Dreams Come True

It's rainy and dark outside in Pittsburgh today. It's just a pure miserable day when you only wish you could stay curled up in bed and stay completely unmotivated ALL day.

But, I'm so lucky to be going to the happiest place on earth in just 4 days, with warmth and sunshine to spare :)

Can you guess where?!


It's the place where all your dreams come true.....






Yup, it's DISNEY WORLD!! I'm so excited! I was there 2 years ago with a few of my girlfriends (which I can't help smiling everytime I reminisce about that trip! Dinosaur ride anyone?! haha) and now Ross & I are going with his family for a whole week. Ross' parents are uber-devoted to Disney World, they have a timeshare and go almost every year to see the different holidays at Disney. Ross & his brother only go every few years, but even that is too much for them. I tell ya, if Ross wasn't so sick of Disney World (yes, I know, it breaks my heart that he would admit such an awful thing!), I woulda asked to go there on our honeymoon and wear matching mickey & minnie ears all week! A girl can dream, right?!

And here's the amazing hotel we're staying at.....


Jealous?! Yup, thanks. It even has an awesome boat that shuttles you to Epcot! It's going to be total bliss to have a full week off of work, but also to be in Disney World in December to see all their Christmas decorations and enjoy weather in the mid-70's. Just a week of pure relaxation :) You know the last time I had a whole week off from work?! 2 years ago, for my wedding & honeymoon! It's certainly been too long.....

Jury Duty & Other Fun Happenings...

What's been going on in my life? Too much and not too much all at the same time.

I was called in for Jury Duty last Tuesday, and to my dissapointment, was selected for a trial. So I was downtown Wed. and Thursday as well. Luckily, all of my bosses understood, and were happy I did justice & put a bad guy in jail :) Let's just say this guy was a CREEP! I had all good intentions, and did NOT want to put anybody in jail....but once we gave our 'Guily' verdict (after concluding the DNA evidence was too hard to ignore), we were given some extra information that we were not allowed to know about beforehand, and apparently this was his 3rd conviction!! For the same thing! So I count myself as being productive last week :)

Saturday, Ross & I headed out to the Pirate's game with my friends Ang & Mike, who had Box Seats, thanks to Mike's parents who had won the tickets :) I felt very spoiled. Especially since our box had a flat screen tv, and we were able to watch the preseason Pen's game while trying to also pay attention to the Pirate's game. Nothing like multi-tasking! After the game, O.A.R. performed. I was loving it!!! I've only recently begun listening to them, but Ross has always been a huge fan. And we didn't even know they were performing until a few days prior, so it made going to the game that much more fun! Aside from the chilly weather, and Ross not thinking to bring a jacket, we had a great night!

Sunday was a nice Pedicone cousin outing! HA. We all "watched" the Steeler's win and enjoyed a ton of great food. I like football purely for the social fun of it. But I am excited more for the Penguins :) :) :) and my boy Malkin to be back!!

Anyways, my plans for this weekend are up-in-the-air. Should I go camping myself with a few friends since Ross is all "camped-out?" Or stay home and hang out with Ross and avoid driving 2.5 hrs. each way (by myself) to the campground? I've asked Ross what he would do to convince me to stay home, and he said "Olive Garden." Hmmm....tough life choices, HA! What to do?! what to do?!

Relaxin'

As much as I love camping, it's nice to have a weekend at home too. I almost think it's necessary to have at least one weekend in between camping trips, just to get the house and chores back in order before being gone for another weekend. And it makes me think that staying home isn't all that bad anyway.

Friday night we got together with the whole fam as an excuse to celebrate Michelle's birthday. Did I get a family cookout for my birthday?! NO. But then again, I'm not the queen of the family. ha...just kidding. Ross at least treats me like the princess I am, on my birthday :)

Saturday was nice to be home to get some errands done. I had a few to run with mom, and of course, that always means lunch is included, which I always enjoy! That night, I went out with 2 of my girlfriends to the Pirate's game (which also was Skyblast night!). It was great to get out for an all-girls night, which hasn't happened in ages, and was long overdue. We also enjoyed the fireworks since none of us bothered to see any for 4th of July, so it was a good ending to a great night!

