First Date ...Again

B and I went on our first date probably back in 2007.  We had graduated school in 2006 from Auburn; B moved almost immediately to Birmingham for his job; I came a little later to be with someone who will not be mentioned in this post.

Of course things went south quickly with other dude, and B and I started hanging out.  Granted, we were already friends, and had known each other from Ruby Tuesday and some other classes we were in together, so it wasn't totally weird.

Then work, at the time Penske, bought a whole bunch of tickets to go to a Barons baseball game.  I didn't want to go alone with all the boys I worked with, so I asked B to come with.  A few (ok, more than a few) beers later, found us at our first kiss.

Right after that, I went to my dad's for the weekend.  I didn't hear from B; didn't really know what was going on; couldn't talk to my best friend about it, because I knew that I wouldn't have her blessing.  So I just had to wait until I came back.  Where he finally asked me on a date. 

He took me to Jim 'n Nick's downtown, which is where he took me a few nights ago.  Just to recreate our first date.  It was a good first date.  I had calmed my nerves with a vodka and Diet Mountain Dew.  Ahh, the good ole days of not knowing what was good to drink, and being naive enough to mix Grey Goose with the Dew.  

Some pictures from our recreation...

They seriously have some of the best mashed potatoes on earth...and that gravy.  Yums.  Definitely not the best BBQ in Birmingham, but it'll do.

After our dinner on our first date, we decided to go to Vulcan.  Where B proceeded to barrel through the chain and busted out his back windshield.  We decided to probably leave that part out.  But it was definitely a memorable first date.

I hope y'all have a safe and Happy New Year's.  B and I are currently in New Orleans having a blast!!  Of course, more to come on that later.

Sweet Sleepy Christmas Pup

Christmas definitely wore out the sweet Stella dog this year.  All she did was cuddle up to us and sleep.  And I, of course, have to share the sweetness with y'all.

I'm pretty sure all she did was sleep, because Mom and Dad being home definitely ruined her napping schedule.  She is so sweet when she sleeps.  Ugh, I love this dog way too much.  She got a brand new Packers collar for Christmas.  Pink.  So she finally looks like a girl dog.  She loves getting presents way too much; I've never seen a dog love toys as much as she does.  

I don't need kids, yet.  Seeing how excited this dog is on Christmas is enough for me.

Oh, yes, and this sweetness...

Such adorableness.  I die.  She's such a daddy's girl.  Loves of my life, that's for sure.

Lititz Volume 3: the not really Lititiz

The Amish.  I was seriously obsessed with seeing a horse and buggy, so Mom and Guido took us to a market (the name escapes me right now) in Intercourse, PA, and you can imagine my excitement to see so many Amish!  We went on a Monday (apparently that is laundry day), and saw so many!  They don't like their pictures taken, and I wasn't very discreet, but you have to be kind of fast to snap their picture.

 

They're horses, but still, they move pretty quick.

 

my first glimpse kinda sucked. 

then there was one right near me!  blasted iphone and it's non-zooming out...

laundry day!

There we go!!

this was inside their store.  the women were in the back making something.  i conveniently left out the sign that said "no pictures."  whatevs.  i'm buying your whoopie pies; I'll take a picture if I want.

Kid hanging outside the buggy!  Bonus!

Not Amish, but super cute photo anyway.

 I don't know what my massive deal was with finding these people and their buggies.  I've just never really sat and wondered what in the world I would do without electricity?  I don't think there is anything you could say to me to make me want to hang my laundry outside.  And it wasn't warm there folks; so they were definitely not getting that just out of the dryer warmth.  Which to me, is kind of the best thing in the world.

 

 

Lititz Volume II: the eats

So not only did we have a fantastic time in Lititz just roaming around eating chocolate and pretzels, we had to eat too.  I mean a day of shopping can make a girl hungry.   Mom wanted to go to a restaurant in a hotel, but it looked a little stuffy.  But much to our happiness, they had a British style pub attached to the other side.   And it was delicious.

Please see below and don't wonder why there are no pictures of my mom.  She pretty much threatened my life if she ended up on the blog somewhere.  So I will omit the picture of her, purely out of selfishness, because I like being alive.

I had the beer can chicken sandwich, and I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was.  I mean, just good.  And Guido got these homemade nachos with their chips, and ugh, I'm hungry just thinking about it again.

B got some burger with avocado on it, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world who hates it, so it looked pretty gross to me.  But B said it was good, so there ya have it.

In case you were curious and can't read the name from the first picture, it was called Bull's Head. I want to go back.  There were so many yummy looking things on the menu.  Lucky for me, my mom lives close so a trip back?  Definitely in my cards!

Lovin' Lititz Volume 1

One super awesome thing about Pennsylvania are all the fun little towns. Lititz is a great little town, full of chocolate factory deliciousness, a cute little iron shop, a pretzel making place (if you know the correct term for this, please let me know), and an awesome little pub.

Wilbur's buds.  A chocolate must have.  They look like Hershey's kisses, but trust me, you can taste the difference.  It's just better somehow.

 They pretty much have every sweet imaginable.  We usually just get the milk chocolate buds, but they have white and dark if that's your thing.  They also have the most amazing buttercreams, and chocolate bars.  Just yum.

And they also have a pretzel ah-ha, bakery, in town as well.  Pretzel and chocolate making in one town.  It just makes sense, people.  For some reason, their symbol is an upside down pretzel.  I don't know why, but it is.  Also, giant pretzel outside of store, so no matter how badly you want to take a picture with it, just know that it can be knocked over.

