Birthdays Galore

Growing up I never really knew anyone with a birthday in July. Now, there are 5 birthdays back to back. My stepfather Dennis is July 24, my aunt is July 25, Trevor is July 26, his little sister is July 27 and I'm July 28. There was nothing to do for Dennis since he was in St. Maarten with my mom and my aunt lives in Florida, but birthday celebrations began on Saturday.

On Friday, we hung around for most of the day and then we ran to Trevor's mom's to take back her laptop that I fixed and then went to his dad's house to eat and drop off the baby so we could go to the Phillies game. It started pouring pretty early in the game so there was about an hour rain delay. Our seats are under the upper level seats so we didn't have any issues with getting wet, but we left our seats anyway to meet up with some friends for a bit. We didn't stay for the whole game because a) they were losing and b) we were hungry and knew we wouldn't have time after the game since it was delayed and we still had to pick up Ava. We left and headed over to PJ's for some dinner and then picked up Ava and went home.

Saturday was the big day...our birthday celebration. Luke and Dan arrived around 4:30 or so and some friends, Danny and Jackie, stopped by as well because they had some time before a reception. We had to run to Kohl's to get Luke some shoes to wear because he sent his dress shoes home with his Mom not thinking he would need them. The plan was to go out in Philly so he'd definitely need them. Then we headed over to PJ's for a drink and to visit my friend Katie and then we were off to Philly for dinner. We ate at Mixto and it was really good. Pitcher's of mojito's were everywhere and they were delicious - I think they're becoming my new favorite drink (although I'm taking a big break from any drinking at all until closer to the wedding). After dinner we went to Raj's girlfriend Arti's apartment and played Taboo. I felt incredibly dumb playing it because I'm terrible under pressure. I couldn't get any answers out and when it was my turn to do the talking I couldn't explain anything. It was not fun.

In case you don't know how to play here's a quick rundown: there are cards with a word on the top and other words listed below...you have to describe the top word without using any of the listed words and people have to guess what you're describing...if you say one of the words you get buzzed and lose a point...when someone guesses the word you move to the next card and keep going until 1 minute is up.

So anyway, one of the cards was "Matt Damon" and Trevor's friend Timmy had to describe him. It was ridiculous because I'm pretty sure he didn't get much else out except actor, but definitely nothing very descriptive, and Luke says "Matt Damon!" There were like 13 people playing and we all just looked at him like how the hell did you guess that?! It was pretty crazy.

When Taboo ended, we went to The Walnut Room. At first, it sucked pretty bad - it was incredibly hot and crowded. But after a few minutes, we moved down the bar a bit to the end and it was more open, there was a seat, and also a giant fan on the wall so from there it turned into a fabulous night.

Luke asked a girl to dance and she said no but you have to give him credit for trying. I have to say I've never seen a guy be so willing to talk to girls. I admire that about him just because of the way he handles the situations. He doesn't act like a moron like most guys do when they are trying to pick up a girl and if she says no he doesn't get pushy so good for him. Eventually, 2 black girls took him onto the dance floor and he was gone for a while. Overall, it was a great night with great food and great people so thanks everyone who came!

After we left there, we went to the Colonial Diner of course. Luke was hammered and he had his head in his hand and the waitress smacked his hand into his face. It was hilarious. Another funny moment came from Dan of course. He ordered a waffle with strawberries and ice cream on it and she brought him a waffle with cherries and goop (like what they put on top of cherry cheesecake) all over it. When she brought him out the new one she apologized and said the first one had strawberries on it but not how he wanted them (they were CLEARLY cherries) and Dan said "AND CHERRIES!"...something so simple but the way he delivered it had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. By the time we got home it was 4 am and we were all ready to go to sleep.

Sunday was Trevor's actual birthday and my Dad and stepmom wanted to take us out to lunch. We had to meet up with them at my Grandmom's to pick up Ava since they took her for the night and then we headed over to TGI Friday's with our other 2 kids in tow, of course. From there, we came home and hung out for a bit and then Dan and I ran to Target to pick up Trevor's gift which of course they did not have.

