to his apt for dinner and a good game of domino's!
It was a great weekend and I got to spend some much needed time with my busy boyfriend. And of course the best news...(i don't really care) the RAYS WON!!

Fridays.

So I've come to realize I really don't like Friday's. Well at least from 8:30-5:30. They seem to drag out longer than any other day of the week. It must be the antisipation of happy hour, time with friends, the weekend.....Even the entire mood in the office is different...it's quieter, less action, less people. So here I sit 4:42 watching the time tick by with nothing to do. I have tons of things to do after 5:30. This weekend is full of fun activities, concerts, festivals and quality time with Adam. We also need to get our costumes togeather for the halloween party next weekend. But I can't do anything but sit here and wait...wait for the little clock in the corner of my screen click 5:30.

Lovely Weekend

Well, it's Monday...nuff said. But I did have a lovely weekend. It was one of those weekends where you cram more stuff in then you ever thought you could, but come out of it refreshed and well rested. So Friday after a L O N G week I stopped at my favorite wine store on my way to Adam's. Picked up a few or more bottles and headed across the beautiful Howard Franklin Bridge. After a lovely dinner of deluxe mac n cheese with cheese hot dogs complimented by a lovely Cabernet, we headed to downtown st. Pete to join in the "first Friday" celebrations. It was such a nice night out and sitting and catching up with lots of different friends was great. The Rays had one the baseball game so that also brought a great charge to the night. Saturday marked the opening of the "Saturday morning Market" Adam and I headed down with hungry stomachs. We ran into his coworkers and enjoyed some stuffed french toast, crab cakes and buffalo jerky! what a mix. After we went sailing with our friend Tara. Being the experienced sailor i was a bit weary about taking such a small boat out onto the bay, so we tooled around in the harbor before coming in. Then it was time for the beach. Finally we could have our mimosas. ( I wouldn't let them on the boat) It was a great day at the beach, just the right temperature and the water if cooling off. More friends joined us and Adam started up a game of bache ball on the beach while us girls relaxed and snoozed. After the sun had dipped way low and the temp dropped we packed up and headed to Tara's for a great dinner and some Mario Cart. Talk about a fun filled day. Sunday came a little earlier than I'd like, Adam woke up at 7 to head into work, but luckily i was able to fall back asleep and didn't roll out of bed until 10. ahh so nice. I met the girls for brunch downtown and then we walked around and window shopped. Sailing was again in our plans, but the weather didn't hold. Luckily Adam finished work early so we hung out at his place while the rain was coming down outside. I caught up on my new book and he on his football. Sunday night brought about dinner and a movie(iron man :) ). All in all it was a great weekend. I'm grateful for having such good friends and to live in such a pleasant area. Now I'm looking towards a busy week with work, dancing and dog sitting.

What is a Blog?

So, my friend Christine started a blog and i thought "how cool, I want to too!" But then as i got it all set up I thought well what is a blog? She's using it to keep in touch with family and friends and update them on her new marriage. And I've seen others that have discussions on thoughts they share and others comment...but that's not quite me. Me, I like to ramble sometimes on and on about nothing and other times i jump from thought to thought. I have a very active mind, I swear it never shuts off or up. So I guess I'll just use this "blog" as a way for me to ramble on about whatever it is I wish; it's mine right? If anyone ever reads this hopefully you'll at least get a laugh...welcome to my world and enjoy my Adventures in Plevaland.