1 year anniversary in MEXICO!!!

Thinking back to everything we were doing 1 year ago is so crazy! How did a year go by so quickly? First of...I have to say, the 1st year of marriage was not NEARLY as hard as everyone told us it would be! Sure, it wasn't always roses, but....it was SO much fun!

The nice thing about getting married when it is cold out is that you can go away to celebrate somewhere warm (and come back with amazing tans that make everyone around you envious!) ;)

We both knew we wanted to go away somewhere special for our 1 year anniversary so I decided to surprise Doug with a trip. My intentions were to keep him guessing until we arrived at our destination...but I caved. I told him about 3 weeks before we left.

I booked a few days away in the Riviera Maya in Mexico. We stayed at the Iberostar and had such a great time! We always try to leave the resort and do some type of excursion when we go away. Since we were only in Mexico for 5 days, we decided to just do 1 excursion. We went to an all natural park called Xel-Ha. It was AMAZING! There were MILES of crystal clear water that we were able to snorkel in, all you can eat/drink the entire day and tons of activities. My favorite was swimming into an original underwater Mayan cave. We actually have a picture of us in this cave (I know, typical tourists) at home in our guest bedroom. This park had all kinds of little hidden adventures. One of Doug's favorites was a rope swing that you went on and dropped into this natural water spring. It was FREEZING cold but actually felt really nice since it was so hot. We also did a lazy river tube ride for about 2 miles. The beginning of the ride takes you RIGHT through this mesh of sticks. It's so hard to explain but try to imagine a tunnel, just barely big enough for you to float through. The tunnel was probably a mile long and had all of these twists and turns. The actual tunnel itself was made up of sticks all intertwined into each other and curved down. It was so spooky and cool! On your way down the river (which is actually the ocean) there is the stopping point called the cliff of terror. You park your tubes on the bank and walk up this cliff and over a swinging (literally) bridge. Then, you just jump off of this cliff and into the water. It was about 20 feet high, which really doesn't sound all that impressive. But, imagine yourself standing on the ledge and looking over, trying to convince yourself to jump. Doug is scared to death of heights but he LOVES this stuff! We both jumped a couple of times and the rush of adrenaline was amazing! The day was long but full of adventure. Our anniversary night was beautiful. We lounged on the beach and came back to a bottle of champagne chilling in our room. We had made reservations at the fanciest French restaurant on the resort and enjoyed a beautiful dinner complete with a picture perfect sunset. So hard to believe it has been a year!!!!!!!

The trip went fast, as they always do. But, it was so nice to get away and reconnect with the love of my life! We are already making plans for our next trip away. Maybe somewhere other than the Caribbean??? ;)

Halloween

For the past few years, we have been invited to Doug's friend's house for Halloween. These people go all out for their Halloween people and this year there were about 30 people in attendance. Each year, Doug and I go back and forth on what costume we can showcase. After much discussion and A TON of Internet browsing......we still had nothing. We ran out the morning of the party and went to all of the party/costume stores in our area. Luckily, they weren't totally picked over. Doug found an awesome pirates costume (for only $40!!!) and I found the cutest leopard costume that was not completely trashy.

We had a blast, as always, and are already brainstorming about next years outfits! :)

Doug's 27th Birthday

OLD TV:

NEW TV:

I absolutely LOVE surprises. And I love surprising others even more! As you all probably know, Doug is a HUGE sports fan! If there is any type of game on...Doug will be watching! Since we have been married, he has been checking out the flat screen, HD TVs. Every time we are at an electronics store, he wants to go over and watch the HDs. So, I decided I would surprise him with a flat screen for his birthday this year. I did a bunch of research (since I really do not know anything about electronics) and decided upon a 46 inch Sony Bravia. I ended up ordering it at the beginning of the month, thinking it would take a few weeks to ship. Well, it shipped REALLY quickly! I decided to hide it under the bed in the spare bedroom. It wouldn't fit under the bed while still in the box, so I had to take it out (with my Mom's help, of course) and shimmy it under. Even though I love surprises, I HATE keeping secrets. Especially from Doug! We tell each other everything so to keep something so exciting from him practically drove me crazy! I thought it would be fun to give him hints about his gift for a few days leading up to his birthday. It was SO much fun to see him guessing!

