New Year's Eve Adventures

I spent most of the day cleaning and getting ready for Ryne's visit. I also got my haircut this morning and am not happy with what Carlton did. My bangs are a mess... I have no idea what he was thinking. I now have more bangs (which is not what I wanted) and they are all different lengths. I am thinking I am going to need to find someone new to go to. I miss my stylist back in CT!!

Ryne flew in today and amazingly his plane got in early!! After grabbing his bags we headed to the Hurricanes game where we met up with my friends. I was worried that we would get to the game late because of either delayed flight or traffic but we got there with plenty of time to spare! It was a great game and the Canes came away with a win!!


After the game we went over a friends house for food, drinks, and festivities. It was a great night and I am so glad that Ryne was in town to ring in the new year with me!!

Back in Raleigh

I am back in town after a nice holiday visit! My flight back was uneventful, which was a nice change. My friend Jane picked me up from the airport so it was nice to see her and to catch up. Tomorrow I need to tackle cleaning my house and get ready for Ryne's visit. I have so much to do between now and then... I just hope there are enough hours in the day to get it all done!!

Updated!

I finally updated my blog!! I know, I know... I was very slack the month of December! But I blame it on my crazy schedule. At any rate, there are now LOTS of postings up for you to read. So kick back and enjoy!

November 7 - 16th: Denver / Nebraska
November 24th - December 2nd: Cape Cod for Thanksgiving
December 5 - 15th: Nebraska / South Dakota
December 17 - 30th: Cape for Christmas

So as you can see I have been on the road a good bit the past two months. I promise to try and be better about blogging now that I won't be on the road as much!!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!! We had a wonderful Christmas here on the Cape. Rob and Margaux came down on Tuesday and left this afternoon for Maine. We were all supposed to go to the Land Ho! for dinner on Tuesday but Rob & Margaux didn't get here until late so just my parents and I went. It was wonderful as usual... however they were out of lobster and I was not able to get my lobster club!! How can you be out of lobster on the Cape?!?

Christmas Eve was busy as Rob, Margaux, and I ran errands for my mom and braved the crowds in Orleans. You must understand that there is a large elderly population up here and the elderly are CRAZY!! We had a few near misses with accidents and my brother had to deal with an old man stealing his parking spot!! After our errands Rob & Margaux slept while I helped get ready and carried all of the presents downstairs. I think I went up and down the stairs at least 50 times!!We went to the 4:30 service at church, which was the children's pageant. Even though we got there a half hour before the service it was hard to find seats. My parents were able to get two seats with their friends and Rob, Margaux, and I sat across the isle from them. The service was a little longer than we expected... over an hour and a half!!

After church we went to a Christmas Open House at friends of my parents. For those of you who don't know, my parents are die hard water aerobic fans!! They've made some really good friends at the gym. It was nice to meet so many of their water aerobic friends at the Open House. When we came back to the house we decided to go ahead and open our stockings (I know... Santa hadn't even been there yet but Margaux said this was a tradition in her house and she really wanted to do it here). This year we picked a name and had to get stocking stuffers for that person. Of course my brother had me so my stocking was filled with both nice and gag gifts!

Winter Storm on the Cape

The snow starting coming down Friday afternoon and didn't stop until late in the day on Saturday. We got about 8-10" and everything looks absolutely beautiful covered in the snow!! It must have mixed with rain at times because the snow was very heavy and stuck to everything. I was excited to use my new camera to go out and take pictures of the snow. My parents and I went around took and took pictures of all of our favorite sites covered in the snow! It had been a few years since I last saw a snow fall of this amount!

Christmas on Cape Cod

I love Christmas... and I love Cape Cod! So what better way to spend my favorite holiday than at my favorite place!! When I was home over Thanksgiving my parents and I put the tree up and decorated most of the house. I love relaxing at night with all of the lights! It is such a pretty site! I am looking forward to Christmas day with the family. Here are some pictures of the house all decorated.



I love Christmas... and I love Cape Cod! So what better way to spend my favorite holiday than at my favorite place!! When I was home over Thanksgiving my parents and I put the tree up and decorated most of the house. I love relaxing at night with all of the lights! It is such a pretty site! I am looking forward to Christmas day with the family. Here are some pictures of the house all decorated.

Here We Go Again - More Adventures in Flying!

This morning was graduation. And it was probably one of the worst graduations I have ever had to endure! It seemed so unorganized and not well thought out. The guest speaker was awful!! Her speech was so uninspiring and had nothing to do with graduating or education!

