We the jury

I finally served. And you know what? I'm glad I did. I think at least 85% of people who get the notice for jury duty in the mail, cringe. I didn't. I really wanted to do it. Isn't that odd?! So last Tuesday, there I was "reporting for jury duty" with a bazillion other Camden County-ers and I actually was picked to serve one of the juries. It was not as bad as most people make it out to be. I seriously felt like I had to be the ONLY person sitting there who, on the inside, was happy about it. I guess I'm a dork. Ours was just a civil case, (even though I was secretly hoping for a criminal case), and it lasted 3 days. So I ended up having a sort of 'vacation' because I was out 3 days at work and then my regular days off followed and that made for 5 full days of not reporting to the office. The court that I had to report to was literally (less than) 10 minutes from my home so that was a nice change in the morning last week too. Being that my normal commute to and from work is 30 minutes. I believe the law is that you only have to serve every 3 years so I guess I'm done for a while. But yes, all in all, it was a really neat experience.. I had no idea what to expect but it was just like Law & Order!
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In other news, I've been way behind on my posting lately. Time to update the Wedding Blog too. Sorry if anyone has tried to read it and it was not there. I had to change the URL and when I did, I guess it didn't update on my front page. It's fixed now and I also even put a link to it on this blog on the left side ( I think).

Birthday Treats

Aww... they remembered. *hee hee* It's come to my attention that I have signed up for entirely too many 'clubs'. You know: the Cantina Club, the Habaneros Club....etc.
Case in point? My birthday is this coming Saturday. Over the course of this week and beginning at the end of last week, my inbox has been flooded with coupons/free stuff.. etc. Here is the rundown:
♥ On The Border: Free Empanadas
♥ Uno Chicago Grill: $10 off of $25
♥ Don Pablo's: $10 (loaded onto my Habaneros card)
♥ Cold Stone Creamery: Free Ice Cream (duh)
♥ Texas Roadhouse: A Free Appetizer
♥ Chuck E. Cheese: free tokens or something (how did I end up with this one)

Luckily, I don't think I signed up for anything else.. so the flood should stop now. I do think it's pretty comical though. And just an FYI, if you like mexican/Chi Chi's style food.. SIGN UP for the Habaneros Card at Don Pablo's. It really is worth it! There is NO cost and I'm telling you, you will save a lot of money. I think the most you can save at one time is $10, but my friend and I go often, as do Jeff and I... and on occasion my friend Stephanie has used her $10 coupon on her total bill and ended up paying like $4.00 for her whole meal, including her drink and a cup of queso. Seriously! You can have $5 and $10 coupons on the card at a time, you just can't combine. The savings are loaded at all different times too. Anniversaries, birthdays, holidays (just about EVERY one). Awesome. So, I really have my options this weekend,huh? I guess no matter what I choose, it's nice to have the option to finish off with some ice cream at Cold Stone. Too bad I don't really eat ice cream.

Hoppy Easter

Happy Easter everyone. I'm working but just as well. Remember the reason for the season and remember that it's not just about baskets of goodies & ham dinners. Although I'm a big fan of those ham dinners! I think sometimes when we celebrate Easter & Christmas .. we get away from what it is we're really celebrating. So today just take time to reflect on the meaning. Have a Blessed Easter everyone.. and if you don't celebrate Easter... well, have a Blessed Day anyway.

John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Easter Weekend

I'm working today AND tomorrow.. so it's going to be a normal 'ol day for me on Easter. I hope I can make it to the in-laws' before they put all the ham away. Gotta get me some yummy Easter ham. Hopefully the weather clears up soon. I don't like this rain.. it's so gloomy. I was driving in at 6:30 this morning and it was so nasty out. The roads were crappy and my fellow road-buddies were driving like tards as it always seems to be the case when the weather's like this. I was at the store yesterday and it was so packed! People waiting til the last minute to stock up on the Easter basket goodies etc. I try my hardest not to be a last minute shopper at the holidays. I definitely am with Christmas but as for Easter and Valentine's Day? You need to get that stuff as soon as it hits the shelves or you'll be scraping the bottom of the barrell and putting whatever you find, into the cart and praying that they'll like it. My big thing every year is to find white chocolate bunnies. I never did like chocolate when I was growing up. My basket always had white chocolate in it. I still love white chocolate. Funny thing: Jeff does too! One of the many things we have in common.

