On our first anniversary Patrick and I decided that since our anniversary is in the summer and around a 3 day weekend, we wanted to make that the time of year that we always tried to take a trip. For our 1st anniversary we went to Vegas. For our 2nd we went camping. So for our 3rd we went to the Jersey shore.

We made our minds up kind of late on what we wanted to do and with it being Memorial day weekend, we got lucky to find a place. We found a website that lets you pick a price range and a date and see what properties are available to rent on any of the Jersey beaches. We eventually found what I thought was a little cottage from the pictures, but was a actually a condo when we got there.

We left Friday evening for Brigintine Beach, about 8 miles from Atlantic City. We loaded up the car and the dogs, who we decided to take and hit the road. Two hours later we found our rental. It was so cute! The inside was all painted a pale sunny yellow, the living room had a blue and white striped sofa, and the bedroom had white shabby chic furniture with ivy hanging on a little mirror above the dresser. It was very cozy. Which turned out to be good for Saturday.

Saturday was cold and there weren’t many people on the beach. We took the dogs for a long walk on the beach anyway. As we were walking we heard a mother cry out to her children that there were dolphins in the water and sure enough, there were about 3 groups playing. They jumped a little out of the water every once in awhile while playing fairly close to the shore so we stood fascinated and watched them for a while.

Then we headed indoors to read. On a side note I read the whole “Angels and Demons” book (the precurser to the “The DaVinci Code”) this weekend. Patrick read it first and has been waiting for me to catch up forever. I’ve been reading the first 90 pages for about a month and just haven’t been able to make any progress, but boy when it picked up, it picked up. So now I’m on to “The DaVinci Code” which hopefully will be just as good!

Ok, back to Saturday—In the evening we went to Atlantic City and gambeled a little. I turned my $50 into a $140 on My Rich Uncle where I have never had any luck before. It was great! Patrick and I never have good luck at the same time, but for a brief moment we both actually left a machine having tripled our money….but then his luck ran out.

Sunday was a much warmer day and the beach was packed. We almost couldn’t find a space to put our towels down. But we did finally find one and had a picnic lunch before settling down to read for a bit. Patrick went to play in the ocean and I went in to get the dogs. They loved playing in the water and on the sand but in general did not like the idea of vacation. I think they were afraid we were going to leave them. Like we’d endure a 2 hour car ride with Sam and his stubborn head pushing on my arm trying to get into the front seat just to leave them!

I’ll spare you the pictures of us in our swimsuits on the beach with the dogs. Just know that they will be a nice memory for us:)

It’s amazing to look back on the last year and think about how at this time last year I had just found out about my diabetes and we had just had the first call from Jones about them wanting to interview Patrick. Crazy how much things have changed!

Tuesday night we went to see Sarah at Madison Square Garden. It was the first time I’d been there. We had a really nice time. It was very mellow, even for a Sarah concert. Nobody ever stood, they clapped, but no yelling or whistling or anything. Towards the last half of the show she sang “Angel” and everybody went crazy. I guess it was a crowd that knows her mostly from the radio.

She did all her favorite songs from the last decade (her songs that is). She sang everything I would have wanted her to sing including covers of Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill” and the Beatles “Blackbird”.

I like how down to earth she is. She was talking about how she loves New York and was sad that she wouldn’t get to spend as much time here as she usually does and how lucky we are to live here. At one point she said out of the blue “Holy Crap, I’m playing Madison Square Garden!” I just thought that was really cute because I’m sure she’s done a ton of things that were more exciting, but she was happy to be there!

It was a crazy hectic week for me despite being my second four day work week in a row. I put in some overtime and basically tried to keep sane. Work was frustrating and a challenge—A challenge in holding my tongue mostly, but one I survived.

This weekend was spent recouping from the past two weekends of visitors and the long week. Saturday I cleaned and relaxed during the day before going to a BBQ in the evening. I met a lot of really interesting people and spent most of the night talking to a girl who’s father works for the embassy so she’s traveled and lived all over and been in the Peace Corp. She was really interesting and it got me to thinking about how many more people around this area seem to have travelled so much more than the average person. It seems like everyone has been all around the world, which sometimes makes Patrick and I feel a little behind and unsophisticated, but it sure makes for some interesting stories to listen to. And someday we’ll have our own to tell. Like of when we lived in NY!