His birthday was on a Friday night so we went out to dinner. Anytime we go out for a special occasion (birthday, anniversary, holiday) we always try to go somewhere neither of us has ever been. My Aunt recommended this little place in Wayne called Teresa's Next Door. It is a really cool restaurant that specializes in Belgium beer. They had TONS of European beers that were imported. Doug just loved it! He had a Scottish beer called a Skull Splitter. Definitely not my taste!!! For dinner...he ordered the trio: Elk, Quail and Kangaroo. You can probably guess what I had. Yup....Chicken! (To my defense-I did try a bite of his dinner!)

Anyways, while we were at dinner, Ashley and her boyfriend came over to the apartment and set up the TV. They removed the old 27 inch dinosaur and put the new 47 inch flat screen in it's place. As we were walking into the apartment, I was videotaping. I was hoping to get his reaction without him realizing I was taping but he caught me just as he was about to walk in. And, of course, Louis BOLTED out the door. Little stinker.

Doug was very surprised and very excited. I don't think we have watched anything but sports since his birthday!!!

New Car

Well, the inevitable finally happened. My 1994 Honda Prelude kicked the dust! Luckily, it didn't leave me stranded anywhere. It was sitting for a few days at our house while I was traveling for work. When I came home and tried to start it...it wouldn't catch. Doug and I both knew this day would happen eventually so rather than invest more money into it and wait to see what was wrong, we decided to take out a loan and go shopping. I have decided that I officially HATE car shopping! :( I think it may be the ONLY type of shopping that I hate. I feel so stressed and under pressure and I have this sickening feeling that I am constantly getting ripped off or lied to. Maybe it's all of the stereotypes of the sleazy car salesmen? I don't know. I just know I don't like it! We started out on Saturday at 10:00 am and headed over to the bank to sign the paperwork for my pre-approval. We knew that we did not want to lease because we would like to eventually pay off a loan and not have a car payment. We also knew the chances of us being able to afford to buy a brand new car were slim. So, off to the used car dealerships it was. We started out at Carsense and had a bad experience with a really crappy salesman. We only stayed for about 10 minutes. Friends of ours have a Nissan and swear by it. I've heard other people also say great things about them so we figured we would check out the Nissan dealership. The salesman that we dealt with here was great! So personable and not pushy at all. He showed us several different cars and let us test drive a bunch. Long story short, we ended up falling in love with a 2005 Nissan Maxima. The safety ratings on this car are the best and that was important to us since we will most likely still have this car when we have kids.

So, details. The outside is a dark blue (almost black if it is not in direct sunlight) and the inside is black leather. My favorite feature is that it has heated seats AND a heated steering wheel! I am not so good with the cold and with not having a garage anymore, this will make the weather a bit more tolerable.

It's so much fun to drive around a nice car. And, going from an ancient little Honda coupe (that had lost it's AC and radio functions years ago) to a roomy sedan with leather is great! It's amazing the little things that you take for granted and don't appreciate until they are gone.

The newest addition to the Shade family...

No, I'm not pregnant. We got a kitten!!!!!!! I have been dying to have a little kitty for the longest time and everything fell into place last Sunday. Doug and I were driving home from Church and randomly heard from my sister, Hillary, that her friend was trying to find homes for a litter of kittens. We talked about it for a bit and decided to go see the kittens. Well, as soon as we saw their ADORABLE little faces, we couldn't resist adopting one! We chose a little boy and named him Louis Vuitton Shade. haha! Believe it or not, Doug came up with the name ALL ON HIS OWN! We were laughing so hard and thought it was just too cute to pass up.