I'm going to try and upload an ancient Easter pic of my sisters and myself. They'd freak if they knew I did this.. Tammy moreso.. she's the one in the middle! haha

Ahh, spring...

Could it be? The weather today is beautiful. A bit chilly but for the most part the sun seems to really want to be here. I just want some sunny days already.
My weekend started a bit early .. I was off today. Unexpectedly, at least as of yesterday afternoon, but nonetheless here I am. I'm working on Saturday to cover for another co-worker & then of course I work Sunday too. Eww, I don't like working on Easter. I think it's a major holiday but evidently my employer doesn't. Not nice. I really like getting together with family and having the traditional Easter Dinner. I wish I could just work Monday through Friday. But then there are days that I like having my Fridays off. Jeff and I really only get to spend ONE full day together. He works on Fridays and I work on Sundays, so Saturday is the only day, start to finish, that we can actually spend together. Doesn't really put a strain on things .. at least I don't think it does. ??? Just stinks sometimes with this schedule I guess. I'm going on my 5th year with this schedule so ya think I'd have stopped whining about it by now. I will.... Eventually. Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL FRIDAY!
- Peace out -

Looking for that sun ...

What's that thing about 'when it rains, it pours'. I feel kinda like that. I never wanted this blog to have a Dear Abby theme but that's what it feels like lately. I have the oddest tug of war going on with my emotions right now. On one hand I'm all happy-go-lucky, in the throes of planning my wedding. (Our wedding). Then there's the mess that is my family life. I'm really thinking of sitting down tonight and writing a letter to EVERYONE. Meaning everyone in my immediate family. Telling them how I feel about the state of our family and how disgusted I am that everyone allowed it to fall away to shit. And how we better all pick ourselves up off the ground or step down from whatever high horses we're on and start to repair the relationships that have been severed. I see other peoples' blogs or just people in my life and I see so stability and closeness - I envy that. I know that all families are not perfect and just because I see something so desirable on the outside, I do realize that you don't always see what goes on inside. But as for my family, I just want a little bit of normalcy. I want everyone to be in touch and I don't want hard feelings between people. Hell, if there is something that is keeping someone away from the family then lay it out on the table. I have a sister who is estranged. I have a brother whom does not speak to my stepmother and RARELY speaks to my father. My two sisters have not spoken in months.... And all the while I'm trying to devise a way to get this all fixed. I'm banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how to get everyone together and put the pieces back together BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9)


Jesus' own instructions were for the offended to go to the offender and for the two of them to find a way to reconcile their differences.

Just a quick photo...

My sister and myself this past Friday night. Some say we look identical.
Sometimes I see it, sometimes I don''t. What say you?

(me on the left, sister on the right)

Next stop .... The Funny Farm

Life has been one crazy whirlwind the past few weeks.. with just the past few DAYS being the real icing on the cake. I've been doing a lot of praying lately. Not that I don't pray every day to begin with, but I've found myself at work even taking a few minutes to get a quick one in here and there. Heck, sometimes I even resort to the ladies room so that I have peace and quiet to focus. It gives me strength. I immediately feel a sense of relief when I can focus on asking God to take the burdens from me and help me make a positive out of them, or to at least give me the strength and wisdom to work through them and not let them control me.
It just eats me alive when there is so much discord in my family/life. I don't know when or how my family fell away to shit but I've persevered and tried to keep it all together... I am not a miracle worker; I've realized that. Tomorrow's another day -- and I try not to dwell on things - I just hope for some light at the end of the tunnel and hope that things start to look up. It's so hard to be happy-go-lucky and plan a wedding when I feel like others in my life are being dealt such a bad hand.. and that my family has fallen apart & no one seems to care to repair it. I can't fix them all. Like they say, you can lead a horse to water........

Have to Spring this on you

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring!! Yippee!! Hope the weather knows that it's supposed to get with the program!

I've been a busy bee...

I haven't updated in days! If I had to tell you what I've been doing that has me so busy, I'm afraid I couldn't. hee hee. Truth is, I have been busy though. The weather's been pretty decent the past few days, I was really hoping to go the track and get a few rounds of walking in or at least a run. I really want to start running. It's such an adrenaline rush... and for me, a person with so many thoughts going at once in this crazy head of mine, it's kind of a way to "run it all out". Stress relief in it's best form!
I really want to go to Cooper River Parkand start running because I think it's the best place to go but it's a rather large track and I don't know if I'd make it. Probably end up face down in the river, from sheer exhaustion. Yikes! But we'll see.