Today we went to watch an early showing of “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith”. I LOVE the Star Wars movies and was happy that this one was promising to be better than the two previous Episodes, which basically sucked. And I did actually enjoy this one much more, though it was a bit depressing and very dark. Not that I didn’t know it would be.

Next weekend we are headed to the Jersey shore for the Memorial Day holiday and to celebrate our 3 year anniversary on June 1. We were able to book something last minute on Friday when we finally made up our minds where we wanted to go. Our little rent house is right on the ocean and we are taking the dogs with us. I’m looking forward to it. I’m sure it will be too cold to swim in the ocean still, but it will be nice to sit in the sun, (with SPF 500 of course—since I burn in the 30 minutes I sit outside and eat lunch at work)read and relax and take walks with the dogs. We are going to a beach called Brigatine near Atlantic City. We don’t know much about this beach, but it looked really nice and clean in the pictures, and hey, if it’s no good, Atlantic City is just around the corner!

We saw “Spamalot” Wednesday and it was really good. I honestly didn’t expect to be that entertained by it, but I loved it. It was probably my favorite since seeing “The Lion King” in London.

It’s based on “Monty Python’s Search for the Holy Grail” and it follows the movie to a large extent, but there are a few things cut and replaced by new ones. I think the changes make it even funnier. David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry, and Hank Azaria were in it and all did a great job. It was such a production. The set was very intricate with tons of moving piece. It made it very easy to get into the world of make believe.

This coming Tuesday we will see Sarah McLachlin again at Madison Square Garden. I haven’t been there yet so that will be exciting.

Kelli decided a couple of months ago that she wanted to spend her birthday with us in New York this year so she headed up for a long weekend. She got here Friday evening. I am proud to say I drove to the airport to pick her up over two big bridges and lived to tell the tale despite the navigation system in the car trying to get me lost and sending me down a one way street!

We stayed in that evening and stayed up chatting while Patrick was out at a house warming/birthday party for a co-worker. Saturday we slept in a little and then got up and went to the Musuem of Modern Art. My favorite, and by odd coincidence, Kelli’s favorite (we discovered this a couple of years ago) painting is there. It’s Picasso’s “Girl Before A Mirror”. I don’t know many people who even know this painting, so it’s always been kind of special for us to share it as our favorite. The great thing about the MoMA is that unlike a lot of musuems, they let you take photos as long as there is no flash. So Kelli got a few photos and even took a picture with each of our cell phones so it’s now my screen saver on my phone. Also at the MoMA is Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” which is my second favorite. We had a good time seeing them in person.

Then we headed over to Chinatown where we met Patrick who had spent the day working in Bryant Park on his laptop. ( I should add that for the first time that we’ve had company here the weather was beautiful 99% of the weekend.) Kelli with her increadible nack for getting us into interesting situations quicky attracted the attention of the purse dealers. One mumbled under his breath, Louis Vitton, Coach, follow me. I hadn’t heard this but the next thing I know I’m following Kelli down the stairs of a little building in the middle of chinatown. Not our smartest move but the story ends well so no harm. Kelli loads up on purses (which way have to wonder if people are selling knockoff’s in the middle of the street why these are so secret. Ok, we don’t really have to wonder, even we aren’t that naive!) Then we went to the same restraunt we’d eaten at for my birthday before coming home and enjoying a night in.

Sunday we hit the outlet mall. Kelli was happy to partake of Patrick’s discount and NJ’s lack of sales tax. And I was happy to get a few springy/summery additions to my wardrobe.

I had Monday off but Patrick went in to work…ha ha, so rare that I get to say things like that! So Kelli and I slept in and then went and had a nice slow paced lunch at a neighborhood restraunt before I had to drive her back to the airport.

Another good visit, but we sure were tired when our second set of company was gone! No offense Kelli!

Next up on the company front, Patrick’s Dad and Stepmom will be here for Father’s Day and then Andy and Sara will be here in honor of their 1st anniversary over the 4th. Looking forward to both of those visits!