The first night, Louis was VERY clingy. He slept between Doug and I in our bed and didn't BUDGE the entire night. I would imagine that the switch was pretty traumatic for him. I felt really sad to take him away from his Mommy and Brothers. We learned pretty quickly that Louis likes to play and "attack" us at night so sleeping with us did not last too long. He comes in in the morning and says hello but he sleeps in the spare bedroom (his choice) most nights.

On Saturday, we took him to his 1st vet appointment. The day that we got him, we weighed him on an animal scale at the pet store. He weighed 1.8 lbs. Well, we were very happy to see that 6 days later, he weighed 2.0 lbs! Overall, the appointment was pretty traumatic! They had to do a feline Leukemia test on him, which required putting him into a restrainer, shaving the inside of his leg and then drawing blood. When I tell you that he screamed louder than anything I have ever heard, it is an UNDER STATEMENT!!! It sounded like they were torturing and killing him. I was so sad for him and just started bawling. Poor Doug. I think he is starting to realize that he is REALLY going to have his hands full when we have children. haha. The good news is that all the tests came back negative and he is an extremely healthy little guy! He goes back for the rest of his shots in 4 weeks and then we just have to keep up with the yearly shots.

Doug and I are having SUCH a good time with this little stinker. He seriously makes us laugh so much! I can't believe how much I love him in such a short period of time. Again, I am really going to be in trouble when we have kids! :)

St. Thomas, Water Island

The Shade family summer vacation this year took us to Water Island in the US Virgin Islands. There is so much to talk about...It's hard to know where to even begin??? We stayed on Water Island, which is a very small Island right off of St. Thomas. You can only get there by ferry. Our entire 1st day was spent in the airport traveling. We ended up getting into St. Thomas too late on our 1st night and missed the ferry. Since we were suspecting that this would happen, we made reservations at a hotel next to the airport. We were all exhausted and hungry and really ready for a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, the hotel had a system crash and we were not able to check into our room for a good 45 minutes. What a nightmare!

The next morning, we got up early and took the ferry over to Water Island. What a cool ferry! When we got to the house, we were all pretty taken back by the state of cleanliness (or lack thereof) the house was in. It really wasn't how it should have been for guests but since we were in the islands and it was so gorgeous out, we just brushed it off and planned to spend the majority of our time at the beach. The views off the balcony of the house were INCREDIBLE!!!

Doug and I were given the apartment down below the house and unfortunately, that was dirtier than the upstairs. Again, we decided to focus on the positive aspects of the vacation which was the beach! The closest beach to us was called "Honeymoon Beach" and it was just a short golf cart ride from our house. Oh yes...I should mention that the most common mode of transportation on the Island is a golf cart! How fun! :)

The Island was so bizarre! When you picture the Islands, you imagine palm trees and lots of sand everywhere. Maybe some brush and wildlife. Well, this Island had several different types of cactus all over, tons of shrubs and trees, definitely some palm trees down by the beach but not as many as you would assume. It was also HOT and DRRRRY! And, as we all know, when a place is hot and dry...it usually means that there are insects and crazy creatures. Let's just say we had a gecko that lived in our shower (which we named Claude), HUGE Iguanas everywhere you looked, very large turtles that had their dinner on your porch and scorpions that crawled into your bed. YUP. A scorpion actually crawled into our bed at 3 am and stung me twice on the arm. I think it is safe to say that this was most definitely the most primitive place I have ever been!We later came to learn that the insects entered your house because it was so dry and they were looking for water. It rarely rains on Water Island so I'm not exactly sure how it gets its name...?There were multiple times that we could see rain storms in the distance (over St. Thomas) but they never hit us on the Island. We found out later in the week that because STT has such high mountains, the mountains attract the rain. Water Island does not have any mountains so it gets skipped. The water that you use in your house is the water that is collected from the rain. Since they don't get much rain...there is obviously not much water to be used. So, you are required to really conserve! You have to take "Navy Showers" which basically means you can only run the water when you are rinsing. The water has to be turned off when you are sudsing up. Talk about an experience!

