Our 25th Wedding Anniversary

I want to wish my partner, the love of my life, my best guy and my soulmate a very happy anniversary.

We've been married for 25 years (together for 31 years) and I would marry him all over again.

We've tackled this roller coaster of life together - all of life's ups and downs. We are a team, and I hope to stay on this crazy roller coaster ride for many, many more years.

Happy Anniversary Doug...

Here's to 25 years...

A Blog Update - All About April

 

I honestly cannot believe I did not blog at all in April. Between being a bit busy and also not feeling a lot of motivation to blog...well here I am in May now.

So what's been up with us?

Briana had her spring break the first week of April and we took a short weekend trip to Colorado to start it off. We visited with family and the weather in Denver and Golden was really nice (I will blog about the trip soon)...

We've had some really nice vacations during previous spring breaks...

We've actually taken more vacations during winter, summer and fall breaks. I think it's because spring break can get pretty crowded in certain places - especially Florida. So we usually just opt to staycation in April.

************************

 For the second half of spring break, Briana spent it visiting my parents, so Doug and I had a few days to ourselves.

One evening while Bri was away, he and I went to a delicious restaurant called Prime 120...

The food was amazing (I had a filet Oscar style). Our waiter was originally from France and was very attentive. We ordered a table side Caesar salad as an appetizer and it was so delish!

Another night Bri was away, we went to one of my favorite restaurants. It is called Frankie's...

Not as fancy as the night before, but still really yummy. I had my fave - rigatoni ala vodka and Doug had lobster ravioli. 

Bri had a wonderful time with my parents and she definitely wasn't ready to go back to school on the following Monday. 

*********************

At the end of April, I had a fun girl's night out with some of my gal pals. You can't go wrong with a skinny margarita...

 

***********************

My parents also introduced me to a fun hot dog place in April that isn't too far from their house. It was really good and there were so many choices.

I decided on a New York dog and a Philly dog...

 

*************************

When spring comes around, that means pollen season in Georgia - and lots of it. Yellow pollen coats everything and it's awful. And the allergies hit as well. But, it's also really pretty when the flowers and trees start to bloom - just wish it would happen without so much pollen...

I always love it when my azaleas and Japanese maple bloom. The maple tree in my front yard had hardly any leaves on it at the beginning of April and now it is completely full. We also have a cardinal couple that has a nest somewhere around the house because we see them flying around all the time.

 I wait until the end of April to clean the thick layer of pollen off my screened porches. There's no point in cleaning them sooner because they just get covered again. It is a big job to clean, but it is so nice when it is done. We honestly don't get to enjoy the porches as much as we would like in March and April because of the nasty pollen.

 Here is my upstairs screened porch (I bought new rugs and new cat perches for the porches)...

Here is the downstairs...

Mei is so happy when they are cleaned because she's allowed to go outside more. I let her out on them for a couple of minutes once in a while during March/April, but I hate to do it because she comes back in with a coat of yellow.

*************************

We celebrated Passover and Easter during the month of April.

I decorated my house for the season of course...

We enjoyed some matzah ball soup and sides during Passover...

Briana colored Easter eggs (a day before Easter - I love that she still wants to do it) and she still requests an Easter basket...

Easter evening, Doug and Briana prepared a rack of lamb, sliced seasoned potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts. The meal was delicious!!!

***********************

My mom celebrated her birthday in April and I sent her these beautiful flowers...

****************************

I finally saw "Spiderman - No Way Home" in our home theater (Doug and Bri had already seen it at the movie theater). I cannot believe I managed to avoid spoilers for so many months. I am giving myself a huge pat on the back for that one. Though I did have a feeling what happened was going to happen...

We've also been watching "Moon Knight" each week. I didn't realize at first that this project isn't really attached to the MCU, but we've still enjoyed it. It's a bit dark, but it's still entertaining...

And I finally convinced Briana to watch "Stranger Things" with me!! I am SO happy!

It's one of my favorite shows. She was worried it was really scary, but after a couple of episodes, she realized it wasn't as scary as she thought it would be. So we've been binge watching it together (I needed a refresher anyway). We have only one episode left to watch and then we will be ready for Season 4!!

**************************

Briana is doing great. She's happy and healthy. She only has 4 weeks of school left. I honestly can't believe it. 

