Most Photographed Lighthouse

What do you do when you come across the 'most photographed lighthouse'? Well, photograph is of course! But why not have fun when you do it...you know, change it up! So, that's what Andy and I did when we took a day to head to Maine.

Among our other adventures: candy shopping in Kittery (see previous post), stopping in York to see the area and local beach, traveling up to Nubble Light (of course), driving by Long Sands and Short Sands beaches, eating delicious fresh fried seafood on the water and played skee ball and other arcade games.

Now, speaking of the arcade, we spent some time playing skee ball, air hockey and other fun games...but the highlight was this pair of guys playing Dance Dance Revolution. Please enjoy watching this video of what I'm assuming are brothers, both wearing almost the same clothes and dancing in unison.

We ended the day stopping in the flagship Stonewall Kitchen Store (dangerous) and another outlet-y store in Kittery before beginning the journey home. While it was a long day, it was beyond relaxing and I can't wait to do it again!

Yum Yum Yum

What would you do if you encountered 10,000 pounds of candy?

Yes, I truly said 10,000. Like 10,000 dollars or 10,000 bottles of beer on the wall. Ok, maybe that would be too much, but you get the picture.

Anyway, what would you do? Weep for joy? Be stunned into revered silence? Raid the entire stockpile? I got to ask myself these questions and experience the whole thing for myself.

Yummie's, located just inside the border of Maine, will blow any one's mind on the candy frontier. They have, at Yummie's, 10,000 pounds of candy on display...and that's not including everything they have in crates behind the counter ready to be packaged or shipped!

Everything from Circus Peanuts to Spree, Sixlets to Gummie Bears, Chocolate Covered Pretzels to Candy Cigarettes.

Everything and ANYTHING you could think of...they've got it. We were looking for specific items and we kept missing them because there was just SO much to look at!

And there was even a great sign that made us giggle!

We walked out with our version of the mother load...and we are still working on it, day by day. A lovely treat during a busy work day. I keep thinking about everything I saw that day...and I'm ready to go back to get more! There's just so much to experience. Bon appetite!

Hospital Garage...of Doom?

It's late at night, about 1:45AM to be more precise.

You are leaving a hospital emergency room after waiting there with someone for almost 7 hours.

You're tired and hungry and above all, you just want to go to bed.

The quiet around you is deafening, but you soldier on, determined to reach your car...in one piece.

You take the crazy exterior entrance into the parking garage and ride the elevator to your floor...by yourself.

You exit the elevator and take the first door into parking level where your car is located.

As you see your car in the distance, you come upon something closer to you.

And as you reach it, you determine what it is...




Now, tell me that isn't creepy...

The Best Stuff on Earth

No...it's not Snapple. It's BLUE BELL ICE CREAM!

That's right. I'm making a very bold statement...and I do know that those in the South would agree with me, as they have had the glory in experiencing this divine frozen creation. For those unfortunate enough to live in the North, where Blue Bell is not currently available, I shall explain...

Blue Bell Ice Cream is made in Brenham, Texas, which is outside of Houston. It is made with the best ingredients, and the best only...thus making the ice cream the best. It has a rich flavor without being extremely heavy in your stomach. It's just amazing!

Anyway, I recently came into possession of such amazing-ness this week (and by came in possession, I mean I ordered the stuff) and the electricity in the air when it was delivered was palpable. I had it delivered to work so ensure I could track its delivery and the reactions were great:

1) Those who knew Blue Bell were beyond excited

2) Those who knew it was coming, but hadn't tried it were excited

3) Those who were surprised by its arrival and hadn't tried it were excited

So...in conclusion, people were excited.

I took it home to get it into the freezer...and it fits so perfectly, like it was destined to be there. It is such a pretty picture, don't you think?

As a bonus, when you order ice cream to be delivered, do you know what they have to do in order to ensure that it remains frozen? DRY ICE! And one of the greatest things to do with dry ice....activate it!

I spent a great amount of time playing with the dry ice, as, well, why not?!

So now, the only issue is waiting, as those damn four containers (well, three, because the Banana Split was not my choice, nor do I wish to eat it) are tempting and I can't dig in until Sunday (aka tomorrow).

I've made it this far, what's one more day...right?

Things That Irk Me

There are many things that I find frustrating...

1) Winter rains
2) Predictable plot lines in movies
3) Losing board games (or any kind of game, for that matter)

...just to name a few.

But one of the most annoying, frustrating and disheartening things...is not being trusted, not being believed.

I am the first one to admit that I am probably one of the clumsiest people on the planet. I can manage to twist my ankle, bang my knee, bump my head and get a paper cut all at the same time. In the last calendar year, I have been to the ER twice, and the doctor/walk-in clinic quite a bit, all for a varying array of things.

I recently suffered a fall, one that resulted in a severe sprained ankle. The worst thing about it was not the fall itself, though it did hurt like hell. It wasn't the fact that I had to be on restrictive duty at work, though that was annoying as hell. It was the fact that some people actually believed that I did it on purpose.

If you think that you can throw yourself down a flight of stairs without question, then yes, you could do something like this on purpose. If you think you can do this while someone you care about is watching and not feel any guilt, than yes, you could do something like this on purpose. If you like the feeling of pain, then yes, you could do something like this on purpose.

I'm actually very apprehensive about stairs at the moment because of what happened, even though I just missed one step. I had my best friend with me and the last thing I want is for him to see me get hurt because he goes into over-protective/panic mode and as endearing as that is, I still don't want him to worry. And I can't stand the idea of pain, much less being in it.