My Mom called a little earlier in the day and asked if we wanted to come over for dinner so when we got back from Target we went to her house. She said that she quickly whipped up the meal but she had grilled chicken, 3 racks of ribs, a whole tray of the most perfect looking tomato and mozzarella slices (or as Dan says, MOOTZ-a-rellll), tortellini salad, and corn on the cob. Everything was delicious and my Mom let Luke and Dan know that if my stepdad bought her boobs she would sit at a topless bar in St. Maarten with her shirt off...lovely...thanks Mom. When we left we ran to another store to find Trevor's gift which they had (another 22" monitor) but I had to stand in line for about 30 minutes because of a white trash couple that were trying to buy the entire store and eventually left with nothing...another story for another day. We came home and hung around the rest of the night.

Monday was a busy day. Ava had an appointment to get a shot so I took her over. She took it like a champ and cried for a second and then smiled and clapped for the nurse. When Ava and I got home we (the whole family) headed to Staples for a new desk to accomodate both monitors. Dan mentioned a craving for Houlihan's so Trevor flipped a coin to go to Tapplebee's (Trevor named it that for tails) which was close by or Houlihan's (Heads) which was about 30 mins away. The coin landed on Heads so we were off to Cherry Hill. Lunch was delicious and our waitress caught Luke's soup du jour question and then threw out movie lines herself for the rest of the lunch so they loved her. At first I thought she was going to hate us because when she greeted out table Dan asked her if her earrings were light bulbs but she laughed and agreed. Afterwards, we went back to Staples to pick up and the desk and then Dan and I put it together. Trevor, Luke, and Dan went back to Staples to try to find the right video cards for the dual monitors with no luck.

This is when things went down hill. Naturally I proceeded to drink too many twisted teas since it was almost my birthday. I played Mario Kart with Trevor - he beat me the first time and I beat him the second. Trevor loves to brag, brag, and brag some more which is why Luke posted that I was threatening his life (obviously after he won the first game). I drank and drank and apparently berated Luke every chance I got. Then I guess I lost it a tad because when it was time to go to bed, I said goodnight Dan...Luke you suck at life and gave him then finger. I picked up one of Ava's hard plastic toys and launched it at him, just missing his head.(Trevor would like me to point out that by launch I mean I threw it at full speed, the fastest I could possibly throw it from just a few feet away)..oops...sorry Luke. That probably was not the best decision I've ever made but it didn't hit him thankfully. You'll never hear me say that I don't pick on Luke because I certainly do but he is not innocent either. He makes his fair share of comments as well but hopefully he knows I don't mean anything maliciously. I'm pretty sure he thought I planned on blaming everything on him in this blog but I'm definitely not going to do that...I probably should take it easy on him because I was pretty relentless. I think he knows that he's welcome here anytime he wants.

Since this is the longest blog ever, I'm going to end here so no ones brain explodes. I'll pick up on my birthday next time.

Always on the Go

We've been running around a lot since we got home from Vegas on Thursday. I still haven't had a chance to put everything away that was packed which makes for a messy home that drives me crazy. Monday we picked up my beautiful new car and I was terrified to drive it off of the lot - but I did obviously.

We then ran all over America to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (our first time since Trevor's bet ended), over to the mall to return some things, came home for a bit, and then off to Target to get another car seat for Ava. We got lucky on this one because on Friday, they had two of the car seat I wanted left on clearance for $65 (originally $79.99) and then Monday the last one was reduced to $55 - pretty great. Trevor decided that it would be easier to have 2 car seats rather than moving it from one car to the other. Anyone who does this using a LATCH system will know it's not a simple task.

On Tuesday, I had to wake up early and go to the doctors and then go right to the salon to get my hair done and then pick up my cousin Lindsey so that had me out from 9:30-2 pm. While I was out, Trevor's sister Trinna came over to visit with Ava. Later on we took Lindsey home and headed out to Houlihan's to meet up with Trevor's friends for dinner. Ava is still on Vegas time so she likes to crawl all over until 1 am when Trevor finally rocks her until she has no choice but to pass out.

Today was spent at home until 5:30 when I had to take my nephew to his Rock N Roll Gym class. Ava and I went a few doors down to the pizza place and ate while Cole ran around in his class then we went back to my brother's to wait for Trevor and Todd (my brother) who bonded all day at the Phillies game. Trevor apparently threw a horseshoe and it bounced up into my brother's knee leaving it pretty swollen and bruised. I, of course, found it rather amusing since my (older) brother has tortured me my entire life. We came home and Trevor and Ava hung out so I could get some much needed cleaning done but as always there's still more to do.