After graduation I went out to lunch with Tamara and then she dropped me off at the airport. It was really busy there which surprised me. Security was really backed up and then the gate areas were overflowing with people. I quickly found out why. Turns out there was bad weather all over the US (snow in Vegas & Chicago) that was causing major delays and flight cancellations. I had a connection in Philadelphia and that flight was delayed a few hours. As I sat there reading with the 100s of other people in the airport I heard my name on the intercom. I go out up the counter and I am informed that my flight from Philly to Providence has been delayed and will not get in until after 2am! Ugh!! And did I mention that Rob is the one who was picking me up from the airport?? Thankfully the rerouted me and sent me through Baltimore instead. My bag even got rerouted which was a surprise. My new flight didn't take off for a few hours so I had to hang out in the airport. I got to Baltimore only to find out that my flight to Providence was now delayed. They kept changing the departure time, with us not taking off until after midnight at some point!! Everyone was pretty miserable and resigned to the fact that we were stuck there for awhile. Then all of a sudden they announce that if we can get on the plane and ready in 20 mins we can take off. I have never seen a flight board as quickly as that one!! We finally landed in Providence around 12:30am. But of course that wouldn't be the end of the headache! The plane door was stuck and they could not get it open!! We sat on the plane for about 30 mins before we were able to get off the plane. This was the first time ever where my bag was actually waiting for me!! Poor Rob was exhausted and we didn't get back to his house until after 1am. Oh the joys of traveling!!

Back in Raleigh...for Now

I'm back in Raleigh... for a day and a half!! I got back from my trip late last night and head up to the Cape tomorrow night! Even though I will only spend a handful of days in Raleigh over the month of December I still managed to decorate my house for the holidays. I only wish I could have been able to enjoy it! But I am looking forward to getting back to the Cape for Christmas!

Snow Day in Rapid

Yesterday was my "snow day" in Rapid with Tito and Ryne. Since my flight got canceled I was able to spend an extra day out in the Midwest. We got up and met Jesse for breakfast. The place where we went was sooo good. I had the best French toast! After breakfast we decided to do a little Christmas shopping since Tito hadn't started his yet and Ryne still had a little to do. We hit up the new Cabelas, Best Buy, and Borders. We were all successful with our shopping which was good. We then headed back to Tito's where we watched a movie and had some pizza. The only down side to today was that it was artic cold!!! With the windchill, it was -26!!! As soon as you stepped outside you turned into a Popsicle!

COLD, Ice, Snow...and Hockey!

Brrr!!! It is COLD!! And I mean COLD!! As in negative temperatures... like oh, let's say -10!! And it's supposed to keep getting colder and colder!! This is not my kind of weather!!

We got up this morning and cooked breakfast with Ryne's parents. It was nice to have a lazy morning and relax. We then went to go help his dad do a few errands. We quickly discovered that his dad's old truck that he uses for feeding the buffalo had a flat tire. This turned out to be quite the project as the bolts on the tire were rusted on!! It took about an hour to get that tired off and a spare on. While the men worked on the tire, I hung out with the buffalo. They are a lot more "friendly" now because they want hay. They will come a lot closer to you and won't freak out. And since I am fascinated by them I stood there and just watched them.

Around mid afternoon Ryne and I said our goodbyes to his parents and headed to Rapid. As we got closer to Rapid is started to get really foggy. The temperature also started dropping. We visited with his friend Jesse for a bit and then headed for Tito's house. When we left Jesse's house we noticed the rain was starting to freeze. Instead of making a quick trip to the mall we decided to head straight to Tito's. And it's a good thing we did!! The roads quickly became icy and we skidded through an intersection when weren't able to stop!! Thankfully there were no other cars!! Once we got to Tito's house we agreed to head out to dinner. Tito drove his Rover and off we went. We passes soooo many accidents and saw cars skidding all around. Tito's Rover was perfect for this weather though! We went to Outback for dinner and then headed to the hockey game. We saw the Rapid Rush vs. the Shreveport Crush. Tito got us seats right behind the bench of the visiting team. They were great seats and I enjoyed watching the players up close... if only Scottie Walker had been on the other side of the glass!!

While at the hockey game I got a messages from Northwest letting me know that my flight in the morning was cancelled due to weather. I was rebooked on a flight Monday morning. Ryne and I were both so happy that my trip got extended an extra day!! After the game we went back to Tito's and played some Wii and watched a few episodes of Damages. All in all it was a great night!!

Run for the Hills!

Ryne and I are heading back up to the Black Hills tonight. We're picking up dinner on our way and will eat with his parents when we get there. We got his mom a Christmas table runner so we will be giving her that as an early Christmas present. Tomorrow we are going to meet up with some of Ryne's friends and then go to a hockey game with his friend Tito. I am looking forward to this weekend...even though it means my trip is coming to and end!

Christmas Joy!

Ryne and I celebrated our Christmas together tonight! I don't either one of us could wait any longer to give the other his/her gift! We couldn't even wait until after dinner!! Ryne got me a new digital camera which I LOVE!!! It has a great zoom and tons of wonderful settings!! I cannot wait to use it to take some pictures!! I got Ryne a few dress shirts and a digital photo frame. We both loved our presents and were so happy :D!

After presents we made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. It was the perfect night for this since it was cold and snowy out! We then curled up on the couch and watched a few movies.

It was such a wonderful Christmas together!!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Ryne and I decorated our Christmas tree tonight and it looks beautiful! Over his lunch break we went looking for our tree since it was supposed to start snowing later in the afternoon. The first place we went had lots of trees but some of them were spray painted. We were sure if this was done to make the trees look more green or if was something to help preserve the trees. At any rate we decided to check out a few other places. The next place we went to had the most beautiful trees but they were so pricy!! In the end we found our Charlie Brown tree and paid a reasonable price for it!

