Don't forget to bring your "fun"

On Sunday my good friend Buddy came into town for a vacation with his son Brycen, his sister and her two boys. A little background for those that don't know Buddy... I met him back in 2003 at a PSS national meeting in Orlando. Actually, we were at the Fun & Friends event at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure - I convinced him to go on the Spiderman 3D ride with me and we've been friends ever since. At the time I think he was in Richmond, then moved to Cleveland, then Pittsburgh, and finally took a position in Marketing in Jacksonville. He was my first friend when I moved from Purchasing to Marketing and we had many many good times together in Jax before he left to take a Leader position in Little Rock last spring. We've stayed in touch and I was so happy that he was coming into town for a visit.

We were supposed to go to the Pirates-Royals baseball game on Sunday but the weather was rainy and crappy so we decided instead to meet up at Dave & Busters (I love their commercials about bringing your "fun", the place really is alot of fun for kids and adults - how can you go wrong with an arcade that serves booze?) We didn't really get to spend too much time chatting or hanging out because we were too busy chasing our kids around but everyone had a good time and it was great to see him.

Josh had a GREAT time while we were there. His latest obsession is with motorcycles, something that he will never really ride, much less own, if Scott and I have anything to do with it. There were a bunch of motorcycle games at D&B and Josh had fun pretending to ride with Mommy & Daddy. He also liked the horse games, skee-ball and the Simpsons game that you put tokens in to get tickets. We got quite a few tickets and loaded up the points on our card so that we can save up for a "decent" toy in the gift shop. Needless to say, we had to take Josh out of there kicking and screaming even though we were there for over 2 hours playing games. We'll keep D&B on the list of places to take him on a rainy day.

In other news, we are getting ready for our trip up to camp. Josh is very excited and we keep talking about how he's going to see Grandma & Grandpa, play at the park, swim at the pool, and go to the beach. Scott left this morning to go to Versailles, OH to visit a vendor and it's an overnight trip so he won't be back until around 3pm on tomorrow. We were going to leave bright and early on Friday morning and drive straight up to camp but now Scott wants to leave on tomorrow evening and drive into Utica for the night which means we won't get there until 11pm or midnight. I'm hoping that Josh sleeps for us the whole way since we'll be driving during his bedtime. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

My mother-in-law is right

While sitting at my kitchen table this afternoon my mother-in-law Donna stated:
"It doesn't matter, Bukowski men will do whatever they want anyway"
I couldn't agree with her more. She made the comment in reference to the conversation my father-in-law Joe was having with Scott about buying a vehicle. It doesn't matter what Donna says, Joe will get whatever vehicle he wants. Scott can be the same way, once he gets something set in his mind he's going to buy it/do it/see it no matter how I feel about what it is. I don't think I've ever successfully convinced him otherwise once he's decided to go see a concert.

Case in point, Scott has been talking about wanting to buy a bike since the beginning of spring. He had a beach cruiser when we lived in Jax and he sold it to our neighbor Troy before we left because beach cruisers aren't meant for serious biking, much less tackling hills like the ones that surround us up here. He's looked online a couple times but hadn't mentioned it in a little while so I figured the urge had passed. I was wrong.
Tonight after dinner and cleaning up our cars he announced to me that he was going up to Dick's to get a bike. This of course led to quite the arguement because just a mere 5 days ago he was lamenting about how much he works and that he feels like he's neglecting me and Josh. I mean really, he's so busy that he works on orders and quotes up in the office every night until at least 11pm. I watch TV by myself every night. Yeah, he should be spending more time with me but I'll survive. I told him to spend more time with Josh before he goes to bed at 8pm and then go up into the office. I brought this point up during our arguement and he tells me that he won't ride the bike until after Josh goes to bed. So on top of competing with his work, and the time he takes to walk Kody, I will also be competing with his "bike riding" time. Wonderful. I just may get to the end of the internet by Labor Day.

Bait and switch

Car salesmen have a bad reputation for a reason but I never believed that a whole dealership could be filled with sheisters! We are in the market to trade in my Camry and get an SUV, either a Toyota Highlander or a Honda Pilot. I spend a little bit of time each day searching dealer websites, autotrader.com and cars.com for new and used ones that may fall within our price range. I print out the listings and Scott & I look at them at home in the evenings.