Another thing I love about Spring???

This....



Yes, I have an addiction to Weber's Drive In too! Love it.

** some things to note: DO NOT go to the one in Brooklawn. Do go to the one in Stratford or Pennsauken. <--- which is my favorite.
They're closed on Mondays & the one in Pennsauken occasionally has an Elvis impersonator hanging out in the parking lot with a boombox that blares... you guessed it, Elvis songs! The Pennsauken and Stratford ones are very clean and have awesome service. Go there today and get your Root Beer!

Concert w/ Mom

Friday I took my mom to the Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge Concertat Dennis Flyer Theatre in Blackwood. It was by far one of the best shows I've been to. Most people my age probably have no idea who this group is but I grew up on oldies music so I'm a pretty big fan. I love their songs! Practically EVERY SINGLE ONE.
I waited all night to hear my favorite song and I was convinced they just weren't going to do it... but alas! it was the last song they did. Well, if you don't count the encore, which by the way was kind of moving. The really cool thing about this whole night was that my mom had no idea where we were going or who she was going to see. Here's the story: I'd seen the announcement for this show a while back... and I mean, a LONG time ago. Last year sometime. So I saved it to my Outlook calendar and the reminders were popping up every so many days leading up to the actual night. I kept dragging my feet and putting off buying the tickets until last Thursday. Yes, one day before the show! Stupid? Probably. But anyhoo, I got the tickets online at Ticketmaster and am pleased to say that I could not have gotten better seats if I'd bought them when they went on sale! We were in the middle section which is the best because you can look straight ahead and you're not off to the side. Our seats were seriously in the 2nd row from the stage, (technically).. I say technically because they set up folding chairs (3 rows for the alum at the college, who were privy to such seats.) My mom LOVES Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge and once we even attempted to go see them when she had a comp at one of the casinos some years back... but we got tied up and never made the show. But here we were on Friday ... and I never told her where we were going. I told her a few weeks before the show that we were going 'somewhere'. I asked her to be ready and that it was a surprise. Well I really pulled it off. She had no idea until about 5 minutes before showtime. We even arrived at the doors where there were greeters handing out flyers with the information on it and I quickly intercepted it, asking the lady to not give my mom a program because it was a surprise. Well this poor woman obviously thought I was a loon because she looked at me like I was crazy. Oh well. So we sat down and all my mom could see was a stage with all of the band set up. Nothing else. No flyers, no banners.. NOTHING. So then the emcee comes on and welcomes everyone.. at which time he announces 'them'. To say that my mom was shocked would be an understatement. I thought she might cry. I think I might have. So we sat back and enjoyed the show. Listened, sang along, swayed, bobbed our heads, etc... it was a fantastic show! I wish I could go again.

** 5 Days, my friends, 5 days **

Says here on my wall calendar that March 20th is the first day of Spring. Sweet!
Now just 'cause it says that doesn't mean that we're going to get springy weather right? But one can hope! If I could pick one season for it to be all year, I'd want Spring. It's not too hot, it's not too cold. It's the happy medium that we all crave. I do like summer but it gets too hot sometimes and I just can't hack it.
When the Spring weather hits, I love taking my niece to the park, I love taking my doggie(s) for walks, I love being able to go to the track and walk (or run, if the spirit moves me), ... I could go on and on about what to do when the sun's out and the wind is there but barely. And the flowers???!! So awesome!

Hop on over

** Ah ha, none of ya'll caught on **

There is a live link to the other blog in my Juggling post.


Silly girls!

Juggling

This might be harder than I thought- juggling two blogs at once.
I thought I could differentiate between the two and keep the wedding stuff there and the other stuff here. It seems all I have on my mind these days is wedding stuff. I really need someone to smack me and tell me to slow down a bit. Good grief. I'm the reason for that heartburn.

Bride-to-be Survival Tips?!