Changing topics - we live next to a man with severe OCD. It drives me absolutely insane - probably more so than he is. He has several rituals that Trevor and I watch when we see him. The main one deals with his car. When he gets home, he pulls into the parking space, rolls down the window and sticks his head out and looks at the ground, backs out and pulls back in, and repeats everything about 4 times until he satisfied with his park job (might I add he was straight the first time he pulled in). Then he fumbles around in his car for a minute, gets out shuts the door, presses his alarm button so it beeps, pulls on the door handle to make sure it's definitely locked, and then proceeds to walk around the entire car, carefully examining it, trying to open the trunk to make sure it's locked and looks under the car for God know what reason until finally going inside.

Sometimes he'll go back outside after going in and examine some more. Now his new favorite thing to do is hit the alarm button so the car beeps for him so he knows it's locked and he does it about every 3 minutes - or more sometimes - and he does it all day long. The other night when we got home from Target I could see him in his apartment and he was just pacing around and hitting the alarm button. Tonight, I was so sick of hearing his car I yelled stop hitting the friggin alarm button (just in my apartment). There's a chance he may have heard me (we both live upstairs side by side) because I haven't heard it since. Apparently he also likes to stand outside in his boxers. Fortunately, I haven't seen this yet but Trevor had the pleasure last week. He's in his 40's with fire engine red hair and the strangest man ever.

If Trevor sees him coming, he literally RUNS to his car or the house to avoid him. When he does catch one of us, he always comments on the weather, but he says the opposite of what it's really like outside. So for example, if it's snowing, he'll say "Wow it's really hot out here today isn't

it?" and then smack his forehead with his palm and say "DUH!" We really don't get it but he does it all of the time and he talks really low too so you can barely hear him. The gossip I heard was that his parents support him completely and he's on some kind of medication but if you ask me I think he needs a higher dose or a different medication. All I know is, he makes me want to break down his door, take his car alarm button and smash it into pieces!

I need to go to bed now so that's all for tonight!

Rescued

My 26th birthday is in 9 days. This year, Trevor gave me an unbelievable gift - a brand new 2009 Infiniti G37 - my absolute dream car. Yesterday he handed me a card with a folded piece of paper inside, and when I opened it up there was a picture of the car and it said Pick Me Up Monday at 10:30!! I still can't quite grasp the fact that in less than 12 hours from now, I will be riding around in an Infiniti instead of my beat down little 1999 Corolla. So with this gift in mind, I'll get to the reason for this post's title.

Trevor and I met 7 years ago through a mutual friend. Back then, we were totally different people and a relationship would not have worked but he did make it a point to tell me that I had a crush on him every time I saw him. We were friends but would eventually lose touch for a while until December 2005 when I was hanging out with the same mutual friend as before at a bar and she told me that Trevor was going to be coming up. Admittedly, I was kind of excited and we ended up talking the whole time we were there. But that's where it ended because I had a boyfriend at the time. Eventually, I broke up with the guy because he was 100% wrong for me and by that time, Trevor and I were super close. It was inevitable that we would be together after that.

During the time that we lost touch, I went through some terrible relationships. I know I have no one to blame but myself for staying involved but I will say this - no one understands what it's like unless they've been through it. I was always one for telling people how ridiculous they were for staying with someone who treated them bad and then I went through it myself. It is an unexplainable thing, but it's almost like the person has you hypnotized and you can't break out of it - it's crazy. Eventually, I listened to my head because I knew I shouldn't be with them and it worked out for the best.

Today, I am beyond greatful for everything I have. Saying yes to Trevor started a chain of the most amazing events to take place in my life. I graduated from Drexel University during the start of our relationship and then got a job at the Borgata as a cocktail waitress, moved into our own amazing apartment 5 minutes away from work and 1 block from the beach, got engaged, got a good job using my degree, found out I was pregnant so I moved to a different job much closer to home, moved into our current apartment, got laid off at 8 months pregnant :( and had Ava. Before Trevor, the only major accomplishments I had was graduating high school and getting accepted to Drexel. I will say though, that I used to be super independent and practically took care of the boyfriends I had because they couldn't do it themselves. They didn't have jobs and if they did they didn't make much money and had no motivation in life (I'll give one credit for having money and motivation but the other 2, not so much). I went from being super independent to now where Trevor and I rarely seperate and I wouldn't have it any other way.

