Oh wow, is it May already? I have completely skipped any posts of substance for April which is fairly rare since not only did we have a fairly busy month but my birthday is also in April and anyone who has known me long enough is well aware that, in my world, it is not a birthday but a birthmonth!
Regardless, I vow to be much better in May. I do have a lot to say, really, it’s just have it seems too mundane to publish on a daily basis and then I end up feeling like I’m inundating you with boring and the other half is just stuff I don’t want to put out there for public consumption. That other half is something I’m still working on trying to solve.
In the meantime, I figured I’d better do April’s Love now instead of fifteen days late.
This month, it was half and half – half events and half stuff.
The first event was Easter, which unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of, much to my chagrin. I tried but I was just having too much fun so I guess that’s what matters. That Sunday morning, Steve and I got up and dressed in our Sunday best (jeans and a nice black sweater for me, Sopranos bowling shirt for him! LOL) and decided to take Lucille out on a leisurely drive over to my mom’s where we proceeded to have the biggest gathering of family we’ve had in years. My nuclear family were – myself, mom, stepdad and two younger brothers. Plus Steve, of course. We also had my cousin and his wife and kids down from Green Bay, WI. And my brother’s fiancee, her mother and her two brothers and sisters. We women basically cooked and chatted while the boys wandered in and out of the game room playing pool, watching movies and into the garage to talk about cars and motorcycles and stuff. It was a very nice day and it’s a shame it only lasted a short time.
Then it was my birthday (April 23), which was fabulous and unfortunately, went rather undocumented as well. I think when it came to actually spending time with those I loved this month, I actually just enjoyed it instead of trying to document every aspect of it and while there’s no visual record, there’s certainly the memories in my mind. But my birthday was fabulous, aside from the whole being much closer to thirty (though I would be lying if I said I hated the thought of turning thirty). It actually started the Saturday before when we met up with parents at Carrabba’s and had a lovely dinner and exchanged gifts (my dad’s birthday is on April 15). I got my dad two t-shirts and the Tropic Thunder and Stepbrothers DVDs. My parents got me gift cards to Barnes and Noble and Bed Bath and Beyond, two of my favorite stores and one of which I’ve already used. Steve was up the night before my birthday until two-thirty concoting things in the kitchen, which turned out to be my presents and a cake. He came in at midnight and wished me a Happy Birthday. The next day, I opened presents in the morning because he was excited for me to open them. I got a new lens for my camera and two boxes of Nutty Bars. Because they are delicious, I brought a box to work with me and about an hour later, I opened it and found an iPod touch tucked into the box, which arrived there by Steve’s sneaky way of surprise. There were tons of email and Facebook wishes and my friends brought delicious cakes to work. A beautiful bouquet of flowers and and accompanying phone call arrived from my mom. Steve had a delicious dinner of beautiful steaks waiting for me at home and I spent the evening on the phone with friends and family, thanking them for their well wishes and gifts sent. Overall, I had a wonderful, wonderful birthday and felt very loved and was glad that I had so many special people in my life that went out of their way to wish me well and make me feel loved and wanted.
The final event was this past weekend when Steve and I, along with another couple, headed off to Charlotte, NC to meet up with Steve’s two brothers and watch PINKS! All Out being filmed at the ZMax Dragway at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. This was not an event that could pass without pictures and I have over 500 that I have to sift through but it was truly, truly amazing. We headed out on Friday evening and got to Charlotte around 9pm where we checked into our room at the Embassy Suites, which was a wonderful hotel. We got a room for $139 a night and because it was a suite and technically slept six, it only cost us $50 a person for the weekend. Aside from the fact that the rooms were amazing and fit the six of us without feeling cramped, the hotel was beautiful and the amenities were plentiful – breakfast was superb! On Sunday, we got to visit Concord Mills which was much different than I expected but we still had fun, racing Go-karts at the Nascar Speedpark and playing games at Dave and Buster’s. Then we got to go to IKEA and well, I love IKEA. I could spend an entire entry talking about IKEA and unfortunately, Charlotte is the closest one. After IKEA, we met up with my cousin and his wife and had dinner at Sagebrush before heading home after a long weekend.
But the highlight of the weekend was the thirteen hours we spent watching over 500 grassroots drivers run their cars down the 1/4 mile track, competing for a spot in the final 64 to win over $18,000 in prizes from PINKS! and the Speed Channel, which I did not know was headquartered in Charlotte. It was a very long and hot day spent watching the races, walking the pits, eating race food (foot long corn dog, what?!) and just generally enjoying each other and the events. And when the sun went down the real events started happening – whittling down from 64 to 16 to 8 and finally to the winner of the night, which I won’t disclose. You’re going to have to watch sometime towards the end of summer. We also got to witness four-way drag racing, something I had never seen in my entire years of going to drag races and yea, it was pretty much as spectacular as it sounds.
There were also burnout contests, jet cars, top fuel dragsters and a street car that ran the quarter mile in 7 seconds. When we left, I was a bit sunburnt, I was tired, sweaty, my legs and butt hurt and my ears were ringing but that’s exactly what we came for and it was absolutely worth every penny and every minute we spent getting up there.
And now to the smaller stuff. A monthly love post wouldn’t be complete without an obligatory Bath and Body Works discovery and this month it was their Eucalyptus Spearmint scent in their Stress Relief Aromatherapy line. It started with the bubble bath then it was the body wash and now the hand soap and next is probably going to be the shampoo and conditioner. I am just in love with the scent! It soothes me and smells so clean and fresh and not overly sweet. It was a great long-lasting discovery that I will gladly keep using.
On the tv front, Rescue Me started this month and god, did I miss that show. Even if you aren’t a Denis Leary fan, you should really watch this show. It’s dark and emotional and witty and so fabulously well-written that you can’t believe you just went from getting teary eyed to thinking ‘That’s really fucked up!’ to laughing out loud to a jock about cockfarts. It’s not just Leary, but the entire cast and writing and production that make this show an absolute gem and I really look forward to it every week. And now, good ol’ Michael J. Fox is on it as Leary’s estranged wife’s new boyfriend and the exchanges between him and Leary are literally laugh out loud, tears in your eyes hysterical!
Finally, just for the fun of it: Oreos! I never ate them much when I was young because we rarely had them in the house and because I didn’t like having to brush my teeth afterwards but Steve is a huge fan and I have snuck a few and literally can’t stop eating them. I’m craving them and a tall glass of milk! Preferably Double Stuf. Not good for the womanly figure.
So that’s it for April! I can’t believe four months of 2009 have just come and gone like that. Next month, or rather this one, since we are already in May, comes graduations and more work for me and hopefully, not set in stone summer plans. After the summer we had last year, I would just like some unplanned weekends that stretch endlessly before me. Lazy summer days are my favorite!