Safe to say that I have been having more and more heartburn lately.. at least ever since I started ATTEMPTING to plan a wedding. It puzzles me so that I've done endless planning for showers, weddings, birthdays, etc.. in the past, without so much stress but yet here I am in the throes of planning my own wedding and I'm met with such frustration already. Is it really this hard? Maybe I'm just creating the havoc myself. The one thing that really stands out in my frustration is the cost of some of the 'things' associated with this wedding. First of all, I'm getting married in a Catholic church, in WHICH we are parishioners.. WHERE, each weekend, we give them our church "offering", which is usually anywhere between $5 and $10.. sometimes more in other circumstances. And this is every weekend.. (52 weeks). So imagine my surprise (for lack of a better word), when I opened the pamphlet last Saturday and saw that we are to pay $350.00 for the ceremony, $20 to each alter boy ( a max. of 2) and it states that you "should consider a small monetary gift" for the officiating priest. Wow! What else can I say. Seriously. It went on to say that the fee for Non-parishioners is $500. Damn, I pity anyone in that boat. Let's not forget that we, as Catholics, are required to attend pre-cana, sessions. Notice, I said: HAVE to. As in it's not optional, my friends. And the cost of this? Oh, just $150. Now do you see why I'm ripping my hair out? I guess it all comes down to money... it's nuts! I am keeping the wedding and the reception, as well as all of the other amenities, as simple as possible, in that I am not going over the top. I want it simple. I really wish I could just win the mega-millions and I would be set. Heck, I'm not even being greedy, I'll take the $500,000. I can get a decent reception out of it, pay for it all up front, not have to ask my dad for any money.. and then buy a nice little home for about $200,000. I even prayed on winning the lottery and promised to donate a large sum to charity.. or the church. (Funny as that may seem, at this point!) Ah, it just seems so complicated trying to get it all together. I do have a year to do it but I feel like the time is going to fly and before I know it, it'll be here, and things will be unpaid for... blah blah blah. Well, if ANYONE has any tips on cost cutting or has anyone that they know of who is a vendor of any sort (photographer, DJ, florist).. do tell me. You'll probably find this post again soon.. because I want start a Wedding Blog. I need one. That should be fun & witty and ......full of whining.

*Quickie* Conversations with a 3 year old

Last night, my precious niece came strolling into my bedroom wide awake, at about 11 p.m. She gave me a hug and then decided she wanted to sleep in my bed. Not unusual -- and I rather love it. So, she sees my wedding planner sitting on my bed & then the conversation went something like this:

M: Dee Dee, is someone getting married?
Me: Yep, I am. Remember?
M: Yeah. To Uncle Jeff, right?
Me: Yep.
M: Dee Dee, do they have a bathroom?
Me: Who? Where we're getting married? Of course they do.
M: Ok. (laughs a little).
**** a short pause ****

M: Dee Dee, what am I going to wear. (laughs a little more).. a dress like yours?
Me: Yes
M: oooh, (brushes her hair out of her face).. Ok.

Is there a Support Group....

For Facebookers!? Good Lord, I am seriously addicted to this. I thought, when I first was introduced to MySpace, that it was quite addicting but Facebook? I've gone to the extremes of downloading the application on to my BlackBerry and now I have all the status updates etc.. at my fingertips. I'm really getting concerned.
I can't go for any period of time without looking at it while I'm working. It's bad my friends! I even went to the diner yesterday for breakfast and saw a gal that I've been in touch with on FB and I sent her a wall post because I knew she has the app on her phone too and would get it within seconds! How funny is that!??
I'm amazed at how many people have reconnected etc.. I'm talking to people on there from high school and such, that I never even looked at twice back then. I guess we all grow up.
Then last night we went to a local bar/restaurant/hangout to meet up with some of Jeff's friends. It turned out that not only was his graduating class there but so were a few other years. This place was jam packed - thank goodness we got there early and were able to 'claim' a table. I had a really good time meeting some friends of his.. etc (well, some of them).. we'll leave those details for another time. But, where was I?? Oh yes, the FaceBook thing. Well, I'm pretty much done with this post.. I just had to share my story with you. In closing, here are some funny pictures that I just have to add.

Couldn't wait til Wordless Wednesday .. Sorry

I have a much longer post to publish but I have to get my thoughts situated.. they're going berzerk in my mind right now. I wish I had one of those bingo ball machines... and if I spun it a couple times, all my thoughts would come out in perfect order so I didn't jump around so much when I get it all down in 'writing'.
Anyhoo, I'm babbling. So I'll leave you with this..

*** Wordless Wednesday ***

Yes, I jumped aboard the Wordless Train..