Putting up our tree was not as simple or easy as we thought it might be! After a fresh cut on the tree, the trunk was now too short and the tree would not stand up in the stand. Poor Ryne had to go back out into the cold and snow and keep sawing off branches. In the end we were able to get the tree in the stand (although our tree now had an interesting shape to it and a rather big hole in the back!). Despite our tree's new look, we both felt that this made our tree even more Charlie Brown like!! We got the tree decorated in no time and we were able to sit back and enjoy it on the couch with a glass of wine. Decorating our tree is one of my favorite memories with Ryne!

Viva la Deadwood!!

Last night Ryne and I met up with Schmidty and Jen and headed up to Deadwood, SD. Earlier in the day Ryne and I went out to eat with his parents at the Alpine House in Hill City. This is a German restaurant and the food was soooo good!! While we were there, we ran into his Grandma Charlotte and his cousin Danielle. Turns out the Alpine House was the place to be!

After running errands with Ryne's parents we met up with Jen and Schmidty. We piled into the Explorer and made the journey up to Deadwood. It had been snowing but thankfully the roads were clear. When we got up there we grabbed a bite to eat and some drinks at Kevin Costner's casino, the Midnight Star. From there we went casino hopping and enjoyed the people watching. Schmidty was the only one who gambled... the rest of us drank and had a great time. The one bar/casino we were at (I think the Bodega) was playing the most random music. Think of old school songs from junior high school dances!! It was quite the night!! We all had a great time and made it back to Custer in one piece!

Some Things Never Change

Well, I finally made it to the Black Hills!! Turns out there was a snow storm in Minneapolis which caused several delays. My flight from Raleigh would have gotten into Minneapolis early but we ended up having to circle for over 45 mins due to the fact that one of the runways was closed due to snow. I finally landed and then met up with Schmidty and Jen at the bar. They flew in from CT and the three of us were on the same flight to Rapid. We enjoyed a few beers at the bar and then got ready to board our flight... which of course got delayed!! Once we were finally on board we sat there. And sat there! I am not sure why we sat there so long but we did! We then had to get de-iced which took a LONG time, especially since we had to drive all around the airport. We finally arrived in Rapid just before midnight! Poor Ryne had been waiting there for hours!! After getting my bag we headed off to his parents. We were both hungry so we decided to stop and get a bite to eat. Turns out NOTHING was open in Rapid.. not even McDonald's! We were both so surprised. We finally got to his parents's and grabbed a bit to eat before we headed to bed. I was so tired and ready to just crash by the time I crawled into bed.

Off I Go... Again :D!

I am heading off to see Ryne today and I am so excited!! I will be out in Nebraska/South Dakota for 10 days. I cannot wait to got on the plane and and get away for a few days. The semester is nearly over so I will be bringing out my grading to do with me while I am there.

Ryne and I will also put up our Christmas tree and celebrate an early Christmas together. I am really looking forward to picking out and decorating our tree!! And I cannot wait to give Ryne his present!! I am so excited!!

Now, let's just hope my flight gets there...on time... and with my luggage!!

My Poor, Poor Hurricanes

While it has been a good week for my Tigers, it has been anything but that for my Hurricanes. It's been an up and down few weeks for the Canes with wins becoming fewer and farther between. Much like last season, injuries have plagued the team with many of our key players being sidelined with injuries. At times the Canes seemed to lack the intensity and desire to win. At other times they gave it their all yet still managed to come up short. Today the team announced the firing of Peter Lavioulette. I was somewhat surprised but I guess I shouldn't have been. His job was on the line at the end of last season after failing to make the playoffs for the past two seasons. But despite that, he did lead the Canes to the Stanely Cup in 2006 and is the winningest American born coach in the NHL. Lavioulette was with the Canes for a little over five years. What is interesting is that Lavioulette is being replaced by the coach who he replaced! Paul Maurice will once again be behind the bench for the Canes. In fact, Maurice even coached the team when they were still the Whalers back in Hartford!! I am not sure if this will make a huge difference with how the team has been playing but we shall see. There is a game tomorrow so it will be interesting to see how the team and fans respond. At any rate, welcome back to Carolina, Maurice.

Gator Bowl

Jacksonville, here we come!! Clemson accepted an invitation to play in the 2009 Gator Bowl!! It was not that long ago when the thought of going to a bowl game was a long shot... let alone even possible. But thanks to Dabo and the strong finish, Clemson showed the nation what they are they are capable of. Their opponent has not yet but named but the rumor is is that they could be squaring off against Nebraska!! I think this would be perfect given that Ryne is from NE and most of his friends and family are die heard Husker fans. I would love to show them what real college football is all about!!! Go Tigers!!!

Dabo Swinney

Clemson announced today that Dabo will become the head coach at Clemson. I am excited that Dabo was given this opportunity and I am looking forward to seeing what he can do with the team. He did a great job turning the team around after the rough start and managed to return hope and pride among fans. And of course it didn't hurt that he beat USC!! Go Tigers!!