Quick trip to the mothership...

Shawn and I decided to make a quick trip back home to Indiana this week.  It wasn't exactly last minute, but we did throw it together fairly quickly (for me - the OCD planner - it seemed last minute).  Shawn's dad lost his job (and would appreciate prayers for finding a new job quickly) and we knew we weren't going to be able to visit them, or them us, for the holidays...so a long drive across the country with our dog began.

We made one quick stop in Indianapolis on the way up to Burlington to visit Theresa (of course)!  Sara came up for a quick visit too.  We didn't get nearly enough time, but that is what happens when we move so far away :(

We planned on taking a bunch of pictures of the fall leaves...I don't think I have appreciated how pretty fall is in a long time!  We forgot the camera battery charger, so we were only able to take a few :(  We certainly saw some really beautiful trees along our drive.  Especially through Arkansas...gorgeous!  We saw a lot of other crazy stuff on the drive too...that's a whole other story though!!

We decided that since we were going to be seeing his family we would bring our new camera and do some family pictures.  The sun didn't really cooperate exactly right, it was really windy, and Patrick didn't want to get his picture taken...but we did get some nice shots.  I know Shawn's parents are very happy with the pictures!

The dogs didn't exactly cooperate in the whole family shot.  Stormy was already pretty tired of Marcie!  Shawn and I were planning to get some pictures for our Christmas cards, but the battery died.  We'll get some in Austin instead...that makes more sense on a card from us anyway!  We did get a couple of cute family pictures though.

We had a nice visit with his family, but we're glad to be home.  Marcie was so out of her routine!  She did great though on the drive and in the hotel.  More so on the way home than the way there, but she'll be a seasoned traveler soon enough ;)  She's the most happy to be home though!

Week Awesome: Part 2

So, Week Awesome continues.  It is almost over though, so we decided to make the most of it!  Last night we went to Wahoo's for dinner.  Yummy!  Fish tacos are awesome, and they had good queso and margaritas too!  Can't beat it.

Then we decided to head across the street to Kung Fu Saloon, because I remembered that they have SkeeBall there.  After we got there we discovered that not only is there SkeeBall but it is FREE!  Score!  We had a few other friends that came out to enjoy the night with us too, which made the giant Connect 4 and giant Jenga even more fun!  Can't wait to do it again :)



Week Awesome!

Shawn has dubbed this week Week Awesome for several reasons.

#1  My bestest Theresa Vargo is visiting with her mother Barb Sequin.  Yay!

They love us so much that they drove down from Indiana to spend the week here!  They arrived Sunday night...and so Week Awesome began!

Monday we went to lunch at the Hula Hut.  Theresa and I shared a drink that was served in a fish bowl!  It was tasty...fruit juice and rums.  Yum!

We also went out to dinner at an Irish pub downtown called Fado.  It was really good!  I had a drink that was delicious.  It was called a Black Velvet.  It was half Strongbow and half Guiness.  Delicious!  We all had really good food too.  Everyone cleaned their plates!  The waitress tried to get me to try some drink that sounded disgusting.  It was Jameson Whiskey with pickle juice!  Gross, right?  Anyway, we had fun and I got called an asshole while we were walking back to our car.  Oh...fun times with Theresa!

#2 Yesterday was Shawn's 28th Birthday!

Shawn decided that he wanted to rent a canoe and go out on the lake for his birthday.  Mom found us a deal a few days earlier so we decided to do it.  Barb and T had one canoe and Shawn and I were in the other.  We had 2 hours out on Lady Bird Lake.  It was awesome!  Shawn and I will being doing this again for sure!  I forgot to sunscreen my legs though...mistake!  They are beet red!

Just starting out.  We ditched the life jackets pretty quickly!

We got our exercise!  Especially Barb and I, because Shawn and Theresa decided to relax back a few times into the canoe!

Downtown Austin from the lake.