She went to see the school musical with some friends the other day...

She looked really pretty heading to school one day last week...

Teacher appreciation week is the first week in May, and Briana signed up to make an appreciation basket for one of the teachers through the beta club. All of her current teachers were already taken before she was able to even look at the sign up sheet, but she saw that her culinary teacher from last semester wasn't signed up for yet, so she chose her. We put together this basket with some of her teacher's favorite things...

Briana is still practicing driving, though we haven't been practicing nearly enough lately. Briana will have all summer to practice and she is signed up to take the required classroom driving course the week after she gets out of school. She will also be getting some lessons from a local driving school. She can't get her license until August, so we have some time...

She and Doug have also been on a baking kick! They have made biscuits a few times and artisanal white bread - everything has been so good!!!

*************************

Mei is still a mess. No - she awesome but drives me crazy. This winter, all her fur grew back on her arms, legs and belly (that she had overgroomed) and it was awesome to see her all fuzzy again...

The minute she started to shed for the spring, she started overgrooming again. So I know the overgrooming isn't stress related. I have given her antihistamines in the past in case she has allergies - they did absolutely nothing. I just think she just likes to overgroom in the spring and summer months. I've tried it all to get her to stop. I get stressed every year about it, but I have to learn to just accept it. It's difficult though. I don't like her having bald spots!

She and Briana had a snugglefest the other day (pics compliments of Briana)...

I wish she could explain to me why she likes to lick her fur so much...

And also why she thinks laying on a cell phone is comfortable...

*************************

As for Doug and me, life has its ups and downs...

I still battle anxiety (especially health anxiety) every single day. It's a true struggle. Some days I can really push it to the side and some days not so much.

I (we) have some life things going on that adds to my anxiety (that I won't discuss here right now), but let's just say adulting really sucks sometimes.

Doug has been keeping busy with work - and traveling both personally and for business.

I am going out into the world a lot more now - getting back to life. That's a good thing. I have to admit that I still feel super weird going into a store or a restaurant now without a mask on. It became such a normal part of life for me for two whole years and it is strange to accept that I can go places without one. Mask use was never a big deal for me (because it wasn't/isn't a big deal unless you have small children or special needs people in your life). If you ever uttered the words, "I choose not to wear a mask because it's my right not to wear one" - then you really need to check yourself. I will never, ever change my opinion on that.

***********************

 Doug and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary this week. With everything life has thrown us - the good and the bad - we've gotten through it together.

So, that is the update for now. I'll blog about Denver in the not so distant future. Sorry I was gone so long. Be back soon!

Finally - Another Blog Update!

 Wow - it's been over a month since I last wrote a post on my blog. It's definitely time for another update.

 Life the last month has thrown our family a couple of curve balls. It's been a mix of good and not so good. Some things I can share with you now and some things I'll share at another time. Just know that Doug, Bri and I are fine.

***************************

 Let's start with some good stuff that's happened...

 I left off with you all last time right before Briana had her winter break.

 Instead of going somewhere for winter break in February, we decided just to staycation this year. We have had some awesome winter break vacations in the past though...

Next year, we hope to go back to Disney World for winter break. That is the plan for now anyway unless another pandemic hits us! Ack! Our last visit was 2014 and it's time to head back! 

That Monday of winter break, Briana got her bottom braces put on as well as her very back upper braces and everything was tightened. So, I am very glad she had the whole week to recover. She was pretty uncomfortable. There was lots of eating of very soft foods.

 

She finally felt well enough to head to the mall on Thursday of that week for a mother/daughter mall date...

 

Though it was "winter break," our weather that week felt more like spring break. It still looked like winter but felt like spring in the afternoons...

See the lower left picture, that is Mei Mei very upset that I was sitting outside on our patio enjoying the weather. Whenever she is sad, she grabs a "baby." So a couple days later, I sat on the porch with her instead, so she wouldn't be so sad...

She is such a diva baby sweet furry gal. :)

 

***********************

Briana returned back to school after winter break and we found out she was one of the top 40 students in her grade for GPA for the fall semester of her sophomore year. She ranked 37 out of 727 students. I was (am) so stinking proud of her. After not attending school in person the end of 8th grade and all of 9th grade, she went into the first semester of sophomore year very nervous and timid but came out like a boss! She has adjusted amazingly well in a school of close to 3000 kids. She is very resilient and I admire that about her so much.

