Thursday, November 29, 2007

I heart Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is like a close piece of heaven. Okay, that is a little bit of exaggeration, but it is definitely my favorite place for an inexpensive, fun overnight getaway. It is like a smaller version of Vegas or any tacky tourist town, with it's Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not, wax museum, "house of horrors" and the like. But I love it because it's under 2 hours away and staying there is pretty cheap. Oh yeah, and the falls.

Last month (yep, I'm waaay behind), two friends and I met up in NF. One came from Pittsburgh and the other from Erie. We are friends from high school, and they hadn't seen each other since high school, and I had only seen them once or twice.

What a fun weekend we had! Seriously, we need to have girl's weekends more often! We just went overnight, but we managed to go to the spa and get facials, gamble a bit (I won $30!), go out dancing, and eat a 3 hour long buffet breakfast. It was such a blast catching up with them and talking about old friends and long-past high school days. We were out dancing until 1am I think (super late for Em and I, who might as well be old ladies now that neither of us are single), and then stayed up until 3am just chatting.
From Girls Weekend


Last weekend Bryan and I went to NF overnight just to get away from wedding planning, moving, and schoolwork. It was REALLY cold, but we had so much fun! We weren't so lucky with the gambling, but still only lost $20 between the two of us. Like the children that we are, we spent more time in the arcade. They have this fun mini-bowling game. I asked Bryan why he wasn't smiling in this picture, and he said "this is my focused bowling face." Hmm, funny to me that "focused" looks very similar to "deer caught in the headlights." He still hasn't figured out how the timer on my camera works, and it cracks me up.


We stood outside in the 28 degree weather to watch the fireworks over the falls. It was very cold, but neat. They also had the falls lit up and the entire strip had Christmas displays. The one below is my favorite.


From NF getaway No...


We went to the Hershey store and didn't buy anything since the prices were way higher there than at the grocery store. But we did get to take some tacky tourist photos there and at other locales.
From NF getaway No...


Tacky tourist photo #2
From NF getaway No...


Tacky tourist photo #3
From NF getaway No...


The shocker of the trip was going into Denny's for dinner, opening the menu, and finding out that no food item (including salads) was under $13! At Denny's! They had a special 3-course meal that was soup or salad, one of 3 entrees, and one of a few dessert choices. TGI Friday's (usually more expensive than Dennys) does this same thing for $12.99 sometimes. Guess how much it was at Denny's. $21.99. No joke! We ended up leaving and going to a lovely Italian place a few doors down. For $33 (including the 18% tax and tip) we got a yummy wood fired pizza, ceasar salad for 2, tiramisu, and drinks for both of us. A much better deal and much better food. To end the great overnight on a good note, we went to not one but TWO outlet malls and we sailed through the border crossing. Now that's my idea of a great getaway!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Friday Fall Foliage

The view from my office window today.



Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Let it snow?

Today, November 7th, I saw the first snow. Winter is officially here. I'm not ready for it, but I know it comes with the territory.

I am so behind in blogging, so here is my attempt at catching up and bringing everyone up to speed.

October 26-28 my parents came for a quick whirlwind trip.

Saturday we went to the Corning Museum of Glass, which I highly recommend!
From Oct 2007


I think this was my favorite piece. This dress is made entirely of glass. I can only imagine how heavy it is.
From Oct 2007


This wall was beautiful, but unfortunately doesn't photograph well.
From Oct 2007


Sunday my parents helped with house projects, and then we went to Ollie's Bargain Outlet (yes, my parents junk shop on vacation!) and then to dinner at Sherri's. The proposal happened after that, so my parents got to sort of be around when it happened (they weren't at my house, but I got to tell them about it in person). It was great to have them here, even if it was such a short time and I put them to work!

The weekend before that was a beautiful 80 degrees, so Bryan got to pick apples for the first time EVER! Shorts in mid-October is so strange, but it was so nice to enjoy the sun. We also picked fall raspberries. We're definitely going to miss the fruit farm so close to our house.
From Oct 2007


Finally there is happy house news. We've passed the inspection phase, after much arguing back and forth, and the bank appraised the house just fine. As long as her mortgage goes through, we'll be moving in about a month! Waahoo! Now we're apartment hunting. Man is there a lot of crap out there!

Braces are on my mind, since I just went for an appointment today. I'm now all rubber banded up, but my ortho is thrilled with my progress. He made such a fuss about it that all of the assistants had to come over and see my "before" pictures. He thinks I'll be done in time for the wedding...a full 7-12 months ahead of schedule! Yes!

Wedding plans are in the beginning stages, and we're actually both enjoying figuring out what we want to do. Plans for now are a small ceremony in Vegas in May, and a "reception" in Portland in June. Thanks for all of the happy comments from everyone. We are both so excited!