We encountered some wildlife along the way too.  Theresa was afraid of the swan...he did sound pretty mean though.  But I just reminded her that we had a paddle and I'm pretty sure we could take him!  There were a ton of turtle too!  Shawn and I drove our canoe under the Congress Street Bridge to see if we could see the bats...we could not.  They tuck themselves way up into the bridge during the day.  We could hear them though!  You could really tell there were a ton of bats up inside the bridge!

Overall, the canoe experience was awesome!  And so Week Awesome continued!

#3 Eric came home from his trip to Indiana yesterday, just in time for Shawn's birthday!  The house was not the same while he was gone!  Of course Nessa was CRAZY EXCITED that he was back.  Plus, she just got back from her trip to England and Ireland.  And she brought us a present from Dublin.

 It's Mini-Marcie!  We love it!

Marcie is not so sure though ;)

We all went to Plucker's for dinner for Shawn's birthday since he get a free meal on his birthday.  It was a great time!  Logan was super adorable, as usual!  He was eating everything in sight...he really liked the ranch dipping sauce!  Afterward, we all came back to the apartment and played a new game Theresa brought with her.

Basically everyone acts really stupid during the game and there are some hilarous trivia questions.  Ask Shawn about cantaloupe.  That is all I will say about that!

Well...the week isn't over yet!  We still have outlet mall and Harry Potter ahead!

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

We had such a great time visiting with my family this weekend...it is hard to leave today.  Theresa headed back to South Bend yesterday early to have Easter with her family, but before she left we had an awesome game night!  Mom & Eric joined us to play Apples to Apples (a great game) then a round of Quiddler (my favorite word game).  It was so much fun!  Reminded me again how much I LOVE game night!

On Easter, Mom, Eric, Shawn and I went to an early dinner at Texas Roadhouse then we went to a movie.  We saw Clash of the Titans in 3-D.  It wasn't bad, but not great either.  The 3-D was really lame and not at all worth the extra money.  They should have released the movie when the originally planned instead of waiting to add the 3-D effect.  It wasn't anything special.  The plot was okay, but I was bored for more than the first half.  It did pick up and the end was pretty good, but they gave away too much of the good action sequences in the previews and didn't really leave anything else to wow you with in the movie.

Today Shawn and I are leaving to head back home with a stop off to have dinner with his parents.  It'll be nice to sleep in my bed tonight!

What 2008 brings...

For those of your who did not know, I have been toying with the idea of doing traveling nursing for a few months now. I have never really traveled much throughout my life and I feel like if I don't know it now I never will! I hate to leave my current job because I have made some great friends and I LOVE what i do, but there is a whole world out there that I have not been able to experience! I'm very excited to tell you all that I have been offered my first assignment! The assignment starts January 21st (but I will be moving Jan 18th), it is 13 weeks long and I will be working at the Inova Mt. Vernon Hospital in Alexandria, VA. There are a ton of perks to traveling, one of which is that I will have my own fully-furnished apartment (so any visitors would be welcome!). It is only 10 minutes to D.C. (which is really cool because I've never been to D.C.) but is a decent size city itself as well. Mimi knows a guy who used to live near Alexandria and he said it is a really nice area. I was a little nervous at first about going to a new city, especially one like Washington D.C along, but that problem was resolved because Shawn will be coming with me! Now I'll have company for the drive and someone to galivant around D.C. with! Every 4 months or so I will have the option of changing to a new city for a new assignment so if anyone has suggestions on where I shoud go, let me know!

So, this new development in my life has prompted me to join the world of blogging. I will be using this blog to keep everyone updated about what I've been up to. I will try to update it weekly with pictures and such.

The first event of the year was New Years 2008. Some of my best friends came to Muncie to visit and we had a blast!

Theresa, Al and Shawn came to visit and Edward hung out with us as well. Plus...Shannon and Brad hung out with us at the house before we went out too! It was a great time. I'm not gonna lie, 2008 has been pretty awesome so far :)