I'm declaring Sunday my laziest day of the week, every week. Every Sunday seems to be exhausting, even if it means doing nothing all day, but just being lazy, like yesterday. Ross & I forced ourselves to go grocery shopping (like we normally do on Sundays) but we were both so tired, and boy, did it seem like a chore. Luckily, we had a great dinner to look forward to when we got home. Betsy had recommended a great way of cooking Ribs, so we were anxious to try it out. We bought some Baby Back Ribs, put them in the oven, at 275 degrees for a total of 2 hours. During the last hour, we intermittingly spread on our favorite BBQ sauce. They were delicious!! By far, one of our best dinners yet :) We also lounged around and watched a few movies, one of which was 'Avatar.' Ross saw it in theatres with the 3D effects, but I was still curious about all the hype and wanted to see it for myself, even if I didn't get the effects. But I have to admit, it was actually pretty good, after procrastinating to watch it for so long, but was a bit long. Maybe just b/c it ran past my 10:00 bedtime! So needless to say, I am tired today, ha!

So, the weekend was great, with good weather too. Let's hope we can have another sunny weekend since we'll be camping next weekend again. Nothing like camping in the rain when it's calling for scattered thunderstorms all week :( Finger's crossed!

Christmas Materialism

I'm so excited for christmas this year, that I'm thinking of actually putting up our christmas tree this weekend.  Yup, that's right, but maybe don't mention it to Ross b/c he'll just call me crazy.  I've really gotten into the whole christmas shopping experience as well.  Usually, I hate christmas shopping...b/c I hate ALL shopping, no, really, I do, my mom & sister can vouch for me, since they usually had to bribe me with food (yup, just like a 5-year-old, but heck...it always worked! and still does!) to get me to go shopping with them.  Anyways, I always looked at it as a materialistic thing, and hated that Christmas revolved around shopping and that last minute trip to the mall on xmas eve and how much we all spend (which is a fortune!) (of course, I never minded receiving gifts! Shout-Out to my mom & dad!). But I think I finally got the hang of it this year.  So far, all the presents we've bought for people (I started xmas shopping last weekend) I can say truly have heart and thought behind them or that I know the person will really like them.  I can't wait to give presents this year! This is definitely a first.  NOW I am starting to understand the whole meaning behind Christmas (aside from that small little event that took place in Bethlehem all those years ago!!) but that it's also about being around the people you love most, sharing gifts from the heart and not about how much you spent, and truly appreciating what God has given you in life.  Sorry, that was probably a little sappy (or just insightful!), but you get my jift.  I can't wait for christmas (especially since i won't be one of those last minute shoppers!)...now that I understand it as more than just a materialistic holiday. (Sorry it took me 23 years....i'm just one big snob, what can i say?!) So Merry Christmas! I can't wait :)

Halloween Pics

Ok, so just a few cute Halloween pics I thought I'd share....

Yup...our dog looks mildly p***ed off.  At one point, the hat slid all the way down over her eyes, and she didn't even flinch...hil-ar-ious.  We didn't shell out the money to buy her the bumblebee costume I wanted to get her (not worth $30! + s&h) so we dressed her in her Mickey T-shirt and Mickey ears....courtesy of Ross' parents who were just at Disney World this past week. 

Ha! Imagine what we'll do to our kids one day if we get this carried away with just a DOG?!?! Mwahaha.

Again, she's not too happy about the get-up.  But don't feel bad, she got even with me yesterday by chewing holes through 4 pairs of my underwear!  So I'm giving her the silent treatment.  I think it's working.  ...maybe...  I haven't thrown her ball in over 24 hours. Yup...  I think she knows why.......