Holy wow, man.

1) It was 80 yesterday.  It's 50 today.  Wtf, spring?

2) I am SO behind with work, but have little to no motivation to get caught up.

3) We got rear-ended yesterday on our way to pick up dinner.  We're fine and all, but it was kind of scary.

4) I miss being on vacation.

5) 3 more weeks of the semester... I can do it!  I think...

Mini-Vacay Recap

Saturday: Our first plane took off from MKE around 11 AM and we landed in Memphis between 12:30 and 1 PM.  After lunch at the Blue Note Cafe (the only area in the airport that allows smoking), we made it to our gate and took off for Mobile.  Got in around 3:30 and found my Grandpa waiting for us.  Grabbed our luggage and away we went, all 5 of us (Mom, Dad, Hubby, Grandpa and myself), to Grandpa's house in Moss Point, MS (about a 40 minute drive).  Spent the evening hanging out on his front porch, just talking and enjoying the weather.  Had deli meat and cheese sandwiches for dinner (Grandpa bought enough ingredients to feed an army).  Passed out shortly after 10 (soooooo tired).

Sunday: First full day down south!  We porched it in the morning, then headed off to Biloxi to have brunch at the Grand Casino.  Hadn't been there since Katrina.  It used to be a casino boat, but the storm put it up ON the highway.  When they rebuilt, they did so on the land-side of the highway as a regular building.  Of course, I was the ONLY one in the group to get carded (Hubby's less than a year older than me and NEVER gets carded).  Buffet was good, but not as spectacular as I remembered.  Played some penny slots after eating.  Put in $20 and eventually cashed out at $15 (got up to $26 at one point and down to about $3 at another, so I figure I did alright).  Headed out along the coast and hit up Souvenir City, a favorite store of mine from childhood visits (though, it has also been relocated/rebuilt).  Got a cute ornament of a starfish wearing an eyepatch and a pegleg.  Mom bought me a mini souvenir license plate with my name spelled right (a rare find!).  Headed back to Moss Point and spent the rest of the day napping and porching.  Deli sammies for dinner again.


Monday:  Headed toward Mobile, AL to spend the day at Bellingrath Gardens & Home, which I haven't done since I was about 12.  Though it's still early in the season, the flowers were beautiful!!  We took the river cruise and spotted an osprey up in its nest.  We were followed/flocked by seagulls (partly because kids aboard were feeding them popcorn), which was actually fairly amusing (if not a little noisy).  Grabbed some lunch at the on-site cafe after the boat and continued wandering around the gardens.  Found a snake along the way, which wouldn't have been so bad if Mom wasn't terrified of them.  Made our way out and headed back to Grandpa's for the rest of the day.  More napping and porching.  Deli sammies for dinner.

Tuesday: Had breakfast at the local Waffle House (a true novelty for us Yanks) and then headed back toward Mobile to see the USS Alabama Battleship.  Dad and Hubby disappeared down some stairs, so Mom and I wandered the ship for awhile.  There were some interesting things to look at, but this trip was more for the guys (as Monday's trip was more for the girls).  Dad and Hubby also went down into the USS Drum submarine, but Mom and I have some issues with claustrophobia, so we stayed on deck (so to speak).  When they were done, we headed to Pascagoula to see what their beaches looked like.  They've cleaned things up quite a bit, but there's nowhere to park (and, as such, no one there).  We also grabbed lunch at Lucky Seafood, where we had some good po-boys (not quite the same as in New Orleans, but still good).  We headed back to Moss Point for a bit and checked out the swamp in Grandpa's back yard.  Saw some movement, but couldn't tell what was in there.  Went to dinner at Steve Barnhills, where they have a $5 all-you-can-eat buffet.  Food's actually pretty decent, too!  But they were out of hush puppies, which really saddened me.  I didn't get to have a damn hush puppy the whole trip!  Boo.

Wednesday: Same path back (Mobile to Memphis to MKE), and about the same times.  By a little after 5 we were already on our way to pick up Miss Maxine from the doggie dorms.  Boy was she happy to see us!!  We had a great time, and it was sad to leave Grandpa and the warm weather, but we definitely missed our puppers and our own bed.  Also, I'm still covered in bug bites that itch randomly like crazy.  Ugh.  Stupid noseeums (little black gnats that you can't necessarily see too well; thus "no see 'ums").         

5 Reasons The Day After St. Patrick's Day Should Be A National Holiday

1) People won't need to call in hungover (er, "sick").  Many people use St. Patty's Day to drink themselves into a stupor.  This is fact.  Thus, I have to assume that a number of people call in sick the day after.  That means that the rest of us have to work extra hard to make up for their absences, and that just blows.