Back to the beach: It was AMAZING! The water was so warm and clear and we swam so much! There was a dock about 50-60 feet from the shore that we would swim to and then jump off. We swam with a ton of tropical fish and it was gorgeous to be able to see them underneath you. We didn't do any snorkeling at this beach because we didn't have equipment with us. Almost everyday, we ate lunch at Heidi's Honeymoon Grill. Heidi would cook burgers, sausages and chicken on the grill and it was so yummy! She had a HUGE feast on the beach on Saturday night (Dungenous crab, filet mignon, chicken marsala, corn on the cob, potatoes, garlic bread...) and we all went down and ate on the beach and watched the sun set. Talk about beautiful!!! That sunset was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen!!!

One of our last days in the Islands, we decided to charter a sailboat and sail over to St. Johns. The sailboat was named "Winifred" and was so comfortable and fun! We sailed for most of the morning and then arrived at STJ's "Honeymoon Beach." This beach was even better than the one on Water Island and is only accessible via boat. It was SO secluded and the water was beyond amazing!!! You could see all the way to the bottom of the ocean up to 40 feet deep! Our captain and first mate (haha) gave us a quick tutorial on snorkeling and then let us lose. About 10 minutes into our dive, we encountered a GIGANTIC barracuda! I was freaking out when I saw it's teeth. They told us that barracudas are very Territorial and that they stay in the same place for their entire life. So, we figured that we would probably run into one. It swam away and didn't bother us. About 45 minutes into the dive, Doug started freaking out. 2 barracudas came about a foot away from his face. I didn't realize it at first until he squeezed my hand. It was SO scary! We asked our captain why they got so close and he said that they are myopic-they have no depth perception. Crazy stuff! The coral was BEAUTIFUL and once again, the tropical fish never cease to amaze me. It's so cool how you feel a part of their world when you are snorkeling. I can imagine that it is even cooler when you go diving really deep!

This Virgin Islands vacation was one that I am certain I will never forget. It was such an experience (with both the good and the bad) and the first time that I have ever gone to an Island and stayed outside of a resort. I must admit, I was a little anxious to get home to my own, clean house and bed. BUT...I was definitely sad to leave such a gorgeous beach!

I wonder where vacation next summer will take us...? :)

The Virgin Islands-here we come!

FINALLY! Our trip to the Virgin Islands is here!!!!!!! We leave tomorrow and I am so excited! I promise I will post pictures and let you all know how it is. WOO HOO!!!!

