A Sweet Escape....Literally!

For Valentine's Day, I wanted to surprise Jack with something fun. I don't really see Valentine's Day as a real holiday, but I wanted to do something nice anyway. Jack & I are going to different work schedules, and won't see each other as much for awhile, so I wanted to do something extra nice.

I was thinking, maybe making dinner reservations, but threw that idea out the windowl. Then an idea just came to me! Why not celebrate Valentine's Day at the sweetest place on earth??? Hershey!!!!!!!! It turned out Hershey had some sweet packages left to book at a great price. I booked it, and told Jack I had a surprise for him. I didn't give him any hints. On Sunday, he even fell asleep in the car till we arrived at our destination!

Hershey is a great place for people of all ages, and there is tons to do! It is only 2 hours from DC, so it makes a great weekend trip! When you enter downtown Hershey you are immediately hit with the scent of chocolate in the air. Literally, the air smells like chocolate. YUM! So, I had some things lined up for us to do. Visit Chocolate World, Go to Hershey Museum. And Hershey, PA: just gives away free candy. Why wouldn't you want to visit!? :-)

Hello Chocolate Avenue! All the street signs have cool names.

Upon our hotel check in, the reception desk hands your two free Hershey bars.

I am loving it already. ( and so was Jack!)

Here on a walking tour at the Hershey Story Museum.

The street lights are Hershey Kisses...super fun!

Jack 'holding' the street light. Yup, we are cool.

Playing around at Hershey Musuem. Jack liked this interactive display.

The parade at Chocolate World!

I am LOVING the Reese's display. My favorite candy!!

On Chocolate World tour ride

\

Valentine's Day dinner.

Part of the Romance Package:

Rose petal turn down, chocolate covered strawberries and champagne.!

Look....more candy...

Yum Yum!

Even Breakfast Room service came with candy......we were all "candied" out that this point.

When we got home, Jack had ordered me flowers to be sent to the house....well the flower delivery person left it outside our front door. All night. We came home....they were a bit dead, and a bit frozen. I saved the flowers I could from the frozen bunch. Sorry Jack!

Goodbye Blue, Hello Yellow!

The project: The 'Blue Room'..a.k.a the Guest Room

Mission: Give it a new look, get rid of the blue.

After moving all the furniture out of the room to prep for painting, I decided I needed a break.

I'm a photoholic. Jack points this out a lot. Sometimes I think he wishes I didn't own a camera. I for some reason find the need to document everything on life on my digital camera. Don't ask me why.I like memories.  I take a lot of pictures. So, I asked Jack (politely) if he would pose for a picture. He did a bit of grumbling, but agreed :-)

I snuck this picture. Here Jack are prepping walls for the paint!

I picked the color. It is called "Picking Daisies." Yellow is bright and friendly. A happy color! This is also where we learned we should have put a primer paint down. Jack was adament we didn't need it, but I thought we did. So, we went with Jack suggestion of just putting a few coats on. What went from 2 coats, went to 4 coats of paint. Blue is very hard to cover! For future reference. Always use a primer paint if the color you are painting over the orignial wall color is lighter. LOL.

Jack made the mistake of giving the job of the paint roller. BAD IDEA. I am deadly with a paint roller, but not 100% accurate.....I went a little roller happy I guess you could say.He told me to roll the paint as close to the ceiling I could get...without hitting the ceiling...There were a few spots where I went a little roller happy. We have to fix the ceiling in a few spots.....ooops!

5 days later. FINALLY finished. We started on Saturday, and finally finished on Wednesday. Thank goodness for all the downtime with the snowstorm. We definately got irritated during the process. The room is not perfect, we messed up in a few spots, you can hardly tell,  but it looks a lot better then the blue! Next time we are hiring a professional. I am not painting any more rooms in this house.

We are ready for people to come visit! You have new painted guest room to stay in! Come visit us!

No shoes, no shirt, no problem!

I don't know about you, but all this snow has my mind in other places

Places where flip flops, tank tops, bathing suits, sunglasses, and sun dresses are mandatory. 

Don't get me wrong, I like snow, yet, sometimes too much is TOO MUCH!!

That time of year is almost around the corner!

...but here is where I would rather be.....

Where would you rather be? 

                              

Patches in the Snow: Part II

The Sequal to Part I. The day we discovered our 10 month old cat Patches, LOVED the snow so much, she didn't want to come back inside the house

Patches in the Snow: Part I

The day we discovered our 10 month old cat Patches, LOVED the snow so much, she didn't want to come back inside the house.

Meet Patches

Meet Patches. She's an interesting sort of cat.  She is our second cat. Our first cat is Gracie who turns 3 this year, I had Gracie before I met Jack, and we adopted Patches together. It's find of funny. Gracie is Jack's best buddy. She loves to cuddle with him. Patches is my buddy. Here are some facts about Patches:

1. Her breed: tortoiseshell. Commonly known as a "Tortie"
2. Her full name: Ms. Patches O'Houlihan. (Jack named her, don't ask)
3. We found her on Craigslist
4. She loves doing things she's not supposed to do.
5. She is known to drink out of the toilet if you forget to put the seat down.
6. She waiting patiently by the bathroom door every night while we get ready for bed because she knows its "time for sleep", She can't wait to jump up and cuddle with us (well me at least)
7. She likes water. Well, she isn't afraid of it.


First, she is interesting to look at. She has got all these crazy patterns and coloring on her fur. Second, I swear Patches is a dog in a cats body. Seriously. She is a cat who thinks she is a dog! I've noticed this since we adopted her in the spring of last year.


The newest fact about her we just discovered. SHE LOVES THE SNOW. You would swear she is a dog. She loves chasing the snow, and running around in it. I have had to put her on a leash this past snowstorm so she won't run away in it, which she has already tried to do!

Here are some pictures of Patches!:

When we first adopted Patches last May, about 8 weeks old.

Here she is auditioning for the TV show: "America's Next Top Cat"

Patches has such a personality.

 

You can find her in the weirdest places.

 

Patches 2010. She is about 10 months old now.

The snow experiment. She is looking at me almsot as if she is saying "mom can I go outside, please?"

And what we discovered: she loves it. She is NUTS about it!

She is like a dog. Digs around, chases it. She's a bit weird. But we love her!

 

Snuggling with her best buddy Gracie

Check out this video!

Hey everyone!


Check out this video jack found! It is a video of the timeline of the snowfall in DC. It is pretty cool!


Snowfall Timeline in DC

snowpocalypse part 2

After the snow finally stopped and we quit shoveling for the day on saturday, we went in, passed out in deep sleep for the night. We were pooped from all the snow shoveling. Let me tell you, 30 inches of snow is HEAVY!

We got up the next morning; our bodies sore as ever from the shoveling the day before, and went back out to shovel some more snow. It was at least sunny outside. That was some hope! It seemed like everyone in the neighborhood was out shoveling too. Like a neighborhood block party......but not!

Here are some more pictures of the insanity, and since it stopped snowing, I was able to bring out the Canon camera!

I ventured to the backyard....a.k.a "Snow Jungle". Some little fella let their footprints before I could!

Lots of Ice!

Jack getting the heavy snow off the gutters. He wouldn't let me on the roof. (sad face)

And he got to have fun getting off the roof too!

Can't shovel snow without beer!

Break time

My goal-dig out my Nissan Versa

So much snow to walk through

Our poor hammock

Mission Accomplished. Car has been freed from the snow.

" FREEEEDOOOOMMM....." (think the movie Braveheart)

Now, that is a crap load of snow!