2) It's a wasted day.  Those that DO come in hungover are clearly not going to be on their A game, but don't want to use a sick day or paid time off when they can just slack off on the company's dime.  Again, those of us who didn't render ourselves useless may have to work harder (boooo-urns) or will just sit around talking about the adventures the others had the day before.

3) It's just time for a break.  Many of us haven't had a holiday off since New Year's Day.  It's about damn time, so why not the day after St. Patty's?  Otherwise we have to wait until Memorial Day, which feels like for-ev-er.  We're getting restless, which means productivity could be dropping.  Why risk it?

4) I have two words: Spring Fever.  The weather is finally getting nice enough to enjoy!  Let us have a day to actually enjoy it instead of staring longingly out the window wishing we were enjoying it.

5) Not everyone is Irish, but most everyone can agree that a day off is a good thing.  We can call it People Appreciation Day or Random Day Off Day.  I don't care.  I doubt anyone will care.  Just do it.  

Spring Break Weekend

I've technically been on spring break for the past week.  It's not nearly as exciting when you're still working full time, but them's the breaks.  

Anywhoozles, we did have ourselves a tropical night on Friday so I could pretend I was somewhere far away and warm.  We had surf and turf kabobs (made on our George Foreman grill), our normal tropical salad with homemade pineapple vinaigrette dressing, and some tropical style drinks.  Our tropical movie selection for the night was Joe Versus the Volcano, which is a fantastic little movie, if not all that tropical (they're only on the island for a bit toward the end of the movie, but oh well).  All in all, a good night was had. 

Our original plans for Saturday were to go exploring around Cedarburg for the afternoon, since it was a recent feature in the paper's "Weekend Getaway" part of the Travel section.  But, we woke up to find that the weather wasn't being so cooperative.  22-28 mph winds, some rain, many clouds...  Boo.  

Instead, we went to IHOP for breakfast and then went to Menards to shop for a bit.  Not exactly a romantic day together, but still fun.  I had the Nutella crepes at IHOP, with the bananas and strawberries and whipped cream... OMG, so good.  I also go a side order of turkey bacon, which I LOVE.  We also had our favorite waiter there (not that we're regulars; we just happened to have him the last time we were there, which was probably January).  This guy is awesome.  Seriously!  He has a positive attitude about everything, and his memory must be phenomenal.  He took our orders (didn't write them down) and then went to chat with the table behind us for a bit, and I kept thinking, shit, something is going to get fucked up.  Either Hubby's eggs will be wrong or I won't get my turkey bacon or something.  But I should've remembered just how awesome he is, because he came out later with our order just as perfect as could be.  At the end of the meal, he handed me the check and said, "You're married; I know who has the money here!  I'm married and have 4 kids - I don't get to see any money!"  We joked about how he doesn't get asked about his day when he gets home, just how much money he made for the day.  The thing is, maybe I'm completely naive, but I really just think he's trying to have fun with his customers, not trying to get sympathy or extra tips.  He really just seems like a good guy who's making the best out of life.  It's inspiring to me, and so that's how I choose to see it.  

Menards was...  Menards.  You have to understand that I hated...  No...  I loathed Menards growing up.  It was the most boring place on Earth.  No contest.  The only things there that kept me from going insane were the doorbell section (I loved the different noises they all made) and the door section (where I would open and close doors, wandering through them like it was some kind of maze for me to get through).  When I got a little older, I would just bring my Walkman in with me and listen to my cassette tapes while we wandering through the store.  My parents (or, more specifically, my father) were always looking at the most boring things, and music kept me entertained.  These days, I actually don't mind Menards, but I still hold some of that resentment.  I mean, I was clearly old enough at some points to have stayed home by myself for an hour or two, but instead my parents dragged me along to Hell.  Maybe they thought the torture was character-building.  Who knows.  

Anywhoozles, we ended up watching most of the Band of Brothers marathon on Spike last night while we cuddled on the couch and ate our dinner.  Hubby got the grill out last night for our steaks.  The first grill of the season was definitely a success.  Man, I love a good rib-eye on the grill!  Droooooooool.  

Today, the hubs is off to help his dad get some things done, so it's just me and the pooch.  I'm sure I'll end up doing fascinating things like laundry or homework or sleeping.  No matter what, I had a great weekend. :-)  

In The Ayer

Oh hot damn, this is my jam.

Anywhoozles, it's been awhile, so I thought I'd stop in and say hello to the world.  

Hello, world!

That being said, I'm quite ready for spring.  I know it's only March 2nd, but I'm ready for sunshine and flowers and greenery.  Well, in all fairness, I do have the sunshine.  For the moment, anyway.  But the others would really make life much nicer.  

Also, hubby and I just got DVR.  It's an amazing thing and may actually be my undoing.  Time will tell.

TTFN!