In the beginning I found a couple viable choices and was actually able to go and test drive both vehicles to see which one I liked (I liked both of them equally). The Highlander had lots of bells and whistles that I necessarily didn't want, and was priced high because of them, so I held off. The Pilot had high miles but it ended up selling the evening after I drove it. I found a Highlander online that looked like it may be "the one" but the dealership is about an hour away so I called them first and was told that it had sold. Before we do anything Scott needs test drive them and I sent him to a dealership this afternoon to drive a Pilot that I found online. When he got there they told him that it had sold THIS MORNING.

I'm was sitting here thinking "wow, I have really good taste in vehicles because they're flying off the lots" but now I'm thinking we're the victims of a bait and switch scheme. And I'm talking about multiple dealerships all across the greater Pittsburgh area. I found two more possibilities this afternoon and we called them this evening... surprise surprise the dealership says that they're both gone. Seriously, why don't these places update their inventory online? I'm guessing because they want to lure you in with a posting for a great vehicle that they don't have anymore so they can try to convince you to buy a 2010 model for more money. JERKS!

Happy 4th Anniversary!

I got so busy last week I forgot to add a blog entry about our wedding anniversary.

Our 4th wedding anniversary was last Wednesday, June 17th. We celebrated by having dinner with Josh at a restaurant named Mad Mex. It's California Mexican and pretty good. Josh especially enjoyed his brownie ice cream dessert and I thoroughly enjoyed the sangria! Here is our family picture taken after dinner:

Wow what a weekend!

That about sums it up... what a weekend!

We had the DMB shows on Friday and Saturday and had so much fun! My friend Patrick drove down from Buffalo and my girlfriend Andrea from high school drove down from Utica on Friday for the concert that night. We had the best seats I've ever had in my life, 4th row! Sometimes being part of a fan club is totally worth it. Here is a pic from the show (taken without zooming in at all!). The setlist was amazing, in my opinion, and I got a lot of my favorites which was awesome. To top it all off, I got a drumstick from the drummer Carter at the end of the show. He was tossing a bunch into the crowd so I stood up on my seat and I'm pretty sure he was throwing it AT me. Of course I can't catch and it went through my hands but Patrick was able to beat other people to it get it for me.

On Saturday night we went to the show with our Pittsburgh (formerly Jacksonville) friends Jen and Jerry. They've liked DMB for a long time but this was their first time at a show. The setlist wasn't as great that night, again in my opinion, but was still a good time. Our seats were further back that night but still pretty good (at least we didn't end up with lawn seats!) Scott let me get drunk on Friday night so to reciprocate I let him get drunk on Saturday night which meant that I had to drive the VW home. Now that was an experience! I did well and really didn't have any trouble so we all made it home safely.

Yesterday was Father's Day and it was nice to be able to spend it this year with Scott's parents. They had watched Josh for us all weekend so we could go to the concerts so we drove down there yesterday afternoon. It sounded like they had a good weekend with Josh and he was very happy to see us. We all went out for an early dinner and then headed home.

Needless to say we dragging today, I'm still exhausted! I have to admit I am kinda sad though. Usually my DMB shows are towards the end of the summer so I have something to look forward for awhile. Now my shows are done... so sad. I may need to figure out if I can travel to see another one :) I know, I know, I'm not a fan, I'm a FANATIC!

I'm just a girl...

Last Saturday was my girl's night out with Jen, Susan and Julie and we went to the No Doubt/Paramore concert which was AWESOME! We made snack foods and cocktails for tailgating in the parking lot and played 2 rounds of "Cornhole" (some of you may know it as bean bags). The show was so good, Gwen Stefani is amazing and has abs that make the rest of us want to cry. It was so much fun to dance and sing every word to every song and for only $15 for lawn tickets!

Of course I drank too much, fell asleep in the truck on the way home, and felt pretty crappy all day on Sunday. I guess I'm getting too old for this!

But, even as I type that last line I know I'm going to do it all over again this weekend because DAVE MATTHEWS BAND IS COMING!!!!!! I'm soooooooooooooo freaking excited! I've been checking setlists for weeks now to see what songs I can expect and feel pretty confident that I'll hear most of my faves since I'm going both nights. On Friday night I have 2 friends traveling from out of town to go to the show with Scott and me - Patrick is coming from Buffalo and Andrea, a friend from high school that I literally haven't seen since graduation, is driving down from Utica! She's a huge DMB fan and when she found out I had an extra 4th row ticket for Friday night she jumped at the chance to come with us. I'm so excited to share the experience of going to the show with both Patrick and Andrea, who love the music, because Scott isn't a fan and only goes and tolerates it because he loves me :) Anyway, on Saturday night we're going to the show with Jen and Jerry who like DMB but have never been to a show. I'm excited to see their reactions to live Dave!