Those hot cheeser pretzels could quite honestly be the most addictive thing in the world.  Yeah, they might burn a little bit, but you still want them.  And you want a lot of them.  

There were also so many cute stores, it was ridiculous.  We spent almost half the day searching for a Moravian Star (picture to come with Christmas decoration post), and other assorted awesomeness.  They had a wine holder...that was shaped like a cowboy with a gun.  I am going to kick myself every day for not buying that thing, because, geez, I'm still thinking about it.

It's been a rough start to the week at work.  At least there's only two more days until the weekend.  Happy Hump Day, y'all.

The Touristy Side of Things ; Philly Part 3

So there were cheese steaks.  I mean, we were in Philly for pete's sake.  I know they probably don't like to be only known for those little bits of heaven, but seriously, Philadelphians?  It's really not that bad of a thing to be known for.  

B wanted to try the main places that are known for them.  Pat's and Geno's.  I think these guys were on the Food Wars show as well, except I don't know who won between the two.

 This one is Pat's.  Yes, it looks so freakin good.  Cheese Whiz (cuz you really shouldn't use anything else), wit onions.  Yes, wit onions.  They give you instructions on how to order before you get to the window and screw it up.  And the way these guys were at the window, I wouldn't be surprised if they made you go to the back of the line.

This is Geno's.  Also with Cheese Whiz and onions.  

If I had to pick one, I'd have to go Geno's.  I just would.  We went to the Rooster Bar after the second cheese steak, and they were telling us about some place called Joe's.  But we didn't make it there.

Geno's had more meat, plus every inch of that damn thing was covered in cheese.  It was amazing.

And since we were also in Philly, what trip wouldn't be complete without seeing the Rocky statue? (fyi we skipped the Liberty Bell and the LOVE sign, because we'd already done that once).  So we meandered down to the Museum of Art to get a picture with the statue and to run up the stairs.

 I'm not really sure what was so fascinating off to my right, but it was something enough to take my mind of the picture.  Funny, how I didn't even get a picture of the stairs.

 The view from the top of the stairs.  It was a cold, rainy PA day, but for some reason, I really like this shot.  It could have been, because it was kind of peaceful, because no one was out, or it could be the way the clouds are covering up the tops of the buildings.

Either way, it was fun to do some of the touristy things.

Because B definitely doesn't do tourist.  

In case you were wondering, I lost the race to the top of the stairs.  I could have beaten him if I put my purse down, but that was not happening.

1776'ers...err, '76ers... I don't get it: Philly Part 2

By now it's no secret that I love sports.  I am a girl that loves sports.  Yep, I'll admit it again.  So when we had a chance to go to an NBA game in Philly, I was totally open to it.  A.  I had never been to an NBA game before, and B.  I'm always up for new sports gear.  Which I got.  I got a super cute red pullover thing with a hood.  Gosh, I love hoodies.  

We had a little time to kill beforehand, so we decided to find a cute little neighborhood bar.  And we did.  It was nestled in between apartments and row houses and was exactly what we needed to get in from the cold and rain.  What we stumbled upon was the South Philly Tap Room.  They have great happy hour specials and happy hour food specials.  Anyone who has happy hour food specials is fantastic in my book.

And after this, we were feeling pretty good.  Super ready to tackle the cheering duties of the '76ers faithful.  So we drove to the stadium, scalped some tickets for the upper deck and made our way inside.  Once finding the escalator to mosey on up to our nose bleed seeds, you could imagine our surprise when we were asked if we wanted to upgrade.  Umm, to the fourth row from the court.  NOT kidding.  

They were playing the Dallas Mavs that night, and seriously, Mark Cuban (owner of the Mavs and super star of the Diet Mountain Dew commercials) was within arms reach.

 So it was a pretty thin crowd.  Which is probably why they were offering the free upgrade, but hey, in the NBA world, the game ended up being an upset.  '76ers won and the Philly people were happy.  

I will definitely say that watching a basketball game in person is way more interesting than watching it on TV, and I guess I have a new team to pull for now.  I don't know if that's even a good choice.  I don't know if the '76ers are any good, or will be any good.  Or even if they've ever been any good?  I don't know, but at least it was something new.

And they won. 

A Prison and a POPE : Philly Part 1

Please let me tell you that on our drive down to Philadelphia, it was snowing.  We woke up to our third day in Pennsylvania with a short hour drive down the Penna turnpike into Philadelphia.  

Our day trip started with a fun trip to a little prison called the Eastern State Penitentiary.  According to the self-guided tour by Steve Buscemi, it was one of the first prisons built on an idea called "solitary confinement."  This place was creepy as hell.  Apparently they also do a super fun (not!) Halloween haunted house thing.  Sorry, Philly, not coming back for that.  

Ok, the pictures probably could have been better.  But, in my defense, it was freezing, I had gloves on, and to take these pictures, the gloves had to come off.  Was not a fan of that happening, so what you see is what you get.

Any way, after the prison, we went on a quest for the almighty cheese steak.  I will have an entire post on that later.  I know you can't wait. 

BUT after the cheese steak, I was still starving, and being on vacation, wanted a drink.  So we Yelped a bar, and found this cute, okay, they would probably hate the word cute, so awesome little dive bar, called Pub on Passynuk East.  Hence, the POPE, which is what they called themselves.  It took me probably about an hour to figure out why they had POPE references all over the place.

Yes, they had amazing french fries with crab on them, and some amazing sauce to dip them in, AND a Patrick Swayze wall. 

So that's Philly part 1.  Super fun.