It may sound strange but I am thankful for going through all the ridiculousness I did. It's funny how things work out but I'm sure I would not fully understand how lucky I am had I not had those bad experiences. I'm marrying an incredible person and we have the most amazing little daughter in the world. Because of this, I would be happy even if we lived in a cardboard box because everything I need is in them. Trevor has shown me how perfect life can be and there's not a day that goes by that I don't stop and think about how remarkable my life has turned out. With that said - thank you Trevor - for my unbelievable birthday gift and also for rescuing me. Thank you for making my dreams come true. You are and always will be my one and only.

I Hate People

Trevor always tells me that I'm the Player Hater of the Year referencing Dave Chappelles's Player Hater's Ball. I guess you can say that but I just tell it how it is. If I think someone or something is dumb, I'll say it without holding back. I've always been that way and I plan to stay that way. With that said I have something to hate about today.

A little background first -

Trevor and I moved into the apartment we live in March 29, 2008 (I know the exact date because it's my sister-in-law's birthday). We live in my hometown where I've lived my whole life in a quiet apartment complex one street over from my childhood house. When we moved in, the parking policy was that the spots were first come first serve with NO assigned parking and no mention of how many cars per household. Fast forward to about 6 months ago, we get a letter in our mailbox (that was delivered to the entire building) saying that we can have one car per apartment and extra cars would have to park in front of "S"building. Now just so you understand the ridiculousness of this, "S" building is across the street and down an entire building and these buildings are LONG and we live at the far opposite end of the beginning of "S" building. We only get these letters when someone complains about whatever the issue is so obviously someone complained but we figured it was the other end of the building since there's always plenty of spots out front. All of our neighbors live alone and the lady downstairs doesn't drive therefore needs no parking spot.

So today, I was helping the woman that lives below us (we'll call her Melissa - Trevor chose it) get her wireless connection to work (I have a BS in Information Systems) and we talked for a while. During our conversation, she brought up a lady that lives in the building across from us and how she's a drunken nut who comes to visit her sometimes when she's hammered. She said that the drunkard (we'll call her Denise - Drunken Denise) comes in to her apartment around 11 P.M. sometimes and talks so loudly that she's practically screaming. Melissa said that she told Denise to have a little respect because a baby lives upstairs. Denise (who I've seen maybe 3 times and who Trevor has no idea who I'm talking about because he's seen her that much) decides to rant to Melissa about how we have people in and out of here all the time with our "poker parties" and "pot parties."

This is completely laughable for 2 reasons: 1) We live in a one bedroom apartment with just about zero space and recently gave away our kitchen table because we don't use it and it took up too much room and 2) Anyone who knows me at least a little knows that I absolutely LOATHE drugs in general and have never smoked so much as a cigarette in my life and would not be marrying someone who did (and please no one say anything about alcohol being a drug, I know I know blah blah blah I get it but you all know what I mean :)). So apparently, this woman who we've never even spoken to knows all about our life.

Obviously, we always have "pot parties" with our 10.5 month old baby sleeping in the next room. Actually she usually joins in on the fun with us - she's a great poker player and can definitely handle her weed. The woman is a NUT and has nothing better to do other than make up crazy stories about the people who live around her because she's a drunk with nothing better to do. She also claims we park in front of her apartment all of the time and was the one to complain which caused the letter to be sent out. We have parked on that side maybe 4 times ever.

Typically, we don't spend much time at home because we always have something to do whether it's visiting family or traveling so only one car is parked here anyway and often enough, no cars are here because we're out in seperate cars. At this point, I'd really like to park both cars in front of her apartment next time we plan to fly somewhere so they sit there for the length of our stay. She's insane and so are a lot of people which is why I say I hate people. Does anyone have anything better to do? Get a liiiiiiiiiiiiife!

