Thanksgiving was nice.  We went to my mother-in-laws.  She always does a beautiful job.  I ended up having a 5 day weekend over the Thanksgiving holiday (Thurs-Mon), since Mondays and Thursdays  are my usual days off, plus that Friday after Thanksgiving.  Other than that, it’s been business as usual around here.

Decided my blog needed a little change, so I got creative and created another look.  Something a little softer and matches the other side of my personality.  I like bold and loud, then the other side is very romantic and sensual. Hense the new look.  Took me forever to find a candle picture online that I liked, then come to find out, my photo editing program had just the perfect one in the gallery.

Heading over to my mom’s this afternoon. She was out of town over Thanksgiving (I drove her half way)… she took the train home on Tuesday.  Probably get some Christmas shopping done.  I just dread going to the mall this time of the year.. it’s so crazy!

You know, I don’t care where I’m going or how long it takes to get there, I’ve always been one that loves a decent road trip.  So I’ve gone and volunteered for one.  My sister, who moved to Chicago last year has finally moved into the home they were waiting to be built which is in Indiana.  My mom is going there for Thanksgiving.  Well, because of the holiday, her usual mode of transportation (the old fashion train ride) is a bit too much for her to afford.  Considering gas prices are not as bad as they’ve been it’ll be cheaper than a train ticket.  So I’m driving her half way to Indiana tonight.. yep tonight, I’m leaving around 6pm-ish.  It’ll be about a 4 hour round trip. I’m hoping to be home before midnight, gotta work in the morning.  Drive back should be interesting since I’ll be driving alone. Nothing better than a long drive all to yourself. AAhhhh!

As for my weekend.. it went pretty well.  Our tailgating plans ended up getting 86’d.  We ended up watching the game close to home, then hung out at the mall and bought for ourselves while everyone else was shopping for Christmas.  At about 7pm my husband calls and ask if we want to come down and watch the Wings game.  We were in 2nd row off the ice, on goalie’s left side. Man oh man, those were awesome seats. It’s ironic that I kept mentioning to Amy how HUGE Jiri Fisher is, he’s a monster out there when you’re sitting that close, hope he’s doing better and can play again.  Hubby says he saw us on tv a few times.  We went back to Amy’s after the game, dolled up a bit and then headed for our usual haunt in Royal Oak. Crowd was kind of lame, but music was awesome. Sunday was a lazy day at home, Dave raked the yard while Gavin and I played inside. Is that how you spell raked? Looks funny.

So this morning I come into work and notice that landscapers had installed the "winter curb markers" around the parking lot.  They’re those 2-3 feet bright orange sticks that get stuck in the grown to mark where the curbs are; that way when we get that big dump of snow, the plows know where the curbs are.  All I kept thinking was "Is the threat of 2 feet of snow really that close? No way, it’s only November."  I’m not ready.  I’m still in denial this year about the inevitable winter approaching.  Giving the fact that it’s been in the thirties the past few days and this morning I actually pulled a scarf out of the closet.  I can’t be in that much of denial though because my radio here on my desk is playing Christmas music.  Yeah, we have a local popular radio station here that as of November 1st, all they play is Christmas music 24 hours a day until Christmas.  I admit, it does get you in the spirit.

Looking forward to the weekend.  For my birthday, my mom is giving me an entire day to myself.  Hubby has to work Saturday, so my mom is taking Gavin for the day.  I’m leaving with my friend, Amy at about 10am. We’re heading out to Ann Arbor to tailgate for the Michigan vs Ohio football game with a bunch of friends that are going to the game, then those of us that don’t have tickets to The Big House will keep warm watching the game in a local pub.  Spending the day, hanging out in Ann Arbor with my closest friend, with no pressures to get home is going to be fun.  Then we’ll probably go back to Amy’s place, have dinner somewhere local and then hit a bar somewhere.  Hubby, Dave, will be picking up Gavin from my moms when he gets off work.  Tomorrow is going to be a fun ME day!!! Can’t wait!

Yea, it’s my birthday as of about an hour ago. Though officially I wasn’t born until 4:12am.  At 37, that’s not mid-thirties and yet not late-thirties.  I can’t believe I’m pushing forty.  I’ve barely gotten past turning 30 and now 40 is around the corner.  Don’t have any major plans.  Hubby and I might go out for dinner and I’m sure I’ll get a night out with the gals in this weekend.

Attended my husband’s boss’s funeral today.  He died very suddenly and quite unexpected.  He was a good man. And still young at 55 years of age.  Had a stroke.  Shows you just how precious life is.  The priest told a story during the funeral service today that really said a lot.  It was about the painting "Mona Lisa".  It was stolen back in 1911 and was missing for 2 years.  Records show that more people came to see the emplty wall space where she once hung than in all previous years when the painting was there.  Tells us that we often fail to recognize the gifts that are there for us everyday, that is until it is taken away.  And suddenly those gifts are greatly missed.  We need to say thank you and express our love to those around us everyday while they are here… because once they are gone, it’s likely that you’ll never have that chance again.

Courtesy of Shea.

5 Things

10 years ago –  I was moving into my first apartment.
8 years ago –  I was getting evicted from my first apartment.
4-7 years ago – I was living alone in a studio apartment behind Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas trying to "find myself".
2 years ago – I got married.
Now – I am raising a 2 year old, working part-time and still enjoying being a newlywed. 

