Happy Halloween!

After a long, inexcusable period of neglect, I am writing a new blog post! Needless to say, a lot has happened since July, so I'll stick to the big stuff from earlier this week and this weekend.

First off, I was in the Blue Man Group show this week at The Bushnell. No really! See?


This is me at "the feast" with my three new, blue friends. Despite what you might be thinking, this was not a set up. I can see why you would think so, considering I work at The Bushnell and all, but honest to God I had no idea this was coming and neither did anyone else I work with. I was just sitting in my seat, minding my own business, when suddenly all three Blue Men were standing at the end of the aisle...staring at me. I'd seen the show before so I knew what was most likely going to happen next. My inner monologue went a little something like this: "Oh no...ooohhhh no...no! No, not me! No! I work here! It should definitely be someone else...please don't pick me."

But before I knew it one of them was standing right in front of me with his hand extended. So I took it. And he dragged me up on stage. This is when I had a moment of panic.

I was chewing gum.

Why is this a problem, you ask? Because I KNEW this bit involved eating Twinkies. And there was absolutely nowhere for me to spit out my gum. So I did the only thing I could do.

I swallowed it.

The rest of the experience was a bit of a blur. There was lots of laughing by both me and the audience, fun with Twinkies, a Polaroid picture, and a wee bit of grossness...and then it was over and I was back in my seat with a Polaroid, a plastic knife, and a Chinese take-out box full of mushy bananas in hand. What a great, memorable experience. People kept telling me I did a great job as I walked out after the show was over. I couldn't stop smiling.

The other thing I have to share doesn't really have much of a story that goes with it...but quite a few more pictures. Ladies and gentleman...Ginger Snap Root-Beatty in her very first Halloween costume:


Oh my little squishy! I know, I know...she's obviously miserable. And this is an awful, humiliating thing to do to a dog. But isn't she cute???

Here she is taking a little whiff of the camera...


Here she is making an unbearably cute sad puppy face...


An aerial shot...


She's my little sweat pea! Get it???


How can you not just absolutely LOVE that face? She's such a sweet little pup. And tolerant. That's my good little girl. :)

(Don't worry...she's out of the costume now. She happily lounging on the couch next to me right now enjoying a nice nap.)

Happy Halloween!!!

Long Beach Island: Days 1 & 2

Wow...so much has happened in the past month. Ginger has been growing like a weed (a very cute weed, of course...I'll have to post new pictures soon), we've now been in the new apartment for about a month, work has been crazy, and we've finally arrived at the Long Beach Island I thought would never come. Yesterday my dad, his wife Lisa, my sister Hillary, Shane and I set off in a Volkswagen caravan (Lisa's Passat...I think...wagon and my little Jetta) and approximately 6 ridiculously hot hours later, we were there. Here is a real life picture of the dash in my car at one of the hottest points yesterday...


That right...109. 109?!? I thought I was going to die. But, fortunately, I made it through the day and now here we are...sitting inside waiting for the inevitable thunderstorm that's going to come. Well...that doesn't sound very good...but believe me, it's heaven. I'm at the beginning of a whole week of nothing but relaxation and I'm going to savor every single moment. There will be much book-reading and nap-taking and, while just about everyone else in the house is planning an exercising regularly this week, I plan on doing no such thing. Ahhhh...this is the life!

And while I claimed I was going to blog every day like I usually do while I'm on vacation, I don't think I'm going to do that either. So I apologize to anyone who was looking forward to my exciting daily entires about how we sat on the beach, ate some food, then sat on the beach some more, but I'm going to take this relaxation thing very seriously. I'll try to snap some pics and maybe post a summary entry at the end of the week. Maybe. HA! This is going to be awesome. Week o' relaxation, here I come! Don't be too jealous. ;)

Puppy Love

Last week I fell in love. And so did Shane. With this...


We did not intend to get a dog on Monday, June 7. Shane and I have been talking about getting a dog for quite some time but we had said we would wait until at least a couple of months after we moved. We had every intention of adopting a shelter dog too. So when our friend and co-worker, Amanda told us there was a very sweet cockapoo puppy at Puppy Center (where her husband's cousin works...I think...right?) we thought we'd just go down and check her out because cockapoos were one of the breeds we were considering. We gave each other a little pep talk before we went (as we've done pretty much every time we've visited Puppy Center) and said "We're not going to be getting this dog. We're just visiting." (Really this pep talk is more for me than it is for Shane...) And then we headed on into the store.

We were not prepared for this...


This little pup was everything Amanda said she would be and more. A very nice girl working at the store couldn't stop telling us about how wonderful this dog is and how she's one of a kind and on and on and on...gushing about this tiny little girl.

But there were so many obstacles we would have to overcome to get a dog right now. First of all, the apartment we're currently living in doesn't allow pets. Second, Shane's roommates did not necessarily want a dog in the house. And third, we were going to be moving in about two weeks and we still had a lot to do before we'd be ready.