6 month anniversary camping trip

As most of you know, I absolutely LOVE surprises! I like receiving them (even though they drive me nuts if I know they are coming) but I absolutely LOVE giving them!!! So, since I was in charge of our 6 month anniversary celebration, I decided to surprise Doug. Let me just tell you…it is MUCH harder to surprise someone if you are living with them! Haha! Doug and I have been camping a few times in the past and we loved it! We have never been camping by ourselves so I thought it would be fun (not to mention cheap) to plan a weekend away camping. Unfortunately, I could not get a teacher to cover me for the art classes on Saturday so it was only a Saturday-Sunday. I made sure Doug slept in nice and long on Saturday morning so that he wouldn’t know anything that was going on. I woke up very early before my classes and started packing the car. I didn’t want Doug to know what was going on so I made sure that I covered everything with a big blanket. When I got back from my classes, I told him I needed to pack up a bunch of art supplies and that I needed him to help me lift the heavy stuff. He was such a trooper and agreed, even though it was HORRIBLY hot and I knew he did not want to do it. As we were walking out to the car, he saw the big blankets and gave me a really confused look. I told him there was a change in plans and not to ask any questions. He LOVED the suspense and kept guessing, even though I wouldn’t tell him. We ended up camping at the Jim Thorpe camping grounds up North. Again, it was SO hot and I was really nervous that the heat was going to ruin our weekend getaway! Lucky for us, our camp site was in the woods and was much cooler because of the shade. Plus, since we were up North, it was slightly cooler. Doug was really excited when he realized what we were doing and was completely surprised.
After we got our tent up, we decided to walk on these hiking trails up one of the mountains. It was located in the Lehigh Valley Gorge and I can’t begin to tell you how beautiful it was! Unfortunately, we were not prepared for this hiking and only brought with us flip flops. There were all of these signs posted that said that hikers have died by climbing the waterfall path and how you should proceed with caution. Based on these signs, we knew we had to be EXTRA careful. It was the most beautiful hike I have ever taken! We were in the woods for the majority of the hike and we basically just followed these little waterfalls up the mountain. We walked for about 2 hours until we finally got to the top of the 1st fall. (There were bigger ones higher up but we figured we would stop here since it only got steeper and we were in flip flops) It was SO gorgeous and I was BEYOND BUMMED that my camera battery died! It was actually REALLY cold in the falls but the water was so fresh and clean. We bottled a bunch of it and drank it on our way back down. Doug was all about standing under the falls. It was such a nice time and we kept saying how much fun it would be to bring friends along with us next time!!!
When we got back to our camp site, it was time for dinner. We had burgers and hot dogs (over the fire, of course) and corn on the cob. YUM!!! I can’t say enough how much fun it was! Sitting around the fire with my husband and just enjoying nature! AND…you know after dinner, we totally did the s'mores thing! They were so yummy!!!!!
We had so much fun and would TOTALLY go camping for a weekend again. Plus, we really enjoyed our campsite and would recommend the Jim Thorpe site to anyone looking to go!
As I was recalling our fun weekend, it suddenly hit me how lucky I am. I am beyond blessed to have such an amazingly supportive husband. We have so much fun together and I really can’t imagine my life without him! I hope and pray that our relationship keeps growing stronger and continues to be as much fun as it is now!

Roadtrip to Nashville and a beautiful southern wedding

What a great weekend! Doug’s cousin, Richie, was getting married in Nashville and rather than flying, Doug and I decided to take a road trip! We hit the road at about 4:00 am on Friday morning. Once we got over the initial exhaustion of being up so early, we had a blast. We decided to stop for breakfast about 2 hours into the trip and this really made the 1st ½ of the trip go by fast. We ended up renting a car and got a free upgrade! Sweet! So, we were riding in style, not to mention comfort! The trip took us a total of 13 hours. When we arrived in Nashville, we checked into our hotel and then headed over to the rehearsal. The location was beautiful! The site was at the bride's (Tiffani) parents house. Everyone on this quiet little street knew each other and they all offered up their houses/yards for this wedding. The rehearsal went smoothly, and, like every 'night before the wedding', there was a mixture of excitement, anxiousness and nervousness. Everyone was hoping for clear skys (since there was not a back-up plan!!!) and sure enough...it rained! Luckily, the rain was in and out about an hour before the wedding. Phew! The location was more stunning than the night before! There were multiple tables scattered across the lawn each containing a different vase filled with the most beautiful wild flowers. There were twinkle lights and little lanterns hanging from the trees. It was just amazing. And hot! I give the Richie and Tiff a lot of credit to get married outdoors in the summer down South. Doug was sweating bullets before we even got outside! haha!

The next day (Sunday) was our chance to really explore the city of Nashville. It was NOTHING like I was imagining. For some reason, I was picturing it to be MUCH smaller than it was. We took a horse and buggy ride (typical tourists!) and learned a bit about the history of the city. Then, of course, we just walked up and down the streets and checked out all the different karaoke bars, souvenir shops and country restaurants. We ended the night by eating dinner at the Blues Brothers restaurant. They had a live jazz band playing and there were great! Lots of great musicians in this city. Also, a lot of VERY SCARY and EXTREMELY INTENSE cowboys. Yikes!

We woke up early the next morning (Monday) and started our drive back. It wasn't nearly as exciting as our drive to Nashville...but we still had a great time!

Isn't it crazy how great weekends seem to go by SOOOOOO quickly?!?!?!