Five yummy things:

1) Dark Chocolate (Ditto Shea)
2) Lobster
3) Chateau Briand cooked medium rare, melts in your mouth
4) Molten Chocolate Cake from Chili’s restaurant
5) Patrick Dempsey

Five songs I know by heart:

1) "Elsewhere", Sarah McLachlan
2) "Indigo Eyes", Peter Murphy
3) "It’s No Good", Depeche Mode
4) "Trouble", Coldplay
5) "Candle In the Wind", Elton John

Five things I would do with a lot of money:

1) Buy new house
2) Sleep late every day and never work again (ditto TJ, seems to be a popular answer)
3) Travel
4) Buy new wardrobe
5) Pay my mom back for everything she’s ever done for me

Five places I would to escape to:

1) Tropical beach
2) Big fluffy couch with big fluffy pillows with a big fluffy blanket.. ahhhh
3) My imagination
4) Camping in the woods
5) Ireland hills

Five things I would never wear:

1) bike shorts (ditto shea again)
2) leopard print spandex
3) thong underwear(ditto TJ)
4) overalls (unless I’m pregnant)
5) A Colorado Avalanche hockey jersey

Five favorite TV shows:

1) "Survivor" (all reality tv)
2) "CSI"
3) "Grey’s Anatomy"
4) "Medium"
5) "Desperate Housewives"

Five things I enjoy doing:

1) Playing with my 2 year old
2) Photography
3) Listening to my favorite tunes
4) Zoning out on the dance floor
5) Getting silly with my friends

The previous 4 posts are all brand new updates.  Though I typed them all today, I specified different publish dates to coinside with the events that happened.. so check them out!!

Sunday night [Nov 6], hubby and I went to the Fox Theatre downtown. We had suite tickets for Audioslave.  It was like a Audioslave/Soundgarden/Rage Agains the Machine concert, we even got to hear some Temple of the Dog.  What a fricken blast.  I haven’t rocked out like that in a long time.  Hubby and I were both jumping up and down like mad.  I was always a fan of Rage and hearing the band alone, regardless of the old singer being gone.. it was awesome.  Same goes for Chris Cornell, his voice is just incredible.  What a kick ass concert! Hubby and I really enjoyed ourselves.

Seems I’m about a week behind in my updates. Halloween weekend was fun. Friday night (Oct 28) I hung out at my friend Amy’s place.  I think this is why I enjoy reading Shea’s blog so much is because she and Carly remind me of Amy and myself back in the day.  She and I were roommates.. and just like Carly and Shea, we’d get silly at her apartment.  So Friday night I went over to Amy’s. We originally had plans to go out, but after 3 beers and a bag of McD’s we ended up just drinking more and watching Night at the Roxbury.  That movie always cracks me up.  Amy fell asleep while we were watching it.. I was home and in bed by 1am.

Saturday I ended up hanging out with some of the moms in my playgroup with Gavin.  We all dressed up and headed out to Boogie Fever in Ferndale.  What a blast. We had so much fun.. I ended up going dressed as an angel.  At about half past midnight, I left the gals at Boogie Fever and headed to my usual haunt in Royal Oak, Club Luna, and zoning out on the dance floor.  Ran into some old friends there that I hadn’t seen in quite some time.

Sunday.. Sunday.. What the heck did I do on the Sunday before Halloween. Shit it’s only been a week and I can’t seem to remember.  I know I did something.  Well Halloween was fun. Gavin had a blast trick or treating, more details on that can be found on his blog.

Took Gavin to Pump It Up this past Thursday.  Man oh man is that place a blast.  It’s got several of these huge inflatable "moonwalks" that the kids can jump in.  One is an obstacle course and even a giant slide. It’s normally a place just for private parties, but a couple times a week they have open play.  On Thursday morning the open play was for ages 5 and under only. For 5 bucks a child [parents play free] you can play all you want for just about 2 hours.  And believe me, after an hour and a half, I was beat, who knew that jumping in a moonwalk would be such exercise.  Gavin and I were laughing ourselves silly quite often.  Hoping we’ll be able to have his third birthday party there, what a fun place for a birthday party, and a private one at that.  It’s a little pricey, but still cheaper than renting just one of those inflatables for a backyard.  Gavin and I will definitely be going to open play again soon, that was fun!

So quite a bit has actually been going on.  Turns out that weekend we were suppose to clean the basement (Oct 22-23); well my husband decided to get all romantically spontaneous and came up with the idea Saturday morning that he wanted to drive up to Frankenmuth, MI for the night.  So I start searching online for places to stay. Nothing was open in Frankenmuth, all the hotels were booked. We ended up getting a room about 12 miles northwest in Saginaw.  I had made plans already to meet up with my cousin and her girls to take the kids to a Halloween Festival at Nankin Mills off Hines Park.  We did that until about 3pm then hit the road.  Only took little over an hour and a half drive.

Frankenmuth is such a sweet little town to visit. Very Bavarian and Folk. Lots of little shops along the main street. And you can’t go to Frankenmuth without visiting the "Worlds Largest Christmas Store" Bronner’s. Gavin really enjoyed all the Christmas decorations. Dave had never been there before and even as a guy was completely amazed over a Christmas Store.  Actually turned out to be a fun weekend, and here I tought I was going to be cleaning the basement.