But even with all of that working against us, we began scheming about how we could make it work.

(A picture of the little girl playing with Shane.)


Puppy Center said they would hold her for a little while if we paid for her now, we could ask my mom to keep her for us until we moved...we agonized for hours over the decision.

And then we finally came to the decision that we could make it work. She was our dog. We just knew it. And we were going to do whatever we had to do to have her. My mother very graciously agreed to care for her until we moved to our new apartment and we began thinking about what we'd need to do to prepare for her.

But then there was a wonderful twist. Our present roommates were surprisingly ok with our decision to get a dog and said it would be alright if she stayed at the apartment with us. We were thrilled. So we instead changed our plans so that she would stay with us for the most part before the move, and then go to my mom's for the time leading up to the move when we'd really need to focus on packing and wouldn't be able to give her enough attention. While she was with us in West Hartford, we would take turns going home during our lunch break to let her out and feed her.

So we paid for her and gave her a name (that we also agonized over...for days)...Ginger Snap Root-Beatty. And we had our dog. The cutest, sweetest, smartest little pup there ever was.

(A rare moment...taking a little nap on my lap at my mom's house...)



Taking care of her has definitely been challenging. She needs constant attention (and I do mean constant) and all of this is coming at an already stressful point in our lives...but I don't regret the decision one bit. I can't wait to watch her grow and learn new things and just generally become intertwined in our lives. This is the start of something good.

Niagara Road Trip, Day Five: Flowers and Butterflies

So today is our last day in Niagara Falls. We did get a whole extra day that we didn't plan for, but it still doesn't feel like we've been here long. Today we did some non-Falls-related activities and went to the Floral Showhouse and the Butterfly Conservatory. Lots of pretty pictures were taken! Here are just a few...

Here's a sign for the Floral Showhouse...


A turtle in a little pool inside the Showhouse...


There's a little baby turtle in this picture (though he looks just as big as the larger turtle in the previous picture because the camera is zoomed in)...can you find him?

Here are some of the plants that were growing in the showhouse...





Me in front of a statue in the hydrangea display...


Shane with the hydrangeas....


Another pretty flower...


A cool looking tropical bird (there were others but they were hard to take pictures of)...


And here are some pictures from the Butterfly Conservatory...




A butterfly landed on Shane's shoulder...


...twice...


No butterflies landed on me because I got all flinchy and spastic whenever they got close. I didn't mean to! I just get nervous about bugs...even if they're pretty and I wouldn't mind if they crawled on me.

There were some poisonous frogs on display too...they were in a little aquarium...


After leaving the Butterfly Conservatory we jumped aboard a shuttle and headed back to our hotel to chill out for a while. Later we're planning on going to Johnny Rocket's for an early dinner and then we'll take a stroll over to the big ferris wheel that's supposed to give you a very nice view of the Falls. I am determined not to let my fear of heights get the best of me.

Tomorrow we'll be heading out early to begin the long drive home. It's been a really wonderful vacation...we were so unbelievably lucky at just about every turn! I hope anyone reading has enjoyed the stories and pictures!

Niagara Road Trip, Day Four: Soaked

Last night before we went to sleep Shane told me not to spend a lot of time on my hair the next morning...and boy am I glad I listened to him. Today we took a ride on the Maid of the Mist and went to Journey Behind the Falls to get an up close view of the Falls. And we got completely soaked. They warn you that you're going to get wet at both of these attractions...they even go so far as to hand out free ponchos...but it's impossible to really understand how drenched you'll get until you experience it. The mist from the Falls can hardly even be considered mist...it's more like rain. And it's so windy and chilly the closer you get...I'm so glad it was a hot day! I can't imagine what the experience would be like in colder weather. Here are some pictures from our day...

A sign pointing us in the right direction...


Me in my stylish, blue Maid of the Mist poncho (just like the ones Jim and Pam from The Office were wearing when they got married on the Maid of the Mist!)...


Shane looking fancy in his poncho...


Me near the U.S. Falls (there aren't any closer than this because it was too windy and there was too much water to take pictures)...


Now this next picture is a scary one. Somehow, Shane got stung by a bee while we were boarding the boat. This was particularly never-wracking because when Shane was little he was ALLERGIC to bee stings. I was so concerned he'd have an allergic reaction that I tried to make him get off the boat before it left the launch but he insisted he'd be fine. And indeed he was. Still...for a while there it was very scary!


Here's a picture of some stairs near the U.S. Falls that we could see from the boat. Look how close you can get! You're practically IN the Falls!


These are the horseshoe shaped Falls on the Canadian side...


Me and Shane aboard the Maid of the Mist...


Before heading over to Journey Behind the Falls we had a very nutritious "lunch" at Tim Hortons (we've been very healthy on this trip)...


Here's us in a tunnel literally behind the Falls in our lovely yellow Journey Behind the Falls ponchos...that's a whole lot of water falling at about 40 mph behind us...