In other news, I've begun shopping for my SUV. Last night I test drove a 2008 Toyota Highlander Sport. It was a very nice ride and felt similar to driving my Camry which I really liked. My major concerns with that particular truck was that the backseat has 2 captain's chairs and a small center armrest that can be flipped up to make more of a bench seat, and no 3rd row of seats. I'm afraid that the backseat will be too crowded if we go somewhere with 2 other people outside of me, Scott & Josh. I'm a bit frustrated because that is the only Highlander in the Pittsburgh area that has steering wheel radio controls - a small convenience that has become VERY important to me. Well, I had them appraise my car anyway and took the information home to talk over with Scott.
Today on my lunch hour I went and drove a 2007 Honda Pilot EX-L. I liked it as well and felt comfortable driving it. The backseat is a true bench seat and it also has the 3rd row seating that folds down flat for storage. My one petty complaint about it though is that it doesn't have an auxillary jack to hook up my iPod. It does have leather interior, heated seats, a moonroof and XM radio. Next step is for Scott to see and drive both of these vehicles because even though it will primarily be my every day vehicle I want his opinion on which one he thinks will be best for us as a family. Keep your fingers crossed for us that we can get a good deal... I hope to have it before our 4th of July trip up to camp!

Our teams versus the "Hometown" teams

When we lived in Jacksonville the only team we had to root for were the Jaguars. We never paid much attention to college sports so we could care less about the Gators/Noles drama. Rooting for the Jags was easy and didn't make either Scott nor I cringe, they were pretty harmless, didn't pose much of a threat to either the Bills or Patriots so we felt good about cheering them on. Even when we moved to Cleveland we were okay with cheering for the Browns - I mean they REALLY sucked so we never felt guilty about hoping they would win a game or two.

But now we live in Pittsburgh, home of the most obnoxious fans in the country (okay, maybe they tie with Oakland Raiders fans). The Pittsburgh Steelers - UGH! That is now our "hometown" football team and there is no way that we can bring ourselves to cheer for them. We moved here the weekend before the Superbowl so we arrived just in time for the height of the insanity. Lucky us. I'm not embarassed to say that we turned the game off well before it was over and went to bed not caring who won.

Tonight is game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals for hockey and the Pittsburgh Penguins are playing well and may actually win this thing. I have to admit that I'm remotely interested in the game for the purely selfish reason that I don't want to be in a city of miserable, bitchy people tomorrow. There were screams of joy that echoed through my neighborhood with the first goal earlier and I couldn't help but smile. I mean, I haven't really rooted for a hockey team since I left Buffalo 8 years ago and was a Sabres fan.

Luckily the Pittsburgh Pirates (baseball) really really suck so we can go to a game and enjoy just watching some MLB baseball without feeling like we're betraying our beloved Boston Red Sox. For the time that we're here in Pittsburgh we will stay under the radar and just give them a fake smile whenever someone enthusiastically talks about the Steelers/Penguins/Pirates.

The assualt has begun

on my liver that is!

Our schedule is pretty full every weekend for the next month and a half and it seems that every event is going to include alcohol. My poor liver is going to be screaming at me by mid-July! The last year that we were in Jax I was going out pretty often so my tolerance got built up a bit and my body got used to processing alcohol every weekend. Since we've moved I really haven't drank all that much, so my tolerance is waaaaaaaay down and my body isn't so happy with me. Even the smallest amount of alcohol makes me feel like crap the next day.

So this past weekend was my trip to Buffalo to see all my old grad school buddies. What a fun time! It was really great to see Patrick, Reanna, Anna and Jenny... I needed a good dose of some old friends. Both nights I went out drinking and had some good laughs AND I got to eat some foods that I missed - chicken fingers from Duff's, doughnuts from Tim Horton's, BBQ beef burrito from Mighty Taco, YUM YUM YUM!!! The drive is really easy, north on 79 then east on 90 and it only takes 3 hours. I need to go visit more often, that's for sure. Of course we didn't take any pictures last night like we had planned on so we still don't have a new good pic of me, Anna & Jenny - maybe next trip. Above is a pic of me and Patrick before we went out on Friday night.

