The Big Extraction

This morning I took Elizabeth to have her wisdom teeth out. Here she is before the big extraction. 

She remained calm on the car ride there until she started reading the paper the dentist had given her last time. I assured her that she didn't have anything to worry about and the worst part was the waiting. I backed up my statement by showing her the spot on the paper that said "you don't have anything to worry about and the worst part is the waiting". 

Thankfully she was wearing her lucky shoes.

We had to wait in the waiting room for over half an hour which did little to nothing to help Elizabeth's nerves, but during our perusal of a magazine we found a very flattering picture of Tim McGraw that brightened her up considerably.{It didn't do me any harm either.}

Eventually they called her name and we moved to the Teeth Removal Room. The nurse stuck all manner to things in and on Elizabeth then left us to ourselves for a good 15 minutes. Those 15 minutes were full of Elizabeth moaning and groaning about how "I'm not going to survive this and if I die, Hannah can have the pen she wants and Christopher can have the little red box JZ brought me from China and would you please have bubbles at my funeral?" I comforted her by doing things along the lines of telling what her current heart rate was, taking pictures, getting up to fix her pants then trying to sit down on a chair that apparently had wheels which I didn't know about until the chair shot across the room, asking what she was going to leave me if she died and laughing because she was being so over-dramatic. I obviously have a wonderful bedside manner. 

All her wisdom teeth were removed without issue and when I went to see her in the recovery room, she looked at me with a dazed look and said, "you have NO idea the number of noses you have. You have A LOT of earrings on and I think I see TWO of you. You have A LOT of noses." 

On the way home Enrique and I serenaded her by singing "Hero" {we were especially good at the "I can be your hero, baaaaaaa-bay" part} but she missed most of the performance because she feel asleep. My latest and greatest method of cheering her up is texting her little known {and probably completely false because I made them up} facts like "giraffes tongues are almost the same length as their tails", "dolphins sing lullabies to the babies every night", and "the average porcupine has 312 quills".

Like I said, I have a wonderful bedside manner.

At least I know how to spell 'coffee'

I hold this establishment responsible for my inability to EVER spell 'doughnuts' right.

I once lost out on getting 100% and a smiley face sticker on a spelling test all because I was convinced it was spelled 'donuts'. 

The moral of the story is that you can't believe everything you see.

Even if they do make your favorite French Vanilla ice coffee.

Because you're so interested in what I ate last weekend

I recently returned from visiting my friend in New York for the weekend. And by 'friend' I mean the one that I'm engaged to. I just want to be clear on that point. 

To get to and from New York I went on four separate very small, very shaky, very squeaky, and very old planes. At one point I felt like saying, "you can do it! You can do it!" to the plane as it struggled to get off the runway. I'd like to send the TSA a letter along the following lines:

Dear TSA,

While I greatly appreciate all the effort you put into ensuring we enjoy our flights, namely providing a variety of beverages and bags of peanuts, I would like to suggest that you investigate the soundness of your aircraft. Planes that sound like they're about to fall apart or break in half at any moment don't exactly inspire wonderful thoughts of confidence in you.

Thank you,

A Small Aircraft Passenger

At any rate, we landed without too much incident and Christopher and I were reunited. We choose Buffalo Wild Wings for supper because we like to eat and because I will never turn down buffalo wings served with a side of blue cheese and a large supply of paper napkins. {For some reason I always feel the need to document what I eat.}

During his lunch break the next day, Christopher brought me to see a model of our new apartment. I have all of two photos to show of it which slightly  disappointed my family, but that means they'll just have to come up to visit even sooner.

We need to decorate so I think one of these options would be fabulous. The Red Sox room might be the winner since I'll be living in the land of the Yankees and need people to know where my allegiance lies. 

One reason for the trip was for me to become a little familiar with the area and see where the various stores are. I now know the locations of the craft stores, the craft departments within non-craft stores, Dunkin' Donuts, four different grocery stores{thanks to the many hours I spent walking their aisles}, and the Greek restaurant. The location of the Greek restaurant is important because we ate there Friday night and as I said, I like to document my eating experiences. 

I will now share some  . As of Saturday, I can officially drive a standard! I am quite proud of my new-found ability and of the fact that Christopher's car was not damaged in the process. 

Sunday we went to church and sat behind an adorable baby girl. I wanted to kidnap her but I didn't have the heart to take her away from her mother. It's probably better for all of us that way because I have a feeling that kidnapping a baby might interrupt our wedding plans just a little. I bet you're dying to know where we ate lunch after church so I'll tell you- it was Moe's. And it was delicious. We then drove to the airport and before I climbed back into another small, squeaky, shaky and old airplane, we took our picture.

I had no idea that one of Christopher's many talents is taking a practically perfect self-portrait. 

Edit: I just remembered that we looked at some of the SUYL singles on Kelly's blog for Autumn and Joanna.! ;-)

This nonsense has got to stop

I have noticed a disturbing trend among the the youth of today: they have the tendency to grow up.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT? 

To prove my point, I have provided three clear groups of evidence.

1. 

These two used to be this size... 

...but now they're this size.

2.

This one went from this...

...to this.

 3.

This one thought it would be perfectly acceptable to go from small...

...to tall.

Then again, maybe I shouldn't be talking. I went from looking like this...

...to looking like this.

Meanwhile, back in the chair aisle

While I walked the many aisles of Bed,Bath & Beyond putting together a wedding registry, Elizabeth found something much more exciting than picture frames, toothbrush holders and soap dispensers. She happened upon The Massage Chair. 