So, yes...I MUST have done this on purpose.

If you were there, then you can judge me. If you were there, then you would have seen the massive amount of tears that streaked down my face. If you were there, you would have seen how I tried to continue on with what I was doing, despite the amount of pain I was in. If you were there, you would have seen the swelling that occurred.

But only one of you was there, and he is the only one who can judge.

I hate the loss of Independence. Its annoying...and being told that you have to restrict yourself is one of the worst things to someone like me. Sure, its nice not having to do some of the things I do, but only if its by choice, not by regulation. And if you think that it was all wine and roses, that not having to do all of my job was the most magnificent and relaxing thing, think again. I had to do a lot of things that aren't a part of my job description because I was trying to help where I could, and that was at a desk. It wasn't just sitting there and doing nothing...

It is amazing though, to see who shows concern and who doesn't care; to see who actually asks about your well-being and who can't be bothered by it. And its amazing to see who could actually think that you would do something like this on purpose.

For those of you like that, I hope one day you are in my position and you see how it feels to have something happen to you against your wishes and watch as the people you thought cared about you, judge you and show very little compassion.

What goes around, comes around...just remember that.


Thank you for allowing my venting session.

Not So Good Friday...for the Birds

So...this past Friday was Good Friday and I took the day off from work. But this blog entry isn't about religion...its about birds.

I woke up Friday morning and started my usual routine of working out. After I was finished, I sat on the couch to drink the rest of my water and relax a little when something caught my eye out on the porch.

Now before I get into this, let me explain something. We have birds and squirrels around our porch because we have a bird feeder hanging off the balcony above us. This being said, it is never unusual to see the occasional critter.

Let me also say this: my bike hangs upside down under the balcony as well and it has only been there for about two weeks.

So, when something caught my eye on the porch, I was prepared to see a bird at the feeder. Nope. The bird had flown in and landed on the bike.

And that's when I saw it....the nest. I couldn't believe it! It had literally appeared overnight, or at least it had to me. I was super impressed as I had really never seen such a perfect nest that close.


The unfortunate thing was that...I needed to be able to access my bike...and that nest wasn't going to make it happen. So, I enlisted the help of Andy to help pull the bike down and move the nest.

We had to make sure that 1) the birds weren't in the nest when we chose to move it and 2) that there weren't any eggs (otherwise, no moving the nest).

Luckily, we had no issues...and were able to move the next to a nearby tree.


Now I'm keeping a closer eye on my bike :-)

Rhode Island Road Trip

Get it...road and Rhode trip...haha!

Well, on with the blog...seeing as I haven't done this in almost a month! Ugh! Anyway...

So, I don't think of myself as a 'girlie-girl' and I think most people would agree. What I think most people don't know is that I actually don't mind being a 'girlie-girl' from time to time.

No, I don't think I have the energy, desire or necessary maintenance and upkeep to be one all of the time...but there are days when I wish I could be more so and enjoy being one.

I've always been a tom boy, the one playing sports or rough-housing with my guy friends. Don't get me wrong, I had plenty of girl friends, but they were all into skirts, makeup and the cute boys. I hung out with the cute boys they stared at and they were my buddies.

This story has a point...and here it is.

Girls have accessories galore. Jewelry, bags, purses, scarves, shoes, hats, etc. I have my fare share of jewelry (collected over the years from gifts mainly). I have shoes (but most are sneakers and flip flops). I have scarves (bc I am kind of obsessed with the colors and textures...probably closest thing to 'girlie' that I have). Yes, hats (but they are baseball or winter...). Lastly, I have bags (but they are mostly totes and like two purses that are black and boring).

So...when my mom came to visit and asked to take a road trip to Rhode Island, I wondered why. She wanted to go to a store in Newport. What kind of store you ask? A purse and bag store! No joke! I was like 'OK, why not' because I had never been to Newport.

We had a nice drive out there, though a certain someone forgot to tell me that there were two HUGE bridges that I would have to drive over...and I hate driving over bridges....twice!! Anyway, those bridges aside, it was a beautiful day to be strolling along the harbor in Newport.

We weren't going very far around the town, looking specifically for a store front with the name Brahmin.

The colors in the windows got me and the old weathered exterior was amazing. We walked in and the smell of leather hit my nose. It was awesome. Then those colors from outside came at me full force inside. It was like standing in a rainbow.

My mom told me what she was looking for...and how she wanted to be able to see the bags in person before she bought one (i.e....didn't want to order something online without holding it). We spent a great deal of time in the store. Other customers would come and go, but we stayed the same. I never got bored...because I was sucked into the experience.

My mom finally began to narrow down her choices and we picked out a beautiful bag. The funny thing for me was that I became hooked on this one bag myself. A beautiful green hobo bag made from Melbourne Alligator) yes...I'm not a huge fur person...but I do like the gator! ;-) My mom was willing to get me a wallet, which I chose in the same green, because she said I should save the bag for like my birthday or Christmas (these things are pricey).

So...my mom, with her new bag in tow, and I proceeded out into the chilled ocean air (and comparing the lack of oceany smell to the supreme oceany smell of NJ...haha). We walked around a bit and enjoyed a little lunch before heading to car and starting the drive back home.

Fast forward about 3 weeks later...and a wonderful surprise from my mom...

Come on....tell me that's not a pretty sight?! I've been such a girl, carrying that bag everywhere, ever since! ;-)