I had quite a few martinis and didn't get anything more than buzzed each night, but still felt like poo the next morning. Not a true hangover, just felt yucky with a slight headache - nothing a little water and Advil couldn't take care of. At least this coming weekend I'll only be drinking one night - on Saturday with my girls at the No Doubt concert! We'll see how the liver holds up then.

Randoms...

I'm sitting here, sipping on a Stoli Raz & Sprite and watching a documentary on the Dave Matthews Band and thought I'd randomly blog about what's on my mind.

I'm convinced that if I want something done right I have to do it myself. This afternoon I let Scott take Josh to get his haircut and when they got home it didn't really look like it was cut. Sure, the top looked a little shorter but the sides and back were still long. So I asked Scott, why didn't they use the clippers and Scott's response was "I didn't realize we have them use clippers on Josh". Ugh! (I have them use the clippers at a #4 EVERY TIME)

I am sooooooooooooooooooo excited about my upcoming DMB shows. I stayed up until midnight last night to watch the live concert they were showing on the Fuse network from the Beacon Theatre. What a great show! There are a few of the new songs they're doing live that I could do without seeing but it's all good. As long as the show flows I'll be happy. It'll be great to go to another show with Patrick since he was with me for my first one :) Scott is very excited to go because he gets to drive us down in the VW and he LOVES taking the bus out to shows. He's not a fan of the music so I'm grateful that he tolerates it for me. Tim Reynolds is playing electric guitar on this tour so hopefully that will appease Scott a little more because he says rock music without an electric guitar is like going to dinner and only eating a baked potato. LMAO

I'm also very excited about my trip to Buffalo this weekend. Patrick is back from Mexico sans swine flu so we're all good there. Friday night I'll be going out with Patrick and his friends - I hear we're going downtown which is cool because I'll get to go to my fave bar Soho. I can't wait to get some Stoli Raz & tea! For those who don't know, they have iced tea on tap at the bars in Buffalo. On Saturday I'm going to Duff's with Patrick and Reanna for lunch (yum!) and then meeting Anna for some outlet shopping. Saturday night is my girls night out with Anna and Jenny and I can't wait to drink and dance and make some good memories.

I want a new vehicle. From what everyone keeps telling me, dealers are ready to make good deals and I'm hoping to get one of them. I want a medium-sized SUV. It's getting too hard for the 4 of us (including Kody) to go anywhere all together in my Camry, especially with luggage. I'm looking at the Toyota Highlander, Honda Pilot and GMC Acadia. I need to test drive each of them to figure out which one is most comfortable for me. I'm leaning towards the Highlander because it's another Toyota and looks to be the closest to my Camry, just bigger. I really love my car but it's time to move up AND get something with 4WD now that we live up North.

Josh is starting to be more and more interested in the potty and has even peed at daycare. He hasn't really gotten the idea that he has to tell us before he needs to pee but I'm sure it'll come. He's only 27 months old right now. But when we ask him and he pees on the potty he gets a treat - either a few Skittles, a peanut M&M or a Hershey Kiss. That seems to be good motivation for him because he loves all 3 of those candies.

We are going to decorate Josh's room this summer. Right now he still has butterflies painted on the walls from the previous renter and they gots to go. His room in Jax was the beach theme and while I still have all the bedding and decoration for the walls I don't feel like doing it again (maybe because we're land-locked in Pitt). So, we're going to do a Red Sox theme. We have a bunch of pictures and decorative stuff that was Scott's in his "man cave" that we can use and of course I'll buy more baseball themed things. First I need to paint and will probably pick a generic beige color and use decorative things to jazz the room up.

Speaking of Josh's room, we haven't converted his crib yet but have lowered the rail as low as it will go to see how he does. It's been a few weeks and he's doing well with it. He hasn't tried to climb out yet and we keep warning him that he'll fall down and get hurt if he does try to climb. If he does well for another month or so we may convert his crib into the daybed. When we do that we'll have to put the spare baby gate up in front of his door so that he can't run around upstairs and near the stairs.

Okay, that's enough for now. More to come later...