So anyway today was pretty low-key. Trevor's Mom and 2 sisters came over to visit and then we went to Chili's with one of his sisters, Trinna, for lunch. Then it was off to Target to get Ava a new car seat since she's too big for her old one now and some other things and then to Trevor's mom's house to fix her laptop. Then back home to relax and drink so we can meet up with Denise later on and share made up stories. I got a bath ready for Ava but realized the water was too hot so I held her until I got it right. In the meantime, Ava decided it was the perfect time to pee soaking my white shorts down the left side. I'm pretty sure this was just karma because she's done it to Trevor countless times and I always laugh at him.

A quick story from last night -

I woke up in the middle of the night and had absolutely no idea where I was. I could not for the life of me get my barings and finally realized I was at home but then when I tried to walk to the bathroom I walked into a hamper and couldn't figure out where the bathroom was. I had my hand on a door but had no idea where it led (it turned out to be the closet door). Finally I found my way but it took a while (refer to earlier in the post when I mentioned how small my apartment is - the bathroom is not hard to find) Just goes to show how long it's been since I slept in my own bed.

Back to Normal

It's July 17th and I'm finally back home. I left for vacation (for me)/work (for Trevor) on July 4th and it really went by very quick but it's hard to be away from home for 2 weeks with a baby. During the trip Ava got her first tooth and on the way home we realized she had yet another tooth coming in right next to it so that's a pretty big deal since she's almost 11 months old already. She's still trying to figure out how to take her first step but she's pretty much mastered standing on her own. Also, she learned how to feed herself puffs while we were away and now she's a puff eating machine. She went in the pool for the first time too but the water was freezing (confusing since it was 343487 degrees outside) so she didn't like it much but we took her in the warmer pool in San Diego and she didn't seem to mind as much. All in all it was a pretty big 2 weeks in Miss Ava's life thus far.

So about my trip in Vegas...

I have to say that going into the trip I had no idea what to expect since I was going to be staying in a house with some people I just met and others I never met while Trevor was going to be out playing in the World Series. I trust his judgement though, so I wasn't too concerned with having to share a house with strangers (is that bad? and for the record, Trevor knows them). I did ask him if he thought that there was anyone I wouldn't get along with since I'm sure it's no secret that I can be mildly confrontation if necessary. He said no and he was right. Everyone was great and offered to help me out with Ava and changed plans to accomodate her naps and anything else. Basically, we stayed with the best people we could have. Nanny Luke and Daddy Dan were always taking care of Ava and a super special thanks to Luke for babysitting in the Rio so I could watch Trevor play and make it into the money at the WSOP Main Event. I don't want to leave them out so Jay and Ken were also helpful during the time they were there so thank you guys!

Overall, I spent the trip laughing nonstop at all the ridiculousness that ensued - including myself - and spent more than one night awake until 5 am (and woke up a few hours later when Ava got up). I may or may not have drank too much those nights and made fun of people (Dan, Luke, and Ken) mercilessly for not wanting to stay awake and play cards so I ended up playing Go Fish with Jay which was fun - from what I remember. I was also introduced to a lovely new game called 3-5-7 which I could never really explain but it caused commotion one night when I refused to cheat in the game with Trevor. He claims I didn't understand but I just really wanted to win or lose fair and square and I think Jay loved it since he was benefiting from me calling Trevor every time. It was a good time.

Now we're finally home and going to try to get back to normal, whatever that may be. I'm pretty sure we have lots of fun trips in the works in the forseeable future. Ava has been to 14 states already and she's not even 11 months old and the list will continue to grow. It makes it easy to travel with her because she's so happy all of the time so hopefully her demeanor stays the same. We'll at least be at home for a few weeks and I'm happy about that.

On a side note - I've always made fun of Trevor for meeting a lot of the people he talks to now on the internet and while I still kind of laugh at it I will admit that he found the right group of people to befriend over the web. Everyone was great and made the trip really fun. Ken and I had a conversation at the Burger Bar one night about meeting friends through the message boards and while I don't remember details I do remember that he made a lot of sense. I also need to say thanks to Matt and Lindsey for letting us crash at their house and for helping us out with babysitting and the car seat so thank you! I know I left out a ton of details in this post but I haven't really slept since I had to share a bed with a baby who kicked me in the face all night last night and then we flew home today nice and early. Ava finally went to sleep (knock wood) so we're finally free to follow. So if this post is rambling and makes no sense, that's my excuse :)

PS - I have to thank Jay and Trevor for helping me name my new blog...thanks :)