After Journey Behind the Falls we walked up to Clifton Hill where there's a bunch of touristy stuff...souvenir stores, "4-D" movie theaters, wax museums and whatnot. Actually, during our travels around town we have come across at least 4 haunted house attractions. It's completely bizarre. After that we returned to the hotel to wash up then went and had a lovely Italian dinner at a restaurant called Mama Mia's in the casino across the street. Now we planning on chilling out for the rest of the day. AAAhhhhh. And we have another full day here tomorrow instead of going home like we originally planned!

Niagara Road Trip, Day Three: A Perfect Day

Today really was a perfect day. Despite the fact that most of it was spent driving and I am now completely exhausted, so many wonderful things happened. It started when Shane got an email on his Blackberry saying that the administration at work decided to give us all the day off on Friday so that we'd have a four-day Memorial Day weekend. Shane and I weren't originally planning to take the whole week off...but with Friday off now all we'd have to do is take Thursday. So we both got in touch with our bosses and were both given permission to take Thursday off too. YES. And since we didn't need to be back anymore we decided to add another night to our stay in Niagara Falls. Amazing...

And then, on top of that, we have this completely awesome room to stay in for the next few days. Here's a picture of Shane taking a picture of me through the sliding window things that open up to the whirlpool bath in the bathroom.


Here's a picture of me taking a picture of Shane from inside the bathroom.

Here's just a portion of the breathtaking view from our room...


Here is the other part of the view....


Here's Shane and I looking all fancy before we headed out to our "nice dinner"...

And then after dinner we spent a little time in the casino across the street from our hotel. Normally, I wouldn't be thrilled about this...I don't exactly love it when Shane gambles, though he can, of course, do as he pleases...but he won $155 Canadian tonight (about $145 in US currency)!

We ended the evening watching the Victoria Day fireworks over the falls from the comfort of our hotel room. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing and I don't think we could have possibly planned it any better. :)

Niagara Road Trip, Day Two: Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Despite a forecast for rain, today has turned out to be a beautiful day! The hotel advertised a daily free continental breakfast so we started our day at a time we considered relatively early (we were headed out the door by 9:30 a.m....here's us looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed)...


but were apparently too late for said breakfast which ended promptly at...9:30 a.m. So we wound up having a very healthy breakfast from the McDonald's adjacent to the hotel. Mmmm...greasy...

We then headed out on our voyage to the glorious Baseball Hall of Fame. Here is where we parked (picture taken of Shane's Blackberry so that we'd remember the location)...


And here is the Baseball Hall of Fame (a lovely couple from out West somewhere took this picture for us...Angels fans, just in case anyone was curious)...


The Hall of Fame contained all sorts of wonderful baseball relics...here are just a few of the SEVERAL pictures that Shane took while we were there. This first one is of Babe Ruth's locker...


The is the most expensive and rare baseball card out there (it's worth about $3 million)...


This is a locker full of more recent Yankees stuff (Alex Rodriguez's batting helmet, CC Sabathia's shoes...which are gigantic, the batting gloves Derek Jeter was wearing when he broke the record for career hits as a Yankee, etc.)...


Here is a picture of Shane in Hank Aaron's locker...


And the piece de resistance...only appearing this very weekend at the Hall of Fame...the Yankees' 2009 World Series Trophy...


Ooooo...shiny. Here's a picture of Shane with the trophy...


Here's a picture of me with the trophy (the 3rd attempt...I blinked in the first two)...


Then, surprise of surprises, we ran into Don Mattingly and Derek Jeter! Right in the actual hall of fame where all of the plaques are hung!


Boy, did they look different in person. Shane also took several pictures of the plaques for different players...so I chose one to include in my blog. For your viewing pleasure, the Babe's Hall of Fame plaque.


After that we took a short spin around the gift shop...looked at all the overpriced merchandise ($100 sweatshirts and whatnot)...and then that was that. Doing all of this actually took a lot less time than we thought it would, so we went and grabbed a couple of hot dogs and pondered what we'd do next...

Here's me sipping my lunchtime root beer...


Here's Shane being Shane...


We couldn't really come up with anything else good to do (there's not really a whole lot going on in Cooperstown, NY) so we decided to take a leisurely walk down to Otsego Lake and sit on a bench for a while. Here's a picture of us at the lake...


It was really very nice and relaxing. We then decided we wanted to try to go feed some deer at a place where they said you could do so...but for the life of us, we couldn't find it. So after driving around for a little while, we decided to return to the hotel to relax a bit and then we'll head out to dinner before, you guessed it, watching the 2.5 hour series finale of LOST. Not an action-packed day by any means but it's been relaxing and the weather has been nice so I'm happy.

Tomorrow we embark on the second half of our trip to Niagara Falls! We're actually staying on the Canadian side of the Falls so a trip across the border is in order. I'm wondering if my GPS is actually going to work in Canada...hmmm...well, it'll be an adventure!