Not wanting to leave anyone in the dark about this amazing invention, she introduced Grandma to her new friend.

Grandma's reaction was just as expected. 

The trill! The comfort! The sensations! The deep and abiding love they felt in their happy hearts for this wonderful invention!

It's safe to say they enjoyed this part of our four hour escapade to B.B. & B.

My sanity is worth more than $399.99

Yesterday afternoon I took Katie and Elizabeth with me to Bed, Bath & Beyond to scope out the wedding registry scene. I generally try to avoid taking Elizabeth to places that have expensive crystal as the result can be similar to a bull in china shop, but between the two of us, Katie and I managed to keep the damage to a minimum. It's just one of Katie's many duties as Maid of Honor- keeping the sister of the bride from inadvertently destroying a store.

Among the multitude of can openers, pizza cutters and potholders, we were offered a swivel lid trash can for ONLY $399.99! What a steal! You can push down either the front OR the back of the lid and achieve the very same thing! The POSSIBILITIES! Who knew a silver trash can could be so much FUN! How could we possibly say no to something that would REVOLUTIONIZE our trash disposal? 

We ultimately said thank you but no thank you to the amazing trash can and moved on to less exciting but more useful things such as shower curtains and wall art.

Upon our return home, we picked up Hannah and Joanna and set out to a bridal shop so the girls could try on a dress. The excitement level in the back seat was high. 

Everything was merry and bright as we set off on our journey. We discussed what station to listen to, how we feel about Taylor Swift, who likes to listen to the Spanish station and other important life issues. Unfortunately, our happy spirits were quickly damped when we missed the exit and were forced to take a 45 minute very unwanted tour of a strange town. Of my four passengers, three were probably more capable of being in the driver seat than I was. They were all, "we just drove under 95 east so we have to go down the road and look for the on-ramp onto 295 north before we get off the Broadway St exit which will bring us to Tiffany St and then we should be there."

I barely know what state I was in.

I was also not a very happy camper.

Long and very tragic story short, we arrived at the store 45 minutes after our appointment. Autumn, who we found out was also late due to her own unwanted tour of the town, was waiting for us there. The lady at the store wouldn't let us take pictures due to strict store policy, but I do have photographic evidence of a dress that will not be appearing in my wedding:  

We next took an impromptu trip to David's Bridal to see a dress that Autumn told us was very similar to the first one we liked but 1/3 the price. The dress below won't be appearing either, but Autumn was having herself a good little time in a dress that matched her fuzzy socks.

David's Bridal Lesson #42: don't let these two into the tiara aisle unattended for long

I made up a very mathematical dress comparison chart that looked something like this to help us make our final choice:

Dress 1   Dress 2   Dress 3   Dress 4   Dress 5

It was a very effective method.

We finally decided on a very pretty, very dark blue dress that is not pictured here because somebody forgot to take a picture of it. {Maybe that's because that same somebody was still trying to recover from a trip that nearly cost her her sanity.}

 

And it doesn't cost ONLY $399.99. 

Big happenings

There's something big going on in our neck of the woods this week. No, Daniel and Erika aren't expecting a baby yet. 

After weeks of 1 1/2" on the ground and days of 28 snowflakes* falling from the sky, the SNOW has finally arrived! 

 For once, our fine governor was correct in announcing a severe weather advisory {he was bound to be right sometime}.  

Being the fine New Englanders that we are, we spent the day playing Blurt, watching Tuesdays with Morrie and shoveling.


I use the words "we shoveled" very loosely as I did no shoveling whatsoever. 


* That's only a small exaggeration

When in Mississippi

When in Mississippi...

...you spend half a day at the car dealership and are given hats that make you look like a complete advertisement for Carlock Toyota

...visit with the very regal and dignified Lady as she sat upon her Pillow of Honor 

...you go shooting

...and see a movie at a movie theater that supplies pickles 

...take pictures after church because there's no way anybody can use the "I don't have any makeup on!" or "my clothes aren't nice enough!" excuses 

...and remember it all so you can tell your family about it when you get home.

{not pictured but very much a part of the trip: errands, movies, and naps}

When in Memphis

When traveling through Memphis,you...

...are completely shocked to see the Mississippi River from the plane even though you are on your way to Mississippi

...stop for a tasty beverage

...spend quality time walking around the parking lot at the airport looking for your car

...walk through the rain down to Beale Street

...see a chicken who's got some sass

...eat barbecue and {survive eating} alligator gumbo

...explore the Peabody Hotel

...see painted elevator doors

...watch the ducks swim in the fountain and march to the elevator  

...spend all day with Christopher.

When in Phoenix

When in Phoenix visiting your fiance's family, you...

...take pictures out the airplane window because you've never been so far west before

...immediately remark about the lack of grass and the abundance of palm trees

...enjoy the fountain outside at the entrance of the hotel

...spend a morning at the Arizona science museum

...take pictures of Logan because he's so cute and because you'll finally be an aunt

...watch Josh take Tucker down the slide

...spend quality time with Tucker telling him you like his freckles and that his hair reminds you of Albert Einstein

...admire the mountains

...wonder why there's a covered wagon just hanging around in the hotel parking lot

...take a picture beside a giant cactus because that's not something you see every day

...play at the park with Logan

...talk to Stephanie then immediately tell your family how much you like her

...go to the Phoenix Zoo for Zoolights

...eventually say goodbye to the child, the palm trees and the mountains and fly to your next destination

 ...but not before you thank God that you're joining such a WONDERFUL family.