Her accomplishment earned her a Varsity lunch at school and she has her name currently hanging in the school main hallway...

As I have mentioned before, Briana is now taking theater class as one of her electives (my shy, introverted Briana!) and she is loving it. Yesterday, she went on her very first high school field trip with her theater class to see a play to the Alliance Theater in Atlanta. She dressed super cute for the occasion...

You don't even know how happy I am so see my girl with normalcy in her life again. She finally felt comfortable taking her mask off at school (we haven't had any cases of covid in several weeks) and if the need arises to put it back on, she will with no hesitation. But, we are both happy she is mask free for now.

 

**************************

 

 March of course brings St. Patrick's Day.

I put a few decorations out and made corned beef and cabbage for the occasion...

 

I got thumbs up from the family for my meal (except Bri doesn't eat cabbage) - so that made me happy!

 

 ************************

 We've had some wacky weather here in Georgia. It felt colder in the beginning of March than toward the end of February. We even had some snow showers on March 12...

 

 I woke up around 4 in the morning to this...

*****************************

 I have eaten some really good meals out lately. It's nice being able to eat out again. Doug, Bri and I are still a bit selective about where we eat and at what time, but overall, we are starting to let our guards down.

Doug and I had another delicious meal at the new restaurant we discovered a few months ago. Bri was volunteering at the art museum, so we decided to go eat while she was working. We had a crab cake appetizer and a pulled pork appetizer (we couldn't choose so we got both!) and I had a delicious creamy gnocchi for my main course. It was pretty rich, so I am not sure I'd get it again - but I can't say it wasn't yummy because it really was...

 

Then we checked out a new nearby Korean restaurant that was really yummy too...

Bri and I both had bulgogi (I had the pork and she had beef) - so good, Doug had a Korean chicken sandwich, and we got some kimchi (which was a bit too spicy for me and Bri!).

I had a girl's night out dinner with some of my besties at Huey Luey's a couple of weeks ago. I got Korean bbq tacos (they are so delish) and a pineapple margarita. Oh-my-gosh - the margarita was CRAZY good. Dangerously good if you get my drift. Like you can't really tell there's alcohol in it. It was difficult just ordering one!

And finally I had a delicious lunch with my high school bestie Julie at McAlister's Deli the other day. I didn't take pictures of my meal, but here are some go@gle images...

I love the horseradish beef and cheddar sandwich. They also serve a delicious club sandwich. Julie and I talked for hours - we had a lot of catching up to do!

***********************

I finally watched the movie "Encanto" (Bri had already watched it a few times but watched with me again) and I loved it. It was really cute...

 

 I finally know why "they don't talk about Bruno." LOL!

And we finally had our good friends over that we had not seen in almost two years because of the pandemic. It was so good to see Kira and her family again!

 

We watched the movie "The Adam Project" and had some dinner brought in. Such a nice evening!

************************

And now for some of the not so happy stuff that has happened lately.

 

I found out last Saturday that my one of my junior high best friends passed away from cancer. She was only sick for 8 months. She was only a month younger than me. This is what I posted on FB...

 

I am still in a bit of shock right now. Her loss has weighed heavily on my mind this entire week. Today was her funeral (it was in Miami) - which also happens to be the 7th anniversary of my friend Carole passing away. So March 25th is even a sadder day for me now.

***********************

And of course the war in Ukr@ine weighs heavily on my mind every day...

I try not to think about it, but it is so difficult sometimes. I am sad for the Ukrainians who have lost their lives and their homes in a senseless war, angry at the people who put Put!n on a pedestal and who are still pushing pro-Russi@ talking points, scared for what this means for the U.S. and other European countries, overwhelmed by all the hatred in the world and tired because I am still processing and recuperating from a two year pandemic that I took very seriously.

And as I said before, there are a few other upsetting things going on right now that I am not at liberty to discuss. But as I said before, Doug, Bri and I are happy and healthy - we are good. Promise.

 

**********************

It is getting close to April now and that means spring break is upon us soon. Doug and I had some plans that ended up having to be changed. Kind of a long story. But, Briana is definitely excited to have another break coming up.

Hopefully it won't take me another month to blog - but we will see what happens. Hope you are all doing well. Be back soon.